SHARONVILLE - A kitchen fire Monday afternoon spread through a ventilation system and the roof of the China Buffet restaurant at 11260 Chester Road, fire officials said.

        There were no injuries. The damage estimate was $5,000, officials said.

        “We (found) heavy smoke inside the building, and heavy smoke and flames on the roof,” Sharonville Assistant Fire Chief John Mackey said. “Everybody was evacuated.”

        Cooking sparked the 1:35 p.m. blaze, he said.

        Black smoke from the fire could be seen along Interstate 75 near Sharon Road. Firefighters were on the scene for about 90 minutes.

        Man pleads no contest to hotel trespassing

        One of four men charged with criminal trespassing after police said they were preparing to make a parachute jump from a downtown hotel early Sunday pleaded no contest Monday in Hamilton County Municipal Court and was fined $150 plus $80 in court costs.

        Justin McClellan, 24, of Hamilton, entered the plea. The three other men, Joseph Weber, 34, and Bruce Kramer, 33, both of the Indianapolis area; and Jerome Jeanneret, 34, of Verdon, Switzerland, pleaded innocent.

        The four are Buildings, Antennas, Spans and Earth (BASE) jumpers, who leap from tall buildings, TV towers, bridges, cliffs and mountains, police said.

        Mr. Weber and Mr. Kramer said they were on the hotel's roof wearing parachutes, but they said they were just looking down from the building and didn't actually plan to jump.

        “We wore our rigs in case we fell when we were looking over,” Mr. Weber said.

        Mr. Jeanneret said he was in the hotel lobby wearing a backpack that contained a parachute rig when he was arrested.

        Judge agrees to consolidate charges

        A Hamilton County judge has agreed to consolidate charges against a Price Hill man accused of involvement in the slaying of his former girlfriend.

        William David Boyles, 27, is accused of a March assault on Sara Ridder, 24, and breaking into her home and stealing items. Ms. Ridder was found dead inside her Westwood apartment April 15. Police have not said how she died.

        Mr. Boyles had been awaiting trial on the earlier charges at the time of Ms. Ridder's death. He had been on home arrest, but authorities think he may have paid someone to kill Ms. Ridder, with whom he shared three children.

        The case will return to court before Common Pleas Judge Steve Martin Oct. 22 for consideration of a request by the prosecution to admit at trial grand jury statements Ms. Ridder made about Mr. Boyles.

        2 suspects face armed robbery charges

        LIBERTY TWP. - Butler County sheriff's deputies have arrested two suspects in connection with Thursday night's knifepoint robbery in a convenience store.

        James Scott Elmore, 37, of Milford Township, and Charles William Kling, 28, of Middletown, each face three counts of aggravated robbery. The first-degree felony carries a sentence of three to 10 years plus $20,000 in fines upon conviction.

        The men, arrested Friday, were being held in the county jail Monday.

        Oven explosion evacuates Keebler

        MARIEMONT - An oven exploded at the Keebler Co. Inc. plant Monday, sending smoke throughout the building but causing no injuries.

        Damage was confined to the oven. The cause is being investigated, Mariemont Fire Chief Jack Phifer said.

        The incident is not expected to significantly affect

        operations at the plant, which produces cookies and crackers, the fire chief said.Company officials could not be reached Monday.

        Several hundred employees were evacuating the building at 1 Trade St. about 12:45 p.m. when the first firefighters arrived. Crews were on the scene for about two hours.

        Suit claims abuse by police in wrong arrest

        A mentally challenged Cincinnati woman claimed Monday in a federal lawsuit that city police officers abused and arrested her after wrongly accusing her of passing a bad check.

        Evelyn Armstrong, 39, seeks $40 million in damages from the city of Cincinnati, two police officers, U.S. Bank and bank security personnel.

        Ms. Armstrong's attorney, Kenneth Lawson, claims the alleged mistreatment of his client is part of a pattern of police behavior involving the mentally ill and African-Americans. “Defendants refuse to recognize the rights of the mentally challenged and to treat them as human beings,” the lawsuit states.

        The lawsuit states that Ms. Armstrong was wrongly identified by a bank security officer as a woman who tried to pass a bad check. When police officers stopped her, the lawsuit claims, they sprayed chemical irritant in her eyes and mouth.

        The officers realized she was the wrong woman but still charged her with obstructing official business, the lawsuit states. That charge was later thrown out of court for lack of evidence.

        Taste of Glendale starts Saturday

        GLENDALE - The village is planning its 38th Annual Street Fair, featuring A Taste of Glendale. The event will take place from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Saturday in the Village Square.

        A Boy Scout flag-raising ceremony will open the fair at 10 a.m. Glendale restaurants will host booths to offer specialty food and drinks, and children's activities, craft booths and civic organizations will also be on hand.

        Admission and parking are free. Glendale Village Square will be closed to traffic beginning Friday evening until 9 p.m. Saturday.

        More information can be found at the village of Glendale Web site, www.glendaleohio.org, or by emailing debburtfuse.net.

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