METRO DIGEST || Warren woman killed in crash

Woman killed

WARREN

A 20-year-old Warren woman was killed in a crash on state Route 5 in Paris Township, Portage County, Friday, the Ohio State Highway Patrol Ravenna post said. The patrol is investigating the cause of the crash that killed Courtney Fritz, who was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Malibu that traveled left of center and struck a tractor-trailer head-on. A passenger in Fritz’s car was taken to a Warren hospital with serious injuries. The driver of the tractor- trailer was taken to a Ravenna hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.

Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor in the crash.

Donation helping sibling adoptions

WARREN

Trumbull County government employees donated $588 in May for the opportunity to dress down on Mondays and provide funds to a family trying to adopt four siblings. A representative for Homes For Kids, which works to provide foster homes for children who need various kids of treatment, said half of the $50,000 needed to expand the couple’s home has been raised so far.

The four children include Jamie, now 6, the girl who received a liver transplant in 2015, thanks to the efforts of Trumbull County Children Services, which has custody of her. A Trumbull County family is already caring for two of Jamie’s siblings, but the home needs additional bedrooms and a bathroom to accommodate Jamie and her brother. The family intends to adopt all four children.

Everyone was sick

NILES

Call-offs in the city had the service director doing a different type of job Friday. According to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, sick day call-offs left the Niles cemetery with no one on the job. There was a cremation burial scheduled for a local veteran, so Edward Stredney, city safety director, picked up a shovel and took over, with the help of a couple of other people. The head of the workers union, Bob Ward, told the television station he was not aware of any dispute behind the sick day call-offs.

Fitch band uniforms

AUSTINTOWN

Austintown Fitch High School Band is donating all its old uniforms to the Garden City School Band from Garden City, Mich., at 11 a.m. today.

According to a news release, the Michigan school couldn’t afford to purchase new uniforms with a growing band membership. The band has 60 members, and interest in the band is growing. Garden City Schools will change its school colors to red and blue to coordinate with the new uniforms. The band’s director, Anthony Letizio, is coming to the Fitch cafeteria to pick up the uniforms as the Michigan school was unable to afford the cost to have them shipped.

Dedication ceremony

BROOKFIELD

State Sen. Sean O’Brien of Bazetta, D-32nd, and other local officials will have a dedication ceremony at 1 p.m. Sunday to mark the re-naming of a portion of state Route 7 in honor of Virginia “Ginny” Kirsch. The ceremony will be on Brookfield Green, at state Route 7 and Warren-Sharon Road.

Hirsch, a graduate of Brookfield High School, went to Vietnam to serve with the American Red Cross “Donut Dollie” program, which sent teams of young women to conduct morale-boosting audience participation programs for soldiers stationed there. She was murdered in her quarters at the 25th U.S. Infantry Division base camp at Cu Chi, Vietnam, in the middle of the night Aug. 16, 1970.

O’Brien’s legislation designates the section of Route 7 between Routes 82 and 62 as the Virginia E. “Ginny” Kirsch Memorial Highway.