The week in review

By Hook Staff |
Published online Thursday Oct 23rd, 2003
and in print issue #0242 dated Thursday Oct 23rd, 2003

Best news for CourtTV fans: The trial of sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad gets under way in Virginia Beach, with Muhammad firing his attorneys and representing himself.

Best demolition for James Madison fans: The fourth president's home is going to be stripped of its duPont era additions, reducing Montpelier by 60 percent to the way it was when Jemmy and Dolley lived there.

Best evidence that airlines still aren't secure: Guilford College student Nathaniel Travis Heatwole is charged with carrying concealed weapons after slipping box cutters and other forbidden items on two Southwest Airlines planes to demonstrate weaknesses in security.

Worst post-Isabel outages: Winds knock down lines and leave around 13,000 area residents without power October 15.

Best bust: Charlottesville police find 195 marijuana plants in the Monte Vista Avenue home of UVA hospital nurse Daniel Eli Comarovschi, along with cocaine, six handguns, and two rifles.

Best police mystery: What happened to Gordonsville police officer Emerson Brown, who disappeared October 10 only to be found October 13 in Fredericksburg? Orange County Sheriff C.G. Feldman complains he spent around $3,000 in salaries looking for the missing officer, according to a Claudia Pinto account in the Daily Progress.

Worst stinkin' spill: 30,000 pounds of dead destined-for-dogfood chicken parts festoon I-64 near the Route 20 exit October 14 when a tractor-trailer overturns. (The Progress reports one case of vomiting linked to the fowl incident.)

Worst wanking: Daniel Bishop is sentenced to six months in jail for masturbating in front of female sunbathers at swimming pools at three different apartment complexes in June and July, the Progress reports.

Best video: UVA fans at the October 18 FSU game get to see a digital animation of the sword-wielding Cavalier mascot tossing the Seminole character off Beta Bridge and then galloping off-screen and into Scott stadium on real-life horseback.

Worst loss: A bad snap and several short punts doom UVA's chance to upset the 'Noles, and they fall 19-14.

Best war chest: Delegate Rob Bell, who's running unopposed, was sitting on over $91,000 at the end of September, according to Bob Gibson in the Progress, topping other local unopposed candidates Senator Creigh Deeds, who has nearly $39,000 in cash, and Delegate Mitch Van Yahres with $26,000.

Best decision for electoral board members: Attorney General Jerry Kilgore has revised an earlier opinion and now says board members can volunteer in political campaigns.

Worst zero-tolerance case: A Pulaski middle schooler is expelled for a year for bringing an insomnia medicine to school, and a judge denies her mother's suit to allow the girl to go back to class.

Worst supersonic symbol: The final flight of the Concorde into Washington occurs October 14 and its last trans-Atlantic flight will be October 24.

Best way to get into Chicago Cubs fans' Hall of Infamy: By snatching the ball from a Cubs outfielder like Steve Bartman does in a game the Florida Marlins go on to win after scoring eight runs in the eighth inning.

Best get-out-the-vote effort by a Democratic presidential candidate: The Reverend Al Sharpton registers voters at Cabell Hall during his October 19 visit, Kate Andrews reports in the Progress.

Best monkey business: A brain implant developed by scientists in North Carolina allows simians to control a robotic arm with their thoughts.

Worst irate movie fan: A two-point buck smashes through a window at the Blockbuster video store on Hydraulic Road on Thursday, October 16, knocking down assistant manager Christopher Shea and racing down aisles before exiting through another window. Shea is not seriously injured, according to store manager Karen Reed.