OVI checkpoints

OVI checkpoints

CANFIELD

The Mahoning County OVI Task Force conducted two checkpoints this past weekend.

Officers operated a checkpoint from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. Saturday on Market Street at Hilton Avenue in Youngstown that saw 154 vehicles. A saturation patrol was used during the checkpoint and made 17 traffic stops. Eight vehicles were investigated further, with one OVI arrest, five seat-belt citations, a child-restraint citation and a summons for drug paraphernalia.

Another checkpoint was from 1 to 3 a.m. Sunday at 1600 Glenwood Ave. that saw 41 vehicles and five were further investigated. A patrol was used as well, conducting four traffic stops. Of the stops, there was an arrest for possession of crack cocaine, one arrest for drug paraphernalia, two summons for driving under suspension, and one citation for child restraint.

Fire destroys house

youngstown

Fire reports say a vacant 129 Halleck Ave. home was allowed to burn down Sunday after firefighters found it to be not safe to conduct operations inside.

Reports said the roof was sagging and the home was unstable. Crews were called to the home about 4:45 p.m.

A neighboring vacant home was also damaged, reports said.

Damage is listed at $5,100. There were no injuries.

Meeting canceled

youngstown

The Youngstown Board of Education Community Informational Meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. today at Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church has been canceled. A new meeting date will be set at the beginning of the school year.

Woman denied bond

WARREN

Judge Peter Kontos has denied a bond reduction for Regan Jelks, the 21-year-old woman charged with involuntary manslaughter and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle in connection with the death of Taemarr Walker.

Jelks is in Trumbull County jail in lieu of $250,000 bond. She’s been in custody since just after she was indicted April 11.

She was the passenger in a car Walker, 24, of Warren, was driving Oct. 19, 2013, that crashed into a ditch on Risher Road Southwest, leading to a confrontation between Walker and a Warren police officer.

The officer shot Walker to death after Walker grabbed a handgun inside the car.

Jelks’ indictment says she caused Walker’s death as a result of improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle the night Walker died. More specific information on what she is alleged to have done has not been available from prosecutors.

Sentencing set

youngstown

Sentencing will be 10 a.m. Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for a man facing the death penalty for the murder of a woman on a North Side porch last May.

Jurors recommended May 5 that 42-year-old Willie Wilks receive the death penalty for the murder of 20-year-old Ororo Wilkins as she sat on a Park Avenue porch. Wilks also was found guilty of attempted murder for wounding a man in the back and firing a shot that missed at Wilkins’ brother.

Judge Lou A. D’Apolito can either accept or reject the jury’s recommendation.

Firearm charges

youngstown

Police arrested a man on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm after responding to a fight call at an East Side apartment complex about 2:05 a.m. Monday.

Officers were called for a fight between a man and a woman inside an apartment at the Plazaview apartments and found 29-year-old Lonnie Harris, of Youngstown, outside an apartment. Harris matched the description of the man involved in the fight, reports said.

Next to Harris was a small, .38-caliber revolver, reports said. A woman inside the apartment identified Harris as the man in the apartment and said he pointed a small handgun at her during the argument,.

Harris was taken to the Mahoning County jail. Reports show he had a conviction for carrying concealed weapons in June of 2005, which makes him ineligible to have a gun.

Bike to School day

CORTLAND

Members of the Mosquito Lake Greenway Project are having the second annual “Bike to School” day Wednesday to encourage students to participate in healthy activities and promote Cortland and Bazetta area as a bike-friendly area.

Lakeview teacher John Terbovich, also a member of the Greenway Project, is coordinating the event with the help of the Cortland and Bazetta police departments.

Students will meet at a designated location in Bazetta, and police officers will escort the riders to and from school.

The Greenway Project is attempting to have the Cortland/Bazetta/Mecca area designated a “Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. In 2013, there were 242 such communities in the United States.