Tuesday, October 16, 2001
CANFIELD -- Fear of terrorism led local residents to make two reports to Canfield police.
Police arrested a Fairground Boulevard man who repeatedly asked a mail carrier to tell him the date Thursday -- one month after the Sept. 11 attacks. Police found Jack Brown, 58, was wanted in Medina County on a warrant for counterfeiting.
Also, the Canfield postmaster called police and said a mail carrier had watched two Middle Eastern men get out of a blue van Thursday and enter a Fairground Boulevard apartment. The two men later got into a white cargo van with Pennsylvania license plates and drove away.
The apartment building manager had called the FBI in September to report concerns about the men.
Police found a blue van owned by Brown on Thursday outside of the building and learned of the warrant. When Brown was arrested, he told police that the two other men worked with him selling goods at flea markets.
According to another report, a Dartmouth Drive woman called police Monday afternoon and said there was an unidentified package in her garage. Canfield officers called the Youngstown police bomb squad to handle the package. Before the bomb squad arrived, however, the woman's daughter arrived home from school and said the package contained a kitchen device known as a "Spud Whizzer." Police opened the package and found the device.