Married just two years, Jessica Lester, 25, was training for a nursing career at the time of her death.
PHOTO COURTESY ALLEN, ALLEN, ALLEN & ALLEN

A Charlottesville jury has awarded what’s believed to be Virginia’s largest wrongful death award— more than $10 million— and seemed to send a message to the family of a woman who died when a cement-laden truck from Allied Concrete rolled and crushed her car three years and a half ago.

“It speaks to the level of tragedy the family experienced,” says Bryan Slaughter, a trial lawyer who watched part of the December 7-9 proceedings. “It also says Allied’s conduct is not going to be tolerated in this community.”

Jessica Lester, 25, was driving to work with her husband, Isaiah Lester, on June 21, 2007, when they crossed paths with a mixer driven by Allied employee William Donald Sprouse, who chose curvy, two-lane Route 53 over Monticello Mountain to haul 36,000 pounds of cement to a bridge rebuild in Palmyra, rather than taking Interstate 64 and U.S. 15.

Trial testimony showed that Sprouse had a history of driving infractions. On the fateful day, the plaintiffs allege he was driving too fast around a curve when he lost control of the truck, which overturned on top of the Lesters’ Honda.

Jessica Lester grew up on an organic farm in Nelson County where she was home-schooled. A graduate of Piedmont Virginia Community College, she was training to become a nurse coordinator for UVA neurosurgeon Greg Helm. Instead she became his patient.

The neurosurgeon testified (more)

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New Albemarle police chief Steve Sellers starts work January 18.
PUBLICITY PHOTO

Fairfax Deputy Police Chief Steve Sellers will be the next Albemarle County Police chief, county exec Bob Tucker announced Monday..

Sellers, a 28-year-veteran of the Fairfax County, has led the investigations division for Fairfax including heading a task force that successfully investigated snipers John Mohammed and Lee Malvo, who terrorized Northern Virginia in 2002.

Sellers succeeds John Miller, who retired September 30 after 21 years as chief.

“We are very happy to bring someone of Steve Sellers’ caliber,” says Tucker in a release.

Sellers, 49, says he’s wanted to be in law enforcement since he was five years old. He got both his B.A. in business administration and master’s in public administration at Virginia Tech. He’s also a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

Although the population of Fairfax recently topped the one million mark (to Albemarle’s less than 100,000), Sellers says Albemarle and Fairfax share similar demographics as far as an educated population. The two jurisdictions also face similar crime trends, economic uncertainty, and traffic issues.

“There’s a lot,” he says, “I can transfer from Fairfax.”

In November, two of Albemarle’s six supervisors said that personal integrity would be an important quality they’d seek in a new chief. Earlier this year, in March, four officers were disciplined for unspecified “inappropriate” behavior “while on the clock.”

“I don’t support or condone any behavior that erodes the public trust,” says Sellers. “I have 28 years with a highly regarded, ethically sound police department. Truthfulness is an absolute must. Truthfulness, integrity, and public trust are very high on the list.”

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New signage at the private First & Market parking lot was meant to prevent confusion, but some visitors are still getting burned.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Last Sunday, Orange County resident Michael Knight, his wife and three other couples piled into his Suburban and headed to the Downtown Mall for what they thought would be an enjoyable evening in Charlottesville. They had dinner at the Downtown Grille and took in a movie at the Regal Cinema, but when they returned to the Suburban, the festive spirit ground to a halt.

“There were only three cars in the parking lot, including ours, when we returned around 8:30pm,” says Knight. “And all of them had tow trucks behind them.”

Knight says the group had pre-paid for three hours of parking but had inadvertently overstayed by about half an hour. Knight says he would have expected some kind of grace period, perhaps a small fine, especially because it was a Sunday and there were so few cars in the lot.

Nope. This was developer Keith Woodard’s First & Market parking lot, and it’s not a place that tolerates customers who overstay.

Knight says he persuaded the tow-truck driver not to tow the Suburban, but he still had to scrounge up $125 in cash to reclaim his dangling vehicle. The other two parkers in the lot, he says, weren’t so fortunate.

“We were over the three-hour time limit by about thirty minutes,” explains Knight, admitting his group shouldn’t have overstayed. “But something is not right about that system. We thought we were fine with a three-hour ticket on our dash. Obviously, other people in the lot thought they were fine, too.”

