The week in review

Best indication the gods must be crazy: An August 28 gale brings down the big tent at the perennially weather-plagued Albemarle County Fair, trapping dozens and closing the event on Friday.

Best scoop: Daily Progress photog Andrew Shurtleff is on the scene as the tent collapses on fairgoers seeking shelter from the storm.

Worst law enforcement loss: Sgt. Rodney Lee Davis Jr. with the Greene County Sheriff's Office is shot and killed August 26 while serving James C. Faulkner Jr. with an arrest warrant. Suspected of drug dealing, Faulkner also dies at the scene.

Worst accidental shooting: Five-year-old Breanna Phaup is killed August 26 in Buckingham County when the gun her step-grandfather is carrying accidentally discharges, Austin Graham reports in the Progress.

Best windfall for local police: U.S. Representative Virgil Goode bestows almost $150,000 on Albemarle to put cameras and computers in squad cars, and $40,000 to Charlottesville police for in-car computers.

Best campaigning in a non-election year: Goode is all over the Fifth District August 27 passing out giant mock checks in Fluvanna for a sewer system and in Albemarle for police equipment, as well as appearing in Greene County to publicize a free prescription drug card for seniors. On August 26, he joins Republican supe candidate Ken Boyd and other unopposed candidates for a back-to-school picnic at the Forest Lakes Arby's.

Best getting out the vote: The AARP, which has 900,000 members in Virginia, has a van traveling across the state to mobilize senior voters and to urge them to quiz candidates on issues important to folks in the 50-plus age demographic.

Best reason to not file a false police report: Tara Beasley is ordered to pay more than $2,700 in fines, and sentenced to 48 hours in jail and 100 hours of community service for falsely reporting she was raped June 26, the Daily Progress reports.

Worst alleged hit plans: Crozet resident Virginia Rose Clark, 55, is jailed August 29 by the Virginia State Police for allegedly plotting to kill up to eight people.

Worst news for drunk drivers: Police plan more checkpoints across the state to crack down on a rising number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

Best rest stop: The $7-million New Kent rest area on eastbound I-64 reopens August 27.

Best time for delinquent taxpayers to pay up: Through November 3, Virginia is offering an amnesty to help recoup an estimated $48 million in unpaid taxes.

Worst goober: Virginia's peanut industry is under siege from drought, rain, and low prices, slicing by half the number of acres planted in this agricultural staple.

Best rinky deal: In the July 2 transaction, the new owners of the Charlottesville Ice Park pay just $2.6 million for the skating palace– a lot less than the $6 million reportedly spent building the seven-year-old facility.

Best sign dogs really are man's best friend: The reward for information on the abuser of the boxer now named Britta, who was thrown off a bridge around July 24, has risen to $17,500– almost as much as the $20,000 reward for the serial rapist who's been attacking women since 1997.

Best new fraternity name: "Out on Rugby" is UVA's first gay Greek organization, reports the Cavalier Daily.

Best chance to see a Charlottesvillian on Temptation Island: Local resident Eric Hurt and girlfriend Kristin Cobb, both Longwood University grads, put their relationship to the test for the third season of the Fox reality show.

Best upcoming congressional nuptials: Senator John Warner, 76, plans to marry real estate agent Jeanne Vander Myde, 65, on December 15 at the Washington National Cathedral.

[One name was mistaken in the print version of this story; it has been corrected here.]