Canfield High School

High school student charged in assault

Vincent A. Uzzo, of 12 Hadden Lane, was arraigned Thursday and pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and gang assault, both in the second-degree, for the June 27 incident at Elmwood Cemetery. While others participated in the assault, Uzzo is charged with allegedly striking an 18-year-old Catholic Central High School student in the face with a log, fracturing his jaw in several places. “The next thing I knew Vinny Uzzo was off to my left and hit me with a log about three to four feet long. He hit me across the face and I immediately fell to the ground,” the statement reads. “I covered my face up and multiple people started to punch and kick me. I’m not even sure how I got out of the middle of it. The only thing I knew for sure is who hit me with the log and it was Vinny Uzzo from Troy High.” Vincent A. Uzzo, of 12 Hadden Lane, was arraigned Thursday and pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and gang assault, both in the second-degree, for the June 27 incident at Elmwood Cemetery. While others participated in the assault, Uzzo is charged with allegedly striking an 18-year-old Catholic Central High School student in the face with a log, fracturing his jaw in several places. “The next thing I knew Vinny Uzzo was off to my left and hit me with a log about three to four feet long. He hit me across the face and I immediately fell to the ground,” the statement reads. “I covered my face up and multiple people started to punch and kick me. I’m not even sure how I got out of the middle of it. The only thing I knew for sure is who hit me with the log and it was Vinny Uzzo from Troy High.

Fundraiser in Canfield to benefit breast-cancer patient

TheNewsOutlet.org

CANFIELD

When Holly Heikkinen found a lump on her breast while nursing her youngest child last winter, she knew she was in for a battle.

The early-intervention specialist at Fairhaven School in Niles is no stranger to tough battles, however.

The 1998 Canfield High School graduate attended the University of Mount Union, and she was a standout volleyball and basketball player at each school.

Heikkinen, 31, said her parents always taught a good work ethic that pushed her to do well in sports.

Nicole Vlajkovich was five years younger than Heikkinen in high school, but she remembers the varsity coach telling seventh-grade summer basketball camp students to watch Heikkinen because she was so tough and such a good role model.

“She didn’t realize the impact she had on me,” Vlajkovich said.

Heikkinen’s family — her husband, Matthew; daughters, Hannah, 7, and Becca, 18 months; and son, Graham, 5 — relies on her teaching salary, and now they are faced with looming medical expenses due to her cancer.

Dr. Becky Heikkinen, her mother-in-law, and Vlajkovich, are hosting the “Benefit for Holly” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Bernard-Daniels Lumber Co. parking lot, 250 Railroad St.

The event will feature a trash-and-treasure sale, a bike raffle, bake sale and a silent auction with gift baskets. Refreshments will be for sale, including water, lemonade, soda and hot dogs.

“One thing that is special about our school district is that we help our own,” Vlajkovich said. “It’s a tribute to her and a Canfield tradition.”

Doctors diagnosed Heikkinen with stage-two breast cancer in January. In February, Heikkinen began chemotherapy treatments lasting up to five hours each. The sessions weakened her immune system, causing her to contract an infection that resulted in a three-day hospital stay.

Throughout the sessions, which ended June 3, she spent many days feeling nauseous.

Now, facing surgery, Heikkinen is focused on the impact her disease is having on her three young children.

“I keep my life as normal as possible for the sake of my children,” she said, often assuring them that while she would become very sick, she would get better after visiting the hospital.

On Thursday, Heikkinen will undergo bilateral mastectomy followed by radiation treatments for six weeks.

In addition to teaching full time and raising her children, Heikkinen’s treatments took her to Magee-Women’s Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as well as local facilities for appointments, which sometimes required taking unpaid sick leave from work.

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