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Wednesday, December 9, 2009
State grants Xenia $400k for downtown improvements
XENIA - City leaders learned Wednesday, Dec. 9, they’ll have another $400,000 in grant money to work with as they continue to revitalize downtown.
The Ohio Department of Development and Gov. Ted Strickland announced $2.4 million in grant money for six cities including $400,000 in Xenia for facade improvement, curb and sidewalks, murals, bikeway and other streetscape improvements.
Mary Crockett, Xenia community developement director, said the money will be paired with about $450,000 of stimulus, state and federal grants the city has already received for a total of about $850,000.
“I’m very excited about this,” Crockett said. She added that city council members and downtown merchants worked together to win the grant award.
Much of the money will go toward a loan program that allows downtown business and building owners to borrow money interest-free to paint and fix the facades of their buildings. “These grants give zero percent interst loans to cash strapped building owners,”Crockett said.
Money also will be used to landscape and improve access to the bikepath around Xenia Station and to spruce up streetscapes along East Main Street.
Mark Bazelak, city finance director, said the beautification paid for with the grant money should aid the city in its efforts to attract new business. “Obviously, as we are looking toward the future one principal element to focus on is economic development,” Bazelak said.
Gov. Strickland echoed this sentiment, saying in a news release that “downtowns often showcase the best of what Ohio has to offer and keeping them strong and vibrant will help accelerate our state’s economic recovery.”
Besides Xenia, Wilmington, Cambridge, Defiance, Nepoleon and Waterville received grant money for downtown improvements.
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TweetGreene County church thief pleads guilty
The man who allegedly stole credit cards from churches in Bellbrook and Xenia this summer pleaded guilty Wednesday, Dec. 9, to one felony count of receiving stolen property in each case.
Nickolas Williams, 29, of Reynoldsburg, entered the pleas in Greene County Common Pleas Court and is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Timothy Campbell on Feb. 2. He could receive up to two years in prison and $5,000 in fines, according to Greene County assistant prosecutor Adolfo Tornichio.
On July 11, the Bellbrook Community Church’s credit card was stolen while church members were working outside. Bellbrook Detective Keith Salyers tracked activity on the card and found it was used to buy $800 in merchandise at Columbus-area stores. He then retrieved store surveillance images from the Columbus area incriminating Williams.
Once Salyers identified Williams as a suspect, Xenia police connected him to the June 20 theft of a woman’s purse and credit cards from Faith Community Church in Xenia, Tornichio said.
“The reason Nickolas Williams was apprehended and prosecuted is because of the hard work of Detective Salyers, period,” Tornichio said. “This is one of those cases that is very time intensive. Bellbrook takes these crimes seriously, and I commend Chief (David) Helling for allowing Keith to really dig his teeth in here.”
Williams was also a suspect in multiple Columbus-area church thefts this summer. Last month in Franklin County, he pleaded guilty to a breaking and entering charge in one of those cases and was sentenced to seven months in prison.
In addition to possible jail time and fines, Williams will have to make restitution of about $2,200 in the Greene County cases, according to Tornichio.
“It is a monotonous paper trail to hunt these people down,” he said. “You had a whodunit, and Keith found out who it was.”
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