MANSFIELD — Sgt. Jon Ahles always knew he wanted to be a police officer. As a boy growing up in Lexington, he pictured himself pursuing criminals in his cruiser, chasing down bad guys on foot and making all the big arrests. Kind of like the officers on the TV show “Cops” that debuted in 1989 […]
Keith Porch
Posted inNews
Moving up, literally: Mansfield police chief elevated to safety service director
MANSFIELD — The first time Keith Porch heard a police dispatcher on the radio was enough to send he and his brother running home. The 49-year-old Porch — on his final day as the Mansfield Police Department chief — laughed in his office Tuesday afternoon as he recalled the day he and his brother visited […]
Posted inNews
Mansfield City Council approves finance office staffing changes
MANSFIELD — Kelly Blankenship said Tuesday she has ideas for what the Mansfield Finance Director’s office can do. Now that City Council has blessed her sweeping reconfiguration of the office staff, the newly elected city financial leader is ready to move forward with those ideas. It’s not her first time in the finance director’s position, […]
Posted inNews
New Mansfield public works director highlights plans for the city’s parks
MANSFIELD — Louis Andres knows a few things about public parks. And it seems clear the City of Mansfield is going to benefit from the expertise of the man who has worked in the parks and recreation field for more than 40 years, beginning his career in 1978 with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as a […]
Posted inCommunity Development
Kokosing Construction awarded $4.3 million deal to pave Mansfield roads
MANSFIELD — Kokosing Construction Co. was awarded a $4,321,216.45 contract on Tuesday morning to resurface 18.8 miles of Mansfield streets in 2024. Kokosing submitted the lowest of two bids submitted for the work, according to city engineer Bob Bianchi. The other bid came from Shelly & Sands , Inc. for $4,893,899.11. The city’s Board of […]
Posted inNews
Bellville planning commission to consider banning marijuana dispensaries
BELLVILLE — There won’t be any cannabis dispensaries operating in Bellville for at least six months. Bellville’s village council imposed a temporary moratorium on cannabis businesses at its most recent council meeting Tuesday. The resolution prohibits both medicinal and recreational cannabis businesses from operating within village limits for the next six months, according to council […]
Posted inNews
Mansfield man arrested for double-homicide near North Lake Park in 2023
COLUMBUS — A 22-year-old man was arrested Wednesday morning in Columbus on murder charges from a double-homicide inside a moving car in Mansfield in June 2023. Ja’Vontae Jones was apprehended by members of the U.S. Marshals Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team at a home on Alumcrest Lane in Columbus on the city’s southeast side. […]
Posted inNews
Mansfield suspect ID’d in Centerburg bank robbery
MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Sheriff’s Office has revealed the name of a Mansfield man arrested on Thursday night in connection with an armed bank robbery in Centerburg. Richard D. Poole, 43, of Mansfield, is in custody in the Knox County Jail, according to a Friday afternoon press release from Sheriff David Shaffer. “The […]
Posted inNews
Perry sworn-in as Mansfield mayor, announces administrative choices
Mansfield Police Chief Keith Porch will be assuming the role of safety service director, effective Feb. 8, 2024.
Posted inNews
Bradshaw bids adieu to Mansfield Police Dept.
MANSFIELD — The Mansfield Division of Police said goodbye on Friday to one of their own. Sheila L. Bradshaw, Operations Supervisor of the Record and Data Section announced her retirement from department, effective Dec. 1. “Sheila’s dedication to the City and Division of Police, her work ethics and conscientiousness for her position, have always been […]