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Beach Waterpark Ralph Vilardo Jr. stands on top of the park’s highest water slide, the Kamikaze. That slide and the entire park has been renovated. Furthermore, new attractions have been added. Altogether, the venue’s new owners spent $5 million updated the park that will re-open May 18, 2013. Photo taken by Adam Kiefaber May 16, 2013. / Adam Kiefaber Enquirer

Adam Kiefaber reports:

After being closed since September of 2011, new owners of the 35-acre Beach Waterpark gave the local media a sneak peek at the tourist attraction during a VIP event Thursday night.

During the event, owners Hank and Susan Woodburn of Adventure Holdings greeted guests, while general manager Ralph Vilardo Jr. showed off the $5 million in upgrades to the park. Vilardo and the new owners hope that the regular Beach visitors will notice a big improvement.

“It has been day and night working to get this park back to its former glory, while adding new attractions and some of our own touches,” said Hank Woodburn, who with his wife own 18 entertainment parks nationwide. “We’ve put $5 million into this project because we really wanted to bring the Beach back to life in each facet of the park.”

When the park re-opens Saturday, Beach goers will notice some new attractions that include a heated wave pool and an interactive kids play area, which has multiple slides and a 600-gallon dumping bucket.

In addition to the new attractions, the $5 million budget was also used to renovate common areas, slides and play areas.

“The wave pool is one of the biggest changes you will see,” Vilardo said. “We went with the latest, greatest technology, which is going to give you real ocean crashing waves that are consistent throughout the day. The interactive kids area is second to none and we also took the existing slides and improved them.”

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Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, The Beach Waterpark |

Tags: Tags: adventure holdings, lawsuit, mason, Ralph Vilardo Jr., reopening, season pass, the beach, the beach waterpark, upgrades, water park

Douglas Boucher, 39, of Mason died after a 2009 tasing incident with Mason Police. Boucher’s family has filed a a lawsuit in federal court against the city and two officers involved.  Provided photo

The city of Mason and two police officers have asked the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge’s ruling denying them immunity in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of an unarmed, mentally ill Mason man who died after a confrontation with police.

Gary F. Becker, a Cincinnati attorney representing Mason and both officers, filed an appeal Thursday arguing the court should overturn Judge S. Arthur Spiegel’s March 22 decision to deny qualified and sovereign immunity to the city and officers.

Qualified immunity shields public officials from legal liability unless they knowingly violated a person’s clearly established legal or constitutional rights. Sovereign immunity is a legal doctrine that makes it difficult for private citizens to sue the government.

• Judge lets Mason stun-gun death suit go forward
• Details of the confrontation
• Read the judge’s ruling

The case centers on Douglas Boucher, who died on Dec. 13, 2009 after two Mason police officers Tased him seven times, kicked and repeatedly struck him with a baton — all mostly after he had fallen face-first onto cement and stopped moving.

The suit alleges Mason Police Officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick unreasonably seized and used excessive force on Boucher, 39, and that the city of Mason failed to adequately train and supervise officers’ use of Tasers or conduct a meaningful investigation of the incident.

Neither officer was disciplined, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation cleared both of wrongdoing.

The suit demands a jury trial and seeks compensatory damages and legal costs. It also asks for punitive damages against the officers, not the city.

“Qualified immunity is specifically designed to protect the officers not only from liability, but from the prospect of having to go through the rigors of a trial,” said Becker. “The city has elected to avail themselves of that right to appeal that decision now.”

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Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: appeal, city of mason, civil suit, daniel fry, doug boucher, douglas boucher, excessive force, gary becker, jennifer branch, lawsuit, mason, mason police, sean mccormick, sixth circuit court of appeals, speedway, taser, tasing

Douglas Boucher, 39, of Mason died after a 2009 tasing incident with Mason Police. Boucher’s family has filed a a lawsuit in federal court against the city, police department and two officers involved. . Provided photo

A federal judge on Friday refused to throw out a civil rights lawsuit filed in the case of an unarmed, mentally ill Mason man who died after a confrontation with police.

Judge S. Arthur Spiegel denied a request by the city of Mason to dismiss the suit filed by the family of Douglas Boucher, who died on Dec. 13, 2009 after two Mason police officers Tased him seven times, kicked and repeatedly struck him with a baton — all mostly after he had fallen face-first onto cement and stopped moving.

The suit alleges Mason Police Officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick unreasonably seized and used excessive force on Boucher, 39, and that the city of Mason failed to adequately train and supervise officers’ use of Tasers or conduct a meaningful investigation of the incident.

Neither officer was disciplined, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation cleared both of wrongdoing.

The two officers apprehended Boucher after a 19-year-old clerk at the Speedway gas station on Reading Road reported to them that the 6-foot-tall, 290-pound musician allegedly made a lewd comment to her.

