WHITEWATER TWP. — A Cleves man escaped serious injury Monday after his pickup truck was struck by a slow-moving train at a railroad crossing on Valley Junction Road near the intersection of U.S. 50 and Ohio 128.

        John H. Pruitt, 64, was treated at University Hospital.

        Hamilton County Sheriff's Office officials said Mr. Pruitt's 1984 Ford pickup was crossing the tracks when it was struck in the passenger's side by the westbound train.

        The truck was pushed about 50 feet down the tracks from the crossing, Whitewater Township Fire Chief Bill Darby said.
       

Evanston man may face
life sentence in slaying

               An Evanston man will face up to life in prison when he is sentenced this month for killing his girlfriend after she tried to break up with him.

        Stanley Waller, 50, was convicted Friday of robbing and killing Marilyn Kendricks. The 45-year-old woman's body was found July 2 at her home on Evanston Avenue.

        Mr. Waller was arrested a day later in Pinellas County, Fla., after someone spotted his gray Cadillac outside a convenience store.

        A Hamilton County jury convicted him of murder and robbery after a trial last week in Common Pleas Court. Judge Arthur Ney will sentence him.
       

Prison van driver
may face charges

               MOUNT STERLING, Ohio — The Madison County prosecutor will decide next week whether charges will be filed against a Warren Correctional Institution guard who was driving a prison van that crashed Friday, killing a correction officer and injuring four other men.

        Ohio State Highway Patrol officials said Monday that they expect to complete their investigation late this week and will turn all information over to Prosecutor Eamon Costello.

        Correction Officer Wayne Mitchell, 54, of Lebanon, died at the scene after his colleague, Richard Lake Jr., lost control of the van in a heavy snow about 8:30 a.m. and crashed into a concrete bridge support on Interstate 71 at Ohio 56.

        The crash seriously injured Officer Douglas Scrivner, a 27-year-old Fairfield resident who remained in critical condition Monday at Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus.

        Two inmates, Jacob Reeder of Clinton County and Thomas Neville of Columbiana County, were listed in fair condition at the medical center. Officer Lake, 40, of Lebanon, was released Friday from Grant Medical Center in Columbus.

        State investigators said they thought the crash was weather-related. The prison van was on a trip from the correctional institution outside Lebanon to OSU Medical Center, where the inmates were to receive medical care.
       

Firefighters hold fund raiser
to help indicted cops

               A group of firefighters will host a fund raiser tonight at Murray's Pub on Queen City Avenue in North Fairmount to help two Cincinnati officers indicted in the death of a man in their custody.

        Proceeds from the night will go to a legal defense fund established by the Fraternal Order of Police to support officers Robert Blaine Jorg and Patrick Caton.

        The pair face criminal charges in the Nov. 7 death of Roger Owensby Jr. in Roselawn.

        FOP President Keith Fangman will be the guest bartender. He'll start pouring drinks at about 9 p.m.

Ex-Aiken student,
parents sue principal

               A former Aiken High student and his parents filed a suit against the principal over accusations of drug use and the student's expulsion and arrest.

        DeAris Murray and his parents, Alvin and Avis D. Murray, filed the case in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court against Thomas Higgins.

        The Murrays say Mr. Higgins had DeAris expelled after he suspected DeAris was under the influence of marijuana at a Feb. 4, 2000, basketball game.

        The suit also alleges that Mr. Higgins accused DeAris of threatening him at a March 2000 expulsion hearing. The expulsion was overturned by a Cincinnati Board of Education hearing officer, and DeAris returned to Aiken after missing 50 days of school. When he returned, Mr. Higgins had him arrested on the threatening charges, which were dropped after Mr. Higgins did not appear for a court hearing.

        The Murrays seek more than $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages for malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, battery and emotional distress.
       

Ohio adds two
tests for newborns

               The Ohio Department of Health has expanded the number of screening tests it performs on newborns from five to seven.

        This month, the state started testing for maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) and medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD). Both are rare diseases that can have serious consequences, but can be controlled with quick diagnoses and treatment.

        Performing the tests will not require more than the blood sample already routinely collected from newborns.

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