Saturday, November 30, 2013
Wrestling tournament seeks sponsors The 37th annual Bob Bailey Bellevue Wrestling Invitational is quickly approaching. This years’ invitational will be held on Saturday, Dec. 7. There will be 10 teams participating, including: Bellevue, Carey, Fostoria, Margaretta, North Ridgeville, Oak Harbor, Sandusky St. Mary’s, Wellington, Western Reserve, and Woodmore. Bellevue High School is currentley seeking weight class sponsors for the Bob Bailey Bellevue Wrestling Invitational. Sponsorship is once again $100 for a weight class recognition sponsor. Sponsors will receive a weight class sign to be displayed in the main hallway. Sponsors will also be announced throughout the tournament day and tournament finals in the evening. Sponsorship donations will help assist in the tournament expenses, which include: workers, officials, trophies & plaques, security, hospitality, programs, and more. Please send your $100 weight class sponsor donation to Athletic Director Brian Schubert at Bellevue High School with the specific weight class you would like to sponsor. The weight classes are: 106lb, 113lb, 120lb, 126lb, 132lb, 138lb, 145lb, 152lb, 160lb, 170lb, 182lb, 195lb, 220lb, and 285lb.
75¢
Bellevue, Ohio
‘Forever baby’ is a blessing Bellevue’s Moya family thankful for Help Me Grow Before Tony and Emi Moya, of Bellevue, went to the hospital to deliver their baby, Tony made funeral arrangements for the child. “We were told that she wasn’t going to live through the birth,” said Tony, 29. “The doctors told me to make funeral arrangements. I went to the funeral home in Willard and made the arrangements before she was even born. When we left the hospital in Toledo, they told us if she died on the way home to just to go straight to the funeral home. We didn’t buy a crib because we didn’t think we’d need it. Emi and I didn’t think she was going to make it because that’s all we had ever been told.” Bella Moya was born on April 12, 2010. Months before her daughter’s birth, Emi learned that her unborn child would be born with hydranencephaly, which is the excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. Hydranencephaly, which in the past was referred to as water on the brain, causes severe brain dam-
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The Moya family is show in the living room at the their Bellevue home. Sitting on the lap of their father, Tony, is Demitri and Mercedes. Emi holds her daughter, Bella, and Lexus sits to her left.
age and can dramatically shorten the lives of those afflicted. Yet, three-and-a-half years later, little Bella is very much alive and thriving at the couple’s home in Bellevue. “Every day with Bella is a bless-
ing,” said Emi, 25. “She’s a strong little girl.” Bella cannot walk and likely never will. She has impaired vision and cannot talk. Her seizure disorder is controlled with medication. She spends much of her day in a
tiny recliner in the family living room. She smiles, tries to talk, and gets excited when she senses that her favorite television shows come on. “Bella is a bit of a puzzle,” said her nurse, Terri Denny. “She has good
days and bad days. We take them one at a time.” To a large degree, the Moyas credit Huron County Help Me Grow and service coordinator Mary Welsh for much of Bella’s ability to prove the doctors wrong. They say they would have had no idea of the services available to them had it not been for Welsh. Emi calls Welsh, “beyond phenomenal.” “I don’t know where we would be if it wasn’t for Mary and Help Me Grow,” Emi said. “She has been terrific in making sure we understand the services that are available to us. Because of Mary and Help Me Grow, Bella has a better quality of life. Quite honestly, I don’t know where we would be without Help Me Grow.” Help Me Grow is a state-funded program designed to assist children with developmental delays. It provides a host of services, screenings and information to children, from birth to their third birthday, and their families. Huron County See BABY | 2
Two killed in fiery turnpike crash Blade Staff
FREMONT, Ohio — A car sought by state troopers sped down the Ohio Turnpike at more than 125 mph before it struck a minivan and both vehicles burst into flames, killing two people in the van, the State Highway Patrol said Friday. Two troopers separately spotted the car but weren’t able to catch or keep up with it before the crash Thursday night near Fremont, about 40 miles southeast of Toledo, said Staff Lt. Anne Ralston, a patrol spokeswoman. Other drivers began calling dispatchers about the speeding, weaving vehicle just before 7 p.m., about 20 minutes before it crashed into the back of the minivan. The driver covered roughly 60 miles in that time and passed two troopers, each of whom tried to pull behind the westbound car but lost sight of it as it sped away, Ralston said. “Just because it was going so fast, we were never able to get into a position where we were
actually engaged in a pursuit with it,” Ralston said. “We were simply trying to catch up and intercept this vehicle and get it stopped.” The driver, a 24-year-old Kent man, suffered injuries that are not life-threatening and was hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation at a Toledo hospital, Ralston said. She said the man had spoken with investigators, but she declined to comment on what he said or whether he offered any explanation for the erratic driving that was reported. She said investigators had discussed the case with prosecutors but no charges were immediately filed. Investigators said the fires caused severe damage and they couldn’t immediately tell if any of the people in the vehicles were wearing seat belts. The names of the two who died were being withheld until their identities could be confirmed and their families could be notified. The speeding vehicle stunned some holiday travelers who wit-
nessed it. Josh Pickett, of Toledo, told The Toledo Blade that he was headed home from Thanksgiving dinner with relatives in Cleveland when the speeding driver passed him, followed about a minute later by a state police cruiser. “I was going 76, and the guy passes me like I was standing still,” Pickett told the newspaper. He said within a few minutes, traffic suddenly stopped “and I saw really big flames.” Ty Mahaffey told The Blade a car zoomed by him “at an enormously high rate of speed. … I have never seen a passenger car going so fast.” The Toledo resident said he was going around 80 mph “and when he passed me, it was like I was going in reverse.” He said afterward he had to pull over briefly to collect himself. Ty Mahaffey, a Toledo resident who practices law in Sylvania, said he saw a single male in the car as it blew by him “at an enormously high rate of speed. … I have never seen a passenger car
going so fast.” The car, he said, “was not a high-performance vehicle” and it appeared to be having trouble keeping a grip on the pavement while it “was zigzagging through traffic.” Mr. Mahaffey said he briefly pulled over to collect himself after the experience, was passed by a trooper after he started up again, then came upon traffic stopped at the crash scene. He said the trooper “was not that close” behind the highspeed vehicle when it passed him. The lawyer said he was shaken up because, under different circumstances, it could have been his vehicle — and his family — involved in the collision had he been in the way. “He could have hit anybody along this way,” Mr. Mahaffey said. “It could have been me, you know? I feel like, wow. You’re driving along the turnpike, minding your own business, and then you’re dead. It’s hard for me to comprehend. These people were minding their own business.” The turnpike’s westbound lanes were closed for several hours but reopened early Friday.
Chamber Christmas auction is Monday
U.S. Postal Service use only
Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 38. South wind 9 to 14 mph. Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. Southwest wind 11 to 14 mph. Sunday: A slight chance of snow showers after 2 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 40. Southwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Sunday night: A slight chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 32. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 39. Monday night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. Tuesday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 40. Tuesday night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 41.
www.thebellevuegazette.com
Contributed photos
Bellevue ‘s Committee to Grow Bellevue will host the annual Holiday Auction on Monday, Dec. 2, at the Bierkeller Meilenstein Hall, Southwest Street. Pre-sale tickets are $10 and are available at First National Bank or from any Committee to Grow Bellevue member. Tickets at the door are $15. Doors open at 5 p.m. with wine and hors d’oeuvres served at 6 p.m. Bellevue High School’s show choir, the Choraliers, will perform at 5:30 p.m. Decorated trees, swags, wreaths and assorted other holiday items will be auctioned this year.