I’m Surrounded By Idiots

Get the stones, torches, and pitchforks: We’re going to run those Mormons (and others) out of town!

If 16th Street is famous for leading straight to the White House, it is also God’s Boulevard, with at least 45 congregations lining the seven-mile stretch between Lafayette Square and Silver Spring.

But love thy neighbor? Not this time.

The Mormon church’s plan to build another house of worship, one with a steeple-topped tower that will rise 105 feet, is inspiring less-than-holy thoughts among residents who recoil at the prospect of a new flock traversing their streets.

[…]

Dozens of homeowners have expressed opposition to the new church with lawn signs that read, “Too Big, Too Much, Too Many.” And the Mormons are finding little support from the neighborhood’s clergy, including one pastor who said his objection is rooted not in architecture, but theology.

“They don’t accept Jesus as the Messiah; they accept him as the prophet,” said Edward Wilson, pastor at Church of Christ, a block from the Mormon site. “It’s wrong, I disagree with it, and I wouldn’t want them in the neighborhood.”

Wow, way to be accepting to other religions.

Using this guy’s standards, no one except for religions that meet his standards should be allowed to build a place of worship.

Jews do not believe that Jesus was either the Messiah or a prophet (Aish.com).

Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet but not the Messiah, nor was he crucified, nor was he the son of God (The Guardian).

Buddhists and Hindus have varying views of Jesus. But I doubt this pastor would accept Buddhists since they don’t believe in a Creator God (The [Colorado Springs] Gazette) and Hindus believe in more than one god (Encyclopædia Britannica).

Again, using this guy’s hate-mongering standards: None of these religions should be allowed to build synagogues, mosques, etc.

Obligatory moron escapes from courthouse post

NBC 4:

Authorities are looking for a prisoner who escaped from a courtroom Thursday afternoon in King George County.

Virginia State Police said Ritchie Faltz. Jr. was sentenced Thursday to serve 90 days for misdemeanor destruction of property.

When Faltz heard his sentence, he assaulted a law enforcement officer, ran from the building and was last seen heading into some nearby woods, authorities said.

Faltz, who is from King George County, has family and friends in the Dahlgren and Fredericksburg areas.

He is described as white, 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighing about 170 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 840-553-3445 or 540-775-2049.

Richmond Times-Dispatch’s story and The Free Lance–Star’s story.

And now the obligatory clip from Next Friday (content/language warning):

Not letting someone get away with murder.

The Press of Atlantic City:

An Atlantic County man whose daughter has been missing for more than 13 years is recovering from the shock that her alleged killer was arrested in Virginia on Friday.

“You have no idea what a feeling this is,” said Joseph Marto, of Somers Point, speaking on his cell phone as he drove home from a Virginia courthouse Wednesday afternoon. “This all happened so fast.”

[…]

For two years, the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident as a missing persons case, with the Virginia State Police joining the investigation in 1997.

On Wednesday, Marto recalled a smart, spirited woman, who skipped several grades in elementary school and loved to read and write.

“She always carried a book around with her, always writing something,” Marto said. “She would get lost crossing the street.”

Marto said authorities are resuming the search for her body this week.

Marto contacted Virginia’s Caroline County Commonwealth Attorney Anthony Spencer about the case in February. Spencer scheduled a meeting with him March 22.

“He actually got tears in his eyes,” Marto recalled. “He said, ‘How long has this man been out?’ I said, ‘I’ve been chasing him for 13 and a half years.’ He said, ‘Well, let’s get working on it.'”

Spencer presented the case to a special grand jury last week, which returned a murder indictment. Lawrence Gaudenzi also is charged with taking indecent liberties with children. Spencer would not be more specific about the latter charge.

Spencer said Lawrence Gaudenzi asked for a court-appointed attorney at his arraignment Wednesday. Attorneys Kathy Hancock and Russell Booker will represent Gaudenzi, Spencer said. He is being held without bond at the Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover County and a three-day jury trial is scheduled for Sept. 17, Spencer said. He declined to discuss specifics of the case.

Marto said seeing Lawrence Gaudenzi in court was a surreal experience.

“He wouldn’t look at me,” Marto said. “He has a crazed look.”

Marto called news of Lawrence Gaudenzi’s arrest “partial closure.” He wants his daughter’s body recovered.

“I want to bring my daughter back to New Jersey and give her a burial that’s normal,” Marto said.

