The week in review
Most disturbing statistics: One in five Charlottesville families can't pay their bils and one in three can't afford day care and transportation costs to keep a job, according to a study based on U.S. Census numbers conducted by a group called the Greater Charlottesville Area Development Corporation. A single parent in Charlottesville with two children needs $35,000 to eke out an existence in a city where the median income is $59,284.
Latest City Council candidate reshuffling: Independent Paul Long drops out of the race and endoses fellow indies Brandon Collins and Andrew Williams.
Latest LIthuanian DUI conviction: Vitalijia Vasciunaite is convicted of driving under the influence in the July 2010 crash in which she plowed into VDOT worker Jose Porfirio Martinez, according to the Progress. Vasciunaite is fined $250 and loses her license for a year, but did not receive additional jail time. She's currently serving 10 months for the maiming of a person while driving while intoxicated and felony hit-and-run.
Longest sentence for corpse hiding: Waynesboro woman Susan Dudley, 26, gets 90 days September 20 for helping her husband dump a body in the James River in Bedford County, according to the News Virginian. Christopher Michael Dudley, 29, was sentenced in May to 37 years for the first-degree slaying of Churchville man Sean Placko, 42.
Most computer trespassing charges: UVA student Farah Shah is arrested September 21 and charged with four counts after another UVA student reported that her Facebook and email accounts had been accessed and a message sent to a third party, according to a release. Shah is released on a $2,000 unsecured bond and is scheduled to appear in Albemarle General District Court September 30
Oldest alleged molester: Bobby Lee Cash, 75, of Staunton is arrested for the aggravated sexual battery of a 12-year-old acquaintance in April, NBC29 reports.
Biggest blow to shooting defense: Convicted murderer John Wesley Morris, 53, is denied a private investigator September 20 for his most recent charges for allegedly shooting his girlfriend in the neck and leaving her partially paralyzed. According to WCAV, Morris was on parole for the 1985 murders of Ricky Clements and Monte Wanless.
Biggest lawsuit: Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors sues Richmond financial adviser Davenport & Company LLC, claiming the supes were duped into issuing nearly $70 million in bonds to build a new high school so Davenport could collect fees, leaving the county stuck with an additional $18 million in interest charges, Sharon Fitzgerald reports in the Progress. Davenport says it stands behind its financial advice.
Beefier Albemarle schools flack, er, public relations, title: Phil Giaramita is named public affairs and strategic communications officer, succeeding more modestly titled communications coordinator Maury Brown, who is teaching at Germanna College, according to a release. Giaramita's resume includes the Virginia Department of Health, the Darden school, and International Paper.
Sketchiest physician: Charles K. Weisman, 48, opens a clinic in Staunton two years after his license to practice medicine is suspended, which he is allowed to do as long as he doesn't see patients, the News Leader reports. Weisman fell afoul of the Board of Medicine in 2009 for not revealing he hadn't completed a residency program because of "inadequate competence." Other alleged misdeeds in his license suspension include keeping pot and booze in his former practice's office, having sex with patients, and asking an employee for clean urine to pass a state drug test. On September 16, Weisman was jailed on charges of assault and battery of his business partner/girlfriend.
Creepiest video: Footage from the September 24 armed robbery of the West Park Market on Four Seasons Drive shows a masked man in dark clothing carrying a large gun walking through the store to a Steely Dan soundtrack.
Most dubious top 25 achievement: Environment Virginia ranks Charlottesville as the 21st smoggiest small metropolitan area in the country, the same week an organization called Sperling puts the town as number one place to live.