4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Best sign real estate development is still in the tank: Hunter Craig, the man behind Biscuit Run, which was going to be 3,100-home subdivision in the designated Growth Area south of town, now wants to donate to the state for a park the 1,200 acres purchased for $46.2 million in 2005. Brian Wheeler has the story for Charlottesville Tomorrow.
Best buy? Charlottesville snaps up Region Ten's prime commercially-zoned real property on Fourth Street NW for $1.6 million as the future site of a 60-unit studio apartment building for the homeless and working poor, according to Rachana Dixit in the Progress.
Best news for wannabe spies: The Defense Intelligence Agency plans to hire 800 people at its new location north of town called Rivanna Station, and makes 85 job offers December 14– if the applicants can get a security clearance. Bryan McKenzie has the story in the DP.
Most charges: Ricky Allen Corbin Jr., 20, and Brittany Marie Minter, 19, rack up 28 and 27 charges respectively for grand larceny, destruction of property and credit card theft when they're indicted by the Albemarle grand jury December 7 for a series of car break-ins, according to police. Both are being held without bond in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
Most time in a senseless shooting: Daniel Dove, 29, who fired into an apartment September 30, 2008, and killed 17-year-old Emilio Morales, is sentenced to 22 years in prison. According to the Progress, Dove was trying to get his money after sugar and cement were sold to him as drugs, but apparently had the wrong apartment.
Best quote: "There's evil and there's stupid," says Dove's attorney, David Baugh. "That is stupid."
Stupidest rampage: A BB gun shooter hits a person at Barracks Road Shopping Center around 9pm December 13 outside Plow & Hearth and another person walking on JPA. Arrested and charged with assault and battery are Michael Wayne Hensley, 22, and Cody Scott Shifflett, 18.
Stupidest target: A window at the Charlottesville Police Department is shattered that same night by a BB. Police are investigating whether the incidents are related.
Worst run-in with a library: Gregory Allen Rosson, 18, is charged with reckless driving after colliding with a Chevy Malibu and then the Crozet Library around 2:15am December 14. Rosson is airlifted to UVA Medical Center; the library is looking at about $2,00o in repairs.
Worst casualty on Stony Point Road: Benjamin Gordon Hair, 20, dies in a single-car accident while driving northbound in heavy rain around 11:38am December 13.
Worst time to be drinking and driving: Albemarle police stop Norma Cruz on I-64 December 11 at 11:42pm after observing her vehicle driving erratically, and notice an 18-month-old child in the back seat, according to a release. Cruz is charged with driving under the influence while transporting a minor and driving without a license, second offense.
Worst break-up: Brenda Canosa, 49, is charged with shooting multiple times her Orange County Sheriff's deputy husband Bob Canosa, 55, on December 11. Canosa's injuries were life-threatening, according to Virginia State Police, but he's in stable condition at UVA Medical Center.
Most thought-provoking questioning of federal priorities: Wannabe wife-killer Patrick Shemorry gets 9.5 years December 9 for trying to hire a hitman to bump off his bride. That same day, and also in federal court, Warren "Pop" Rucker II is sentenced to 16 years in prison for selling crack and cocaine. CVillain.com spots the irony that it's less serious to plot to kill someone than to sell drugs to consenting adults.