Metro digest

3 remain in race to be next Warren police chief

WARREN — With the withdrawal of Lt. Joseph Marhulik, the ranks of the Warren Police Department planning to take the test to be Warren’s next police chief are down to three.

jMarhulik, who heads the department’s concentration on the city’s public- housing units and assists Capt. Tim Bowers with other support-division management, said he has decided against taking the test Aug. 20 because he’s going to retire sometime in 2010.

That leaves two captains — Bowers, who is acting chief, and Capt. Janice Gilmore, who oversees the road-patrol division; and Lt. Cathy Spencer, who supervises the road-patrol officers on the day shift.

The next chief will be selected based on the results of a two-hour written test.

‘Grass Roots’ series

YOUNGSTOWN — The second of a two-part lecture series for the “Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art” exhibit will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Weller Gallery at Fellows Riverside Gardens.

Dr. Peter Rutkoff, professor of American Studies at Kenyon College, will discuss the Gullah culture of the coastal Carolina Lowcountry. The history and geography of the Gullah people, their language, customs and religion will make up the topic.

The Weller Gallery exhibit features baskets from the Coastal Carolina region, as well as from various regions of Africa two millennia ago, through the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the Carolina rice plantation, to the present.

The exhibit runs through Aug. 9 and is organized by the Museum of African Art and toured by NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Local Polish Happy Hour

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A Polish Happy Hour has been set for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. today at The Basin, 11 S. Mill St.

The event will feature information about the history of New Castle’s Polish community.

Complimentary Polish appetizers and desserts will be served, and Polish beer and vodka will be available at a cash bar. Polish jazz music will also be featured.

The event is sponsored by New Castle’s American-Polish Central Committee in conjunction with the Polish Happy Hour, Youngstown.

Polish Happy Hours are part of a national movement to bring together those interested in the Polish language and nation.

Dillard sentencing set

LISBON — Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court will sentence Eric Dillard on a charge of murder and other offenses at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 3.

Dillard, 31, of Wellsville, could face up to 23 years in prison. He was convicted of shooting a business partner, Jamie Farley, 35, of East Liverpool, outside Dillard’s home at 906 Commerce St., Wellsville, around 10 p.m. April 22, 2008.

Authorities found the .40-caliber pistol fired by Dillard. Dillard had previously been convicted of selling marijuana. He was barred from owning a handgun.

Sales-tax collections down

LISBON — Columbiana County Commissioner Jim Hoppel said Wednesday the poor economy is affecting county revenue.

The county has a 1 percent sales tax and a half-percent sales tax that bring in about $12 million a year, which is the bulk of county revenue.

The sales taxes in the county normally stay steady throughout the year. But Hoppel said that the last two months of collection, “are not as much as they were” when compared with 2008 figures.

Comparison showed the collections are down $262,488 for the past two months.

Hoppel said the commissioners will keep a close eye on the revenue.