'The Bear' rescued officers under fire

The police standoff was the highest-profile use to date of 'the Bear.'
By DEBORA SHAULIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County's new tactical operations vehicle was literally a lifesaver earlier this month when a murder suspect fired shots at police.
Lt. Robin Lees of Youngstown Police told Mahoning County commissioners on Thursday that the armored truck was used to rescue three officers during a four-hour standoff Jan. 1 with Jermaine McKinney, 25, of Girard and Youngstown.
McKinney faces capital murder charges and more in Trumbull County in the deaths of Wanda Rollyson, 70, of Newton Township and her 45-year-old daughter, Rebecca Cliburn of Warren. They were found dead Dec. 22 in the basement of Rollyson's home. Both women were burned beyond recognition.
McKinney was apprehended Jan. 1 after the standoff with police at a home on Halleck Street on Youngstown's North Side.
The three officers were among the first on the scene. When McKinney began to fire shots through a second-story window, the officers became "trapped behind their cars without cover," Lees said. That's when the "Bear" arrived on the scene.
Bear is the model name of the custom-made vehicle that was manufactured by Lenco. Co. of Pittsfield, Mass., said Walter Duzzny, the county's director of emergency management and communications. It was one of three new county vehicles that were unveiled last November and purchased with federal Homeland Security grant money awarded to the county.
The Bear has been used in other situations, but "this was one time it was used for intended purposes," Lees said.
As for its availability, the Bear is a "regional deployable asset," Duzzny told commissioners.
Funds for extension office
In other business, the director of the Ohio State University Extension Agency office in Canfield said commissioners were lifesavers by approving a $250,000 contribution to his agency.
"We were zeroed out last year" because of county budget cutbacks, OSU extension agent David Goerig said. Commissioners did contribute $50,000 late last year that kept the local office open, he noted.
The money is "about what we were getting in 2000," Goerig said, and will enable him to fill a home economics agent job that has been vacant for two years. That person will lead nutrition education programs in the inner city and throughout the county. The program generates federal funding.
OSU extension office also provides information about insect control; works with local farmers, landscapers and nursery owners; and offers youth development programs such as 4-H.
Commissioners also approved $110,000 for Mahoning County Soil & amp; Water Conservation District, which has moved from the OSU extension office to county-owned space on Industrial Road in Youngstown.
shaulis@vindy.com