Knight’s experience isn’t a new one for unsuspecting visitors. But recently released documents show it can be a painful one. (more)

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The red lights on Rio Road Westbound will not be monitored by cameras.
PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

As recently reported, while weather and utility work delayed the installation of red-light cameras at the intersection of Rio Road and 29 North, Albemarle County’s high-tech attempt to curb red-light running will finally commence on Friday, November 12. There will be a 30-day grace period, during which violations will only be observed, but after that County police will start mailing out $50 tickets based on photographic and video evidence the cameras capture.

However, there’s one important detail (mentioned previously on Coy Barefoot’s radio program) that hasn’t been widely reported: the cameras won’t be monitoring the entire intersection. Say what?

According to a joint County/VDOT engineering safety analysis on the intersection, three cameras will monitor only two approaches: the through lanes of 29 Southbound and the two left-hand turn lanes, and the through lanes of Rio Road Eastbound and the left and right turned turn lanes.

“We are obviously hoping for a ‘halo effect’ that will impact driver behavior at all approaches to the intersection,” says county spokesperson Lee Catlin.

According to County police Lt. Ernie Allen, the camera systems can only be installed (more)

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Candidate Obama at the Pavilion in 2008.
FILE PHOTO BY TOM DALY

The last time Barack Obama came to the Pavilion on the Downtown Mall he set an attendance record for the facility. And he was just a candidate for President.  This time, as President, his visit could turn the Downtown Mall upside down.

(The County has also issued traffic advisory concerning the President’s route from the airport to the Downtown Mall.  The information is at the bottom of this post)

Indeed, as the following list of street closures and restrictions indicate, it’s going to be a challenge to get to see the President (Arrive early!).

Several streets will be closed during the visit, and pedestrian and vehicle access may be restricted to accommodate the security needs of the Secret Service. The majority of closures will occur between 6:30pm and 9pm. Most notably, the area typically used for Pavilion events by pedestrians will be closed at 2pm. (more)

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Richard Brown and Bruce Kirtley object to plans for another gas station across the street on U.S. 250 in Crozet. PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

For decades, “Protect the rural areas” has been the veritable mantra of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. That spirit has helped anyone driving on U.S. 250 west of Charlottesville view grazing cows instead of the clustered subdivisions that been popping up around Crozet, a designated growth area. But sometimes the ideals of the Comprehensive Plan collide with reality.

Take, for instance, the strip of U.S. 250 between Western Albemarle High and Interstate 64. Long dotted with commerce, it includes gas stations, an auto body shop, a chain-fenced equipment storage yard, the Moose Lodge, and a lumber mill. And yet it’s zoned rural.

That’s why when Will Yancey tried to a build a light industrial park behind the heavy industrial R.A. Yancey Lumber site two years ago, he (more)

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Carter Mountain a week before the frenzy.
FILE PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Cars backed up for miles on Saturday, October 9, snaking from Route 53 onto Route 20 South and then even further— onto Interstate 64 at exit 121. It prompted the temporary closure of  Route 53. But those who assumed an accident was to blame for the traffic-stopping snarl were wrong: it was the allure of apples and the call of Carter Mountain, where the annual Apple Festival was taking place.

“It probably was one of our best attended festivals,” says Cynthia Chiles, whose family owns both Carter Mountain Orchard and Chiles Peach Orchard in Crozet.

The mountain-top business doesn’t keep attendance records, says Chiles, but she believes the possibly record-breaking turnout was thanks to a confluence of events: a perfect fall day, the ripening of popular varieties Fujis and Granny Smiths, and the fact that there was no home UVA football game to distract families looking for some bonding time at a mountain that stands 1278 feet above sea level and over 400 feet above nearby Monticello. (more)

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As seen pre-lighting on October 13.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Highway workers have been installing a new traffic signal outside UVA’s new Transitional Care Hospital (the place that made the news recently for its ability to move one-ton humans via overhead lifts). The new stoplight becomes the second within 4/10ths of a mile, with the other being the one installed as a blinking light in 1997 and converted four years later to stop-and-go status at Broomley Road at the Ivy Nursery.

“It’s about to get harder to get to Charlottesville from Crozet,” notes realtor Jim Duncan, as he Tweeted about the newest light— which came as proffer from UVA as part of the property’s site plan process, according to Virginia Department of Transportation spokesperson Lou Hatter. A recent Charlottesville Tomorrow story noted that UVA’s the big engine driving the look of this road.

As for talk of yet another light destined for the vicinity of the White Gables condominium complex a little closer to town, that hasn’t yet been decided, says Hatter.

