Canceled because of flu

Canceled because of flu
SOUTHINGTON -- An outbreak of the flu among teachers and pupils has forced officials to cancel classes and special events. Southington Local Schools will be closed today and Friday, a decision made after more than 180 of the 660 pupils throughout the district were off sick Wednesday.
One of every five teachers also reported off because of illness.
The elementary school's holiday program set for today has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, but the high school band's concert on Saturday has been canceled. The varsity boys basketball game is still set for Friday at LaBrae, but today's freshman boys basketball game and Friday's junior high girls game are postponed.
Charged in dad's beating
GIRARD -- Lanny Tackett, 49, has been bound over to the Trumbull County grand jury on a charge of felonious assault in connection with a beating suffered by his 74-year-old father.
Tackett, of Miller Street, waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday before municipal Judge Michael A. Bernard. He remains in the county jail in lieu of a $150,000 bond.
His father, Carl Tackett, with whom Lanny Tackett made his home, died Friday after being beaten Nov. 30. The coroner's office has not ruled in the death.
Police have said that a more severe charge may be filed after the coroner rules.
Girard school levy
GIRARD -- Voters will see a 7.4-mill levy for the schools on the March primary ballot. The board of education agreed during Wednesday's meeting to ask for the increased millage after a 5.9-mill levy request was defeated in November by about 300 votes.
If the measure is approved, money from the levy would not be collected until 2005.
Girard schools were put on fiscal watch status by the state earlier this year because of an anticipated deficit at the end of this fiscal year.
MVSD to hire 13 workers
MINERAL RIDGE -- Directors of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District agreed to hire 13 full- and part-time workers for several departments at the plant.
At Wednesday's meeting, the board approved a request to hire six field maintenance workers, one purification operator, three assistant purification workers and three reservoir patrol officers.
Directors chose the new hires after interviewing almost 70 candidates from a pool of roughly 700 applications.
Promoted to board clerk
WARREN -- Paulette Godfrey, a secretary in the Trumbull County Commissioners' office, has been promoted to clerk of the board. She will take the new job in January, after the retirement of Clerk/Administrator Roselyn Ferris takes effect.
With the promotion, Godfrey, an eight-year employee, will see her salary increase from $32,559 to $44,226 a year. Ferris earned $71,089 a year.
Board compensation
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield Board of Education approved Wednesday an increase in compensation for board members to the maximum amount allowed by law, raising only newly elected or re-elected board members' monthly pay to the new state limit of $125 a month.
Board members who did not face election in November will continue to receive the old rate of $80, including Dr. Douglas Darnall and Bruce Bacak.
To receive the raises are Lori Garland, Fred McCandless and Marilyn Besuoi.
Bus driver on unpaid leave
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield school board approved a request from bus driver Michelle White to be placed on unpaid leave of absence effective Nov. 24 to Dec. 19.
Misdemeanor charges of child endangering and permitting an unlicensed driver to take the wheel were filed against White in Niles Municipal Court on Dec. 3.
The charge stemmed from September, when it's alleged that White allowed four fifth-grade pupils to participate in a safety exercise in the Mineral Ridge High School parking lot. Police reports state White pretended to faint and had the pupils slide into the seat and stop the bus.
She has been a bus driver with the district since August 1997 and earns $17.21 an hour. A preliminary hearing is set for 9 a.m. Jan. 9.