BREAKING NEWS:
Rapist sentenced to 65 years in prison
WESTLAKE — Curtis Soverns, who pleaded guilty last week to the kidnapping and rape of a 23-year-old nanny, was sentenced to 65 years in prison Wednesday by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Eileen T. Gallagher. Soverns, 38, was also classified as a sexual predator by the judge.

Soverns

Soverns, his voice breaking with emotion, told the judge he was not really the monster who committed the crimes and apologized to the victim and everyone else affected by the case.

Prosecutors said the victim had been abducted at gunpoint from a parking lot on the east side of the Promenade shopping center in June. Soverns raped her on two seperate occasions during the four hours he held her.

The victim, a native of Brazil who had been working as an au pair for a Westlake couple, told the court she still suffers from nightmares and flashbacks of the assault.

"Mr. Curtis Soverns, you are a very bad person," the victim said. "You are stupid to think you could get away with something like this. To take someone and torture them for four hours — you had control then, but now you don't.

When he was a 15-year-old in Kansas, Soverns and his cousin beath two people to death with baseball bats after breaking into their house and robbing them, prosecutors said.

Council fights PODS invasion
FAIRVIEW PARK — After receiving complaints from residents about large, unsightly portable storage units in the driveways of neighbors, City Council is about regulate their use.

Two candidates vie for 16th District seat
ALSO: Brady back on ballot
WESTSHORE — Westlake Democrat Jennifer Brady, 51, and Rocky River Republican Ed Herman, 32, debated health care and school funding at a recent Legaue of Women Voters forum.

City seeking help filling food cupboard
NORTH OLMSTED — The city food cupboard, which benefits low-income and needy residents, will be closed until mid-November due to a lack of supplies.

Splashing into the playoffs The Rocky River Pirates celebrate the school’s first appearance in the state football playoffs following a triumph over rival Fairview Park Friday which clinched the outright WSC title. For more on the Pirates dream season, see West Life’s special section on pages 13-16 in Section B. (Photo by Larry Bennet)

Pirates outgun Warriors to clinch WSC championship
Despite securing a playoff berth the week before, Rocky River showed no letdown Friday in a 41-12 win over rival Fairview Park. Pauly Ferguson ended the night as River’s all time leading receiver for a season, breaking a record that was set in 1986.

Huntington’s ‘Spider’s Web’ mixes mystery with laughter
"Spider Web," the Agatha Christie play now on stage at Bay's Huntington Theater, provides the audience with humor as well as chills, says West Life Theater critic Art Thomas.