4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Worst spate of deadly crashes: Two people are killed and two are seriously injured in three unrelated wrecks May 7. Afton resident Nikki Renee Paterson, 39, dies after hitting a deer around 5am on Plank Road and slamming into a tree. Mary Elizabeth Sprouse, 20, is ejected from her car on Route 56 in Nelson County in a single car accident and dies at the scene. A teen passenger and 10-month-old baby in a car seat are injured. And a man on Stony Point Road is seriously injured when his pickup flips, hits a tree and he's ejected.
Most chilling detail: None of those killed or seriously injured are wearing seat belts.
Most tragic accident: A two-year-old girl is run over in her driveway in Louisa May 8 by her mother's 19-year-old friend.
Most fires: Over the gusty weekend, Crozet Volunteer Fire Department responds to calls for 19 brushfires, NBC 29 reports.
Favorite supe among supes: Charlottesville's Rosa Atkins is named superintendent of the year by her peers at the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.
Latest deja-vu: The specter of the western U.S. 29 bypass around Charlottesville rears its head again, resurrected by the Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce and State Senator Steve Newman, who plan to appeal to Governor Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to pressure Charlottesville to see the light.
Best PVCC planned expansion: A 15,000-square-foot day care center for students, faculty and staff has been okayed by the board of Piedmont Virginia Community College in what will be a joint partnership with UVA Health Services to open in early 2012. Brian McNeill has the story in the Progress.
Least thrilled about the new Whole Foods: Kmart files suit against its landlord, which is also the grocer's developer, the redundantly named Meadowbrook Creek LLC, for making improvements, such as the Hillsdale Connector and a Whole Foods parking lot, according to Rachana Dixit at the DP. A June 14 hearing is scheduled.
Least surprising: The Free Enterprise Forum says Albemarle's Architectural Review Board is too restrictive, Brandon Shulleeta reports in the Progress.
Latest for beleaguered Buckingham supervisor: A felony charge is dropped against Joe N. Chambers Jr. after he pays for the trees he was accused of stealing, Ted Strong reports in the DP.
Latest affiliation for Virgil Goode: The former 5th District congressman joins the Constitution Party, which takes a tougher line on illegal immigration than the GOP, although Goode says he hasn't left the Republicans in a Brian McNeill story in the Progress.
Worst threat to parking in downtown Crozet: Spaces at the Square, which houses Crozet Hardware, Parkway Pharmacy and Mudhouse, are owned by CSX and leased to Buckingham Branch, which threatens to bar parking to avoid liability, according to the Crozet Gazette.
Worst embezzler: Kimberley Steljes pleads guilty to writing checks totaling around $35,000 from the Central Little League account, of which her husband was treasurer.
Hardest time: Kendall Gibson has lived in isolation for more than 10 years at Greensville Correctional Center for refusing to cut his dreadlocks, which he says is integral to his Rastafarian faith and which the Department of Corrections says makes him a threat.
Most surprising interpretation of interstate commerce law: Sentenced for a plot to rob drug dealers, which interferes with interstate commerce, albeit illegal trade, are Darrell Michael Jackson, 22, of Charlottesville and David Martinelli, 21, of Earlysville. Both pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and two counts of conspiracy to commit violent crime, and on May 10, Jackson gets 11 years and Martinelli seven.
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