LEETONIA Early leaders laid down the law

One ordinance set the police chief's salary at $150 per year.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LEETONIA -- Village residents and visitors beware. "Jumping onto train cars for amusement," or "throwing banana peels or orange peels in the streets" will not be tolerated.
Searching for the village's original ordinance on cemetery fees recently, Cheryl Altomare, mayor's court clerk, her husband, Mayor Artie Altomare, and Village Administrator Gary Phillips found a wealth of village history in the early ordinance books and mayor's court records.
Although the leather bindings of the books are deteriorated, most of the pages are well preserved, with the handwritten pages clearly legible.
"It's amazing," Cheryl Altomare said. "We haven't done anything to preserve these books, and they are nearly perfect. It's very interesting to read these ordinances and see how far the village has progressed."
One ordinance, for example, stated residents and visitors were required to "restrain from running at large in the village, mules, cattle, sheep or swine."
The village's first speeding ordinance was passed in 1880, making it "unlawful to ride a horse or other animal or drive a carriage at an unreasonable speed through the streets of Leetonia."
An ordinance in March 1885 made any "disorder or clamor in the night" unlawful.
Early laws
The third village ordinance in 1864 was to establish rules for use of intoxicating liquor. The fourth ordinance established a marshal for Leetonia, and gave residents the right to form a posse.
An 1874 ordinance set the police chief's salary at $150 per year, and another in 1876 established "a police department with officers."
The fifth ordinance in 1864 prohibited drunkenness within the village limits. Offenders could be fined up to $25 or "imprisoned in the village lockup."
Also among the records were original warrants issued during the period. Because of an ordinance against operating houses of "ill fame", a warrant was issued in February 1888 for a woman named Barbara to appear in mayor's court because "she did unlawfully keep a house of ill fame for the purpose of prostitution or lewdness."
Village officials established in January 1896 that tramps and vagrants would be punished -- except for tramps or vagrants who were female or blind.
Sent to the workhouse
In May 1887, a man named Tom appeared in mayor's court for drunkenness and disorderly conduct and after he "did unlawfully, willingly and knowingly assault, threaten and abuse the marshal." He was fined $20 and court costs and sentenced to "30 days in the workhouse in the city of Cleveland."
An 1895 ordinance made it "unlawful for any person to steal ladders, hooks, ropes or buckets from the fire company."
Phillips said he enjoyed reading the ordinances because they show that the village officials had a vision for Leetonia even then. Many of the ordinances dealt with planning for village streets, sidewalks and the water system.
"It's fascinating because these books are still in such good condition," he said. "There is a lot of potential here now, and I wonder if they knew back then that they were planning a village that would still be developing today."