4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Most violent weekend: Six people are arrested in two shootings that may be gang related. Joshua Anthony "Spanky" Magruder, 19, is found dead around 3am July 19 in the 700 block of Sixth Street SE. Four people are arrested in an Emmet Street motel July 20: Bobby Wayne Gardner Jr., 25, Trenton Michael Brock, 20, and Theodore Calvin Timberlake, 20 are charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, and Rachel Turner, 25, is charged with being an accessory after the fact. Around 7pm on July 19, an 18-year-old man is shot in the chest in the 900 block of Page Street. Calvin Earl Maupin, 18, and Robert Jason Burrell, 22, are charged in that incident.
Worst mugshots: Blake Via, 18, and Michael Seifert, 19, have the daylights beat out of them when they return to a Waynesboro residence for the second time July 15 armed with BB guns and are confronted with angry neighbors and associates of the female victim, who had already called police after their first break in, according to NBC29. The home-invading pair were confronted as they left the apartment with a computer and PlayStation 3; and after a detour to Augusta Medical Center for treatment, have been charged with five counts so far. No word on whether any of the vigilantes will be charged.
Creepiest scenic-overlook encounter: A man allegedly tried to abduct a woman sitting in her car on the Blue Ridge Parkway around midnight July 20 at the Shenandoah Valley Overlook, WINA reports. She fought off the man, described as a "scruffy-looking white male in his 40s or 50s," and was treated at the Augusta Medical Center for minor injuries.
Most suspicious package: Emergency responders descend on an empty rental house at 6271 Plank Road when its owner discovers a mysterious parcel that resembles an "improvised explosive device" July 20, according to a release. Virginia State Police render the package safe by shooting it with a water cannon during the eight-hour incident that involved local fire, rescue and police, as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. A suspect has been identified.
Most satisfied attorneys: UVA Law School grads write checks for $10.9 million, the largest alumni gifts in the school's history.
Best score: UVA student Paul Wagoner, 21, gets a perfect LSAT score, something that happens to fewer than .1 percent of the Law School Admission Test takers, according to a release from Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions.
Newest dean: State superintendent of schools Billy K. Cannaday Jr. steps in to head UVA's School of Continuing and Professional Studies starting October 1.
Best time to get a $10.83/hour job driving a school bus: Albemarle hosts a bus driver job fair July 26 from 9am to 1pm at the County Office Building on McIntire. The job includes benefits and starting salary can go to $13 an hour.
Best (former) hideaway: Author John Casey's cabin on the Delaware River, where he writes during the summer near wife Rosamond's family digs in Milford, Pennsylvania, is the topic of a July 18 New York Times travel piece.
Best news for Green Fairy fans: Absinthe, favorite beverage of late-19th/early-20th-century creative figures such as Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, and Oscar Wilde, which has been banned in the U.S. for the past 95 years, is now available in Virginia A.B.C. stores, the Associated Press reports. One brand, Kubler Swiss Absinthe Superieure, has been approved for sale in state liquor stores, and costs $59.95 a bottle.
#