Today's News - Saturday April 18, 2009

Walsh Pleads in Federal Court, County Drops Charges

Colin J. Walsh, one of three teenagers charged in connection with the July 2008 fatal beating in Shenandoah of an illegal Mexican immigrant, had all Schuylkill County charges against him formally dropped on Friday. As reported in the Republican and Herald, District Attorney James P. Goodman confirmed his office had dropped the charges - including third-degree murder - against Walsh, and said it was because Walsh has pleaded guilty to charges in U.S. District Court. Goodman declined to say whether Walsh, 17, of Shenandoah Heights, will be testifying against his former co-defendants, Brandon J. Piekarsky and Derrick M. Donchak, and would not comment on any other aspect of the case. The document he filed did not specify the charge or charges to which Walsh pleaded guilty in federal court. Piekarsky and Donchak are scheduled to go on trial April 27. Jury selection is slated to begin Wednesday. President Judge William E. Baldwin, who will be presiding over Piekarsky and Donchak's trial, signed the order dismissing the charges Friday. In that order, he directed Walsh to pay the costs of the case against him. Also related to the trial, a decision made earlier this week has been reversed, there will now be no designated demonstration spot for protesters during the trial, Pottsville police Chief Joseph H. Murton V said Friday morning. Protesters will be kept out of a quarter-mile radius around the county courthouse throughout the trial, with no specific rally points provided by city officials. Some , however, find the quarter-mile radius "excessive." The original plan, announced by Murton and Baldwin on Wednesday, would have confined protesters to the area of Seventh and Minersville streets, near Child Development Inc.'s Mount Hope Avenue location. After concerns from city residents, Murton said Friday protesters will now have no specific area to assemble. A quarter-mile in each direction around the county courthouse will be cordoned off, Murton said. Murton said police will patrol the quarter-mile radius and anyone who breaches that line will be told to "move back." If they don't, they could be arrested, Murton said, though he stressed city police hope it won't come to that. Citing section 5102 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code, Murton said the City of Pottsville is not required to provide protesters with anything other than safety.

TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENTS AT HIGHRIDGE

In order to improve safety and traffic flow in and around Highridge Business Park, redesigned roadway and directional signs are now being installed. Friday, state and local officials witnessed the installation of one of the first new directional signs. The steep downward grade from the business park to Gordon borough has been a hot spot due to runaway truck incidents. Truck safety has been on the minds of many ever since Highridge opened. PennDOT has put weight restrictions of a maximum 19 tons on both downhill grades to Gordon and Hecksherville.

Haven Couple Arrested on Drug Charges

A Schuylkill Haven husband and wife were arrested Friday afternoon on drug charges after a search warrant was executed at their home. According to the Republican and Herald, Richard D. Anderson, 49, and Barbara B. Anderson, 47, both of 167 Fox Road, were each charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, two counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count each of possession of drug paraphernalia and conspiracy. The two were arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Bernadette J. Nahas, Frackville, and incarcerated in Schuylkill County Prison in lieu of $30,000 straight cash bail each. At 1:35 p.m., detectives from the Schuylkill County Drug Task Force along with other state and local officers executed a search warrant at the couple's home, apprehended Richard Anderson outside the home and found his wife and another woman inside a first-floor bedroom.

Keep Alert, Paving to Begin On Busy Route 61

Drivers in the Pottsville area will have to negotiate road work on Route 61 starting Monday and continuing through May. State road crews will start a $1.08 million project Monday to mill and pave 3.91 miles of road - the north- and southbound lanes of the 1.95-mile stretch that extends from the City of Pottsville through Norwegian and East Norwegian townships and Saint Clair borough - Sean A. Brown, safety press officer for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 5, Allentown, said April 10 on the PennDOT Web site. The road work will be done from Route 61 and Stein Street, near Mauch Chunk Street (Route 209) in Pottsville, to a point 0.5 miles from the New Castle Township line in Saint Clair borough, Ronald J. Young Jr., PennDOT District 5 press officer, said Friday. The project calls for milling 2 inches of the roadway and paving with bituminous material. It also calls for line painting and the installation of raised pavement markers.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - Prosecutors in northeastern Pennsylvania say they've gotten a huge victory from an appeals court in their efforts to convict a multiple murder suspect. The state Superior Court says Luzerne County prosecutors can use evidence from a robbery in the murder trial of 35-year-old Hugo Selenski. Friday's ruling overturns a lower court ruling that said the evidence couldn't be used. The bodies of Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett were among as many as 12 sets of human remains found buried on Selenski's Kingston Township property in 2003. The evidence at issue in the ruling is that flex ties and duct tape used in the Monroe County robbery are similar to the ties and tape used on Kerkowski and Fassett. Unless Friday's ruling is appealed again, the trial must begin within four months.

LEBANON, Pa. (AP) - The father of a 6-month-old south-central Pennsylvania murder victim has been sentenced to life without parole and the mother to 17 to 39 years in prison. Kevin Mitchell Jr. had pleaded no contest to first-degree murder, sparing him the possibility of the death penalty and making the sentence of life without parole mandatory. At Friday's sentencing, the 21-year-old Lebanon man read a lengthy statement in which he said he accepted responsibility for the death of Zariyah Mitchell. But he said he was convinced he couldn't get a fair trial when he read newspaper accounts of his case and said he plans to appeal. The judge noted that Mitchell said nothing about the bite marks, scalding and bruising Zariyah suffered before her death. The child's mother, 22-year-old Miriam Nebot, was charged because she didn't seek help for the child and didn't stop Mitchell from the abuse.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - A politician in northeastern Pennsylvania has been getting some ribbing from his colleagues for it, but he says having a drive-through window at his office is working great. State Rep. Kevin Murphy says his office in Scranton has the drive-through to make it easier for his constituents to see him. He says senior citizens, the disabled and those who have children in the car especially like the convenience of not having to walk into the office to drop off or pick up paperwork. The first-term Democrat says he personally staffs the drive-through most Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - President Barack Obama says the U.S. hopes for better relations with Cuba. Obama also shook hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad. He meets today with hemispheric leaders.

DENVER (AP) - Shelters in Colorado are packed and 80-mile stretch of Interstate 70 between Vail and Golden is closed due to a spring storm dropping heavy wet snow. The National Weather Service says the spring storm has dumped more than 30 inches of snow on the foothills west of Denver, but is starting to weaken. Wyoming has also been affected.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Environmental Protection Agency has designated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as a major hazard to Americans' health. It sets the stage for stricter regulation of pollutants from cars, power plants and factories.

TOKYO (AP) - U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke says more international aid needs to be pledged to help Pakistan. He says the $5 billion pledged so far has exceeded expectations but isn't enough to strengthen the country's economy and fight terrorism.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Israeli officials say a 16-year-old was shot and killed and a 19-year-old Palestinian wounded after firebombs were thrown at the gate of a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Officials say the two were among a group of Palestinians