A SWAT unit was sent Wednesday afternoon to a Deerfield Township home.
Warren County dispatchers said police were called to a domestic violence call on Auburn Place. The incident was determined to be a false alarm and SWAT is no longer on the scene, dispatchers say.
The incident remains under investigation.
MasonBuzz will update this story.
Paul McKibben reports:
The city of Mason wants the state to designate U.S. 42 in Warren County the “Warren County Veterans Highway” to honor veterans.
The state road in Warren County stretches from Wayne Township in the north to Deerfield Township in the south. It goes through Waynesville, Lebanon and Mason. Mason City Council’s veterans committee hopes the entire highway in Ohio would also get the designation. Statewide, the road runs from Hamilton County to Cuyahoga County.
Mason City Manager Eric Hansen said U.S. 42 was picked because of location. “It’s a strategic road that crosses the entire state. So it has the potential. It cuts through Warren County particularly,” he said.
Warren County Commissioner Dave Young said he would support the veterans designation on the entire part of U.S. 42 in the county.
“Anytime we can give credit to the folks that actually went out there and put their lives on (the) line to give us the ability to go do all the stuff we do here, I’m all for it,” he said.
The Ohio General Assembly would need to approve designating the highway throughout Warren County and the state.
U.S. 42 from Cuyahoga to Hamilton counties is also named the 42nd Rainbow Division Memorial Highway. In April 1945 during World War II, the 42nd Infantry Division went into the Dachau concentration camp in Nazi Germany, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Several other roads in Southwest Ohio have military designations. Some of them are:
Interstate 275 in Clermont County is the Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin Veterans Memorial Highway. Maupin, a 2001 Glen Este High School graduate, was driving a supply truck in April 2004 while serving in the Army in Iraq when his fuel convoy was ambushed and he was captured. His remains were found in 2008.
Ohio 129 in Butler County from Interstate 75 through Hamilton to the Indiana line is the Butler County Veterans Highway.
Ohio 4 in Fairfield from South Gilmore Road to Symmes Road is the Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski Memorial Highway. Prazynski, a 2003 Fairfield High School graduate who served with the Marines, died in combat in 2005 in Iraq.
Ohio 48 from Shelby County through Miami, Montgomery, Warren and Clermont counties is the USAF Pararescue Memorial Highway. The Air Force unit does combat search and rescue among other capabilities.
Jennifer Edwards-Baker reports:
The calendar clearly shows it’s still winter, but the forecast feels more like spring.
The high temperature today and Thursday will soar to near 60 degrees under a mix of sun, clouds and slight chance for a bit of rain, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
That’s a good 15 degrees or so above the normal high of 45 for this time of year.
It was still fairly brisk this morning with a reading of 40 degrees at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron. With the wind chill factored in, it felt closer to 33.
The overnight low will fall to 40 with a 20 percent chance for rain.
After another 60-something day Thursday, the forecast will turn more seasonable as a cold front arrives.
That will drive temperatures down Thursday afternoon through the weeken and bring increased chances for rain and light snow flurries through Friday night.
Daytime highs will be in the upper 30s and 40s with overnight lows in the mid-20s and low 30s.
The Enquirer reports:
SYMMES TWP. – The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating a crash involving four vehicles, including an overturned tractor trailer, that closed I-71 during evening rush hour Monday.
A preliminary investigation found that Michael Fortine, 27, was driving a 1998 Mercury Mystique northbound on I-71 when he failed to maintain a clear distance and struck a Toyota Matrix from behind, according to reports.
The Matrix, driven by Clayton Kuhnell, 66, was pushed into the left lane from the right lane, then struck a 2006 Freightliner tractor trailer, operated by David Taylor, 54.
Taylor then swerved to the right, striking 2008 Dodge 2500 van, driven by James Laycock, 49. Laycock’s vehicle then went off the right side of the highway, striking an embankment.
The tractor trailer overturned onto its left side, blocking all four lanes of I-71 northbound. Fortine, Laycock and Taylor were taken to Bethesda North Hospital for minor injuries.
Kuhnell and his passenger, Pamela Kuhnell, 62, were taken to Jewish Hospital.
No alcohol or drugs were involved, reports said.
All northbound traffic was closed near the Fields Ertel-Mason Montgomery exit for about an hour and 20 minutes.
The crash remains under investigation.
