Thursday, February 24, 2000
TRISTATE DIGEST
$4.4 million sought for city's Olympic bid
Three community leaders will try to raise an additional $4.4 million to keep alive Cincinnati's dream of hosting the 2012 Olympics.
Cincinnati 2012, the group organizing the Olympic bid, Wednesdayannounced that William J. Keating Sr., former publisher of The Cincinnati Enquirer and past chairman of the Associated Press; Charles S. Mechem Jr., Convergys board chairman; and Bob Castellini, chairman of Castellini Co., will lead this “corporate gifts” phase of the fund-raising campaign.
The money will help pay for developing Cincinnati's bid, which is due to the United States Olympic Committee by Dec. 15. A candidate city from the United States will be chosen in fall 2002. Cincinnati is competing against Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Tampa and Baltimore-Washington.
Teen-ager charged with raping clerk
A 16-year-old high school freshman was charged Wednesday with raping a sales clerk at a GNC Nutrition Store in Westwood.
Sean Gordon, of Woodburn Avenue, faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted. He was indicted Wednesday by a Hamilton County grand jury. He is charged as an adult with aggravated robbery, robbery, kidnapping and rape.
Prosecutors say Mr. Gordon, a freshman at Withrow High School, skipped school Jan. 18 so he could spend the day at an arcade. Later that evening, they say, the clerk was attacked at the store on Glen Crossing Way.
Prosecutor Mike Allen said the electricity to the store was cut, cash was taken from the register, and the victim was bound with duct tape and raped repeatedly.
Police say they found Mr. Gordon hiding behind a nearby building a short time later.
Man robs bank on Colerain Avenue
COLERAIN TOWNSHIP — A man escaped with an undetermined amount of money Wednesday from the Provident Bank on Colerain Avenue.
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said the man entered the bank at 10:50 a.m. and handed a note to a teller demanding money. The teller complied.
The man did not display a weapon.
The man was described as white; in about his mid-30s; of medium build; and wearing a blue ball cap, a T-shirt and a flannel jacket.
College Hill man gets 12 years for slaying
A College Hill man was sentenced to 12 years in prison Wednesday for shooting to death Kurk Chappell in June.
Richard Voner, 19, will serve nine years for voluntary manslaughter and an additional three years because a gun was used.
Judge Thomas Crush imposed the sentence in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
Prosecutors have said Mr. Voner shot Mr. Chappell, also of College Hill, in retaliation for a robbery the previous day. Mr. Chappell, 38, was found shot to death in the side yard of a home on Wionna Avenue.
Head Start employees get raises under contract
A contract will give an average 7.5 percent raise to the teachers and support staff who provide preschool education to suburban Hamilton County communities.
The lowest-paid of the 140 Hamilton County Head Start staff members covered by the contract will get a 12.4 percent raise, according to Service Employees International Union District 925, which represents the workers.
The contract took nine months to negotiate and is the first for the employees, the union said. Union members had authorized a strike but reached a settlement without one.
The union represents workers at seven Head Start agencies in Ohio.
Sentinel president to lead human relations panel Cecil Thomas is resigning as president of the Sentinel Police Association and will become interim director of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission.
Mr. Thomas, who will resign from the Police Division Feb. 25, will be introduced as the new commission director at an 11:30 a.m. press conference today in Room 110 at City Hall.
After the commission board announces Mr. Thomas' appointment, he will discuss the direction of the agency.
Boy Scout council will honor Schott
The Dan Beard Council of the Boy Scouts of America will honor Marge Schott at a council banquet today. Mrs. Schott recently donated $1 million for a camp redevelopment campaign.
An invitation-
only reception will be held at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, downtown.
Mrs. Schott will be presented with a statue depicting Daniel Carter Beard, a founder of the American Scouting movement and a Greater Cincinnati native.
An 18.5-acre lake will be constructed and named in Mrs. Schott's honor, officials said.
Vapor cloud prompts evacuation of block
The 4600 block of Spring Grove Avenue in Winton Place was evacuated briefly Wednesday afternoon after an orange-brown vapor cloud escaped from a processing plant.
Employees of Environmental Enterprises Inc. were cleaning a lime tank when water came into contact with a nitrate contaminant about 4:25 p.m., Cincinnati Fire Division officials said. The cloud formed but quickly dissipated.
Traffic on Spring Grove was detoured and employees and customers of Frisch's Big Boy Restaurant, across the street, were ordered to stay inside while fire officials investigated. Four people in a car on Spring Grove reported minor eye irritation.
The Fire Division is investigating how the tank became contaminated. The plant processes hazardous household materials that aren't allowed to be disposed of at private residences.
Pair accused of selling son get charge dropped
CANTON, Ohio — An allegation that a couple sold their 14-year-old son over the Internet for at least $300 has been dropped as part of an agreement with the Stark County Department of Human Services, a judge said Wednesday.
In exchange, the couple acknowledged the boy was neglected. They also admitted to “dependency” for five other children, a lesser charge because it does not assign fault to the parents.
“You've made some terrible errors in judgment, in the very least,” Stark County Family Court Judge James D. James told the parents.
The boy, now 15, told a social worker his parents sold him in August to Harry Greene of Harrisonburg, Va., for between $300 and $400. The boy threatened to commit suicide while living with Mr. Greene, who had placed an ad on the Internet expressing an interest in adopting a boy, according to court papers.
The mother denied accepting money for her son, a claim made by a counselor assigned to work with the family. The mother acknowledged at a custody hearing Tuesday that she knew Mr. Greene less than a month when she agreed to let him take her son.
The agreement postponed a ruling on permanent custody, but the judge warned the couple that if they did not show substantial improvement, it was unlikely they ever would regain custody of the child.
'Smooth' grabs Grammy for local native
List of Grammy winners
A mature plan to save us from modern hazard
Conviction reversed for death row inmate
CPS: Non-readers must go to summer school
MRDD asked to justify prices
Yates says council to blame for funding housing group
Blackwell joins Bush camp
Brother charged in 'hitchhiker' shooting
Suspected burglar gets stuck in chimney
Patton eases off tax hike package
Patton scolds N.Ky. legislators
Patton's love of labor lost on business
Atheist candidate has crusade
'Cabaret' stripped of its soul
GET TO IT
Music clubs hold lingering note of more genteel era
Tristate music clubs at a glance
Changes unlikely to affect Flynts
City loan/grant urged for Classic
Cleves has opening on council
Covington apartment project advances
Hepcats swing out at Miami U. tonight
Kids partners in performance
Lebanon digital TV plans left in limbo
Mason offers signing bonus for bus drivers
Montgomery fills two positions
Ohio police take stand against racial profiling
OxAct peeks at lives of women
Response time to condo fire questioned
Sales of burley not too bad
TRISTATE DIGEST
Witness says handyman admitted Sheppard killing
