Derby eliminations

Derby eliminations

CORTLAND

The Greater Youngstown Area Soap Box Derby will have its racing eliminations Saturday on West Main Street in Cortland beginning at 9:30 a.m. Winners in the three divisions — stock, super stock and masters — will qualify to race in the All-American Soapbox Derby Championships in Akron on July 23.

Andy Bowell Jr., local derby chapter president, said there have been 40 entrants for the three classifications. The race is open to young people age 8 to 17.

Bowell said he expects the competition to last until late Saturday afternoon due to the number of entrants. This will mark the first time the derby has had its races in Cortland.

Driver appeals

Austintown

A former Austintown schools bus driver is appealing the board of education’s decision to terminate her employment and seeking reinstatement.

Dana Learn, 40, of Austintown, filed an appeal Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Learn was fired May 31 after school officials said they discovered she’d violated several district regulations, including talking on a cellphone while operating her school bus May 5.

On May 4, video from Learn’s bus revealed that she’d made derogatory comments about her supervisor in front of elementary school-aged children and directly to another district employee, a school board resolution said.

Learn’s appeal stated that the board’s decision is “unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and/or unsupported by the preponderance of substantial, reliable and probative evidence on the whole record.”

Tax evasion

CLEVELAND

A Poland man pleaded guilty as charged to three counts of income-tax evasion and four counts of making false claims for federal income-tax refunds, the IRS announced.

Paul G. Churlik entered his plea to all seven counts in the indictment against him Monday before U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin, who will sentence him at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 1. Churlik faces up to five years in prison.

Churlik admitted failing to file federal income-tax returns for 2004-06 and causing his employer not to withhold those taxes from his wages during those years by giving his employer a false IRS W-4 form.

During those years, Churlik had combined taxable income of $294,345, on which he owed $30,576 that he failed to report or pay to the IRS. Churlik also admitted he falsely claimed refunds for 2006-09, with the four false claims totaling $42,432.

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