Petting zoo at Conneaut

Petting zoo at Conneaut
MEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- Operators of a historical amusement park in northwestern Pennsylvania that almost missed opening on time this season because of financial trouble hope that a petting zoo will improve attendance.
Conneaut Lake Park, home to the country's sixth-oldest wooden roller coaster, will allow a contractor to operate a petting zoo as soon as possible despite a humane officer's concern that the animals are being exploited.
LeRoy Stearns, vice chairman of the park's board and a Crawford County humane officer, gave his blessing, since the seasonal park operates only for six weeks. Admission to the petting zoo will be $2, with the park getting 25 percent of that fee.
The park took out two loans and sold a billboard to raise $200,000 needed to open this year after an ownership dispute scuttled initial financing plans. A judge dismissed the claims in February, and Conneaut opened for its 111th season.
Hermitage hotel robbed
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Police said a lone gunman took an undisclosed amount of cash from Sharon's Premiere Hotel at 3200 S. Hermitage Road early today. A clerk in the hotel office heard a noise at the counter and went to investigate, finding a man with a large black revolver taking cash from the money drawer. The clerk ran to notify authorities and didn't see which way the robber fled, police said. The gunman was described as a black male wearing a light gray hooded sweat shirt with the hood pulled up over his head. He also wore a scarf to hide his face, police said.
Forgery, theft charges
SHARON, Pa. -- Police said a transient who had been volunteering at the Second Hand Ministries on North Main Street is accused of stealing about 50 blank checks from the ministry. Eric A. Tarleton, 42, forged 18 of the checks for a total of about $2,300 between June 21 and July 3, police said. Tarleton was arrested on a warrant around 9:30 a.m. Thursday and arraigned before District Justice James McMahon on charges of forgery and theft. Police said he was also on parole on a drug charge. A parole detainer was filed against him, which meant his automatic return to Mercer County Jail without bond, police said.
Road to be closed
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Pa. Route 518 (Lamor Road) will be closed between Hofius Lane and Trout Island Road from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday for road repair necessitated by recent heavy rains. The detour will be over Buhl Farm Drive and Highland Avenue, PennDOT announced. Resurfacing of U.S. Route 62 between Zahniser Road and Pa. Route 19 began Thursday and is to be completed by mid-October, PennDOT announced.
Sentenced for robberies
PITTSBURGH -- A Pittsburgh man who admitted robbing the National City Bank office at 2470 E. State St., Hermitage, and seven other banks has been sentenced to seven years and three months in prison.
Christopher Lyons, 22, of Saw Mill Run Boulevard, will then face three years of parole and must make full restitution to all of the banks he robbed, under terms of the sentence handed down Thursday by Donetta W. Ambrose, chief United States district judge.
Lyons was accused of taking $1,845 from the bank in Hermitage and a total of $21,869 from all eight banks.
He pleaded guilty in April to robbing five of them (including the Hermitage location) and accepted responsibility for three others.
The robberies occurred in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio between June 7, 2002, and April 7.
Expert: Fish not piranha
ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- A toothy fish hooked by an angler near Lake Erie was likely not a piranha but its vegetarian cousin, a state biologist said.
Roger Kenyon of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission said the foot-long fish caught by Mark Samuels on Tuesday at Presque Isle State Park, about 120 miles north of Pittsburgh, is probably a pacu.
"They've got a nice set of jaws there," Kenyon said. "But they're not supposed to be flesh-eaters."
Pacus closely resemble piranhas but have flatter teeth and normally prefer vegetables and nuts, although they have been known to feed on dead fish.
Lake Erie is a long way from the warm waters of South America that piranhas and pacus prefer. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission officials said it likely ended up in a pond at the park when someone got tired of having it for a pet.