4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Published online 8:00am Thursday May 28th, 2009
and in print issue #0821 dated Thursday May 28th, 2009

Most remorseful: Alleged child-killer Waverly "Eddie" Whitlock agrees to plead guilty May 20 in the death of 11-year-old Aziz Damar Booth June 3 only if he receives the death penalty, Tasha Kates reports in the Daily Progress. Whitlock is charged with 18 counts, including capital murder.

Most like suicide-by-execution? See above.

Most threatened historic mode of transport: VDOT announces plans to dump the hand-poled Hatton Ferry near Scottsville July 1 to save $21,000.

Biggest speed trap: Albemarle police write a record 170 tickets– 145 of them for speeding– May 19 on U.S. 29/250 bypass near Fontaine Avenue from 8:30am to 2:30pm. The fastest driver is clocked at 79mph, the average speeder at 69mph.

Worst Memorial weekend casualty: Andrade Rodrigo Santiago is killed in a single-car accident May 24 on Garth Road when the car in which he was a passenger hit a utility pole and overturned. Driver Guillermo Mercado-Rivera is charged with DUI and driving with a suspended license.

Worst weekend critical injury: The SUV driven by Dale Tyree of Crozet flips May 22 about 10pm on Route 250 heading west, lands 30 feet down an embankment and catches fire, NBC29 reports. Charges are pending.

Longest drunk-driving jail sentences: Helen Jewel Ward gets two-and-a-half years for slamming a Ford Explorer into the Mitusbishi Galant driven by Annie Roach and her son December 5, leaving Roach maimed and in a wheelchair, according to another Kates story. Ward blew a .20 blood alcohol level, and this was her third DUI offense. And West Virginian Troy S. Bean gets five years for plowing head-on into Orange County residents Howard Diamond, 80, and his wife, Nancy, 70, and killing them on I-81 in December, NBC29 reports.

Most child porn charges: Former UVA student Dustin James Lapradd is charged May 19 with 10 counts of possession. Lapradd, 23, had been enrolled at the Curry School of Education.

Most pro bono volunteer hours: Recent UVA Law School grad Rebecca Vallas puts in 1,562 hours during her three years here, breaking a school record. Law students are encouraged to do 75 hours of pro bono work.

Priciest Jeffersonia: Spend a week imbued in "Jefferson's America, America's Jefferson" at the 21st annual Jefferson Seminar on the Lawn June 10-14, starting at $1,485. For real authenticity, $1,640 buys a week in a room on the Lawn, and $1,685 gets a room with A/C in Brown College.

Biggest endorsement: The Washington Post picks state Senator Creigh Deeds for governor in the June 9 primary over Clinton pal Terry McAuliffe and Northern Virginia former delegate Brian Moran.

Best baseball team: UVA wins the ACC championship May 24 after defeating Florida State 6-3, its first conference title under Coach Brian O'Connor.

Best sign Bambi has turned: Two separate deer attacks that injure three people are reported in Pulaski County. A May 16 attack on a man and his seven-year-old son leaves the father with a broken arm and bruises, and a man clearing brush one-half mile away is kicked and bitten May 18, according to the Associated Press. Game officials are unable to say whether the same deer was the perp, but an officer shoots an aggressive deer May 20 and it's being tested for rabies.

Biggest fish: State officials are checking the blue catfish caught May 20 in the James River below Richmond by Tim Wilson of Natural Bridge to see if the alleged 102-pounder is truly the first freshwater fish over 100 pounds to be caught in the Commonwealth.