Columbiana speech team to hold performance

Columbiana speech teamto hold performance
COLUMBIANA -- Members of the Columbiana High School Speech and Debate Team will perform at the high school at 2:30 p.m. April 7. Performances will include: original oratory, oratorical interpretation, dramatic interpretation, humorous interpretation, duet acting, prose and poetry and debate. Ticket costs are $2 for adults and $1 for students.
Rite Aid robbery
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Two men wearing bandannas over their faces took off with about $90 from Rite Aid on East Washington Street. City police said two white males entered the store at about 8:54 p.m. Friday and demanded money.
One man had a shotgun and the other a rifle, and the men drove off in a maroon pickup truck, police said. Police did not have a description of the men.
Juvenile center escape
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Two Keystone Adolescent Center residents face escape charges, said Greenville-West Salem Township Police said. The young men were missing for about three hours Saturday night but were eventually picked up by police in Transfer. Police said an employee at the Last Minit Mart in Greenville told police a customer had picked up two suspicious men and that the trio was heading to a Sheetz Store in Transfer. Police said they found the two young men at Sheetz at about 12:10 a.m. Sunday.
The 17-year-old was taken back to the center, which is on Pa. Route 18 in West Salem. A juvenile petition for escape is being filed in Mercer County Juvenile Court. The other person, Antonio Gibson, 18, of Farrell, was charged in adult court with escape. He was arraigned before District Justice Henry Russo and placed in jail after failing to post bond. Police did not know the bond amount or the reason the two young men were in the Keystone Adolescent Center.
Burglary at store
SHARON, Pa. -- Police are investigating an early-morning burglary at the Fast Check Food Mart at Budd Street and New Castle Avenue. Police said they were alerted by an automatic alarm at 5:30 this morning. Someone had smashed a window with a large rock, they said. This morning, police were still trying to determine what had been taken.
Car fire investigation
SHARON, Pa. -- Police are investigating a suspicious car fire outside the Sharon American Legion Hall. They said a 1991 Ford Taurus caught fire at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. The owner, a woman from Greenville, was inside the hall playing late-night bingo, police said. No other vehicles were damaged, according to police.
Bingo money stolen
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police seek a man who robbed $87 of bingo money from workers at St. Casimir church, 145 Jefferson St. A man who was in the church social hall preparing for bingo at about 9:25 a.m. Sunday said another man, about 25, came in and said he wanted to see the cards, holding his hand back as if he had a gun, police reports show. The robber pushed the other man to the floor and hit him in the head with a money drawer, grabbing about $400 but dropping $313 as he fled. A woman working at the church tried to stop the robber as he left, but he pushed her into a wall.
Man cuts own throat
YOUNGSTOWN -- City police arrested a 28-year-old East Side man on several outstanding warrants after he had cut himself with a razor he reportedly was using to threaten his ex-girlfriend and the woman's 9-year-old son. The woman told police the man had broken into her Shady Run Road home at about 3:15 a.m. Sunday and threatened to kill her. When police arrived, the man was cornering the woman and her son in the kitchen. When an officer drew his weapon and ordered the man to stop, he turned to face the officer and began to cut his own throat with the razor blade. The officer then knocked the blade out of the man's hand with a flashlight. The man was arrested on two felonious assault warrants and an aggravated burglary warrant.
Poland design event
POLAND -- A design marathon, intended to produce a more aesthetic and pedestrian-friendly Poland Village, will be conducted here Friday through March 4 with help from a group of architecture students at Kent State University. A public input session will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Poland public library. The students will give a final presentation of their findings to the public from 7 to 9 p.m. March 4 at the library.