2009: A look back
By BILL RODGERS Tribune ChronicleArticle Photos
It was a year of promising and troubling news for the Mahoning Valley, but in the end, it was the conclusion of two grisly crimes that became the 2009 story of the year.
The top local story of 2009 was the executions of Trumbull County killers Jason Getsy and Kenneth Biros. The two died just months apart in Lucasville.
The deaths meant two grieving families claiming to find closure and Ohio gaining worldwide distinction for successfully carrying out a new, untested method of execution.
Two killers
Getsy, 33, was convicted in 1995 of killing Ann Serafino, 66, and of nearly killing her son Chuck Serafino as part of a murder-for-hire plot triggered by a dispute over a Hubbard landscaping business. He was put to death in August.
Biros, 51, was sentenced to die in 1991 for the murder of Tami Engstrom, 22, of Brookfield. Biros' life ended by an untested method of lethal injection in December, after the state botched an execution in September and was faced with lawsuits from inmates, including Biros.
Getsy was executed under the state's former three-drug procedure. Reports from the execution indicate that there were no problems. However, it was after the execution team in the September execution date of Romell Broom was unable to find a suitable vein that the Department of Corrections in Ohio went back to revise its procedure.
It did so in time to meet Biros' scheduled Dec. 8 execution. Biros' execution deadline was delayed by about one hour as the U.S. Supreme Court considered his attorneys' request for a stay. Word came back from the court that the execution would not be stayed, and Biros was put to death.
V&M Star to expand?
Area steel industries such as Severstal fared poorly in 2009, but officials in Trumbull and Mahoning counties as well as Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and Girard Mayor James Melfi worked to land a proposed $8.3 million V&M Star Steel expansion.
And at times, those officials turned on each other.
It was reported that such an expansion to the site could bring in 300 jobs with an additional 200 jobs created in supporting the expansion. However, the company has been mum about whether it'll actually expand the site along U.S. Route 422 between the two cities. The expansion would be at the former Sheet and Tube Brier Hill works.
Officials fought it out. Melfi, in August, balked at transferring some 191 acres of land from his city to Youngstown. The cities fought again over how tax revenue from the project should be split, with Girard holding out for half. An agreement was reached when Girard was granted an even split of wage tax and corporate tax revenue from the site.
Forum Health goes bankrupt
Forum Health, which operates Trumbull Memorial Hospital and Northside Medical Center, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March.
Creditors in September had asked a judge to appoint a trustee, taking the first steps to force the chain to either sell or close Northside Hospital.
Elected officials, worried about the loss of about 4,000 jobs, are trying to keep the hospital system's doors open. Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams is calling for help from the federal economic stimulus program to keep Forum Health a locally run, nonprofit system.
Delphi out of bankruptcy
Delphi Packard Electric workers leaving the plant in October told reporters they were feeling optimistic after the auto parts supplier to General Motors announced that it was emerging from a four-year bankruptcy.
The GM spinoff faced challenges such as increasing foreign competition, production cuts and high labor costs. It lost $4.8 billion from GM in 2004, and in the end, the automaker promised Delphi billions of dollars in loans.
It wasn't all good news for the employees there. Salaried Delphi retirees still are fighting for their pensions, which could lose about 30 to 70 percent of their value after Delphi turned them over to the federal insurer Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. in July.
That battle continues. When President Barack Obama visited GM Lordstown, union members with Delphi spoke to auto recovery director Edward Montgomery about their concerns, giving him a report authored by two professors at Youngstown State University that predicted as many as 1,700 local jobs would be shed from the local economy if Delphi salaried retirees lost their pensions.
Most recently, in a ruling that gives retirees a bit of hope, it was reported Dec. 23 that U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow told PBGC to file documents proving it properly terminated the retirees' pension plan.
Officer runs into fire
A home at 368 Bonnie Brae Ave. N.E. was the site of tragedy and heroics when an arsonist set fire to the group home in April.
The early morning fire was reported by a Tribune Chronicle newspaper carrier. Warren Patrolman Doug Hipple responded, running into the burning building to rescue residents inside.
Firefighters found Hipple unconscious soon after. He was listed in critical condition at the Burn Unit of Akron Children's Hospital for burns and smoke inhalation.
Also hospitalized in serious condition and suffering from burns and smoke inhalation were the disabled residents of the home: Sheree Egry, 52, Donna Cassidy, 52, and Melissa Watson, 44. Watson later died.
Hipple, 38, sustained third-degree burns to about 18 percent of his body, including on his back and arms and the back of his head. He's had skin grafts as part of his treatment.
The patrolman blamed the tragedy on cuts the city made to its safety forces in the last year. He returned to light-duty work this month.
GM unveils the Cruze
Lordstown's doors were closed for two months starting in June, the longest time the factory has been idled for a nonlabor reason since it opened in 1966.
Jim Graham, president of 3,400-member United Auto Workers Local 1112 union at the Lordstown Assembly Plant, called that day sad, but said he was confident the company would come out stronger.