When officers tried to take Boucher into custody, police say he punched Fry in the head twice and then chased the store clerk. Fry shot Boucher in the back with his Taser, the shock of which knocked Boucher face-first onto the pavement.

• Read more details of the confrontation
• Read the judge’s ruling

Boucher died of a skull fracture sustained from the fall, although Butler County Deputy Coroner James Swinehart said he couldn’t rule out that the seven Taser shocks contributed to his death.

Mason had requested the case be dismissed, arguing the officers acted reasonably and within the bounds of the law in response to an encounter with an aggressive subject who resisted and assaulted officers.

While Spiegel dismissed the plaintiff’s claim that stopping Boucher was a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, he denied the officers qualified immunity.

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Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: al gerhardstein, city of mason, cyril wecht, daniel fry, daubert, death, denied, doug boucher, douglas boucher, excessive force, gary becker, jennifer branch, lawsuit, mason, mason police department, s. arthur spiegel, sean mccormick, taser, tasing, u.s. district court, unreasonable siezure, wrongful death

Paul E. Kostyu reports:

An investigation of state Rep. Peter Beck by the U.S. Department of Labor has cleared the former Mason mayor of any wrongdoing in a fraud case, his lawyer said Thursday.

But two other investigations of the Republican legislator remain ongoing. A civil lawsuit against Beck alleging he participated in fraud that cheated investors out of more than $1.2 million sparked the investigations. Beck, a certified public accountant, has since countersued.

The department’s investigation began last summer and focused on startup software company Christopher Technologies and its president and chief executive officer John Fussner, according to Konrad Kircher, Beck’s Mason-based attorney.

Beck was interviewed by investigators about his role with Christopher Technologies and Fussner.

Kircher referred calls about the case to Michael Trupo, a spokesman for the department.

But Trupo told The Enquirer he could not comment or even confirm whether there was an investigation that involved Beck.

The initial lawsuit against Beck, filed Jan. 3 by 14 investors – many from Hamilton, Butler and Warren counties, and others from Pennsylvania and Alabama – accused him, the Milford accounting firm of Donohoo, Cupp, Beck & Associates, Ark by the River Fellowship Ministry and others of defrauding them by taking their investment and spending the money instead on personal and other non-business items.

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Posted in: Crime, Government, News |

Tags: Tags: ark by the river fellowship ministry, donohoo cupp beck & associates, election, fraud, investors, lawsuit, mason, ohio, pete beck, peter beck, republican, state representative, tml consulting

Douglas Boucher, 39, of Mason died after a 2009 tasing incident with Mason Police. Boucher’s family has filed a a lawsuit in federal court against the city, police department and two officers involved. . Provided photo

A federal judge will decide if a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the city of Mason and two police officers should move forward in U.S. District Court.

Judge S. Arthur Spiegel Tuesday heard arguments in two motions filed by the city in the case of Douglas Boucher, who died in 2009 after Mason police shocked him with Tasers

Attorneys for the city filed both a motion for summary judgment in the case and to exclude the expert opinion testimony of Dr. Cyril H. Wecht concerning the alleged cause of death.

The suit alleges Officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick unreasonably seized and used “dangerous” and “excessive” force on Boucher, 39, who was mentally ill when he died on Dec. 13, 2009 after he was Tased seven times in the parking lot of a Speedway gas station.

The suit, filed by renowned Cincinnati civil rights lawyer Al Gerhardstein, demands a jury trial and seeks compensatory and punitive damages from the city of Mason and the two officers.

Officers Fry and McCormick were at the Speedway gas station on Reading Road the night of the incident when Boucher allegedly made a lewd comment to the 19-year-old clerk. The frightened clerk reported the incident to the officers and told them Boucher had made the same comment to her earlier that day, according to court records.

The two officers approached Boucher, a 6-foot-tall, 290-pound musician who had untreated bipolar disorder, and asked him to go outside. When Boucher tried to get in his car to leave, McCormick said he approached Boucher from behind and put a hand on his shoulder.

Boucher allegedly then spun around, clenched his fists and screamed at McCormick, who said he pulled his Taser and ordered Fry to handcuff Boucher. Fry said he cuffed Boucher’s left wrist when Boucher turned and punched the officer in the head twice.

McCormick said he then deployed the Taser on Boucher, shocking him in the chest and causing him to fall to his knees. The officers say Boucher then spotted the clerk outside, got up — dislodging the Taser probes in the process — and ran toward her while screaming.

