RITCHIE DRIVER RUNS DOWN ORMET PICKETER - Company Freezing Pension Benefits

(11/24/2004)
A Ritchie County truck driver, Dennis Cottrell, has been charged with aggravated vehicular assault after he reportedly drove through a picket line at the Ormet plant in Hannibal, Ohio.

The injured worker, William Rose, was treated and released from an area hospital, according to authorities.

Ormet, a bankrupt aluminum maker based in the Ohio Valley south of Wheeling, went to court yesterday to get approval for a reorganization plan that prompted 1,300 workers to strike.

The worker's pension plan, many with longtime service, will reportedly be frozen. The reorganization plan also calls for the raising of worker health plan contributions and changing several work rules.