VINE system training

VINE system training
YOUNGSTOWN -- Tricia Costas, public outreach specialist of Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery's Office, will be at Family Service Agency, 535 Marmion Ave., from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday to present training on the Victims of Crime Compensation Process and the VINE system. There is no cost. Two continuing education units for counselors and social workers are offered. Call (330) 746-4429, Ext. 111 to make a reservation.
Teens arrested
CAMPBELL -- Police arrested two teenage boys who are accused of setting off homemade bombs in the woods and tossed one into a commercial trash container where a raccoon hid, police reports show.
Police were called to a wooded area on Kendall Avenue about 6:30 p.m. Monday after residents said they heard possible gunshots. Police found the 14- and 15-year-old boys, both of Kendall Avenue, coming out of the wooded area into a parking lot.
One of the boys told police they were setting off the bombs. A raccoon cowering in the trash bin was not breathing and appeared wet and had aluminum foil on its back.
Both teens were released to parents.
Items reported stolen
STRUTHERS -- A 60-year-old man has reported to city police that more than $350 in coins, cash and jewelry were stolen from a drawer in his Omar Street home while he was in the hospital last week. He told officers Monday that he suspects a caregiver, who attends to him and his wife, an invalid.
HIV prevention grants
YOUNGSTOWN -- At its meeting Monday, the city health board awarded HIV/AIDS prevention grants to these organizations: Youngstown City Health District's Men Having Sex with Men, and High Risk Heterosexual programs, $45,000 each; Meridian Services, $45,000; Associated Neighborhood Centers for Youngstown Minority HIV/AIDS Coalition, $22,305; and E.B. Family Life Center's Minority Youth Program, $1,500.
A grant review team from the Mahoning Valley HIV Coalition, the local HIV community planning group, recommended the agencies for funding, which comes from the Ohio Department of Health through the city health district.
Employee calls police
AUSTINTOWN -- Police are investigating a report that an assistant manager of a South Raccoon Road convenience store tried to force one of the store's employees to perform oral sex on him. The employee, 18, told police Monday that she was shoved into a bathroom stall at the store about 7:30 p.m. Thursday by the assistant manager, 23, of Western Reserve Road, Canfield. Reports state that the assistant manager exposed himself and told the girl to perform oral sex on him.
The girl said another employee then walked into the bathroom and startled the assistant manager, who left.