The week in review
Worst words for millions still in the dark: "This is absolutely the worst storm ever we've ever experienced"– a statement echoed by power companies in Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, along with warnings that it could be up to a week for power to be restored in some areas such as Richmond.
Worst time to go canoeing: At 2:30am September 19 at the height of Isabel, which is what three James Madison University students do. One drowns when the canoe capsizes.
Worst horse-and-buggy deaths: Two Old Order Mennonites die September 21 when they try to cross a flooded Harrisonburg bridge, according to the Daily Progress.
Worst area generator death: Former Staunton public works director Frank Wiggins, 70, and his two dogs die from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator running in the basement, according to the News Leader in Staunton.
Best break for CHS students: They get an extra day off while the rest of city and county kids head back to school on Monday, September 22.
Best way to keep the Democratic presidential candidates on their toes: General Wesley Clark becomes the 10th to seek the party's nomination.
Worst blow to efforts for a multilateral rebuilding of Iraq: Another suicide bomber blows himself up at a checkpoint outside UN headquarters in Baghdad September 22.
Best resignation perk: Although New York Stock Exchange head Dick Grasso resigns amid outrage over his $140 million salary, he probably gets to keep the money.
Worst excuse for an armed robbery: Seventy-five cents, which is how much 23-year-old Rondell Mondria Cleaton allegedly steals from an Albemarle County resident outside the Seven Day Junior on Richmond Road September 20, the Cavalier Daily reports.
Worst Albemarle County police news: Carl D. Graves, a 20-year veteran of the force, is charged with assault in a domestic dispute.
Worst loss for Real Estate III and the Kessler Group: Frank Kessler, the real estate magnate who developed Forest Lakes and Glenmore, dies September 20.
Best news for commercial property owners: Vacancies are starting to fill, according to a slim Progress insert called the "Charlottesville Business Journal."
Best way to take your vitamins: Emily Clancy develops a vanilla-flavored vitamin spray that can be applied to the doughnuts of unsuspecting children, Claudia Pinto reports in the Progress.
Worst reason to celebrate October: It's National Window Covering Safety Month, and the industry urges parents to replace miniblinds or corded shades more than three years old because 160 children have died from accidental window cord strangulation since 1991.
Best letter to the editor in the Progress: Kay Peaslee castigates the Charlottesville planning commission for wasting two hours discussing parking at a doggy day care center.
Worst week for Barbie: Saudi Arabia's government denounces the doll as "Jewish," "a symbol of decadence to the perverted West," and promises to confiscate the buxom toy.
Best fossil discovery: Reuters reports that the world's oldest genitals–- belonging to a 400 million-year-old arachnid– are discovered in ancient rocks in Scotland.
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