- Jack Russell, Jamestown, died July 28 after a motorcycle accident in Wheeling, W.Va. Russell, 44, of 302 North St., died after a collision with a car in Oglebay Park, said an official with the Wheeling Sheriff’s Department.
The story ran Monday.
- Michael Leonetti was electrocuted Monday in Cranberry Township, Butler County, in an industrial accident. Leonetti, 45, a Clark councilman, of 2710 Lake Road, was killed while working on the main electrical box at a bulk mailing center.
His co-worker Greg Lengyel, 25, of Wheatland was injured in the accident. .
Frank Librich, of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said both men worked for Electric Testing Services Inc. The story ran Tuesday.
- Leonard Derr pleaded guilty Monday to a July 1999 charge that he molested a 12-year-old boy he had met through the Little League baseball program. Derr, 36, of 1345 Heinz Ave., Sharon, pleaded guilty to one count of gross sexual imposition, said his attorney, Philip Vigorito, Warren.
Derr was charged last July with two counts of gross sexual imposition and one count of rape. Derr was sentenced to three years in prison.
- Senior citizens in the area who have Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare HMO insurance will have to prepare for a monthly premium hike of as much as 42 percent with fewer benefits.
Highmark filed the rate hike request with the federal Health Care Finance Administration. If approved the increase would be effective Jan. 1. The story ran Tuesday.
- An investigation is underway at Reznor’s manufacturing plant in Mercer to determine if it is housing Legionnaires’ disease bacteria, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration acknowledged Monday.
The investigation was prompted by a complaint from an employee who became ill and thought it might be Legionnaires’ disease, Reznor spokesman Randy Baker said in a Tuesday story, adding that no evidence of the disease had been found.
- Randy Jermaine Norris
, was arrested on Monday in Farrell on charges of arson and rape, police said.
Norris, 19, of 369 Stambaugh Ave., Sharon, was charged Wednesday with arson in connection with the April 30 fire that gutted a house at 506 Hamilton Ave. in Farrell, police said. He also was charged with the July 12 rape and beating of a 21-year-old Sharon woman, police said.
- Joseph A. Dyll has lost his two-year struggle to start a charter school in the Shenango Valley. Commonwealth Court on Monday upheld a decision by a state appeals board denying the Sharon man’s application to begin the Shenango Valley Regional Charter School. The story ran Wednesday.
- Two Ohio men, who pleading guilty to involvement in marijuana deals with the chief of the former Mercer County Narcotics Unit, were sentenced Wednesday.
William Carper, 47, Warren, was sentenced to 1 to 5 years in prison and Robert Held, 49, Windham, was sentenced to 1 to 2 years in Mercer County Jail and 6 years of probation.
The pair were charged in the case along with Gary Lenzi, Hermitage, former chief of the now-defunct Mercer County Narcotics Unit. Lenzi awaits sentencing on drug charges in the case.
William J. Crespo, 29 of Greenville, earlier was sentenced to 5 years of probation.
- Mercer County Housing Authority has been awarded a $9 million federal grant to demolish and rebuild the Steel City Terrace housing complex in Farrell. The money will leverage other funding sources of what will likely be a $30 million project, said Ralph Falbo of developer Falbo-Pennrose, which has been involved in HOPE VI housing projects in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New Jersey. The story ran Thursday.
- Lonnie L. Reinhart died of a heroin overdose, an assistant coroner said in a Thursday story. Hempfield Township police said they are trying to find out how Reinhart, 29, of 15 Mehard Ave., obtained the drugs.
Reinhart was pronounced dead at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the emergency room of UPMC Horizon, Greenville. Deputy Coroner Chris Loutzenhiser ruled the death "a combined drug overdose with the predominate drug being heroin."
- Gerald Burger,
who was convicted last year of taking money for motor vehicles and other items and then not providing them was arrested on the same charge Thursday.
Burger, 52, of 17 Adams St., Wheatland, was arrested at 9:45 a.m. at the police station on a Southwest Mercer County Regional police warrant charging him with theft, police said.
- Randy Rhodes was sentenced to prison Thursday for failing to show up for court hearings in 1995.
Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael J. Wherry sentenced trhe contactor him to one to 14 years in a state penitentiary for twice failing to show up for court proceedings.
In 1992, Rhodes -- former owner of Hilltop Tavern, Greenville -- was facing theft charges in relation to his construction business. He was never tried and never entered a guilty plea, said Assistant District Attorney David Ristvey. Ristvey said the District Attorney’s Office is deciding whether to pursue the seven-year-old theft charges.
- James W. Kendzor,
who admitted to phoning in a bomb threat to Sharon High School, was ordered to perform community service for the city of Sharon and pay restitution to the city for the cost of having Sharon police and firefighters respond to the phony call.
Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael J. Wherry Thursday sentenced Kendzor to 90 days’ house arrest with electronic monitoring to be followed by 24 months probation for the Feb. 18 bomb scare.
Published Sunday, August 6, 2000 