Lorain County MARCH THURSDAY 16, THE PLAIN DEALER Embarrassment Joe Dirck Joe Dirck J. is a good start By its very nature, telephone harassment is a solitary pursuit, an act performed furtively, sneakily, from the shadows. Only in anonymity do those who make such calls find the nerve to do so. The 22-year-old Eastlake man accused of making an obscene phone call 1 to Kathy Kubicina last Saturday would probably like nothing better than to have his anonymity back. After a column about the incident ran here Tuesday and an arrest warrant was sued by the Cleveland city prosecutor's office, Greg Boggs' home 3 was besieged by TV news crews and his name was prominently mentioned in all the evening newscasts.
Before you could say firstdegree misdemeanor, Boggs was on his way to becoming the bestknown alleged crank caller in Cleveland history. 1 His reaction to this sudden notoriety is not known. When I called yesterday, a woman who a answered the phone said he was not there and she had no idea 1. when he might return. Boy, isn't that just like a 3 rity? For those who missed day's column, Kubicina took a call Saturday from someone posing as her brother, Clayton Hartwig, who was killed in the 1989 explosion aboard the USS Iowa.
"This is Clayton," the voice said. "I'll be home as soon as I finish The man then used an ex01 tremely graphic description of a male hom*osexual act and hung up. Not quickly enough, however. Kubicina's Caller ID box was already glowing with the name "Boggs" and a telephone number. Later, she discovered that the caller had left the same message on her in-laws' answering machine, conveniently providing her with a tape of his voice, which she turned over to prosecutors.
In prosecution circles, evidence that strong is known by the legal term "slam dunk," and Assistant City Prosecutor Cornell P. Carter wasted little time in issuing an arrest warrant and summons. Boggs is charged with telephone harassment and faces a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. 4' Ameritech spokeswoman Ann Bloomberg said Caller ID is but one of the new bells and whistles that even the playing field. Also available a are such features as automatic call-back, call screening and, in severe cases of harassment, call tracing.
(Note to phone pranksters: You know those old movies where the cops try to keep the suspect on the line until the call can be traced, but he always hangs up just before then? Well, they can do it a lot faster these days.) Kubicina said yesterday that she was astounded by all the attention the incident attracted, not only from reporters, but from the 3 public in general. Ever since the column ran, perfect strangers have been calling to congratulate her. I told her it wasn't that surprising. Everyone has gotten an obnoxious phone call at one time or another and felt a sense of helpless fury at being unable to do anything about it. Through her, people got the vicarious satisfaction of seeing the tables turned for once.
Kubicina said there was a moment yesterday, just a moment, when she almost felt a twinge of sympathy for Boggs. She thought of how his life was turned upside down in the space of a few days, and wondered what it must feel like to be publicly accused of such a sleazy act. He must be dying of embarrassment. That's funny, I told her, the same thought had occurred to me. Usually, people charged with misdemeanors aren't caught in the spotlight like this.
But then we got to talking about the phone call again, about the ur calculated cruelty of it. To mock a dead sailor's memory like that, to deliberately try to inflict pain on a family that has already been through so much, all for some cheap, perverse thrill. Well. You know those feelings 1 of sympathy? They passed. Messages for Dirck may be left at 999-4818.
1995 Low rider RAMON OWENS PLAIN DEALER PHOTOGRAPHER Paul Livelsberger's horse Buster checks out his rider during a rest break near the Lorain County Regional Airport at Russia and Oberlin roads in New Russia Township. Livelsberger had his horse out for some exercise after a long winter in a stable, he said yesterday. Vice Lords' ranks trimmed 7 arrested, 2 sought in stabbing Sunday, rioting Monday By GUILLERMO X. GARCIA PLAIN DEALER REPORTER LORAIN It has not been a good week to be a Vice Lord. Seven members of one of the city's strongest gangs have been arrested in connection with a stabbing, a shooting and a riot.
Two other gang members are sought by police. On the other hand, Lorain police Detective Eladio Andujar could not be happier. On Sunday, two members of the Vice Lords were arrested and charged with complicity to felonious assault for their alleged roles in the stabbing of an 18-year-old earlier that day. The two, currently held at the county's juvenile detention facility, are 14 and 15 years old, Juvenile Court authorities said. Yesterday, another Vice Lord, 17, was arrested and charged with the same offense.
Police are hunting for a fourth gang member, whom they believe is the one who actually stabbed Jacob Juan Ruth, 18, of Elyria Township. Ruth "is mighty lucky," Andujar said. "He was stabbed once in the back. The blade went in about four inches, and it went in between his lungs and his spinal cord, but neither was damaged." Andujar said the suspected assailant "is just 10 days away from turning 18. He is a very, very bad apple.