General Motors hopes to do this with the fuel-efficient Chevrolet Cruze, which it unveiled at the L.A. Auto Show this month. The Cruze is projected to get as many as 40 mpg on the highway with a price tag of $20,000.
The Lordstown complex is scheduled to start building the car in August, and it is generating some buzz even outside the area. Jake Fisher, senior automotive engineer for Consumer Reports magazine, said he was impressed with the car, predicting it will sell ''in significant volumes.''
President Barack Obama visited the plant in September and signed the hood of the new Cruze as well as the plant's 1 millionth Chevrolet Cobalt.
The president declared the plant was ''about to shift into high gear.''
Warren budget woes
The private sector wasn't alone in job losses this year. Warren city began 2009 by laying off 40 employees to trim some $3.2 million from its budget. Many of those cuts came to the safety forces, which staged pickets in front of Mayor Michael O'Brien's office and called for him to resign.
The city made additional cuts in June, asking for union concessions and also shedding an additional 12 jobs. The summer cuts saved an additional $1.5 million in the city budget.
Also making Warren city news in 2009, Warren police Chief John Mandopoulos retired in August after 36 years with the department. He was replaced by then-Capt. Tim Bowers.
Deadly year in Warren
Violence was again in the news. Warren has had 10 homicides in 2009, up from six the previous year.
Among them were Lloyd McCoy, 11, who was shot in April while sleeping on a couch at 2290 Wick Ave. The drive-by shooting also killed a 26-year-old man, Marvin Chaney. Lloyd and his 4-year-old brother, Joshua, were struck in the attack. Joshua recovered. Lloyd suffered gunshot wounds to his chest and died about a week after the attack.
In October, Eugene Cumberbatch, 26, was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole in 38 years on two counts of complicity to aggravated murder and two counts of complicity to murder. Cumberbatch told the judge he wasn't a murderer, and he blamed Chaney for the crime, calling him a "walking target" because he was robbing people.
Marcus Yager, an accomplice, testified in the case, stating that he was in the car as the shots were fired. Yager will be sentenced on charges of complicity to involuntary manslaughter and obstructing justice.
A co-defendant, Eugene Henderson, faces the same charges as Cumberbatch.
Traficant freed
Mahoning Valley politician Jim Traficant wrapped up a seven-year federal prison sentence for bribery and racketeering and was released from a Minnesota prison in September.
The former congressman is on probation but wasted no time getting back into the public spotlight. He's made appearances on FOX News, claiming that he was targeted by the federal government in retaliation for beating it in previous cases, and appeared at tax-protesting tea parties calling for the dismantling of the Internal Revenue Service.
This month, the convicted felon announced that he was considering a new run for Congress.
Dave Grohl stops by
Dave Grohl, the Warren-born drummer for the 1990s grunge band Nirvana and frontman for the Foo Fighters, played to a crowd of about 1,000 Mahoning Valley residents as the culmination of the weeklong Music is Art Festival in August.
Grohl was awarded the key to the city by Safety-Service Director Doug Franklin before performing a few of his hit songs for the crowd. Grohl also saw the alley that City Council named in his honor, which was adorned with several murals by local artists.
Grohl was born at Trumbull Memorial Hospital. He grew up in Virginia but has family roots in Warren, Niles and Youngstown. His grandfather was a steel worker at Republic Steel.
People such as police Sgt. Joseph O'Grady and Main Street Warren organizer Jennifer Campbell worked to bring the rock star back to Warren.
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midname
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12-28-09 10:38 AM
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TheDrone; shame on you! Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! AND I AGREE WITH THE DOC!
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Lotterydreamer
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12-28-09 2:07 AM
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oops.
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Lotterydreamer
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12-28-09 2:06 AM
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I agree with everybody tonight on this article.How sickening to have to be reminded of the garbage that went on.2010 - kill more killers! Yaaahoooooooo! Clean out death row!
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Lotterydreamer
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12-28-09 2:04 AM
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I agree with everybody tonight on this article.How sickening to have to be reminded of the garbage that went on.2010 - kill more killers! Yaaahoooooooo! Clean out death row!
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luvmichelleobama
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12-27-09 6:49 PM
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Warren is not a valley *******!
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passintime
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12-27-09 5:59 PM
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again i agree with the doc
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GovernmentCheese
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12-27-09 10:50 AM
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FOB FOB FOB FOB FOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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DrSpankit
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12-27-09 7:39 AM
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fraternal order of brothers?
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bungalobill
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12-27-09 7:33 AM
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I was looking at the pictures and can anyone tell me what a FOB is? I noticed Officer Hipple wearing the shirt in the one picture.
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DrSpankit
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12-27-09 7:00 AM
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Thank you Trib for reminding us of the nasty acts that happened.What an insane picture to end the year with on the front page...I guess it is too tough,for the trib staff to find and print some of the lighter side of good that happened..sure there is bad all around,but putting the dead kids flag on the front page at Christmas is a cheap shot to Warren in general..
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OldManGrump2
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12-27-09 6:23 AM
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2009 was not a good year for the valley or Warren!!!
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