Charged in assault

Charged in assault
BOARDMAN -- Police charged a 22-year-old township man with felonious assault after he tried to stop the repossession of his 1996 Ford Thunderbird.
Police reports say Jose Rosa Jr. of Arden Boulevard got into the car and tried to run over the man assigned to repossess the vehicle.
Rosa was arraigned on the felonious assault charge in Mahoning County Court here, but no plea was accepted. He will be video arraigned Monday on an additional charge of aggravated vehicular assault.
Trucker's bond stands
YOUNGSTOWN -- A judge has denied a request to lower the bail for a Florida truck driver accused of murder. Judge Maureen A. Cronin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court said the fact that Ronald A. Knab Jr. is an over-the-road trucker who lives out of state makes him a risk to leave the area if he's released from jail before his trial. Therefore, his $250,000 bond will stand.
Knab, 41, is accused of the November 2000 slaying of Roy Patterson, 45, of New Jersey, behind the Rebel Lounge on Seventy-Six Drive. Police said he was driving a truck in the area at the time.
Knab's lawyer, Ted T. Macejko Jr., had asked that the bail be reduced to at least $100,000 so Knab can go back to his job, a position that often brings him into Ohio.
West Nile in Sharon
SHARON, Pa. -- A mosquito pool in Sharon has tested positive for the West Nile Virus. This is the first group of mosquitoes to test positive for the disease in Mercer County.
Eleven birds found throughout the county also have tested positive for the disease. In Lawrence County, another dead bird found in New Wilmington Borough has tested positive for the virus.
This is the ninth dead bird in Lawrence County with West Nile. Two mosquito pools and one dead horse also tested positive for the disease there.
East Palestine sued
YOUNGSTOWN -- Three East Palestine residents are suing the city over the location of a manufacturing plant near their homes.
Robin and Peggy Witman of 1090 W. Main St. and Lois Guy of 1062 W. Main St. are seeking more than $100,000 apiece in damages in the suit, filed this week in U.S. District Court, Youngstown.
The suit says that the city allowed Leland Manufacturing of New Waterford to open a plant on West Main Street. It says the plant creates "enormous dust" throughout the neighborhood and leaves debris on the roadway.
Noise from the plant is so loud that it often forces Guy and the Witmans to wear earplugs while in their homes, the suit says. It says the plant operates from as early as 5:30 a.m. to as late as 11:30 p.m.
Perry Twp. settlement
SALEM -- The insurance company representing Perry Township paid $7,500 in an out-of-court settlement brought against the township by Salem Patrolman Gary Poage, township Trustee Jeff Hochadel said Friday.
Poage sued the township in 2000, seeking $803,000. He alleged that township police falsely and maliciously arrested him in 1999 after a disturbance at his house.
Poage was charged with misdemeanor counts of aggravated menacing, criminal damaging and using a weapon while intoxicated. The criminal case went to trial and was dismissed by the judge.
Firestone bike race
COLUMBIANA -- Area bicyclists are invited to enter a bicycle race set to begin at 9 a.m. Sunday at Firestone Park.
The 12-mile race, which will follow a course in and around the park, is open to riders 13 and older.
The event is organized by the P.V.R. Bicycle Club of Warren in memory of one of its members, Don Vignon of Columbiana, who died in January at 28.
Proceeds will be donated to the park in Vignon's memory, said race organizer Tony Potts of Warren.
Entries will be accepted the day of the race. The fee is $20.
Potts said he hopes to make the race an annual event.
Niles drug arrests
NILES -- Two Niles men were arrested early Friday in the Village Center parking lot on Youngstown-Warren Road after a four-month drug investigation.
Brian S. Kennedy, 31, of Mason Street, was charged with aggravated trafficking in cocaine after an ounce of suspected powdered cocaine and several hundred dollars were found on him, police said.
John Rocco, age not available, of West Third Street, was charged with complicity.
The arrests were made by the Niles Police Narcotics Unit, Trumbull County Drug Task Force, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.