Fire damages apartment complex

        Cincinnati firefighters Saturday extinguished a two-alarm blaze at the Senior Chateau on the Hill apartment complex in Price Hill. Damage is estimated at $2,000.

        Firefighters received a call at 12:48 p.m. from a resident who saw black smoke coming from the 12-story building at 750 Grand Ave. More than 40 firefighters responded.

        District 2 Fire Chief Gary Scott said the fire started because the combustibles were too close together, and the roofing material caught on fire. The fire was contained to the penthouse, at the top of the building.

        Firefighters were on the scene for more than an hour. No residents had to be displaced.
       

Crash injures Westwood man

        A Westwood man is in fair condition after a three-car accident early Saturday on McHenry Avenue in Westwood halted traffic for more than four hours.

        Police said Alex Christian, 64, of Westwood was injured when his eastbound car was struck by Robert Jones, 24, of Westwood. Mr. Jones' vehicle, police said, crossed the center line and struck Mr. Christian's vehicle and another one.

        The impact caused Mr. Jones' vehicle to flip. He was treated at University Hospital for minor injuries. Cincinnati Police said the crash is under investigation and no charges have been filed.
       

Blaze causes $50,000 in damage

        The Cincinnati Fire Department responded to a two-alarm fire early Saturday in Westwood.

        When firefighters arrived shortly before 5 a.m. at 2160 Karla Drive, heavy smoke was coming from the three-story brick apartment building.

        The fire was under control in 15 minutes, and no one was injured. The fire, which started in an unoccupied apartment on the first floor, is under investigation.

        The fire caused an estimated $50,000 in damage.
       

Man charged with threatening clerk

        A Northside man is in jail on charges that he threatened a man of Middle Eastern descent.

        Mark Pendleton, 40, of Casey Avenue was being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center in lieu of $5,000 bail Saturday after his arraignment on the felony charge in municipal court.

        Cincinnati police said the incident at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Ashland Oil station, 4200 Kirby Ave., occurred during an argument over a pack of cigarettes.

        Court records allege that Mr. Pendleton told store clerk Nasser Saboune that he was a “Jew killer and a terrorist who came to the U.S. to kill him. He then stated he would kill him first and that he would be back.”
       

Man accused in spanking incident
       

        LOVELAND — A 34-year-old Park Avenue man was arrested Friday, accused of injuring his girlfriend's 6-year-old son during a spanking on Sept. 6.

        Loveland police jailed John Jasper Adams after charging him with misdemeanor domestic violence. Court records said the spanking caused bruising on the child's buttocks. No other information was available Saturday.
       

United Way class recruits students

        The United Way & Community Chest's Volunteer Leadership Development Program is recruiting members for its class of 2002.

        The program is an interactive seminar designed to help participants develop leadership skills and knowledge necessary to be effective board members of non-profit organizations.

        It meets on the third Thursday of the month, January through June, at various non-profit agencies. Candidates for the program should be nominated and sponsored by a company, organization or individual.

        The deadline for nomination is Nov. 22. For information or to request an application, call Phaedra Jeffries at (513) 762-7156.

Diarist asks judge to reconsider ruling

        COLUMBUS — A man imprisoned for writing sexual fantasies about children in his private diary has asked a judge to reconsider her ruling that prevents him from withdrawing his guilty plea to an obscenity charge.

        The American Civil Liberties Union, acting on behalf of Brian Dalton, filed a motion with the court Friday, claiming that Mr. Dalton's former attorney made several errors and that Judge Nodine Miller was obligated to refuse to accept his guilty plea.

        Mr. Dalton, 22, of Columbus, pleaded guilty in July in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to pandering obscenity involving a minor as part of a plea bargain. He was charged after his mother discovered his journal in his home and gave it to authorities.

        Mr. Dalton was sentenced to 10 years in prison, which included three years for violating his probation from a 1998 pandering conviction involving pornographic photographs of children.

        The ACLU said his imprisonment abused his First Amendment guarantee of free speech.
       

Solicitation law biased, court says

        CLEVELAND — An Ohio court ruled that a little-known statute that treats same-sex solicitation differently from unwanted heterosexual advances is discriminatory.

        With the decision Thursday, the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the conviction of a Cleveland State University student and ended a yearlong probation sentence.

        “Society has changed,” Judge Colleen Conway Cooney wrote in her opinion. “There is simply no rational basis for burdening homosexuals with greater criminal liability for conduct which, if heterosexual in nature, would be subject to lesser punishment.”

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