Ecology program grant

Ecology program grant
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning Valley Northeast Ohio Camp Fire Council has been awarded a $3,790 state grant to help pay for a preschool ecology program. The program includes lessons and activities designed for 300 preschool children in Mahoning, Trumbull, Summit, Lake and Geauga counties. The grant was awarded by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Bogus-check warning
HUBBARD -- City police are cautioning business owners about cashing payroll checks from General Motors Corp. A $526 bogus check was cashed at a bar in the city recently. The name and Social Security number on the check were false and the check was drawn on National City Bank, where there was no such account. Detective Robert Altiere suggested today that business owners cash checks only for customers they know well.
Temporary closing
YOUNGSTOWN -- West Rayen Avenue between West Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard will be closed between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Tuesday so the city water department can do work near 763 West Rayen. The city is advising drivers to avoid the area. Detours will be posted.
New Salem center
SALEM -- Groundbreaking for a $9.5 million community center is expected in the next couple of weeks. Salem Community Center Inc., the nonprofit corporation that will run the facility, agreed late last week to hire Stitle Construction of Salem to build the nearly 50,000-square-foot center. The center will be built on a nearly 10-acre site along North Ellsworth Avenue near 12th Street. Construction may take about 14 months.
Altercation at bar
AUSTINTOWN -- A brawl at Newt's Place, North Meridian Road, was settled Saturday evening when the 58-year-old bartender pointed a 9 mm handgun at the aggressor, reports say. Police called to the scene were told that the man, a regular at the bar, became violent when another patron tried to buy his girlfriend a drink. He slugged the other patron, then struggled as the bartender tried to subdue him, reports say. When the gun came out, the man dared the bartender to shoot him, turned, and walked out the door, witnesses told police. The patron who tried to order the drink drove himself to Beeghly Medical Park for treatment of injuries, including a bite to his hand.
Drug charges
SHARON, Pa. -- Police arrested Michael Golden, 42, of South State Line Road, on a warrant charging him with possession and sale of crack cocaine. Golden turned himself in at the police station Saturday morning on charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, conspiracy and criminal use of a communication facility (telephone) in the commission of a crime. He was accused of selling crack to an undercover agent June 29. He was arraigned before District Justice James McMahon and freed on an unsecured bond.
Facing soliciting charge
AUSTINTOWN -- Police arrested a 39-year-old Florida woman on a charge of soliciting sex after hearing her ask, "Who wants action?" on the citizens band radio. Police responded by asking her to meet them in the Rebel 38 truck lot near the Interstate 80-state Route 46 interchange Saturday evening. They found a crack pipe in her possession, reports say.