AKRON
Bullets strike home
AKRON: Gunshots were fired early Thursday into a home near Summit Lake, Akron police said.
The shooting took place about 2:30 a.m. at a house in the 400 block of Rexford Street off Manchester Road.
No one was injured in the shooting.
Police have identified no suspects so far.
The residents said they were sleeping when the shots were fired.
Police investigators recovered several shell casings outside the home.
Anyone with information is asked to call Akron police at 330-375-2490. Anonymous tips can be left at http://akronohio.gov/asp/tip.html.
Arrest in shooting
AKRON: A gunman opened fire on a man Wednesday afternoon, spraying two West Akron homes with bullets, police said.
Based on descriptions that witnesses provided to police, Maurice Arnold, 19, was stopped and arrested on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon.
He was found walking on Copley Road, and police believe he tried to hide a .22-caliber pistol before talking to officers.
The gunfire erupted on Bacon Avenue, a side street off Copley Road and only blocks from where a 17-year-old boy was shot to death March 30.
A week later, a man, 23, was shot inside a vehicle stopped near Delia and Noble avenues.
No one was injured in the Bacon Avenue shooting.
Bullets struck two homes on the street.
Officers said they recovered spent shell casings at Grace Avenue and Peckham Street.
Gunfire sprays car
AKRON: Several shots were fired early Wednesday morning at a home and a car in the 500 block of Wyandot Avenue in the Goodyear Heights neighborhood of Akron.
No one was wounded, and no suspects were identified.
The car was in a driveway parked outside the owner’s home when several shots were fired into the vehicle and house about 3:30 a.m., police said.
Meth charges filed
AKRON: Three people were arrested on charges of making methamphetamine inside a Kenmore Boulevard business.
Scott A. McDaniel, 46, of Akron, Clifford E. Smith, 34, of Barberton, and Michael S. Spears, 45, of Akron, were being held in the Summit County Jail on charges of manufacturing methamphetamine and assembly of chemicals.
Police said a citizen’s tip led them to visit a former auto shop in the 300 block of Kenmore Boulevard on Wednesday.
A business owner allowed police to search the business.
Officers say they found a working meth lab and the three suspects.
Robbers take boots
AKRON: An Akron man was robbed of his boots late Wednesday night by two men riding bicycles on South Arlington Street.
Police said they arrested Damon L. McCraney, 25, and James E. Avent, 22, and recovered the victim’s Nike Air brand boots from the feet of one of the suspects.
The boots are worth about $145.
The victim, 21, flagged down Akron police officers about midnight and pointed them toward Ackley Street.
The suspects were found riding their bikes at Champlain and Clark streets, officers said.
Police said McCraney was wearing the man’s boots and confessed to the robbery.
Avent told officers he was “intoxicated and doesn’t remember” the bike ride or robbery.
McCraney and Avent were charged with robbery and were being held in the Summit County Jail.
Students in contest
AKRON: The public is invited to watch chemical-engineering students compete April 21 in the regional Chem-E-Car Competition, involving shoe-box size cars fueled with chemical reactions, at the University of Akron.
The free event — featuring the returning championship team from UA, as well as design teams from other schools — will run from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Rhodes Arena on the UA campus.
Teams will compete to see which team can best control its car, turning the arena into a sort of rodeo for chemically controlled and powered mini vehicles.
Half-time entertainment will be provided by Nuance, an a cappella singing group composed of UA students.
The competition is part of a conference for undergraduate chemical engineering students from schools in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and West Virginia.
For more information on the Chem-E-Car Competition, visit http://uakronstudentlife.orgsync.com/org/akronaiche/ConferenceChemECar.
ALLIANCE
Fugitive captured
ALLIANCE: A convicted murderer who escaped from an Alabama prison Sunday was captured Wednesday in Alliance.
Timothy J. Richards, 42, who is serving a life sentence without eligibility for parole on a 2000 murder conviction, was found in the 1300 block of Johnson Avenue about 2:20 p.m. Wednesday by the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force.
Authorities from the Gulf Coast division of the fugitive task force believed Richards would be traveling to the Alliance area following his early morning escape and contacted the task force for assistance.
Richards was arrested without incident, according to a news release from U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliot’s office.
