Station manager suffers gunshot wound

        A gas station manager was shot Thursday morning in Pleasant Ridge during a scuffle with three people he says tried to rob him.

        Don Hinkle, 63, was hit in the arm with a bullet from his own gun during a scuffle at the Shell station on Montgomery Road about 8:30 a.m. He got the weapon out, he told police, to protect himself from three men who had stolen money from the cash register.

        The three robbers are described as black and 19 or 20 years old. One wore a black windbreaker and black pants. They left in a older, dark gray Lincoln or Mercury with a temporary license plate. Witnesses said the car was smoking badly.
       

Cops search home in child-porn case

        MONROE — Investigators, including one from the state of Wyoming, combed a Monroe home Thursday seeking evidence of computer child-pornography and child-enticement crimes.

        Monroe Police Chief Ernest Howard said no charges have been filed against a 24-year-old man suspected of explicit computer exchanges, but authorities have seized two computers, some compact discs and a number of videotapes.

        Monroe Police Detective Mike Staples said the investigation started in early February when the suspect began Internet “chatting” with a person whom he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. That person, however, was a police officer in Wyoming who was trolling the Internet for offenders.
       

Police seek clues in fatal stabbing

        LINCOLN HEIGHTS — Police continued to investigate the slaying Wednesday of a 62-year-old resident who was found stabbed in his Wabash Avenue home.

        Police Chief Ernie McGowen said Thursday that there were no suspects.

        Larnie Jones died Wednesday morning at University Hospital, about 10 hours after he was found in his living room, stabbed in the abdomen.
       

Upgrades completed at Reading stadium

        READING — A $200,000 rehabilitation project is complete and Veterans' Memorial Stadium will be rededicated at a ceremony at 3 p.m. Sunday.

        Mayor Earl Schmidt, school Superintendent Sherry Parr and former Reading High School track coach and athletic director Jim Wright will speak at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will be followed by a one-lap “community run.”

        The track surface and stadium rehabilitation project was a partnership between the city and school district.

        Built in 1951 and modernized in 1967, the facility is home to the Reading Blue Devil football, soccer and track teams, as well as the Moeller High School lacrosse team and Reading junior league football.
       

Nursing school gains college status

        Good Samaritan's 105-year-old school of nursing is now a college, capable of awarding associate degrees in nursing.

        Its name has become the Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science, after winning approvals in December from the Ohio Board of Nursing and the Ohio Board of Regents.

        Previously, the school awarded diplomas that allowed graduates to take state licensing exams. The change is expected to make the school more attractive to would-be nurses, because the degree would be useful in pursuing further college education, hospital officials said.

        The College has 270 students and graduated 33 nurses in December.
       

Xavier is site for college fair

        Xavier University will be host for the second annual Cincinnati Area Spring College Fair for high school students in Greater Cincinnati from 1 to 3 p.m. March 10 at the Cintas Center.

        Among the schools scheduled to attend: Harvard University, Cornell University, University of Tampa, Texas Christian University, University of Notre Dame, University of Louisville, Hawaii Pacific University and local institutions.

        Sessions will be held on topics including financial aid and scholarships, conducting a college search and intercollegiate athletics.

        For more information, call 745-3301.
       

Man convicted of murdering wife

p         HAMILTON — A Lemon Township man is to be sentenced April 15 for killing and partially dismembering his wife.

        After 2 1/2 hours of deliberation, a Butler County jury of six men and six women found Ronald A. Spence Jr., 36, guilty Thursday of murder and gross abuse of a corpse. Judge Patricia Oney is required to sentence Mr. Spence to 15 years to life for the murder and could sentence him to up to 18 months for the corpse-abuse conviction.

        Authorities estimate that Mr. Spence's wife, Shawny, 26, had been dead at least three days by last April 9, when police found her body in a closet of the couple's bedroom in Rochester Hills Mobile Home Park.

        One arm had been severed and the body was nearly decapitated, with signs of attempts to sever her other limbs.

        The body was too badly decomposed for investigators to specify a cause of death, but the Butler County coroner ruled she died of violence, possibly by strangulation or beating.
       

Butler deputy indicted in rape, kidnapping

        HAMILTON — A Butler County deputy was indicted Wednesday on three counts of rape and one count of kidnapping in what authorities call the sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman while he worked an off-duty detail at a Fairfield night club.

        Deputy Kirk Kash, 37, faces termination when he appears today at a disciplinary hearing at the sheriff's office, said Butler County Maj. Anthony Dwyer.

        Deputy Kash was put on unpaid leave Wednesday; he had been on paid leave since the allegations arose Jan. 18.

        He is accused of forcing the woman to submit to sexual conduct in the parking garage outside Metropolis at Forest Fair Mall.

        If convicted, Deputy Kash will face up to 40 years in prison.

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