Lawrence Gaudenzi’s Wednesday arraignment was also Marto’s birthday.

“The best thing I ever got in the world was when I was in court today,” Marto said.”He took from me 13 years and a beautiful daughter. He deprived us of all this time.”

Not guilty plea in 13 year-old cold case.

Press of Atlantic City:

A Virginia man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder charges in connection with a 13-year-old cold case involving a woman who grew up in Atlantic City.Virginia State Police arrested Lawrence Gaudenzi, 44, of Timberville, Va., on Friday and charged him with the murder of his ex-wife, Lisa Gaudenzi, who went missing in Jan. 1995.

Lisa Gaudenzi, who was 31 at the time of her disappearance, grew up in Cinnaminson and Atlantic City, where her father, Joseph Marto, owns a cash-for-gold business. She graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1994 and married Lawrence Gaudenzi the day before, according to reports. She enlisted in the Army and was scheduled to attend officer training school Jan. 27, 1995 – but she never showed up.

Lisa Gaudenzi’s body has not been recovered. She left behind two daughters – one from a previous marriage.

Virginia’s Caroline County Commonwealth Attorney Anthony Spencer presented the case to a special grand jury last week, which returned a murder indictment. Lawrence Gaudenzi is also charged with taking indecent liberties with children.

Hmm, didn’t know that.

Spencer said Lawrence Gaudenzi asked for a court appointed attorney at his arraignment Wednesday. Attorneys Kathy Hancock and Russell Booker will represent Gaudenzi, Spencer said. He is being held without bond at the Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover County and a three-day jury trial was scheduled for Sept. 17, Spencer said.

See Thursday’s edition of The Press for complete coverage.

County to contribute $1,200,000 to school system.

The Board of Supervisors agreed last night to contribute $1,200,000 in local funding to the school system.

$600,000 will come from the general fund.

The other $400,000 will be sent back to the schools from the school’s unencumbered balance (i.e., money that is left over from this closing fiscal year that would go back to the county normally).

And they [the Caroline BOS] have a Plan — oh wait, no they don’t.

(Pardon the vague reference to Battlestar Galactica.)

To recap:

Caroline County has requested and received $490,000 from the federal government in the form of a FY08 earmark for a “commuter rail station” (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008; p. 2465).*
Caroline County has received $100,000 from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation in the form of a grant “to study building a passenger rail station in the Carmel Church area”. (The Free Lance–Star).
Caroline County has requested an additional $800,000 from Congressman Rob Wittman via a FY09 federal earmark (Appropriations Requests FY 2009).

When Gary Wilson was questioned if the county was negiotating with any organization to provide service to a “commuter rail station”, he provided the following response:

The County has been in contact with Amtrak regarding city to city service from a Caroline station to Washington, DC. Others who own or use the line have also been contacted to obtain a preliminary understanding of the needs those entities will have should there be additional traffic on the existing lines.

I sent a follow-up email with the following questions (slightly edited to be more concise):

“In contact”? Is that the same as a guarantee that the station will have service from Amtrak when/if it is built?
What routes by Amtrak will be offered at the station?
In addition, why is the county considering building a station with service from Amtrak when Amtrak ridership in Fredericksburg went down 6.82% last year (Ridership statistics fiscal year (FY)06, FY07)?

Gary Wilson’s response (I kid you not):

Staff is still in the early stages of studying this project.

We are not yet at a point to address the questions you have raised.

Oh, the staff isn’t at a point where they can answer a couple simple questions but they are at the point where they can request $1,400,000 in funding for a project when they don’t even know if service will be provided.

Other problems with the Board’s (and Gary Wilson’s) master-plan:

A) Ridership on Amtrak trains dropped 6.82% between Amtrak’s FY06 and FY07. This was not part of a general decrease in Amtrak ridership since ridership as a whole across Virginia went up 3.35% (Ibid).

B) Amtrak is not a commuter rail service: There are only two trains that are ran by Amtrak in the morning that can be used to commute to Washington, D.C. (Schedule).

One leaves the Fredericksburg station at 6:55 a.m. and arrives at Union Station (Washington, D.C.) at 8:15 a.m. This train does not stop at Leeland Road, Brooke, Rippon, Lorton, Franconia-Springfield (start of the Metro’s blue line), and Crystal City (Ibid).

