4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Worst hike: University of Richmond law student Richard Slimak, 26, is killed when he falls off a cliff at Crabtree Falls March 22.
Most careless guardian of our youth? First grader Caleb Kelly gets on the wrong bus at Central Elementary in Fluvanna March 17, and is let off to walk one-quarter mile to his empty great-grandparents' house, his mother, Kimberly Kelly, tells the Daily Progress. Fluvanna School Superintendent Thomas Smith disputes that account, and says the lad walked only fewer than 20 yards, and says the bus driver backed up and waited until he or she saw Caleb opening the door to the house.
Most alleged predatory guardian of our youth: Richard Deane, 45, former Albemarle schools assistant director of building services, is charged with using a computer to solicit sex from a 17-year-old Nelson County girl on her cell phone, NBC29 reports.
Biggest coke bust: The Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force arrests three men March 19 and seizes 562 grams of powder cocaine worth an estimated $53,000, according to JADE. Renaldo Garcia Juarez, 27, Arturo Miron Garcia, 24, and Cesar Ruiz Ayala, 33, are charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine; more charges and arrests are pending.
Biggest pot bust: Later that same day, JADE arrests Charlottesville resident Kristopher Lavelle Henderson, 24, with 3.5 pounds of marijuana and $3,700 in cash.
Worst crash: William Calvin Thompson Jr., 46, dies in a multi-vehicle accident March 20 on 5th Street SW. Four other people in the vehicles Thompson hit, including a pregnant woman, were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police say alcohol and excessive speed were factors.
Worst loss for Stanardsville: Long-time Mayor Jerry Bortner, 60, dies March 21.
Most confusing: City Manager Gary O'Connell says at a March 13 budget work session that the city and Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad are close to inking a deal to charge for ambulance service, Seth Rosen reports in the Daily Progress. But in a March 19 article, CARS officials say such remarks are "ill-advised" and that no decision has been made on billing patients.
Most psychotic: A woman hurls a brick through Corner landmark Mincer's door around 3pm March 21, the Progress reports, and the alleged brick thrower is taken for a mental health evaluation.
Most nominations: For the fourth year in a row, the Virginia Quarterly Review is a finalist in the National Magazine Awards, getting nods in the general excellence, a single-topic issue, and photojournalism categories. The awards will be presented May 1 in New York.
Youngest principal: Thomas W. Taylor, 29, comes from Virginia Beach to take the helm of Charlottesville High, succeeding Kenneth Leatherwood, who moves to central administration.
Fifth anniversary: The United States invaded Iraq March 19, 2003.
Fiftieth anniversary: William Faulkner invaded UVA in 1958 for his second term as writer in residence, and the library and English Department celebrate with an April 4, 2008, symposium at the Harrison/Small Collections auditorium.
LEEDest: Charlottesville's Downtown Transit Station gets a gold level in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from the U.S. Green Building Council, the first such gold star for a municipal project in Virginia.
Most scathing book review: Progress reviewer Barbara Rich thought she'd already seen "... the worst, the most pretentious, most unliterary, self-infatuating book I've ever read–" until she reviewed The Making of Hollywood Stars by publicist Tommy Lightfoot Garrett, who faces 15 counts of forgery in Buckingham County.
Most perplexing question of the week: Who pays $1,350 for a corn flake shaped like Illinois? Answer: Monty Kerr of Austin, Texas.
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