Taking applications for council president

Taking applicationsfor council president
YOUNGSTOWN -- Candidates to fill the vacancy for city council president have through today to apply to the Mahoning County Democratic Party. As of Saturday, the party said five people have applied for the position: Clarence Boles of Idlewood Avenue, who also is a school board member; Andrew J. Douglas Sr. of Wabash Avenue; Councilman Rufus Hudson, D-2nd; Cynthia McWilson of Woodford Avenue; and Councilman John R. Swierz, D-7th. City precinct committee members will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Saxon Club in Austintown to choose the new president. The appointment lasts until November 2003, when there will be an election to fill out the term, which expires at the end of 2004.
Theft from school
CANFIELD -- Someone stole a $600 amplifier from the Canfield High School band room, the school's band director told police. The director said he last saw the 70- to 80-pound wheeled amplifier on March 27 and noticed it missing from a storage room Friday. The room is locked but has a second entrance that is sometimes unlocked, he said.
Stolen car recovered
AUSTINTOWN -- Mill Creek Park police recovered a stolen automobile from Lake Glacier. Police found the 1994 gold Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra with its front end submerged in the lake near Lower Slippery Rock at about 6:45 a.m. Sunday. The car had been reported stolen from a car dealer in Cuyahoga Falls. The license plate on the car had been reported stolen by an Austintown man. He told township police the plate was stolen between 5 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday when his car was parked in the lot of the Sandwich Factory on North Niles-Canfield Road.
Purse theft at Wal-Mart
AUSTINTOWN -- A 37-year-old township woman reported that her purse was stolen from a shopping cart at Wal-Mart. The woman told police she was shopping at about 5:15 p.m. Friday when she was distracted for about five minutes by a woman asking her about laundry soap. She said she believes a man who was with the woman took her purse.
17th District Dems
POLAND -- The Democrats of the 17th District will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Poland Community Baseball Association hall on Sheridan Road. The political organization will have endorsement interviews with Democratic candidates running in the May 7 primary.
Engagement ring gone
SALEM -- An Austintown woman said her engagement ring was taken from her purse without permission, and a woman she knows said she drove another woman to a Canton pawn shop, where she used an engagement ring to get a $70 loan. The woman reported the ring missing about noon Saturday. She said it is valued at about $2,300.
New patrol cars
LIBERTY -- Liberty police began putting five new marked cruisers on patrol today. Police Chief Anthony Slifka said one went on the road today and the rest will go during the week. The department has 20 marked cruisers. Officers who live in the township take them home when off duty. The township bought the cruisers, which cost $22,500 each, because none had been bought for two years.
Prison consultant
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city's former private prison consultant from Florida, who faced questions about his dealings here and in that state, will resign his state job. C. Mark Hodges, executive director of Florida's Correctional Privatization Commission, told the board last week he will resign as of May. He said it was time to leave because four of the board's five commissioners were recently appointed. The Florida Ethics Commission has found probable cause that Hodges used his public position to benefit his outside consulting business. Among his actions was selling Youngstown an edited private prison manual for $7,500 instead of charging only copying costs. An ethics case is pending. City officials say Hodges did more work for the money than just provide the documents. Invoices and contracts, however, don't specify work done for payment beyond providing the document.