Scott Shaw / The Plain Dealer

Charles Ramsey talks to media as people congratulate him on helping some women get out of a home in the 2200 block of Seymour Ave on May 6, 2013.

Cleveland’s most camera-ready hero may now also be its best fed.

More than a dozen Ohio restaurants and at least one in Pennsylvania have pledged free burgers for life to Charles Ramsey, the Big Mac-munching man who was credited with helping a woman escape from the home where she had been held captive, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

Ramsey mentioned in numerous interviews earlier this month that he had been chowing down on a McDonald's burger when he heard screams from the house across the street, spurring the fast-food giant to tweet they would “be in touch.”

The hometown hamburger homages began with an 8-ounce Angus beef patty with a secret sauce devised by Chris Hodgson, chef at the downtown restaurant where Ramsey works as a dishwasher.

“He’s calm in the face of crazy and hectic things going on,” Hodgson told the Cleveland Plain Dealer after police rescued Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight from the house where they were allegedly held captive and raped for a decade. “He always steps up to do anything you ask.”

The “Ramsey Burger” started out as a temporary menu item, but has since become permanent and the idea has spread to other restaurants, according to the Plain Dealer.

“We want to honor our local hero with local food,” Cleveland restaurateur Scott Kuhn told the paper. “He stopped his meal midway through to help those women. We’re now making sure he has other opportunities to go out and fully enjoy his burger.”

Ramsey gained instant celebrity with his candid and profanity-flecked retellings of how he kicked in the door of suspect Ariel Castro’s home so Amanda Berry and her child could climb out.

But the man, who has been traveling on paid leave according to the Plain Dealer, said he didn’t have any choice but to help.

“My father would have whupped the hell out of me if I cowered out,” Ramsey told a reporter after the rescue.

Related:

• Chuck Ramsey: Definition of a hero, bro
• Charles Ramsey shirt sales to benefit victims
• 'Can I help?' Neighbor Charles Ramsey tells of role in discovery of missing women

NBC4

Former Bishop Watterson physical education teacher Carla Hale was fired in March.

A gay teacher who was fired from a Catholic high school in Ohio says she has been dealt another blow: Her local union isn't supporting her.

Carla Hale taught physical education for 19 years at Bishop Watterson Catholic High School in Columbus. She was fired in March after her name appeared with her longtime lesbian partner's name in her mother's obituary.

The firing, which the school said was prompted by an anonymous letter from a parent complaining about a lesbian teacher, resulted in a heated debate on both sides for the diocese of Columbus.

On Monday, Hale and her attorney announced their request for help with her case had been turned down by the local union for Catholic educators.

"The COACE [Central Ohio Association of Catholic Educators] informs you of the decision of its Grievance Committee not to carry forward the grievance Ms. Carla Hale has filed to challenge the termination of her employment as a Diocesan teacher," read the letter from the Central Ohio Association of Catholic Educators, according to WCMH.com in Ohio. It was signed by the union's president, Kathleen Mahoney.

The association did not return calls seeking comment.

Hale was fired March 28, ater returning from a break for her mother's funeral. She said she was called into a meeting with administrators, who had a copy of the obituary for her mother that she and her brother had written. They also handed her an anonymous letter from a parent calling the diocese disgraceful for employing a lesbian teacher at its school. 

Her termination letter from Bishop Watterson Principal Marian Hutson declared, "Your written spousal relationship violates the moral laws of the Catholic Church."

Following Hale's dismissal, the school said it received threatening phone calls and a slew of online criticism. But it stood by its decision, even as Hale filed a grievance to seek reinstatement and was denied.

"My living arrangements are my personal business. I'm a very moral person," she told reporters Monday after learning of the union's decision. "My decision to acknowledge a loved one in my mother's obituary was not immoral. I am not immoral." 

Hale has also filed a complaint with the city of Columbus, which prohibits firing employees based on sexual orientation. 

