Suspect doesn`t recall wife`s strangulation

SOUND IDEAS
KING HOMERS BUT
NAZARETH FALLS
TO PARKLAND, PAGE C1
about making music
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Suspect doesn’t recall
wife’s strangulation
News Flash
MONEY
RAMON GOMEZ
CHARGED in 2008
murder of Rosa Gomez.
NEW FUEL MILEAGE RULES SET
Drivers will have to pay more for cars and
trucks, but they’ll save at the pump under
tough new federal rules aimed at boosting
mileage, cutting emissions and hastening
the next generation of fuel-stingy hybrids
and electric cars.
PAGE C6
BY SARAH CASSI
The Express-Times
EASTON | The Bethlehem
Township man accused of
strangling his wife then try-
ing to kill himself claims he
doesn’t remember what happened the day of the murder.
Ramon Gomez, 69, was in
Northampton County Court
on Thursday to be formally
arraigned on a single murder
charge.
Gomez, of the 1400 block
of Seventh Street, is accused
of strangling his 43-year-old
wife, Rosa Gomez, June 7,
2008, in their home.
The first attempted arraignment was cut short
when a mental health evaluation determined he was not
competent to stand trial be-
cause of a psychiatric illness.
Gomez was sent to Norristown State Hospital.
He was brought back to
Northampton County Prison
after his psychiatrist reported Gomez has symptoms of
the unidentified illness but
| PLEASE SEE GOMEZ, A2
Gomez
PIECE OF POWERHOUSE EQUIPMENT ON THE MOVE
EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTOS | BILL ADAMS
REGION
EX-WORKER’S SUIT AGAINST ‘Y’ SETTLED
The Family YMCA of Easton, Phillipsburg &
Vicinity has reached an agreement in a lawsuit brought by a former employee who was
allegedly subjected to a racially hostile
environment.
PAGE B6
against ban.
PUBLISHER OUT AT MORNING CALL
Tim Kennedy, publisher of The Morning Call
in Allentown since
2006, is leaving the
newspaper to be
replaced by Tim Ryan,
publisher and CEO of
the Baltimore Sun
Media Group, it was
announced Thursday.
PAGE C6
LEHIGHVALLEYLIVE
SMOKING AT WORK WAS ONCE IN VOGUE
News of plans by St. Luke’s Hospital to hire
only those who eschew smoking reminded
Ed Dufton that when he began work in 1972
at Air Products and Chemicals, he received
a black plastic ashtray along with his stapler, tape dispenser and other desk accessories. Read “Something Completely
Different” and respond at
lehighvalleylive.com/blogs.
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Legals | D6
Left turns at square still right
PHILLIPSBURG PROPERTY
OWNERS file complaint
MONEY
INDEX
Don Young directs a crane Thursday as volunteers attempt to remove a Worthington steam-driven compressor at GEO
Specialty Chemicals in South Whitehall Township. It is being donated to the National Museum of Industrial History in
Bethlehem. Above right, John Hemmings pumps a hydraulic jack to raise the compressor.
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Money | C6
EXPOSED| INSIDE
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BY SARAH M. WOJCIK
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG | The delay on the
left-turn ban in Union Square was
out of the parking lot toward Pennsylvania until a judge decides Monday whether the Delaware River
Joint Toll Bridge Commission’s leftturn ban will finally go into effect.
The Kobbles’ complaint seeks to
overturn the commission’s plan, citing the effect the change would have
on businesses in the area.
Their attorney, Phillipsburgbased William Edleston, said arguments are scheduled Monday
morning before Judge Allison Accurso in New Jersey Superior Court
in Somerville, N.J.
| PLEASE SEE BAN, A2
Circle mischief
case sent to court
WOMEN ACCUSED of
dumping soap into
Centre Square fountain.
COSTLY PRANK
In a memo to city police,
Hopkins said the cleanup
figure included eight hours
of labor for three men,
25,000 gallons of water
and 55 gallons of chlorine.
BY MICHAEL BUCK
The Express-Times
EASTON | Four women accused of dumping soap into
the fountain in the city’s Centre Square had the charges
against
them
sent
to
Northampton County Court
following Thursday appearances before District Judge
Puzzles | D3
Scoreboard | C3
Sports | C1
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Sudoku | D3
TV | D1
Gay Elwell.
All of the women face one
count of criminal mischief, a
| PLEASE SEE BUBBLES, A2
EXPRESS-TIMES PHOTOS | MATT SMITH
From left, Kelsey Rockware, Carly Ceccato and Allison Tharp
attend a preliminary hearing on a criminal mischief charge related
to dumping soap in the fountain at Centre Square.
Demolition revives Hoffa mystery
BY DAVID PORTER
Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. |
WEATHER
Sunny High 78°/ Low 45°
More weather, Page A3 and at Lehighvalleylive.com
no April Fools’ Day joke.
Set to go into effect Thursday,
the prohibition on left turns out of
the US Gas station was put on hold
after a complaint was filed by property owners Ed and Mary Ann
Kobble.
Drivers can continue to turn left
Hoffa
The wisecracks are as ingrained in New Jersey lore as
Bruce Springsteen’s songs
about fast cars and feisty
women.
Former Teamsters boss
Jimmy Hoffa has attended
every event at Giants Stadium
since 1976, the story goes,
buried in a final resting place
somewhere under the west
end zone. As former New
York Giants punter Sean Landeta once joked, “It gives a
whole new meaning to kicking into the coffin corner.”
| PLEASE SEE BURIED, A2