Richards was transported to the Stark County Jail, where he is awaiting extradition to Alabama to serve the rest of his sentence.
He also will face new charges of escape.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of a known fugitive is encouraged to contact the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force at 1-866-4-WANTED or text keyword WANTED and the tip to 847411(tip411).
Tipsters can remain anonymous.
BARBERTON
Bridge will close
BARBERTON: The Van Buren Road bridge over the Tuscawaras River will be closed for 180 days starting Monday for a bridge replacement project, Summit County Engineer Alan Brubaker said.
The bridge is located just south of Eastern Road on the border of Barberton and New Franklin.
The posted detour will involve Vanderhoof Road, Manchester Road, state Route 619 and Eastern Road.
FAIRLAWN
Family expo at mall
FAIRLAWN: Cookie Monster from Sesame Street and SteveSongs from PBS Kids will highlight this year’s Western Reserve PBS & Summit Mall Family Expo.
The event will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Summit Mall.
Family Expo is one of the featured events of the 25th annual Child & Family Awareness Month coordinated by Summit County Children Services.
Live shows featuring SteveSongs will take place at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on the event stage. There will be “meet-and-greet” sessions with SteveSongs at 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Cookie Monster will be available 10:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Family Expo features a variety of family-focused entertainment plus nearly 60 information booths.
The event is free to the public. It is sponsored by the Akron Area YMCA, the CASA/GAL Program of Summit County and the Summit County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board.
Green
Preservation plans
GREEN: The city’s Historic Preservation Commission will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Central Administration Building on Town Park Boulevard for a hearing involving the Levi Hartong farmhouse.
Community Development Administrator Sarah Haring said the commission will review the application for a certificate of appropriateness for the farmhouse demolition and selective removal project.
The Hartong homestead is within Southgate Park off Mount Pleasant Road.
The homestead is on the National Register of Historic Places.
For more information, call 330-896-6614 or email sharing@cityofgreen.org.
MEDINA COUNTY
Old fines buy food
MEDINA: The Medina County District Library system said its 2012 “Food For Fines” program generated 13,361 pounds of donations.
The food collected will provide 10,278 meals through the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, the library said in a written release.
The program allowed library patrons with overdue material to erase the fines in exchange for a food donation.
STOW
Stranger danger
STOW: Stow police are investigating two instances where children were approached by men in the past month.
No children were harmed, and police do not fully know the intentions of the two men who talked to the children.
Police issued a news release Thursday.
The first occurred March 17 near Bryn Athen Drive where a man approached an 8-year-old girl and her friends asking if they had seen his lost puppy.
One of the children asked for the man’s phone number, and he drove away, saying the number was on the dog’s collar.
The man was described as white, middle-aged and wearing a goatee and having straight, thick dark hair.
Police say he wore gloves, despite the warm weather, and was driving a car similar to a Honda Civic.
On April 9, a woman told police that she was at the SKIP playground near Darrow Road, when she saw a 10-year-old boy walking off with an older, white male. The boy left the man and came back to the woman after she called his name.
The man was described as tall with a heavy build, possibly in his 50s with a thick white moustache and balding gray hair. He wore a royal blue sweat suit.
Anyone with information is asked to call Stow police at 330-689-5730.
Collaboration plans
STOW: Stow, Kent and neighboring communities want to save money by sharing services and equipment.
Stow Mayor Sara Drew, other local mayors and their service directors met Thursday at Stow City Hall to come up with a plan for collaboration.
“The city of Stow has made new friends and partners,” Drew said.
‘‘It is local communities with shared cultures and shared needs figuring out how we can work together.”
Stow and Kent are in discussions to determine if they can share pieces of equipment that are used intermittently.
They are creating a database of service departments inventory. “This is something new,” Drew said. “We are really looking at long-term ways to save money.”
The cities’ leaders plan to meet again on this issue July 19.
CUYAHOGA COUNTY
Three people killed
BROOKLYN: Police said three people were killed at a restaurant in Northeast Ohio, including a suspect shot by police officers.
Brooklyn Police Chief Scott Mielke said in a news release that the victims are a woman, a girl and the male suspect. One person was taken to a hospital with injuries.
The shooting happened Thursday night at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Brooklyn. Police couldn’t immediately say whether other victims were shot.
