CRAIG BEACH Village to handle ordinance violators

Deputies make five to 10 arrests and write about 12 traffic citations a month in the village.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CRAIG BEACH -- Ken Cardinal says he doesn't have jurisdiction over misdemeanor cases from Craig Beach. However, since 1993, Cardinal and other assistant Mahoning County prosecutors have been prosecuting people who have broken village ordinances.
"It's no different than if we went into Youngstown and prosecuted their municipal offenses," Cardinal said.
That procedure is set to change Aug. 20, when Craig Beach Solicitor James Vivo is planning to begin prosecuting people who are cited for breaking village ordinances. Vivo said he has scheduled hearings for two defendants that evening in Mahoning County Court in Austintown.
Future hearings will be scheduled one Monday each month.
Sheriff's Maj. Mike Budd said deputy sheriffs make between five and 10 arrests in Craig Beach each month, mostly on charges of domestic violence, vandalism, and assault. They also write about 12 traffic citations a month.
Vivo will be responsible for prosecuting each of those arrests and citations, as well as arrests and citations from the village police. Police Chief Rick Watson didn't return calls.
Felony charges will be bound over to the county grand jury, Vivo said.
Not sure yet: Vivo said he hasn't determined if people convicted for breaking village ordinances during the past eight years can use jurisdiction as grounds for appeal.
Marc Dann, a Hubbard attorney who served as Craig Beach solicitor in the mid-1990s, said he thinks "due process was observed" by county prosecutors.
"We never had any concerns," he said.
County prosecutors started taking Craig Beach's misdemeanor cases in 1993, when a county judge prohibited then-Mayor Julius Yuhasz from conducting a mayor's court. Cardinal said the prosecutors offered to take the cases while village officials worked out their administrative issues.
Yuhasz resigned July 29, 1993, a week before a county judge was set to hear arguments that he should be removed from office.
Yuhasz pleaded guilty to theft in office in 1996 for taking $336 from the mayor's court fund.
hill@vindy.com