Salem cleanup sought

Salem cleanup sought
SALEM -- Councilwoman Mary Lou Popa, D-1st, is asking city council's finance committee to see if money can be found to conduct a citywide junk cleanup this year.
Popa made the request at Tuesday's city council meeting.
Faced with a tight 2002 budget, brought on partly by reductions in income tax revenue, the city did not include the cleanup in this year's spending plan. She noted that the city spent about $14,000 in 2001 on the undertaking, which entails hiring a trash collection company to gather junk city residents place at the curb. The city has conducted a cleanup annually for about the past eight years.
Referendum statement
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The Lawrence County Elections board will write its own statement explaining a referendum on a possible change in county government. A study commission that proposed the idea had written a statement to accompany the referendum, but elections board members didn't think it contained enough information, said Marlene Gabriel, county elections director. The elections board should have its interpretive statement of the referendum ready next week, she said. The board's solicitor also ruled that the interpretive statement cannot appear on the ballot, but will be posted in each polling place. Gabriel said it is common to post these statements at polling places, but none have ever been included on ballots. Voters will decide in November if Lawrence County will change from three full-time commissioners to a part-time county council with a professional manager. All other elected offices, except controller and district attorney, would be eliminated and replaced with department heads.
Bad-check sentencing
MERCER -- Joseph Porterfield, 29, of Logan Avenue, Sharon, was sentenced Tuesday in Mercer County Common Pleas Court to six months to two years in jail for two misdemeanor counts of passing bad checks. Porterfield wrote two checks totaling $667 on a closed account Sept. 7, 2001, according to court documents.
Lawrence tire collection
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- People in Lawrence County can drop off unwanted tires at three spots Saturday. Collection will be from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Wayne Township Volunteer Fire Department parking lot on Pa. Route 65 and the Wilmington Township Municipal Building on Wilson Mills Road. Tire collection will also take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Wal-Mart parking lot off U.S. Route 224 in Union Township. Cost is $1 per passenger vehicle tire and $5 for each tire on a rim. PA Clean Ways of Lawrence County and the Lawrence County Recycling/Solid Waste Department are operating the tire collection.
Jail budget woes
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County commissioners transferred $91,000 into the county jail budget. Commissioners said the transfer was needed for unexpected inmate medical bills. The money came from the county's general fund contingency. Commissioners have said that they are concerned about jail finances. Last month Commissioner Ed Fosnaught noted that a higher number of Lawrence County inmates than usual were in jail, leaving little room for out-of-county inmates who bring in $55 per day in revenue to the county. He has projected the jail will need an extra $2 million to operate next year if this trend continues.
Grazed by bullet
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A 63-year-old woman was grazed in the shoulder when a stray bullet came through a window in her Pennsylvania Avenue home. Police said Mary Mitchell was lying on her sofa at 11:36 p.m. Monday when she heard gunshots and then realized she had been shot. She was treated at Jameson Hospital. She did not know who shot her.
Cited for crossing
SHARON, Pa. -- The Oakland Avenue Viaduct is closed, but a South Oakland Avenue couple walked across it around 4:20 a.m. today and got into trouble. Police said an officer warned Lisa M. Gregory, 21, and Stephen R. Perozich, 26, who live two blocks south of the bridge, not to cross the bridge when he saw them walking toward it. They crossed anyway, heading south, and were charged with criminal trespass, a minor misdemeanor, when they reached the other side, police said. The bridge is being replaced and is closed because of safety concerns.
Theft at BP station
SHARON, Pa. -- Police said a thief took an undisclosed amount of cash from a cash register and a safe at the BP service station at North Water Avenue and Silver Street. The burglary was discovered around 7 a.m. Tuesday, police said.