AKRON
Repo men attacked
AKRON: Two repossession company workers were shot at while they were trying to recover an SUV in North Akron, police said.
The workers were not injured in the attack.
The incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday while the men were attempting to take a 2003 Ford Expedition from a home in the 800 block of Chalker Street. One repo man said he was confronted in the driveway by the car owner, who was armed with a handgun. The driver got into his truck and drove down the street and called police.
Police say the Expedition owner, Timothy R. Moore, 50, followed the worker and fired several shots.
As Moore was driving, he passed through a stop sign and crashed at Chalker and Dalton streets, police said.
Moore was charged with two counts of felonious assault and one count of discharging a firearm. He was being held in the Summit County Jail.
Two held in chase
AKRON: Akron police arrested two men as suspects in an armed robbery late Wednesday night.
Dierre T. Payne, 18, of Cleveland Street, was charged with robbery, receiving stolen property and failure to comply after he and Jihad S. Jackson allegedly robbed a victim at gunpoint, then fled in a Chevrolet Tahoe that was reported as stolen.
Police say the two men led officers on a high-speed chase during which Jackson was thrown from the vehicle at Vernon Odom Boulevard and Fern Street.
Payne, who police say was driving the stolen vehicle, wrecked it in the 600 block of Fern Street.
The two men were apprehended a short time later.
An Airsoft pistol was recovered from the vehicle, police said.
Boy in meth house
AKRON: Akron police arrested eight people when they raided a suspected meth house Wednesday afternoon.
The arrests came inside a Chester Avenue home police had been investigating after receiving complaints from neighbors.
The house is near Smith elementary school, where the 8-year-old son of one of the drug suspects attends classes. The boy was taken into protective custody as his mother was taken with the seven other suspects to the Summit County Jail, police said.
Police describe the house as a location where a large-scale lab was constructed for the production of methamphetamine. Police say they seized meth and heroin during the search.
Barber foils robbery
AKRON: A barber thwarted the attempted robbery of a neighboring Akron beauty shop Wednesday, police said.
Workers at Park Hill Fashions, 920 E. Wilbeth Road, told police a masked gunman came inside about 2:30 p.m. and demanded money.
A barber from the neighboring business saw the robbery unfolding, pulled out his own gun and confronted the robber, police said.
Police said the robber was a black male, between 17 and 24 years old, and wearing a red Rocawear coat.
UA board member
AKRON: Gov. John Kasich has named Jennifer E. Blickle to an unexpired term on the University of Akron’s board of trustees.
She replaces former Summit County Common Pleas Judge Jane Bond, who resigned this fall.
Blickle earned a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology from UA in 1973. Many of her family, including her husband, John, and siblings, also are UA alums.
She has been a trustee of the Akron Community Foundation and is a sustaining member of the Junior League. She has advised two students through Collegescholars Inc., a mentored scholarship program for disadvantaged Akron students. She and her husband donate to UA for scholarships, athletics and the law school.
The board has nine voting members and two student representatives.
Her term runs until July 2017.
BARBERTON
Boater safety grant
BARBERTON: The City Council presented several proposals Monday night, including a boater safety education grant.
Parks Director Shane McAvinew requested a grant worth $13,242.80 from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for an education program that will teach children water sports and other outdoor activities next summer.
“It’s a new thing, and we think the kids will get a kick out of it,” McAvinew said.
The money will go toward training, gas, equipment, marketing and other necessities.
McAvinew said the parks department has been receiving money for 10 to 12 years for similar programs.
Game for charity
BARBERTON: City employees will take on employees from Alcoa Barberton in a charity flag football game.
The game will be at 10 a.m. Dec. 8 at the Barberton High School Football and Soccer Stadium, 555 Barber Road.
All players must donate at least one new unwrapped toy.
Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children.
A 50/50 drawing will be held as well as a raffle of other prizes. All the money collected and toys donated will be given to the Barberton Salvation Army.
BATH TOWNSHIP
Medic unit sold
BATH TWP.: Trustees on Monday approved the recommendation of Fire Chief Walt Hower to accept a $21,000 bid from the Coshocton County Emergency Medical Services for the township’s 2003 Braun E450 Medic Unit.
Bath placed the unit, which had 98,000 miles, up for bid in July. The only other bidder offered far below the minimum $10,000.
Hower said he was “tickled pink” with the bid, which was a substantial increase from what would have been the trade-in option from the dealer that furnished Bath with the newer unit.
CANAL FULTON
$1 million theft
CANAL FULTON: Police are investigating a break-in and theft of collectible trains valued at $1 million.
Officers learned of the break-in last week when a Colorado resident with family ties to the Canal Fulton area reported that 100 small collectible trains he had in a storage shed at A.J. Mini Storage on Locust Street had been stolen.
Anyone with information is asked to call 330-854-2211.
CANTON
Drug arrest made
CANTON: A 32-year old man was arrested Thursday on a series of drug-related charges after the police department’s Special Investigations Unit and SWAT cooperative searched a northwest Canton home while acting on a citizen complaint
Tiki Green, 32, was arrested after officers obtained a warrant to search the residence in the 700 block of Brown Avenue Northwest and recovered powder cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, illegal prescription pills and items used to prepare and sell drugs. Police also recovered an undisclosed amount of money in the home.
