Charged in damage

Charged in damage
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Three Westminster College students are charged with criminal mischief and firing an air rifle across a highway after a nearby retirement home was damaged. Police said Christopher L. Castillo, 21, of Austintown, Matthew R. McLaughlin, 20, of Randolph, N.Y., and Zachary R. Saxman, 21, of North Versailles, Pa., were charged after police found damage to windows at the Shenango On The Green retirement home, 238 S. Market St., on Jan. 8. Police said there were punctures to exterior screens and window glass caused by BB's from an air rifle. Police said the shots were fired from a second-story window of the Alpha Sigma Pi house across the street. They searched the house Jan. 8 and found a large quantity of BB's and an air rifle. Police Chief Carmen Piccirillo said Castillo, McLaughlin and Saxman told police they had no intention to shoot at or damage property at Shenango On The Green, but were trying to hit street signs.
Assaulted by intruder
HILLSVILLE, Pa. -- State police say a woman was assaulted in her bed by a man looking for prescription drugs and money. The woman was sleeping when the man with a knife forced open the side door of her Francis Drive home and demanded the drugs. The 51-year-old woman was punched in the head before the man ran off, police said. She was treated at Jameson Hospital.
Pothole problems
YOUNGSTOWN -- A city police officer checked out reports at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday that several vehicles were damaged when they hit "severe" potholes on the Fifth Avenue eastbound on-ramp to the Madison Avenue Expressway. At that time, Youngstown State University campus police, also on the scene, notified the street department of the problem, as did the city police dispatcher. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the same city officer was sent to the same location for a possible three-car crash. What the officer found was that three cars had struck the same potholes that had been reported earlier to the street department. Two of the drivers were able to use spare tires and leave, the third car had to be towed, reports show. The street department was notified again of the problem.
Special meeting
NEW SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield Township residents are encouraged to attend a special trustees meeting with Consumers Ohio Water Co. to discuss the possibility of water service for Petersburg. It is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Petersburg Fire Station 2.
Counterfeit money
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Police are looking for a man who tried to get change for a fake $20 bill. A clerk at the Tic Toc Food Mart on East Washington Street told police a man gave her the bill at 1:50 p.m. Wednesday, and she found it was fake after using a special marker. The man walked out of the store when she called for another employee to come to the counter. Police describe the suspect as a white man in his late teens or early 20s, 5 feet 9 inches tall with short dark hair.
Preparing for inmates
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on the city's East Side will be capable of accepting federal detainees March 10 at the earliest, but no contract to do so exists, said Steve Owen, spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, based in Tennessee. In preparation for inmates, the privately owned prison on Youngstown-Hubbard Road has hired 133 workers, who are in various stages of training, Owen said Wednesday. That many staffers could handle up to about 300 prisoners, he said.
Archaeology club meeting
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The King Beaver Archaeology Club will meet at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Lawrence County Historical Society's Medure History Building, 408 N. Jefferson St. Cindy Emery, a member of the society's board of directors, will present a slide show about Sitting Bull.
Water improvements
LEETONIA -- In about two weeks, village water customers should notice improved water quality. Water department employees are rebuilding filters in the treatment plant this week. Village Administrator Gary Phillips said that improved water quality means improved taste and less odor, sediment, iron and other minerals in the water. Village water comes from wells. Many pipes in the system are 100 years old or more, and there is sediment in the pipes that sometimes mixes into the water. Although the well water sometimes has an unpleasant taste or odor, the water is safe to drink, he said. Phillips said treatment plant employees test the water daily and if testing shows a high level of bacteria or some other problem, he will issue an order for customers to boil drinking water until the problem is corrected.