Metro Digest

About $36,000 raised at fair for Kaluza house

YOUNGSTOWN — Thanks in part to charitable people at the 163rd Canfield Fair, about $36,000 was raised for the Kaluza Project from individual donations.

Joe Kaluza is the former manager of a KFC restaurant on South Avenue. He was shot while taking a deposit to the bank in March 2008 and uses a wheelchair. The Kaluza Project is an effort by his family to fund the construction of a new house with the necessary accommodations for him.

Kaluza’s family set up a tent at the fair and collected donations ranging from 50 cents to $1,000. In addition to financial donations, many Mahoning Valley contractors have pledged between $100,000 and $125,000 in building materials.

The goal is to raise $250,000, according to the family. Donations will continue to be accepted and can be made at The Kaluza Project, P.O. Box 8, North Lima, OH 44452.

$10,000 damage in fire

MINERAL RIDGE — An unattended cigarette is the likely cause of a house fire.

Austintown firefighters responded to a call about 8:15 p.m. Thursday at a two-story East Liberty Street home. The fire originated in the bedding of an upstairs bedroom. A lighter was found on the floor.

Damage was set at more than $10,000, and the fire was contained to the bedroom. Smoke detectors did not sound because batteries were missing.

An occupant said a daughter who lives in the home smokes in the bedroom but was across the street visiting a friend at the time, the fire report stated.

Car fire extinguished

AUSTINTOWN — Firefighters responded Tuesday morning when a gold-colored 1986 Porsche 944 began to smoke.

A small fire had ignited under the hood but was already extinguished when responders arrived. The car’s owner, of Pritchard-Ohltown Road in Newton Falls, said her husband had worked on the vehicle’s clutch the day before.

The car was in the parking lot of Weaver Family Chiropractic at 1130 Canfield-Niles Road.

Man found dead

AUSTINTOWN — Township police officers discovered the body of a 44-year-old man in his apartment and are investigating the death.

The man was found Monday in the kitchen of his North Meridian Road apartment in front of the stove, according to a report. The stove was on, and officers located a small metal pipe and white powder residue near the victim, the report said.

The victim was discovered by his girlfriend who lives in the same complex.

$317,120 given to MDA

YOUNGSTOWN — More than $300,000 was donated in the Valley to the Muscular Dystrophy Association for the 44th annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.

The Youngstown area raised $317,120 in the telethon for the Jerry’s Kids charity, which helps benefit children with the disease. The telethon was a joint effort by the MDA and Channel 33 WYTV.

Kidnapper sought

BOARDMAN — Police are on the lookout for a 45-year-old man wanted in a weekend kidnapping. Police said he reportedly held his ex-girlfriend, her cousin and her 10-year-old daughter at knife point and took them on a ride through Youngstown. Police tracked a 911 call from a cell phone in the car and found the three victims, abandoned on the East Side shortly before midnight Thursday.