Bad-check charges

Bad-check charges
BOARDMAN -- Police charged the 38-year-old son of a reputed local organized crime figure with five counts of passing bad checks. Orland Anthony Carabbia Jr. of East Boston Avenue in Youngstown was charged Tuesday with the felony counts on a warrant. Township police say Carabbia, son of Orland Carabbia Sr., wrote bad checks on closed bank accounts totaling $16,476.55, and cashed them on June 11 at the First Place Bank on Market Street in Boardman. Carabbia will be arraigned Thursday in Mahoning County Court, Boardman.
Vehicular homicide charge
YOUNGSTOWN -- Randall K. Richardson, 40, of Lilburne Avenue was arrested Tuesday on a warrant charging him with aggravated vehicular homicide. Police said Richardson recklessly caused the death of Claxton Phillips Jr., who died Feb. 21 after a crash on the Himrod Avenue Expressway. Reports show that Richardson's 1992 Honda Civic, traveling west in the right lane, sideswiped a 2000 Honda Civic traveling west in the left lane. Phillips, 35, of Foster Drive, was a passenger in the 2000 Honda, which hit the concrete divider a fewtimes and then landed on its passenger side.
Deploying to Kyrgyzstan
VIENNA -- Twenty-seven activated reservists from the 910th Airlift Wing's Operations Group are scheduled to leave Thursday morning for a 60-day deployment to Manas Air Base near Kyrgyzstan's capital city of Bishkek, about 500 miles north of the Afghanistan border.
Street closing for derby
YOUNGSTOWN -- Fifth Avenue between Grant and Wood streets will close at 5 p.m. Friday for the Soap Box Derby.
The closure will be in effect until about 8 p.m. Sunday. The derby starts Saturday. Sunday is a rain date.
During evening hours, traffic can cross Lincoln Avenue, though all other sections of Fifth Avenue will remain closed. The city is urging drivers to seek alternative north and south routes to avoid Fifth Avenue.
Route 46 reopens
NORTH LIMA -- The Ohio Department of Transportation announced state Route 46 just south of state Route 165 in Beaver Township reopened Tuesday afternoon.
The road had been closed because of culvert damage caused by a storm last month.
State Route 534 one mile south of U.S. 224 in Berlin Township also recently reopened. The road was also closed because of an emergency culvert replacement.
Cemetery cleanup
YOUNGSTOWN-- Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 5400 Market St., is asking family members to remove grave decorations, flag standards and flags from the park by July 7 because of a summer cleanup from July 8-10. Their annual lot owners' meeting will be at 2 p.m. July 30 in the park's chapel.
District will get new bus
NORTH LIMA -- The South Range Board of Education will advertise for bids on a new school bus. At the board's regular monthly meeting Monday, Superintendent Tom Hall said the district will use funding provided by the state to help pay for the 65-passenger conventional bus. He said it typically takes a full year to build a bus, so one ordered now should be ready by the 2005-06 school year.
The school board also agreed to continue the district's membership in the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Without the membership, athletic teams cannot continue participating in sports events with teams from other districts throughout the state.
The school board also decided to allow the American Red Cross to use district buildings during emergencies and special events and to allow the YOS Soccer School to use the South Range Sports Complex.
Judge gets second term
WARREN -- Trumbull County Probate Judge Thomas A. Swift was chosen president-elect of the Ohio Association of Probate Judges at the annual meeting of Ohio's Probate, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judges. He will finish a two-year term as president-elect and then serve a second term as president of the association.
He also served as president from 1988 to 1990 and will be the first judge to serve two terms as president.
He also received the Meritorious Service Award at the meeting for working to improve Ohio's probate laws.