Trial Scheduled Against Ex-Ohio Water Plant Operator
SEBRING, Ohio (AP) – A trial is still planned for a fired water plant operator charged with misdemeanors for what authorities say was his failure to notify residents of a northeast Ohio village about lead in their drinking water.
The Vindicator reports that an attorney for 61-year-old James Bates, of Salem, and prosecutors from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office met for a pretrial hearing Thursday at Mahoning County Court in Sebring without a plea agreement being reached.
Bates has pleaded not guilty to three counts of non-compliance with drinking water notification rules at a water treatment plant in Sebring.
Bates came under scrutiny in January 2016 when Sebring schools closed and pregnant women and small children were warned not to drink tap water after high lead levels were detected months earlier.
Related News
From Archive
- Fatal trench collapse in Mass. leads to $4.6 million OSHA penalty, dozens of violations
- OSHA investigates fatal trench collapse at Conroe construction site
- Final Lake Erie sewer tunnel project set to begin after decades-long $3 billion effort
- Texas811 launches real-time excavation detection to prevent utility strikes
- Fiber drilling strike triggers major sewer failure, lawsuits in Florida
- Fatal trench collapse in Mass. leads to $4.6 million OSHA penalty, dozens of violations
- Texas811 launches real-time excavation detection to prevent utility strikes
- Race Communications breaks ground on Bakersfield fiber network
- Final Lake Erie sewer tunnel project set to begin after decades-long $3 billion effort
- Inside Infrastructure: Utility locators warn of systemic failures in damage prevention process

Comments