Her attorney, Tom Tootle, said it could take a month or more for the city to rule on her case, according to WCMH.com. Without help from her union, he asked her supporters for financial assistance.

"Arbitrations can be very expensive. Without the support and assistance of the COACE, we will need the support of all those who have been out there," Tootle said.

Hale's case has received national attention. A Change.org petition calling her to get her job back has more than 127,000 signatures. Locally, a group supporting her called Halestorm Ohio has more than 5,000 members, according to WCMH.com.

"We have a real opportunity not only to see justice done for a great teacher and great mentor, but to also make history. What we do here could impact employment policy all over the country," Amanda Finelli, a member of Halestorm Ohio, told WCMH.com.

NBC News' Jeff Black contributed to this report.

Read original story: 

Fired lesbian teacher fights to get job at Catholic high school back

By Suzanne Choney, Contributing Writer, NBC News

At a time when the country is celebrating the bravery of three kidnapping victims and the heroism of their rescuer, unexpected public ire has fallen on the 911 operator who received Amanda Berry's heart-wrenching plea for help — particularly for not remaining on the line with her until the police arrived.

On Facebook, a "Fire the dispatcher that took Amanda Berry's call" page was launched soon after the 911 call began playing over and over on cable news. Frustration over the call's abrupt end started popping up all over Facebook, with posts like: "I can't believe the dispatcher dismissed her!!! No compassion, doesn't want to stay on phone with her" and "That 911 dispatcher should be disciplined for the way she handled that call!! She kept telling that poor girl to speak to the police when they got there ... she should have stayed on the phone until help arrived!"

On Twitter, comments were saltier: "Is it me or did that dispatcher piss anyone else off during Amanda Berry's 911 call?!"

The criticism reached Cleveland city officials, who said Tuesday they will review the actions of the 911 operator.

"While the call-taker complied with policies and procedures which enabled a very fast response by police, we have noted some concerns which will be the focus of our review, including the call-taker’s failure to remain on the line with Ms. Berry until police arrived on scene. Please be assured that this matter will be investigated, and if necessary, appropriate corrective action taken," said Martin L. Flask, director of the city's Department of Public Safety in a statement.

Emergency experts and trainers for 911 call centers say the dispatcher should have stayed on the phone longer with the distraught victim, who had broken free after allegedly being held captive for years along with two other women.

During the call, Berry asked if police were on their way, and was told they will be, "as soon as we get a car open."

"No, I need them NOW!" she beseeches the dispatcher, who also asks some more questions, but repeatedly tells Berry to "talk to the police when they get there," before hanging up.

"This young lady was very clearly upset, significantly affected, and it just seemed prudent to remain on the phone (with her) to obtain as much information as possible," Dennis Root, co-founder of Tactical Advantage Solutions, which trains emergency service workers, told NBC News. 

"You're the lifeline between this caller and responding units. She's been captive for 10 years. A few extra minutes on the phone is not going to hurt anybody."

Root, a longtime police officer for the cities of Riviera Beach and Martin County, Fla., said the goal of 911 personnel "is to gather as much information as possible. Initially, it sounded like the communications officer was in a bit of a rush to get off the phone and that they didn't understand the magnitude of the call they were receiving.

"When you're a 911 communications dispatcher, every call is the real deal, when you may make the difference between life and death," Root said.

Jon Shane, who teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and previously was a police officer and emergency dispatcher in New Jersey, says the dispatcher got the important parts right. "They should have kept the caller on the phone" longer, but "they did what was right. They told her the police were coming, they got some limited description (of the suspect)."

"I would have probed further," he said. "'Was he armed?' 'Are you injured?' 'Are you with anyone else?' 'Who are you there with now?' 'May I speak to that person?' All sorts of things just to alleviate what's going on."

