4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Least willing to go down without a fight: Fifth District candidate Bern Ewert. Despite trailing his opponent Al Weed 106 to 55, he writes to delegates committed to Weed urging them to vote for him in the secret ballot at the May 20 Democratic convention in Buckingham, Bob Gibson reports in the Daily Progress. Former Delegate Mitch Van Yahres, a Ewert backer, disagrees with the tactic to capture the nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Congressman Virgil Goode. Ewert also questions Weed's use of migrant workers at his Nelson County vineyard.
Longest time to discover a death: The body of a man is found in the cab of an idling tractor trailer parked at the Sheetz on U.S. 29 in Madison County, according to the DP. Employees noticed the green Volvo truck as early as Friday, May 12, but did not report it until around 6am Monday, May 15. The truck's engine was still running.
Largest post-Foxfield party: Around 70 college-age defendants show up in Albemarle General District Court May 10 to face the music for illegal consumption of alcohol, Rob Seal reports in the Progress. Most of the first-time accused cop a plea. Sydney Anne Talon, 19, is sentenced to four days in jail for kicking a police officer as he was going through her purse.
Best military academy case: The ACLU and Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression team up to oppose a court order requiring that a website critical of Hargrave Military Academy, HargraveHasProblems.com, be taken down. A U.S. District Court judge in Roanoke issued a temporary restraining order May 8, and the two free-speech organization argue that the order violates the First Amendment.
Most ironic pot bust: The president of a nonprofit gardening organization in Lynchburg, John Russell Wormuth, is arrested for growing marijuana in his downtown apartment there May 12, according to the Lynchburg News & Advance.
Biggest green gathering: Representatives from Adovcates for a Sustainable Albemarle, Piedmont Environmental Council, Sierra Club and Southern Environmental Law Center show up to speak out against the North Pointe development at a May 10 public hearing.
Best new designs for New Orleans: UVA architecture prof (and former Charlottesville mayor) Maurice Cox is one of 14 winners of the Katrina Design Competition sponsored by McGraw-Hill Construction and Tulane University to re-envision housing in the Crescent City.
Best magazine: The Virginia Quarterly Review takes home two National Magazine Awards May 9, including the fiction award, elbowing aside lit mag heavyweights such as the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, and Harper's.
Webbiest: Monticello's website, with its interactive, multimedia Monticello Explorer, beats out the Library of Congress, London's Tate Gallery, and the Museum of New Zealand for a 2006 Webby Award in the Cultural Institutions category.
Most twisted: Evan Almighty star Steve Carell hurts his ankle while filming in Richmond May 13, ending production early that day, the Progress reports. Carell planned to be back on the set May 17.
Biggest ark in a subdivision: The growing sea-going vessel dominates the landscape at Old Trail in Crozet. Wags wonder if it'll be called into service in New England.
Worst week for couch potatoes: Long-running series The West Wing (7 seasons), Will and Grace (8 seasons), Malcolm in the Middle (7 seasons) and That 70s Show (8 seasons) all air their final episodes.
Worst episode for near-hometown boy: American Idol final four contestant and former Fluvanna resident Chris Daughtry is booted off the show May 10.
Latest way to spy on U.S. citizens: NSA builds a database of phone call records.
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