Train grazes school bus

Train grazes school bus
BEAVER FALLS, Pa. (AP) -- A school bus was grazed by a freight train Wednesday, but no one was injured. The driver was able to get all the pupils off the bus after it stopped running at a railroad crossing.
The rear emergency door of the Big Beaver Falls Area school bus was hit by a 36-car Norfolk Southern freight train, railroad spokesman Rudy Husband said. The driver got all the children off the bus before tractors being hauled on the train struck it, police said.
State police didn't immediately identify the driver but said he worked for McCarter Transit of Beaver Falls.
It was unclear how the bus became disabled around 8:30 a.m. on Midvale Road in Big Beaver, just south of Lawrence County. Damage to the bus was minor.
The train was on its way from Chicago to Conway, Pa.
Purse and jewelry sale
LORDSTOWN -- The village employees' Relay for Life team will sponsor a Once-Loved Purse and Jewelry Sale from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 10 at the administration building on Salt Springs Road.
The team is accepting donations of gently used purses and jewelry. Boxes for purse donations are located at the Lordstown Elementary and high school offices, Golden Image Tanning Salon and in the administration building. Jewelry should be placed in an envelope and given to an employee in those locations.
All proceeds from the event will be donated to the American Cancer Society.
Anyone interested in volunteering to work the sale can call Bill Dray at (330) 824-2046.
Band to perform
HUBBARD -- The high school marching band will perform Saturday in the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington, D.C.
Band director Bill Forrester said 160 of the 190 band members will leave Friday morning, participate in the 10 a.m. parade and return Sunday night.
The band is among 17 others in the country that will take part.
Forrester said the individual band members are paying their own expenses.
Leetonia schools
LEETONIA -- The board of education granted Superintendent Tom Inchack a five-year contract ending June 2010. His present contract expires in June 2005.
Principals Tracy Early, Michael Ferguson and Beth Goerig will continue in their positions, Inchak said.
For the 2004-05 school year, Ferguson, high school principal, will be in the second year of a two-year contract; Goerig, middle school principal, in the third year of a three-year contract; and Early, elementary principal, in the first year of a three-year contract. Their salaries will be set this summer.
In critical condition
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A city man was in critical condition this morning after a crash on Pa. Route 168.
Pennsylvania State Police said Michael Kobal, 48, was traveling south at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday when his car went off the road and crashed into a tree.
He was flown by medical helicopter to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.
Home burglarized
SHARON, Pa. -- Police said someone broke a window in the front door of a home in the 600 block of South Oakland Avenue and stole 20 DVD movies between 7 p.m. Tuesday and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Police said the occupant of the home was in the hospital at the time of the burglary.
Remains identified
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dental records were used to identify Michael L. Jordan, 28, of 249 Alameda Ave. as the man whose remains were found in the basement of the house over the weekend.
Workers who noticed an indentation in the basement floor dug into it and found bones.
Coroner David M. Kennedy said a ruling on the death is pending further investigation. Kennedy has enlisted the help of an archeologist with the sociology department at Youngstown State University.
Jordan has been missing about 31/2 years, police said. The case has been turned over to homicide detectives.
YSU professor resigns
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Youngstown State University sociology/anthropology professor who was removed from classes this term has submitted his resignation.
Dr. Gary Fry's resignation is effective in May 2005, said Thomas Maraffa, special assistant to YSU President David C. Sweet. He has taught at YSU since September 1970.
Fry, who is paid an $87,526 salary, was removed from classes midway through the current term, and alternate instructors were assigned to teach his courses. Maraffa has declined to say why Fry was reassigned.
In 2002, Fry was found guilty in Girard Municipal Court of attempted unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and having a weapon while intoxicated. He was fined by the court and placed on probation.