FBI asks area agencies to patrol water sources

FBI asks area agenciesto patrol water sources
BAZETTA -- Bazetta Township Police Chief Robert Jacola said his department is doing what it can in response to a request from the FBI asking police departments and sheriff's offices around the country to increase security at their local water supplies.
He would not go into more detail and Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere could not be reached.
Mosquito Lake, bordered by Bazetta and Cortland in Trumbull County, is the water supply for Warren, which sells water to other communities.
A fax sent Sunday from the FBI to local law enforcement agencies outlines the steps that should be taken, including performing additional patrols around reservoirs, reviewing emergency response plans, and developing a clear chain of command that can be followed in case of a disaster.
"We're aware of it and we'll deal with it," Jacola said.
Board ratifies contract
WARREN -- The board of education has ratified a contract with the union representing 58 educational aides who work with disabled children.
The contract was approved by the union last week, officials said.
The aides will get a 4-percent pay increase the first year of the contract, then 3 percent the second and third years.
Pay rates for the first year of the contract range from $7.05 an hour for an aide with no experience working with developmentally handicapped children, to $9 an hour for an aide with 30 years seniority who works with multiple handicapped children.
The contract expired July 1.
Man given prison term
WARREN -- A 21-year-old city man convicted of attempted murder has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Judge Andrew Logan sentenced Thomas Sledge during a brief hearing Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Sledge was convicted by a jury last week of shooting Nathaniel Daniels of Warren on Jan. 22 at a gas station on West Market Street.
Authorities said Sledge fired seven shots at Daniels and hit him once. Daniels recovered.
Community chest
McDONALD -- McDonald Community Chest will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday in the senior citizens room of the post office building.
Breast cancer screening
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The Womancare Center of UPMC Horizon and the Life Care Cancer Center will offer free breast cancer screenings from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Womancare Center on North Hermitage Road.
Women over 40 who don't have health insurance and who haven't had a mammogram in the past year are eligible for the free screening. For an appointment, call (888) 447-1122.
Hearings postponed
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Preliminary hearings for three New York men accused of stealing vitamins and bodybuilding supplements in a multicounty theft ring were postponed.
Victor M. Garcia, 22, Frederick D. Hornendo, 24, and Gilbert Delgado, 22, were to appear before District Justice J.V. Lamb on Tuesday on charges of retail theft, theft, criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen property, but the state police trooper who arrested the men was called away on a family emergency.
The men were arrested Sept. 20 on Interstate 80 by Pennsylvania State Police in Mercer County after they were stopped for a traffic violation and stolen items from the Prime Outlets at Grove City and the General Nutrition Center store in Union Township were found in the car.
Lamb reduced their bond from $20,000 to $10,000 because of the hearing delay. Police said the men face similar charges in Mercer, Crawford and Clarion counties.
Private prison layoffs
YOUNGSTOWN -- Saving the city several thousand dollars might be the only upside to the nearly 500 layoffs this year at the private Northeast Ohio Correctional Center.
The city's human relations commission will have between $5,000 and $7,000 in its 2001 budget that will go unspent, said William M. Carter, the agency executive director. The savings is because there was just one hearing involving a NOCC worker this year, he said.