Friday, October 19, 2012
ICU, South Side church plan harvest festival
Youngstown
The ICU Blockwatch and St. Dominic Church will host a free neighborhood harvest from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, at the gated lot at Cottage Grove and Auburndale Avenue. The event features food, music, candy games, cake, cotton candy, and snow cones. Officials at the event will help children complete Identi-kits. Local companies and agencies will provide tours of their equipment. The tours will include the Youngstown, Hubbard, Liberty, Austintown, Boardman, and Youngstown State police departments, Youngstown Fire Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Rural Metro, Mahoning County Dive Team, canine units, emergency response tanks, FedEx tractor-trailers, and motorcycles.
Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Two motorcyclists injured in accident
LIBERTY
Two Trumbull County motorcyclists were injured, one of them critically, in an accident Wednesday night on Mount Everett Road.
Steven M. Merrell, 53, of Girard, was ejected onto the road in the 8:38 p.m. crash. Merrell, who was not wearing a helmet, was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, where he was listed Thursday in critical condition.
Merrell was westbound on his motorcycle when he failed to negotiate a curve and drove off of the right side of the road, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
Matthew T. Benson, 35, of Hubbard also was westbound behind Merrell on his motorcycle. Benson, who was wearing a helmet, lost control and slid off of the right side of the road. He suffered minor injuries. The highway patrol continues to investigate. Speed and alcohol appear to be a factor, the patrol said.
Woman faces charge of felony burglary
LEAVITTSBURG
Ashley S. Morgan, 27, of 723 Eagle Creek Road is in the Trumbull County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned today on a felony burglary charge after a woman arrived at her home Wednesday night and found Morgan inside.
The homeowner at 1858 Eagle Creek said the door to the house was open. Morgan didn’t try to flee when the woman came in at 6:58 p.m., police said, adding that Morgan told them she went into the house because someone was chasing her.
But police found a bag of items from throughout the house, including jewelry, beside a couch, Lt. Don Bishop of the Warren Township Police Department said.
Morgan waited at the home with the woman until police arrived, Bishop said.
Forest gardening
Youngstown
The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. hosts an “Introduction to Forest Gardening” workshop as part of its Vacant Land Reuse Workshop series from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday.
The workshop on Mineral Springs Avenue is free. The seminar features native edible plants, low-maintenance fruits and nuts, and landscape- design strategies. For information, call 330-480-0423.
Tree planting planned to mark Arbor Day
Youngstown
In observance of Arbor Day, several community groups will be participating in a tree planting project at 10 a.m. Saturday at Mineral Springs and Glenwood avenues, across from the Mineral Springs Community Gardens.
The Idora Neighborhood Association, along with its “Where I Live” youth program, the Treez Please organization, and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. will come together to plant 16 trees to aid in the qualification of Youngstown as a Tree City USA site for the fifth consecutive year.
School Bus Safety Week
COLUMBUS
The Ohio State Highway Patrol will participate in National School Bus Safety week Monday to next Friday by being highly visible, enforcing the law in and around school zones and following school buses on their daily routes.
In addition, troopers may be found riding on school buses looking for motorists passing the stopped school bus and other crash-causing violations.
The greatest risk to children occurs outside the school bus, as injuries and fatalities result from motorists who attempt to pass a stopped school bus.
Ohio law requires motorists approaching from either direction of a stopped school bus to stop at least 10 feet from a bus loading or unloading passengers.
If a school bus is stopped on a road divided into four or more lanes, only traffic driving in the same direction as the bus must stop.
Weathersfield seeks letters on job posts
Weathersfield
Township trustees are considering revising the township organizational framework to include one or more of a full- or part-time township administrator, zoning officer, and/or road superintendent.
To help evaluate the alternatives, trustees request that people who may have interest in any of those positions submit a letter of interest to the board on or before the Nov. 1 caucus.
Any questions may be directed to chairman Steven Gerberry at 330-652-6326.
It has gotten to the point where it’s easier to count the days that the president, vice president or their Republican challengers are not campaigning in battleground Ohio.
Obama and Biden return to Ohio
CLEVELAND
President Barack Obama will make his second post-debate trip to the Buckeye State in as many weeks, his re-election team announced Thursday. Obama, who campaigned this week in Athens following his town hall-style match with Mitt Romney, will campaign Tuesday in Dayton -- a day after his final debate with Romney in Boca Raton, Fla.
Time and venue details were not available. Joining Obama in Dayton will be Vice President Joe Biden, who has an Ohio-heavy schedule of his own next week. Biden will stump Monday in Canton and Lorain, the campaign announced.
In Canton, Biden will lead a morning rally at the J. Babe Stearn Community Center. In the afternoon he’ll speak at Lorain High School. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. in Canton and 1:30 p.m. in Lorain. Free tickets will be available for both events, beginning at noon today for Canton and 9 a.m. today for Lorain.
For Canton, tickets will be distributed at Obama field offices at 131 Cleveland Ave. SW, Canton; 24 Lincoln Way West, Massillon; and 1160 E. State St., Alliance. For Lorain, tickets will distributed at field offices at 668 Broadway Ave., Lorain; 5 S. Main St., Oberlin; and 1573 W. River Road, Elyria.
Biden also will campaign Wednesday in Ohio, but details have not yet been announced.
Ryan to campaign in eastern Ohio
BELMONT
Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s latest Ohio campaign stop will take him to eastern Ohio.
The Mitt Romney campaign says the Wisconsin congressman will lead a rally Saturday at Valley View Campgrounds in Belmont. That’s near West Virginia, in a region of Ohio where the Romney campaign thinks it can swing voters its way because of concerns about the economy and the future of the coal industry under President Barack Obama.
Girl, 11, dies in fall
LANCASTER
Counselors were on hand yesterday at Thomas Ewing Junior High School in Lancaster to help students and teachers cope with the death of an 11-year-old classmate.
Elizabeth Fuller died at Nationwide Children’s Hospital from injuries she suffered when she slipped and fell 40 feet from a rock ledge at Mount Pleasant on Tuesday.
Elizabeth was in sixth grade at Ewing, and was a happy, outgoing girl with a lot of friends, Principal Steve Poston said.
Staff and wire reports
‘It’s a very sad day here,’ he said yesterday. ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.’
The family includes Elizabeth’s parents and her twin, Caroline.