McKelvey approves water-rate increase

McKelvey approveswater-rate increase
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mayor George M. McKelvey has signed an 8 1/2 percent water-rate increase that takes effect today, said Charles Sammarone, water commissioner.
The mayor and water commissioner have the authority to raise water rates. City council's public utilities committee was told earlier this month about the increase.
The extra revenue will pay for capital improvements to the distribution system.
The increase will add $1 a month to the average bill for city residents and $1.43 a month to the average bill for suburban residents. The city water system serves Youngstown and Austintown and parts of Boardman, Canfield Township and Liberty.
The water department hasn't raised rates since July 1, 1994. The city has absorbed a total of 9.2 percent in increases between 1999 and 2001 by the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, which supplies the city's water.
Stephen Strabalato be free soon
LISBON -- A key figure in the September 1993 Columbiana County investment scandal is expected to be free later this month.
Stephen Strabala, 38, is confined to his home pending a Jan. 28 release date, a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Authorities won't say where Strabala is living.
He served about eight years of his nine-year federal sentence, receiving about a year off for good behavior. Much of his prison time was spent at a federal prison in Maryland, from which he was released Sept. 3.
Strabala and his father, former county treasurer Ardel Strabala, bilked the county out of about $10 million through illegal investments.
Ardel Strabala served a year in state prison for his role in the crime. He died in May 1999.
Paying legal fees
LISBON -- A judge has ordered the East Liverpool school district's board of education to pay the legal fees for a member of the panel who sued his colleagues.
Visiting Judge John Mascio, who heard the case in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, set the fees owed to board member Richard Wolf at $2,389.
Wolf sued his peers in June, stating the panel held several meetings in 2002 that violated Ohio's Open Meetings Act because they failed to give proper notice of the sessions.
In December, Mascio issued a ruling that agreed with Wolf's contention.
Funeral home change
LISBON -- Eells-Leggett Funeral Home, 215 W. Lincoln Way, is changing its name today to Eells-Leggett-Stauffer Funeral Home, according to Chip and Stacey Stauffer, who bought the business in November 2001.
The change comes on the eve of the funeral home's 175th anniversary. Founded in 1828, it is one of Ohio's oldest continuously operated funeral homes.
The Stauffers also announced the funeral home will be extensively remodeled beginning this month.
Trooper of year
WARREN -- Trooper Brett M. Godfrey has been selected as the 2002 trooper of the year at the Warren Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Godfrey, 44, was chosen by his fellow troopers for his leadership, professional ethics, courtesy, enthusiastic work attitude and cooperation with supervisors, peers and the public. He is now in contention for district and state trooper of the year awards.
Godfrey, a Newton Falls native, joined the patrol in 1979 and has served in its Ashland, Castalia, Hiram and Warren posts. In 2000, he received the patrol's 15-year safe driving award.
Robbery charge
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Police have charged Rodney A. Camp, 38, of Tamplin Street, Sharon, with robbery and conspiracy in the theft of a woman's purse Dec. 22.
Camp was picked up at his home at 2:30 p.m. Monday on a warrant and arraigned before District Justice Henry Russo, who freed him on $5,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing. Police said Camp is accused of stealing a woman's purse in a grocery store parking lot in the city.