Firearm charges

Firearm charges
POLAND -- Jelonn D. Dodson, 21, of Byron Street, Youngstown pleaded innocent Friday to charges of mishandling a firearm and violating a license suspension.
Police performed a routine traffic stop and discovered Dodson was wanted on a warrant out of Mahoning County Court in Boardman for what police called a family offense.
Police also found suspected marijuana in Dodson's vehicle, and a fully loaded magazine for a semiautomatic pistol and an unloaded Ruger pistol in the glove box.
Dodson is to appear in Struthers Municipal Court at 10 a.m. Oct. 7 before Judge James R. Lanzo.
Charged in drug raid
WARREN -- Preliminary hearings are set for Friday in Warren Municipal Court for three men charged after a raid at an Ohio Avenue home.
Fred Culp, 41, of Ohio Avenue, is charged with aggravated drug trafficking. James Bogen, 44, is charged with felony drug possession and a misdemeanor charge of drug paraphernalia. Marvin L. Fisher, 35, is charged with complicity to drug trafficking.
Agents from the Trumbull County Drug Task Force and the Youngstown office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided Culp's home Thursday afternoon, finding crack cocaine. The investigation was spawned by complaints from neighborhood residents.
Wanted in California
AUSTINTOWN -- A Maple Avenue man is facing extradition to California, where he is charged with three counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child younger than 14.
James Lewis, 35, was arrested by Austintown police Wednesday at his home. He is wanted on a warrant from Redding, Calif.
Redding police Detective Scott Mayberry said California law prevented him from discussing what Lewis had done to justify the charges.
Mayberry added, however, that the charges stemmed from an investigation that began in 1999, when the warrant was issued.
Mayberry said a court date for Lewis has not been set.
Order to boil water
LORDSTOWN -- A precautionary boil order has been issued for all of Lordstown until 3 p.m. today.
The order was issued as a result of a break in the main line.
Call for blood donors
CLEVELAND -- The American Red Cross has declared a blood emergency in the 19-county Northern Ohio Region, with less than minimum standards on six of the eight blood types. Platelets, a blood component used to treat cancer patients, are also at less than minimum standards, Red Cross officials said.
There is less than a half-day supply of four blood types, and type A negative has been completely depleted.
Officials urged people to donate as soon as possible. For information on blood drive locations and times, call (800) GIVE-LIFE or visit www.redcross.org/northernohio.
Family violence reports
BOARDMAN -- The Tri-County Family Violence Prevention Coalition will meet from 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Holiday Inn on South Avenue, to analyze information on family violence gathered by work groups in Columbiana, Trumbull and Mahoning counties.
The reports will deal specifically with child abuse, intimate partner abuse and elder abuse. Call (330) 747-5111 for more information.
Ozone Action Day
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Eastgate Regional Council of Governments Air Quality Task Force's Ozone Action Day Declaration is continued through Monday in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
The Air Quality Task Force urges residents and businesses and local governments to take voluntary actions to reduce hydrocarbon emissions, such as not refueling vehicles or equipment until after 7 p.m.; avoiding lawn-care activities involving gasoline engines; decreasing single-occupancy vehicle trips; limiting solvent usage; and reducing power demand.
Hearing on parks
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- State legislators will conduct a hearing before the end of the year to learn more about amusement parks and how parks plan to handle natural or man-made disasters.
The hearing, to be conducted by the House Tourism and Recreational Development Committee, comes after one person died and dozens were injured by storm damage at Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh on May 31.
"We want families to know the parks are safe and have procedures in place to prepare for the unexpected," said state Rep. Paul Costa, a member of the committee.
When the violent storm blew through the park, the roof was ripped from one of the rides.
Stephanie Wilkerson, a 29-year-old woman from Monroeville, was killed when wreckage from the roof pinned her against a fence.