Group: Letter on terrorism link false

Members of a northeast Ohio group say their support of a Roman Catholic school in Lebanon has been wrongly linked to Middle East terrorism.

A letter from the head of a New York-based international investigation company was cited in a sentencing hearing last week in the case of Philip F. George Jr., an Akron businessman convicted of running an illegal instant bingo operation.

That letter, written by Juval Aviv, president of Interfor Inc., said the United Saghbeen Society was known to have supported the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

"It's a complete falsehood," said Dan Silfani of Akron, a society member. "It was completely false and libelous."

Aviv refused to discuss the letter. Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Bill Anderson, who handled the gambling trial, did not return a call seeking comment.

George, 43, was sentenced on Thursday to serve 25 years in prison after being found guilty on eight counts of an 11-count indictment.

He was convicted on charges of gambling, operating a gambling house, money laundering, conspiracy and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

A jury found him guilty of running a tip-ticket operation in clubs and bars that prosecutors said grossed more than $50 million in about two years.

Councilman Crowley OK after fainting spell

Cincinnati Councilman David Crowley was released from Christ Hospital Sunday after fainting at a meeting of a gay rights group the day before.

Crowley, 65, has been undergoing treatment for prostate cancer that was discovered last November. Doctors attributed the fainting incident to side effects of a drug used during that treatment.

The first-term Democratic councilman gave a speech to One Human Family, a human rights group that spun off from Stonewall Cincinnati after Stonewall endorsed a boycott of downtown. He fainted at the reception after the speech.

Planning commission to have Oakley session

The Cincinnati Planning Commission will hold an unprecedented neighborhood meeting March 20 in Oakley to discuss a proposal to add a Petsmart and a Circuit City store to the Center of Cincinnati shopping center.

The commission scheduled the meeting Friday at the request of Commissioner Caleb Faux, who said developer Vandercar Holdings Inc. hasn't been forthright with Oakley residents who were promised a mixed-use development similar to Norwood's Rookwood Commons.

The meeting will be 7 p.m. March 20 at Oakley Community Center, 3882 Paxton Ave.

Missing victim found in Springdale fatality

Springdale police found the missing victim in Saturday's fatal traffic accident and have charged a driver in the death.

The wreck happened about 2 a.m. on Northland Boulevard east of Route 4 when a car driven by Alejandro Olvera, 18, of West Chester, hit a tree. Olvera was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide in the death of Adam Olvera, 20. Police did not say how or if the two are related.

After the accident, police were looking for a missing victim. He had been in the wrecked car, but was taken away from the scene by people in another vehicle. Police think the people in the cars knew each other. The victim was found later Saturday and was "relatively uninjured," police said.

Endowment to honor four killed

A former Taylor High School valedictorian and three other members of a whale aerial survey team killed in a Jan. 26 plane crash will be honored with a new endowment.

The board of directors of Wildlife Trust in Palisades, N.Y., have established "The Heroes of the Sea Memorial Fund," to honor four researchers who were killed after their twin-engine plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, 8 miles off Fernandina Beach in northern Florida.The team was led by biologist Emily Argo, 25, of St. Petersburg, Fla. She was a Cheviot native and Taylor High graduate (Class of 1995).

Contributions should be made payable to Wildlife Trust, Attention: Heroes of the Sea Memorial Fund, 1200 Lincoln Ave., Suite 2, Prospect Park, Pa., 19076-2098.

Woman sues over sex act in police car

A woman who was in a police cruiser when a former Cincinnati officer masturbated on duty is suing the officer and the city for $1 million.

The woman - described in the federal suit only as "D.H." because of "severe psychological injury" caused by the incident - said Officer Lonnie Grizzel called her to meet him at Eden Park in June 2002, then grabbed her breast and masturbated before she could get away.

The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court, says Grizzel was an acquaintance of D.H.'s boyfriend. The boyfriend was a Cincinnati police lieutenant. It also says she suffered physical and emotional injury, and alleges that the Cincinnati Police Department failed to supervise Grizzel.

- Compiled from staff and wire reports