Compiled from staff and wire reports

Use of field donated to Kings High School

DEERFIELD TWP. - The Kings High School football Knights and other teams for the Warren County school will have a playing field despite losing their stadium to lead contamination.

Kings school officials announced Thursday nearby Galbraith Field will be used for football and soccer games. The field, owned by the Great American Insurance Co., is adjacent to the Kings school campus. The company donated use of the field.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said recent soil tests results showed unhealthy concentrations of lead in the football stadium and practice fields. The school was a former skeet-shooting range.

Kings' first event at Galbraith will be Saturday's junior varsity and varsity women's soccer games at 6 and 8 p.m.

$2,000 offered for tip on Cleves vandals

CLEVES - Angry over destruction at a public park in this southwest Hamilton County community, two anonymous donors are offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the vandals' arrests.

A month ago vandals broke several spotlights at Cleves Community Park, tore a door off a shed and flipped over urinals. Police said it was an isolated incident.

"But people are very up in arms about this," said Cleves Police Cpl. Clifford Wright. "You don't have a lot of money here to replace that stuff."

Informants, who may remain anonymous, are asked to call Cleves police at 941-1212.

D'Epifanio declares as GOP House candidate

FAIRFIELD - City Councilman Ron D'Epifanio announced this week he will seek the Butler County Republican Party's nomination for the 54th Ohio House District seat that will be vacated next year by Greg Jolivette.

D'Epifanio, 62, leaves his Fairfield seat in December after being term-limited. He has served the 3rd Ward in City Council eight years - the past two as vice mayor.

He also plans to retire in December from the Butler County Auditor's Office, where he works as a deputy auditor in the real estate division.

Jolivette will battle Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox for the county GOP nomination for Fox's seat in the 2004 race.

Hazardous-chemical suits issued to police

HAMILTON - Police officers here are being issued new protective suits that can be used in hazardous chemical conditions.

The department received about 150 of the suits, which will be carried in the trunks of officers' cruisers. Each officer will carry his suit at all times, Sgt. Tom Kilgour said. The suits cost about $280 each and were purchased with homeland security funds.

The suits are designed for one-time, short-term use and can be used to help evacuate a hazardous environment, such as an enclosure filled with tear gas, Kilgour said.

Resignation leaves zoning board vacancy

SYMMES TWP. - The recent resignation of long-time zoning commission member Molly Thompson has left the township searching for a replacement.

Thompson recently left to prepare for the birth of twins.

Residents interested in the five-year appointment can call the township for an application at 683-6644, or drop by the administrative offices at 9323 Union Cemetery Road.

Man gets 24 years for OTR fatal shooting

A Silverton man was sentenced Thursday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to spend 24 years to life in prison for shooting Carlos Villas to death in April of 2002.

A jury convicted Damien Nix, 25, on a charge of murder and two charges of felonious assault for the killing that happened in Over-the-Rhine and for shooting, but not seriously injuring, Octavia Kelly that same night.

Man shot in downtown robbery attempt

DOWNTOWN - A 62-year-old man walking home after work Wednesday night in downtown Cincinnati was attacked by a group of would-be robbers and shot.

Apparently angered that they didn't get any money, one of the attackers pulled a gun and fired a shot at Charles Heard that grazed his right ear.

Heard had earlier stopped for a drink and was walking in the 600 block of Walnut Street about 7:30 p.m. when a group of least three men knocked him down.

Heard struggled and a doorman at a nearby restaurant yelled for them to stop. That's when Heard was shot.

Heard was taken to Christ Hospital, where he was treated and released.

The incident comes at a time when violent crime is decreasing in downtown Cincinnati. From January through July, 321 robberies had happened downtown, compared with 382 during the same time period in 2002 - a 16 percent decrease.