Newton Falls teen drowns in pond

NEWTON FALLS – A day of playful rafting and swimming at a Newton Township pond turned into a tragedy when an eighth-grade student at Newton Falls Junior High School drowned.

Willard “Doug” Jenkins of Kings Drive in the Blue Water Manor, a mobile home park off Salt Springs Road, was pronounced dead Tuesday evening at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital, Warren, after he couldn’t be resuscitated at the pond site.

He had been swimming and rafting with his brother and friends when his raft tipped over.

The Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office report said that Willard, 15, was swimming and rafting with his 19-year-old brother, Shawn Kittinger, with whom he lived; Patrick Heflin, 13, of Queens Drive; and Codie Huey, 14, of Kings, all in the mobile home park.

For the complete story, see Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com.