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Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: al gerhardstein, city of mason, cyril wecht, daniel fry, death, doug boucher, douglas boucher, excessive force, gary becker, jennifer branch, lawsuit, mason, mason police department, s. arthur spiegel, sean mccormick, taser, tasing, u.s. district court, unreasonable siezure, wrongful death

Paul E. Kostyu reports:

State Rep. Peter A. Beck is the subject of three separate state investigations, according to his attorney.

Meanwhile, Beck this week in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court countersued those who filed a lawsuit against him. The initial suit alleges he participated in a fraud that cheated investors out of more than $1.2 million. Beck is seeking more than $25,000, punitive damages and attorney fees.

The state investigations of the Republican former mayor of Mason are coming from:

• The Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, which is trying to determine whether Beck used his position as a state lawmaker for financial gain.

Konrad Kircher, Beck’s Mason-based attorney, told The Enquirer he has heard neither from the committee nor from the legislative inspector general, Tony W. Bledsoe, who conducts investigations for the committee. Bledsoe said he could neither confirm nor deny an investigation by his office.

House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, told The Enquirer on Jan. 7 that the ethics committee, which he chairs, was investigating Beck.

• The Division of Securities Enforcement of the Department of Commerce, which is looking at “an alleged theft of monies from Ohio investors,” according to a Dec. 13 letter from the department obtained by The Enquirer.

Kircher said Beck is cooperating with investigators and sent a box and a half of materials to the division.

The department asked the Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation, which is overseen by the attorney general, to assist with the investigation. The letter asked that forensic accountant Leo A. Fernandez be assigned to the case, and the agency also “provide litigation support services.”

Lisa Peterson Hackley, a spokeswoman for the agency, said the investigation of Beck is ongoing.

• A third agency, which Kircher would not identify. It started an investigation last summer, but, said Kircher, “It’s dead in the water.”

That agency apparently is not the state auditor’s office. Carrie Bartunek, a spokeswoman, said the agency is not involved with the investigations because “it does not appear” public dollars are involved.

Beck represents Ohio’s 54th House District, which covers southwest Warren County and a small part of eastern Butler County.

Kircher said Beck’s response is a three-pronged effort. Not only is Beck charging his accusers of defaming him, but he’s asking the court “to strike various scandalous, vexatious and impertinent allegations” in the case against him. He also filed a motion to dismiss the case entirely.

The countersuit accuses the investors of trying to humiliate and embarrass Beck in an effort to “extort” concessions and a settlement. Beck refuses to settle, Kircher told The Enquirer.

Investors’ attorney J. Thomas Hodges of Cincinnati said he couldn’t comment because he hasn’t had time to review the countersuit.

The Division of Securities Enforcement can search for evidence of fraud, such as misrepresentations to investors or misspent money, by tracking bank accounts and other sources.

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Posted in: Crime, Government, News |

Tags: Tags: ark by the river fellowship ministry, donohoo cupp beck & associates, election, fraud, investors, lawsuit, mason, ohio, pete beck, peter beck, republican, state representative, tml consulting

Paul E. Kostyu reports:

Apparently not worried about the lawsuit against state Rep. Peter Beck that sparked an ethics inquiry, House Speaker William G. Batchelder appointed the three-term lawmaker as chairman of the chamber’s Ways and Means Committee for the next two years.

Batchelder, R-Medina, announced his selection of leaders for the House committees today. The Ways and Means Committee primarily deals with tax issues.

Beck, R- Mason, is one of two from Southwest Ohio to be selected as committee chairmen. State Rep. Peter Stautberg, R-Anderson Township, will lead the high profile Public Utilities Committee. He also is in his third term.

Beck and business associates face a civil lawsuit alleging they were involved in defrauding investors out of more than $1.2 million. The suit prompted Batchelder to tell The Enquirer this week the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee would launch an investigation of the lawmaker.

Also named to leadership roles were Rep. Lou Terhar, R-Green Township, who will be vice chairman of the Economic Development and Regulatory Reform Committee, and Rep. Tim Derickson, R-Oxford, who leads the Agriculture and Development Subcommittee of the powerful House Finance and Appropriations Committee, which oversees the state budget.

Posted in: Government, News |

Tags: Tags: ark by the river fellowship ministry, chairman, donohoo cupp beck & associates, election, fraud, investors, lawsuit, mason, ohio, pete beck, peter beck, peter stautberg, republican, state representative, tml consulting, ways and means committee, william batchelder

Barry M. Horstman reports:

This is not the first time in court for some of the key players in a lawsuit alleging that state Rep. Peter Beck and others defrauded investors out of more than $1.2 million.

A 2011 Hamilton County Common Pleas Court lawsuit lodges similar charges against some of Beck’s co-defendants, alleging that they improperly used a North Carolina couple’s loan of nearly $900,000, not to help develop residential property by Ault Park as intended, but instead for personal reasons.

