4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Biggest court case: The Supreme Court of Virginia rules September 16 that the Charlottesville School Board can determine whether a registered sex offender can come on school property. The ruling overturns a Charlottesville Circuit Court decision that allowed anonymous petitioner John Doe on school grounds to pick up his stepson and attend school activities over the Board's objections. Tasha Kates has the story in the Daily Progress.
Worst fire: A home used to house Keswick Club workers burns to the ground September 17. No one is injured in the blaze at 850 Black Cat Road, but tenant Goran Andelic, 30, who recently lost his Keswick Hall job, is arrested and charged with arson, according to the DP.
Grimmest slayings: Four people are found dead from blunt force trauma September 18 in the home of Longwood University professor Debra S. Kelley in Farmville, including Kelley, 53; her estranged husband, Pastor Mark Alan Niederbrock, 50; their daughter, Emma Niederbrock, 16; and her friend, Melanie Grace Wells, 18, of Inwood, West Virginia. Police arrest death rapper Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III September 19 at Richmond International Airport.
Saddest basketball game: Martell Brooks, 20, collapses September 19 at a streetball exhibition game at Monticello High and is pronounced dead an hour later.
Sickest Dave Matthews reference: In the John Edwards scandal, the New York Times reports that in an effort to calm the paramour who gave birth to a daughter widely believed to be his, Edwards promises Rielle Hunter that "after his wife died, he would marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band."
Better late than never: City Council seems likely to pass a resolution apologizing for its predecessors' segregationist tendencies 51 years ago when Governor Lindsay Almond closed Venable Elementary and Lane High School under Massive Resistance rather than allow black students to integrate. The resolution goes to Council October 5.
Most expensive governor's race: Campaign finance reports released September 15 show that Dem Creigh Deeds took in $3.48 million between July 1 and August 31 and has $4.4 million on hand, while during the same period, Republican Bob McDonnell took in $2.9 million and has $5.8 million on hand.
Most expensive House of Delegates race: Rob Bell v. Cynthia Neff, according to former political columnist Bob Gibson. Republican Bell has raised $672,000 by the start of September and has $570K in the bank, while Democrat Neff brings in $148,000 and has $84,000.
Latest controversy involving Virginia Department of Corrections director Gene M. Johnson: He refuses to let rape victim Debbie Smith meet with her attacker, Norman D. Jimmerson, who's serving a life sentence and is willing to see her. This follows Johnson's recent ban on books from the 20-year-old Books Behind Bars program, which he reinstates September 15.
Biggest faux emergency: Scott Stadium stages a heavy weather emergency exercise September 16. In real life, during a severe thunderstorm, fans would be advised to go to their cars.
Most bear sightings: Progress editor McGregor McCance claims he's seen bears at least 15 times at Mint Springs Valley Park in Crozet– and has the pictures to prove it.
Most Model A cars: More than 250 of the vintage vehicles gather in Charlottesville over the weekend and some caravan to Staunton September 21 to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library– which has Wilson's 1919 Pierce Arrow limo, the News Virginian reports.
Biggest Parrothead bulletin: Jimmy Buffett's coming to JPJ November 17.
Lamest alleged counterfeiter: Waynesboro man Matt A. Colvin, 31, gets a year in prison September 16 after his conviction for scanning a $50 bill and passing fakes at MacDonald's, Taco Bell, and 7-11 in January, according to the News Virginian. Police find a scanner, scissors and glue in his home.
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