Table of contents

COVER
Reefer madness
When a helicopter and SWAT team swooped in on his Albemarle County property, Philip Cobbs was terrified. Months later, and with charges pending against him for two pot plants he says he didn't know about, Cobbs is angry– and he's got the Rutherford Institute backing him up. Have SWAT teams gone too far?

NEWS
'Women and money'
Less than a week before his first-degree murder trial starts, some disturbing details emerge about widower Eric Abshire's behavior on the very day his wife, Justine, died.

MOVIE REVIEW
Subtle genius
Thanks to his role on the high profile show Boardwalk Empire, actor Michael Shannon's star is rising. With its air of dread, his new film, Take Shelter, puts Shannon's talent on display.

ART REVIEW
Not clutter
With humor and a keen understanding of composition and form, Eric Caldwell and Murray Whitehill show that beauty can be found even in junk.

Omitted from this week's 48-page issue for space reasons:
-movie times
-movie capsules
-Bill Emory's Black&White
-sudoku

Cover:
Philip Cobbs and his 90-year-old mother, Elizabeth, on the family property that recently yielded a pair of pot plants after a helicopter search.
–photo by Jen Fariello