4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Best case of "what was he thinking?" A pistol-packing parent who works in law enforcement sends Fluvanna Middle School into lockdown October 2 when the gun toter is seen strolling around school grounds. A letter goes home to parents, reminding them visitors should sign in.

Worst campaign strategy: Signs belonging to Amherst Board of Supervisors candidate Tim Beverly are embedded with razor blades, severely injuring a man who tried to remove one from private property, the New Era Progress in Amherst reports. Beverly did not have permission to post the sign, and another of his signs was found similarly outfitted with blades. No charges have been filed.

Most signs stolen: Board of Supervisors candidate Ann Mallek reports that her Burma Shave-style campaign signs on Route 810 in White Hall are taken over the weekend. The signs were last seen October 5, and were gone the following morning. No razor blades involved.

Most crushing disappointment for reckless drivers: Charlottesville General District Court Judge Bob Downer upholds the constitutionality of abusive driver fees October 5.

Baddest lieutenant: Leftery "Terry" Tsouroutis, formerly of the Greene County Sheriff's Office, is arrested October 2 on charges of providing transportation for prostitutes and distribution of narcotics, the Daily Progress reports.

More porn: Robert Daniel McGee, 29, enters an Alford plea to five counts of child pornography possession October 2 in Greene County, and could receive one to three years in jail when he's sentenced January 4.

Biggest overturned truck weekend: Rescuers from around the state attend the annual extraction school here October 6 and practice on a flipped tractor trailer. A real-life truck overturned on U.S. 29 at I-64 injures three firefighters October 7 when a cable snaps. Driver John Leonard Phelps, 65, says he was trying to avoid a pedestrian on the shoulder of the off ramp and is  charged with failure to maintain control. Two diesel tanks ruptured and closed southbound 29 for four hours.

Biggest scams: Five men are charged with duping Charlottesville homeowners into paying for fraudulent repairs– in one case, $12,000 for roof work that wasn't performed. Orange residents Christopher Wade Clore, 23, David Harold Morris Jr., 26, Jason Scott Worley, 23, Joseph Sprinkle, 25, and Charles Brooks are charged on multiple counts.  

Less unwieldy: The Virginia Piedmont Technology Council/Charlottesville Venture Group– or VPTC+CVG in techie entrepreneurial circles– ditches the lengthy moniker that came when the two groups married and will henceforth be known as Charlottesville Business Innovation Council.

Best whale rescue: City Council steps in to lease Tom Givens' "Whale Tail" sculpture that now adorns U.S. 250 bypass when the sculptor threatens to move it to a botanical garden in Vienna, Seth Rosen reports in the Progress. The city will pay $3,000 a year for five years, at which point it will own whatever remains of the 28-foot-wide sperm whale tail.

Most  artful lawsuit: Buttocks-as-paintbrush art teacher Stephen Murmer is fired from his job in a Chesterfield County high school after a video of him in disguise demonstrating his unorthodox technique turns up on YouTube. Murmer is suing the county school board and is represented by the ACLU, which argues that what Murmer did was not illegal and was done on his own time.

Best food news we've heard in a long time: UVA prof Glenn Gaesser debunks the notion that eating carbs will make you fat and finds that diets high in carbohydrates are almost universally associated with slimmer bodies, according to a release.

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