4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Published online 8:00am Thursday Sep 13th, 2007
and in print issue #0637 dated Thursday Sep 13th, 2007

Biggest protest: According to the Cavalier Daily, at least 100 hundred UVA students (the Progress reports nearly 200) file into the Cav Daily offices September 5 to demonstrate their displeasure with graphics editor Grant Woolard and his September 4 cartoon, "Ethiopian Food Fight." Last year, Woolard drew the ire of Fox's Bill O'Reilly for his depictions of Jesus crucified on a Cartesian x/y axis and a nativity scene in which Mary responds to Joseph's concerns over a "bumpy rash" by saying, "I swear, it was immaculately transmitted!" The CD apologizes September 6.

Worst rolling over: The editors of the CD who approved Woolard's controversial cartoon fire him September 9, sparking an exodus of the paper's cartoonists, according to an account by Barney Breen-Portnoy in the Daily Progress.

Worst setback for Elisa Kelly: A judge refuses to release the woman sentenced to 27 months in jail for buying booze for her son's 16th birthday in 2002, Brian McNeill reports in the Progress. Kelly and her ex, George Robinson, were incarcerated June 11. Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Camblos argues that she shouldn't be released after serving less than three months– the sentence Camblos originally requested.

Most tragic hayride: UVA research fellow Dr. Rebecca Clary Harris, 32, falls September 8 from a converted, open-air bus with hay-bale seating at an Essex County party for her cousin's wedding and dies at the scene, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

First student attack of the school year: A UVA student waiting to meet friends in a University Avenue parking garage at 1:15am September 7 is assaulted and robbed, the Cav Daily reports.

Most likely to be fired upon: Three men are shot early September 9 while sitting in a car in the Water Street parking lot, and for one of the trio, Jarrett Jackson, it's the fourth time he's been shot in the past two-and-a-half years, according to the DP. Also hit are Zinele Brown, 28, and an unnamed 19-year-old.

Worst shooting oneself near the foot: An unnamed 46-year-old Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail correctional officer on break at 2:16am September 6 accidentally discharges his gun into his upper left leg. No charges are filed.

Most ambitious attempt to weigh in on national security: The Charlottesville City Council passes a resolution September 4 honoring local members of the Virginia National Guard and urging President Bush to begin troop withdrawal from Iraq, according to Seth Rosen in the Progress.

Best chance for a free health screening: UVA docs, nurses, and med students head to Buckingham September 15 where from noon to 5pm they'll provide free consultations and mammograms at New Canton's Third Liberty Baptist Church.

Biggest chunk of federal change: The Charlottesville Fire Department gets a $145K FEMA grant that's supplemented by the city, for a total of $160,000 for wellness and fitness.

Biggest drop: Housing sales in Charlottesville decline 13.6 percent in July compared to a year ago, according to an Associated Press story.

Best new gig for Louis Bloomfield: The popular UVA physics prof who made national headlines in 2001 for creating a program that ID'd plagiarized papers by matching six-word strings and ensnared 158 students, has his own TV show, Some Assembly Required, on the Discovery Channel, according to the DP.

Best pleasure/pain: Locals exult at the upcoming November 6 Police concert, but wince at the up-to-$227 tix.

Biggest windfall profit: UVA charges $3.50 for a plastic cup of tap water and ice at the September 8 football game at Scott Stadium when concession stands sell out of 50,000 bottles of Aquafina, McNeill reports in the Progress.