Metro Digest || Traficanti re-elected

Traficanti re-elected

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County commissioners re- elected Anthony Traficanti as president at their reorganization meeting Monday.

County Auditor Mike Sciortino assumed the duties of temporary clerk for the reorganizational meeting. He also used the opportunity to call for a continuation of the county sales tax saying there is no way to make up $14 million in loss revenue.

Traficanti begins his sixth term as board president. Commissioner John McNally was elected board vice president. The third commissioner is David Ludt.

Other appointments made at the meeting were:

- Clerk of the board: Nancy Laboy.

- First acting clerk: James Fortunato, purchasing director.

- Second acting clerk: Judy Tesone, officer manager.

- Board meetings: 10 a.m. Thursdays in the commissioners’ hearing room in the basement of the county courthouse, 120 Market St.

Pretrial hearing set for Trumbull commissioner

WARREN — A final pretrial hearing will be 9 a.m. March 9 in Warren Municipal Court for Dan Polivka, a Trumbull County commissioner charged with misdemeanor domestic violence for reportedly grabbing his wife, JoAnn, by the neck at a Howland golf course Aug. 24.

Polivka last appeared in court Sept. 24. At that hearing, Dan Polivka’s attorney, Robert Shaker, talked with Judge Jerry Hayes, sitting by assignment, and Jim Sanders, an assistant city law director, about trial dates in November, but nothing was resolved at the hearing.

Polivka pleaded innocent to the charge Aug. 24, the same afternoon the incident is alleged to have occurred, and was released on bond.

JoAnn Polivka had filed for divorce against the commissioner May 6. The divorce is pending.

JoAnn Polivka reported that the incident occurred at Old Avalon Golf Course on East Market Street.

If convicted, Polivka could spend up to six months in jail.

Anti-abortion group thanks legislators

CANFIELD — An anti-abortion organization thanked four area members of the U.S. House for their vote in support of an amendment in the health-care overhaul bill that restricts abortion funding.

Members of the Susan B. Anthony List had a rally Monday in front of the Canfield office of U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th, to thank him and U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, for their support of the Stupak Amendment. The amendment would bar insurance plans purchased with government subsidies from covering abortions. It was approved in the House bill but not in the Senate bill.

House and Senate leaders are ironing out the differences in the health-care bills the two legislative bodies approved.

The anti-abortion organization also had rallies Monday outside the Erie, Pa., district office of U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-3rd, and in Pittsburgh to thank, among others, U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire of McCandless, D-4th. Dahlkemper, whose district includes a portion of Mercer County, and Altmire, whose district includes all of Lawrence County and part of Mercer County, also voted in favor of the amendment.

Grendell to serve as visiting judge

WARREN — Judge Diane V. Grendell of the 11th District Court of Appeals based in Warren will serve as a visiting judge on the Ohio Supreme Court today.

She will hear oral arguments in a Tuscarawas County case, Erwin v. Bryan, which involves the statute of limitations in medical- malpractice actions. Judge Grendell has been asked about nine times to serve as a visiting judge for the state’s top court.

The 11th District serves Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage, and Trumbull counties.

Free H1N1 vaccinations

GIRARD — The Girard City Health Department, 100 W. Main St., is offering the H1N1 vaccine free of charge to anyone interested. An appointment is required. Call (330) 545-6048.

Dog owners ordered to take animals out of cold

STRUTHERS — Police found three dogs outside in bitter cold over the weekend and ordered their owners to take them in.

A police report indicates the Mahoning County Dog Warden’s office has been notified about following up with the owners, a father, 60, and son, 37, on Stewart Street.

Police said they were called at 12:23 a.m. Sunday to check on the dogs. They said one was chained to a stake and had no enclosed shelter, just a piece of wood over its head. Another dog in a fenced area had a house, but it wasn’t insulated. The third dog was chained in the rear of the fenced area.

Police said one of the dogs had food in its bowl, but none of them had water.

The father told police only one of the dogs is his. The other two belong to his son. Both were told their dogs would be taken away immediately if they didn’t take them inside, and an officer stood by until they did so, the report said. Police said it was 6 degrees with a wind-chill of minus 1 degree.

Dog Warden Dave Nelson said he went to the house Monday evening and saw two of the dogs tied out again. The owners weren’t home. He said he left a note telling them he wants to see the dogs’ licenses and wants to know why they are outside without shelter.

He said he would be referring the case back to Struthers’ police so the dogs wouldn’t be outside again Monday night. He said the case could be referred to Animal Charity.

Domestic-violence charge

STRUTHERS — A man is accused of beating his 22-year-old girlfriend in the face, ripping her earrings off her ear and trying to choke her.

Samuel Soto, 29, of Eighth Street is charged with domestic violence. He posted a $1,000 bond and is set to appear for trial in municipal court June 25.

The woman’s 2-year-old daughter was home at the time, the police report said.

When police went to the Eighth Street house at 7 p.m. Sunday in response to a call about a domestic disturbance, they found the victim sitting on her couch crying and holding her face. The left side was completely swollen and her eye was “severely bruised,” the report said.

Police reported there were finger marks on her neck.

She told police that Soto, her live-in boyfriend, had come home intoxicated. They argued over content she found on his computer, then he attacked her, she told police.

She told police he stopped the attack when someone came to the house, and he left. He turned himself in to police and was arraigned Monday.