AKRON
Girl’s ashes stolen
AKRON: The cremated remains of a young girl were stolen during a burglary of an Akron home, police said.
The ashes were discovered missing Tuesday when a Safer Place resident returned to her home. The 28-year-old woman said she and her family had left the apartment Monday after the electricity was cut off.
When the woman arrived home Tuesday afternoon, she noticed a window was damaged and a vase containing the ashes was missing from an entertainment center in the living room, according to Akron police.
Police said other items were handled inside the apartment, but the vase was apparently the only item taken.
Anyone with information is asked to call Akron police at 330-375-2490.
Free legal advice
AKRON: Local attorneys will provide free legal advice at OPEN M, 941 Princeton St., on a walk-in basis to community members who cannot afford a lawyer.
The service will be provided on the fourth Thursday of each month, with the next session Feb. 28.
Clients should plan to arrive between 5 and 5:30 p.m. to register. Attorneys, who volunteer their time, will be available to answer legal questions in a confidential setting.
The clinic is sponsored by Community Legal Aid’s Volunteer Legal Services Program.
For more information, call 877-401-0088.
Sentence upheld
AKRON: A former hospital executive sentenced to nine years in prison in a public corruption investigation in Cleveland lost his bid for a shorter sentence based on his claim of an out-of-control sex addiction.
A federal judge in Akron ruled Thursday that John Carroll, 66, never mentioned a sex addiction until after he pleaded guilty and was sentenced.
Carroll, a former vice president of Cleveland’s MetroHealth Medical Center, pleaded guilty to bribery, making false statements and tax fraud.
He was charged with accepting nearly $700,000 worth of rugs, jewelry, a Jacuzzi and trips to India and Japan in exchange for steering construction contracts.
According to the Plain Dealer, Carroll said the sex addiction caused him diminished capacity when he pleaded guilty.
— Associated Press
BATH TOWNSHIP
Fire damages home
BATH TWP.: A fire inside a township home Thursday night caused about $10,000 in damage, firefighters said.
There were no injuries.
Firefighters from Bath, Richfield, Fairlawn and Copley Township were called to 3305 Shade Road about 9 p.m., when the homeowner returned and discovered the fire.
Firefighters said flames ran through interior and exterior walls near a wood-burning fireplace.
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Karl Rove to speak
CANTON: Karl Rove, an influential political strategist and former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President George W. Bush, will be the keynote speaker at the Stark County Republican Party’s 68th annual McKinley Banquet.
The event will be March 18 at the University Center of Kent State University’s Stark Campus, 6000 Frank Ave. NW, Jackson Township.
A private reception with Rove for the party’s 2013 Early Bird contributors will begin at 5:30 p.m., with dinner at 6:30.
Cost is $55 per person.
For more information, contact Alex Jones at 330-453-6708 or ajones@starkgop.org.
Political fundraiser
GREEN: The Committee to Elect Jill Flagg Judge of the Barberton Municipal Court will host a Taco Night fundraiser 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 4 at Dano’s Lakeside Pub, 3910 S. Main St., Green.
Suggested donation is $50 per person.
For more information, contact flaggforjudge@gmail.com or call 330-309-6733.
CLEVELAND
Jet slides into grass
CLEVELAND: An airport spokeswoman says a United flight landing in Cleveland from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., slid off a slick runway onto a grassy area amid freezing winter weather.
No injuries were reported in the incident Friday morning.
Spokeswoman Jackie Mayo with Cleveland Hopkins International Airport says two busloads of passengers were taken from the plane to the terminal.
Mayo says all the landing gear wound up on a grassy area as the plane ran off the runway while approaching a taxiway about 10:45 a.m.
MUNROE FALLS
Flood in street
MUNROE FALLS: A break in a 6-inch water line tied up traffic Friday afternoon as water began to flow in the middle of the intersection of state Route 91 and Munroe Falls Avenue.
Service Director Jim Bowery said reports began coming in about 1:30 p.m. and subsequently caused traffic to back up.
