The pretrial hearing of alleged stalker Eric Halgrimson has been postponed. The former Oberlin double degree student, who was scheduled to appear in Lorain County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 5, will appear on Nov. 9 instead.
He was arrested in October 1996 on charges of resisting arrest, attempted assault and stalking an Oberlin student.
Halgrimson will have to offer his plea at the pretrial hearing. The prosecution has accused Halgrimson of behavior clearly constituting a pattern of stalking. Halgrimson allegedly followed an Oberlin female student from whom he took violin lessons to many different locations, including Chicago, Denver and Boulder.
After the victim terminated lessons with Halgrimson due to "inappropriate demands of time and inappropriate actions," he proceeded to attempt suicide by cutting both sides of his neck with a sharp object. He was released from the hospital in March 1996.
According to the police report, Halgrimson became belligerent upon arrest and tried to "strike the officers repeatedly, both in a punching and kicking manner," as well as to grab an officer's baton.
Following his arrest, Judge Kosma Glavas ordered Halgrimson to "have no contact in any manner whatsoever with the named victim, with any representative, employee, or student of Oberlin College, including, but not limited to: telephone, e-mail, letters or personal."
Halgrimson is also restrained from campus.
A Dec. 7 court date has been set in the trial of Oberlin resident Delucas Lucas. Lucas has been charged with the Sept. 6 assault of a Fairchild resident, as well as a Feb. 8 assault in the Keep parking lot. He is currently being held in the Lorain County Correctional Facility on $500,000 bond.
The grand jury indicted Lucas on two counts of felonious assault, three counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated burglary, one count of attempted rape and one count of attempted murder. Along with the Keep and Fairchild incidents, Lucas is being tried for an Aug. 31 stereo theft.
In a taped interview with detectives from the Oberlin Police Department, Lucas admitted to the Keep assault as well as the Fairchild assault. However, at his Oct. 21 arraignment, Lucas entered a plea of not guilty.
Another pretrial is slated for Nov. 19 before the Dec. 7 jury trial.
The Office of Finance is now one person poorer.
Budget Director Bob Knight bid adieu to the College last week after three years at Oberlin. He announced his resignation on Sept. 15. He will take a job with Case Western Reserve University, where he went to school and worked before coming to Oberlin. Last Friday was his final day.
Knight was responsible for budget planning. Vice President for Finance Andy Evans said Knight will be sorely missed.
"He was absolutely terrific for us," Evans said. "But it was a great career opportunity for him."
President Nancy Dye said Knight did a wonderful job as budget director. "I'm very, very sorry to see him go," she said.
Director of Human Resources Ruth Spencer also spoke highly of Knight, saying he could explain budgets to people who don't think fiscally.
The College is currently conducting a search for Knight's replacement. The Finance Office has held interviews and invited candidates for campus visits. Evans hopes to hire someone by Dec. 1.
Copyright © 1998, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 127, Number 8, November 6, 1998
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