Wednesday, May 6, 1998
DAYTON, Ohio -- Bond was set at $1 million cash for a man authorities say was involved in a spree that injured a Dayton policewoman and led to a car chase that ended in Cincinnati.
Dreston Walker, 28, of Trotwood appeared Tuesday in Dayton Municipal Court, where he was charged with felonious assault, felonious assault on a police officer, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.
The shooting occurred April 25 when two police officers tried to serve a domestic violence warrant at a Dayton home and a man came out and started firing at them.
Officer Sitesa Van Nuys was shot and the man then tried to steal a car on a nearby street, shooting the driver in the back, police said. The man carjacked another vehicle, went to a friend's home and fired inside, police said. No one was hurt.
The man then fled south on Interstate 75 to Cincinnati, where he collided with another vehicle at a downtown intersection.
Mr. Walker and a man in the other vehicle, 40-year-old Thomas Sibilski of Cincinnati, were slightly injured in the crash, police said. A 12-gauge shotgun was found in Mr. Walker's vehicle, police said.
Woman accused of Norwood arsons
A 38-year-old Norwood woman faces arson charges after allegedly setting several fires Monday night in Norwood.
Patty Oelker first set her shirt on fire as she stood on her front porch on Lawn Avenue, police said. She allegedly then set two fires in an apartment building in the 5100 block of Montgomery Road. After that, police say she walked down the street and set a city garbage can on fire and then set a welcome mat on fire at an apartment building on Mills Avenue.
The fires did minor damage, and police did not offer a motive. Ms. Oelker was being held Tuesday at the Hamilton County Justice Center pending arraignment on one count of arson and three counts of aggravated arson.
Christian arts meeting opens
SHARONVILLE -- Joyous Praise 98! an international Christian dance and worship arts conference, runs today through Saturday at the Cincinnati Marriott, 11320 Chester Road, Sharonville.
The conference will feature sessions on incorporating drama, praise dancing, mime, clowning and other religious art forms into worship services. Speakers and worship arts ministers will represent eight nations.
The conference will open with an International Celebration of Praise at 7:30 p.m. today. Sessions will be 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. the rest of the week. For more information, call Kingdom Arts Inc. at 681-2787.
Habitat picks fund-drive leader
John T. LaMacchia will again lead the corporate phase of the annual fund drive for the Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky Habitat for Humanity.
Mr. LaMacchia, who led a drive that raised $113,000 in 1997, will try to raise $120,000 in cash and $60,000 in materials to build homes for low-income people. The homes the agency builds cost an average $45,000.
Mr. LaMacchia is president and chief executive officer of Cincinnati Bell Inc.
Judge orders body released for funerals
EATON, Ohio -- Unable to pull a divided family together, a judge has ordered that a woman's body be released from a medical school for separate services for each side of her family.
"Neither side has acted in court or out of court in a manner that would make a mother proud," Preble County Probate Judge Wilfrid Dues wrote Monday.
Judge Dues ordered that Marilyn Bey's body be released from Wright State University's School of Medicine for the two services. Judge Dues acted after his April 24 ruling that the document Mrs. Bey signed donating her body for medical research was improperly witnessed. She had witnessed her own signature.
