Mahoning flood victims receive $3.7 million

Mahoning flood victimsreceive $3.7 million
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County residents have filed 3,474 claims for flood damage assistance, and have received a total of $3.7 million in relief payments so far from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Walter Duzzny, director of the county emergency management agency.
Duzzny said 290 people have been processed at FEMA's disaster recovery center in the South Side Annex on Market Street. County residents still can apply for FEMA assistance at the center, which has been open for some two weeks and will remain open as long as it's needed.
"Once things start to dwindle, we'll consider shutting it down," Duzzny said. "But as of right now, there's still a lot of business there."
Also, FEMA representatives and Youngstown city inspectors will canvass the city's East Side between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Thursday to provide additional information to residents there about the FEMA claims process. A tornado touched down on the East Side on July 21.
Barbecue fund-raiser
YOUNGSTOWN -- The public is invited when Potter's House Church, Glenwood and Brentwood avenues, sponsors a barbecue fund-raiser at 10 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot behind the church.
Traffic enforcement
NORTH JACKSON -- Under Operation Safe Streets, the Jackson Township Police Department has announced it will conduct a stepped-up traffic enforcement campaign Monday through Aug. 31 to promote the use of seat belts and child safety restraints and discourage speeding and alcohol-related offenses.
Campbell man indicted
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal grand jury indicted James Deucaster, 23, of Wilson Avenue, Campbell, on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and one count of being a violent felon in possession of body armor.
The indictment was unsealed Tuesday, said Gregory A. White, U.S. attorney for Ohio's northern district.
Deucaster's arrest was part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program coordinated by federal, state and local authorities. The program targets armed felons for federal prosecution.
Pipe maintenance
AUSTINTOWN -- Township officials say workers have removed paving blocks, rocks and sandstone that were blocking a drainage pipe in the Woodside Lake dam.
Residents in the area had expressed concern that a blockage in the pipe had contributed to recent flooding.
Township Administrator Michael Dockry said the debris was removed Tuesday.
Arrested on drug charges
YOUNGSTOWN -- A city police dog detected the smell of crack cocaine inside a 1984 Oldsmobile during a traffic stop on Palmer Avenue Tuesday night, reports show.
A plastic bag containing a large chunk of crack was found under the dashboard, police said.
Cobie L. Phillips, 27, of McGuffey Road was arrested on charges of drug-abuse crack, failure to comply with a police order, resisting arrest and failing to stop for a stop sign. During the arrest, Phillips was uncooperative and, when interviewed at the vice squad headquarters, kicked at the walls and officers, reports show.
Probe of shooting death
BELOIT -- Authorities are continuing to probe the shooting death of a Knox Township man.
Brett Rudolph, 43, of 3368 Westville Lake Road, was pronounced dead early Tuesday at Alliance City Hospital after he was shot at his residence.
Rudolph's girlfriend told the Columbiana County Sheriff's Department that Rudolph was handling two handguns, a .22 caliber and a .25 caliber, when one of them went off. A bullet struck Rudolph in the neck.
Rudolph had been drinking, a sheriff's spokesman said this morning.