An Ohio legislative panel has signed off on new deer hunting regulations that cut the number of animals that hunters could kill statewide.
The rules reduce the statewide bag limit on deer from 12 to nine. They also set county limits instead of dividing the state into zones with limits. The caps per county vary.
The state’s Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review reviewed and OK’d the new rules on Wednesday.
Hunting hours would be extended 30 minutes past sunset for all deer firearms seasons, making the hours the same as archery season.
The regulations are set to take effect during the 2013-2014 hunting seasons.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources oversees the rules’ implementation. The department says the average hunter shoots fewer than two deer annually.
CINCINNATI
Man pleads guilty to security guard’s murder
Court officials say a man has pleaded guilty to murder in the fatal stabbing of a security guard at a downtown Cincinnati hotel last year.
Joseph Tucker Jr. had been charged with aggravated murder and other counts in the stabbing of 58-year-old Richard Campbell, and could have received life in prison without parole if convicted of all the charges.
A bailiff and the defense attorney say the 36-year-old Tucker, of Cincinnati, pleaded guilty to one count of murder Wednesday and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. The other charges were dropped for the plea.
Campbell was found dead from several stab wounds in a stairwell of the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza on Dec. 7.
Tucker has said he was on alcohol and drugs at the time.
MILLERSBURG
Boy admits fatally shooting mom
An Ohio boy admits fatally shooting his mother when he was 10 after what a relative described as an argument over chores.
The boy, now 13, entered the equivalent of a guilty plea in Holmes County Juvenile Court. A second charge and two weapons specifications were dismissed.
He’ll be sentenced later and could be held in a youth facility until he’s 21. A defense attorney says he’ll ask that the boy go to a residential treatment facility with access to counseling.
A prosecutor told The Repository in Canton the plea deal avoids a trial that benefits no one.
In January 2011, the boy told a 911 dispatcher he shot his mother at home, near the rural town of Big Prairie.
The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify juveniles accused of crimes.
COLUMBUS
Stepdad’s new trial begins over boys’ death
A new trial is underway for a man convicted in the drowning of his 3-year-old stepson and disappearance of the boy’s 2-year-old brother during an eastern Ohio camping trip.
A defense attorney tells the Zanesville Times Recorder he anticipates Richard Klein Jr. will testify in his own defense. The retrial started Tuesday.
Klein and his wife were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment and sentenced to 12 years in prison. They got new trials after an appeals court determined that a defense effort to have them tried separately was wrongly denied.
Kasey Klein’s retrial is scheduled later this month.
Authorities say the toddlers wandered away from the family’s campsite near the Muskingum River in June 2011. The 3-year-old’s body was found in the water. His brother wasn’t found.
SANDUSKY
Police make arrest in grave ornament thefts
Police in northern Ohio are seeking the public’s help to identify owners of grave ornaments and markers found at the home of a suspected cemetery thief.
Photos publicized by Sandusky police show dozens of the items, including benches and flower pots. Investigators say they’ve found items stolen from cemeteries in northern Ohio and southern Michigan.
The Sandusky Register reports investigators received complaints about missing urns, benches and trees at Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky. They used a potted palm tree as bait and tracked it with an electronic monitoring device and surveillance cameras to identify who took it.
They arrested 23-year-old Jeffrey Huey of Clyde, who was jailed on theft and other charges. Court records did not list an attorney for him.
It’s not clear why the items were taken.
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