Local News-Tuesday, April 3rd

We now know more about the death of a Hamburg man Sunday. Ronald Downs was shot in his home on St. Michael’s Road by 18-year-old Robert Strausser, after he attacked his mother Miriam Strausser with a hatchet. Police believe that Strausser planned the attack and lay in wait for them to return home. He allegedly planned to take off after the killing. Miriam Strausser arrived home first and lay injured in the living room when Downs arrived. Robert Strausser shot Downs several times, but a wound to the head killed him. He then attacked his mother a second time, stabbing her in the neck. She was able contact a relative for help.
The Hamburg High School senior was arraigned on murder and assault charges yesterday and is in Berks County Prison without bail. Miriam Strausser remains in Lehigh Valley Medical Center.

The case against a Tamaqua man, alleged to have committed sex-related crimes, will go to trial rather than having sentenced pronounced. Twenty-two year old John Schlauch had originally pleaded no contest to charges of indecent assault and exposure, but withdrew those pleas and asked to have his case go to trial in Schuylkill County Court. A no contest plea does not admit to guilt, but accepts sentencing on the charges. The Pottsville Republican and Herald reports that Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin approved Schlauch’s request, but also allowed several other charges, including attempted rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, to be re-instated. The case against John Schlauch may be heard in county court during the June term.

The state Department of Labor and Industry has released unemployment numbers for the month of February, 2006. The county’s number of jobless are down, but still high compared to the rest of the state. Statistics from the department indicate that Schuylkill County had approximately 36-hundred persons unemployed, out of a total of 71-thousand-300. That represents a 5-point-1 percent unemployment rate. That rate was 5-point-9 percent for the same time last year. While the numbers represent improvement in Schuylkill County, we rank 60th of all 67 Pennsylvania counties. The state unemployment rate hovered around 4-percent in February, the most recent month reported.

Two Schuylkill County residents were hurt in a crash in Bethel Township, Berks County Sunday. Hamburg troopers say that Brian Chapman of Pottsville was driving south on Route 183 when he lost control on a left curve. The car traveled onto the shoulder of the road, began to spin and struck an embankment and a tree. The vehicle continued to roll down the embankment and back onto the road. Chapman and his passenger, Mary Diamantopolous of Pine Grove, were both taken to Reading Hospital for treatment of injuries. The crash happened before 9pm Sunday night.