Charlottesville Breaking News
Scanner error: NC State checks turn up in Charlottesville
Anson Parker chooses a well-populated place to rendezvous with police from NC State and return the info-laden scanner.PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCEAnson Parker made a New Year's resolution: To let North Carolina State University know that the scanner he bought on eBay contained copies of thousands of checks written to the school in Raleigh.
"It was millions of dollars in checks," says Parker, with bank account numbers and signatures, and some with Social Security and drivers license numbers.
Parker, who works at the Claude Moore Health Sciences library, had purchased the Canon scanner for $500 on eBay to use in his archival work, and he estimates it would have cost around $5,000 new. "It's a neat little scanner," he says.
How hard was it to discover the cache of check copies?
"It was real hard," deadpans Parker. "I had to plug it in, and it said, would you like to look at archived files?"
And when he found checks– one for $500,000– the implications of what he was sitting on alarmed him.
"Holy smokes," says Parker, who contacted the University and the North Carolina Department of Justice and didn't feel like his information was taken very seriously until January 6, when he got a phone call from his mother, who was contacted by investigators.
"I was ballistic," says Parker. "I'm 34 years old, and they call my mother? That was completely insensitive."
"This was taken very seriously," says NC State spokesman Brad Bohlander. "We received an email January...
FunStuff: Charlottesville events January 19 and beyond
Belt it out
If you think karaoke means following a bouncing ball over
computer-screen lyrics as canned musical accompaniment blares,
think again. Thanks to the rocking (and very patient) back-up band
Retrospective Collective, every Thursday, aspiring professional
singers– and those who just enjoy belting it out in the car or the
shower– bring their rock-star fantasies to life.
January 19, Fellini's,
10pm, free
Belmont
talent
You can't throw a stone in Belmont without hitting an artist (and
we certainly don't recommend you try...) but if you want a sense of
just how talent-dense the neighborhood really is, check out this
group show at the gallery located at 100 Second St. NW off the
Downtown Mall (aka the Hook building), featuring an...
Life behind bars: Eric Abshire defiant at sentencing
Eric Abshire was sentenced to life in prison on January 12.File photo/inset by Jay Kuhlmann
"We felt strongly about it," said Abshire juror Michelle Hooper, who attended the sentencing hearing.Courteney Stuart
Eric Abshire's father, Barboursville resident Edward Abshire, attended his son's sentencing and expressed continued belief in his son's innocence.Courteney Stuart
Justine's parents, Steve and Heidi Swartz, stand outside the Orange County Circuit Court during a 2011 hearing.Courteney Stuart
Justine dances with her father, Stephen Swartz, at her May 28, 2006 wedding to Eric Abshire. Less than six months later, she was dead.Swartz familyAfter declaring his love for his late wife and his innocence in her death, a defiant Eric Abshire, convicted in October of killing Justine Swartz Abshire, spoke aloud in court. It was the first time the 37-year-old made a statement since entering his not guilty plea last March.
"Justice for Justine will never happen," said Abshire. Minutes later, Orange County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Bouton confirmed the jury-recommended life sentence for the first-degree murder.
"You demanded trial by jury," said Bouton. "We provided you with the jury."
Although their service ended with the October 25 conviction, at least two jurors attended the January 12 sentencing hearing.
"I was here to make sure the sentence we recommended was upheld," explained juror Michelle Hooper, who says she's had no second thoughts. "We all felt very strongly about it."
Before the sentencing began, Abshire's attorney, Charles "Buddy" Weber, unsuccessfully moved to have the verdict tossed, claiming that the medical evidence hadn't explained how Justine died on November 2-3, 2006, the night Abshire claimed to have found her as the ostensible victim of a hit-and-run on Taylorsville Road near Barboursville.
At trial, prosecution witnesses offered evidence suggesting...
Simpson's folly? Nelsonian gets serious about Alaska race
Russ "Scardog" Simpsonhawes spencer
Simpson hoists his Schwinn above the Greenwood Valley.hawes spencerAfter more than a generation as the unofficial ambassador of Nelson County, Russ Simpson suddenly finds himself unrecognizable. The proprietor of a popular roadside stand along U.S. 29 has recently shed over 40 pounds, part of his quest to race a snowmobile across the frozen surface of the state once known as "Seward's Folly."
"My weight now is what it was in high school," says Simpson, laughing as he recalls a longtime Apple Shed customer asking him for the whereabouts of the owner."I recognized him," says another friend, Alan Van Clief. "But it's not the Russ Simpson I've been seeing for eight or 10 years."
Simpson is in the final days of training for the world's longest snowmobile race, the Iron Dog, an event whose four-time champion is Todd Palin. And Simpson says he got a phone call from Alaska's so-called "First Dude" after visiting Wasilla in search of a race partner.
"I thought it was my brother-in-law playing a joke," says Simpson.
As it turned out, Palin was trying to be helpful, but rookie racer Simpson won't get to compete with Palin this year. He'll have to content himself with the so-called "trail class," the mere 1,100-mile version of the Iron Dog. But for Simpson, there's something larger at stake than pride: his life.
Five years ago, he was diagnosed with Stage 2-B melanoma in his shoulder– "basically from standing in the sun when we...
Meadow Creek Parkway: Rubber hits road
PHOTO BY DAVID LYSTER
Former supe Forrest Marshall pushed the name of buddy John Warner, and he hopes the city will adopt the same moniker when its portion is complete.PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE
"This is going to be a great bike path," says Parkway opponent Rich Collins, left. Having filed a lawsuit to stop the city portion of the road, he bickers amicably with John Pfaltz.PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE
Albemarle BOS chair Ann Mallek introduces former supervisor L.F. Wood, who was on the board when the parkway was born in 1967. For transportation projects, Wood recommends "patience... and longevity."PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE
Supes Christopher Dumler, Ken Boyd, and Dennis Rooker après le ribbon cutting. "These scissors must be 40 years old," says Rooker.PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE
Three uneasy pieces John W. Warner Parkway Location: Albemarle County, from East Rio Road to Melbourne Road Length: 1.4 miles Cost: $24.3 million Construction began: February 2009 Completed: October 13, 2011 Opened: January 6, 2012 McIntire Road Extended Location: Charlottesville, from Melbourne to U.S. 250 bypass Length: .4 mile Cost: $9.482 million Construction began: August 2011 Estimated end: Summer 2013 Meadow Creek Parkway interchange Location: McIntire Road from Harris Street to 750 feet north of the US. 250 bypass Length: .5 mile Cost: $33 million Federal earmark: $24 million Estimated start: Late spring 2012 Estimated completion: late 2014 Total cost: $66.78 million Length: 2.3 miles ---->Price/mile: $29 million- click to view more photos
The man touted as instrumental in getting what was long called the Meadow Creek Parkway built– or at least 1.4 miles of it– wasn't there. Former U.S. Senator John W. Warner, 84, checked into the hospital the night before the January 6 ribbon-cutting/unveiling of the portion of the road named in his honor.
Most of the speakers at the ceremony invoked Warner's name and how much he'd done for Charlottesville and Albemarle: the $27-million federal earmark for the parkway's unbuilt interchange that revived the aging project in 2005, the levees that keep the James River out of oft-flooded Scottsville, and National Ground Intelligence Center and its $2 billion payroll, which, according to former supervisor Forrest Marshall, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wanted to move to Maryland.
