METRO DIGEST || Recognizing ODOT

Recognizing ODOT

YOUNGSTOWN

Liberty will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1:30 p.m. today at Liberty Plaza to commemorate the Ohio Department of Transportation for investing $4 million into resurfacing, sewers, etc. on Belmont Avenue. Jim Kinnick, director of the Eastgate Regional council of Governments, and John Picuri, district director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, will be there. The public is welcome to attend.

IRS scam

AUSTINTOWN

Township Police Chief Robert Gavalier warned residents that calls from people claiming to represent the Internal Revenue Service are a scam. Gavalier issued the warning after the police communications center was flooded with calls Thursday from residents concerned about automated phone calls from out-of-state area codes telling them “there are four serious allegations pressed on your name and you will be taken into custody by local cops if [the caller] is not contacted within the next 24 hours.”

The messages try to fool residents into thinking the caller is representing the IRS, Gavalier said. He advised residents to never provide personal information or payment information to anyone over the phone or internet unless they can verify it is a legitimate organization they are somehow connected to and owe money to. Gavalier said the IRS will not call to demand immediate payment without first sending a bill in the mail, nor ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone. For information, visit the IRS web site at www.irs.gov/.

Gun, assault charges

YOUNGSTOWN

A man arrested Wednesday on gun and felonious assault charges admitted to police he was collecting on a drug debt but insisted he was attacked first. Ramon Cooper, 27, of Market Street, is in the Mahoning County jail on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and felonious assault. Police arrested Cooper about 10:30 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 3600 block of Southern Boulevard. A man in the parking lot told police he and a friend were pistol-whipped by a man there. Police knocked on the apartment door. Cooper was inside and told police: “I’m not going to lie. It was a drug deal, and they tried to play me on the money.” Large bags of suspected cocaine and heroin were found, reports said. A loaded handgun was found underneath the steps, and a second semi-automatic handgun was found in a closet.

Granddaughter charged

WARREN

A city woman was booked into the Trumbull County jail this week, then pleaded not guilty in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to an April 29 felonious assault charge involving her grandfather. Bryeil Kimble, 21, of Lowell Avenue is accused of assaulting her grandfather, 84, at his home on Nevada Avenue Northwest. A police report says when police arrived, the victim was being loaded onto a stretcher by ambulance personnel, had visible injuries and complained of severe shoulder pain. The victim said Kimble went into his room and told him to take off his clothes, but he refused, which angered her. Later, she hit him in the head, making him fall, and dragged him around the inside of the home, he said. The victim said he had never seen Kimble like this before and wasn’t aware of any medication she was taking. Kimble was taken to a hospital for observation.

Not guilty plea

WARREN

Joseph W. Woomer, 35, of Iowa Avenue Northwest, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to a June 30 burglary at a home on Tod Avenue Southwest. Police were called to the home at 5:27 a.m. for a man, later identified as Woomer, banging on the caller’s front door. When the officer got close, he was advised Woomer was now at a side window trying to get inside. When the officer arrived, Woomer was ripping material off the glass window and throwing it, a report said. Woomer got on the ground and was taken into custody. The victim said when Woomer moved to the side window, she saw that it was open a couple of inches, and Woomer was trying to reach in, pulling and ripping the blinds. The woman said she hit Woomer’s hands with her cellphone. Woomer then broke out the glass window and began throwing the pieces as the officer arrived, a report said.

Mill Creek bridges

SEBRING

Mill Creek MetroParks recently completed construction of two wooden bridges on the hiking trail at Sebring Woods. The trail is named after the creek the bridges cross over, Fish Creek Trail, and is a 0.7-mile primitive hiking trail loop. The loop features two natural creek crossings and meanders through a variety of habitats, including wooded wetlands and upland forests. The aggregate parking lot to access the hiking trail, completed earlier this year, is located on Johnson Road.