Stop-work order issued for structure

Staff report

CHAMPION

Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court has issued a stop-work order to a Maryland man, preventing him from continuing to dismantle a building on Refractory Drive in Champion.

As a condition of his bond in a criminal case filed against him by the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office last fall, Edgar Knieriem of Cockeysville, Md., agreed not to undertake any additional demolition of the building’s exterior or internal structure, said Chuck Morrow, an assistant county prosecutor.

When Deputy Harold Firster inspected the structure March 9, however, he observed workers removing internal supports for the building. The workers said they had been hired to also tear down the remainder of the building.

The partial dismantling of the building was the basis for the criminal charge filed against Knieriem last fall. The complaint said dismantling the building was leaving thousands of tons of steel “swarf” stockpiled there exposed to the weather. Swarf is the steel grinding leftover or byproduct of certain manufacturing operations.

The material can ignite on contact with air or water and produce flammable hydrogen gas.

The building is known as Diversified Resources International and is located at the end of Folsom Drive across state Route 5 from the former Copperweld Steel plant.

Knieriem, 62, has a trial date of April 26 and a pretrial hearing March 23 on the open-dumping charge.