The National Emergency Number Association is a public safety organization that deals with 911 issues. Ty Wooten, operations and education issues director for the organization, told NBC News that the call may have been "a little bit short." However, he said, "When people call 911, they call on the worst day of their lives. No one is calling to report something happy. So everyone wants the fastest response that they can possibly get."

"With the budget cutbacks and the resources that are available today, public safety and 911 and those agencies which 911 support through the dispatch of their agencies can only do so much with the resources they have…it's not what someone wants to hear, but it's the reality of the situation," Wooten said.

Flask, the public safety director, did praise the call-taker's response time. "Within 1 minute and 18 seconds from the time that the call-taker answered the call our dispatcher was broadcasting the assignment to available police units. As a result of the call-taker’s actions, police were dispatched and on scene in less than 2 minutes," he said.

— Nidhi Subbaraman also contributed to this report.

Related:

Police acknowledge little focus on finding Michelle Knight, the third missing Cleveland woman

Timeline of the Ohio kidnappings: Three women's shared nightmare

Nine years before rescue, cops visited Cleveland home where women were held

It's a story with a happy ending over a decade in the making. A daring escape and a dramatic 911 call led to the rescue of three women who allegedly had been held captive for years inside a home in Cleveland, Ohio. Below is a timeline of events in the case, from before the women first  disappeared to their eventual freedom. 

2000: Police visit the Cleveland home of the three Castro brothers, who years later would be placed into custody for the kidnappings of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus. At the time, police were responding to a call about a fight involving Ariel Castro, one of the brothers, then a bus driver.

Aug. 22, 2002: Michelle Knight, then 21 years old, disappears. She is last seen at a cousin's house in Cleveland, according to Cleveland.com. She is reported missing the following day to police, but some family members believe she may have left on her own because she was angry that she had lost custody of her son, according to Cleveland.com. As a result, her disappearance and her photo are not widely publicized.

April 21, 2003: Amanda Berry calls her sister to tell her she's getting a ride home from her job at a fast food restaurant on the day before her 17th birthday. According to authorities, she got into a white, four-door sedan with three men inside. She doesn't make it home and is reported missing, prompting a huge search involving national publicity.

Nov. 15, 2003: The FBI reveals that a week after Berry vanished, her mom received a phone call from her cellphone. A male voice said, "I have Amanda. She’s fine and will be coming home in a couple of days.” Authorities are unable to determine the authenticity of the call.

January 2004: Police make their second visit in four years to the home of the Castro brothers. Ariel Castro, the bus driver, had been accused of leaving a child on a bus; when authorities knocked on the door, no one answered. They later interviewed him and discovered he had "inadvertently" left the child on the school bus, according to The New York Times. Officials determined there was no criminal intent, and he was not charged.

March 6, 2004: The FBI announces that the body of a teenage girl found near San Diego earlier in the week isn't a match for Berry's dental records.

April 2, 2004: Gina DeJesus, then 14, vanishes while walking home from school in Cleveland. Her case bears striking similarities to Berry's: Both girls disappeared within in the same five-block radius, both girls were about 5'1'', and neither had a history of running away from home.

April 9, 2004: Police looking for DeJesus tell the public they are seeking a Hispanic man driving a light-color, older-model, compact car with a license plate that includes the letters "SMS," driving in the area where DeJesus disappeared from. 

November 2004: Berry's case is featured on "America's Most Wanted." The same month, psychic Sylvia Browne appeared on Montel Williams' nationally syndicated TV show alongside Berry's mother, and tells her that her daughter is probably dead.

Oct. 24, 2005: DeJesus' parents, Nancy and Felix, make a national plea on the syndicated program "Maury" to ask for help finding their daughter.

March 2, 2006: Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, dies of heart failure at age 43, nearly three years after she started the search for her daughter. “I want her on the news. She’s faded away from the whole world. It just kills me. This is killing me,” Miller had told a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter who she often asked to write more about her daughter.

Sept. 21, 2006: Police arrest Matthew Hurayt, a 35-year-old registered sex offender, after receiving a tip that DeJesus' body was buried beneath his garage on Cleveland's West Side. A search of his home yields nothing.

