Police charge man after cocaine found

AKRON: The police department's narcotics division and the U.S. Marshal's Office Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force executed a search warrant Wednesday in the 1300 block of Brittain Road.

Authorities found 51/2 ounces of cocaine with a street value of approximately $6,000.

Dewayne Anderson, 35, of Brittain Road, has been charged with possession of cocaine, trafficking in cocaine and possession of criminal tools.

Police seek man on burglary charges

AKRON: Police are seeking a 25-year old man on charges of aggravated burglary and aggravated menacing.

Warrants have been issued for Nyle A. Armstrong, who police say has no permanent address.

Armstrong is accused of entering his ex-girlfriend's unlocked apartment Tuesday afternoon, armed with a gun, and threatening to kill her.

Police said the victim escaped her apartment and called police, who said Armstrong left with the victim's purse.

Anyone with information on Armstrong's whereabouts is asked to call Akron police detectives at 330-375-2490.

Man stabbed in neck outside gas station

AKRON: A 23-year-old man told Akron police he was stabbed on the left side of his neck during an altercation outside a gas station at 650 E. Market St. around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Another man stabbed him with an unknown object before fleeing the area, police said.

Paramedics transported the victim to Akron City Hospital, but his injuries did not appear to be life threatening, police said.

The assailant was described as a black male 28 to 31 years old. He was about 5-feet-11 and weighed 175 to 180 lbs. He wore a white tank top and black jean shorts.

Man gets 16 years in prison for robbery

AKRON: An Akron man was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of robbery in an incident in December, authorities said.

Damien P. Duncan, 23, was sentenced by Summit County Common Pleas Judge Robert M. Gippin. The judge ordered two eight-year terms to run simultaneously and a third to run consecutively.

On Dec. 18, prosecutors said Duncan and an unknown accomplice entered a Beacon Street residence and tried to rob three people inside. The accomplice had a gun and struck one of the victims with it, but the gun fell apart as the robbery was in progress, prosecutors said.

Rapist gets 22 years for attacking woman

AKRON: An Akron man was sentenced Wednesday to 22 years in prison for kidnapping, two counts of rape and other offenses for attacking a woman while she was walking home along Johnston Street in September.

Darnell E. Archey of the 1100 block of LaCroix Avenue was sentenced by Summit County Common Pleas Judge Thomas A. Teodosio.

Archey, who was on probation for assaulting his girlfriend at the time of the September attack, was given seven years for each count of rape, six years for kidnapping and two years for violating probation, prosecutors said.

He also was sentenced to six months for breaking and entering, but the judge ordered that term to run simultaneously with the others.

Archey pleaded guilty to the offenses in March.

The attack occurred on Sept. 22 as the woman was on her way home.

Prosecutors said Archey grabbed her, dragged her onto a porch and raped her.

Witnesses to the struggle called police, and when officers arrived, Archey was still on top of the victim, prosecutors said.

As part of the sentence, Archey was classified by the judge as a Tier III sexual offender, requiring lifetime registration of his address with law enforcement officials.

Police arrest fugitive in rape, kidnapping

AKRON: A man charged with rape and kidnapping was taken into custody Wednesday by Akron police and officers of the U.S. Marshal's Office Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force.

Michael Duane Johnson, 39, of Wellington Avenue, Akron, was arrested without incident around 2 p.m. in the 100 block of Roswell Street.

Johnson, a registered sexual offender, is charged with raping a female at gunpoint May 31 in a home on Laffer Avenue.

He was booked into the Summit County Jail.

CANTON

Judge dismisses suit against airport

CANTON: Stark County Common Pleas Judge Richard Reinbold Jr. has cleared the Akron-Canton Airport to continue excavating for runway expansion.

In April, Jackson Township resident Christopher Reynolds sued the airport, claiming that its excavating on 16.2 acres violated township zoning regulations and a 1985 court decision.

The airport-owned tract, formerly owned by American Sand and Gravel Inc., is south of Waywood Street Northwest and east of Wales Avenue Northwest (state Route 241).