Posted in: News |
Janice Morse reports:
UPDATE, 7:35 p.m.: All lanes of I-71 north reopened as of 7:15 p.m.
The extent of injuries is unknown.
Contrary to other media reports, there were only four vehicles involved.
UPDATE, 6:15 p.m.: The ramps from east and west I-275 to north I-71 are closed.
UPDATE: 5:28 p.m.: No detours have been set up yet, but a dispatcher says the Ohio Department of Transportation is en route to do so.
The Ohio State Highway patrol advises that northbound traffic should try to exit before reaching Interstate 275; a dispatcher says the highway may not be shut down as long as ARTIIMIS was predicting, but she didn’t have a time estimate yet for reopening it.
SYMMES TWP. – All north lanes of Interstate 71 are blocked near Fields Ertel and Mason-Montgomery roads, ARTIMIS reports.
A semi tractor-trailer was reported overturned around 4:30 p.m.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol is handling the investigation.
It will take six hours to clear the scene, ARTIMIS estimated. Three vehicles, plus the truck, were involved in that crash, the patrol said, and three people were being transported to hospitals for treatment of injuries.
A second crash was reported about 20 minutes later, also on Interstate 71 north, about three miles away from the first crash scene. It is unclear whether anyone was hurt.
The left shoulder is blocked at Pfeiffer Road because of the second crash, ARTIMIS said.
Two vehicles are involved in that crash.
The Enquirer and MasonBuzz will update this story when more information is available.
Ivy Grove Lane will be closed today and Tuesday as part of the Bethany Road Improvements project.
The closure is to allow for the connecting of a storm sewer, reports the Warren County Engineer’s Office.
Detours will be posted and will use U.S. 42 and Mason-Montgomery, Mason and Butler-Warren roads.
For more information, call the Engineer’s Office at 513-695-3302 or go to www.wceo.us.
Jennifer Edwards-Baker reports:
This week is starting off cold, clear and frosty, but more rain and mild temperatures will dominate the forecast over the next several days.
In fact, by Thursday the high will be close to 60 degrees.
Today’s high will top out at 47 under mostly sunny skies. There is a 30 percent chance for rain tonight. The low will be 33 degrees.
Starting Tuesday, warm air flowing up from the south will keep daytime temperatures in the 50s and overnight lows in the upper 30s with slight chances for rain.
Southwest winds will blow through with gusts as high as 31 mph.
That trend will stick around until the weekend.
By Saturday, the mercury will fall to a more seasonable high of 38 degrees under partly sunny skies.
Overnight lows will tumble into the 20s.
GOP Presidential candidate Republican Rick Santorum shakes the hand of Carol L. Venn as Santorum enters the room to speak at Manor House in Friday Feb. 17, 2012 in Mason. / The Enquirer/ Joseph Fuqua II
Paul E. Kostyu reports:
MASON —Republican Rick Santorum wasted little time Friday evening to blast President Barack Obama’s plans for America, while making only a passing reference to primary opponent Mitt Romney. Making a patriotic speech to several hundred members of the Warren County Republican Party, the former Pennsylvania senator said there are stark choices in the general election.
“In 2008, people believed they needed a leader they could believe in,” he said. “What America wants is a leader that believes in them.”
He criticized Romney, referring to him as a “certain governor not for private-sector health care,” while criticizing the national health care plan pushed by Obama.
“It’s not just about jobs,” Santorum said in his 30-minute speech. “What’s at stake is the soul of America. Where does Ohio stand? Where do they stand for families and small business? For churches and community organizations? Are they for local government and community control, or are they going to stand with Washington? That’s the decision for Ohio.”
Rick Santorum gets a pat on the shoulder from Andrea Carskadden as Santorum enters the room to speak at Manor House in Friday Feb. 17, 2012 in Mason. / The Enquirer/Joseph Fuqua II
Though Warren County Republicans were hoping their Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner would be Santorum’s first Ohio stop on his presidential campaign, they got beat out by a quick change of plans when the former Pennsylvania senator stopped in Columbus to pick up the endorsement of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.
Still, several hundred people poured into the Manor House here to hear Santorum, who is now running slightly ahead in Ohio and national polls. His stay was brief, because he had another stop yet to make in Georgetown for the Brown County Lincoln Day dinner.
The major news of the day, however, may have been the endorsement of Santorum by DeWine, because he backed Romney as early as October 2011.
