DNA match brings charge in attack

        A search of a DNA database led Cincinnati police Thursday to charge a man in a brutal assault on a woman in University Heights in February.

        Drummond Edwards, 33, of Westwood was already incarcerated at the Hamilton County Justice Center on a separate charge. He has been charged with assault in the new case.

        The woman, who was not identified, was found severely beaten behind a building on Devotie Avenue on Feb. 20. She has not been able to verbally communicate with police and remains at the Drake Center for rehabilitation, police said.

        DNA evidence taken from the woman matched the DNA profile of Mr. Edwards, police said.

Man jailed over bullying incident

       LEBANON — A Warren County father of four accused of using a handgun and a baseball bat to threaten boys he thought were bullying his son was jailed on a $5,000 bond Thursday after a brief appearance in Lebanon Municipal Court.

        Judge Mark Bogen also ordered Steve Fletcher, 41, of the 800 block of Franklin Road to undergo a mental evaluation. Mr. Fletcher also was ordered to stay away from the students involved in the case and Lebanon school officials, and to stay off school property. He also must relinquish any guns he may have.

        Mr. Fletcher is charged with a misdemeanor count of aggravated menacing.

        The incident unfolded Tuesday morning at a Lebanon school bus stop. Witnesses told police that Mr. Fletcher showed up at the Franklin Road stop for Bus 12 and got out of his truck, tossing a baseball bat to his son, police have said.

        He then allegedly grabbed a handgun from his waistband and pointed it at an arriving Lebanon school bus loaded with children. He fled in his truck.
       

Humane Society told to hold seized horses

        LEBANON — A Warren County magistrate on Thursday ordered that 20 horses seized from a Waynesville farm last month be held by the Humane Society of Warren County while a civil case involving the animals works its way through the court.

        Magistrate Andrew Hasselbach's preliminary injunction also says that the society cannot dispose of the horses and that the animals' owner, Richard M. Thomas, must pay for their care while in the agency's custody.

        Humane Society officials, alleging that the 12 quarter horses and eight miniature horses were underweight and poorly cared for, took the animals Oct. 11. The horses were under the supervision of Mr. Thomas' adult daughter, Jennifer Thomas Smith.

        Mr. Thomas and Ms. Smith have sued the society for the immediate return of the animals. They also want $500,000 in punitive damages and compensatory damages, to be established at trial.
       

Women's space grows at Warren County Jail

        LEBANON — Female inmates at the Warren County Jail got a little more elbow room Thursday evening when Sheriff Tom Ariss opened an expanded wing.

JOINING HANDS FOR ART: Dance teacher Maki Kabayama, a Hyde Park Elementary School in-house artist, teaches a group of first-graders to do a dance from the Netherlands as part of a program to integrate arts into the school's core curriculum. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        The renovated space, part of the old jail that was being used for storage, more than doubled the number of cells for women, to 31.

        The expansion, in the works since January 2000, was meant to ease jail crowding, which has plagued the fast-growing county for the past two years.
       

Acting workshop
delayed until Dec. 1

        An acting workshop sponsored by the Tristate local of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) scheduled for Saturday has been rescheduled for Dec. 1.

        The place (Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, 1127 Vine St.), time (1 to 3 p.m.), and teacher (ETC artistic director D. Lynn Meyers) remain the same. Enrollment is $10, free to AFTRA members.

        To register, call 579-8668 or (800) 541-8668 from outside Cincinnati, or e-mail rtubbs@aftra.com.
       

Federal agencies seek comment on OKI

        The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration will meet Wednesday to take public comment on the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments' transportation planning process.

        The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the OKI board room, 801-B W. Eighth St., Suite 400, downtown.

        For further information, contact OKI deputy executive director Dory Montazemi at 621-6300, ext. 127, or at dorym@oki.org.
       

Events aim to raise
sex-assault awareness

        Two events are open to the public on the main campus during the University of Cincinnati's Sexual Assault Awareness Week.

        On Nov. 15, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., T-shirts designed by violence survivors will be hung from a clothesline at Brodie Plaza.

        Nov. 16, a Take Back the Night Vigil will be from 8 to 10 p.m. at Campus Green. Acoustic guitarist Traci Walker will perform.
Council adjusts for racial balance

       CLEVELAND — The City Council president stepped aside Thursday and helped elect a black colleague to create racial balance in the new leadership of this black-majority city.

        Michael Polensek, the council president, nominated Councilman Frank Jackson to be his successor. Mr. Jackson, 54, a three-term councilman, was elected by colleagues without opposition.

        Mr. Jackson is black. Mr. Polensek and Mayor-elect Jane Campbell are white.

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