Conneaut News

The Coast Guard station in Ashtabula says nothing has been found to substantiate claims that an object, possibly a plane, was spotted in Lake Erie.

While Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers are willing to lend any police agency a hand, they can't replace 16 Ashtabula County Sheriff's Department deputies laid off earlier this week, said Lt.

City Council, which is talking of tinkering with the Conneaut Fire Department, isn't giving last year's overhaul of the department a chance, said the president of the local firefighters union.

Recent layoffs in the Ashtabula County Sheriff's Department won't affect the agency's investigation into the Christmas Day stabbing death of an Ashtabula Township man, Sheriff William Johnson said Thursday.

Village safety departments have been buoyed by more than $62,000 in grants for safety equipment, communications and technology.

Penny Armeni, executive director of the Conneaut Community Center for the Arts, is the city's Citizen of the Year for 2009, officials said.

City Council members will discuss a potential overhaul of a handful of municipal departments at a finance and ordinance committee meeting Thursday night, said Councilman-at-Large Robert Naylor, committee chairman.

Seventy-seven percent of Ashtabula County registered voters questioned for an economic steering committee survey, say the county is on the wrong track.

If 6 degree weather, 14.2 percent unemployment and postholiday credit-card bills are not enough to make you depressed, just wait until you get your electric bill.

A county judge has upheld a Conneaut councilman's complaint against a local man he claimed posted defamatory messages on a Star Beacon Web site, according to court records.

When Conneaut attorney Robert Naylor joined City Council this month, he did so knowing his new job would mean fewer appearances in Conneaut Municipal Court.

Tests for federal census-taker jobs will be given at the Conneaut Human Resources Center, 327 Mill St., in the coming weeks.

Short- and long-term lakefront enhancement plans dominated Thursday night's Conneaut Port Authority meeting.

By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com CONNEAUT - From babies to senior citizens, plenty of people took advantage of free H1N1 flu vaccine made available Friday afternoon through the Conneaut Health Department.

By ELLEN KOLMAN - Staff Writer - ekolman@starbeacon.com Star Beacon ASHTABULA - Conneaut sixth-grade students got a hands-on lesson on proper hand washing in the nursing department of the new Robert S. Morrison Health and Science Building at Kent State University-Ashtabula on Friday morning.

A citywide water meter replacement program is under way in Conneaut, and officials hope the state-of-the-art devices sprout big bucks for the beleaguered budget.

Ashtabula County's Board of Elections wants to merge some precincts and relocate others to save money.

BILL WEST / Star Beacon CONVICTED SEX offender Jeffrey A. Bickel of Cortland waits as his attorney, Paul Conn of Youngstown, left, and Ashtabula County chief assistant prosecutor Harold Specht Jr.

A former Conneaut teacher who pleaded guilty to sex-related charges involving a high school student avoided jail at his sentencing Tuesday afternoon but must register as a sex offender for 15 years.

A performance review of City Manager Robert Schaumleffel Jr., required in his contract, will be held soon, said Council President Thomas Udell.