Body identified

Body identified
YOUNGSTOWN -- The body of a man found burned in Crandall Park is that of a 20-year-old North Side man who had been strangled before he was set on fire, according to the Mahoning County Coroner's Office.
The body of Mikal A. Allah, of Broadway Avenue, was identified by the office Friday through the use of dental records, according to a press release issued by Dr. David M. Kennedy, coroner.
Allah's body was found March 14 near his burned-out car in the park.
Police said he was likely killed at another location, placed in the trunk of the car and driven to the park. His body was then placed outside the car before the fire was started.
Contract approved
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County commissioners approved a three-year contract with 911 radio dispatchers. There are 18 dispatchers in the union.
The current starting wage for dispatchers is $9.50 an hour. The agreement calls for a 3 percent increase in each of the three years.
J. Kevin Sellards, human resources director, said the contract includes changes in the dispatchers' hospitalization copayments and a no-fault tardiness and absenteeism policy.
Severance pay
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city's board of control has approved $16,758 in severance for Calvin Jones, the public works chief, who retired March 1 after 25 years with the city.
He received about $7,156 for unused vacation time, $625 for longevity pay and nearly $9,000 for unused sick time. The city pays former workers their hourly rate for 35 percent of their total unused sick time.
Burglary charges
NILES -- Three men will return to Niles Municipal Court on April 1 for preliminary hearings on charges of burglary and possession of criminal tools.
Weathersfield police said an officer saw a car that looked out of place parked behind Coates Car Care, Youngstown-Warren Road, Thursday night. He saw two sets of footprints in the fresh snow leading from the car to a hedge.
After a second officer arrived, he followed the footprints to the rear of a house on Crestmont Drive where the back door of an attached garage had been broken into. Niles police were summoned, and officers arrested the men as they came out of the house.
Gerald D. Donley, 22, and Lewis J. Trebella, 28, both of North Richview, Youngstown, and Zoltan J. Kozic, 28, of West Second Street, Girard, were all charged with burglary and possession of criminal tools.
Niles Municipal Judge Thomas W. Townley set bond at $25,000 each. They were being held in the Trumbull County jail.
A 17-year-old boy of Osborn Avenue, Youngstown, also was arrested and taken to the Trumbull County juvenile center.
Drug charges
YOUNGSTOWN -- Three city men face felony charges of aggravated drug trafficking after arraignments in Youngstown Municipal Court.
Jesse Nixon, 51, of Tod Lane; Gary Brown, 37, of North Garland Avenue; and Herbert Watkins, 67, of Kendis Circle, were arraigned Friday, each accused of trafficking heroin. Watkins also faces a felony drug abuse charge and a misdemeanor drug instrument charge.
The men were arrested on the North Side after city police executed a search warrant on a Ford Taurus in which they rode on Lexington Avenue at Griffith Street around 10 a.m. Thursday. Police said they found several bundles of suspected heroin in the car and several in Brown's coat pocket. They said they also found drug abuse instruments containing suspected heroin in Watkins' pocket.
Judge Robert P. Milich set cash or surety bonds at $25,000 for Nixon and Brown. Watkins faces cash or surety bonds totaling $20,000 on the felonies and a $1,000, 10 percent, bond on the misdemeanor. He pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor.
Police probe threat
NILES -- Police are investigating the second bomb threat in as many days at the MCI WorldCom call center, 5185 Youngstown-Warren Road.
According to the Niles Fire Department, the call center received the second threat around 10 a.m. Friday. No other details were available Friday night.
Fire destroys home
BAZETTA -- A fire at 1034 Everett-Hull Road destroyed an $85,000 vacant house Friday evening.
"When we arrived it was fully involved. Fire was blowing out of every window and door," said township fire Capt. Dennis Lewis. Five other fire departments also responded to the call, which came in at 6:57 p.m.
No one was living in the house, according to Lewis. The occupants, which had rented the property, were in the process of moving out.
The cause is under investigation.