Published June 10, 2004, in issue 0323 of The Hook

Highest-level loss: Fortieth President Ronald Reagan dies June 5 at age 93-- 10 years after announcing he had Alzheimer's Disease.

Highest-level retirement: CIA Director George Tenet offers his resignation June 2, at a time when intelligence failures in Iraq are under scrutiny.

Worst news for pending retirements: Thousands of soldiers will have to stay in the military if their units are called up to Afghanistan or Iraq under the "stop-loss" program to prevent further erosion of U.S. forces.

Worst setback for pro-lifers: A federal judge rules the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional June 1.

Worst setback for Darrell Rice: The man who was charged in the Shenandoah National Park murders of two women in 1996-- until a federal judge dropped those charges earlier this year-- is indicted June 7 for the 1996 abduction of Carmelita Shomo in Prince William County.

Biggest buzz in Gordonsville: Graffiti on three streets accusing police of racism inspires further complaints at a town meeting June 3, Olympia Meola reports in the Daily Progress.

Worst off-duty activity: Trying to meet 13-year-old girls on the Internet. State Trooper Travis William Sorrells, who lives in Waynesboro, is arrested May 26. He's charged with four felony counts, including using a computer to solicit a child for a sexual offense.

Coldest hit: A DNA sample from a 1996 rape leads to the conviction of John H. Westbrook III in Buckingham, who pleads for a seven-year sentence because he's now a sober father of three, according to a Liesel Nowak story in the Progress. Despite his apology to the victim, Westbrook gets 15years.

Most tubular influx: After years of having only one network station, Charlottesville will get its third this year. Gray Television already announced plans for a CBS affiliate, WCAV-- and will, in August, also launch ABC Channel 16, WVAW-TV, Elizabeth Nelson reports in the Progress. A fourth station, Channel 9, with daily 24-hour local content, goes on the air in late November.

Most sensible idea from the Albemarle Planning Commission: A proposed ordinance that builders drill a well before they get a building permit goes before the Board of Supervisors in August, David Dadurka reports in the Progress.

Most dubious honor: The U.S. 29 bypass has been named one of the 27 most wasteful highways projects in the nation, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense and Friends of the Earth.

Best mouse pathology: An autopsy shows that the mouse found in a bowl of vegetable soup at a Cracker Barrel in Newport News was actually planted by the customer and her son who tried to extort $500,000 from the company. The clues? The mouse died from a fractured skull, had no soup in its lungs, and was not cooked.

Best wine: The King Family Vineyards in Crozet wins Virginia's top prize, the 2004 Governor's Cup.

Best way to get former NBC 29 weather guy Robert Van Winkle back in town: Channel 29's 20th-anniversary telethon to support the UVA Children's Medical Center June 5 and 6.

Best touts in the Washington Post: Crozet Pizza is deemed worthy of a road trip from DC, WNRN is noted as "one of the few truly community radio stations around," and the Inn at Afton is chosen as an under-$200 getaway because of its views and its $70 rooms.

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