Arrested in assault

Arrested in assault
SHARON, Pa. -- Police arrested Dale E. Ravenscraft, 23, of Baldwin Avenue, on a warrant charging him with simple assault and making terroristic threats after a disturbance at a First Avenue home. Ravenscraft was picked up Saturday night at Division Street and Indiana Avenue. He was arraigned and freed on his own recognizance.
Police said he broke into a former girlfriend's home on First Avenue around 3 a.m. April 2 and attacked her as she slept on the couch, striking her and biting her on the face and neck. She was able to get free and ran to the kitchen, where she grabbed a knife to defend herself and inflicted several minor wounds on Ravenscraft, police said. He was treated at Sharon Regional Health System's hospital.
Drug charges
SHARON, Pa. -- Police arrested a North Irvine Avenue man at his home after state parole and probation agents found suspected marijuana in his residence. Police said Richard A. Nale, 21, was on probation for a previous drug offense, and parole agents made a surprise visit to his home shortly before 1 p.m. Monday.
The agents reported finding suspected marijuana as well as scales used to weigh drugs, some rolling papers and other drug-packaging materials in the home. Nale was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia, and arraigned before District Justice Ruth French. He is being held in Mercer County on a parole detainer and $15,000 bond.
Killing of dog explained
BROOKFIELD -- A Brookfield woman wants an apology from the police officer who destroyed one of her pets. Police Chief Dan Faustino said Monday that he and Lt. James Baker are sorry that Baker shot and killed Tammy Carano's dog Sunny but that the officer was doing his job. Faustino said Baker fired because he thought the dog may have been rabid.
Sunny, a registered collie, was one of four dogs at the Carano family's Merwin-Chase Road home. Carano, 36, said she was at work when her husband, Joe, and their daughter, Tara Joe, got home around 5 p.m. and found Sunny and Bonnie, a springer spaniel, had gotten out of the house.
The dogs went to the home of Frank Murcko, about 1 1/2 miles away. Murcko rounded up the dogs in his barn and called 911. Baker reported that because the dog warden doesn't usually respond to calls outside business hours, he and Murcko agreed to let the dogs go. The dogs ran off, but about an hour later, Baker was called back to Murcko's. He said Sunny was at Murcko's, foaming at the mouth and growling. He was told the dog "went after" Murcko's granddaughter.
Tim Morgan, a deputy dog warden contacted by 911, told the dispatcher to tell Baker to destroy the dogs, put them into bags and into the garbage.
Carano said the dogs had collars, though their licenses weren't attached, and Sunny wasn't sick. She said the dog was salivating from thirst and fright.
E. Palestine census
EAST PALESTINE -- With the city census count at 3,914 to date, five volunteers will begin a door-to-door count Wednesday afternoon.
City Manager Patricia Quigley said the tally of nearly 4,000 residents came from census forms returned to city hall. Quigley said officials plan to complete the census by April 18.
The census counters will work whenever possible but will concentrate their efforts between 5 and 9 p.m. when they are most likely to find people at home, Quigley said. City officials are out to prove East Palestine has the numbers to retain city status.
The U.S. Census numbers for 2000 showed a 4.9 percent decline in the city from the 1990 census. Officials have said city health department services, some Community Development Block Grant funding and the city's share of local government funds are among the items at stake.