Burned patrol officer doing well, chief says
Trustees authorized
application for state money to build a $1 million
footbridge on South
Raccoon Road.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN — Patrol officer Ross Linert, who was burned in an accident Nov. 11 on North Meridian Road, is hoping to return to work in the fall.
Police Chief Bob Gavalier told township trustees Monday that he took Linert to a physical therapy session recently, where they discussed the progress he is making.
“He told me he hopes to return to work by September. I don’t know if it will be that soon,” Gavalier said.
Gavalier said the outlook for Linert’s recovery “looks good for him right now.”
Linert received burns to 40 percent of his body after Adrien Foutz, 22, of Girard, drove into Linert’s patrol car from behind Nov. 11, causing the gas tank on the cruiser to explode.
He spent a month on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma in the burn unit of Akron Children’s Hospital before heading home to complete his recovery.
Trustee David Ditzler mentioned later in the meeting that Trustee Lisa Oles gave Linert a pair of boxing gloves signed by Youngstown middleweight Kelly Pavlik and former Youngstown boxing champ Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini.
In other business, Oles mentioned that township residents who recently noticed a township surcharge on their property tax bill resulting from failing to maintain their property would be well advised to handle the maintenance on their own in the future.
The township has a policy of assessing for grass cutting and other services after notifying the property owner of maintenance problems, Ditzler said.
In one recent case, a property owner was charged $500 because the township had to cut the grass on a normal-sized house lot three times, Ditzler said.
“It’s a lot more expensive to have [township] road and parks workers do it” than to hire someone yourself to do it, Oles said.
In other business, trustees authorized Administrator Michael Dockry to submit an application to the Ohio Department of Transportation for part of the money to build a $1 million pedestrian footbridge on South Raccoon Road.
The township would contribute $174,994 — 20 percent — of the project cost and agree to maintain the bridge.
The bridge would carry people from Austintown Middle School over Raccoon Road to the township’s 9-11 Memorial Park, where a playground is planned. Ditzler said the application will be made this spring, and word on approval is expected by year’s end.
runyan@vindy.com