Many voice concerns for hometown 'hero' Ben
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FINDLAY, Ohio -- Walk into Tony's Restaurant here and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is as big as ever.
Customers are greeted by an autographed Steelers jersey and other assorted memorabilia commemorating the Findlay High graduate and his pro-football glory. Still featured on the menu is the Big Ben Burger, or a pound of ground beef, lettuce, tomato, and Tony's barbeque sauce on a five-inch bun for $7 -- in honor of Roethlisberger's No. 7 jersey.
Cheese costs seven cents.
"We're still selling it every day," said Connie Tagliapietra, assistant manager at Tony's and the twin sister of Bonnie Brown, whose husband, Tom, owns the restaurant. "If people here were totally against him, we wouldn't be selling the Big Ben Burger like we've been."
Ms. Tagliapietra said the Browns -- the restaurant's owners, not the Pittsburgh football rival -- still support Mr. Roethlisberger despite allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by at least three different women in the last nine months.
But in this tight-knit, conservative community of about 37,000 people, a shared sense of disappointment and disbelief has spread among the residents who watched Mr. Roethlisberger grow up and who became Steelers fans when Pittsburgh made him its first-round draft pick in 2004.
From Mr. Roethlisberger's former neighbors on Woodley Terrace, to city hall, to parents of current Findlay High athletes, feelings run strong about their hometown hero and the off-field behavior that has, since July, led him to be sued by one woman for sexual assault, investigated by local law enforcement in Georgia for another alleged assault.
Police documents released Thursday in Georgia show that after the incident in Georgia surfaced, a 16-year-old in Milledgeville, Ga., told authorities he had been told about incidents involving Mr. Roethlisberger and a friend's sister. The 16-year-old told police the woman's brother told him that Roethlisberger twice made unwanted sexual advances. Authorities repeatedly tried to interview the woman, who is in her early 20s, but she declined.
"I think he's a stupid jerk," said Tom Daley, a former neighbor of the Roethlisberger family on Woodley Terrace. Mr. Roethlisberger's parents moved to Pittsburgh last summer.
First Published April 17, 2010 12:00 am
