4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Best he-said, he-said: CNET founder Halsey Minor and developer Lee Danielson offer contradictory reports on the $30-million Landmark Hotel now under construction on the Downtown Mall, including whether it has bank financing, whether construction would halt, and whether Danielson is still on the project. [See news story–editor.]

Most crowded Congressional office: Although Fifth District results will not be certified until November 24, Tom Perriello takes his 745-vote lead to Washington November 16 to an orientation for new House of Representatives members. Meanwhile, incumbent Virgil Goode has not conceded.

Worst anniversary: In anticipation of the last home game November 22, UVA steps up efforts to derail the tradition of the Fourth-Year Fifth– downing a fifth of liquor before the final home game– 11 years following the death of Leslie Ann Baltz from an alcohol-related fall. Activities designed to discourage heavy drinking include a discussion on "Hooking up and hanging out: sex on Campus," the movie Haze, Hoos in Recovery panel discussion (7:30pm November 20, Clark Hall, room 107). And free bottled water at the game.

Worst alleged robbery: A UVA student is robbed at gunpoint on Shamrock Avenue late November 12 by three suspects, prompting a security alert from UVA and Charlottesville police.

Worst alleged murder suicide: A man and woman are found dead in their Fluvanna home November 13, and police believe that Carrie Davis, 54, shot her husband, Karl Alan Davis, 50, while he slept, the Daily Progress reports. 

Worst alleged rape and abduction of a disabled woman: Police charge Richard Alexander Clay is charged November 12 in an incident that police say happened in the apartment of a woman acquainted with Clay, according to another Progress report.

Worst crash: A three-car accident on U.S. 250 November 15 leaves dead John Jarvis English, 63. 

Worst school-bus driver: Paula A. Tomlin, 36, gets three months in jail for having sex with a male student in Staunton, and she faces charges involving the same boy in Augusta County.

Most Internet-sex solicitation cases: Former Howard University soccer coach Joseph Okoh, who traveled to Louisa in January allegedly to meet a 13-year-old, is found guilty of soliciting sex November 13, with the jury recommending 14 years. Albemarlean James Dennis, who flew a 17-year-old here from Connecticut and was charged with rape and child porn possession, gets 11 years in jail in a plea agreement. NBC29 has the stories. 

Biggest embezzler: Damon Watson, 26, pleads guilty November 18, gets 60 days in jail and is ordered to pay back the $21,000 he stole from the Sexual Assault Resource Agency, NBC29 reports. 

Newest assessor: Robert Willingham comes from Loudoun County to succeed long-time Albemarle assessor Bruce Woodzell, who retired this summer.

Most endorsements: Former U.S. attorney John Brownlee claims the support of 75 law enforcement leaders in his race for Virginia attorney general in 2009, including Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding, former Sheriff Ed Robb, and Greene Sheriff Scott Haas.

Best sign book readership isn't tanking: Barnes & Noble plans to move to a bigger store at Barracks Road Shopping Center, despite grim forecasts for the economy and reading. According to a Rachana Dixit story in the DP, Barnes & Noble wants to double its current 20,433 square feet by tearing down the old Goody's and building a new two-story bookshop.

Greenest: Charlottesville tops the Virginia Municipal League's list of environmentally correct burgs in the 15,000 to 90,000 category.

Least surprising surge in usage: The main library in Charlottesville, always popular with the city's homeless, sees a 30 percent increase in attendance the past 12 months, according to NBC29.

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