4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Published online 7:00am Thursday Jul 23rd, 2009
and in print issue #0829 dated Thursday Jul 23rd, 2009

Most life sentences: Waverly "Eddie" Whitlock, who shot and killed 11-year-old Aziz Booth June 3, 2008, gets six life sentences plus 33 years July 17. Whitlock initially agreed to plead guilty if he got the death penalty.

Best apology: The Richmond Times-Dispatch owns up to its ignoble role in Massive Resistance and expressed regret on the 50th anniversary of Virginia's attempt to circumvent Brown v. Board of Education by closing schools– including Charlottesville's Venable Elementary and Lane High School–to keep African-American students out.

Best remembrance of that dark time: UVA's Center for Politics hosts a symposium at the state Capitol in Richmond on July 17 with players such as former governor Linwood Holton, who declared an end to Massive Resistance when he took office in 1970.

Best disappearing act: Stuart Mowbray Knapp, 43, leaves his Lake Monticello home July 8 on his bike and turns up in Martha's Vineyard over the July 11 weekend, the Progress reports.

Best press for Charlottesville High orchestra: Players get to perform under former New York Philharmonic conductor Lorin Maazel at the first Castleton Festival at his Virginia estate and get a mention in the July 13 New York Times.

Best news for local filmmakers: Virginia Film Fest is looking for features and documentaries, with bonus points if they fit the "Funny Business" theme, for the November 5-8 festival. Entries must be received by August 25 through withoutabox.com.

Best news for mud boggers: FluCo supes approve Shannon Haislip's request to put a mud pit on his 49-acre farm and hold mud bogs six times a year, according to the Newsplex.

Worst sign no one is exempt for the faltering economy: Monticello lays off three full-time employees July 15; Region Ten cuts 11 jobs July 20.

Best chance for free health services: Health care professionals will do screenings for a range of conditions, including Alzheimer's, diabetes and children's dental, at the Charlottesville Community Health Fair July 25 from 10am to 2pm at Booker T. Washington Park

Paltriest fundraising: Former congressman Virgil Goode reports second quarter contributions of $154, a sign, according to political pundit Larry Sabato, that he's not running to regain his seat taken by Tom Perriello in 2008. Brian McNeill has the story in the Progress.

Most under-budget: Rebricking the Downtown Mall comes in $1.5 million under the $7.5 million City Council budgeted for the project, NBC29 reports. The surplus will go toward Second Street and Corner upgrades..

Biggest weighing in on the Wilderness/Wal-Mart controversy: Governor Tim Kaine and House of Delegates Speaker William Howell write the Orange County Board of Supervisors July 13 to urge them to find an appropriate site for a proposed Wal-Mart that's away from the Civil War's Wilderness Battlefield, and pledge the assistance of state agencies to do so.

Biggest cat fight: Nekevea Sherente Jones, 19, gets a 60-day sentence, all but four days in jail suspended, for disorderly conduct for her role in an April 4 fight between two women on Forest Ridge Road in which a 30-year-old woman was stabbed, the Progress reports.

Worst mood: Margaret Ann Wayne, 27, is arrested July 15 for allegedly stabbing Larry L. Smith multiple times. Smith left the scene of the crime, and his wounds are non life-threatening. He and Wayne are related, according to a release.

Worst time for a pit stop: While traveling along Virginia's interstates in the vicinity of the 18 rest areas that are closed and barricaded July 21, including the ones in Goochland County on I-64 between Charlottesville and Richmond.