Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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Recycling Dos and Don’ts

The RSWA’s list of what you can and can’t recycle at each location. D’oh…I’ve been leaving them broken drinking glasses.  #

“Replacement Husband” Arrested for Murder

Morris MugshotJeremy Borden wrote in today’s Daily Progress about the arrest of Alvin Lee “Butch” Morris for the 1988 murder of Roger L. Shifflett. It sounded like a pretty straightforward story: Shifflett was found shot dead in his Southwind Gas and Grocery Store one morning, his till cleared of $135, and now the 67-year-old Morris has been charged with it. The only question was how Morris was caught. But now comes the bizarre twist, explained by Lisa Provence in The Hook: the accused murderer is married to the victim’s widow, having helped to raise three of the victim’s children.

Morris left his wife just weeks after the murder. In a small-town twist, former county sheriff Terry Hawkins’ sister was Morris’ first wife, and Hawkins says that Morris was a suspect from the very start. The Hook has labeled this the “replacement husband” case and, for lack of a better phrase, I’m sticking with it.

Hook Adds Restaurant Reviews

The Hook has announced a new feature, weekly restaurant reviews. I dimly recall a proper restaurant review in the Daily Progress many years ago, but I’m not sure that we’ve had any regular ones since then. Ned Oldham’s debut review is of Maya, a year-old West Main restaurant whose food I quite like. Oldham ate there twice and generally gives it high marks.

Quarry Owners ISO Dredged Soil

The latest installment in the ongoing reservoir saga comes from Dominion Development Resources, who has offered to take all of the dredged-out dirt from the reservoir and put it in the old quarry off Rio Mills Road, Hawes Spencer writes in The Hook. The fourteen-acre quarry is seventy feet deep, so it could store a metric pantload of sediment. For those who had no idea about the quarry, it’s in the center of this map:


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You’ll notice it’s immediately next to the reservoir — only about 3,000 feet away. DDR investor Charles Hurt owns the quarry, and would dump the sediment there as a part of a $24-29M deal to do the dredging themselves. My personal business dealings with DDR a year ago were ghastly (which I mention only because I’m one of the 350 clients they cite as evidence of their competence), but perhaps a job in the spotlight like this would be handled a little better. To catch up on the whole reservoir-dredging story, check out the sidebar on The Hook’s story, which runs down the whole history.

Graduation Weekend

Here’s your day-before reminder: Graduation is this weekend, so take in the cat, bolt the door, and stay off the roads until Sunday night.  #