July 6, 2007: Another Cleveland girl, Ashley Summers, 14, disappears without a trace from the same neighborhood as Berry and DeJesus. Her disappearance puts Cleveland on edge, and attracts more media attention than ever to the neighborhood and its unsolved crimes -- even though it isn't clear if there is a connection.

April 2009: FBI says it suspects Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Ashley Summers may have all been kidnapped by one man.

Sept. 8, 2009: Police rule out the possibility that a body found in Wisconsin the previous November is Berry's after DNA tests come back negative.

January 2013: A Cleveland inmate, Robert Wolford, is sentenced to four-and-a-half years for providing a false burial tip in Berry's disappearance, sending authorities to a Cleveland lot in the summer of 2012 to dig for her remains.

May 6, 2013: A neighbor hears a noise coming from the door of the Castro home. Stuck inside, Berry is trying to bust through, "kicking the door and screaming," said the neighbor, Charles Ramsey. "‘I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been in this house a long time and I want to leave right now,’” Berry said, according to Ramsey, who helps kick the locked door down.

Once the door is open, Ramsey gives Berry his phone so she can call 911. She has a child with her. Police arrest the three Castro brothers: Ariel, 52, Pedro, 54, and O'Neil, 50.  The three women inside the home, plus the 6-year-old child, are taken to a hospital. Summers is still missing.

May 7, 2013: The three women are released from the hospital Tuesday morning.

In a press conference, police commend Berry for getting herself and the other women out of the house. "The real hero here is Amanda," said Cleveland Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba.

As of Tuesday afternoon, no charges had been filed yet against the three suspects.

Related content:

• Three Ohio women found alive after being missing for a decade; 3 men arrested
• 'Can I help?' Neighbor Charles Ramsey tells of role in discovery of missing women
• 'We should never give up hope': 5 other missing-child stories with happy endings

   

Neighbor Charles Ramsey has told how he heard screams coming from an Ohio home and went to investigate -- a decision that led to the discovery of three women missing for years.

To the neighbors, the house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland seemed normal. There was nothing to indicate that inside -- in addition to the resident they had come to know -- were women who had disappeared in separate cases about a decade ago.

That changed on Monday.

"This girl is kicking the door and screaming," Ramsey told NBC station WKYC-TV. "So I go over there ... and I say, 'Can I help? What’s going on?' And she says, 'I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been in this house a long time. I want to leave right now.'"

Ramsey, who lived across the street and let the woman use his phone to call 911, described being stunned when he realized that the woman was Amanda Berry, who had been missing for 10 years.

Ramsey told reporters he had barbecued with the 52-year-old man who lived in the house. Police said that the man and two of his brothers, ages 50 and 54, had been arrested.

There were more surprises to come for Ramsey, other neighbors and the police. Also found in the house were Gina DeJesus, 23, who had been missing for nine years, and Michelle Knight, 30, who had been missing for 11 years.

Neighbor Mike Iwais, who has lived for years in a house just a couple of hundred feet from where the women were found, told The Plain Dealer newspaper of his shock.

"I used to see him walking around all the time," the paper quoted him as saying. "But I never saw nothing crazy. This is unbelievable. It's a miracle they found him, and it's a miracle those girls are alive. It's a blessing from God."

Another neighbor, Victor Pratts, told the newspaper that he had lived on the street for 25 years and would occasionally ride a four-wheeler with the suspect. He said he never saw any sign of the women.

"We never thought that man would do anything to anybody," Pratts told The Plain Dealer. "He was a bus driver."

Several news outlets said the 52-year-old suspect had driven a bus for Cleveland schools.

Jannette Gomez, 50, who told The Plain Dealer that she frequently visited family and friends on the street, told the paper that the man didn't converse with her. He would return a greeting but leave it at that.