Bowery said police and water department workers responded and that traffic flow was back to normal at about 5:30 p.m.
The break was expected to be repaired by this morning, Bowery said.
NORTH CANTON SCHOOLS
Bids for new buses
NORTH CANTON: The Board of Education on Thursday authorized advertising for bids for 12 65-passenger conventional school buses.
The Stark County Schools Council of Governments will receive the bids on behalf of the district, which has applied for a Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant from the state. The grant picks up 80 percent of the cost and targets older buses.
The average mileage on the district’s 51 buses is 120,137. Six buses have traveled more than 200,000 miles.
In other business, the board approved a contract with AT&T to locate a cell tower on school property behind the home team soccer stands.
AT&T is a co-locator on an existing cell tower behind the Memorial Stadium scoreboard. Verizon and T-Mobil will remain on that tower. The departure of AT&T creates an opening for a third co-locator
The school district receives about $4,000 in monthly revenue from the existing cell tower.
The new AT&T tower, which should be in place in 2014, has the potential to attract other co-locators, yielding additional revenue.
NORTHEAST OHIO
Peace meeting
NORTON: The Barberton, Norton, Wadsworth Peace Group will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Grace United Church of Christ, 3285 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road.
Debbie Silverstein, president of Ohio Single Payer Action Network (SPAN), will speak on The Affordable Care Act: Where Do We Go From Here?
The public is invited.
STARK COUNTY
Car bomb disabled
ALLIANCE: An Alliance man is accused of trying to kill his estranged wife and her companion by placing a bomb under his truck on Valentine’s Day.
David “Turtle” McCoy, 32, was arrested Thursday on attempted murder charges and one count of illegal manufacturing of explosives.
He was being held in the Stark County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
Alliance police said McCoy took a 2-foot-long, homemade explosive device and attached it to a vehicle with the intention of killing his estranged wife and her friend. The man found the explosive, wrapped in red tissue paper, under his pickup truck parked on West Main Street and contacted authorities.
The Summit County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad and federal ATF agents responded and determined the device was capable of exploding and causing injuries, police said.
The 2-inch-thick device was disabled without incident.
Police said the bomb contained what they believe was “black powder, BBs, wadding and several solid propellant model-rocket engines with igniters.”
SUMMIT COUNTY
Leader of agency
AKRON: Catherine Adamek Bixenstine has been named director of Catholic Charities Community Services in Summit County.
Bixenstine joined the agency in 1989 and most recently was director of community family treatment.
In her new job she will oversee programs and services for older adults, the poor and persons with disabilities.
She has a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from the University of Akron and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Xavier University.
Former director Deacon John Green resigned from Catholic Charities in late August.
Fatal driver guilty
AKRON: A 26-year-old Barberton woman was found guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide and three counts of driving while impaired in the 2012 death of her fiance, Jeffrey Spencer, authorities said Friday.
Jessica Lynn Thomas faces a prison sentence of two to eight years, prosecutors said. Her sentencing date is pending with Summit County Common Pleas Judge Alison McCarty.
On March 31, Thomas was driving south on state Route 241, about 2:30 a.m., when her car veered off the road in Springfield Township.
The vehicle went airborne after striking a traffic sign and fire hydrant, then hit a tree, prosecutors said.
Her fiance died of injuries four days later.
Firefighters had to extract Thomas from the driver’s seat after she was pinned by the steering wheel. She told responding officers she was not driving.
Her blood-alcohol level was 0.16 percent and she had marijuana in her system, prosecutors said.
WAYNE COUNTY
Woman fatally shot
WOOSTER: An Akron man is accused of accidently shooting and killing a woman as they sat in a van.
Andre I. Wilson, 29, was being held in the Wayne County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond. Wooster police charged him with reckless homicide Tuesday in connection with the death of Elisesha S. Mathis, 29.
Police said Wilson and Mathis were inside a van parked on North Buckeye Street in Wooster when she was struck in the chest by gunfire. Mathis died the following day.
Wilson is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Monday in Wooster Municipal Court. Online records do not show an attorney representing him.