Brawl brings charges against another adult

Brawl brings chargesagainst another adult
SHARON, Pa. -- A second adult has been charged in the brawl that ended the Feb. 2 Sharon-Farrell high school basketball game. Police said between 70 and 100 spectators were involved in the fighting in and near the Sharon High School gym. Demar A. Claiborne, 18, of Emerson Avenue, Farrell, was arrested at his home at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant charging him with simple assault. Police said he struck a man in the face outside the gym in an unprovoked attack. Claiborne, a Farrell student, was arraigned Wednesday and freed on his own recognizance pending a preliminary hearing at a later date. Farrell graduate Jesse Wilson, 20, of Sharon is the other adult charged in the brawl. He is to begin serving a sentence of 60 days to 18 months in Mercer County Jail later this month after pleading guilty to resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Ten juveniles also were charged in the fight.
Truck overturns
SHARON, Pa. -- A PI & amp; I Motor Express tractor-trailer hauling a coil of steel overturned on a sharp curve on U.S. Route 62 in front of Penn-Ohio Drug at the Ohio border Wednesday. Police said the load shifted as the driver, Chaun Briley, 33, of West Liberty Street, Hubbard, rounded the curve headed west shortly after 10 a.m. The coil ended up in the Penn-Ohio parking lot and the rig on its side, blocking one of the westbound lanes. Briley wasn't hurt, but it took about two hours to clear the road.
Fighting reassessment
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County and the City of New Castle will be in court June 20 to battle over countywide reassessment. County commissioners have asked for a one-year delay in implementing the reassessment, but city officials are hoping a judge will force commissioners to stick to the original time table. The new property values would take effect next year under a consent decree that the city and county signed in 1998. Commissioners said they expect a large number of property value appeals and they don't believe they will be resolved before municipalities must set their 2003 budgets. City officials claim their residents are overtaxed by about $600,000 in county taxes and reassessment is needed to remedy the problem. City officials also claim that the county is in contempt of court over the consent decree. A hearing on the matter was set for July 12.
Drug paraphernaliafound in garage
FARRELL, Pa. -- Southwest Regional Police found weapons and drug paraphernalia in an abandoned garage on the 1100 block of Emerson Avenue. Police said Wednesday they received a call from a concerned person at noon Monday telling them a weapon had been found in the garage. Police said they found two large duffle bags containing a loaded .44-caliber revolver, a semiautomatic rifle with the stock cut off and two magazines, a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun and ammunition. They said two digital scales, glass beakers and several glass tubes used with crack cocaine were found.
Extra police needed?
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The Lawrence County Housing Authority will decide in July if extra police patrols will continue in the Walnut Ridge Public Housing Complex in Ellwood City. Ellwood City Council President George Celli asked the authority to consider extending the contract, which ends in August. He said that since the patrols started, problems at the public housing complex have dropped. During a seven-month period without the extra patrols, there were 145 calls for police, he said. In the last eight months, when the extra police patrols resumed, that number dropped to 101, Celli said. But housing authority members have disagreed with the borough's management of the funding, obtained through a federal grant. Borough police were earning overtime pay to make the extra patrols. The authority wanted the borough to hire more officers and pay straight time. Celli said borough council is planning to hire more police to alleviate the overtime problem.
Two fires, one house
ELLWOOD CITY, Pa. -- Firefighters were called to fight a second fire at a house that first caught fire overnight. The home at 215 Twelfth St., Ext., in Wayne Township, Lawrence County, initially caught fire at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, they said. The blaze was extinguished. However, the fire in the home of Julia Rider restarted and firefighters were called back to the house at 6:08 a.m. today. No details about the fire were available this morning.