4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Biggest blow for Meadowcreek Parkway opponents: The Supreme Court of Virginia denies the Coalition to Save McIntire Park's appeal to stop Charlottesville's lease of land to Albemarle for the road, deeming the appeal was not filed in timely manner. Charlottesville Circuit Court also nixed the coalition's claim last June. Charlottesville Tomorrow has the story.
Biggest lawsuit: Massanutten Resort gets hit with a $25 million suit for a snow-tubing accident that paralyzed John Carwile of Hampton in January 2009, Ted Strong reports for the Daily Progress.
Worst child abuser: Thomas Jefferson Race, 34, pleads guilty to three counts of forcible sodomy but estimates his victims could be as many as 37 in court April 21, where he's sentenced to 33 years in prison. [See story p. XX]
Worst jolt for UVA students: In-state tuition is set to surge up to $10,628 for the 2010-11 school year, which means it will have more than doubled in eight years since 2002-03's $4,595, according to a handy graph in the DP.
Latest Glenmore fallout: Glenmore Associates, which employed convicted embezzler Mike Comer, sells the Glenmore Country Club to Tymark Holdings LLC, whose principals are US Joiner owners David and Jayne Rathburn, to help pay off the purloined funds now reported at $738,000 taken from the homeowners' Glenmore Community Association, according to the Progress.
Latest with hoax powder man: Mark Ryland Dowdy is sentenced April 21 to three-and-a-half years and a $5,000 fine for coating signs at Klockner Pentaplast with talcum powder, but allowed to remain out on bond while he appeals the sentence, Tasha Kates reports in the Progress. Last December, in the middle of his opening argument, Dowdy was shipped off for a psychiatric evaluation.
Latest alleged child porn aficionado: Charles Lindauer, 41, president, CEO and founder of SpatiaLogic, is charged with transporting and possession child pornography on his computer. Tasha Kates has the story in the Progress.
Best example of principle over pragmaticism: Congressman Tom Perriello returns contributions from eight lobbyists totaling $1,750, including $400 from the League of Conservation Voters and from ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the Progress reports.
Most photogenic: Video cameras on the Downtown Mall are back on the table, this time at the behest of the Downtown Business Association, the DP reports. In 2007, police Chief Tim Longo urged installation of surveillance cameras.
Most likely to object: Rutherford Institute founder John Whitehead writes to City Council about the alleged invasion of privacy and Constitutional threat the cameras would pose.
Latest housing market casualty: Barry Meade Homes closes its door April 9 after 23 years.
Latest Foxfield arrest numbers: The 2010 race April 24 nets 45 people charged with 51 offenses, mostly drunk in public, but also pot and cocaine possession. Attendance was down because of rain predictions, and traffic less snarled, say Albemarle police.
Earliest announcement: City Councilor David Brown says he won't seek a third term in 2011, the Progress reports. Brown was first elected to Council in 2004, when city elections were held in the spring, and served as mayor for almost four years.
Unlikeliest issue in Scottsville race: Town Councilor Bebe Williams favors legalization of marijuana as a way to help the town's hard-hit economy, and most other councilors there don't object to a resolution calling for the feds decriminalize lighting up, according to a Brandon Shulleeta story in the Progress.
Worst news for impotent state employees: The General Assembly passes a budget amendment last week that ceases to cover erectile-dysfunction drugs or antihistamines effective July 1, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
Best get for Liberty University: Conservative talkmeister Glenn Beck will deliver the May 15 commencement address.
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