The only other morning train leaves Frederickburg at 8:55 a.m. and arrives at Union Station at 10:06 a.m., making it useless for anyone working a 9-to-5 job. In addition, the 10:06 a.m. train does not stop at Leeland Road, Brooke, Rippon, Woodbridge, Lorton, Franconia-Springfield (start of the Metro’s blue line), Crystal City, and L’Enfant (the only station to be served by four Metro lines [Green, Yellow, Blue, and Orange]) (Ibid).

C) The cost of an one-way ticket between Fredericksburg and Union State in Washington, D.C. is $21. For both ways it will be $42. $42 a day to use Amtrak to commute to D.C.

D) During the last Board of Supervisors meeting the Board was complaining that the county doesn’t have any money to pay for road improvements; how about this: Instead of asking for $1,400,000 for a “commuter rail station”, why not ask for that much for road improvements in the county like Stafford and Prince William Counties did (Appropriations Requests FY 2009)? How about asking for money to improve radio communications between emergency services like Stafford County did (Ibid)?

Up next: Why is the county moving county services out of (essentially) the county seat to the Hanover County border?

*I had previously stated the amount received was $500,000, however I did not note that all earmark requests were reduced by 2%, therefore making the amount received $490,000 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008; p. 2464).

Those damn city folk don’t know nothin’ ’bout no bears.

Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Just before 1 p.m. yesterday, Richmond authorities received a call of a black-bear sighting on Helen Lane, off Commerce Road in South Richmond. A number of police officers were called to the area to search for the bear.

[…]

Officers cruising the area did not find any bears — but did come across two large black dogs. A police airplane flying above the area also failed to find any bears.

More Alleged Drug Dealers Arrested

On May 15, 2008, the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office SERT (Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team) Team deputies executed a search warrant at the Ruther Glen, Howard Johnson’s Hotel. The investigation continued which led the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and Investigators to a second hotel. As a result, multiple arrests were made.

According to Sheriff A. A. “Tony” Lippa, Jr., “This investigation started when we received information from concerned citizens about illegal drugs being sold from a room located at the Howard Johnson’s. Investigators and Deputies simultaneously executed a search warrant at the Howard Johnson’s, later conducted a traffic stop of a second suspect and made contact with a third suspect in the Ruther Glen Super 8 Motel.”

As a result of the search of the Howard Johnson’s Hotel room, Investigators found a baggie containing what appeared to be powdered cocaine lying on top of a container of baby formula which was meant for a ten month old child that was also living in the room. The occupants of the room were identified as Corey Tillman, 39, and Iisha Crichlow, 24, both of Ruther Glen. Tillman was charged with distribution of cocaine and possession of cocaine. Crichlow was charged with felony child neglect.

The third suspect, identified as Tyrone Baylor, 38, of Dawn was charged with possession of cocaine after the Caroline Deputies conducted a traffic stop of his vehicle.

The fourth suspect in the investigation was identified as Adam Butler, 23, of Dawn. During a search of Butler’s vehicle and hotel room at the Super 8 Motel, Investigators recovered a semi-automatic handgun and suspected cocaine. Butler was charged with distribution of cocaine, possession of cocaine, possessing a firearm while possessing cocaine and child neglect.

Sheriff Lippa further stated “This investigation was a success because of the citizens of Caroline County who provide information and assistance to the Caroline Sheriff’s Office. I want to thank those who call us with information and encourage all citizens to continue to help their Sheriff’s Office in our fight against crime.”

Tyrone Baylor

Adam Butler

Iisha Crichlow

Corey Tillman

Weekly News Media Briefs – Week Ending May 17, 2008

From the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office: Weekly News Media Briefs – Week Ending May 17, 2008:

On May 10, 2008, Deputy C. S. Wooldridge responded to an assault call at a business in Ladysmith. After investigating, Jesus R. Rodriguez, 55, of Providence, RI was charged with domestic assault. He was ordered held under a $2500 bond and a court date of May 15, 2008 was set.

On May 11, 2008, Deputy W. D. Lipscomb stopped a vehicle for a traffic infraction. After investigating, Michael L. Call, 18, of Ruther glen was charged with driving under the influence. He was released on a personal recognizance bond and a court date of June 13, 2008 was set.

On May 12, 2008, Deputy T. J. Ketchem responded to a domestic in Rappahannock Academy. After investigating, David A. Brooks, 34, of Rappahannock Academy was charged with domestic assault. He was ordered held on a $1500 bond and a court date of May 13, 2008 was set.