“What you see is what you get with Rick Santorum,” DeWine said prior to the senator’s remarks. The two served together in the U.S. Senate.
“He’s a real person. He’s very human and a great leader. We’re looking for someone to beat Barack Obama, and there is only one person to do that.”
“To be frank, I’ve had some sleepless nights,” DeWine said, explaining his change of candidates.
“I could not, in good conscience, be on record endorsing Gov. Romney when I knew in my heart that Rick Santorum was the better candidate.”
Santorum made the announcement about DeWine’s support from the steps of the Ohio statehouse in Columbus Friday afternoon. The stop was one of several for Santorum.
Santorum is scheduled to make two stops back in Columbus today, with a local tea party group in the morning and at noon before the Ohio Christian Alliance. Tonight he is to speak in Akron, and he is scheduled to return to the state on March 2 in East Lake, east of Cleveland.
“I’m proud and honored to have the endorsement of my friend and former Senate colleague,” Santorum said. “Mike and I have a long history of fighting together for limited government and the sanctity of life, and I can think of no one who I’d rather be in this fight with than Mike.”
Also this week, CNN announced that a planned GOP presidential debate scheduled for March 1 in Atlanta had been canceled. Newt Gingrich was the only candidate to commit to the debate in his home state. The Ohio and Georgia Republican parties were co-sponsors of the event.
The Associated Press contributed.
A judge declared a mistrial Friday after a Warren County jury reported being hopelessly deadlocked on whether a Mason man sexually assaulted and raped his girlfriend’s 9-year-old daughter.
Jorge Velasquez, 33, had been charged with one count of rape of a child and a lesser charge of gross sexual imposition. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for just over five hours Friday before reporting to Warren County Common Pleas Court Judge James L. Flannery that they could not reach a verdict.
The jury split 6-4 in favor of acquittal with two jurors undecided, according to defense attorney Justin Bartlett, who spoke with jurors after the proceedings.
Prosecutors will retry the case, said Assistant Warren County Prosecutor Theresa Hiett.
Velasquez took the stand Friday in his own defense to counter allegations made by the now 14-year-old girl, who says he fondled and digitally penetrated her when she was 9.
The girl testified Thursday that she regarded Velasquez as a father figure. Velasquez and the girl’s mother have two other children together.
The alleged abuse began when her mother began working the night shift in late summer of 2006, leaving her and a toddler brother home alone with Velasquez, the girl said.
The abuse stopped several months later when her mother stopped working the night shift, she said.
“He told me not to tell my mom or else,” she told jurors. “I was scared because I thought if I told someone he would hurt me or anyone in my family.”
Both Velasquez and the girl’s mother testified that the girl fabricated the accusations to retaliate against Velasquez for preventing her from seeing an adult boyfriend.
“Nothing ever happened,” Velasquez told the jury. “[The victim] just said it now because [she] wants me in jail out of the way. She wants me to leave her alone so she can be with him.”
The boyfriend, Nehemias Cristobel, testified Friday that the victim confided in him last year about the alleged abuse and that he encouraged her to report it.
Under cross examination, Cristobel, now 22, admitted his relationship with the girl began when he was 20 and she was 12, but insisted that her mother and Velasquez approved of it on the condition their dates were chaperoned.
“Everyone tells lies in this world but I don’t think she would tell a lie this big,” he said.
The girl’s mother and the defendant’s brother, Guillermo Velasquez, both testified that the abuse could not have happened because the girl stayed overnight with relatives on days her mother worked the night shift.
The girl’s mother painted a portrait of an unruly and out-of-control teenager who made the accusations five years after the alleged incidents in response to efforts by her and Velasquez to prevent her from seeing Cristobel. When she tried to take away the girl’s cell phone, a gift from Cristobel, the girl struck and pushed her, she told jurors.
The mother said she did not report the incident to police because she is an undocumented immigrant and feared deportation.
Defense attorney Justin Bartlett attacked the girl’s credibility, pointing out inconsistencies in her story and arguing that she has a history of lying.
“Our position is that they’re acting as reasonable parents. They’re trying to prevent their daughter from engaging into a relationship with an adult,” he said. “She’s upset because her parents are trying to reel her in, control her.”
Hiett questioned the financial motives of the mother in protecting Velasquez, the family’s breadwinner, and asked the jury to consider why a teenage girl would fabricate such “detailed and imaginative” abuse allegations.