She said the suspect would park his motorcycle or pickup behind the house, lock the gate and go inside through a back door.  She said the house was dark, with shades closed and a window boarded up. 

Most could hardly believe the news.

Charlie Czorba, a Seymour Avenue resident of 25 years, told The Plain Dealer that he was stunned that the women had lived in the house for so long without outsiders knowing.

"This is our own backyard," he told the newspaper. "These girls were locked up in our own backyard."

Related:

• 3 Ohio women found alive after being missing for a decade
• Amanda Berry's frantic call to 911

Glenn Hartong / Cincinnati Enquirer via AP

Parents and other family members cross under a police line to check on their children, on April 29, at LaSalle High School in Cincinnati, where a high school student pulled out a gun and shot himself in a classroom on Monday.

An Ohio student was in critical condition after shooting himself in an apparent suicide attempt that took place during a class Monday at an all-male Catholic high school in Cincinnati, police said.

The student, whose name has not been released at the request of the parents, pulled out a semi-automatic handgun shortly after 9 a.m. on Monday during an honors-level leadership class at La Salle High School, according to authorities.  

Then, in the same room as 22 other students, he tried to end his life, police said.

The school was immediately placed on lock down and no other students were injured.

The youth was taken to a nearby hospital where the student is "fighting for his life," Greg Tankersley, La Salle's director of community development, told reporters.

Tankersley said the teen is an honors student who has completed more than 80 hours of community service and is working to become an Eagle Scout. 

Following the incident, the family released a statement:  “We thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers. We ask that the media please respect our privacy at this time so we can do what we need to do for our son and our family. We also ask that friends of our son and family please refrain from Facebook and Twitter comments. We appreciate the heroic efforts of UC Medical Center staff as they care for our son.”

Authorities have thus far not commented on how the student brought the gun into a classroom. Late Monday police swept the school with K-9 units as a precaution.

Distressed 911 calls from students reveal the chaos and panic that ensued following the single gun shot. Many in the room were unaware at the time that it was a suicide attempt and thought it could be an active shooter.

"We're at La Salle High School and there is a guy with a gun," one student frantically told the Hamilton County 911 dispatcher.
Groups of students huddled together throughout the high school as authorities arrived. 

School officials praised Green Township Police and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office for quickly responding and securing the scene. After the scene was deemed secure, students who had gathered in the gym were allowed to leave with parents. Counselors were also on hand to speak with the kids.

Classes will resume Tuesday with an all-school prayer service at LaSalle, officials said.

"We think it's important to have our young men back in the building so we can talk about it with them and help them deal with this situation," said Tankersley.

Several courts in Ohio are illegally jailing people because they are too poor to pay their debts and often deny defendants a hearing to determine if they're financially capable of paying what they owe, according to an investigation released Thursday by the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU likens the problem to modern-day debtors' prisons. Jailing people for debt pushes poor defendants farther into poverty and costs counties more than the actual debt because of the cost of arresting and incarcerating individuals, the report said. 

"The use of debtors' prison is an outdated and destructive practice that has wreaked havoc upon the lives of those profiled in this report and thousands of others throughout Ohio," the report said. 

Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court, responding to the ACLU's request to take action, promised to review the findings. O'Connor told the group in a letter Wednesday: "you do cite a matter that can and must receive further attention." 

The report says courts in Huron, Cuyahoga, and Erie counties are among the worst offenders. 

Among the report's findings: 

— In the second half of last year, more than one in every five of all bookings in the Huron County jail — originating from Norwalk Municipal Court cases — involved a failure to pay fines. 

— In suburban Cleveland, Parma Municipal Court jailed at least 45 defendants for failure to pay fines and costs between July 15 and August 31, 2012. 

— During the same period, Sandusky Municipal Court jailed at least 75 people for similar charges. 

Judge Deanna O'Donnell of Parma Municipal Court said Thursday the court was unaware of the issue until contacted earlier this week by the ACLU. She said officials were examining the 45 cases in question. 

