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Friday Sports

Urick to enter Trojan Athletics Hall of Fame PAGE 14

It’s Where You Live! www.troydailynews.com September 6, 2013

Volume 105, No. 211

INSIDE

Stray bullet strikes Troy Christian High School building By Melanie Yingst Staff Writer myingst@civitasmedia.com

TROY — A stray bullet struck a metal door at Troy Christian High School Wednesday evening and city of Troy Police are still unsure where the high caliber bullet came from. Only one student, who was in the gym, and four staff members were in the building

when an administrator heard a noise in the hallway and discovered the bullet on the ground around 7 p.m. Wednesday. The door was located on the west (Interstate 75) side of the high school building. School officials said no one was outside during the incident and simply stated that it was a stray bullet that penetrated the metal door. According to Troy Police Department Captain Joe Long, police officers checked

the area after the report was made. Officers found residents target shooting in the area, but none of the persons were found to have had the approximately 30-caliber-sized bullet that struck the school building. Long said a similar occurrence of a stray bullet struck a double paned window approximately a year ago in the Edgewater subdivision. Long said there were no leads to anyone responsible for the stray bullet in either incident.

Trial set for daycare officials

Take a stroll back in time

You can take your cell phone to the Ohio Renaissance Festival, but you might feel a bit conspicuous walking through the village chatting with a friend. See Page 6

Will E Sanders

Staff Writer wsanders@civitasmedia.com

Staff Photo | ANTHONY WEBER

A crew from Tree Care Inc., including Tyler Roehler, prunes a few ash trees at a home in Westbrook Thursday morning.

From ash to ashes City seeks outside help in removing dead trees By Melanie Yingst

Egypt: Interior minister survives bomb attack

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s interior minister escaped an assassination attempt Thursday when a suspected car bomb struck his convoy in a Cairo neighborhood, in the first attack on a senior government official since the country’s Islamist president was toppled in a coup two months ago. See, Page 10

INSIDE TODAY Business..................2 Calendar....................3 Crossword.................9 Deaths.......................5 Harry M. Moore Sandra D. Shale Margaret Shimp Eleanor Barringer Opinion......................4 Sports........................14

OUTLOOK Today Mostly Sunny High: 78º Low: 52º Saturday

Chance of rain High: 84º Low: 63º Complete weather informaiton on Page 10 Home Delivery: 335-5634 Classified Advertising: (877) 844-8385

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Staff Writer myingst@civitasmedia.com

TROY — The rapid deterioration caused by the emerald ash borer has been keeping the city of Troy’s park department busy as beavers cutting down dead ash trees and other damaged trees from November through March each year. Yet, according to the city of Troy’s Jeremy Drake, Superintendent of Parks, the long list of dead ash trees is becoming more than he and his crew can handle during the winter months. At Tuesday’s board of Park Commissioners meeting, Drake submitted a quote from Eric Davis of Tree Care Inc. to remove 70 dead trees at more than 40 city locations. In his report, Drake noted that he met with Eric Davis of Tree Care Inc. to look at dead street trees and park trees in August. Davis submitted a quote to remove 70 dead trees to help the parks department catch up with the growing list of trees needing to be removed. Davis is a certified master arborist. Drake said the trees need to be removed “sooner than

later” and a contract with an outside vendor would help the city to “catch up and get control” of the problem. “They are dying and deteriorating at a greater rate,” Drake said. “We are getting a growing number of calls about dead trees and we are able to keep up with them throughout town.” Drake said staff would have to work year-round to be able to keep up with the removal mainly of dead ash trees. Drake said he also would like to add a full-time arborist to help keep up with the city’s tree program. The list includes several home owners and park properties which need immediate attention have been added to the removal list this summer. The quotes include proposal price includes take down, remove all wood and debris, grind stump and remove grindings to grade from Tree Care Inc. Examples of quotes and the number of trees include: Waco Park, nine ash trees and one dead elm tree —$2,800; Heywood Park, one maple and three ash trees — $2,100, Troy Library and Troy Hayner Cultural Center, 15 ash trees in curb lawn and one maple and one ash at Hayner — $3,850, Trade Square Park, 10 ash and two maples — $3,350;

Community Park, nine ash and one dead spruce — $6,300, 17 residences with curb trees needing removal is estimated to cost $7,265. In other reports, Ken Siler, city of Troy’s recreation department director, said the Troy Aquatic Park’s pool is in the process of being drained and winterized. Hobart Arena staff will be putting down ice for the 20132014 season. Siler said the Jam Productions company used the arena for signs and operations during last weekend’s music festival. The parking lot also served as a staging area for trucks and other equipment. Ken Green, director of Miami Shores Golf Course, was not in attendance due to illness. The surplus park land will be rebid beginning Oct. 16, according to city secretary Sue Knight. The board approved the Troy-Miami County Public Library’s request to use Brukner Park for its “Book Walk” from Sept. 28 through Oct. 26. The board approved the park use as long it meets insurance and liability issues and coverage. The “Book Walk” will include 16 signs throughout the park located in front of the library on Water St.

