South Side gunfight

South Side gunfight
YOUNGSTOWN -- A gunfight erupted on the South Side this morning as schoolchildren gathered on corners to wait for their buses.
Patrolman Dan Mikus said a witness who had been waiting for his bus at Hilton Avenue heard the gunfire and ran to a group of children waiting for their bus on Ravenwood Avenue.
Mikus said shots were fired between a two-tone burgundy Chevrolet and possibly a gray Pontiac. By the time police arrived, the cars had left.
Leave granted
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Rev. Dennis Bliss of North Canton has been granted a six-month leave of absence as a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.
Father Bliss and the diocese were recently named defendants in a $3 million lawsuit filed Nov. 16 in Stark County by Mary Ann Lordi of Youngstown, who claimed she was groped by the priest during counseling. The priest denied the allegation, and the diocese said it was unsubstantiated.
A diocesan official said the priest asked for the leave to deal with the lawsuit.
Arrested in kidnapping
LIBERTY -- Police arrested a man accused of kidnapping two girls from West Virginia. Two people flagged down a police officer on Belmont Avenue on Saturday evening. They told the officer that a man from West Virginia was at the Tally-Hotel with the two juveniles he's accused of kidnapping.
Police arrested Robert Bayles, 38, as he left his hotel room. Bayles, who has addresses in Warren and in Sutton, W.Va., was wanted on a kidnapping warrant from West Virginia State Police.
Both girls, 14 and 15, were found in the hotel room. They were released to their mothers Sunday morning.
Bayles remains in the Trumbull County Jail, awaiting an extradition hearing.
80-year-old robbed
YOUNGSTOWN -- An 80-year-old woman waiting in her West LaClede Avenue driveway for a ride to church Sunday was punched twice and her purse was stolen, police said.
Inside the purse was a $50 check made out to her church, her diabetes medicine, house keys and about $40 in change and bills. The woman said she had seen a car cruise by her slowly and turn around. She figured it was going to a house across the street.
The robber got out of the car and grabbed her purse. She wouldn't let go, and that's when he punched her, causing her to fall and bruise her legs. A friend arrived to take the victim to church just as the robber was getting into his car. The victim pointed out the robber's car to her friend, and they followed it for a while before losing it.
CD players stolen
AUSTINTOWN -- Police are investigating the theft of CD players from nine cars late Saturday or early Sunday.
Some of the cars were parked in a carport on South Raccoon Road, while others were parked on Paisley Avenue. CDs also were taken from some of the cars.
Thieves broke windows to enter all but two of the cars. They tampered with locks on the other two cars.
Condominium burglaries
CANFIELD -- Police are investigating burglaries that occurred late Saturday or early Sunday at five condominiums on Newton Square.
Jewelry and money were taken from some of the condominiums. Other condominium residents are checking to see if anything was taken from their homes. No one was home when the burglaries occurred.
Some of the jewelry was found later in woods nearby.
Similar burglaries occurred in early November at two condominiums on Montgomery Road. Police also are investigating those burglaries.
Doors to each of the condominiums had been kicked in.
Fire damages home
AUSTINTOWN -- Fire caused $20,000 worth of damage to a home at 262 Parkgate Sunday afternoon.
Township firefighters arrived at the home at 1:42 p.m. and spent about two hours putting out the fire. The fire started when boxes that were packed with books and stacked near a baseboard heater on the home's back porch ignited. Most of the fire damage was to the porch and back of the home.
No one was hurt.