METRO DIGEST || Two house fires Friday night

Two house fires

Fire damaged homes Friday night, displacing one family and killing another’s pet dog.

A mobile home in Vintage Village Estates off Belmont Avenue in Liberty was a total loss, officials said. The family was downtown at the Youngstown Holiday Parade when the fire broke out. Nearby individuals noticed the flames and alerted authorities. The cause is under investigation.

In Youngstown, near the intersection of West Florida and Trenton avenues, a living room caught fire. Firefighters extinguished it before it could destroy the house, but one of the family’s pet dogs died. There were no other injuries.

Health at Home

YOUNGSTOWN

Mercy Health representatives will have a free Health at Home workshop at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Taft School, 730 E. Avondale Ave. as part of the Taft Promise Neighborhood’s Wellness program.

Those attending will receive a book providing instructions for handling more than 200 common health problems. Taft Promise Neighborhood was founded in 2014 to revitalize and strengthen the area surrounding the school on the city’s South Side.

Honoring officers

COLUMBUS

A bill to honor two deceased Poland police officers, sponsored by state Rep. John Boccieri, was unanimously passed by the Ohio House Transportation Committee and now moved to the full House for a vote. The bill would rename portions of U.S. Route 224 and state Route 170 after Ptl. Charles K. Yates and Richard E. Becker, respectively.

“I am glad to see that we are on our way to honor those who lost their lives in the line of duty,” said Boccieri, of Poland, D-59th. “We cannot thank our first responders enough for the sacrifices they make every day.”

Abduction case

NORTH BLOOMFIELD

Costra Trice, 21, of Terra Alta Street NE, was arraigned in Central District Court on aggravated burglary and abduction charges Friday after he and four juveniles were accused of breaking into a house in Greene Township early Friday and abducting a 20-year-old disabled man.

The sheriff’s office was dispatched to the 800 block of Durst Colebrook Road in Greene Township at 1:45 a.m. after residents reported several young people entered the home and took the man.

Residents of the home said the five shook the man to wake him up. One of the five had a gun, though the witness said it might have been plastic. The man indicated he didn’t want to go, but the suspects took him. Police stopped the vehicle containing the man and the suspects on North Park Avenue south of Johnson Plank Road. Trice was taken to jail, and the four juveniles were taken to the county juvenile justice center.

Land negotiation

CANFIELD

City and township officials are meeting at 8 a.m. Monday in Canfield City Hall to negotiate the annexation of township land into the city. The land on Palmyra Road, near U.S. Route 224, is the city-owned, 288-acre Red Gate Farms, 15 acres owned by MALA Property and 19 acres owned by developer and televangelist Frank Amedia.

The properties are undeveloped. Council said it intends to develop it and tie in city sewer lines.

“We’re going to continue negotiating until we have something we can put before the county board” of commissioners, Mayor Bernie Kosar said.