Leavittsburg road project left incomplete due to threats

Road crew allegedly threatened by property owner in Warren Township

LEAVITTSBURG -- Completion of some 850 feet of a 4,700-foot road resurfacing project on Anderson Anthony Road has been put on hold by the Trumbull County Engineer's Office, because its road crew was being threatened by a property owner.

On Aug. 2 an engineer's crew was paving the southbound lane of Anderson Anthony Road when an angry property owner came screaming at them because of where their equipment was parked on Eagle Creek Road.

The next day, the man again is accused of threatening the road crew after one of its vehicles became stuck and the crew was waiting for a tow, according to road department employees.

"He got in our safety officer's face," Dave Peterson, the highway supervisor, said. "He threatened to beat him up."

The property owner, according to a Warren Township police report, then said: "I should kill you for parking in my yard."

There is no indication in Warren Municipal Court records that the man faces charges.

The statement, however, made the county employee nervous. At that point, Randy Smith, Trumbull County engineer, shut down the project.

Peterson said the paving project would have been completed by the end of the second day if the property owner had not interfered.

Attorney Jeff Goodman, personnel consultant with the Trumbull County Engineer's Office, told county Commissioner Denny Malloy on Wednesday that the property owner was in the face of a county employee, spitting on him, as he made threats of physical harm.

"We had the employee tested," Goodman noted. "He's fine."

Goodman described the Warren Township Police Department being called about the incident, but his office has not received any response about what is being done to improve the safety of the crew while they are completing the work.

Several county workers also contacted the Warren prosecutor's office to provide statements.

Since the incident, Larry Cardillo, a representative of the International Union of Operating Engineers, contacted Smith -- notifying him this environment was unsafe and unproductive and must not continue.

Smith discontinued the work on the road, until he can be sure his crews will not be threatened or attacked.

Malloy described being contacted by Warren Township schools Superintendent Anthony Calderone about the unfinished two-lane road. School buses are being forced over to side of the road to pass the area, according to Malloy.

Smith noted the work must be completed before cooler fall weather sets in, which will force the county to discontinue the project until next spring.