Compiled from staff and wire reports

Man gets 6 months for abusing patient

HAMILTON - A Butler County judge has sentenced a Fairfield man, convicted of abusing a mentally retarded man he was supposed to be helping, to six months in the county jail.

Judge H.J. Bressler on Tuesday ordered Timothy Lee Ivers, 40, to begin serving his sentence Jan. 3. He also fined him $500.

Mr. Ivers, who has no previous record and no violations of rules imposed on him while his case was pending for nearly two years, will therefore be allowed to spend the holiday season with his family, said Assistant Prosecutor Brenda Cox.

Mr. Ivers had faced up to 18 months behind bars and a $5,000 fine. But there is a presumption of more lenient treatment for a first-time offender, Ms. Cox said.

Mr. Ivers underwent three trials before a jury convicted him in October of felony patient abuse but deadlocked on a misdemeanor assault charge.

A dispute over a document had caused a mistrial in April and a second mistrial followed in August after a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on either charge.

The charges against Mr. Ivers stemmed from a January 2001 incident at the Hamilton Center, a workshop for the mentally disabled where Mr. Ivers worked. A videotape shows Mr. Ivers pulling Glenn Kidd, then 36, into a restroom, where an audiotape recorded what prosecutors said sounded like smacks and Mr. Kidd yelping in pain.

Driver sought after police car chase

Cincinnati police are looking for a man they say ran from them late Tuesday in Millvale and left behind a large amount of cocaine.

Officers in District 3 stopped a black Acura about 11:30 p.m. on Beekman Avenue. They spoke to the driver, identified as Raeshawn Hand, 25, who drove away when they asked to search the car. After a pursuit that reached 50 mph, police said he wrecked the car, bailed out and ran.

Officers found more than 10 ounces of cocaine in the car. The department's Street Corner drug unit is investigating.

As part of the search, officers stopped a Yellow cab just after midnight because they thought their suspect might be inside. It wasn't him, but they said they found a loaded gun and more drugs - more than 49 grams of crack - on that passenger, Piankhi Grimes, 23. He was arrested and charged with drug trafficking, drug possession, carrying a concealed weapon and illegally having a firearm.

Man in pumpkin sex case sentenced

HAMILTON - A man who police say admitted to "having sex" with a plastic Halloween pumpkin last month, has been sentenced to six months in jail.

Municipal Judge John G. Rosmarin imposed the sentence Tuesday on Edwin Charles Tobergta, 24, of Hamilton, for theft. Prosecutors dropped a public indecency charge in exchange for Mr. Tobergta's plea.

The judge also fined Mr. Tobergta $255 and ordered him to repay the pumpkin's owners the $30 they paid for the decoration.

Mr. Tobergta was arrested Nov. 5 as a result of an Oct. 24 incident.

Michelle D. Chambers told police she saw a man, later identified as Mr. Tobergta, behaving indecently with a 4-foot, inflatable, illuminated pumpkin used as a Halloween decoration.

The suspect apparently fled with the pumpkin while Ms. Chambers called police to her home in the 2100 block of Freeman Avenue in the city's Lindenwald neighborhood.

Sparks fly from a single-engine airplane that had to make an emergency landing with malfunctioning landing gear Wednesday evening at Lunken Airport. No one was hurt in the incident. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

Deerfield Twp. zoning board meets to update

DEERFIELD TWP. - The township zoning commission will hold a public hearing Monday evening on proposed updates to Deerfield's zoning map.

The changes are mostly to reflect land uses that already have been approved but are not noted on zoning maps, according to Community Development Director Tim Hershner.

Residents and property owners are encouraged to attend Monday's meeting to see the proposed changes and ask questions. It takes place at 7 p.m. at 3292 Montgomery Road.

For more information, call the township at 683-5805.

TriHealth sues over indigent care funds

The TriHealth hospital group filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday to challenge how Hamilton County distributes funds from an indigent care tax levy, carrying out a threat made last month

The lawsuit against the county, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, comes the day after Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen refused TriHealth's request to intervene in the dispute.

TriHealth argues that its state and federal rights of due process and equal protection have been violated because University Hospital is the only adult hospital to get money from the levy even though others also provide care to the county's uninsured.

The lawsuit claims that county commissioners ignored recommendations from a consultant and a tax levy review committee to allow other hospitals to share levy funds, which have amounted to about $34 million a year for University Hospital.

TriHealth wants the court to force the county to put the levy-funded services up for competitive bid.