Around the Region: Robbers Cry Rape, Postal Workers Rally and TSPLOST Poll Surprise in Cobb

Attempted Rape Case Turns Into Armed Robbery Investigation

Two sisters tried to play off as the complainant and victim in an attempted rape case last week when the incident actually turned out to be an armed robbery, and they were the suspects.

According to the Gwinnett County police report, the two explained that the elder sister had driven the younger sister to meet with a 19-year-old man at his apartment in Abbots Glen Apartments, located on the 3200 block of Windscape Village Lane near Indian Trail Road. 

The two told police that they were there to see if the man could loan the younger sister some money. She said she's had sex with him before and he's loaned her money, but she stopped having sex with him. 

When the younger sister went into his apartment, she said, he was being rough and attempted to have sex with her. As she struggled to stop him, the other sister intervened and they were able to get out and into their car, they said.

After interviewing the man, police actually determined that the two women had worked together to rob him. The suspects stole his cell phone and a box filled with $40 worth of change.

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Will Cobb Tip TSPLOST Vote?

Given the hostility at a recent public hearing in East Cobb to the proposed metro Atlanta regional transportation SPLOST, the results of a new poll suggesting changing attitudes in key suburban areas may be surprising. 

As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution detailed the poll results on Monday, the passage of the TSPLOST next summer could very well hinge on how the vote goes down in Cobb and Gwinnett.

Both Cobb and Gwinnett famously refused to join MARTA when the public transit system was created in the early 1970s, and much of the current TSPLOST opposition in Cobb is over a proposed light rail station between the Cumberland Area and the MARTA Arts Station that would eat up most of Cobb's nearly $900 million share of the anticipated $6.1 billion sales tax revenues. 

Most political leaders in Cobb who have spoken publicly on TSPLOST have expressed some form of opposition, including all the candidates who recently qualified for the open state House District 43 seat in Northeast Cobb.

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Locals Rally to Save Postal Service Jobs

Over the last two centuries, U.S. Postal Service employees have become quite adept at delivering messages to the American people. In downtown Roswell on Tuesday, local postal workers delivered a different kind of message as they rallied to inform the public of the institution's plight and demand the U.S. Congress take action to help the them stave off financial collapse.

Armed with petitions, signs and t-shirts reading, "Save America's Postal Service," carriers in Roswell and throughout the nation stood up Tuesday, Sept. 27, to let members of Congress know that something can be done to prevent the collapse of the . 

At issue is the 2006 Postal Service Reorganization Act, which among other things required the service to pre-fund 75 years worth of future retiree health care benefits over the next ten years. The estimated cost of this requirement is $5.5 billion per year. It's estimated that the Postal Service currently faces an $8.3 billion deficit.

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