NEWTON FALLS — With the recent opening of the Newton Falls covered bridge, a special display of covered bridge items and models are being shown at the public library’s history room.

The original covered bridge was erected in the 1831 with many parts and pieces of the bridge including dowels, nails, sides and trusses being showcased. There are also photos and pictures of the bridge.

Assistant library director Carol Baker said the covered bridge artifacts can be viewed along with historical pictures and paintings of the bridge.

Baker said resident George W. Quiggle created several miniatures of the bridge including those that Quiggle measured to exact scale.

Dumb As DillonNEWTON FALLS — The FBI came down pretty quickly on Roger Lee Dillon of Youngstown who is accused of stealing $7.4 million from a Liberty armored car service in November.

One local recording studio owner said the rapid capture might have killed Dillon’s chances of becoming a folk hero, but at least some children can have a better Christmas because of it.

“This is a country song if I ever heard one,” said Mike Talanca of Tune Town recording in Newton Falls.

Talanca and his friends Alan Matavich and Brenda Rider penned the ballad “Dumb as Dillon,” which immortalizes Dillon’s misadventures. The song is getting airplay on a local radio station and is available on CD for a $5 donation to Toys for Tots and A Way With Words Foundation, which is an organization for children cancer survivors.

By CHRISTOPHER BOBBY Tribune Chronicle

WARREN — A 30-year-old Newton Falls man, who admitted earlier this month to police and a Children Services investigator that he had sex with an underage female family member, was named in a three-count indictment issued Wednesday by a Trumbull County grand jury.

The three charges of rape against Edward Mark Logan, 334 Morrison Ave., carry potential life sentences since the victim is 11 years old. The indictment accuses Logan of digital rape against the girl once in the summer, another time this past fall and again on Dec. 11.

Life counts of rape mean a defendant — if convicted — does not become eligible for parole until after serving at least 10 years.

Old Newton Falls Covered Bridge: 117' Long Built in 1831According to an article in the Trib, our beloved covered bridge is nearing completion and there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday at 2pm.

I've ranted about this before. Remembering history is important. I'm fond of the Newton Falls landmark. But at a cost of $900,000? C'mon people.

Yes, it was paid by a federal grant, and maybe if we didn't spend it someone else would have. But I still can't fathom funding a project that cost that much for a 100' of bridge over a river no one travels on.

According to a recent article in a local paper (attached at bottom of this blog) a recent event that took place in Newton Falls has caused an internal investigation by the Portage County Probation Office.

A Portage County probation officer let her boyfriend — who is on probation in that county — drive her car even though he had no license, a Newton Falls police report said.