4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Published online 8:00am Thursday Feb 22nd, 2007
and in print issue #0608 dated Thursday Feb 22nd, 2007

Worst lost-teen story: Eric Gordon Murphy, 17, was last seen at 8am February 13 near his Lakeside Apartments home off Avon Street Extended. At press time, the Murray High student had not been found.

Best get: Governor Tim Kaine speaks to UVA law students at a public service law conference February 17.

Best blessing for Obama: Kaine endorses presidential candidate Barack Obama at a Richmond fundraiser February 17.

Best blessing for Claytor: Dem sheriff candidate Larry Claytor snags the endorsement of former delegate Mitch Van Yahres February 19 at a campaign kick-off.

Best sign all is not well in the 24th District: Buena Vista businessman Scott Sayre announces his intention to challenge fellow Republican and three-term incumbent State Senator Emmett Hanger.

Best sign it's local election season: Albemarle School Board at-large member Brian Wheeler, director of growth-watchdog Charlottesville Tomorrow, tells citizens he plans to run again. And Albemarle Board of Supervisors Chairman Ken Boyd is also seeking another four years.

Best impersonating an officer case: Former Albemarle animal control officer William D. Maiden, 46, is convicted of pretending to be a cop after a near accident on I-64 in which he pulled over a driver using a flashing red light on his dashboard, Liesel Nowak reports in the Daily Progress. Maiden is ordered to pay a $250 fine.

Least collegial armed robbery: A UVA professor and student are robbed near Scott Stadium around 9:30pm February 16, and one of the victims is struck on the back of the head, according to NBC29.

Worst news for beginning readers: Charlottesville will eliminate four reading specialists from the popular Book Buddies program because of a cut in federal funding, according to a Matt Deegan story in the DP.

Biggest conundrum: Charlottesville projects school enrollment will decline by 86 students, but Superintendent Rosa Atkins' proposed $65.7 million budget is a 6.3 percent increase from last year, according to another Deegan article.

Best back dating: The Jefferson School, already a historic landmark, now dates its historic significance to 1894 instead of 1926 following last summer's excavation of the site of the Old Jefferson Graded Elementary School in its parking lot along Fourth Street NW.

Newest pancreatic transplant: UVA surgeons cure 15-year-old Ashley Lilly of pancreatitis, a serious inflammation of the pancreas, by transferring islet cells from the pancreas to her liver, the first time this surgery has been performed in this region, the Cav Daily reports. The procedure makes it less likely that Lilly will get diabetes, a side effect of pancreas removal.

Best chance to get a book contract: DP columnist Jenny Gardiner is one of two finalists in RomanticTimes.com with her novel, Sleeping with Ward Cleaver. If she gets the most people to vote for her book by emailing and writing "Sleeping with Ward Cleaver" on the subject line, her book gets published.

Most snow angels: Nearly 9,000 people lie down in the snow in Bismarck, North Dakota, February 17, to break the old snow angel record of 3,784.

Worst road rage story: Mother-of-three Jessica Hall, 25, is sentenced to two years in jail by a Stafford County jury for throwing a missile into a car, a felony in Virginia, the Washington Post reports. In what has become dubbed the "McMissile" case, Hall tossed a McDonald's cup of ice into the window of a car that had cut her off in traffic twice on I-95 last July.