Liberty audit release

Liberty audit release

Liberty

The state auditor’s office today will release the fiscal year 2010 audit report for Liberty School District, nearly one year after it began. According to the auditor’s website, the audit will reveal either findings for recovery or money that was misspent.

On Feb. 7, 2011, the state auditor deemed the district’s finances unauditable due to missing bank statements and a budget that was not being reconciled with the district’s bank. It gave the district 90 days to revise its financial records and provide necessary data to complete the audit.

In a subsequent letter, the Ohio Department of Education said the district was $2.5 million in debt and in danger of falling into fiscal emergency, which it did May 26, 2011.

On April 27 last year, the district’s Treasurer Tracey Obermiyer resigned suddenly. Since her resignation, three state auditors have been working on the district’s financial records for fiscal year 2010 and 2011. Auditors are still examining the school’s 2011 financial records.

1940 Census is a big hit

YOUNGSTOWN

Monday’s release of the individual responses to the 1940 Census after 72 years of privacy protection has overwhelmed the government website and the local public library.

A National Archives spokeswoman told the Associated Press the website, which was nearly paralyzed by the volume of inquiries, got more than 22 million hits in four hours from nearly 2 million users Monday.

At Youngstown’s main public library, a Monday evening 1940 Census workshop was filled to capacity with 54 attendees; and 12 more people were on the waiting list, a library spokeswoman said. More than 21 million Americans counted in the 1940 Census are still living.

Chardon beating suspects

AUSTINTOWN

The four men accused of kidnapping and beating a 19-year-old Chardon man after a night of drinking did not enter pleas Monday at their arraignment.

Nathan Brewer, 20, of Austintown; James Castle, 20, of East Clarion; and Nicholas Nelson, 21, and Anthony Zingale, 20, both of Chardon; each faced a kidnapping charge and each man’s bond was set at $250,000, court records show. If they make bond, the men will be placed on electronically monitored house arrest, according to records.

Police say the four accused and the victim were in Brewer’s Austintown apartment March 27, and the men told police they were there to drink in memory of Danny Parmertor, who was killed Feb. 27 during a shooting at Chardon High School.

The men will be back in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.

Hubbard heroin arrest

Hubbard

The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force caught a 26-year-old Youngstown man who township police said sold heroin twice to an undercover policeman in March.

Police charged Earl Whitlow, of 1085 Eastway Drive, with a felony count of heroin trafficking and released on $10,000 bond. Whitlow has a preliminary hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. April 30 in Girard Municipal Court.

The task force arrested Whitlow at Eastwood Village Apartments, where he lived, March 27.

Look-alike weapon

CANFIELD

Schools officials and city police continue investigating why a seventh-grade student brought a look-alike weapon Friday to Canfield Village Middle School.

Principal Joseph J. Maroni sent a letter home to parents Monday stating that “no actual weapons were present on school property.” He also asked parents to monitor their children’s social-media use as events leading up to and after the Friday incident involved texting and social media.

Competent for trial

WARREN

Ryan C. Wrightsman, 21, of Farmdale has been ruled sane and competent to stand trial in the Nov. 1 shooting death of Joshua Soles, 20. Soles held a shotgun to his own head and asked Wrightsman to pull the trigger, police said.

Judge Peter Kontos ruled on Wrightsman’s competency and sanity Monday during a hearing in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Wrightsman is charged with involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, using weapons while intoxicated and reckless homicide.