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DeWine meets with priest
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Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, left, met with the Rev. Greg Maturi at St. Dominic Church, 77 E. Lucius Ave., to discuss the crime problem in Youngstown. The attorney general was here Tuesday and said the process of reducing the city’s crime rate was ongoing.
YOUNGSTOWN
Calling his visit to the South Side “fact-finding,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine met with officials Tuesday to learn how his office could help the area.
His first stop was St. Dominic Church on the city’s South Side for a meeting with the Rev. Greg Maturi, who thanked DeWine for coming and being part of the effort “to reduce crime and revitalize the neighborhood.”
Former Attorney General Richard Cordray had a Safety Summit at the church in the fall, and Father Maturi and DeWine already are planning a second summit in the spring.
At the fall summit, Cordray had said Youngstown police would be able to send evidence from property crimes, such as burglaries, to the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
DeWine spoke of that promise only generally Tuesday.
“Our goal at the crime lab is to reduce the wait period. As you reduce the waiting period, it means that you can get property crimes as well as the personal crimes,” he said.
DeWine said that state budget cuts to local governments will force local safety forces to rely more heavily on the BCI. He added that the attorney general’s office gets a significant portion of its funds through fees, not through the state.
“While we’ll be impacted, we will not be impacted as much as other agencies,” he said.
DeWine said the process of reducing crime in Youngstown is ongoing.
“We’re not going to wave a magic wand and solve the problems overnight,” he said.
DeWine also met with Mayor Jay Williams, members of his staff, Police Chief Jimmy Hughes and city Prosecutor Jay Macejko, and discussed challenges facing law-enforcement.
“We spent time talking about the efforts to target these loosely affiliated gang organizations,” Williams said. “There was a lot of time talking about strategies in other areas and how those might be applied here.”
When DeWine and Father Maturi met, the two also discussed the problem of abandoned homes. Williams said of the 27 houses on Lucius Avenue, Auburndale Avenue and Southern Boulevard slated for demolition, 26 have been leveled.
“The one exception was where the owner appealed the demolition notice,” Williams said.
Ridding the area of the 27 vacant houses was the starting point for Operation Redemption, a citywide effort to address violent crime.
The 911 call records for those 27 houses range from abandoned stolen cars to gunshots; from roaming dogs to murder.
A 50-year-old woman was found stabbed to death in 17 E. Auburndale Ave. in 2006. Her accused killer, who claimed self-defense, was not indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury and released from jail.
Just up the street, 31 E. Auburndale Ave. reportedly has been the scene of 30 shots of gunfire in 2009.
A 2003 call about “known drug house” 47 E. Auburndale Ave. is ominous: “A male caller stated that he was walking past the house and heard a female inside screaming that she was being raped.” He stated that he saw five or six men standing in front of the house.
When police arrived, they arrested several men on drug-related charges but did not find a woman or evidence of rape.
Police responded to 51 calls between 2002 and 2007 at 29 E. Lucius Ave. including one of a dog inside the vacant house. “The humane officer called police for backup because they have been told of people going in and out of the house,” records state.
Another house at 43 E. Lucius Ave. was where police recovered a few stolen cars. Usually the steering column was peeled, and the cars were hidden in the backyard.
A 52-year-old man was arrested at 2928 Southern Blvd. in 2008 when police saw a 6-foot-deep hole in the sidewalk filled with water. When they questioned the man, he admitted he was living in the structure without gas or water, and had tapped the waterline.
Now, empty lots are all that’s left of those houses. In the spring, residents, Youngstown State University students and Father Maturi will work together to green and landscape the area.