Monday, September 11, 2000
Local Digest
Fire destroys prison cell; three officers hurt
TURTLECREEK TWP. — Almost 200 inmates were evacuated and three correction officers were injured when fire destroyed a cell at Lebanon Correctional Institution Sunday evening.
“The institution is secure,” Warden Harry Russell said late Sunday.
The fire was discovered in block H of the prison at 6:11 p.m., Mr. Russell said. The cell's two residents were elsewhere at the time, he said.
Guards fought the fire with extinguishers while Turtlecreek Township firefighters were en route. Two of the guards suffered smoke inhalation and one was injured in a fall, Mr. Russell said.
No inmates were injured, he said.
The 195 inmates in the H block were evacuated to the prison's gymnasium during the fire and were to be moved to cells in other blocks for the night, according to Mr. Russell.
The cause of the fire is unknown, prison officials said, but the state fire marshal will be investigating.
The prison, west of Lebanon in Warren County, holds 1,823 close-security inmates.
Woman surrenders
in bank robbery
A woman wanted for allegedly robbing an Anderson Township bank turned herself in late Saturday.
Bridget A. Sandlin, 22, of Batavia called Cincinnati police and said she wanted to surrender.
Officers and Hamilton County deputies arrested her at a home in the 6800 block of Salem Avenue. She is charged with aggravated robbery.
Authorities said Miss Sandlin and her brother, Nicholas, 20, of New Richmond, robbed the Provident Bank in the 7500 block of Beechmont Avenue at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
He was arrested Saturday.
WWII POWs to speak
at Wright-Patterson
DAYTON, Ohio — Two World War II veterans will discuss their experiences as pilots and prisoners of war next week at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Lt. Col. Jim Hastin, who flew a P-51, and Joe Moser, who flew a P-38, were separately shot down over France and eventually taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp.
The pair will give a free lecture at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at the U.S. Air Force Museum's Carney Auditorium at Wright-Pat.
Information: Call (937) 255-3286, Ext. 312.
Gun, crack lead to
arrest in Roselawn
An 18-year-old was arrested early Sunday in Roselawn carrying a loaded gun, a ski mask and crack, Cincinnati police said.
Steven Jones of Hinkley Drive in Forest Park was arrested in a parking lot at Club Oasis at 1752 Seymour Ave. after state liquor control agents stopped the 1986 Oldsmobile in which he was a front-seat passenger.
Police said a backpack under Mr. Jones' seat contained a loaded .380 semiautomatic pistol and ski mask.
Officers said they also found crack in his pants pocket.
Mr. Jones was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and drug possession.
Service for those who
gave body to science
A memorial service for people who recently donated their bodies to science will be Sept. 26 at Spring Grove Cemetery.
The annual service honors the people who allowed their bodies to be studied by medical students and researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
The cremated remains will be buried under a monument that reads, “Through Their Thoughtfulness Knowledge Grows.”
The service will be 11 a.m. in the Norman Chapel at the cemetery, 4521 Spring Grove Ave., Winton Place.
Marriott hotel opens
today in West Chester
WEST CHESTER TWP. — A Marriott hotel at Union Centre Boulevard is to open today.
Winegardner & Hammons Inc. and Western-Southern Life Insurance Co. developed the 295-room hotel, which also features 14,000 square feet of meeting space.
More than 200 of the rooms are specially designed for business travelers.
The hotel is just off Interstate 75.
Police invite citizens
to 10-week academy
CRESCENT SPRINGS — A 10-week Citizens Police Academy is being offered on Thursdays beginning Oct. 5.
Participants must be at least 18 years old.
The goal is to foster better understanding between citizens and police.
Information: Call Officer James Welsh at (859) 341-3018, Ext. 36, or stop at police headquarters, 739 Buttermilk Pike, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Company's collapse
painful to Mormons
The collapse of the Purchase Plus Buyers Group has left Mormons across the nation wondering if they have been betrayed by members of their own community.
The company's founder, Gene Armold, and four of those who joined him at the start of the Columbus-area business in October 1997 belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it appears a large number of investors in the company also are Mormons.
The company, in Westerville, closed Sept. 1, one week after Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery filed a lawsuit against it in an attempt to force the company to return customers' money.
It owed customers $100 million when it closed.
What drew investors was the lure of easy money.
For each $400 membership fee, the company offered an array of discount services such as health coverage and phone cards and promised consumers would make their money back in 90 days.
Ball State student
beaten, badly hurt
MUNCIE, Ind. — A Ball State University student was hospitalized with severe head injuries Sunday, a day after he was beaten outside a fraternity house.
Police suspect Paul J. “P.J.” Henderson, 23, of Elkhart, Ind., was beaten with a golf club or a large piece of wood outside Lambda Chi Alpha early Saturday as a party was in progress inside.
He was taken to Ball Memorial Hospital, where he was in serious condition in the intensive care unit Sunday morning.
Authorities said Mr. Henderson was paralyzed on the left side of his body when he was taken to the emergency room with severe head injuries.
Police said they had two suspects.
Home-grown pot
caught on film
LaPORTE, Ind. — Smile for the camera. You're busted!
A man who had snapshots of himself taken with plants he had grown in his home made the mistake of taking the film to a developer who recognized the indoor garden as marijuana.
The processor alerted authorities, who tracked down the man.
Brian Davis, 38, pleaded guilty Friday in LaPorte Circuit Court to a Class D felony of maintaining a common nuisance. If a plea bargain is accepted Oct. 27, charges of dealing in marijuana and possession of marijuana will be dropped and he will be placed on two years of probation.
Authorities confiscated 39 nearly mature marijuana plants.
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List of Emmy winners
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Welfare protesters stage rally
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