While the 2011 suit adds context, it’s currently on hold – because of a continuing probe by Ohio securities regulators.

Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers in March 2012 stayed the case indefinitely pending resolution of a criminal investigation by the Ohio Department of Commerce into the same issues. Dennis Ginty, a department spokesman, said this week that the state still “is looking into the matter” and could not provide a timetable for when the probe will be wrapped up.

Although Beck was not named in the earlier suit, he has ties to some of the 2011 defendants. Since 2005, some of the same individuals and corporate entities also have been defendants in Hamilton County lawsuits involving alleged non-payment of city of Cincinnati income taxes, tax liens for failing to pay Ohio income taxes and failure to pay for services.

The new suit filed last week, Beck’s attorney argues, has caused the representative to be “unfairly blemished for things he had nothing to do with” because his public position makes disgruntled investors “see him as vulnerable.”

“Pete’s a victim as much as anybody else,” said attorney Konrad Kircher of Mason. “He lost money in this, too. If they think he’s sitting on a lot of their money, they’re wrong.”

Beck, a Mason Republican now in his third term in a district that includes parts of Warren and Butler counties, also faces an ethics investigation by the Ohio House over the recent lawsuit.

Although the specific details differ, the broad story lines in the lawsuits from 2011 and last week are similar. At the heart of both are allegations that large amounts of money solicited for business investments were collected under false pretenses and then improperly spent on other purposes, including Beck’s 2010 state legislative campaign.

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Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: ark by the river fellowship ministry, donohoo cupp beck & associates, election, fraud, investors, lawsuit, mason, ohio, pete beck, peter beck, republican, state representative, tml consulting

Paul E. Kostyu reports:

Sworn in to his third term Monday, state Rep. Peter Beck now faces an ethics investigation by the Ohio House because of a civil lawsuit alleging he participated in a fraud that cheated investors out of more than $1.2 million.

House Speaker William G. Batchelder told The Enquirer that the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, which he chairs, will look into the case that was filed against Beck and others last week in Hamilton County.

“The allegations I think are untrue and are an injustice,” Beck, R-Mason, told The Enquirer. “It’s been very hard on me.”

He referred all other questions to his attorney, Konrad Kircher of Mason. Kircher said he is preparing a counterclaim against those who sued Beck and will file it within a month. He called the lawsuit frivolous and said it defames Beck’s character. He would not say how much Beck would seek in damages. Kircher said Beck lost money in the investment deal.

Kircher also told The Enquirer that an attorney then associated with the suit sent it to Beck in February “trying to extort money” through a settlement. Kircher said Beck refused to settle.

No criminal charges have been filed in the case, but Batchelder said that doesn’t matter to the House. The allegation is sufficient for the ethics committee to launch its own investigation. The speaker said he did not know a lot about the case.

When asked if the House takes the allegation seriously, Batchelder, a former common pleas and appellate court judge, said, “We sure do.”

The issue will likely be sent to the legislative inspector general, who investigates such cases then makes a recommendation to the committee. A House member who violates ethics rules can be reprimanded, censured or expelled. Beck, an accountant and former mayor of Mason, represents Ohio’s 54th House District, which includes parts of Warren and Butler counties.

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Posted in: Government, News |

Tags: Tags: ark by the river fellowship ministry, donohoo cupp beck & associates, election, fraud, investors, lawsuit, mason, ohio, pete beck, peter beck, republican, state representative, tml consulting

Kimball Perry reports:

Peter Beck, a state lawmaker from Mason, is accused of participating in a fraud that cheated investors out of more than $1.2 million, a Hamilton County lawsuit alleges.

Beck, who didn’t return Friday calls, is a Republican representing Ohio’s 54th House District.

Fourteen investors – many from Hamilton, Butler and Warren counties and others from as far away as Pennsylvania and Alabama – filed the Thursday suit.

It accused Beck, the Milford accounting firm of Donohoo, Cupp, Beck & Associates, Ark by the River Fellowship Ministry and others of defrauding them by taking their investments and spending that money instead on personal and other non-business items.

“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” asked Cincinnati attorney J. Thomas Hodges who filed the suit on behalf of the 14 accusers, led by Thomas Walter of Madeira.

At least $15,000 of the money the suit alleges was defrauded went to help Beck win election in 2010.

“Beck, who was running for state representative for the State of Ohio, received a check for $5,000 made payable to his campaign fund, Friends of Pete Beck, treasurer Donohoo. There was another check written to Beck’s campaign … for $10,000,” the suit notes.

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Posted in: Government, News |

Tags: Tags: ark by the river fellowship ministry, donohoo cupp beck & associates, election, fraud, investors, lawsuit, mason, ohio, pete beck, peter beck, republican, state representative, tml consulting