FILE PHOTO COURTESY OF GREGORY BRIEHL

The child pornography possession trial of the former Peace Lutheran Church minister who was arrested July 18, 2006, has been postponed again.

Gregory Briehl, who once climbed a tree outside his house to film a woman undressing, was convicted on two counts of illegal videotaping September 19, 2006, and served 60 days. His child porn possession trial was scheduled for tomorrow, but has been continued.

Originally charged with 20 counts, the number dwindled to 15 when experts couldn’t tell whether four of the females pictured were under 18, and another charge was dropped when the judge ruled it didn’t constitute pornography, according to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jon Zug, who says he hopes to have a new trial date by December 1.

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While lauding the personable and prankster sides of fundamentalist preacher Jerry Falwell, who died yesterday in Lynchburg, freedom fighter John W. Whitehead reveals that he was no fan of Falwell’s mixing of church and state.

“I would eat dinner with him,” says Whitehead, “but as far as his philosophy, I couldn’t disagree with him more.

“His view of things was typical Christian right-wing fundamentalists,” continues Whitehead, “but I hate to use the word Christian because I can’t picture Jesus with a Uzi. Falwell probably could.”

Ironically, it was Whitehead’s 1981 book, The Second American Revolution, that inspired many of the same believers who became part of the Moral Majority, the Falwell-founded group that typically argued for a hawkish foreign policy. Whitehead says he later changed (more)

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A few years ago, Sahar Adish was a young Afghani teenager living with her family in a refugee camp in Pakistan following a daring nighttime escape from the Taliban. Last week, Adish’s film about that experience and her family’s subsequent emigration to Charlottesville was one of only 35 film and television projects to receive a Peabody Award, a prestigious annual honor some consider the equivalent of Oscars for electronic media.

Adish– now in her second year at UVA– made the film Sahar: Before the Sun with three other local teens through the nonprofit Light House. Last year, the short documentary was shown (more)

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Mustapha Farrakhan, a highly recruited Illinois prep basketball player and grandson of controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, announced yesterday that he has signed a letter of intent with UVA coach Dave Leitao, who used to coach at Chicago-area DePaul University. The 6′3″ guard recently told the New York Times that when his grandfather visits one of his basketball games, he arrives with a sizable entourage. “Everybody knows when he comes into the gym,” the Cavalier-to-be told the Times. “He’s with about 30 people, and they take up a whole section in the stands.”

The Times notes that in addition to making incendiary remarks about Jews, the elder Farrakhan has a history of energetic violin playing. “I want to attack basketball,” Mustapha Farrakhan tells the Times, “the way my grandpa attacks the violin.”

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He kept a pretty low profile when he was here earlier this year as God in Evan Almighty, but actor Morgan Freeman will face his adoring fans at this year’s Virginia Film Festival. And with Freeman following Robert Duvall’s appearance for The Apostle on Friday at the Paramount, October 27 is turning out to be the high star-wattage night at this year’s fest.

Freeman will present the comedy 10 Items or Less, which he produces and in which he stars as an aging actor whose own wattage has dimmed, forcing him to take a role in an independent film. Brad “Lemony Snicket” Silberling wrote and directed, and will appear with Freeman at the 10pm screening. And in a convenient tie-in to the festival’s “Revelations: Finding God at the Movies” theme, Freeman’s production company is called Revelations Entertainment.

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Virginian Robert Duvall will head down from Warrenton to pick up the Virginia Film Award and screen his 1997 film, The Apostle, at this year’s spiritually themed Virginia Film Festival, fest director Richard Herskowitz announced today at the Music Resource Center.

Herskowitz unveiled special guests and events for the 19th festival, this year with the subject “Revelations: Finding God at the Movies,” which runs October 26-29. The lineup includes lots of locals and lots of Swedes, opening with Derek Sieg’s Swedish Auto, which was filmed in Charlottesville behind Mel’s on West Main Street. Paul Wagner will screen his new documentary, The God of a Second Chance, as will locals Brad and Kent Williamson, who will present Rebellion of Thought.

Local ashram Yogaville joins the fun, sponsoring a multi-denominational light-a-candlethon for world peace October 26 at the Charlottesville Pavilion, and a screening of Five Masters of Meditation October 29 at the ashram in Buckingham.

Other celebs attending the fest include actor Liev Schreiber, who will screen his directorial debut, Everything Is Illuminated; child actor William Moseley of The Chronicles of Narnia fame, who will present that film; novelist/screenwriter Michael “The Player” Tolkin with his film, The Rapture; and punk preacher Jay Bakker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye.

The complete festival schedule will appear online Thursday, September 28, and tickets go on sale Friday, September 29.

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Bob Gibson, the dean of political reporting at the Daily Progress, reveals today in his Sunday column another bizzare Jewish roots denial from Senator George Allen– this one from way back in 2003.

As Americans have been learning over the past week, unlike some public figures such as Madeleine Albright, who revel in revelations about their ancestry, Allen initially took a stance conveying unease with discussion of his family’s Jewish heritage, including his now-famous September 18 bristling at a television reporter who had the temerity to raise the issue.

After Gibson alluded to Allen’s Jewish roots in a warm-and-fuzzy October 2003 column, the Senator’s then-press secretary demanded and won this correction in the Progress: “Etty Allen, the mother of Sen. George Allen, was raised a Christian, according to the senator’s staff. Her religious background was mischaracterized in a Sunday column.”

Does Allen have his own special timetable for releasing information or misinformation? The Washington Post revealed recently that Allen’s mom kept her secret until late August of this year. (Gibson also points out today that Allen had once asked the Progress to avoid using Allen’s middle initial “F,” which stands for Felix, in its reports. Felix was the first name of Allen’s Jewish grandfather.)

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Shortly before midnight last night, the Charlottesville Church of Christ burned severely, and the investigating officer reports that 24-year-old Jason Scott Santos, no address given, has been arrested for a break-in of the Church that occurred around the time of the suspicious blaze. The newsplex has a story of the congregation’s heartbreak over losing (more)

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