Council stresses law enforcement as a priority

'Since when do we need to live in fear in this town?' a councilman asks.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Law enforcement and neighborhood stabilization are top priorities of city council members as they develop the city's 2006 budget.
"We are now in a real drug-war environment," said Felipe Romain Jr., D-at large. Frequent recent shootings in the city, he said, are "early warning signs" of law enforcement challenges to come.
"Since when do we need to live in fear in this town?" he asked his colleagues in a finance committee meeting Tuesday. "All you have to do for evil to prevail is do nothing," he said.
Federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will help local police to form anti-crime task forces if city officials request their assistance, said Councilman Gary Fonce, D-at large. "We have to start being more resourceful with what we have," he said.
"If it's the DEA that we need to bring in, that's what we need to do," said Councilman James "Doc" Pugh, D-6th, referring to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
"We need the outside help. We need the federal people in here," agreed Councilman Alford L. Novak, D-2nd.
Council needs to ask Mayor Michael O'Brien, Safety Service Director William "Doug" Franklin" and Police Chief John Mandopoulos for a plan to curb drugs and violence, Romain said.
Councilman Robert L. Dean Jr., D-at large, who spends considerable time riding along with city police in cruisers, said police tell him they expect to be shot at on the city's southwest side. He also expressed alarm over a fight among 10 students wearing gang colors at Warren G. Harding High School Tuesday morning.
Dean lamented what he said is a perception among criminals that Warren is "an easy target."
Financial concerns
"We need to become as frugal as we can," especially in the overtime budget, said Novak, the committee chairman. Novak noted the unknown financial impact on the city from Delphi Corp.'s bankruptcy and the forthcoming closings of the Warren YWCA building and St. Mary's School.
However, Novak said he believes city officials should come up with specific amounts of money to be spent on street resurfacing and demolition of vacant, blighted buildings. He suggested a $100,000 general fund line item for demolition.
Councilman Robert Holmes III, D-4th, said housing blight is such a problem in the city that he'd like to see $250,000 set aside for housing demolition.
911 planning committee
In an earlier full council meeting, lawmakers selected Mayor Thomas Moorehead of Newton Falls as a member of the Trumbull County 911 Planning Committee, which county commissioners reconvened Nov. 2.
One member of the five-member committee is to be agreed upon by a majority of the county's city and village councils. Another is to be selected jointly by concurrence of township trustees.
Dan Polivka, chairman of the county commissioners, and Mayors Michael O'Brien of Warren and Ralph Infante of Niles are ex-officio members of the committee.
O'Brien said the committee will explore possible reduction in the number of 911 answering points to potentially save money and increase the system's efficiency. Also to be explored are changing the method of answering 911 calls from cellular phones, which are now answered by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, O'Brien said.
Trumbull County has six 911 answering points: Howland, Warren, Niles, Liberty, Girard and Newton Falls, and the national trend is toward fewer answering points, O'Brien said.