AUSTINTOWN — In the same week, the township announced its new police chief and learned of the death of its very first.

Dane L. Carder, 93, died Feb. 23. Carder was named chief of the newly formed Austintown Police Department in January 1961. Just a little over 64 years later, Lt. Valorie Delmont will take the helm of the department Carder helped establish. Her predecessor, Chief Robert Gavalier, served the department in some capacity for all but 20 of the years in between Carder’s term and Delmont’s.

Carder served as chief for only one year, but what a year it was. Archived articles from The Vindicator show that Carder was appointed chief of the newly formed department when he was 29, after Austintown Township Trustees Arthur Young, Harvey Brandmiller and Michael Bokesch (chairman) established the department.

As a note last week to the Austintown FOP Lodge 126 from Lodge President Sgt. David Yohman explained, the department was created during a time of growth, as the population, commerce and infrastructure all expanded during the post-World War II era.

For much of the 1950s and early 1960s, the township relied on part-time constables, but as Austintown grew, so did concerns about community safety and the board of trustees took action to ensure a full-time department was on the job, as of March 1, 1961.

They hired six full time constables and demoted Chief Constable Clayton Heck, reducing his salary by $50 a month. He joined five others as patrolmen at a rate of $400 per month.

A Vindicator article about the department’s formation states that Heck was chief constable for three years, but had not applied for the full-time position because he was already employed, and nearly was not hired onto the department at all, until Township Clerk Amy Siersdorfer caught the oversight.

Carder was hired at $450 a month, and Albert Whitehouse as assistant chief at $415 a month.

Carder had been a constable for 18 months before his promotion to chief.

“Carder brought with him experience from his time handling prisoners in the Army, as well as FBI training, which helped shape the foundation of the department at this time,” Yohman wrote.

“He emphasized professionalism and training, ensuring that Austintown’s officers were prepared to meet the needs of the growing community.”

Joining Carder, Whitehouse and Heck in the department were James Hazlett — who would later be chief, George Vanasky and Leroy Hartman. Hazlett had been on the force for four years. Vanasky, like Carder, was on the force for 18 months as a constable. Hartman was a former Mahoning County Sheriff’s Deputy under Paul Langley. Carder promised that he and his department would attend as many training courses as possible.

All but Hazlett would be fired a year later.

MAFIA ACTIVITY DEFINED HIS TENURE

Carder came into the job when the township was a well-established hotbed of organized crime activity.

“People think Boardman, Austintown, no way, but it was probably worse than in the city. It was just easier, it was better insulated,” said retired Austintown Detective Don Corbett. “Organized crime was huge.”

One of the hot spots was the area of Mahoning Avenue and Meridian Road — very near the Wickliffe neighborhood where Carder lived.

Most prominent, perhaps, were the businesses owned by the Alexander Brothers, Joseph and Nicholas, who worked for mafia boss Sandy Naples in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s. Corbet said they eventually were arrested on charges of tax evasion.

A year before Carder assumed office and the department began operating in earnest, one of the more notable events in Austintown’s organized crime history occurred.

On March 19, 1960, The Vindicator reported about Youngstown police questioning the Alexander brothers, hoping to determine if the bombing of their Sands Restaurant in Wickliffe had anything to do with the shotgun murder of Naples and his girlfriend, Mary Ann Vrancich.

The article states that a shotgun belonging to the Canton Police Department was used to kill the couple and CPD announced a $500 reward for info leading to the arrest of the shotgun thief.

While the bomb damaged some copper spouting and the plaster ceiling in the basement kitchen, the burn marks were washed away and the 2-foot-deep hole in the side of the building was filled in shortly after a local constable found the source of the explosion, before the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office could investigate further.

Corbett said Carder was that constable. Carder heard the explosion from his nearby home and went to investigate.

“They told Dane he didn’t need to be there because it was just a gas leak,” Corbett said.

During the year of his tenure as chief, Carder made himself a thorn in the side of organized crime.

“The thing about Dane was he was very proactive and so he was the right choice at the time.He knew what he wanted to do and what the trustees wanted,” Corbett said. “You had lots of gambling activity at restaurants and cafes, and Dane wouldn’t tolerate it; he was all over them.”

On July 11, 1961, The Vindicator reported that Carder protested to Western Union about a sports ticker installed in the Cue Club, a pool hall owned by “Crazy” Sam Trkula, Frank Zizzo and Niles bookie William “Stony” Gray, at 4218 Mahoning Ave. Carder removed the sports ticker from the business because he said it promoted gambling, which he was determined to keep out of Austintown.

“It would add to our police burdens to continually police the establishment,” he said at the time. Gray also owned and operated the Bridge Club on East Park Ave in Niles until January 1960 before police there removed five telephones for similar reasons.

It wasn’t all about fighting the mafia, though. Carder did many of the things residents have come to expect from the department. On April 15, according to the Niles Daily Times, the department hosted a voluntary car safety inspection at Austintown Plaza, handing out stickers to those who passed and letting the five who failed know what was wrong with their vehicles. The first in line was Mahoning County Judge Harold S. Rickert Jr.

But Corbett said Carder’s reputation as a nuisance to the mob may have been exactly why his time as chief was so short.

“For a turnaround like that, and all the work Dane did, he could have been a victim of organized crime,” Corbett said. “That was characteristic of the time, and it was a major problem.”

What is certain, Vindicator articles show, is that Paul Cline defeated Harvey Brandmiller for trustee in the 1961 election, and Emil Bertolini Jr. defeated Arthur Young. After the election, all but Hazlett were told they were out of a job after Jan 8, 1962 — the new board’s first official meeting.

“Cline and Bertolini said they must conclude, because of their election over incumbent trustees last fall, that Austintown voters want certain changes they advocated during the campaign to improve the township,” the article stated.

Carder was replaced by a retired Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper.

The fire chief, Van Gruber, also was replaced but remained as a volunteer firefighter. Street department worker Danny Teminski, who worked for the Brandmiller campaign, also was fired.

REMEMBERING THE CHIEF

Corbett, who lived near Carder when they both resided in Fort Myers, Florida, would often visit Carder and hear his stories.

After leaving the police force, Corbett said, Carder was a co-owner of the Youngstown Steel Door Co. on Meridian Road. The company that made, among other things, railroad car doors was later renamed YSD Industries. Carder retired from that business.

“But he was always involved with police and security,” Corbett said. “He started the crime clinic where people from law enforcement would meet monthly and discuss issues in law enforcement, and he was always very involved in the Austintown Democratic Association.”

In his last years, Carder lived in an assisted living facility in Columbiana.

His daughter, Diana Alvino of Boardman, said Carder died of pneumonia on Feb. 23. Sadly, 50 hours later in Florida, her brother, Dane Carder Jr., died at the age of 70.

“I know he was very proud to live in Austintown,” she said of her father. “Even after he moved to Fort Myers, he always asked about things going on here, and was always very proud of where he came from. At the nursing home, they called him chief because he was very proud about telling them that he was Austintown’s first police chief.”

Alvino said a private family service will be held this week, but the family may work with the department to arrange something public later this year.

“Dane Carder’s leadership and his contributions to public safety and the township’s development are an important part of our history,” Yohman wrote in his statement to the FOP Lodge. “Those who knew him remember him as a dedicated officer and a great man who remained engaged with the community long after his retirement.”