"If there's an issue here, a problem, we're going to correct it," O'Donnell said. 

Messages left for Norwalk and Sandusky municipal court officials Thursday weren't immediately returned. The ACLU also sent letters to officials at Bryan, Richland County and Hamilton County municipal courts and Springboro Mayor's Court. 

ACLU spokesman Mike Brickner said the group believes the practice is widespread in Ohio. 

The report is a follow-up to a national 2010 report that focused on Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio and Washington. 

That report determined that many courts are violating a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court decision that courts had to hold a hearing to determine why people are unable to pay before sentencing them to incarceration. 

"The report shows how, day after day, indigent defendants are imprisoned for failing to pay legal debts they can never hope to manage," according to the 2010 report, 'In For a Penny: The Rise of America's New Debtors' Prisons.'

"In many cases, poor men and women end up jailed or threatened with jail though they have no lawyer representing them," the report said.

A similar 2010 report by New York University's Brennan Center for Justice looked at the growth of court fees in Florida. It concluded, in part, that the "current fee system creates a self-perpetuating cycle of debt for persons re-entering society after incarceration."

Courts are breaking the law by holding defendants in contempt of court for failing to pay fines without proper notice or allowing an attorney to be present, the report said. Courts are also issuing arrests warrants for people who fail to show up and pay their fines and jailing defendants who are too poor to pay, according to the report.

Court costs should be recovered through civil lawsuits, not jail time, the report said.

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Broke and ashamed: Many won't take handouts despite need

Akron Beacon Journal Pool via AP

Richard Beasley, convicted of murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth, addresses the court after his sentencing in his capital murder case on Thursday in Akron, Ohio.

An Ohio street-preacher who lured his murder victims with bogus Craigslist job offers has been sentenced to death by an Akron judge, following the jury’s recommendation.

Richard Beasley, 53, was convicted on March 12 of killing three men and wounding a fourth, all of whom had been given promises of farmhand jobs in southeast Ohio in 2011.

"Richard Beasley is a cold-blooded manipulator with zero regard for human life,” Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said Thursday, according to The Akron Beacon Journal. "Beasley has shown no remorse and would likely still be preying on men who were seeking a better life. It is never a joyous occasion when someone is sentenced to die, but in this case, the death penalty is the most appropriate sentence."

Beasley made a brief statement before he was sentenced, reported Ohio NBC affiliate WKYC.

"To the families, I'm sorry," Beasley said. "I will continue to pray for you."

The men who were killed were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va.; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon. Beasley shot the men and buried them in shallow graves in the woods.

The man Beasley wounded, Scott Davis, 49, of South Carolina, managed to escape and was a key witness against him. He testified during the trial that when he went to meet Beasley at the alleged job site in Noble County, Ohio, he heard the click of a gun and was shot in the arm.

Davis knocked the weapon aside, ran into the woods, and tipped off authorities, according to The Associated Press.

Akron Beacon Journal Pool via AP

Ohio Attorney General Michael DeWine , left, sits with Ellen and Jack Kern, parents of victim Timothy Kern, as they listen to the sentencing in Richard Beasley's capital murder case.

All of the men that Beasley targeted were destitute and had few family ties. They were seeking fresh starts in their lives, prosecutors emphasized during the trial. 

A 16-year-old co-defendant in the killings, Brogan Rafferty, was sentenced last year to life without parole, ineligible for the death penalty because of his age.

On March 20, during the sentencing phase of his trial, Beasley's mother Carol pleaded with jurors to spare her son's life.

"I love Richard with all my heart," she said tearfully, describing the difficult childhood Beasley endured with his abusive stepfather and sexually abusive neighbors.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Jesus portrait that has hung in a southern Ohio school district since 1947 was taken down Wednesday, because of concerns about the potential costs of a federal lawsuit against its display.

