AKRON
BB gun bandits
AKRON: Police are warning West Akron residents after vandals targeted several cars in the area.
Police say several vehicles sustained broken windows.
The streets affected include Cliffside Drive, Kingsley Avenue, South Hawkins Avenue and Thurmont Road in the Wallhaven area, and Mayfield and Maplewood avenues in the Highland Square neighborhood.
Police say it appears the windows might have been struck by BBs, possibly shot from a car as it passed.
A witness in the Highland Square neighborhood told police that a small beige or light brown sedan with two men inside was seen driving in the area about the time of the shooting.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Akron police at 330-375-2490.
BATH TOWNSHIP
Going paperless
BATH TWP.: Trustees took another step toward environmental awareness Tuesday: Meetings will be as paperless as possible.
The board has invested in iPads and will work from those devices. Members of the media will receive press packets via the Internet in electronic form with abbreviated summaries.
Township officials said the move will save an estimated 300-plus pages of paper per meeting.
Printed agendas will be available for the general public.
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Campaign kickoff
AKRON: The campaign to elect Kandi O’Connor as judge of Stow Municipal Court will hold a kickoff fundraiser from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Feb. 28 at Brubaker’s Pub, 357 S. Main St., in downtown Akron.
Suggested donation is $75.
For more information, contact campaign treasurer James Hill at oconnorcampaign@yahoo.com.
CLEVELAND
Amish file appeals
CLEVELAND: The ringleader of 16 Amish found guilty in beard- and hair-cutting hate-crime attacks on fellow members of their faith in Ohio asked an appeals court Wednesday to overturn his conviction.
The attorney for Sam Mullet Sr., 67, of Bergholz near Steubenville, filed the notice of appeal with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
The appeal cited issues including the judge’s refusal to delay last year’s trial in Cleveland or to release Mullet on bond. The appeal also cited testimony about sex involving Mullet and women in his community.
Thirteen of the defendants have appealed their convictions.
— Associated Press
COLUMBUS
Mom loses appeal
COLUMBUS: A divided Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of a Green woman serving a life sentence for the 2010 death of toddler.
Wednesday’s 5-2 court decision ends the state appeal process for Tiffani Calise, 22, who was convicted in June 2011 of beating and killing 23-month-old Aaliyah Ali while baby-sitting the child in her home.
In October, a unanimous 9th District Court of Appeals also denied Calise’s appeal.
The Supreme Court declined to accept Calise’s case without issuing a written opinion. Justices Paul Pfeifer and William O’Neill dissented.
Much of Calise’s appeal stemmed from a trial court decision blocking her attorneys from using the testimony of a senior researcher in traumatic brain injuries who alleged the toddler could have died from a fall in a bathtub, as Calise had claimed.
Prosecution experts testified that Aaliyah died of head trauma caused from violent shaking and slamming of the girl’s body.
Calise was sentenced to 15 years to life after a jury convicted her of murder, involuntary manslaughter and child endangering. She is being held in the Dayton Correctional Institution.
Bond denied
COLUMBUS: The Ohio Supreme Court has denied a request for bond by former Evergreen Corp. President David Willan before the high court hears oral arguments next month on an appeal of his 2008 convictions for mortgage fraud.
Willan, 42, remains in the Marion Correctional Institution. He is serving a 16-year prison term for mortgage and securities fraud while running the business in Akron.
Andrea Whitaker, Willan’s attorney, said oral arguments are scheduled March 13. At issue is a 10-year mandatory sentence imposed by the trial court for the most serious offense: engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
In 2011, Akron’s 9th District Court of Appeals ruled the sentence should have been discretionary, in a range of three to 10 years, and sent the case back to Summit County for resentencing.
The state appealed that ruling.
All but six of Willan’s 70 Summit County convictions have been reversed on appeal, from what was once a 147-count indictment filed against him and many of his Evergreen employees in 2007.
COPLEY-FAIRLAWN SCHOOLS
Roof work planned
COPLEY TWP.: Roof replacement and renovation work on five Copley-Fairlawn school district buildings is scheduled for summer.
Board of Education members voted unanimously Tuesday to award contracts totaling more than $920,000 for work on the district’s three primary schools and Copley-Fairlawn Middle School.
Members also approved a recommendation to advertise for bids for the same work at Copley High School.
