Local News
Police shoot, kill menacing dog in Masury
MASURY — Police shot and killed a pit bull Monday outside a Masury home after patrolmen were unable to safely corral the animal, they said.
A neighbor reported the dog was acting wildly near a home at 698 Gaylord Ave., police said. When Patrolmen Aaron Kasiewicz and Charles Pickard Jr. arrived, the dog was growling and showing its teeth, they said.
As the patrolmen stepped away from the dog, it continued to inch closer to them, they said.
Police left a voice message on its owner�s cell phone and called the Trumbull County dog warden for assistance, but he was unavailable due to an injury, they said.
While they were making the calls, the dog charged several times and tried to bite at a catch pole used by the patrolmen, they said.
Pickard said he tried using a handful of dog treats to calm the dog, but was unsuccessful. The dog also continued to charge at him after being electronically shocked, he said.
The dog then walked to the home�s backyard into a kennel, Pickard said. As he tried to get closer to the kennel to lock the dog inside, it turned and started to charge at him.
Pickard said he yelled several times at the dog to stop and get back before firing at the dog with his gun.
The dog seemed even more agitated and Kasiewicz shot it a second time as it came near him, he said.
Trumbull County Animal Welfare said no testing was needed on the dog and it was taken to the police station until its owner, Shawn Allen Rainey, was contacted.
Rainey was charged with failing to restrain a vicious dog and for having police euthanize it.
He was adamant the dog couldn�t have been so uncontrollable and believed police were lying, they said. Rainey is set to appear Thursday in Eastern District Court, Brookfield, police Chief Dan Faustino said.
In his 18 years in Brookfield, Faustino said, this is only the second time he recalls a dog being so unruly it had to be shot.
�It�s nothing that you want to do,� he said. �We�ll try everything else prior.�
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
Hermitage commissioners introduced an ordinance Wednesday to increase sanitary user fees.
Residents tapped into the Hermitage Municipal Authority lines now pay $95 a quarter. That rate will bump up to $105 a quarter on Jan. 1, under the proposed rate hike.
Two more hikes on Jan. 1, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2013, will result in the rates increasing 50 percent from the current fee. -
Water is on at Forrest Brooke
Water service has been restored at Forrest Brooke Manufactured Home Community after well problems left the 165-unit complex dry Tuesday.
A boil and conserve water advisory has been issued by the DEP and will remain in place until tests confirm the water is safe to drink, Forrest Brooke’s manager Pete Havens said.
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Storm damages trees, wires
Thunderstorms ripped through parts of Mercer and neighboring counties Wednesday night, downing trees and wires and keeping rescue workers on their toes.
A Mercer County 911 dispatcher shortly after 8 p.m. said they were busy with calls across the northern part of the county. He said there had been a few reports of trees falling on homes.
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City leaders open to talks
Sharon officials aren’t opposed to sitting down with their counterparts in Farrell to revisit the idea of combining the two struggling cities.
“It never costs a penny to talk and there’s no (idea) that’s not worth looking at,” Sharon councilman Ed Palanski said. “I think it would be foolish to oppose looking at the idea.”
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Murphy’s Law doesn’t faze regional planners
A complicated, two-day public meeting blitz in 32 counties ran headlong into Murphy’s Law in Mercer County on Tuesday.
The group Power of 32 are looking to re-write the regional map and create a grand, 15-year strategic economic plan for the 32 counties in four states that make up the Ohio River basin and greater Pittsburgh area.
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Forrest Brooke copes with water outage
Residents of Forrest Brooke Mobile Home Community in Jefferson and Lackawannock Townships woke up Tuesday morning to find they didn’t have any water.
Managers of the park could not be reached for comment, but residents said they were told they won’t get water service back for at least another month.
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City facing bleak financial reality
LaVon Saternow has been Farrell’s city manager since 1992. Shortly after she took the job, Sharon Steel, the city’s economic engine, officially closed down.
Since, the city has struggled to remain solvent and Mrs. Saternow said it is facing its worst financial crisis in her tenure.
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Near-complete addition to let man come home
Although the weather delayed the start of Penny and Paul Strechansky’s construction project by about three weeks, the end of the sawing, hammering and stapling is in sight.
“It should be done by the middle of next week,” Strechansky said of the 15-by-20 foot addition being built onto the back of his garage in Hermitage, which will be the new home of his grandson, David Johnson.
Johnson was critically injured in a car crash June 19, 2009, on what is now Interstate 376 in Lawrence County. The crash rendered Johnson, who just turned 21, blind and brain damaged. He is unable to care for himself.
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Man prison-bound for role in drug buy shooting
It may never be known for certain who fired the two fatal shots that killed a Sharon teen on Nov. 6 on Wallis Avenue during a botched drug deal, prosecutors have said.
But Christopher Swogger, 24, Sharon, was fingered by at least one other suspect as the one whose bullets killed John B. Hosey III, 18, of 422 Meek St. Swogger was sentenced Monday.
Swogger was sent to prison for 1 1/2 to 3 years for having a firearm without a license, ending his role in the criminal prosecutions of the drug deal turned shooting.
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Farrell, Sharon to revisit merger
Times are tough.
In Farrell Monday night, city council heard a grim financial report from City Manager LaVon Saternow.
“It’s not a pretty picture,” Mrs. Saternow said. “We could conceivably run out of cash by the end of the year. I don’t know how to put it more bluntly.”
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