The superintendent of Jackson City Schools said the decision was made after the district's insurance company declined to cover litigation expenses. He said the faculty adviser and two student members of the Hi-Y Club, a Christian-based service club that the school says owns the portrait, took it down at his direction.

"At the end of the day, we just couldn't roll the dice with taxpayer money," Superintendent Phil Howard told The Associated Press. "When you get into these kinds of legal battles, you're not talking about money you can raise with bake sales and car washes. It's not fair to take those resources from our kids' education."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom from Religion Foundation had sued on behalf of a student and two parents, calling the portrait an unconstitutional promotion of religion in a public school. The student and parents weren't identified publicly by the groups, saying they would face backlash from portrait supporters, some of whom had suggested that they should leave town and find another school.

An ACLU spokesman said the school disclosed its decision at a federal court hearing Tuesday in Columbus. The organization will wait to see whether the portrait stays down.

"The case is still open; there was no actual ruling (by the court)," spokesman Nick Worner said. But he added there would be no reason to pursue a court order if the portrait isn't put back up.

'Head of Christ'
Hiram Sasser, an attorney with the Liberty Institute that helped defend the school, said Wednesday that the Hi-Y Club could file its own lawsuit for the right to display the portrait, but he didn't know its plans. Messages were left for the club's adviser and legal representative. Howard said the portrait was in the club's possession.

The "Head of Christ," a popular depiction of Jesus, had been in an entranceway's "Hall of Honor" in a middle school building that was formerly the high school. It was near portraits of dozens of prominent alumni and people with local roots such as the late four-term Ohio Gov. James Rhodes. The portrait was moved recently by the club to the current high school building.

A complaint that triggered the February lawsuit put the 2,500-student district in the midst of the ongoing national debate over what religious-themed displays are permissible. Jackson is a city of some 7,000 in mostly rural Appalachia.

The ACLU had an earlier lawsuit against schools in nearby Adams County over a Ten Commandments display that federal courts ruled was primarily religious in nature; however, courts including the U.S. Supreme Court have allowed some displays if deciding their primary purpose is non-religious and they don't promote one religion over another.

With vocal backing from many community members, Jackson's board initially voted to keep the portrait up, saying it belonged to the Hi-Y Club that donated it and that removing it would infringe upon students' private rights to freedom of speech. The board said it was part of a "limited public forum," and that other student clubs could put up appropriate portraits reflecting their mission. Howard said Wednesday no others had been put up.

The groups that sued said in court documents Monday that the move was "nothing more than a contrived pretext to conceal" what they said was the school officials' continued involvement with the maintenance and display of the portrait.

With the portrait gone three days after Easter Sunday, Howard said he expected most residents to be disappointed.

"Obviously, the majority of people in our community wanted it to stay up somewhere in the school district," he said. "This all happened so fast, I don't know that anybody has had time to digest it."

An Ohio woman who feared carrying her baby full-term would endanger her life is suing an abortion clinic after she went there to terminate her pregnancy -- only to find out a week later that the procedure hadn't worked.

Ariel Knights, 22, of Cuyahoga Falls, has a rare medical condition called uterine didelphys, which means she has a double uterus. She was repeatedly told by a doctor when she got pregnant last year that her life could be threatened due to the fact that the fetus was in the more unstable of her two uteruses, her attorney, James Gutbrod, said from his Akron office.

Going to The Akron Women's Medical Group for an abortion last March was a difficult decision for Knights, but she felt she had to do it to save her life, Gutbrod said. Immediately afterward, she sensed something was wrong.

"She was having some pain," Gutbrod said. "She was sick, bleeding and miserable."

Knights, who is engaged and has a three-year-old son who she successfully carried in her other uterus, according to The Akron Business Journal, went to an Akron hospital six days after she had gone in for her abortion. At the emergency room, an obstetric triage doctor performed an internal ultrasound on her, reported The Business Journal.

