METRO DIGEST || Sojourn students to watch Kasich signing

Sojourn students

YOUNGSTOWN

Sojourn to the Past students will travel to Columbus on Thursday to be with Gov. John Kasich as he signs the bill creating Nonviolence Week in Ohio.

Last fall, Sojourn to the Past students, who are from Youngstown high schools, asked state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Canfield, D-33rd, to introduce a bill in the Ohio Senate creating the observance in Ohio.

Each spring for the past seven years, Youngstown high school students have participated in the Sojourn to the Past experience to the Civil Rights sites in the South. The students learn the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement such as justice, nonviolence, forgiveness, tolerance and compassion. Before completing the trip, the students develop an action plan to implement when they return home. Since 2009, the students have focused on nonviolence.

14 OVI checks Saturday

BOARDMAN township

The Mahoning County Operating a Vehicle while Impaired Task Force investigated 14 vehicles in a checkpoint Saturday on South Avenue.

Of those investigated, two drivers were arrested for operating a vehicle while impaired, five received a summons for driving with a suspended license, three were issued citations for not wearing a seat belt and three were issued citations for improper child restraint, according to a task force press release.

Also issued were two summonses for drug use and two for drug paraphernalia, plus additional traffic citations give out.

The checkpoint took place from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.

Motorcycle run to benefit United Way

BOARDMAN

The Western Reserve Building and Construction Trades will have its third annual Motorcycle Bike Run beginning at 11 a.m. Aug. 4 to benefit United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley and AFL-CIO Community Services.

Registration begins at 9 a.m. at Operating Engineers Local 66, 291 McClurg Road, Boardman. Breakfast will be provided by Panera Bread.

The first bike out will be at 11 a.m. The Poker Run will start and finish at Operating Engineers Local 66 with stops in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. The last bike in will be at 4 p.m. followed by presentation of prizes and dinner sponsored by Gia’s Pizzeria. There also will be a 50/50 raffle.

The cost is $15 per rider and $5 per passenger. The first 100 participants who register will receive a T-shirt sponsored by Gem-Young Insurance & Financial Services, Inc. For information and to preregister, call Tara Mady at 330-746-8494.

Cooking fire

YOUNGSTOWN

Reports say unattended cooking was the cause of a fire that caused $20,000 damage to a 2571 Cornwall Ave. home at about 11:10 p.m. Monday. Firefighters found smoke coming from the home when they arrived and managed to get inside and confine the fire to the kitchen, reports said. The owner said he was notified by an alarm of the fire while he was at work. When he rushed home he could not get inside because of the smoke and called 911. The man said his son had been cooking before he came to work with his father.

No one was injured.

Brother stabbed

WARREN

Kristina Burgess, 26, of Glenwood Street Northeast is charged with felonious assault in the stabbing of her brother, Patrick I. White Jr., 25, of Woodbine Avenue Southeast.

She pleaded innocent Tuesday in Warren Municipal Court, where Judge Terry Ivanchak set bond at $20,000. If convicted, she could get eight years in prison.

White said Burgess stabbed him in the chest in the kitchen of her house during an argument at 11 p.m. Monday. He was taken to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital for treatment. Burgess later was arrested at a location on Palmyra Road Southwest.

Federal grant for YSU

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-13th, late Monday announced that Youngstown State University has been awarded a federal grant of $22,526 for a Nurse Anesthetist Traineeship Program.

The grant was awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“This grant will help Youngstown State further students’ opportunities to get hands-on experience in the health-care industry. It is important that young people in our community have the best possible education and training, especially when it comes to those we entrust to care for our health,” Ryan said.

Supervisor’s hearing

BOARDMAN

An evidence-suppression hearing is scheduled for Hugh Braham, supervisor of transportation at Boardman schools, who was ticketed for operating a vehicle impaired May 17. He’s to appear in Mahoning County Area Court here at 10 a.m. Aug. 20.

Braham and his lawyer filed a motion to suppress June 12, according to court records. A pretrial hearing with the prosecutor has taken place but the matters are not resolved.

A request for modification of Braham’s driving privileges was requested on Tuesday. Braham was granted driving privileges June 25. He’s allowed to drive from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week.

“We [the court] normally don’t do that,” Judge Joseph M. Houser told Braham’s lawyer.

It was explained to Judge Houser that there are times during the school year when Braham is required to be on the road during other hours of the day. But the judge said bad weather months aren’t near and buses won’t be running for another seven weeks.

Bond set in assault case

WARREN

Bond was set at $100,000 Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court for Kevin T. Johns, 23, of Cincinnati, indicted recently on two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of kidnapping in a March 13 incident in Warren. Johns entered an innocent plea before Judge Andrew Logan. Warren police say Johns assaulted women age 21 and 32 from Stiles Street Northwest.

Statue-theft case

WARREN

Richard R. Couturiaux, 30, of Main Street in Hubbard, has pleaded guilty to felony receiving stolen property and vandalism and two counts of misdemeanor desecration in the theft of a $36,000 military statue from the Mahoning Valley Memorial Park in Youngstown March 24.

He will be sentenced Aug. 20 before Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Incumbents to file

BOARDMAN

Incumbent township Trustees Tom Costello and Brad Calhoun will file nominating petitions today to seek re-election to four-year terms. Trustee Larry Moliterno and township Fiscal Officer Bill Leicht, who aren’t up for re-election, plan to join Costello and Calhoun in a sign of unity when the latter two file petitions at the Mahoning County Board of Elections. The deadline to file for township trustee is Aug. 7.

Road-work brochures

BOARDMAN

The Ohio Department of Transportation will hand out brochures to businesses along U.S. Route 224 today to explain the scope of the bridge replacement and road widening project that started Monday. Brochures will include a map of the project and ODOT contact information.

Director welcoming

YOUNGSTOWN

A public welcoming reception and open house will be from 3:30 to 7 p.m. July 25 for Atty. Randall Muth, who will become executive director of the Mahoning County Children Services Board, effective Monday, at a $95,000 annual salary. The welcoming event will be in board offices at 222 W. Federal St.

Muth comes to Mahoning County after having been Wayne County CSB director in Wooster since 2006.

Dave Arnold, interim Mahoning County CSB director since January, told the board Tuesday that three finalists are being considered to become the Mahoning County child welfare agency’s fiscal officer, two of them certified public accountants.

Mahoning County commissioners last month abandoned their plans to merge children services with the county’s department of job and family services and granted the child welfare agency board’s wish to remain independent.