HAMILTON — A fire at the Firstar Bank, 219 High St., caused at least $100,000 damage Monday, Fire Lt. Brian Ruhl said.

        Firefighters were called just before 7 a.m. by a maintenance worker who smelled smoke. The fire started in a second-floor break room and was believed to have originated in the area of a refrigerator, Lt. Ruhl said.

        Investigators think there may have been a problem with the refrigerator's compressor, but their probe of the fire's cause was continuing late Monday afternoon.

Would-be robbers flee without cash

        MORGAN TWP. — Butler County sheriff's deputies are looking for two men who tried to rob a bank in Okeana on Monday but fled before getting any cash.

        Police said the two men, described as white males in their 20s, entered the Lebanon Citizens National Bank branch at 6525 Cincinnati-Brookville Road about 12:40 p.m. The two approached a teller and demanded money but fled before getting any cash. Neither man displayed a weapon.

        Police were told by witnesses that the two were seen driving away east on Cincinnati-Brookville Road toward the Ross area. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 887-3010.

Pier to reopen despite terrorist fears

        Despite Hamilton's concerns about the threat of terrorism, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has decided to reopen the fishing pier at a hydroelectric plant that the city owns on the Ohio River, some 120 miles east of Cincinnati.

        The agency had closed the pier after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But Celeste Miller, spokeswoman for FERC, said Mondaythe agency believes that reopening the fishing pier at the hydroelectric plant and the Greenup Locks and Dam would pose no safety threat.

        Hamilton has owned the plant, located about 12 miles east of Portsmouth, since 1991 and has $170 million invested in it.

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