METRO DIGEST | Veterans March on America today

Veterans March

NEW MIDDLETOWN

There will be a Veterans March on America today beginning at the former Sparkle Market on state Route 170 at Middletown Road. It will travel to the Village Municipal building where a flag raising will take place with speakers. Lineup will take place at 12:30 p.m., and the march will begin at 1 p.m.

Guest speaker is Judge Robert P. Milich of Youngstown Municipal Court. The march is to focus on the plight veterans face every day – post-traumatic stress disorder, homelessness, unemployment, lack of medical care and suicide. Organizers also will be distributing veterans assistance information.

Liberty in Bloom seeking volunteers

LIBERTY

Liberty in Bloom is looking for volunteers to help manage 26 flower beds throughout the township.

If interested, call Jodi Stoyak at 330-509-8160.

Dinner to help YSU student

YOUNGSTOWN

There will be a chicken dinner at noon today to help Christian Bennett, a student at Youngstown State University, raise funds to travel to Boliva on a missionary trip. The event will take place at 133 Lafayette St.

The menu consists of chicken, macaroni and cheese or potato salad, green beans, bread and dessert.

The cost is $10. Call 330-651-8001 to place an order or for information.

Boccieri office hours

SEBRING

State Rep. John Boccieri of Poland, D-59th, will have office hours with constituents from 7 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Copeland Oaks’ Murphy Auditorium, 800 S. 15th St., to discuss state issues.

Boccieri’s office hours will be preceded by a presentation and group discussion with residents of Copeland Oaks, a retirement community.

Road-rage case

LISBON

A Salem man convicted in a road-rage case involving a bicyclist says he intends to file an appeal after a judge sentenced him to two years in prison and suspended his driver’s license for five years.

Stephen Bauman, 71, was sentenced Thursday in Columbiana County court after an earlier conviction on charges of felonious assault and failure to stop after an accident, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

Assistant Chief Columbiana County Prosecutor John Gamble told the television station Judge Scott Washam’s sentence was motivated by Bauman’s apparent intention to purposely assault the bicyclist.

Judge Washam noted earlier that Bauman screamed obscenities as he drove his truck within inches of a bicyclist he was passing on North Ellsworth Avenue in 2015.

Road to be closed for bridge replacement

LIBERTY

Beginning Monday, Pleasant Valley Road between Anderson-Morris Road and Smith-Stewart Road will be closed through late July for a bridge replacement.

The detour will be Tibbetts-Wick Road to state Route 193 to Smith-Stewart Road.

This work is part of a $1.6 million project to replace the Niles-Vienna Road, Risher Road and the Pleasant Valley Road bridges in Trumbull County as part of the Ohio Bridge Partnership Program. The entire project is scheduled to be completed by July.

PANDA meeting

BOARDMAN

PANDA Leaders Club members, who represent more than a dozen schools in the Mahoning Valley, will meet at 7:30 a.m. Monday for breakfast, with the annual program following at 8 a.m. at Holiday Inn Boardman, 7410 South Ave.

The event recognizes the efforts of the members, as well as the funders and donors who support PANDA – Prevent And Neutralize Drug & Alcohol Abuse – and its school and community initiatives. The recipients of the 2017 Meridian Scholarship also will be announced.

Woman charged after reported break-in

YOUNGSTOWN

A woman was arrested Friday outside a Glenwood Avenue home on burglary and resisting arrest charges after reports said she broke into a home and left behind her “lock box,” which had suboxone and powder cocaine inside it.

Officers found Ashley Rock, no age given, at about 6:30 a.m. outside a home in the 3000 block of Glenwood Avenue, saying she walked in through an unlocked door and was assaulted by the homeowner.

The homeowner told police they had come home and found Rock walking out of the house carrying a box.

Rock told police she had snorted cocaine earlier and left behind a “lock box” in the house that had drugs inside. Police found the box, and it had a suboxone strip inside, and it was covered with powder. The powder tested positive for cocaine, reports said.

Rock refused to allow officers to handcuff her and was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital because she had just taken drugs, reports said.