The Courier Local News

UPDATE: Jury convicts city man of rape

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:12:45 GMT

A Hancock County jury has convicted a Findlay man of raping a young girl six times.

Ronnie Gutierrez, 44, now faces consecutive life in prison terms for six convictions of rape, all-first degree felonies.

The jury announced its verdict after three hours of deliberation today. They also found Gutierrez guilty of specifications attached to each of the rape counts stating the girl was less than 10 years old at the time of the offenses.

Gutierrez was found guilty having sexual contact with the girl while she was in kindergarten and continuing until she was 7 years old.

He will be sentenced on March 18 at 9 a.m. by Judge Joseph Niemeyer.

The minimum sentence he is facing is life in prison with eligibility for parole after 10 years, according to Hancock County Assistant Prosecutor Kristen Johnson.

Courier reporter Jordan Cravens will have more details on this story Thursday.

Blanchard River levels revised upward, but still short of flood stages

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:56:57 GMT

The National Weather Service has revised upward its prediction about the rising Blanchard River at Findlay.

It now says the river will crest this evening at 6.91 feet, just about one foot short of its first flood stage.

Eagle Creek, which flows into the Blanchard at Findlay, has been on the rise as well, but the National Weather Service predicts it is still three feet below its "action stage."

It predicts showers and occasional showers from Thursday through Sunday.

Unemployment up in Hancock, neighboring counties

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:45:44 GMT

Unemployment rates increased in January among Hancock County and most of its neighbors.

Hancock County’s jobless rate increased to 10.5 percent in January from 10.1 percent in December, the State Job and Family Services Department reported.

The post-Christmas slowdown in retail drove the unemployment numbers up, said Hancock County Job & Family Services Director Judith Wauford.

Wauford said she is not alarmed by the unemployment report.

"I think the general trend is we are starting to come out of it," she said.

It might not feel that way when the local jobless rate was higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent in January. But Wauford said Hancock County and its neighbors went into the recession several months after the rest of the nation. Their recovery will lag several months behind, too. Hancock County and its neighbors have a lot of secondary manufacturing suppliers to the auto and other industries, meaning they make parts for the primary industry suppliers.

Unemployment rates among neighboring counties in January, with December rates in parentheses, were: Allen, 12.2 percent (11.4); Hardin, 12.6 (12.6); Henry, 15.5 percent (13.7); Putnam, 12.8 (11.2); Seneca, 14 (13.4); Wood, 12 (11.1); Wyandot, 14.8 (14).