Entities will work together to bring down Warren site of tragedy

By Ed Runyan | October 8, 2015 at 12:02a.m.

WARREN

Sheriff Thomas Altiere says he hates seeing children waiting for the school bus in front of a vacant house where a woman died of an apparent drug overdose last month.

“I drive that way every morning,” the sheriff said of the house at 317 Scott St. NE, where Judy McClellan found her granddaughter, Carly Ginnicks, 32, dead on the porch Sept. 23. McClellan believes her granddaughter died more than a week earlier on that porch of a drug overdose. The coroner’s office has not officially ruled on the cause.

So when he was with Warren Mayor Doug Franklin and his safety-service director, Enzo Cantalamessa, recently, and they said they wanted to see that house demolished, he offered a suggestion.

“I said, ‘We have all of this equipment from military surplus,’” Altiere said. He was referring to semi-tractors, a bulldozer, an excavator, front-end loader and trailer that a deputy secured from the federal government and turned over to the county engineer’s office.

Soon, the sheriff, county Engineer Randy Smith and the mayor’s office had put together a plan to use those tools, labor from the county engineer’s office, and the help of the LaFarge demolition debris landfill in Lordstown to bring down the house.

Altiere said he thinks children should not have to stand near a house with that kind of history, and taking down the house will improve the neighorhood.

On Wednesday, the Trumbull County commissioners approved an agreement among the agencies to demolish the structure together today.

The sheriff’s office will provide traffic control while the work is being done, and the city will ensure that all utilities are disconnected and all permits have been secured.

“It won’t cost anything,” Altiere said.

Commissioner Frank Fuda said it makes sense for county officials to help out with a project such as this because helping cities, townships and villages “makes the county better.”

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said he hopes the idea can be used again in other locations.