“It would have been a lot easier for her to turn around and say this never happened. There were alternatives for her and yelling rape was not the first one,” said Hiett.
“It’s always the child’s word against the perpetrator’s word. When is a child’s word enough?”
Bartlett said he was not surprised that the trial ended with a hung jury and said the case hinged on the accuser’s credibility.
“There was the credibility of one person versus three witnesses that came forward to testify consistently,” he said. “I thought it could have been a mistrial; obviously we were hoping for an acquittal.”
If convicted, Velasquez faces a prison term of up to life on the rape charge and 36 months on the charge of gross sexual imposition. He remains in the Warren County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
No new trial date has yet been set.
Is Jorge Velasquez a concerned stepfather or is he a sexual abuser and child rapist?
That’s the question before jurors in Warren County Common Pleas Court as they decide the fate of the accused Mason man.
Testimony wrapped up in the second day of trial for Velasquez, 33, who’s charged with one count of rape of a child. Velasquez has entered a plea of not guilty to the charge, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
Prosecutors added a lesser charge of gross sexual imposition for jurors to consider. The charge, a third-degree felony, carries a prison term of up to 36 months.
The case went to the jury of eight women and four men shortly before 1 p.m.
Velasquez took the stand today in his own defense to counter allegations made by the teenage daughter of his girlfriend, who says he fondled and digitally penetrated her when she was 9.
The girl, now 14, testified Thursday that the alleged abuse began when her mother began working the night shift in late summer of 2006, leaving her and a toddler brother home alone with Velasquez.
The victim testified that the abuse began with the defendant fondling her in bed and then escalated to digital penetration. The abuse stopped several months later when her mother stopped working the night shift, she said.
“He told me not to tell my mom or else,” she told jurors. “I was scared because I thought if I told someone he would hurt me or anyone in my family.”
Although Velasquez and the girl’s mother are unmarried, the girl testified she regarded him as a father figure. Velasquez and the girl’s mother have two other children together.
Velasquez vehemently denied the allegations. Both he and the girl’s mother testified that she fabricated the accusations to retaliate against him for preventing her from seeing an adult boyfriend.
“Nothing ever happened,” he told the jury. ”[The victim] just said it now because [she] wants me in jail out of the way. She wants me to leave her alone so she can be with him.”
The boyfriend, Nehemias Cristobel, testified today that the victim confided in him last year about the alleged abuse and that he encouraged her to tell her mother or a teacher.
Under cross examination, Cristobel, now 22, admitted that his relationship with the girl began when he was 20 and she was 12, but insisted that her mother and Velasquez approved of it as long as their dates were chaperoned.
He told the jury that an adult man dating a minor child was more socially and culturally acceptable in his native Guatemala, where both the victim and defendant also immigrated from.
“Everyone tells lies in this world but I don’t think she would tell a lie this big,” he said.
Velasquez said the abuse could not have happened because the girl stayed with Velasquez’s brother and sister-in-law overnight on days her mother worked the night shift.
Guillermo Velasquez took the stand Friday and told jurors that his brother, the defendant, was never permitted to be left alone with the girl. The girl’s mother testified Thursday that she did not trust Velasquez to be left alone with her daughter.
In her closing argument, Assistant Warren County Prosecutor Theresa Hiett questioned why Guillermo Velasquez and the girl’s mother did not notify police about the defendant’s alleged lack of access to the girl.
“Would any of us allow a family member to sit (in jail) when you know you have the ace card in hand?” she asked.
Hiett suggested the girl’s mother might be protecting Velasquez for fear of the financial instability that could result should he be convicted and sent to prison. Velasquez testified that he is the family’s primary breadwinner, although “not by much.”
She asked the jury to consider why a teenage girl would fabricate such detailed allegations of abuse.
“It would have been a lot easier for her to turn around and say this never happened. There were alternatives for her and yelling rape was not the first one,” said Hiett.
“It’s always the child’s word against the perpetrator’s word. When is a child’s word enough?”
Defense attorney Justin Bartlett attacked the girl’s credibility, pointing out inconsistencies in her story and arguing that she has a history of lying.
“Our position is that they’re acting as reasonable parents. They’re trying to prevent their daughter from engaging into a relationship with an adult,” he said. “She’s upset because her parents are trying to reel her in, control her.”
MasonBuzz will update this story.