The tract is immediately east of a 14.8-acre parcel where contractors for the airport have been removing sand and gravel that they then haul to the airport.

The airport needs to move about 4.1 million cubic yards of dirt as part of a $60 million extension of the southwest-northeast runway from 7,600 to 8,200 feet.

Reinbold on Monday dismissed the suit.

FAIRLAWN

Gunman robs Fifth Third Bank

FAIRLAWN: The Fifth Third Bank, 3640 W. Market St., was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday afternoon, police said.

A man carrying a silver handgun jumped over the counter and demanded money, authorities said.

There were no customers in the bank.

As the man fled a dye pack exploded and was later found in an adjacent parking lot.

The robber was described as black, 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, wearing a black jacket wrapped around his head, a light blue long-sleeved shirt, black and red or black and pink shorts and white sneakers, authorities said.

Anyone with information about the robbery should call detective Dan Clevenger at 330-666-8871.

NORTHEAST OHIO

Two airports to get improvement funds

Two Akron area airports are getting nearly $600,000 in federal funds for airport improvements.

Akron Fulton International Airport is getting $213,337 to install a precision approach path indicator for Runway 7/25.

Wadsworth Municipal Airport will be receiving $380,991 to acquire land for development to meet Federal Aviation Administration design standards and aircraft demand.

The grants, announced Wednesday by U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, were among 16 totaling $4.6 million awarded to Ohio airports.

ORRVILLE

Hospital receives state recognition

ORRVILLE: The Ohio Hospital Association honored Dunlap Community Hospital on Wednesday as this year's recipient of an award to recognize health promotion in rural communities.

The 25-bed hospital earned the David Hendershot Rural Health Promotion Award for its wellness initiatives among its employees and in the community.

The hospital received $1,000 from the Ohio Hospital Association's Foundation for Health Communities as part of the award.

STOW-MUNROE FALLS SCHOOLS

Stow resident fills school board seat

STOW: Karen Wright, a 13-year Stow resident, has been appointed to replace school board member Kathy Armstrong, who resigned last month.

Wright has a degree in business management from the University of Akron, and has four children in the Stow-Munroe Falls schools.

She has been active in parent-teacher organizations and ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the board in November.

Her term will end in December of 2009.

In other school board business, Denny Mariola was elected board president, and Dick Spangler as vice-president.

Both are first-time board members who began their terms in 2008.
— M.A. Ferguson-Rich

SUMMIT COUNTY

County GOP elects executive officers

AKRON: The Summit County Republican Party elected officers for its executive committee Wednesday evening, officially bringing an end to a long power struggle within the party.

The committee tapped Jonathan Pavloff, the former head of the party's central committee, as chairman. Pavloff is a retired executive with Akron's Roadway Trucking Co.

Alex Arshinkoff, overwhelmingly elected to head the party's central committee in late April, will continue as the official party chairman.

A group of Republicans tried, but was unsuccessful, in unseating Arshinkoff, who has chaired the party for nearly 30 years.

The other executive committee officers elected during a meeting at party headquarters were Bryan Williams, executive vice chairman; William Demas and Paul Swanson, vice chairmen; Carol Curtis and Deidre Hanlon, vice chairwomen; Jack Morrison Jr., secretary; Frank Larson, assistant secretary; Kim Arnold, treasurer; and Steve Kotsatos, assistant treasurer.

Larson is the only new officer.

WOOSTER

Pet activities galore at vineyard Saturday

WOOSTER: Pets will be the theme at the Give Pets A Chance event at Troutman Vineyards on Saturday.

Visitors (and their leashed pets) can meet the 2008 Pet of the Year candidates. There will also be entertainment, food vendors, raffles, door prizes and a dog-bite prevention demonstration.

Proceeds go to the GPAC Medical Fund for Animals.

The vineyard is at 4243 Columbus Road, and the event runs from 1 to 8 p.m.