Stamp celebrates Ohio bicentennial

A colorful autumn scene featuring a country lane and barn near Marietta will appear on a postage stamp commemorating Ohio's bicentennial.

The 37-cent Ohio Statehood Stamp, part of the U.S. Postal Service's Statehood Series, will be available for purchase in March 2003. Marietta was the first permanent settlement of the Northwest Territory. Ohio, carved from that land, became the 17th state on March 1, 1803.

The stamp was created from a photograph by Cuyahoga Falls-based Ian Adams, whose work has appeared in magazines, calendars and books. A first-day-of-issue ceremony will be held in March. The Ohio stamp and other 2003 stamps can be seen online at www.usps.com after a national unveiling Oct. 10. (Select “news and events” and click on “philatelic news.”)

Whitman continues ballot challenge

Democratic judicial candidate Bruce B. Whitman Thursday filed a complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court asking for an emergency hearing to address his protest about his Republican opponent, Frederick D. Nelson.

Mr. Whitman says Mr. Nelson is not eligible to run for Hamilton County Common Pleas judge because he has not practiced law for six years in Ohio. Mr. Whitman wants Mr. Nelson removed from the Nov. 5 ballot.

Mr. Nelson has argued that he is qualified and that his opponent's contentions are “desperation tactics.”

Last month, the Hamilton County Board of Elections deadlocked over whether to hear the merits of Mr. Whitman's protest. But after a tie-breaking vote by Secretary of State Ken Blackwell the Republicans won and the protest was invalidated.

He seeks to have the court “issue a writ of prohibition to order the Board of Elections not to place (Mr.) Nelson's name on the ballot for the general election, to strike his name from the ballot if it has so been placed, and not to count any votes for (Mr.) Nelson in the general election.”

Three arrested in Clifton holdups

Police trying to curb increasing incidents of aggravated robbery around the University of Cincinnati campus made three arrests Wednesday night, charging one of the suspects with using a BB gun to hold up six people.

About 11:30 p.m., a Cincinnati officer in an unmarked car saw a robbery on Warner Street and followed the car, starting what would become a pursuit on interstates 75 and 74 and a crash. Officers recovered the BB gun and several stolen wallets.

Arrested: Daniel Cephas, 22, of Walnut Hills and Mural Cohen, 21, of Bond Hill, both charged with six counts of complicity to commit aggravated robbery; and Mario Antonio Isham, 21, of North Avondale, charged with the six aggravated robberies. Police said Mr. Cephas acted as the lookout and Mr. Cohen the driver while Mr. Isham robbed the people.

Judge William Mallory ordered Mr. Isham held in lieu of $50,000 cash bond.

Police: Seller kept drugs stored in shoe

A Cincinnati police officer hiding in bushes watched as a man selling drugs Tuesday in Bond Hill served his customers by pulling crack out of his shoe and sock.

Officers from District 4's Violent Crimes Squad arrested Antoine Shearer, 25, of Roselawn, and took off his right shoe and sock. A couple of baggies fell out of the shoe, then more out of the sock for a total of nine. Each was packaged for individual sale, the police report said.

Officer Jeremy Howard said finding drugs in suspects' footwear isn't common yet, but is becoming more so as dealers try to find more ways to hide evidence.

Mr. Shearer was charged with drug possession, drug trafficking and obstruction of official business after officers said he ran from them.

Walk to benefit Alzheimer's work

Volunteers are hoping that more than 3,000 people participate in Sunday's annual Memory Walk to benefit the Alzheimer's Association.

The walk begins at 10 a.m. at Sawyer Point downtown and winds 3.5 miles into Newport and back. Registration begins at 9 a.m.

Last year, 2,800 participants raised about $193,000. This year, organizers hope to raise $240,000.

For information, call 800-441-3322.

Two dozen arrested after drug probe

MADISON, Ind. — A two-year multi-police agency drug investigation culminated Thursday with the arrest of 25 people on 115 criminal charges, Indiana State Police said.

Beginning at 5 a.m., 70 police officers began rounding up the suspects in Madison and neighboring Hanover. They confiscated a pound of cocaine, four pounds of marijuana, $20,000 cash and 10 weapons, including a machine gun.

State police, the Jefferson County Sheriff's office, the Madison and Hanover police departments and the ATF participated.

Two killed in separate accidents

LEBANON — Two people were killed in separate crashes in Warren County on Thursday.

Mary Ann Drees, 65, of Toledo, was fatally injured in a two-vehicle crash on Snider Road in Deerfield Township, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. She was a passenger in a 1996 Mercury Sable that failed to yield from a private drive on Snider Road , and was struck by 1998 Ford F-150 pickup truck.

The crash occurred at 6:15 a.m. Ms. Drees was pronounced dead Thursday afternoon at Bethesda North Hospital.

The driver of the pickup, Jimmy L. Lewis, 34, of Mason, and the driver of the Mercury, Patricia K. Ryczko, were both transported to Bethesda North Hospital.

In the other crash, Scott A. Beeler, 38, of Morrow, was pronounced dead at the scene after he missed a curve on Mason-Morrow-Milgrove Road in South Lebanon, and struck a concrete bridge wall, the highway patrol said.

He was driving a 2001 Mitsubishi Monterothat went airborne over Turtle Creek before striking the bridge wall.

The time of the crash is unknown, the highway patrol said. The wreckage was discovered at 12:04 p.m.
— Compiled from staff and wire reports
Illustration supplied

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