Metro digest || Free short stack

Free short stack

BOARDMAN — In celebration of National Pancake Day on Tuesday, IHOP restaurants nationwide and locally will offer each guest a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in an effort to raise awareness and funds for local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

For every short stack of buttermilk pancakes served on National Pancake Day, IHOP guests are invited to make a donation to their local Children’s Miracle Network hospital.

Locally, National Pancake Day celebrations will take place at the Boardman and Warren IHOP locations, 833 Boardman-Poland Road in Boardman and 1980 Niles-Cortland Road in Warren, with all proceeds from the local events benefiting Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

Also, Children’s Miracle Network “Miracle Balloons” will be sold for $1 and $5 each and will be personalized and displayed at participating IHOP restaurants through Tuesday.

Used books at Fellows

YOUNGSTOWN — The work of local amateur photographers will be displayed in the Weller Gallery at Fellows Riverside Gardens through March.

The Mill Creek MetroParks’ annual Nature Photography Exhibit runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday today through March 30.

The exhibit’s kickoff event, “North to Alaska,” is 2 p.m. Sunday in the auditorium of the D.D. and Velma Davis Education & Visitor Center. Retired Cleveland MetroParks naturalist Ken Gober will display sights of Alaska that he shot during some of his 29 trips to the state.

Also on Sunday, at 10 a.m. is a used-book sale to raise money in support of the Maxine Antonucci Horticulture Library at the gardens. The book sale will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Feb. 28. It will include books on gardening, flower arranging, cooking and other nature-related topics.

Reservists to Iraq

VIENNA — About 20 reservists with the 910th Civil Engineer Squadron at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station will deploy to Kirkuk Air Base in Iraq on Monday in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The service members will provide civil-engineering capabilities to the facilities there during a six-month tour.

The group is scheduled to depart the reserve station midafternoon Monday and return to the Mahoning Valley in August.

Stimulus funds for bridge

ROGERS — The Ohio Department of Development will be using stimulus dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Columbiana County to replace the state Route 154 bridge, about three miles east of state Route 7.

The historic road signs, which read, “Putting America Back to Work – Project Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” are to be installed on both sides of the bridge Monday around noon.

The signs are being located along Ohio’s roads, interstates and bridges where work is under way on improvement projects funded with stimulus money.

The present box-beam bridge was built in 1991 and will be replaced with a steel-beam superstructure that has a life expectancy of up to 75 years.

One-way traffic will be maintained with temporary traffic signals at the structure during construction.

ODOT’s contractor for this project, A.P. O’Horo Co. of Youngstown, expects to begin the job in March, weather permitting. The tentative completion date is July 15.

Gas company sues

YOUNGSTOWN — The Dominion East Ohio Gas Co. of Cleveland has sued Dave Sugar Excavating Inc. of Petersburg for $19,320 to cover costs of 18 incidents between May 2007 and June 2008 in which the gas company says the excavating company negligently struck and damaged gas lines.

Sugar could not be reached to comment Friday.

Ten of the reported incidents mentioned in the lawsuit were in Petersburg, where the excavating company was installing a $4.8 million sanitary sewer.

Six incidents were in Cortland, where the excavating company also was installing a sanitary sewer, and one each were said to have occurred in Poland and Youngstown.

The complaint was filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and assigned to Judge Lou A. D’Apolito.

Youngstown man indicted

WARREN — A Trumbull County grand jury has indicted Lilton C. Morris, 18, of Hickory Court, Youngstown, on three counts of aggravated robbery with a gun and one count of failure to comply with a police officer relating to carjackings Dec. 11 and 13 in Hubbard and Dec. 12 in Liberty.

Hubbard police said the carjackings on Dec. 11 and 13 took place on Westview Avenue in Hubbard and involved a gun, but no one was hurt. The Dec. 12 carjacking occurred at 11:45 p.m., Liberty police said.

The Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force arrested Morris in early January at a home on Early Road in Youngstown, where he was living.

If convicted on the charges, he could get more than 30 years in prison.

1st half tax bills

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Treasurer’s Office has begun mailing first half real estate tax bills to owners of 166,000 parcels of land.

The deadline to pay without penalty is March 12. Taxes may be paid in person at the treasurer’s office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday in the county courthouse, 120 Market St.; by mail, or online by check or credit card. Payments postmarked on or before March 12 will be considered on time.

No foul play in Liberty

WARREN — Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, Trumbull County coroner, said Gene P. Alexander, 43, of 3127 Hadley Ave., Liberty, has been positively identified. His remains were found by police Tuesday at his residence after a neighbor reported he hadn’t seen Alexander for several weeks. Germaniuk said there was no evidence of foul play. The coroner said there was “significant natural-disease process” that led to Alexander’s death. His body was dismembered afterward by his three pet dogs that were in the house alone after he died. Police killed two of the dogs, which they said were aggressive. The third dog was rescued.

Man shot during brawl

WARREN — A 24-year-old city man was treated at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital for a gunshot wound to the thigh early Friday after being shot while trying to break up a fight at the Powerhouse Bar, 999 Mahoning Ave. N.W.

The man’s sister said she was leaving the bar about 2:15 a.m. when seven females jumped her, and she heard gunshots ring out. The man said he was shot while trying to break up the fight.

The woman had bruising on her forehead but did not seek medical attention.

3 assault Warren man

WARREN — A 19-year-old West Side man said he was walking home from school at 2:30 p.m. Thursday when he was confronted by three men with a gun at Clearwater Street and Bennett Avenue Northwest who demanded money but didn’t get any.

The victim said he punched the man with the gun, but one of the other assailants punched the victim in the face, causing a cut to his nose. The three assailants then fled on foot.

Two of the suspects were white, the third one black, all about 20 years old, two wearing black hoodies, the third one wearing a gray hoodie. The victim refused medical treatment.