METRO DIGEST || Mill Creek director interviews to begin

Interviews to begin

YOUNGSTOWN

Mill Creek MetroParks Board of Commissioners will start interviewing candidates for the position of executive director at a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. today.

The board also will meet Monday and Tuesday to continue interviewing candidates. The meetings will take place in executive session. No voting or decisions will be made.

The board plans to reach a decision on hiring a new executive director by the end of the month.

The position opened after Dennis Miller, the current executive director, announced his resignation to the board at the end of September. He will leave at year’s end.

The list of 20 candidates was narrowed down in executive session at a meeting this week.

Victim fights back

WARREN

A 52-year-old North Royalton man with a license to carry a concealed weapon tried to strike back when confronted by a man who grabbed his cellphone from the passenger seat of his car Tuesday morning in the parking lot of a business at 2300 Youngstown Road SE.

The victim said after the man reached through the open passenger window and took the phone at about 11 a.m., he took off running.

The victim gave chase, and the suspect stopped running and pulled out a handgun. The victim pulled out his handgun, too, and the suspect took off running again.

Burglary reported

CAMPBELL

A Woodland Avenue resident reported a burglary occurred between 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in which a flat-screen TV worth $1,000 had been taken. The back door of the home had been kicked in.

Facing drug charges

WARREN

Darrin S. Howell Jr., 21, of Atlantic Street Northeast, was arraigned Wednesday in Warren Municipal Court on one count of felony drug possession after a drug raid on his house Tuesday.

A not-guilty plea was entered for him, and bond was set at $7,500.

Warren police said they recovered five weapons, including two assault rifles, 30 grams of suspected heroin and drug paraphernalia when they raided the home after a five-month investigation.

State medical director

COLUMBUS

Gov. John Kasich has named the woman who helped lead Ohio’s Ebola response in recent weeks to serve as the state medical director.

Mary DiOrio has worked for the Ohio Department of Health for more than a dozen years, most recently as the state epidemiologist.

She replaces Mary Applegate, who served as interim state medical director over the past few months. Applegate is returning to the state’s Department of Medicaid, where she serves as medical director.

Felony charges

WARREN

Two men were arraigned in Warren Municipal Court on Wednesday on felony charges of disrupting public services and possessing criminal tools after police found them trying to sell wire police believe they cut down from a telephone pole.

Not-guilty pleas were entered for Joshua R. Shook, 22, of West Church Street, Niles, and Robert Peyatt, 50, of Williamsfield. Bond was set at $15,000 for Shook and $10,000 for Peyatt.