AKRON
Offender charged
AKRON: A registered sex offender is facing new charges in Akron accusing him of molesting a child more than 10 years ago.
Brolin Payne, 40, of Orrville, is being held in the Summit County Jail on charges of rape and gross sexual imposition. He is accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old child in Akron in 2001 and 2002.
Payne previously was convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in April 2003. He pleaded guilty in Summit County Common Pleas Court to one count of gross sexual imposition and was sentenced to two years of probation.
Court records show Judge James Murphy also ordered Payne to receive mental health treatment and register his address as a sexually oriented offender for 10 years.
In 2009, Payne was indicted for failing to register his address with authorities, according to online court records. He was given a one-year suspended prison sentence by Judge Alison McCarty and placed on two years of probation. His probation ended in December 2010.
Akron police detectives arrested him Tuesday on the latest charges.

Suspect arrested
AKRON: A suspect was arrested Wednesday in the robbery of two teens outside the Chapel Hill Mall.
Rayonte L. Jones, 24, of Akron, was taken into custody outside the Target store on South Arlington Street. He was arrested by Akron police officers, the U.S. Marshals Office Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force and Summit County sheriff’s deputies.
Jones is charged with aggravated robbery. Additional charges are pending, police said.
He is also a suspect in Tuesday morning’s robbery of a hospital employee in an Akron General Medical Center parking lot. A man, 61, told police he was robbed at gunpoint of his wallet, credit cards and an unknown amount of cash. The gunman then drove away in a silver four-door car.
About six hours later, two 17-year-old boys told police they were robbed of a $40 watch while in the parking lot of the Chapel Hill Mall. Two men drove away in a gray car.
Police say they are still looking to identify the second man.
Anyone with information is asked to call Akron police at 330-375-2490. Anonymous tips may be left via the Internet at http://akronohio.gov/asp/tip.html.

Standoff ends
AKRON: An Akron man, who fired several shots during a domestic quarrel inside his Goodyear Heights home, was arrested on weapon and drug charges Wednesday by SWAT officers.
Two women inside the home were not injured during the early morning shooting in the 700 block of Watson Street.
Edward Graham, 25, surrendered after an hourlong standoff and was taken into custody without further incident about 4 a.m.
He was being held in the Summit County Jail on charges of marijuana abuse, domestic violence and illegal weapon possession.
Police were called to the home around 3 a.m. Wednesday with reports of shots being fired, loud arguing and women screaming. Three to six shots were fired inside the house, according to neighbors and police.
After police arrived, Graham remained inside the house, refusing to exit, police said. He surrendered a short time after the SWAT officers arrived. Police later searched the two-story home and found marijuana and a scale.

Crash findings
AKRON: An Akron man’s blood-alcohol level was nearly four times the legal limit when his car veered into the path of another vehicle, causing a crash last summer that killed him and a Barberton woman.
Ryan M. Swiger, 21, of Akron, and Billie J. Andears, 38, of Barberton, were killed in the Sept. 9 crash on West Waterloo Road.
A recently completed investigation into the crash determined that Swiger’s Cadillac STS was traveling east on West Waterloo Road about 11 p.m. when it crossed the center line and collided head-on with Andears’ Chevrolet Prizm.
Both drivers died at the crash scene, police said, and neither was wearing a seat belt. Two passengers in Andears’ car were seriously injured.
Tests by the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office found Swiger’s blood-alcohol content to be 0.307 percent. The state legal limit is 0.08 percent. No drugs or alcohol were found in Andears’ blood, police said.

Hlynsky wins
AKRON: Paul Hlynsky, president of the union representing Akron police officers, has been re-elected to an eighth term.
After the votes were counted, Hlynsky said Wednesday that the two-year term that expires in 2014 would be his last as president.
Voting to lead the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 started Monday and ended Wednesday. Hlynsky, a patrolman and union president for 14 years, defeated Patrolman Dan Gump 240-144, according to an unofficial count. Nearly 800 active and retired members were eligible to vote.
After his re-election, Hlynsky said he intends to focus his efforts on combating new state legislation targeted at union pension and health benefits. He said he will also work to protect union interest in the planned restructuring of the police department.
The union’s collective bargaining agreement with the city expires Dec. 31. Negotiations are expected to begin by September.

