Traficant bond sought

Traficant bond sought
CINCINNATI -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has received the final brief from lawyers who want ex-congressman James A. Traficant Jr. released from prison on bond pending appeal of his conviction.
Columbus attorneys Percy Squire and Lloyd Pierre-Louis said Traficant, of Poland, is not a flight risk, and contend his challenge of the jury-selection process has merit.
The lawyers also argue his incarceration after expulsion from the House of Representatives constitutes double jeopardy.
The appellate court will consider points raised by Traficant's lawyers, the government's reply and his lawyers' answer to the government's objections.
Charges over road rage
BOARDMAN -- A morning road-rage situation sent three people to the hospital and put two men in jail.
James Donald Davelli, 45, of Applecrest Court, is charged with felonious assault and misdemeanor carrying of a concealed weapon. Christopher Adam Helmick, 25, of Bessemer Road, Youngstown, is charged with misdemeanor carrying of a concealed weapon. The situation occurred about 3 a.m. at Market Street and Ewing Road.
Police and witnesses said Helmick stopped short at a red light, angering Davelli, who was in a different car. The two men exchanged words and hand gestures, and Davelli reportedly threatened the other man. Helmick pulled into a parking lot, followed by Davelli, and both men got out. Davelli, with a flashlight, allegedly started to fight.
A woman riding with Helmick got out to break up the fight but was hit with the flashlight and suffered a broken arm.
Helmick was treated at a hospital for scratches and bruises and bleeding from the head. Davelli suffered a broken arm and wrist. Both men were carrying knives.
School documents
AUSTINTOWN -- Confidential papers found in a trash bin outside Austintown Middle School were copies of about 75 pupils' first-semester report cards and class schedules, said Austintown Superintendent Richard Denamen.
Denamen said the papers came from the classrooms of three homeroom teachers. A district policy is to incinerate all confidential documents, Denamen said. A custodian was unaware that the papers were in the trash.
Denamen said a pupil found the papers and a parent alerted him to the situation. Principals in each school have been sent notices reminding them to incinerate such documents.
Hazardous material
STRUTHERS -- City police officers stopped traffic on Walton Avenue near State Street to allow the driver of a freight truck carrying hazardous material to leave the city and get onto Interstate 680.
Officers pulled over the driver, a 48-year-old Rome, Ohio, woman, about 5:25 p.m. Wednesday after seeing a hazardous material placard on the truck. It carried sodium hydroxide. It is a violation of a city ordinance to carry hazardous substances through the municipality without the authorization of the city council. The driver said she had been given the route by her employer.
Police reports show that the truck was also over the weight limit for city streets. The matter was sent to the city prosecutor.
Charged with assault
YOUNGSTOWN -- Although David Kopnitsky told police he returned home Aug. 20 to find his companion had been bludgeoned, Kopnitsky, 23, of North Garland Avenue has been charged with felonious assault. Kopnitsky, arrested Wednesday by Detective Sgt. Pat Kelly, is accused of using a blunt instrument to beat Fernando Pachero, 43, who was critically injured.
Kopnitsky's municipal court records show convictions for drug abuse, theft, assault, aggravated menacing and more and indicate he owes a series of past-due fines. He is on probation.
Accused in stabbing
YOUNGSTOWN -- Nora Lewis is accused of stabbing Timothy Heaver when their cats began fighting at her Wick Avenue home late Wednesday afternoon, police said. Heaver, 31, of Trumbull Avenue, Girard, told police that Lewis, 19, stabbed him when he grabbed his cat, which Lewis intended to stab with a kitchen knife.
When police asked about the knife, Lewis told them she had washed it and placed it in the dishrack, reports show.
Heaver received hospital treatment for his injury. Lewis was arrested on a charge of felonious assault.
Northeast Home Owners
YOUNGSTOWN -- Northeast Home Owners will resume their meetings at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at Price Memorial AME Zion Church, 920 Dryden Ave. The speaker of the evening will be Chris Verich from Outreach Ohio Consumers Council.