Two hospitalized

Two hospitalized
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jason Bates, 29, of Youngstown told police four shots were fired at him from a car passing by on Norwood Avenue at 12:45 a.m. today while he stood talking to friends.
Bates, who gave no motive for the shooting, was in stable condition in St. Elizabeth Health Center with wounds to his legs.
Also at the hospital in critical condition was Harold E. Bhe, 48, of Forestview Avenue, who police said was stabbed in his chest and neck about 9:30 p.m. Monday at home.
Bhe's son, Michael E. Varner, told officers that he stabbed his father in self-defense.
Varner, 25, of Quinn Street said his father had been drinking heavily and making strange remarks, reports show.
Police arrested Varner on a felonious assault charge and confiscated a folding knife.
Workers' comp appeal
YOUNGSTOWN -- Six Youngstown men who say they developed asbestosis from working for the LTV Steel Co. have asked a judge in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to overrule a decision of the Industrial Commission of Ohio that denied them workers' compensation funds.
William D. Bright III, James E. Brock, Edgar C. Brown, Juan Cabrera, Rufus Donaldson and Raymond Ervin Jr. seek to appeal the decision in lawsuits filed Monday. LTV and Bureau of Workers' Compensation Administrator James Conrad are defendants in the suits. The Industrial Commission refused to hear an appeal of the issue, the suits say.
Car stolen
STRUTHERS -- Police are searching for a 1986 Chevrolet Camaro driven away from Dairy Mart, 311 Maplewood, around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
According to police reports, the owner of the car handed the keys to a man interested in buying it and told him he could start it to listen to the engine. Instead, the owner told police, the man started the car and drove off.
Inmate loses bid
YOUNGSTOWN -- A death row inmate from Youngstown has lost a second bid to have the state Supreme Court overturn his conviction and sentence.
Warren Spivey, 33, was sentenced to death in November 1989 after being convicted of aggravated murder in the killing of 53-year-old Veda Vesper. A panel of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judges found him guilty after he pleaded no contest to the charge. The 7th District Court of Appeals and Ohio Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence.
In 1999, Spivey asked for a new trial based on the argument that he did not understand what he was doing when he waived a trial and made the plea agreement. That request was denied in May 2000 by visiting Judge Stephen Yarbrough, whose ruling was affirmed in March by the court of appeals. The state Supreme Court earlier this month refused to hear the new trial issue, dismissing it as involving no substantial or constitutional question.
Costs in arson
YOUNGSTOWN -- City fire officials incurred more than $100,000 in costs while responding to and investigating a November 2001 arson on West Dewey Avenue. Willie F. Hill, 37, of Martin Luther King Boulevard, last month was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to serve five years in prison on attempted aggravated arson and burglary charges connected with the fire.
Hill worked as a handyman for the 71-year-old woman who was sleeping in the home when he stole a television, set curtains on fire and returned to rescue her, posing as a hero, officials said.
In correspondence to Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, Youngstown Fire Department Lt. Kevin J. Johnson says the Arson Bureau's investigation spent $3,000 in personnel costs and $1,355 in investigation hours. A ladder truck involved in an accident while responding to the fire cost $96,500 to repair.
Death investigated
HUBBARD -- The Trumbull County coroner's office and city police are investigating the death of a 58-year-old woman whose body was found this morning.
Acting Police Chief Kenneth Olyer said the woman was found by an acquaintance, sitting in a bedroom chair about 7 a.m. at 251 Clingan St.