“And the look on [the doctor’s] face when he found out, he was like, ‘Oh my goodness, honey, you’re still pregnant,’ ” Knights told The Business Journal. “My fiance and I, we both were kind of in shock.”

Knights was given the name of a different abortion clinic to go to at that point, her attorney said. But the new abortion clinic -- this one located in Cleveland -- was not interested in "dealing with somebody else's mistake," and refused to perform the abortion, Gutbrod said. Not wanting to go back to the Akron clinic that she believes failed in the first place, she made the potentially life-threatening decision to carry her baby to term.

Knights' baby daughter was born by C-section on Sept. 20, 2012. She told The Business Journal the 6-pound girl is her "miracle baby."

Her attorney said they are monitoring the baby's health. 

"The baby was in the neonatal intensive care unit for five days. As far as we know, the baby is healthy. There have been a couple of issues. At one point she would only turn her head to the left. And then there was some leg and eye twitching. At this point, we don't know whether those are just normal pediatric events or if they have any more significance," Gutbrod said.

The lawsuit against the medical group alleges doctors were negligent and asks the clinic to cover the medical expenses Knights had to pay throughout her high-risk pregnancy, as well as her lost income. It also makes a claim for the emotional anguish she experienced during the experience. Her lawyer wouldn't comment on the amount they are seeking.

It's unclear what went wrong with the abortion. Knight's attorney said he did not know if the problems were related to her medical condition. D. Cheryl Atwell, who represents the medical group, wouldn't comment on the lawsuit. 

"Everything being alleged by Ariel Knights is protected under the HIPAA [Health Insurances Portability and Accountability Act] statute regarding protected medical information," she said.

Being pregnant with her daughter was "constant stress," Knights said.

“I can’t explain how I felt. It was just a sense of being overwhelmed, wondering what happened to the baby, wondering what’s happening to me," Knights told The Business Journal. "It was just constant stress."

Mike Cardew / Akron Beacon Journal Pool via AP

Richard Beasley smiles at his sister Sherri Beasley as he is wheeled into Summit County Common Pleas Judge Lynne S. Callahan's courtroom in Akron, Ohio, on Feb 27, 2013.

Faced with a jury’s recommendation to hand down the death penalty, an Ohio judge will now decide on Thursday, April 4 the fate of the triple killer who lured his victims with Craigslist job offers.

A sentence was expected Tuesday afternoon for 53-year-old Richard Beasley, but Judge Lynn Callahan in Akron said unavoidable complications forced officials to move the sentencing to a later date. 

Beasley, a self-styled street preacher, was convicted last week, found guilty on 26 counts, including nine counts of aggravated murder.

While the jury for the case voted and urged Beasley’s execution, Callahan has the option of reducing the sentence to life in prison. That option could include a chance for parole after 25 or 30 years.

Beasley killed three men and shot another who responded to bogus ads on Craigslist that promised a job as a caretaker on a large farm in Noble County, Ohio. One was killed near Akron and two others were killed at the southeast Ohio farm.

The slain men were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va.; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon. Geiger and Pauley were both buried in shallow graves in a wooded area in Caldwell, Ohio.

The survivor, Scott Davis, testified that he heard the click of a gun as he walked in front of Beasley at the reputed job site. Davis, who was shot in the arm, said he knocked the weapon aside, fled in to the woods and tipped police.

Beasley's teenage co-defendant Brogan Rafferty, who was 16 at the time of the crimes in 2011, was sentenced by the same judge last year to life without parole. Because of his age, he wasn't eligible for the death penalty.

In an opening statement during the sentencing phase of the trial last week, prosecutor Jonathan Baumoel said the "enormous" weight of Beasley's crimes should be considered in deciding on life or death.

Beasley didn't take the stand at the trial's sentencing phase to appeal for mercy. His attorneys instead called a friend of Beasley, a psychologist and his mother, who begged jurors to spare her son's life.  

Beasley had previously served several years in prison on a burglary conviction. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.