Meshel funeral

Meshel funeral

YOUNGSTOWN

Services for Harry Meshel are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 220 N. Walnut St.

Meshel, a longtime Democratic leader in the Ohio Senate, former state Democratic Party chairman, and former member of the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees, died Monday at 93. Calling hours are scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Vaschak-Kirila Funeral Home, 3100 Canfield Road.

Friends may also call an hour before the funeral services Saturday at the church.

Man returns shots

WARREN

A 27-year-old man of Haymaker Avenue Northwest said he fired back after someone fired a gun at him at 3:04 a.m. Wednesday.

The man said he had walked down West Market Street to the Chase Bank to get cash. He could see a man he knew in a car in the parking lot. He then heard gunshots coming from the vehicle and started running back toward home.

The man said he returned fire as he ran. The suspect has made threats in the past, the victim said.

Police found shell casings in the parking lot, three more on Haymaker and found the vehicle the victim said the suspect was driving. They did not find the suspect.

Pleads not guilty

WARREN

William T. Williams, 50, of Valley Avenue Southwest and Royal Mall Drive in Niles, pleaded not guilt Wednesday to aggravated robbery, accused of robbing the Warren Beverage and Liquor Agency, 501 W. Market Street, Tuesday afternoon.

Bond was set at $250,000.

An employee said a man with a gun came into the store at 4:25 p.m. wearing a mask, gray sweatshirt and blue jeans and pointed it at the employee’s chest demanding money.

After getting cash, he fled east on Market Street.

A Warren police officer in the area saw Williams a halfblock away from the store. Williams matched the description of the robber. Police found a large amount of cash behind two businesses nearby. Employees at Warren Beverage identified Williams as the robber.

Police also recovered clothing and the gun used in the crime, a report says.

Hearing postponed

niles

The hearing scheduled for Monday in Niles Municipal Court for James J. LaPolla Jr., a Howland Township trustee, has been postponed until 8:30 a.m. Nov. 15.

That is more than a year after his Oct. 29, 2016, arrest on charges of drunken driving and not driving in marked lanes.

LaPolla, 54, of Bayhill Drive in Warren, was charged after Niles police said they saw him travel left of center on U.S. Route 422 near Frederick Street at 2:11 a.m. LaPolla failed multiple field-sobriety tests and refused to take a blood-alcohol test, police said.

On Thursday, LaPolla’s attorney, Robert Shaker, asked Judge Thomas Townley for a continuance, which the judge approved.

It’s the fourth time the case has been continued at Shaker’s request. Niles Prosecutor Terry Swauger also continued it once. Shaker filed a written not-guilty plea for LaPolla on Nov. 2, 2016.

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