Suit against city schools

Suit against city schools

YOUNGSTOWN — A recently filed lawsuit says a girl experienced pain and suffering and permanent scarring and incurred medical bills when she struck her head on a school-bus window and injured her left eyebrow area.

Damon and Alisha Dumas of East High Avenue sued the city school district and its bus driver, listed as Ray Doe (last name unidentified), concerning the incident involving their daughter, Diamond U. Dumas.

According to the suit, the girl was injured because of the driver’s negligence Oct. 30, 2007, while the bus was being driven in the North Elementary School parking lot.

The suit, which seeks more than $125,000 in damages and demands a jury trial, was filed Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The school board’s lawyer, Ted Roberts, said the suit would be referred to the board’s insurance company for investigation and defense. The case is assigned to Judge James C. Evans.

Choffin closed today

YOUNGSTOWN — Choffin Career and Technical Center remained closed today as the result of a Wednesday morning power outage that caused officials to evacuate the East Wood Street school.

Principal Joseph Meranto said electrical service shut down around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, causing an alarm to sound, and the building was quickly evacuated. There were about 1,000 students and staff members in the building at the time, he said.

Students were sent back to their home schools after authorities traced the outage to an electrical-equipment room in the basement, Meranto said. Smoke was coming from the room, but there were no flames, he said.

Prison term for robbery

WARREN — A 21-year-old Terra Alta Street Northeast man was sentenced to six years in prison for robbing Caesar’s Restaurant on East Market Street last November.

Dozie Blackmon robbed the restaurant just after midnight when the restaurant was closed, pointing a handgun at an employee and demanding money.

Warren police officers stopped Blackmon a short time later in the passenger seat of a car with a gun and the deposit bag under his seat.

Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court also sentenced Blackmon to eight months in prison after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to cocaine possession and carrying a concealed weapon in a separate case. Those eight months will be served at the same time as the six years.

Blackmon is the son of Dozie Blackmon Sr., whose skeletal remains were found in a rural area of Bazetta Township in June 2008. The death was ruled a homicide, but no arrests were made.

Cortland gets a loan

CORTLAND — The city has received a $1.28 million low- interest loan from the Ohio Water Supply Revolving Loan Account to build a new well field and 500,000-gallon water-storage tank, to be built in May 2010.

The city’s existing well field cannot produce enough water for current and future demands. Additionally, the 112,000- gallon storage tank in Willow Park fails to provide enough capacity and a minimum system pressure, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says.

Donald Wittman, Cortland service director, said the new tank will be about 200 feet high and will replace all three water tanks in the city.

The loan carries a 3.2 percent interest rate, which will save the city about $375,000 over the 20-year life of the loan, the EPA says. The Ohio EPA manages the loan program and evaluates the proposed projects.

Positive Voices rally

WARREN — Positive Voices for America, a citizens group, will have a rally featuring Ed Fire, past national president of the International Union of Electrical Workers/Communications Workers of America, from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday on Courthouse Square.

The rally’s purpose is to voice positive opinions and facts on local and national issues, organizers said. Speakers will address the economy, education, climate change, health-care reform and war.