METRO DIGEST || Grievance dropped

Grievance dropped

YOUNGSTOWN

Teamsters Local 377, which represents employees of the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office, has dropped its grievance concerning the use of free labor from day-reporting sheriff’s department inmates to help patch potholes on county roads.

Sheriff Jerry Greene said Wednesday that county Engineer Patrick Ginnetti received a letter from the Teamsters union Tuesday, saying the union was withdrawing the grievance because of the extreme winter weather the county experienced and in the interest of public safety.

Greene said the union is not conceding the issue, however, and still believes the use of the day-reporting inmate labor violates its labor contract, under which union members are paid to do the work.

Neither Ginnetti nor Rich Sandberg, Teamsters Local 377 president, could be reached to comment late Wednesday.

Still hospitalized

WARREN

Royce Honaker, the 60-year-old Southington man who called 911 police July 31, 2012, saying he had just killed his wife, Donna, remains in a state psychiatric hospital unable to aid in his defense.

Honaker, of Countyline Turnkpike Road, is charged with murder in the shooting death of Donna Honaker, 58.

During a brief hearing Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, Atty. Paul F. Adamson, who represents Royce Honaker, said his client is “still not prepared to discuss his defense.”

Judge Andrew Logan said his office will contact the facility to get an update on Honaker’s condition and set another pretial hearing for June 17.

Judge Logan ruled Honaker incompetent to stand trial because of what one mental-health professional called “undiagnosed concerns” and Honaker’s refusal to cooperate in a mental-health evaluation the judge ordered in 2012.

Purse stolen

YOUNGSTOWN

Police say someone took a purse from a city woman as she was sitting in her car in the 2900 block of Idlewood Avenue about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Reports said the woman told police a man opened her passenger door and told her it was a robbery. She tried to stop him by using a scraper in the car, but the man pulled her over the divider in the middle of the vehicle, took her purse and ran toward Hillman Street, reports said.

The purse was found on the side of a home in the 2900 block of Hillman. The woman’s driver’s license and some of her credit cards were taken, reports said.

Health event set

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Office on Minority Health is having its Good Health Begins with YOU! event from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today at Stambaugh Charter Academy, 2420 Donald Ave.

Dr. Darrell Lynn Grace will speak on preventive health practices, and there will be health screenings and a fitness demonstration promoting the Youngstown “Let’s Move!” campaign. April is celebrated as Minority Health Month across the country. The cost is $15 per person, which includes breakfast and lunch.

More Digest on A9