Girl turns in dye pack from bank

        NORTH COLLEGE HILL — She's 8, and it looked like a whole lot of money to her.

        As she was leaving Clovernook Elementary on Friday afternoon, third-grader Candice Pendleton noticed money lying under some bushes. She picked it up and showed it to her grandmother, who was picking her up from school.

        “I was looking around,” the little girl said, “and I just saw it on the ground.”

        It turned out to be a dye pack, the money-marking device banks use to identify stolen cash, embedded in what looked to the girl and her grandmother Mary Trimborn like $10 bills. North College Hill Police said Friday night they think it's the dye pack from a Tuesday robbery nearby.

        “She knew,” said her mother, Teresa Pendleton, “that it didn't belong to her.”

STUDENTS' ENTRIES JUDGED TODAY: Cyndi Mendell, vice president and instructor at the Art Institute of Cincinnati, looks over some of the more than 4,000 works of art by students from more than 60 schools in 10 Ohio counties and six Northern Kentucky counties. The work, entered in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition, will be judged today. Winning portfolios will be sent to New York where they will be judged with portfolios from 79 other regions in the national competition. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        They called police, and somebody helped Candice get the dye out of her eye. She'd gotten it on her fingers and wiped her eye.

        The girl's reward: a Frisch's Big Boy with extra tartar sauce and a Coke. She bought the meal Friday night with a good-attendance award from her school.
       

Unbelted girl, 16, killed in car wreck

        ANDERSON TWP. — A 16-year-old Westwood girl died Friday morning when the car in which she was a passenger struck a utility pole and overturned.

        Hamilton County Sheriff's deputies said Julia Schmidtwas trapped in the overturned car after it crashed at approximately 11:58 a.m. at the bottom of a hill on Woodruff Road in Anderson Township.

        Police said the vehicle was eastbound and had just crested a hill when the driver lost control. The car traveled off the left side of the road, striking a utility pole and a sewage pumping unit before overturning.

        Miss Schmidt was pronounced dead at the scene.

        The driver, Katherine K. Moore, 16, of Anderson Township, and another passenger, Drew Armstrong, 17, of Mount Lookout, were injured in the accident. Both were wearing seat belts, police said, but Miss Schmidt was not.

        The injured girls were taken to Mercy Hospital Anderson but one was later transferred to University Hospital. Their conditions were not available Friday night.

        Police said neither alcohol nor drugs were a factor in the crash.
       

Woman dies after crash on Colerain Ave.

        COLERAIN TWP. — A 31-year-old Hamilton woman was killed early Friday when she was thrown from a car that crashed into a guardrail on Colerain Avenue near East Miami River Road.

        Hamilton County Sheriff's deputies are still looking for the driver of the 1989 Olds Cutlass, who fled the scene.

        Pronounced dead at the scene was Tara L. Collins.

        Deputies said that at 12:43 a.m. Friday, the eastbound auto veered out of control and hit the guardrail. Ms. Collins was thrown through the passenger-side window.

        The car continued eastbound past East Miami River Road, running off the road and hitting a highway sign and embankment. The unknown driver fled on foot, deputies said.
       

Marchers protest Rev. Lynch firing

        About a dozen protesters marched outside a scheduled Cincinnati Community Action Now (CAN) meeting Friday to oppose the firing of the Rev. Damon Lynch III, a former co-chairman of the race task force.

        CAN officials had scheduled a morning meeting in the Greater Cincinnati Foundation building on West Fourth Street, but moved it to an undisclosed location.

        When asked on Thursday about the protesters' plans, the Rev. Mr. Lynch said he was honored by their intentions but wished they would focus on CAN's shortcomings instead of his situation.

        Cincinnati CAN “has not said a word about officers Jorg, Caton and Roach,” he said. “They have not said a word about continued economic disparity.”
       

Woman, 70, critical after fire in home

        A Madisonville woman was in critical condition Friday after an early-morning fire destroyed her two-story home.

        University Hospital officials said Carolyn Carter, 70, of 5811 Sierra St., was injured during a fire that began at about 3:30 a.m.

        Cincinnati Fire officials said the cause of the two-alarm fire remains under investigation and there is no estimate of the damage.
       

Casting call for kids to be in BET promo

        A casting call for African-American children ages 4-14 to appear in a promotional spot for the BET cable network is 2-5 p.m. Sunday at the Melrose Branch YMCA, 2840 Melrose Ave. in Walnut Hills.

        Applicants must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and must bring a headshot. For information call 861-4042.
       

Tax consultant joins elections board

        Todd Ward, who ran twice for Cincinnati City Council, has been appointed to the Hamilton County Board of Elections by the executive committee of the Hamilton County Republican Party.

        He succeeds former Cincinnati Mayor Eugene P. Ruehlmann, who did not seek reappointment.

        Mr. Ward's term will begin March 1. He is employed at Ernst & Young LLP as manager of state and local tax consulting.
       

Couple indicted in gas station holdup

        A Westwood man and his girlfriend were indicted Friday by a Hamilton County grand jury in the Jan. 6 robbery of the Thornton Gas Station in Green Township.

        John Boshears, 21, of the 2700 block of Baker Avenue, faces up to 38 years in prison if he is convicted on charges of aggravated robbery, robbery, kidnapping and felonious assault.

        Shannon Braley, 18, of the 1200 block of Purcell Avenue, was identified as an accomplice. She faces up to 28 years in prison following indictment on charges of aggravated robbery, robbery and felonious assault.

        Investigators say Officer Paul Naber of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Patrol was struck by the robbers' car as it sped from the scene. He was not seriously injured.

        Before fleeing, police say, Mr. Boshears had taken money, beer, cigarettes and was threatening to take the clerk with him when police arrived.
       

Democrat running against Blackwell

        Democratic State Rep. Bryan Flannery was in Cincinnati Friday to announce his candidacy for secretary of state.

        Mr. Flannery, 34, D-Lakewood, is in his second term as a state representative from the Cleveland suburb. He is the only declared Democratic candidate for the office held by Ken Blackwell, a Cincinnati Republican.

        Mr. Blackwell has said he will seek re-election, although he initially wanted to run for state treasurer. That was complicated when incumbent treasurer Joe Deters of Cincinnati abandoned plans to run for attorney general and said he'd seek a second term.

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