The bid amounts the board approved were: Arrowhead Primary School, $158,155; Fort Island Primary School, $131,200; for Herberich Primary School at $295,251; and Copley-Fairlawn Middle School, $344,814.
The board also approved a contract for door and window replacements at school buildings at a cost of $186,200.
CUYAHOGA FALLS
Grant for roadwork
CUYAHOGA FALLS: Drivers who travel Tallmadge Road won’t have to dodge potholes and bumps much longer.
Most of the nearly $500,000 needed to resurface the road from Newberry Street to 300 feet south of Clyde Avenue will come from an Ohio grant.
The council on Monday will vote on the appropriation of the grant money and the city’s share of about $100,000.
Falls Engineer Tony Demasi said if the council approves the legislation, Perrin Asphalt would begin work on the project after school ends in June. The road would not close, but traffic would be reduced to one lane.
Demasi said the work would be completed by Aug. 26, sooner if weather is favorable.
HARTVILLE
Sewer bond issue
HARTVILLE: The Village Council has cleared the way for a $3.58 million bond issue to finance a portion of the cost of expanding and rebuilding the sewage treatment plant.
The bond issue will be the vehicle for the federal government loan that will pay for more than half of the work, Fiscal Officer Scott Varney said.
He said the government will sell the bonds.
The issue received a unanimous vote from the five council members present Tuesday. Councilman Robert Blythe was absent.
MEDINA COUNTY
Suspect, 70, flees
MONTVILLE TWP.: A 70-year-old Hinckley Township man is accused of robbing a bank and leading police on a car chase through several communities.
Hugh Crouch was arrested after he bailed out of his car near a home in Montville Township, according to Brunswick police.
He is accused of robbing a Huntington Bank branch on Center Road in Brunswick about 1:15 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities said he did not use a gun while demanding cash from a teller.
After the robbery, officers from Brunswick, Brunswick Hills, Medina, Medina Township, Montville, the Medina County Sheriff’s Office and the State Highway Patrol combined forces to apprehend the suspect as he fled the bank in a Chevrolet pickup truck.
The 15-minute chase, which reached speeds of 70 mph, went from Brunswick to East Smith Road, where Crouch exited his vehicle and tried to run, police said. He was caught after a short chase. No one was injured.
STOW
Meth arrests
STOW: The smell of chemicals on a 12-year-old Stow student Tuesday sent authorities to a home where authorities found methamphetamine being made.
Jason Little, 37, and Brandi Little, 28, were arrested on meth and child endangering charges. They were being held in the Summit County Jail.
Sheriff’s officials said Stow police contacted them after Lakeview School officials noticed the child’s clothing smelled of chemicals. They suspected it was because the drug was being made at the boy’s home on Lillian Road.
Members of the Summit County Drug Unit searched the home and found a methamphetamine lab, chemicals and lab components in the basement. More meth-related items were found in the attached garage.
Five children from the residence — ages 2, 8, 9, 11 and 12 — were taken into custody by Summit County Children’s Services. They were examined at Akron Children’s Hospital.
SUMMIT COUNTY
Plea in shooting
AKRON: A Springfield Township woman pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and a gun specification in the shooting death of her boyfriend in July at their Gregory Drive residence, authorities said.
Sharon Lea Hall, 51, faces a prison sentence of six to 14 years when Summit County Common Pleas Judge Judy Hunter sentences her March 26, prosecutors said Wednesday.
James Z. Cody, 55, was dead at the scene when officers responded to the report of a shooting in the basement of his home shortly after 6 a.m. July 12. Autopsy results showed he was shot eight times.
Hall has been in custody at Summit County Jail since her arrest, unable to meet terms of a $2 million bond, records show.
In exchange for her guilty pleas, an aggravated murder charge was amended to manslaughter, and other charges were dismissed.
Demolition funding
Two lawmakers who represent parts of Summit County are working together to try to help cities pay for the demolition of abandoned and vacant homes.
U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Cleveland, and Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Russell Township, introduced legislation Wednesday that would provide $4 billion for the local issuance of bonds to cover the cost of the demolition of run-down houses.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, is also a sponsor.
“Communities in the 11th Congressional District, including Cleveland and Akron, have been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis,” Fudge said in a statement.
Fudge and retired U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette, whom Joyce replaced in representing the 14th District that includes the northern part of Summit County, introduced similar legislation in the last session of Congress, but the bill stalled.