Two young children who were present at the time of the search were turned over to a family member.
Jimmie J. Jones, 32, was also arrested at the residence on warrants of domestic violence and driving with a suspended license.
Green was charged with trafficking in cocaine and marijuana, possession of cocaine, possession of dangerous drugs, possession of marijuana, obstructing official business and resisting arrest. The trafficking charges were enhanced because of the proximity of the home to Summit Elementary School.
COLUMBUS
Killer appeal denied
COLUMBUS: The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence of an Akron man accused of killing a woman in a cemetery.
Phillip Jones was convicted for the 2007 rape and killing of Susan Marie Christian-Yates, a 33-year-old Akron woman whose body was found in Mount Peace Cemetery in Akron.
According to the Supreme Court, the justice denied Jones’ constitutional claims, regarding his questioning and trial testimony an Akron police detective had supplied.
The court also rejected Jones’s other fair-trial claims over prosecutor misconduct and introduction of his commission of other crimes.
Justice Paul E. Pfeifer dissented in the court’s 6-1 ruling and said he would have ordered a new trial.
Additional details on the court’s opinion can be found at: www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2012/SCO/1206/080525.asp.
COVENTRY TOWNSHIP
Meth labs found
COVENTRY TWP.: Summit County sheriff’s deputies discovered two “one-pot” methamphetamine bottles in separate incidents this week.
The first was found about 11 p.m. Tuesday in the 2900 block of South Main Street in Coventry Township, where a deputy was sent to help handle a downed power line. At the site near Lakeside Elementary School, the deputy saw a bottle on the road emitting smoke.
Deputies determined the bottle contained ingredients to make the illegal street drug. The area was evacuated and additional deputies and meth lab remediation personnel responded to the scene, authorities said.
The following afternoon, about 5 p.m., a deputy made a traffic stop for reckless driving near South Main Street in Akron and found two men in a car using a 20-ounce bottle to make meth.
Jeffrey Sumey, 30, and Jack Zager, 26, were arrested on charges of manufacturing meth, deputies said.
CUYAHOGA FALLS
Pizza shop robbed
CUYAHOGA FALLS: Cuyahoga Falls police are looking for the man who robbed a State Road pizza shop early this week.
The robbery occurred about 8 p.m. Monday at Hungry Howie’s Pizza in the 2400 block of State Road.
Workers said an armed man went inside, demanded money from three workers and then fled with an unspecified amount of cash.
Police said the robber may have been driving a maroon 2005 Chevrolet Impala with New York state license plates.
NORTHEAST OHIO
NEOMED fills jobs
ROOTSTOWN: The Northeast Ohio Medical University has named Barbara A. Tobias as director of human resources and Sergio A. Garcia as chief of staff.
Before joining NEOMED, Tobias was part of a project team at Cuyahoga Community College that designed career transition services for dislocated workers in Northeast Ohio.
Her bachelor’s degree is from the University of Tennessee. She will be paid $85,000.
Before joining the medical college, Garcia was a senior adviser to the U.S. embassy in Kabul and the U.S. Department of State.
He earned a bachelor of laws degree from the Universidad de las Americas, while managing his family business in Puebla, Mexico. He will be paid $175,000 at NEOMED.
PLAIN TOWNSHIP
Gunmen rob shops
PLAIN TWP.: Stark County sheriff’s deputies are investigating two armed robberies of two businesses in the same building in three days.
Chief Deputy Rick Perez said three masked gunmen hit the Dunkin’ Donuts and Circle K convenience store about 1:42 a.m. Tuesday. And shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday, a lone masked gunman, who authorities believe may have been part of the first holdup, struck again.
Deputies assigned to Plain Township reached the businesses within two minutes of the calls, but missed the culprits, Perez said.
One customer was kicked in the head during the Tuesday incident and had to be taken to a hospital.
STARK COUNTY
Sewer bills change
CANTON: By the middle of next year, customers of the Stark County Metropolitan Sewer District should start receiving bills every other month.
Reducing the number of monthly statements is part of a plan to move sewer and water payments to a lock-box system in which customers’ checks will be deposited directly in a bank.
County Auditor Alan Harold said the change will allow for more electronic processing of payments, and will get money into the bank sooner.
SUMMIT COUNTY
Nominate a hero
AKRON: The American Red Cross is accepting nominations to honor local individuals who have performed courageous acts to save a life.
The American Red Cross annually recognizes heroes at two events, the Acts of Courage in Summit County and the Real Heroes Breakfast in Portage County.
To be considered for the award, the heroic act must have occurred in 2012 and the honoree must be a resident or be employed in Summit or Portage County.
The deadline for nominations is Dec. 31.
To submit a nomination, visit www.summitcounty.redcross.org and click on the Nominate your Hero icon.
Nominations can also be accepted at the Red Cross office at 501 W. Market St. in Akron.
For additional information about the award program, contact the American Red Cross at 330-535-6131.
