4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Published online 8:00am Thursday Jul 29th, 2010
and in print issue #0930 dated Thursday Jul 29th, 2010

Hottest: The temperature on Saturday, July 24, hits 102 degrees, tying the day's record from 1930, while the 100 degrees on Friday, July 23, sets a new record for that date too, the Daily Progress reports.

Biggest cleanup: The Charlottesville city government (which once considered buying her a yurt) installs a storage pod on the Angus Road property of Pauline E. Mallard. The 80-year-old spent decades living in station wagons and tents after her house mysteriously burned down before a planned auction. According to Rachana Dixit in the Progress, Mallard, who is wheelchair bound, is no longer on the eyesore property, but City planning head Jim Tolbert, while saying she's alive, refuses to reveal her location.

Biggest spread: A SurveyUSA poll shows Republican State Senator Robert Hurt 23 points ahead of Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello in the 5th District congressional race. (SurveyUSA once showed Perriello 35 points behind eventual loser Virgil Goode.)

Latest armed-robbery MO: Three bike-riding bandits are wanted for two robberies late July 20 and early July 21. The first occurred on Sixth Street, and an hour later, a man was robbed on Roosevelt Brown Boulevard after one of the perps pulled a semi-automatic handgun. The three pedaled away toward Cherry Avenue.

Latest Department of Corrections censorship suit: Two civil rights organizations, the National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights, have filed a lawsuit against the DOC for banning a book called Jailhouse Lawyer's Handbook. Tasha Kates has the story in the DP.

Biggest loss of a philanthropist: Longtime Crozet school teacher Patricia Byrom, who, with her husband, Robert, donated what will become Albemarle's largest park, dies June 29 at age 77. The 600-acre Patricia Ann Byrom Forest Preserve on Route 810 in the northernmost part of the county is scheduled to open this fall.

Saddest sentencing: Jason Cloutier, 32, issues a teary apology for the fatal shooting of Ferrum College student Jessica Goode, 23, and wounding of Regis Boudinot, 21, when he allegedly mistook the students for deer as he hunted near the college last November. Cloutier is sentenced July 26 to a year in jail, the Roanoke Times reports.

Worst road rage: Dallas Wayne Crickenberger, 69, is arrested for the shooting of Joshua Haislip, 31, following a tailgating incident July 25 on U.S. 33. Haislip's wound to the neck does not appear to be life threatening, according to a release, and Crickenberger is being held in Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange.

Worst alleged heist by a role model: Stuart Hall pre-school teacher Danette Rogers, 38, is arrested for attempting to shoplift $750 worth of toys in a plastic tub from Walmart in Staunton, according to the News Virginian.

Worst news for alleged I-64 wrong-way driver: Felony charges of attempted capital murder, for third DUI in five years, for life-endangering driving with a suspended license, and for eluding police against Michael Hogberg, 26, who was arrested June 20, are certified to a grand jury July 22.

Best new gig: Clark Elementary principal Gena Keller takes the job of superintendent for Fluvanna County schools, succeeding Tom Smith.

Best local connection to the Mel Gibson fray: Rush to Judgment JFK-conspiracy-theory author, lawyer, and Charlottesville resident Mark Lane meets with Gibson's allegedly verbally battered and abused ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, according to gossip site TMZ.com.

Worst way to put out the light: Waynesboro man Robert Merel Plank, 71, allegedly blasts a bothersome light at his neighbors' house at around 11:30pm July 24 and gets arrested for discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, the News Virginian reports.