CONTESTS Eight artistic pupils honored in fire safety poster program

Police are working with other departments to prevent crimes.
BOARDMAN -- Several pupils won recent poster contests set up to demonstrate the importance of fire safety and prevention.
At this week's trustees meeting, Lt. Bill Glaser of the township's fire prevention office announced the six high school students and two grade-schoolers who submitted winning drawings and graphics for the contests. Trustees honored the youngsters by giving them proclamations for their artwork.
Those recognized were Max Dubinsky, David Ghioldi, Emily Spurr, Emily Geistfeld, Christian Wong and Tristan Lysowski, all Boardman High School students in Edie Davidson's graphic arts class.
As part of a separate poster contest, Frances Clause, a second-grader at Robinwood Elementary School, and Faith Marsco, a fifth-grade pupil at Boardman Center Middle School, were honored for their drawings, both of which will be posted inside the township's new mobile fire prevention classroom.
Davidson said the traveling classroom, which looks similar to a large trailer, features a fire prevention officer who goes to several schools to teach fire prevention techniques. Before the contest, the unit had a white, nondescript look and designs symbolizing fire prevention were needed for the outside of the mobile classroom, she said.
Davidson said that two of her art classes contributed to the project and that parts of the winners' graphic designs will be displayed on the mobile unit as part of a final mosaic.
Wall plan
In other business, trustees voted to revisit a proposal by Police Chief Jeffrey Patterson that called for building a wall in the department's main booking area and combining two offices. The work, estimated to cost $4,700, would include a wall designed to have "adult and juvenile prisoners separated by sight and sound," Patterson noted.
Trustee Kathy Miller said she wanted to see drawings of the project before approving the plan.
Patterson told trustees his department knows who the handful of criminals are who commit many of the township's burglaries, car thefts and other crimes. Using data showing where peaks in crime are occurring, officers are putting pressure on criminals and taking a proactive approach toward crime prevention in those and other areas by using saturation patrols, marked and unmarked vehicles and canine units, he said.
"When we have an opportunity to get out in front, we will," Patterson said. "We're identifying crime areas and trying to be there ahead of time."
The chief added that his department is working with Youngstown, Struthers, Poland Village and other departments to try to forecast criminal activity based on plotted data that shows patterns such as the time of day and days of the week when break-ins, auto theft and burglaries, for example, seem to be taking place.