Compiled from staff and wire reports

United Way at 42% of campaign goal

With just a month to go in its 2003 fund-raising campaign, Greater Cincinnati United Way has reached 42.1 percent of its $60.5 million goal, or $25,476,238, officials announced this week.

Those who would like to contribute, or who want to start a new employee campaign, can call (513) 762-7100.

This initiative, which ends Oct. 30, funds programs at more than 170 agencies in Hamilton, Clermont, Brown and Butler counties in Ohio and in Boone Campbell, Kenton and Grant counties in Northern Kentucky.

Accountant's work was fraud, court told

A Cincinnati accountant was barred Thursday from preparing tax returns after federal authorities accused him of using fraudulent tax schemes to save clients more than $3 million.

U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott also ordered the accountant, Robert C. Welti, to disclose the names of all clients for whom he prepared income tax returns since 1988.

Welti created "sham trusts and bogus deductions" to hide taxable earnings, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He could not be reached for comment. But a statement from the Justice Department said the accountant has told the Internal Revenue Service that the federal income tax is unconstitutional and the IRS is not authorized to collect taxes.

High bond set in double-slaying case

A man accused of killing his ex-lover and her friend Tuesday in Sharonville was ordered held in the Hamilton County Justice Center in lieu of $2.5 million bail pending presentation of the case to a grand jury for charges.

Sharonville police arrested James P. Dick, 34, Wednesday night in Arlington Heights on two charges of aggravated murder and one count of burglary. They say he broke into Sandra Ross' Sharonville home and shot her and her friend Carl Shivener.

Dick was released from six months probation Sept. 6 on a domestic violence charge that stemmed from an argument with his father in February in which Dick punched him and threatened him with a knife, according to court records.

Neighbors find missing man, 67

REILY TWP. - After searches with dogs and helicopters failed to find a man with medical problems, Butler County Sheriff's deputies went door to door Thursday, appealing to neighbors to help find 67-year-old Harvey Eugene Bell. After a deputy left the home of Tim and Vickie Jung in the 5300 block of McCoy Road, the couple searched outside and found Bell about 1 p.m. He had fallen down an embankment and into a shallow creek.

Bell was last seen Wednesday morning when he walked away from his McCoy Road home. When the Jungs found him, he was able to speak to emergency medical crews. They took him to McCullough-Hyde Hospital.

OKI seeks public input on transport

The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments is planning a series of public meetings as it updates its 30-year transportation plan for the area.

The meetings are 4:30-6:30 p.m. on the following dates: Monday at the Sharonville Community Center, 10990 Thornview Drive; Tuesday at the Monroe City Building, 233 S. Main St.; Wednesday at the Kenton County Public Library, 502 Scott St., Covington; Oct. 2 at the OKI offices, 720 E. Pete Rose Way, No. 420, downtown Cincinnati.

Information: 621-6300.

Ohio anti-smoking agency watching TV

Stand, the Ohio youth anti-tobacco group, this week criticized Whoopi Goldberg for portraying a chain smoker in her new sitcom Whoopi.

Stand recently has stepped up its criticism of entertainers who smoke.

The Ohio "stand" campaign is sponsored by the Ohio Tobacco Use and Control Foundation, the agency that distributes Ohio's share of a settlement between tobacco companies and 46 states.

State fair director quits after criticism

COLUMBUS - The director of the Ohio State Fair resigned Thursday, two days after a report by the state watchdog uncovered a "proliferation of gift giving" from fair vendors.

Before he resigned, Richard Frenette challenged an Ohio inspector general report that criticized him, as well as other fair employees, for improperly accepting gifts from vendors.

He said the allegations were unfounded.

Ind. court defines degree of dog bite

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Supreme Court ruled this week that if a dog bites a public servant, the canine's owner is more liable than if the pet attacked a neighbor. The court also declared that it does not matter if it is the first time the dog had ever bitten someone, or if the owner had taken precautions to control the animal.