Prayer service planned

Prayer service planned

YOUNGSTOWN

Supporters of Frackfree America National Coalition, based in the city, will attend a prayer service 1 p.m. today conducted by Rev. Monica Beasley-Martin of Defenders of the Earth Outreach Mission to commemorate the upcoming fifth anniversary of the Dec. 31, 2011, 4.0-magnitude earthquake in the city linked to a fracking waste injection well.

The service will take place on public property outside the Coitsville Township Administration Building, 3737 McCartney Road.

The event will focus on raising public awareness of the need to legally stop a proposed Coitsville injection well, another Vienna injection well that is now operating, and an injection well in Weathersfield/Niles that may reopen, according to a Frackfree news release.

Prostitution charge

WARREN

Robert T. Alverson, 51, of Wildwood Drive in Brookfield is in the Trumbull County Jail, charged with soliciting prostitution after telling police he was robbed of his car by a prostitute Dec. 9.

A Dec. 10 Brookfield police report says Alverson told police a prostitute he met on the Internet took his car after he passed out. He said he attempted multiple times to recover the vehicle by contacting her, but she would not return it.

Alverson was arrested Tuesday and taken to the Trumbull County Jail. He also was charged Tuesday with drunken driving in an incident Tuesday on Warren-Sharon Road.

He will be arraigned on the drunken-driving charge today.

Arraigned on 16 charges

WARREN

Michael L. Peach, 40, of Trumbull Drive in Niles was arraigned Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on 16 charges connected to a chase that ended in Weathersfield Township last week.

Peach pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of felonious assault, kidnapping, gross sexual imposition and failure to comply with the orders of a police officer and single counts of aggravated burglary; attempted kidnapping; aggravated robbery; intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness; retaliation; and possessing criminal tools.

Judge W. Wyatt McKay set bond at $1 million. In court Wednesday, an incision along Peach’s neck could be seen. Police said he attempted to commit suicide with a knife just before police arrested him.

The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, 21 WFMJ-TV, reported that Peach is accused of breaking into a home on Poplar Street in Weathersfield Township and assaulting three or four people. Peach led police on a car chase that ended on state Route 46 after he crashed into a tree but continued on foot through the woods.

Annexation petition

NEWTON FALLS

Village officials have submitted an annexation petition to the Trumbull County commissioners for 440 acres in Braceville and Newton townships near the Ohio Turnpike exit at state Route 5.

Mayor Lyle Waddell said the annexation is another way to spur economic development in that area after multiple failed attempts to create a joint-economic-development district there. The area being proposed has a truck stop and hotels that support the annexation and already have water and sewer, he said. Village Council has authorized the mayor to pursue the annexation.

Annexation will save the businesses in the annexed area money by allowing them to pay the utility rates as other businesses in the village instead of the higher “outside” rate, Waddell said. With the personnel and resources of the village, the area will grow, he said.

Woman accused in theft

BOARDMAN

Police accused a woman of taking a man’s wallet while he was in a doctor’s appointment Dec. 19 and charged more than $1,500 to his credit cards, according to a report.

Police responded to a call at the Ohio Sport and Spine Institute at 7067 Tiffany Blvd. A man reported his wallet was stolen while his coat was hanging in the patient waiting area during his appointment.

Elizabeth Norberg, 27, of Lowellville, was identified by an employee who said Norberg was acting suspicious, according to the report. Police arrested Norberg on Tuesday and charged her with theft and misuse of a credit card.

OSHP probes I-80 crash

AUSTINTOWN

Ohio State Highway Patrol officials are investigating the cause of a crash on Interstate 80 in the township.

According to a patrol report, a 62-year-old Campbell man was traveling eastbound on Interstate 80 at 1:09 p.m. Wednesday when his pickup truck went off the left side of the road and overturned several times. Both the driver and his passenger were wearing seat belts. I-80’s eastbound lanes were closed for a time to clean up the area.

The driver and passenger were taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital to be treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.

Shots fired at vehicle

YOUNGSTOWN

No one was injured Tuesday after someone fired several shots about 7:45 p.m. at a vehicle on West Indianola Avenue.

Reports said officers found a dozen 5.56 mm shell casings strung in a row from West Indianola Avenue to Hillman Street on the South Side.

The driver of the vehicle that was being shot at said someone in another vehicle fired several shots at him, then drove away.

Donation to NEOMED

YOUNGSTOWN

A Youngstown couple donated $500,000 to Northeast Ohio Medical University.

Chander and Karen Kohli both of Youngstown built on their original gift of $500,000, named as the Aneal Mohan Kohli Academic Technology Endowment. The $1 million total gift from the Kohlis will help advance NEOMED’s students and keeps the university’s Academic Technology Department innovative in its delivery of online course material.

In appreciation of the Kohli family’s contributions, the university had a private reception at which it renamed its library the Aneal Mohan Kohli Academic and Information Technology Center in honor of the Kohlis’ son, who died at age 30.

Cost to fix city hall

NILES

The total costs for repairing the nearly 90-year old city hall could be as much as $125,000 below the original estimate of $550,000.

In a roundtable discussion Wednesday, council members indicated they will vote in favor of the lowest bids for masonry repair and interior improvements at their meeting next Wednesday. Coupled with the money already spent for roof replacement and mold remediation, the total cost will amount to $425,000.

The mold along with exterior and interior damage were caused by a leaky roof in disrepair for decades, according to an architect. City hall was closed for one day last summer after the mold sickened Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia and several other employees.

Man faces OVI charge

BOARDMAN

A Canfield man was charged with operating a vehicle while impaired Wednesday night after his car wound up on its side on West Boulevard at Boardman-Canfield Road.

Eric Gallite, 41, of Salem-Warren Road, was driving eastbound on Boardman-Canfield Road when he attempted to turn onto West Boulevard, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Gallite lost control and hit a cable wire before landing on the vehicle’s side. Officers conducted a field-sobriety test, which he failed, the patrol said, noting that Gallite also admitted texting while driving. No injuries were reported.