oddly enough

oddly enough

No takers for tour offered by Ohio jail

CANTON

Officials at a Northeast Ohio jail say no one showed up for a public tour intended to demonstrate why voters need to approve a sales tax that will be on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Chief sheriff’s Deputy Michael McDonald oversees the Stark County jail and says he was “pretty disgusted” by Monday’s lack of turnout. He tells The Repository newspaper of Canton that officials want to educate people about the need for the 0.5-percent sales tax to generate funding for criminal-justice services.

McDonald had wanted to show how the jail currently has more than 300 inmates guarded by a staff of seven. He says that ratio concerns him.

The county sheriff’s office lost 41 employees to budget cuts in December. County commissioners say they’ll try to restore those jobs if the sales tax is enacted.

Police: Man in Pa. welfare office had stolen bow

UNIONTOWN, Pa.

Police in a southwestern Pennsylvania city are trying to identify a man who stopped at a welfare office while toting a stolen archery bow worth nearly $1,200.

Police in Uniontown tell the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the bow was stolen Friday morning from a Woodlands World store in that city about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh.

A short time later, police say the man stopped in the welfare office to look up some information and asked a caseworker to hold the bow while he did that. The caseworker thought it was odd that the bow still had the price tag on it, and a welfare worker who used to work at the sporting-goods store also noticed the item and called the store to report the incident.

Police hope to identify the man from the store’s security video.

W. Pa. police probing crash with pantsless driver

YOUNGWOOD, Pa.

State police say they’re continuing to investigate a crash in which a female driver without pants tried to run away, leaving her 7-year-old daughter in the back seat.

Youngwood Fire Chief Lloyd Crago tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the crash happened about 9:50 p.m. Saturday on Route 119, when the woman’s car rear-ended a Jeep.

Crago says people who lived nearby saw the woman try to run away and held her down until state police arrived.

State police Trooper Steven Limani says police aren’t identifying the woman until their investigation is complete. The little girl was referred to Westmoreland County child-welfare workers.

Crago says the driver couldn’t explain her erratic driving or lack of pants. Emergency crews found two bottles of liquor in her vehicle, one of which was empty.

Associated Press