The new faces of the GOP on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors are area old-timers Duane Snow and Rodney Thomas.
PHOTOS BY WILL WALKER

Four years ago, Creigh Deeds lost a statewide race to Bob McDonnell by one of the smallest margins– 360 votes– in recent history. In glaring contrast, his 18-point defeat to McDonnell November 3 marks one of the largest margins in a governor’s race since George Allen crushed Mary Sue Terry in 1993, 58 percent to 41 percent.

So resounding is the rout, both Democrats and Republicans are scratching their heads, despite pre-election polls predicting a McDonnell victory.

“Personally, I thought it would be closer than that,” says Fred Hudson, chairman of the 5th District Democratic committee and the number 3 Dem statewide. He attributes the staggering loss (more)

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Ponzi-schemer John M. Donnelly will serve seven and a half years for running a Ponzi scheme.
FILE FAMILY PHOTO

John M. Donnelly walked out of federal court Friday morning a free man— but not for much longer.

The  man who pleaded guilty last spring to running a decade-long multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme from his Charlottesville office was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison November 6. Judge Norman K. Moon expressed disgust for the crime that bilked 30 of John M. Donnelly’s friends and motorcycle racing teammates of more than $5 million.

“This defendant knew these victims were making life decisions,” said Moon, who referred to Donnelly as “evil” at one point and scoffed when defense attorney John Davidson suggested Donnelly was sorry for the pain he’d caused.

“If they hadn’t caught you, you’d (more)

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A major search effort to find Morgan Harrington launches Friday morning, November 6, and continues through the weekend.
PHOTO FROM STATE POLICE

The Jefferson Room at the Cavalier Inn at the corner of Emmet Street and Ivy Road was filled to capacity tonight— and then some—  as hundreds of Charlottesville residents and out-of-towners registered for a weekend search for Morgan Harrington, missing since an October 17 Metallica concert at John Paul Jones Arena.

The search is being organized by the Laura Recovery Center, a nonprofit search agency founded by the parents of Laura Kate Smithers, a 12-year-old Texas girl who was kidnapped while jogging and murdered in 1997. In addition to Morgan’s parents, Dan and Gil Harrington, various law enforcement agencies are helping coordinate the search.

This weekend’s searches will  begin Friday morning, November 6, at 9am. Interested volunteers, who do not need to have attended the pre-search presentation, should meet at the Forestry Center at 900 Natural Resources Drive behind the Fontaine Research Park. Would-be searchers must be 18 or over and have valid identification.

Laura Recovery Center founder Bob Smither, father of Laura, spoke at the hotel, just blocks from where Morgan was last seen on Copeley Bridge, to the hundreds of assembled volunteers– so many the presentation had to be given twice.

While most of those gathered will spend some portion of the next three days tromping through brush looking for any sign of Morgan, some made the trip just to show support.

“We were away and just found out what happened,” said Ray Mayberry, whose wife, Carole, worked with Dan Harrington at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke. The retired pair said they are unable to participate in the rigors of a ground search, but drove from Roanoke to show support.

“We want to do what we can to help,” Mayberry explained.

Starting Friday morning, groups of 10 will be assigned as-yet-to-be-determined search areas, Smither explained; any possible evidence discovered should not be touched. Volunteers are invited to show up throughout the day, as their schedules allow. The last groups will likely be sent out no later than 3pm.

“Our only priority,” said Smither, “is finding Morgan.’

Anyone with questions about this weekend’s searches can call (434) 960-0401.
Last updated Friday, November 6 at 3:27pm. Correction: Cavalier Inn is not a Best Western.—ed
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Minor: “I am taking on these guys because I’m the only one who can.”
FILE PHOTO BY JAY KUHLMANN

He has just lost another lawsuit— this time a $21.6 million judgment for Merrill Lynch— but Halsey Minor vows that legal setbacks won’t deter his quest to complete the Landmark Hotel, an incomplete eyesore that holds the promise of topping the Omni as the most luxurious lodging on the Downtown Mall.

In a recent series of telephone interviews, the man who founded internet giant CNet and whose riches soared to $355 million around the turn of the century alleges that everything the public has been told about him in recent days is wrong.

Minor says he’s not to blame for the Landmark mess, he’s not broke, and he’s not going to let go of the hotel without (more)

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Smart brought a message of hope to Morgan’s parents, Gil and Dan Harrington.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

“We will stop at nothing until she is found,” says the father of missing Morgan Harrington, as he and his wife were joined in Charlottesville Wednesday by the father of once-abducted but miraculously recovered Utah resident Elizabeth Smart.

But before the November 4 press conference announcing that the public would be invited to join the search, new information suggests that the injured 20-year-old Virginia Tech student’s efforts to regain entry to the John Paul Jones Arena after she somehow ended up outside during an October 17 Metallica concert were more intense than previously reported.

“She did make a few attempts to (more)

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About 15 feet above Ridge-McIntire Road, Randall Bowling eyes his Wednesday-morning handiwork.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Just two days after Halloween, three and a half weeks before Thanksgiving (not to mention seven and a half weeks before Christmas), City crews began installing holiday lights downtown on Monday, November 2— in what may be a new record for early decorating.

The lights, installed singly and in pairs on poles, are stylized snow flakes, illuminated by LEDs.

City spokesperson Ric Barrick says the lights are owned by the private Downtown Business Association, which added 16 flakes to its retinue this year and (more)

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Kristin Szakos and Dave Norris won in the city.
FILE PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

Democratic machine candidates Dave Norris and Kristin Szakos held off a challenge by independent Bob Fenwick to retain an all-Democratic Charlottesville City Council, according to data from State Elections Board. But in the more politically diverse Albemarle County, the data show that a political newcomer has upset the establishment by ousting Democratic incumbent David Slutzky.

Slutzky, who raised the most money, who aligned himself with the controversial Nature Conservancy plan to create a single mega-reservoir, and who has been serving as the Chairman of the Board, joins fellow Democrat Madison Cummings, the protege of retiring reservoir-backing Supervisor Sally Thomas, in going down to defeat.

The man who beat Slutzky, Republican Rodney Thomas, was the only party candidate who refused to sign a reservoir-backing pledge foisted on the candidates by Conservancy plan backers Liz Palmer and Don Wagner. The man who defeated Cummings is Republican Duane Snow.

Fenwick, who ran on a platform of “saving” McIntire Park from the YMCA and the Meadowcreek Parkway as well as his support of dredging the existing reservoir, nearly tripled the tally of the other independent on the Council ballot. Yet his 3,280 votes fell short of the 5,074 garnered by Szakos and the 6,292 for Norris.

“I can’t remember the last time an independent set the agenda in a Council race like I did,” said Fenwick as the final precincts were reporting. “We raised some important issues, and it’s been a privilege to speak to the community.”

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Six months before she died, Justine danced with her father at her wedding to Eric Abshire.
FILE PHOTO COURTESY SWARTZ FAMILY

While national attention focuses on the Charlottesville disappearance of Metallica concert fan Morgan Harrington, the parents of another young woman are quietly marking the third anniversary of their daughter’s death and hoping this will be the last time they pass the date without an arrest.

“We believe police are making progress,” says Steve Swartz of the investigation into the death of his daughter, Justine Swartz Abshire, who was found dead or dying on a dark country road in Barboursville on November 3, 2006.

While the death was initially called a hit-and-run, evidence mounted over subsequent months that Justine might not have been hit by a car at all. Although her body showed signs of massive trauma— more than 100 blunt force injuries— there was (more)

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