On May 12, 2008, Deputy C. S. Wooldridge encountered a motorist on I-95. After investigating, Kathleen M. Spalding, 36, of Villas, NJ was charged with driving under the influence. She was ordered held under a $1500 bond and a court date of May 14, 2008 was set.

On May 13, 2008, Deputy C. M. Hall encountered a subject on the grounds of the high school. After investigating, a juvenile was charged with destruction of property and underage possession of alcohol. He was released to his parents.

On May 13, 2008, Deputy J. K. Miller responded to a domestic in Bowling Green. After investigating, Jerry L. Smith, 48, of Bowling Green was charged with being drunk in public. He was released when sober and a court date of July 25, 2008 was set.

On May 13, 2008, Sergeant R. L. Hixson responded to a report of an assault. After investigating, Michael V. White, 26, of Woodford was charged with domestic assault and resisting arrest. White was ordered held for psychiatric evaluation and court information was unavailable.

On May 13, 2008, Deputy F. L. Brennan responded to a domestic in Ruther Glen. After investigating, Konyar D. Coates, 29, of Ruther Glen was charged with domestic assault. He was released on a personal recognizance bond and a court date of May 20, 2008 was set.

On May 15, 2008, Deputy R. J. Anderson responded to a fight call in Ruther Glen. After investigating, Bobby R. Wright, 18, of Ruther glen was charged with malicious wounding. He was ordered held without bond and a court date of May 16, 2008 was set.

On May 15, 2008, Deputy J. K. Miller and Sergeant S. L. Cary responded to a domestic in Woodford. After investigating, Christopher G. Simpson, 23, of Woodford was charged with domestic assault. He was released on a personal recognizance bond and a court date of May 20, 2008 was set.

On May 16, 2008, Deputy P. E. Ford stopped a vehicle for a traffic infraction. After investigating, George A. Sampson, 50, of Ruther Glen was charged with driving under the influence of drugs. He was ordered held under a $3500 bond and a court date of May 21, 2008 was set.

On May 17, 2008, Deputy C. A. Heywood received a report of a larceny. After investigating, Carrie Sue Duke, 30, of Bowling Green was charged with 3 counts of forgery, 3 counts of uttering, 3 counts of identity theft, and 4 counts of larceny. She was released on a personal recognizance bond and a court date of May 27, 2008 was set.

On May 17, 2008, Deputy C. M. Polliard stopped a vehicle for a traffic infraction. After investigating, Mekel L. Grant, 29, of Milford was charged with driving under the influence and failing to submit to a breath test. He was released on a personal recognizance bond and a court date of May 23, 2008 was set.

On May 17, 2008, Deputy P.E. Ford Miller responded to a domestic in Ruther Glen. After investigating, Cheri Sullivan, 26, of Ruther Glen was charged with domestic assault. She was released on a personal recognizance bond and a court date of July 23, 2008 was set.

Caroline County Sheriff’s Office Wrap Up

According to Sheriff Tony Lippa, Caroline Deputies made 9 drug arrests, 4 driving under the influence arrests, 12 domestic violence arrests, and 126 other criminal arrests during the past week. The deputies served 177 civil papers, issued 147 traffic summonses, handled 6 motor vehicle crashes, responded to 45 alarm calls, and dealt with 8 juvenile offenders. The Sheriff’s Office Communications Center dispatched 553 calls for service and handled 1,212 telephone inquiries. The CCSO also logged 32 calls assisting outside agencies and had 158 self initiated calls.

The Sheriff’s Office will continue to operate Selective Enforcement in the following areas, Belmont subdivision, Carmel Church intersection Rogers Clark with Ruther Glen Rd. (Rt. 207 & Rt. 652), Ladysmith Village, Lake Caroline, Lake Land Or, Port Royal, Rt. 30

And Huck Finn is a poor attempt at a politican.

WUSA9:

His words come just one day after an impromptu joke during a speech he delivered at a National Rifle Association convention put him in an uncomfortable political spotlight.

Huckabee was distracted in the middle of the speech by an offstage thump. He interrupted his sentence to respond with a joke: “That was Barack Obama,” Huckabee said. “He just tripped off a chair. He was getting ready to speak. Somebody aimed a gun at him and he … he dove for the floor.”

Today, he told 9 NEWS NOW his comment was a poor attempt at humor.