METRO DIGEST || Christmas gifts, food needed for Liberty kids

Gifts, food needed

liberty

The Blott Holiday Project, which collects Christmas gifts for children, is underway in several township locations.

People can donate toys, games, outfits and books. Choose a tag with a name on it from a tree at the township building, 1315 Church Hill-Hubbard Road (state Route 304); the Liberty Branch Library, 415 Churchill Road; West Fork Roadhouse, 3850 Belmont Ave.; Great Clips, 3551 Belmont; Walmart on Goldie Road; or Hair Styling Concepts, 4429 Logan Way.

There also are baskets of tags available at the Jewish Community Center, 505 Gypsy Lane, and the Temple El Emeth, 3970 Logan Way. There also are gift tags for food for holiday dinners.

The deadline for returning gifts is Saturday. Return them to the Church Hill United Methodist Church on Route 304 or to the Walmart. Volunteers can join in wrapping and packing gifts next Thursday at the church. Volunteers should come to the church after 9 a.m. Donations of paper, bows and bags are appreciated.

Lunch with Santa

YOUNGSTOWN

The city of Youngstown Department of Parks and Recreation and the Youngstown Association of Black Professional Firefighters are sponsoring a lunch with Santa from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 14 at Arlington Heights Recreation Center, 801 Park Ave. The free event is for children 10 and under. Lunch will be served to guests, and all children will have the opportunity to take a photo with Santa. For information, contact Marcia Harris at 330-550-9996.

Teen charged in chase

YOUNGSTOWN

An 18-year-old faces misdemeanor reckless-operation and failure-to-control charges after police said he led them on a 60 mph chase through the city’s South Side, bailing out of the car he was driving when it crashed into a steel restaurant sign pole at Midlothian Boulevard and Zedaker Street at 12:13 a.m. Wednesday.

Police said they then chased the driver, Rodney J. Bebbs Jr. of Youngstown, on foot, apprehending him after after using a stun gun to subdue him on Roxbury Avenue.

A juvenile male passenger was caught later by Boardman police and taken to the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center, and a second passenger, believed to be a 16-year-old boy, escaped.

Police initiated the pursuit because they believed the car Bebbs was driving had been reported stolen at gunpoint in a carjacking at a South Side gasoline station. Police said they found a loaded .32-caliber pocket revolver inside a boot in the car.

Robbery murder trial

WARREN

Michael S. Burns, 34, of Mineral Ridge, charged with murder in the death of a purported accomplice in a Niles burglary, will go on trial Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Police say Burns and five other people set out to burglarize homes July 12, but the owner of one of the homes saw and heard the burglary in progress and fired a gun through the front door, killing Terry Allen, 37, one of the alleged burglars.

Police charged Burns and three other purported accomplices with Allen’s death, including Allen’s wife, Nichole, 35.

Presiding over the trial will be Judge Andrew Logan.