4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Biggest trial: Acquitted wife rapist Dale Crawford goes on trial February 5 for the rape and murder of his second wife, Sarah Crawford, whose nude body was found in a Charlottesville hotel room November 22, 2004.
Most regretful: The House of Delegates sidesteps the controversy over apologizing for the Commonwealth's wholehearted commitment to slavery almost 150 years ago and instead rewrites a resolution to express the state's profound regret and denounce the "most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history," Bob Gibson reports in the Daily Progress.
Biggest ouster from a nonprofit: Philip Dukes, MACAA executive director, is out after 19 months. A statement from Board of Directors chair Robert Smith says, "MACAA needs to move in a different direction, and that will require new leadership." COO Gary Nickelsen has been appointed interim exec director.
Worst driving: Just Curry on the Corner is the victim of a hit and run February 1, NBC29 reports.
Latest child porn plea: Former Albemarle High girls' soccer coach Raja Charles Jabbour pleads guilty February 1 to possessing child porn– including depictions of bestiality– and using the Internet to entice young girls to have sex, according to Liesel Nowak in the DP. Jabbour's plea agrees to nine years in prison and deportation for the Lebanese citizen.
Worst home invasion: A hammer-wielding man enters a residence in Rio Hill Apartments around 11:17am February 5 and demands money from the female victim, according to a release.
Worst domestic dispute: David G. Sloan, 37, is shot in the chest at Avon Court February 4. Both Sloan and an unidentified woman are taken to the hospital, and Sloan is charged with domestic assault and battery.
Worst sandwich fracas: A warrant is issued for Morgan State basketball coach Todd Bozeman for shaking a Mulligan's restaurant manager in Farmville following his team's 75-73 loss to Longwood February 3. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Bozeman was upset about receiving 52 ham and turkey sandwiches instead of 52 Philly cheese steak and chicken sandwiches.
Latest embezzlement from a Catholic church: A former church secretary is charged with felony embezzlement from St. Peter's Catholic Church in Richmond, the T-D reports. Bernadine Brown is videotaped putting Sunday collection money in her purse.
Biggest takeover: LexisNexis sells its local printing operation employing 90 people to Cadmus Communications in Richmond, Brian McNeill reports in the Progress. The $8.5 million deal also includes a digital printing operation in New York.
Biggest fundraising crunch: The Charlottesville High School Orchestra must raise $120,000 in the next 50 days so all 120 band members can compete in London in April. So far the orchestra has raised $200K– enough for 90 students. Donations will be accepted at a free concert February 8 at CHS.
Coldest: Charlottesville and Albemarle cops who jump into the Atlantic February 3 to raise money for Special Olympics Virginia at the 15th Polar Plunge in Virginia Beach.
Most like Blue Ridge Outdoors: The Daily Progress urges readers to vote for one of four covers to launch its eerily familiar outdoors mag, Our Great Outdoors, which debuts March 4.
Most bizarre astronaut story: Lisa Nowak, a crew member on a space shuttle flight last year, is charged with kidnaping and attempted murder of a woman the 43-year-old married mother of three thought was a romantic rival for another astronaut. Nowak, not to be confused with Progress reporter Liesel Nowak, drove 900 miles from Houston to Orlando wearing a diaper so she wouldn't have to stop.
#