A former Norwood police officer was ordered Monday to serve six months in prison for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in January.

        Bobby Smith, 38, who resigned from the Norwood Police Department last month, was sentenced by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Ann Marie Tracey.

        The 14-year veteran officer pleaded guilty in February to one count of gross sexual imposition.

        The girl had been a part of an Explorer group that he'd supervised. The program is designed to give teens a first-hand look at police work.

        On Monday, Mr. Smith apologized to the teen and her family.

        The sexual assault occurred in January at his home after he had invited the girl there to work on a skit for the Explorer group.
       

Freedom Center solicits bids

               The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center has begun soliciting construction bids, with the first bids due by Thursday.

        The 158,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to be completed by 2004.
       

Airport gets about $2M for security

               The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport will receive about $2 million for the increased cost of security, the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday.

        The facility had applied for more than $2.2 million, but was pleased with the final amount — the most of any airport in Kentucky and Ohio. t James M. Cox International Airport in Dayton led Ohio with $1.1 million out of the $175 million the FAA is doling out.

        Bob Holscher, director of aviation at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport, said about $80,000 will be used to reimburse Boone County for the use of police to help guard checkpoints in the days following Sept. 11. He said airport officials didn't know how the remaining funds would be used.
       

Lebanon seeks comment on plan

               LEBANON — City Council will seek public comment tonight on plans to expand the central business district.

        The proposal takes in the area bordered by Broadway to the west, New Street to the north, Mechanic Street to the east and Warren Street to the south.

        The area is now zoned residential, and the new designation would make it easier for people to use properties there for offices, Deputy Planning Director Doug Johnson said. A central business district designation also would preserve the neighborhood's historic flavor by regulating changes made to buildings' exteriors.

        City Council meets at 7:30 p.m. at the City Building, 50 S. Broadway.
       

Cemetery review finds many neglected

              

        CLEVELAND — The upkeep of the 11 city-run cemeteries has been eroded by neglect, vandalism and weather, a newspaper reported.

        A Plain Dealer survey of the cemeteries found mausoleums defaced by graffiti, gravestones smashed and burial grounds strewn with liquor bottles, the newspaper reported Monday.

        At Denison Cemetery, where two Revolutionary War veterans are entombed, most monuments have been toppled, and a U.S. flag had pulled away from the flagpole and was entangled in a tree branch.

        At Woodland Cemetery, which has the graves of at least five black Civil War soldiers and the only known Confederate veteran buried in Cleveland, mudholes have made unpaved roads impassable.

        The city code requires Cleveland to set aside money from the sale of grave sites to maintain cemeteries.

        The administration of Mayor Jane Campbell, who took office Jan. 7, said it had inherited the problems from previous administrations and acknowledged the cemeteries need repairs.
       

2 boys, 12 and 14, killed in joy ride

               SPRINGFIELD — A 14-year-old boy and his 12-year-old brother were killed Monday after they took their mother's car and crashed it at a rest stop, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.

        Bill Prater of the Columbus suburb of Whitehall was driving the car east on Interstate 70 in Clark County at 2:20 a.m. when the 14-year-old pulled into a rest stop too quickly and slid into a parked semi-trailer, the patrol said.

        Bill and his brother, Dustin, were pronounced dead at the scene.

        Justin Thaboune, 14, the other passenger, was taken to Children's Hospital in Columbus, where he was listed in good condition. The patrol said only Justin was wearing a seat belt.

        The semi's driver was sleeping in the cab and was not injured, the patrol said.
       

Man holds hostages; two people injured

               LONDONDERRY — A sheriff's deputy and a man were shot early Monday during a three-hour hostage situation, the Ross County Sheriff's Office said.

        The deputy, Cpl. Stanley Addy, was in fair condition at Ohio State University Medical Center, and the suspect, Jay Wackler of Englewood, Fla., was in serious condition at Grant Medical Center.

        The situation began Sunday night when deputies responded to a report of a man holding his girlfriend and her parents hostage, Sheriff Ron Nichols said.

        Officers were able to free the hostages while Mr. Wackler remained inside the house holding a gun to his head, Sheriff Nichols said.

        As deputies used a stun gun on Mr. Wackler, Mr. Wackler is accused of shooting at the deputies, hitting Cpl. Addy in the right hip. Mr. Wackler was shot in the shoulder.

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