Alarm fails to sound in fire at building

Alarm fails to soundin fire at building
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Firefighters said the fire alarm system failed when fire broke out on a clothes dryer in the Beeghly Gymnasia at Thiel College.
Fire Chief Steve Thompson said several people pulled alarms as they fled the building when the fire broke out around 1 p.m. Thursday but the building-wide system failed to activate.
There were no injuries but Thompson said several fire doors inside the building had been left propped open, allowing smoke to travel throughout the structure.
The cause of the fire was accidental, he said, explaining that someone left a stack of towels on top of a gas-fired clothes dryer not realizing the open flame heating element was located there without any protective guards to shield the flame.
Thiel staff tried to put out the fire with portable extinguishers.
Firefighters arrived and put out the blaze and ventilated the building, Thompson said.
He had no damage estimate.
Woman charged
YOUNGSTOWN -- Tawana Walton apparently didn't see the police badge hanging around Patrolman Mike Brindisi's neck or hear the police scanner when she leaned into his unmarked cruiser on Covington Street Thursday afternoon and asked if he "needed a date." The question is one used by prostitutes, police said.
Brandisi said that after Walton, 25, of Curry Street quoted $20 for a sex act, he and his partner arrested her on a charge of soliciting an undercover police officer.
Pupil made threat,principal reports
CAMPBELL -- The principal of Campbell Middle School, Anthony DeFelice, told police an 11-year-old girl told him she wanted to know where he lived so she could get a gun and shoot him.
The threat occurred around 9 a.m. Wednesday, DeFelice said, after he suspended the girl from school for two days and issued her three days of in-school suspension.
He told police he wanted a report of the matter on file.
Suspicious photos
BOARDMAN -- Township police are investigating a suspicious set of photographs that were developed for a customer at the Wal-Mart store on Doral Drive.
Authorities are trying to determine if the series of 24 photos are pornographic and involve children.
An adult male appears nude in some of the photos.
A clothed teenage boy also appears in some of the photos.
No sexual acts are depicted in any of the photographs.
Police have spoken to the individual who tried to pick up the pictures from the store, but no arrests have been made.
Programs at library
EAST PALESTINE -- Several programs for children and young adults begin next week at the East Palestine Memorial Public Library.
Toddlertime for children ages 2 to 3 and a caregiver will be at 10:30 a.m. Mondays Jan. 13 through April 28. Registration is necessary.
Preschool storytime for children 3 to 6 will be at 1 p.m. Tuesdays Jan. 14 to April 29. No registration is needed.
Book buddies for kindergarten through sixth-grade pupils will be at 4:15 p.m. Mondays Jan. 13 through April 28.
The children will be paired with junior- or senior-high pupils to read books and work on crafts and other activities.
Registration is necessary.
A program for teens will be at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Participants are invited to bring a board game.
Refreshments will be served.
For more information, call the library at (330) 426-3778.
Burglars are scared off
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- State police said an elderly Springfield Township man scared off burglars at his home by turning on a light.
Police said John Como, 72, of Perry Highway, said he heard someone trying to break into his home around 11 p.m. Wednesday and flipped on a light switch.
The burglars fled but had already done about $400 damage to the home, police said.
Crash injures driversof tractor-trailers
LISBON -- The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating a crash involving two tractor-trailers in Perry Township west of Salem.
Both drivers were injured in the 11:14 a.m. Thursday crash.
Charles Weyer, 62, of Alliance was in stable condition this morning at Aultman Hospital, Canton. Ronald Draa, 61, of Cocoa, Fla., was treated at Salem Community Hospital.
The Lisbon post of the patrol said Weyer was driving a tractor-trailer west on state Route 173 and struck a rig driven by Draa at the intersection of Route 173 and the state Route 45 bypass.
Draa was driving north on Route 45.