Friday, December 20, 2002
Crash kills motorcyclist
NEW SPRINGFIELD -- Daniel A. Flowers, 16, of New Springfield, was killed Thursday afternoon when he lost control of his motorcycle on Unity Road and crashed, the Ohio State Highway Patrol Canfield post said. Flowers' motorcycle, heading southbound on Unity at 3 p.m., slid off the right side of the road and struck a creek. The impact ejected the teenager, who then landed on the embankment near his motorcycle, the patrol said. Cause of the accident remains under investigation.
14-year-old arrested, charged with rape
AUSTINTOWN -- Police have arrested a 14-year-old township boy accused of raping a 14-year-old girl. The boy was charged Thursday with kidnapping and rape. The girl and one of her friends reportedly had gone to the boy's apartment to visit him around 10:45 p.m. Saturday. They had expected several other people to be in the apartment.
When they arrived, however, only the boy and one of his friends were there. The girl said the boy pushed her into a room in the apartment, locked the door and raped her.
Reports do not indicate what the boy's friend did or if any adults were in the apartment. The girl's friend said she pounded on the door when she heard the girl yell "no!" The boy told the girl's friend that he did not rape the girl.
Knives turned over
CANFIELD -- A South Broad Street woman gave police two knives Thursday that she said she found in her son's room. Reports state that one of the knives is a black throwing knife with eight blades. The woman said she did not want to press charges.
Armed, masked robbery
YOUNGSTOWN -- Someone wearing a Darth Vader mask and dark clothing robbed two women at gunpoint just after they closed the Dollar General Store on McCartney Road Thursday night, reports show. The robber, not identified as a man or woman, left on foot with a purse and cell phone about 10 p.m.
City employee charged
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jerald A. Gordon, a maintenance crew supervisor at the city park department, was arrested late Thursday afternoon at his Scioto Avenue home on a warrant that charges him with sexual imposition. Gordon, 49, is accused of improperly touching a female employee of the park department in January. He was expected to be arraigned today in municipal court on the misdemeanor charge.
Levy yard signs
NORTH JACKSON -- Beginning next month, numerous yard signs will be posted around the Jackson-Milton School District.
Superintendent Warne Palmer announced at Thursday's school board meeting that about 250 signs were ordered to remind residents of two renewal levies that will appear on a special Feb. 4 ballot.
A 7.3-mill emergency operating levy and a 0.9-mill permanent improvement levy should generate about $1 million annually to the district, Palmer said. Neither levy will result in increased taxes, officials noted.
Financing approved for apartment building
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Ohio Housing Finance Agency has approved $2.65 million in loans for CHOICE Homes to build a three-story, 40-unit apartment building for low-income elderly people.
Six of the units will be available at market rate.
Construction on the $4 million building, on the site of demolished public housing at Westlake Terrace, should start in February, said Phil Smith, director of CHOICE. City money, money from the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority and the sale of tax credits to investors will complete the project's financing.
Each unit will have two bedrooms and one bath with a fully equipped kitchen, washer and dryer hookups and walk-in closets. The apartments will have a barrier-free design including wider hallways, lever door handles, adjustable shelves, front-mounted controls on appliances and grab bars in the bathrooms.