Seat belt patrol in Liberty

Seat belt patrol in Liberty
LIBERTY -- Township police and the Ohio State Highway Patrol are on the lookout for drivers and passengers not wearing seat belts.
Police Chief Anthony Slifka said violators will be ticketed and that no warnings will be given during the period that ends Sept. 2 and includes Labor Day.
Labor Day enforcement
BROOKFIELD -- Township police have put extra patrols on the road to target speeders and drunken drivers through Labor Day.
Money for the patrols is from the Ohio Department of Public Safety's Selective Traffic Enforcement Program.
Weeklong hydrant testing
BAZETTA -- The Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer's Department will be testing hydrants in Bazetta Township Monday through Friday next week. The tests may result in low pressure or water discoloration in some areas.
Eyeing clerk position
NILES -- The system administrator for Niles Municipal Court has announced her intent to run for Trumbull County Clerk of Courts.
Karen Infante Allen of Lantern Lane said she plans to seek the Democratic nomination for the job in the March primary. Clerk Margaret O'Brien has said she has no plans to run for re-election.
Infante Allen has worked in the Niles court for 16 years and received her bachelor's degree in communications from Kent State University. She was awarded the 2001 Northeast Ohio Regional Court Officer of the Year award, and spearheaded a recent renovation of the Niles court.
Basic computer course
LORDSTOWN -- Trumbull Career Technical Center is offering a comprehensive course on developing personal computer skills. Basic fundamentals and specific program applications will be taught.
The course runs Sept. 8 through Oct. 28. Classes are held weekly from 9 a.m. to noon, Monday through Thursday, at TCTC's adult education center, the former Gordon D. James Career Center. Call (330) 824-2588.
Former concert promoterfiles for early release
YOUNGSTOWN -- A former Ponderosa Park concert promoter, imprisoned for defrauding park patrons, has filed a request in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for early release.
Jeffrey Best, 32, of Salem, was sentenced in June to 30 months in prison for theft, misuse of a credit card and passing bad checks.
Prosecutors said he accepted money and credit card payments from patrons for concert tickets, but used them to cover other park-related debts.
The patrons never got their tickets and did not get a refund.
The early-release request is pending before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.
Boy slightly injured whencar rolls over his foot
STRUTHERS -- An 8-year-old boy was slightly injured when a car he was playing in rolled across the street and into a neighbor's yard.
Police said the boy was playing inside his mother's car in the 100 block of Parkway Avenue about 2:40 p.m. Wednesday. He shifted it into neutral, and the car rolled backward, out of a driveway and into a neighbor's yard.
The boy's right foot got caught under one of the wheels, causing a minor injury, the report states. Police do not know how he got caught under the wheel.
Investigating officers discovered that the car's transmission would not lock and that the emergency brake was inoperable. The owner told police that she just bought the car and didn't know of the problems.
The keys were not in the car.
Infected bird confirmed
MERCER, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Department of Health has confirmed that the state's first dead bird infected with West Nile virus has been found in Mercer County.
The American crow was found in Stoneboro and tested positive Thursday.
Earlier this month, a mosquito pool in Pine Township tested positive for the virus.
Residents are reminded to eliminate all standing water where mosquitoes can breed. Mosquitoes can transmit the disease from birds to humans.
Shenango River Lake open
CLARK, Pa. -- After four weeks of being closed because of flooding, the Shenango River Lake elevation has dropped to its normal summer pool level, and all boat launches and access areas have reopened.
Chestnut Run Swim Beach remains closed.