Victim is all wet

Victim is all wet
YOUNGSTOWN -- A woman in her parked car on Hudson Avenue near Sheridan Elementary School was the victim of a drive-by squirting around 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
The woman told police a man pulled up beside her in a white Pontiac Grand Am, took out a water pistol and zapped her several times.
Toymaker sued in fire
YOUNGSTOWN -- A city couple whose home burned when a child's toy caught fire has sued the toy maker.
Karla Hoyt and Gerald Hodge of St. Louis Avenue are seeking $60,000 in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages from Fisher-Price of East Aurora, N.Y.
They say a child's Power Wheels car malfunctioned, causing the toy to catch fire while its battery was charging on their front porch.
The fire quickly spread, destroying the house and nearly all its contents.
The couple says Fisher-Price knew about the defective wiring but did nothing to warn customers or correct the problem.
DUI checkpoint
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County Sheriff's Department will operate a DUI checkpoint from 10 p.m. today to 4 a.m. Saturday along South Avenue, north of U.S. Route 224, in Boardman Township.
Bandanna burglar
YOUNGSTOWN -- A bandanna-masked man was waiting for a 24-year-old Hilton Avenue man when he got home around 11:40 Thursday night.
The stranger struck the homeowner behind his right ear and said, "Get to the floor; I don't want to have to smoke you!"
The victim's hands and ankles were bound with bandannas and $315 was taken from his pockets. The burglar also took jewelry and a 25-inch TV.
Police said the burglar entered through a dining room window.
Civic center board
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown Civic Center Development Corp. board of directors has leased office space on the second floor of the city-owned Wick Building at 34 Federal Plaza West.
The one-year lease calls for the corporation to pay the city $1 a year, and has three one-year renewal options at $1 a year.
The space, formerly occupied by the chamber of commerce, includes offices, a conference room and a room for review of architectural drawings of the proposed city convocation center, whose development the board is overseeing.
Board member Paul A. Lyden said he hopes the corporation can occupy its offices by mid-July.
The corporation has no office of its own, but it has been conducting meetings at 4:30 p.m. Thursdays in a basement conference room of City Centre One.
Down payment help
YOUNGSTOWN -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a new program that allows Ohio's housing officials to provide families with up to a year's worth of housing vouchers to be used toward a down payment and closing costs on a home.
The new program assists low-income households in affording rental housing in the private market. The local Section 8 office, operated by the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority, is at 133 W. Boardman St.
Rabies vaccines offered
STRUTHERS -- Rabies vaccinations for dogs, cats and ferrets will be given by the Struthers Board of Health from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday in the city hall police garage, 6 Elm St.
No appointment is necessary, but there is a $2 charge per vaccine.
Dogs must be leashed. Cats and ferrets must be caged or carried in a cloth pillow case.
Rabies vaccination is required for all dogs, cats and ferrets more than 3 years old in Mahoning County.
Cloning and ethics
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Rosen Scholar-in-Residence Fund will sponsor a panel presentation and discussion on the ethics of cloning at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Temple El Emeth.
Dr. Brendan P. Minogue of Youngstown State University's department of religion and philosophy and a professor of chemical bioethics at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, and Rabbi Lawrence Zierler, assistant director of the Jewish Community Center in Cleveland, will be panelists.