COLUMBIANA CORNER Freak accident takes out poles

That two utility poles had been struck during a traffic accident was not extraordinary news for LouAnn Koch, Ohio Edison area manager. She was surprised, however, when crews said the poles they were replacing were on opposite sides of the highway.
"I couldn't believe it," Koch said. "I don't recall that ever happening before."
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said two drivers sustained minor injuries in the March 5 accident on U.S. Route 62, west of Salem in Butler Township. The cars were eastbound on Route 62 and the second car failed to stop, striking the rear of the first vehicle, the patrol said. Both cars then veered off the road in opposite directions, striking the poles, the patrol said.
Koch said about 1,200 customers were without power after the 5:40 a.m. crash. All but 55 customers had power restored within two hours, and the remainder by 2 p.m., she said.
Math money: Second-graders at Leetonia's Washingtonville Elementary School recently raised nearly $1,200 for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital through a math-a-thon. Teacher Tiffany Davis said pupils completed a booklet containing about 250 math problems over a 10-day period, with pupils' family and friends pledging a specific dollar amount or 5 cents a problem. Davis said 29 of the school's 59 second-graders participated.
Grant for literacy: The Way Station received a $1,741 grant from the Laubach Literacy National Book Scholarship to buy New Readers Press books and instructional materials for its cross-cultural English as a second language program. The nonprofit ministry organization in Columbiana has pupils from Mexico, Peru and Guatemala -- most of them migrant workers -- preparing for the general educational development diploma, and United States citizenship.
Honoring war hero: The Ohio legislature is a step closer to naming a section of highway in Columbiana County after a Wellsville war hero.
State Sen. Greg DiDonato of Dennison, D-30th, said recently that the state Senate passed a bill designating a 5.3-mile section of state Route 7 from Wellsville to East Liverpool the Melvin E. Newlin Memorial Highway.
Newlin, a Marine, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his combat heroics in Vietnam in July 1967.
The bill now goes before the House.
No comment: With friends like Salem Councilman Steve Andres, who needs enemies? That's what Councilman Walt Bezeredi, might be asking himself lately, tongue-in-cheek of course.
Bezeredi, D-4th, missed a recent council meeting. In his absence, Bezeredi asked Andres, D-2nd, to say something nice about him, Andres related. But it was not to be.
Deadpanning to the television cameras used to broadcast council meetings to the public, Andres quipped, "I've been sitting here for an hour, and I can't think of a thing to say."
XCONTRIBUTORS: Nancy Tullis and Norman Leigh, Vindicator Salem Bureau