Metro digest

Bridge to be closed

YOUNGSTOWN — Because of the installation of a new storm-sewer system, the Marshall Street Bridge will be closed for about 30 days beginning Monday. The bridge, over the Mahoning River, carries Marshall Street from Front Street to Oak Hill Avenue.

The sewer project is at the intersection of Oak Hill Avenue and Marshall Street.

Student alleges rape

CANFIELD — City police are investigating a student’s allegation she was raped in August.

The investigation began several weeks ago after a teacher at Canfield Middle School approached the district’s police officer, Paul Lasky, with information about the alleged rape, according to police reports.

The accuser told the teacher she was attacked by a male juvenile in mid-August on the bike path in Canfield, according to the report.

Assistant Police Chief Andy Bodzak said the girl is a 14-year-old eighth-grader at the middle school. He said details on the location of the alleged rape could not be released because the case is still under investigation, but police do have a suspect.

“We’re in a very sensitive stage of the investigation,” Bodzak said. “Right now there are a lot of rumors. ... We have guys out there working to distinguish between the rumors that are floating around.”

Christmas parade

COLUMBIANA — This year’s Christmas parade will be at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The parade will start at Joshua Dixon Elementary School and go south on Middle Street, turn east on Salem Street, then turn south on Main Street. The parade will continue through the square and disband at Union Street.

Santa will come to town atop a local firetruck. Many local clubs and organizations participate in the parade with marching units or floats, along with numerous old and new firetrucks.

After the parade, Santa will be available for pictures.

Thanksgiving dinner

YOUNGSTOWN — Metro Assembly, 2530 South Ave., is sponsoring a Thanksgiving dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday for the international students at Youngstown State University.

For more information, call the church office at (330) 782-2070.

‘Smoke, Fire and Steel’

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown Historical Society will present a History Kids program “Smoke, Fire and Steel” next Friday.

In this session from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Youngstown Historical Center, 151 W. Wood St., students will participate in a museum tour and hands-on artifact study, view a short 1945 film about Youngstown and compare a 1933 Youngstown Vindicator to a 2009 edition of the newspaper.

History Kids is for students age 8 to 14. The cost of this program is $10 for Ohio Historical Society members and $12 for all others.

Advance registration is required. Contact Keith A. Mann at the center at (330) 743-5934.

Ex-attorney sentenced

WARREN — Former attorney George N. Kafantaris will spend 10 days in the Trumbull County jail and serve two years’ probation for mishandling the proceeds of a lawsuit for a client in 2002.

Kafantaris learned his sentence Wednesday in the courtroom of Judge W. Wyatt McKay in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Kafantaris pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized use of property for putting money from a client’s lawsuit settlement into his personal account.

Kafantaris’ client died a month before Kafantaris settled the suit, but he didn’t tell anyone about the settlement until February 2004, when a family member approached him about it. By then, Kafantaris, 56, had used some of the $25,000, court documents say. Kafantaris repaid the $25,000.

In April, the Ohio Supreme Court disbarred Kafantaris, who maintained an office on North Park Avenue, for this offense and other problems discovered by the Trumbull County Bar Association.