Campbell streets affected

Campbell streets affected

CAMPBELL — For fire and safety reasons, traffic patterns on streets near St. Joseph the Provider Church, 633 Porter Ave., will be altered during its festival scheduled from Thursday through Sunday.

Porter Avenue and Sanderson Avenue will be one-way streets from 16th Street west to 13th Street and Sanderson Avenue from 13th Street east to 16th Street.

Weapon, drug charges

YOUNGSTOWN — A city man is being held in Mahoning County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bond after police found drugs and a gun in a car in which he was a passenger.

Lamar Makle, 19, of Cromwell Street, was arraigned before Magistrate Anthony Sertik in Youngstown Municipal Court Thursday. He is charged with felony carrying a concealed weapon and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

According to police, officers patrolling Plazaview Apartments on the city’s East Side on Wednesday evening noticed Makle sitting in a car with another man. When officers walked past the car, they saw marijuana sitting in Makle’s lap, reports said.

Officers report they searched the car, finding more marijuana under Makle’s seat and a loaded handgun in a jacket he was wearing. Officers also found more ammunition for the gun inside the jacket.

Input on Warren plan

WARREN — A public hearing will be at 7 p.m. June 8 in the Harding High School Cafetorium so that the steering committee for the city’s comprehensive plan can receive input on the plan, which is nearly complete and available for inspection on the Warren Web site at www.warren.org at the link called “strategic plan documents.”

The city is paying the Poggemeyer Group of Bowling Green, Ohio, $180,000 to complete the study.

Pest spraying in Howland

HOWLAND — Mosquito spraying in the township will occur from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday and Monday and resume in late June. Alexander Pest Control will conduct the spraying June 29 and 30, July 27 and 28, Aug. 24 and 25 and Sept. 14 and 15.

Residents are encouraged to close their windows, keep pets indoors and not leave any food outdoors during the spraying. In case of rain, spraying will be moved back one day.

Octogenarians service

YOUNGSTOWN — Eleven octogenarians, those 80 and older, will be honored at the 10:45 a.m. service Sunday at Richard Brown United Methodist Church, 1205 Elm St. A dinner will follow.

Vehicle license tax goes up

WARREN — City council has approved an increase in the city’s vehicle license tax from $10 to $15 per year.

The legislation was approved 7-3 Wednesday, with Councilmen Vincent Flask, Bob Dean and Al Novak voting no.

The legislation, sponsored by Andy Barkley and James “Doc” Pugh, will increase the amount the city receives for use on road repairs by about $160,000 to $170,000 per year. The additional amount will be charged starting Jan. 1, 2010.

To be in effect by Jan. 1, 2010, the city had to approve the legislation by June 1 to provide 30 days for the legislation to become law.

Greg Hicks, Warren law director, said he believes the reason the Ohio Legislature required the 30 days to pass is so that the public has the ability to challenge the tax increase by referendum.

2 arrested in burglary

WARREN — Police arrived in time to arrest two city residents and charge them with burglary Thursday morning on Homewood Avenue Southeast after a neighbor called 911 because he heard breaking glass.

When police arrived at a little after midnight, they found the front picture window broken out and arrested one person inside the house and a second one in a vehicle in the driveway. The home’s resident was not home.

Kari L. VonBergen, 25, and Bruce B. VonBergen, 27, both of Lexington Avenue Northwest, pleaded innocent to burglary Thursday in Warren Municipal Court and were being held in Trumbull County Jail on $50,000 bond.

Both are set to return to court at 10:15 a.m. June 5. If convicted, each could spend up to eight years in prison.

Restaurateur in court

NILES — The owner of McMenamy’s Restaurant and Banquet Center faces a hearing in municipal court today on a charge of violating the city’s recently revised noise ordinance.

Complaints about loud band concerts at McMenamy’s last year led council to work for several months on revisions to the noise ordinance. City council enacted it into law last month.

Police say Robert Leonard, owner of the Youngstown-Warren Road business, was cited early Sunday.

Police Lt. Dave Smathers said officers had responded to complaints about the loud bands twice during the afternoon and evening, and that Leonard had agreed to “tone it down.” However, Smathers said he issued the citation after 1 a.m. Sunday.

“Although the band was playing for a fundraiser, under the ordinance, the [music] should have ended by midnight, and it didn’t,” Smathers said.

A call requesting comment from Leonard was not returned.