He has been through the system time and time again" and has an extensive record. On Monday, barely 24 hours after the stabbing, four other members of the gang were arrested after "a wild melee outside Sacred Heart Chapel, 4301 Pearl resulted in the shooting of a bystander. Andujar, who is investigating both incidents, said the brawl broke out after 40 to 50 youths finished playing basketball. "It was weird because only minutes earlier all these kids were playing basketball without any problems," Andujar said. As the youths were leaving the area, one of them complained that one of his car windows had been shattered.
Andujar said it is not clear whether a gang member broke the window. But it did not take long for the Vice Lords to themselves in the ensuing 'argument, which quickly escalated from shouted insults to shooting. When police arrived, as many as a dozen boys were fighting. "One of them, aged 17, was firing wildly, into the air and all around," Andujar said. "He did not appear to be pointing at anyone, he was just The bystander, 16, was shot in the upper left thigh, police said.
He was treated at a local hospital and released Tuesday. STA Oberlin College workers set strike deadline of March 31 OBERLIN The union representing service workers at Oberlin College has threatened to strike if a contract is not agreed to by March 31. The college and United Auto Workers Local 2192 have been negotiating for more than a year over a variety of issues, including wages. The contract, which covers cooks, cafeteria helpers, janitors and groundskeepers, expired in June 1993. The college imposed a contract two months later.
"A strike will commence for as long as it takes to win economic and social justice for Oberlin College's service employees," Dean Holland, UAW international representative, said in a prepared statement. The statement did not say whether a strike vote was taken The sands of time or what day workers would walk off the job. Holland could not be reached for comment. School spokesman Alan M. Moran said he did not know what prompted the statement since the groups have been meeting regularly in bargaining sessions and have others scheduled in the future.
"The school's response is we're committed to reaching a bilateral RAMON OWENS PLAIN DEALER PHOTOGRAPHER Patrick Costello, 4, pours sand into a bottle while his parents, Karen Costello and Vincent Contini of Lorain, soak up the rays. The trio enjoyed yesterday's springlike weather at Lakeview Park in Lorain. Flood ni control 6 8, a comment received By HOLLACE SILBIGER PLAIN DEALER REPORTER NORTH RIDGEVILLE Engineers trying to eliminate the threat of flooding in eastern County last night held the first of several meetings aimed at determining where to attack the problem. Representatives of K.E. McCartney Associates of Mansfield, sought the advice of residents and city officials on where to place detention basins that would hold water from heavy rains and prevent flooding.
Detention basins are an important component of the countywide flood control plan recommended in a study K.E. McCartney produced for the county. A few residents attended the meeting at 7 p.m. last night with North Ridgeville's Board of Flood and Drainage Control. More meetings will be held in other cities, but times and places have not been set, Lorain County Engineer Kenneth P.
Carney Sr. said. The meetings will help the engineers determine which areas receive the worst flooding, he said. Board members told the engineers to choose areas where flooding causes the most damage, and not sites on which it would cost less to build the basins. SEE Pregnant Quinones.
By GUILLERMO X. GARCIA PLAIN DEALER REPORTER ELYRIA A 23-year-old woman found guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide in the 1994 death of her best friend is asking a judge not to sentence her to jail because she is pregnant. Cynthia Quinones, who will appeal Common Pleas Judge Thomas Janas' guilty finding to the Ninth District Ohio Court of Appeals, is also seeking to delay her sentence while she files her appeal. 13 Janas is scheduled to sentence Quinones tomorrow on a felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide and two misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and failing to control her vehicle. She was found guilty of the charges by Janas.
In a motion filed yesterday, Quinones asked Janas for probation. The motion also seeks to have Quinones remain free on bond while her attorney files the appeal. The filing noted that Quinones recently married and is preg; nant with her second child. SEE agreement with the UAW," he said. "Negotiations took place today and there are three other sessions scheduled in the next two weeks." However, a union statement said college representatives canceled three of bargaining sessions.
UAW members have held informational pickets on campus several times since the contract expired. Inside 8 Suit dropped in drowning A $5 million lawsuit against the owner of a Sheffield Township pondin which a 10-year-old boy drowned i in 1993 has been dismissed. 2-Bi Stalking suspect charged A part-time psychology professor was indicted yesterday on charges of burglary, resisting arrest and menacing by stalking after being ar-! rested inside the home of a former student. 2-B Library project excavator blamed An excavating company, not the Cleveland Public Library, should bear the million-dollar cost of shoring up the foundation walls of a new downtown library building, a consultant says. 3-B Loan panel confronts ethics conflict A Cleveland insurance agent who heads a state-financed minority lending commission appears to have violated state ethics law by participating in discussions involving insurance clients applying for loans.
3-B 3. Buzzards, 'flamingos' a sight It was billed as the annual Hinckley buzzard sighting, but any of the 50 or so die-hard vulture fans who showed up will tell you there were 99 more flamingos there than buzzards. 6-B Lorain County Scene Heard. 9-B Ohio 11-B Lorain County classified.