BARBERTON
Milkovich meeting
BARBERTON: State Rep. Zack Milkovich, D-Akron, will have a town hall meeting at 6 p.m. today at the Barberton YMCA, 500 W. Hopocan Ave.
Barberton Mayor William Judge and Frank Martucci, a Summit County sheriff candidate, will speak.

BATH TOWNSHIP
Fire chief sworn in
BATH TWP.: Walt Hower has been sworn in as Bath’s new fire chief.
With three of his four daughters at his side, the new chief’s badge was pinned on his shirt Tuesday by his wife, Dana.
Jim Hower, who spent 47 years with Bath Fire, presented his son with his chief’s hat.
“Thanks, Dad,” said an emotional Walt Hower, adding that “this truly is something I dreamed about.”
The new chief has been part of the department he now heads since July 1987. He rose through the ranks and was one of 31 applicants for the post that opened in March when former Chief James Paulett retired.

GREEN
Reed re-elected
GREEN: By unanimous vote, attorney Joel Reed was elected to a second consecutive one-year term as president of City Council at the body’s organizational meeting Tuesday night.
The action came after Reed, Chris Humphrey and Gerard Neugebauer were sworn in as the city’s three at-large councilmen.
Ken Knodel also took his oath, as the appointed Ward 3 councilman for the two years remaining on the term of Anthony DeVitis. He resigned in December to accept an appointment to the Ohio House of Representatives.
Mayor Dick Norton administered oaths to Humphrey and Neugebauer. Ward 4 Councilman John “Skip” Summerville did the same for Reed and Knodel.
“I appreciate the confidence, and look forward to serving another year,” Reed told the council after being chosen president. Summerville was unanimously elected vice president, while Ward 1 Councilman Jim Colopy was chosen pro tem by a 5-2 vote, with Humphrey and Neugebauer dissenting.
Norton said he was sworn in late Tuesday morning by Sarah Haring, the city’s Community Development administrator.
The mayor is to be inaugurated for a second four-year term at 7:30 p.m. Thursday by Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, a Green resident.
Council will hold its first committee meetings and council meeting of the year Tuesday.
Committee meetings will begin at 5 p.m., with the council meeting starting at 7.

HARTVILLE
Sewer plans OK’d
HARTVILLE: The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has granted a permit to install a planned sewer plant expansion.
Village Engineer Rob Graham told Village Council on Tuesday the only remaining regulatory hurdle is clearance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to seek construction bids.
The council took the final vote Tuesday on a sewer rate increase that will raise residential bills about $4.40 a month over each of the next three years. The rate increase takes effect April 1.
In other business, the council again selected Councilwoman Cynthia Billings to serve as president pro tempore. She will preside over meetings in the absence of Mayor Richard Currie.

MEDINA COUNTY
Open house Friday
LAFAYETTE TWP.: A cutting ceremony and open house for Medina County’s new public transit facility will begin at 10 a.m. Friday.
The center, at 6094 Wedgewood Road, was funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The open house will end at noon.

NORTON
Mayor takes oath
NORTON: Former Councilman-at-large Mike Zita took the oath of office as the city’s new mayor Tuesday, succeeding David Koontz. Municipal Judge Dave Fish administered the oath.
Also sworn in were new at-large representatives Charlotte Whipkey and Dennis McGlone. Councilman-at-large Scott Pelot, who was re-elected in November, was sworn in for a new term.
McGlone had been on the council previously.
The council elected Don Nicolard as its president and Ken Braman as vice-president for 2012.
Nicolard appointed the following chairs to the council’s standing committees: Finance, Nicolard; Personnel/Rules, Bill Mowery; Planning, McGlone; Property, Whipkey; Safety, Nicolard; Service, Todd Bergstrom; Utilities, Braman; and Economic Development, Pelot.

STARK COUNTY
Jury pay reinstated
CANTON: Stark County commissioners decided Wednesday to reinstate payments to jurors that were suspended in 2008 as a cost-cutting measure.
Petit jurors and grand jurors will be paid $15 daily for the first 10 days of service and $22.50 daily thereafter.
The payments are to resume immediately at the request of Common Pleas Court judges.

WADSWORTH
Grant accepted
WADSWORTH: The City Council has accepted a $31,320 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security to fund 90 percent of the cost to install an exhaust removal system at Fire Station No. 1 in downtown Wadsworth.
Fire Chief Ralph Copley said the new system is the same as the one installed in Station No. 2 when it was built in the northwest section of the city.