TROY — A judge appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court will hear the case against the two directors of an Elizabeth Township daycare facility that were indicted last month for failure to report child abuse. Karen A. Leffel, 62, of Troy, and Amy B. Hawkins, 43, of Casstown, both had pretrial conferences in Miami County Municipal Court on Thursday and a tentative trial date of Sept. 23 was set, though the trial date is subject to change. Leffel and Hawkins were indicted on a misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse in August following the completion of an investigation by the Miami County Sheriff’s Office into the Walnut Grove Learning Center, 5760 E. Walnut Grove, where both of the women serve as directors. Leffel is the owner of the facility. Court personnel sent a request to the Ohio Supreme Court for an appointed judge to hear the case after judges in Miami County recused themselves from the case. Attorneys for the defendants, Jeremy Tomb and Christopher Clark, have entered a not guilty plea for the women and have filed a request for a bill of particulars in the case. In the meantime, Leffel and Hawkins remain free on recognizance bonds. Sheriff’s reports indicate both women witnessed or knew of alleged sexual abuse taking place at center. Authorities began investigating the case at the end of June after an ex-daycare employee reported the allegations of four occasions where the same child was “caught touching other students in a sexual manner,” according to reports. Those reports stated a 4-year-old child allegedly touched three children during four occasions between April and May at the facility and none of those repeated instances were reported by Leffel or Hawkins. The investigation found the former daycare worker who came forward to police said Leffel and Hawkins allegedly wanted to keep the incidents “a secret” and when the employee expressed her concerns about not reporting the abuse she was fired. According to investigators and police reports, Leffel and Hawkins informed parents of the child victims, but downplayed the nature of the allegations.

Obama seeks world leaders’ support to strike Syria ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — President Barack Obama pressed fellow world leaders on Thursday to support a U.S.-led strike on Syria, but he ran into opposition from Russia, China and even the European Union — which condemned the deadly recent chemical weapons attack in Bashar Assad’s country but declared it too soon for military action. “The use of chemical weapons in Syria is not only a tragedy but also a violation of international law that must be addressed,” Obama insisted during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit, where he mostly made his case behind the scenes. China’s G-20 delegation spokesman, Qin Gang, was among those who countered, saying: “War isn’t the fundamental way to solve problems

in Syria.” Obama’s public and private diplomatic wrangling partly was intended to ratchet up pressure on lawmakers back in Washington as they debate authorizing military action. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a use-offorce resolution this week, but the measure’s prospects in the full Senate and the House of Representatives are uncertain. The prospect of military action against Syria overshadowed the global growth agenda at the two-day G-20 summit, which opened Thursday in this historic Russian city on the Baltic Sea. Leaders did, however, hold a lengthy discussion about the crisis during a fourhour dinner hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of Syria’s strongest backers. The dinner at St. Petersburg’s Peterhof Palace stretched into the early hours of Friday and

ended with an elaborate fireworks and laser light display. White House advisers said Obama was seeking “political and diplomatic” support from his international counterparts, not necessarily military cooperation. And Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said the type of action the U.S. is contemplating “does not come with significant requirements of international participation.” While Obama has long called for the ouster of Assad, a deadly chemical weapons attack near Damascus two weeks ago pushed the U.S. to the brink of military action for the first time during Syria’s civil war. The U.S. position on Syria has increased tensions with Putin, one of Assad’s most important economic and military backers. Putin has blocked efforts at the United Nations to take action and has questioned intelligence reports American officials say link the

chemical weapon deployment to the Syrian leader. British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday that the United Kingdom had fresh evidence that was being examined at British laboratories. Ahead of the U.S. president’s arrival in St. Petersburg, Putin told The Associated Press in an interview that it was “completely ridiculous” to assert that Assad was behind the use of deadly gases against Syrian citizens. The Kremlin also announced it was boosting its naval presence in the Mediterranean, where the U.S. has five destroyers on standby for a military strike. In keeping with the economic theme of the meeting, Chinese officials said military action would have a negative impact on the global economy, particularly oil prices. The European Union also was

• See SYRIA on page 2

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