YSU panel authorizes audit of Sweet's expenses

YSU panel authorizesaudit of Sweet's expenses
YOUNGSTOWN -- The audit subcommittee of the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees has officially directed its internal audit firm to conduct a special audit of the travel and entertainment reimbursements of YSU President David C. Sweet during fiscal years 2003 and 2004, to date.
The subcommittee made the directive during a meeting Friday as a follow-up to a resolution it had made last week. The trustees gave internal audit firm Packer Thomas a June 1 deadline.
The move was made at the request of Sweet after the publication of several articles in the student-run newspaper detailing several expenditures Sweet made during travel and for parties at his Liberty home between September 2002 and January 2004.
Chemical spill closes road
COLUMBIANA -- State Route 46 was closed in both directions for about three hours at Renkenberger Road after a 1,000-gallon pressurized tank containing anhydrous ammonia fell off a trailer being hauled by a farm truck at 4:40 p.m. Friday. When the tank, containing 800 gallons of the chemical, hit the pavement, a valve broke, and much of it leaked out, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The chemical, placarded as hazardous and used as a farm fertilizer, evaporated; the Haz-Mat team wasn't called, and there was no evacuation. Authorities had to wait until the pressure in the tank was released before the tank could be uprighted and removed by farmers and the Beaver Township Fire Department, the patrol said. The truck was being driven by Patrick Noling, 40, of McCalla Street, East Palestine, a local farm employee, the patrol said.
Grant for youth program
MERCER, Pa. -- The Mercer County Conservation District has been awarded a $9,825 state grant to create an environmental education program for young people. State Sen. Robert Robbins of Greenville, R-50th, said the program will be run at the county's Munnell Run Farm, just north of Mercer borough. The grant comes from the Department of Environmental Protection.
Fitness enthusiast
SHARON, Pa. -- Joe Shafran, a Sharon native living in Annapolis, Md., has been appointed to a four-year term on the Maryland State Advisory Council on Physical Fitness.
Shafran, 77, has been a marathon runner and fitness enthusiast for 40 years. He is a radio and television broadcaster as well as a newspaper columnist. He hosts "Let's Shape Up" and writes a running and fitness column for the Capital in Annapolis and the Trident at the United States Naval Academy.
Shafran began his fitness and running avocation at Buhl Farm Park in Hermitage in 1964 and calculates that he's run 55,000 miles over the past 40 years.
The council's mission is to educate, advise and encourage Maryland residents to gain healthy benefits and improve the quality of their lives through regular physical activity.
Arbor Day events
CANFIELD -- A tree will be planted in front of Hilltop Elementary School to honor the school's fourth-grade class as part of an Arbor Day event at 2 p.m. Friday at the school, located on Hilltop Boulevard. Pupils will perform for the event, which is sponsored by the Canfield Parks, Recreation and Cemetery Board and the school.
The event is open to the public. Canfield has been named a "Tree City" by the National Arbor Day Foundation in each of the last 23 years.
Liquor control officer
SHARON, Pa. -- A Greenville man is one of the latest class of state liquor enforcement agents to graduate form the State Police Southwest Training Center. Douglas E. Keys and 27 others from across Pennsylvania completed the 14-week training program this week. He has been assigned to the State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement in Philadelphia. Keys is part of the 12th enforcement officer class to be trained since the state transferred enforcement of the liquor code from the liquor control board to the state police in 1987.
Spring plant sale
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Choffin Career and Technical Center Horticulture Department has a spring plant sale at the center greenhouse May 10-28. The greenhouse is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the center, 200 E. Wood St.
In addition to the plant sale, hanging baskets for Mother's Day will be available Thursday and Friday.
Sales support the greenhouse program, which offers hands-on training for students. For additional details, call Frank Shepherd of the Horticulture Department at (330) 744-8700.