Sunday, February 29, 2004
Dems to come to areain presidential campaigns
Democratic presidential campaigns are coming to the Mahoning Valley just days before Tuesday's primary election. At 2:30 p.m. Sunday, U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt will be at the Operating Engineers Hall, 291 McClurg Road, Boardman, on behalf of U.S. Sen. John Kerry. At 7 p.m. Monday, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who also is running for the nomination, will be at Youngstown State University's Kilcawley Center. He will speak in the center's Chestnut Room.
Man robs Super 8 Motelin Shenango Township
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Police are searching for a man who robbed the Super 8 Motel on New Butler Road in Shenango Township this morning. Officers said a short white man wielding a crowbar came in and demanded money at 4:43 a.m. The clerk froze and the man jumped over the counter and took about $100 from the cash register, police said. Officers said the man is in his late 20s to mid-30s and was wearing blue jeans and a light blue sweat shirt with the hood up.
Police: Hospital releases inmate who tried suicide
SHARON, Pa. -- Police said a man who apparently tried to commit suicide in a city jail cell Monday has been released from Sharon Regional Health System. George A. Bilunka Jr., 24, of North Water Avenue, was picked up at the Sharon-Brookfield Township border around 4:30 p.m. Monday on charges of receiving stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police said he had a bag of coins stolen in a Farrell burglary in his possession. Bilunka was placed in a jail cell to await arraignment but cut his wrist with a sharpened penny, police said. He was admitted to Sharon Regional Health System and was released Thursday morning. He was arraigned before District Justice Henry Russo on the stolen property and drug paraphernalia charges and freed on his own recognizance.
Officials award contractto install a waterline
LISBON -- An East Palestine company will be installing a 1.5-mile waterline in Madison and Yellow Creek townships this spring. Columbiana County commissioners awarded the job Wednesday to L.E.B. Contracting, which submitted the low bid of $522,881. The undertaking had to be bid twice. The first bid round was scrapped after a dispute arose. United Road and Bridge Co., Canfield, had argued that L.E.B.'s original bid should have been tossed because the company had failed to submit all the required paperwork. Had L.E.B.'s first bid been rejected, United's first-round bid of $551,207 would have been lowest and the company would likely have gotten the job. United didn't submit a second-round bid.
2 men attempt scam,end up robbing pizzeria
SALEM -- A short-change scam escalated to an unarmed robbery of East of Chicago Pizza on East State Street, police said. Two men entered the business around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, and one of them attempted to cheat the clerk out of change. When the clerk became suspicious, the man demanded money from the cash register. The frightened clerk complied, and the two men left with about $80, police said. Police say they believe the same two men worked a short-change scam at Papa John's Pizza on East State Street just before going to East of Chicago. There, they didn't demand money but succeeded in cheating the clerk out of about $30.
PUCO investigatesRoute 14 chemical spill
UNITY -- The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is investigating Wednesday's chemical spill on state Route 14 in Unity Township. The Lisbon post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said truck driver Samuel Lawrence, 37, of Ambridge, Pa., called the post around 4:20 a.m. Wednesday to report that his tanker was leaking and he had pulled off the highway on state Route 14 near Unity. The patrol said Lawrence pulled over after another trucker pulled his rig beside Lawrence's to alert him to the problem. The patrol said the tanker contained a toxic resin substance. No injuries were reported. The tanker belongs to Manfreid Motor Transport, a Pennsylvania company, the patrol said. East Palestine Fire Department's hazardous materials unit assisted the company's Haz-Mat unit in the cleanup effort, the patrol said. The highway was closed for about eight hours.