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Dan Neumeister, here in Melk, Austria, attended a motorcycle race in the Czech Republic on his honeymoon this summer.
PHOTO COURTESY ADRIANE NEUMEISTER

On what appeared to be a glorious day during grape harvest time, winemaker Dan Neumeister climbed aboard his beloved Suzuki TL 1000R motorcycle after meeting his bride for lunch. The weather was clear, and the skies were bright on October 4, but the Crozet resident was about to encounter William T. Thompson of Ruckersville.

Police say that a drunk Thompson lost control of his Ford Taurus on the two-lane road, and swerved into Neumeister, before rolling the Taurus over and over. Thompson, age 58, was airlifted to UVA Medical Center and has been charged with driving under the influence— and now faces a manslaughter charge, say police. Around 2pm, Daniel Mark Neumeister, 31, died at the scene.

Neumeister was the award-winning winemaker for Sugarleaf Vineyards in North Garden, and his 2008 Petit Manseng was served at the White House at the 2010 Governor’s Ball.

“Everybody would use the word ‘passionate’ to describe him,” says Sarah Gorman at Cardinal Point Vineyard and Winery. “Dan didn’t have formal oenology training. He was an active learner who took the time to learn the chemistry and the details to make fine wine.”

“Passionate,” echoes Sugarleaf owner Lauren Bias. “Humble, dedicated, enthusiastic.”

Sugarleaf hired Neumeister in 2002 to tend its just-planted vineyard. “He fell in love with the craft,” says Bias. “It was (more)

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Greg Briehl is in critical condition in a Richmond hospital.
PHOTO COURTESY GREGORY BRIEHL

Gregory John Briehl had come a long way since his arrest in 2006 for the child porn possession and surreptitious filming of women in his home, which cost him jail time and his reputation as a pastor and counselor.

He remarried— to Ruth Graham, daughter of world-famous evangelist Billy Graham— and seemed to be getting his life back on track, say those close to him. He was headed to Richmond to take care of some business Tuesday morning when a bag of trash fell from a garbage truck in the passing lane of a busy highway. And now he’s fighting for his life.

Virginia Waste Services driver Ricky Howell, 46, had pulled his 2004 Mack truck over in the left lane of Route 288 south and partially on the shoulder to retrieve the bag of trash that had fallen into the left lane. He was climbing out of the truck when Briehl’s 1999 Land Rover approached and smashed into the rear of the truck.

The Route 288 accident was reported at 9:25am September 28 on (more)

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Vitalija Vasciunaite follows her mother out of a conference room.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

It was an emotional Thursday morning as the young Lithuanian woman accused in a near-fatal summertime hit-and-run heard directly from the construction worker she allegedly crippled. Ironically, the July 17 incident at mile marker 103.2 on eastbound Interstate 64 occurred within sight of the massive granite marker that reminds drivers of the lives lost by Virginia highway workers.

Dabbing her welling eyes with tissues provided by a sheriff’s deputy, 22-year-old Vitalija Vasciunaite also covered her mouth and cried quietly as Jose Porfirio Martinez-Quinteros testified about the car that invaded the coned-off eastbound right lane where he had just finished jack-hammering concrete forms.

“It happened so suddenly,” the Spanish-speaking Martinez-Quinteros said through a translator. “I heard two of the cones being hit, and I looked up and saw the lights, and then it hit me. It actually threw me 20 feet.”

Martinez-Quinteros, who reportedly hasn’t worked since (more)

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Despite a pot-holed parking lot, 58 percent of the ridership between Lynchburg and Alexandria comes from the Charlottesville station.
FILE PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

In an effort to give another city what Lynchburg and Charlottesville have already shown to be wildly popular, the state recently approved a $93 million outlay to upgrade private train tracks to enable a daily roundtrip train to run between Norfolk and Richmond. The expenditure, approved June 16 by the Commonwealth Transportation Board, would bolster a vast market for the northeast rail corridor, the busiest passenger rail line in America.

“The rationale was that it would provide infrastructure improvements to expand Amtrak passenger service to an under-served market in South Hampton Roads,” says ardent rail-pusher, Meredith Richards, who notes a market of over 1.5 million citizens whose only Amtrak service currently lies in Newport News, across the mouth of the James River for much of that population.

Richards, a former Charlottesville City Councilor, says the General Assembly believes so strongly in augmenting Tidewater’s Amtrak access that it exempted the usual 30 percent funding match by the host railroad— in this case Norfolk Southern— with a project-specific budget amendment. Richards notes that (more)

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