5-year sentence for killing worker

March 15, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

LISBON — A woman was sentenced to five years in prison for crushing and killing a sanitation worker while she was driving while intoxicated. Judge David Tobin of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence Friday on Elizabeth Oliver, 29, of East Liverpool. She also will lose her driver’s license for life. She was driving a large pickup truck in the city that struck and pinned Ronald Woods against an East Liverpool garbage truck. The impact caused massive trauma that directly led to his death, according to court records. A test showed her blood-alcohol level at the time was 0.163, slightly more than twice the legal limit of intoxication in Ohio.

Restoration session

WARREN — A restoration architect will make a presentation to the Save Harding Committee at 1 p.m. today at the United Steelworkers of America Local 1375 Hall, the former Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, 684 N. Park Ave. Lauren Burge of Chambers, Murphy Burge, restoration architects of Akron, will make the presentation. The committee has been attempting to preserve Warren G. Harding High School when it closes in June to make way for a new high school adjacent to Harding.

Molestation charges

COLUMBIANA — Police arrested Robert C. Satterfield, 50, of Abingdon, Va., at 4:53 p.m. Thursday on 23 felony counts of child molestation in Bristol, Va. Bristol police told Columbiana police Satterfield may have been in the city. He was arrested in an alley behind a residence on West Park Street. Satterfield is in the county jail pending an extradition hearing.

Fugitive surrenders

YOUNGSTOWN — A man wanted on a variety of felony and misdemeanor warrants flagged down Patrolman P.J. Chance on Fifth Avenue and surrendered. Gary Whitfield, 22, of East Lucius Avenue, told the officer at 11 p.m. Thursday the FBI/Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force was after him and he was tired of running. Records show Whitfield pleaded guilty last summer in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to breaking and entering but failed to show for sentencing in December, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He also was wanted on a warrant issued in January by county court in Boardman on a probation violation in an obstruction case. Youngstown Municipal Court judges issued warrants in November and December for Whitfield. He has four separate cases there — three on driving under suspension and one on child endangering. He was arraigned Friday in municipal court, and bond was set at $28,700. He will be back in court next month. In the interim, he will appear in the Boardman and common pleas courts.

Contract review

VIENNA — Mathews Board of Education met in executive session Friday afternoon to review contract negotiations with the district’s teachers. Superintendent Lee Seiple said there have only been two bargaining sessions thus far with the Mathews Education Association, which represents 67 teachers. Their two-year contract, which contained pay increases of 3 percent and 2 percent, expires in August. Seiple said it is not unusual to have had just two sessions at this point and added that no time has been scheduled for both sides to return to the table. Sandra Webber, the union president, could not be reached. Also to be negotiated is the contract for 43 nonteaching district employees who are represented by the Ohio Association of Public School Employees-AFSCME Local 611. Their contract expires July 1 and negotiations have yet to begin, Seiple said.

Yarwood appointed

YOUNGSTOWN — Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has appointed Atty. Ronald Yarwood as the new co-counsel for Michael A. Davis, 18, of Bennington Avenue, who faces the death penalty in the Jan. 23 Stewart Avenue house fire that killed six people, including four children. Davis is charged in a 29-count aggravated murder and aggravated-arson indictment. Yarwood replaces Martin E. Yavorcik, who withdrew as co-counsel Thursday because of his candidacy for county prosecutor. Atty. James S. Gentile continues as lead defense counsel. The jury trial remains set for Oct. 6.