Men shot at

Men shot at
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two Youngstown men escaped injury from a barrage of bullets, 10 of which hit the Cadillac they were in, as they drove on East Auburndale Avenue around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Kendail Banks, 19, and Sheard Garner, 19, told police a man near an East Auburndale home shot at them with a handgun as they drove by. Officers found one 9mm bullet casing near the scene.
Body identified
YOUNGSTOWN -- The body of a woman found shot to death on Cloister Street on Thursday morning has been identified as Alison Buckner, 29, no address given. A passer-by who saw the body in the remote East Side area called police at 7:11 a.m. Officers at the scene said she had been shot in the chest. Because of the frost on her purse, she could have been in the field near Augustine Avenue for several hours before being discovered, police said.
Hot line training
YOUNGSTOWN -- Help Hotline, the 24-hour telephone crisis intervention, information and referral center, is offering free training sessions for prospective volunteers. Classes will meet from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on five consecutive Mondays beginning April 30 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 9. Volunteers are asked to make a six-month commitment. For more information, call (330) 747-2696.
Dog is shot
BERLIN CENTER -- A Mock Road woman who found her black and white Labrador mix dog on the front porch Thursday night in a pool of blood later learned that the dog had been shot. The woman told a deputy sheriff that a veterinarian treating the dog at an after-hours emergency clinic in Girard found the bullet wound.
Operation Safe Streets
NORTH JACKSON -- Jackson Township police, as participants in Operation Safe Streets, will crack down on speeders and violators of child restraint and seat-belt laws April 15 to 21.
Dog-attack lawsuits
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two people filed lawsuits Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court seeking damages for injuries they sustained in unrelated dog attacks.
John J. Mathews of Aldrich Avenue, Austintown, is seeking $35,000 in damages from Larry Lindolph and Tammy Yeager of Idlewood Avenue, Youngstown.
Andrea Harper of Reed Avenue, Campbell, is seeking unspecified damages from Richard Garcia, also of Reed Avenue.
Mathews is a postal carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, according to his complaint. It says he was attacked by a dog owned by Lindolph and Yeager while carrying the mail on their street in April 1999.
Harper, a minor, was attacked by Garcia's pit bull while she and a friend were walking down Reed Avenue in October 1998, her suit says. Because Harper is a minor, the suit was filed by her mother, Charice King, who is also seeking damages for loss of consortium.
Threatened to jump
YOUNGSTOWN -- City police talked a Phelps Street man down from the Market Street bridge Thursday, where he was threatening to jump to avoid facing felony charges in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Jeffrey Nelson, 23, was admitted to St. Elizabeth Health Center after he was removed from the bridge.
He was indicted Feb. 3 on allegations that he sent an e-mail message to Louisiana Gov. Michael Foster, threatening to harm Foster if the New Orleans Saints professional football team moves to another city.
Nelson is free on a $5,000 bond awaiting trial in common pleas court.
State OKs renovation
NEWTON FALLS -- The Ohio School Facilities Commission has given the village school district the OK for plans to renovate and construct additions to buildings.
Superintendent Linda J. Clapp said today that the OSFC has approved renovation plans submitted by the village board of education for the middle and high schools.
Additions and renovations to the middle school will provide for the housing of pupils in kindergarten through second grade.
New facilities will accommodate third through sixth grades and will be on the Milton Boulevard campus. Renovations will also be made at the junior/senior high school, which houses grades 7-12.
Kindergarten reminder
McDONALD -- Anthony Russo, principal of Roosevelt Elementary School, is reminding parents of kindergarten-age children that they should be registered for the start of school next fall. Children who will enter kindergarten must be 5 by Sept. 30. Interested parents should contact the school at (330) 530-0226. Appointments are being made for the first kindergarten screening, to be held Wednesday. A second screening date has been set for April 25.