Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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Waynesboro Murder Ends in Suicide

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 29, 2005 in Crime. 1 Comment

Yesterday was a day of high drama for our neighbors to the west, after a Waynesboro man killed his in-laws, fled, holed himself up, and committed suicide as a tactical team closed in on him. The the News-Virginian, who followed the story throughout, reports that that Michael Lawson, aged 48, killed the grandfather and mother of his estranged wife, whose bodies were found Tuesday morning. Over fifty officers tried unsuccessfully to hunt down Lawson (described by friends as an Eric Rudolph-like survivalist) over the course of the day, only locating him at 1:30am when an acquaintance reported to police that Lawson had come by his house. Using K-9 units and thermal imaging equipment, he was finally tracked down. As a team closed in on him, just before daybreak, he shot himself in the head, killing himself.

The whole event is similar to the 2001 coal tower killings [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], with the notable exception that Craig Nordenson didn’t kill himself.

Orange WiFi?

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 28, 2005 in Business. 10 Comments

In a Progress article about poor mobile phone service in Orange County, Kate Andrews writes:

[Orange Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark] Johnson has hopes that a countywide broadband wireless project, for which a timeline has not been set, will help provide better coverage with additional towers.

Can anybody up the road from me in Orange provide any further information about this? Is the county considering blanketing the area in WiFi? Free or at a cost? Is there high-speed service in Orange at all, or is the municipal government doing this because there’s neither broadband availability nor likelihood of it anytime soon?

So many questions…

Al’s Morning Meeting

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 28, 2005 in Meta News. 2 Comments

Here’s a tip for all of you who work for local media,

I’m a big fan of the Poynter Institute, and I just discovered a great service that they offer, in the form of Al’s Morning Meeting. It’s a daily column (M-F) about what’s going on in the world, presented in the format of what would make a good story. Al Tompkins provides questions for journalists to follow up on and potential angles for local media to use to make the story relevant to their region. You can even subscribe to get it by e-mail every day.

If you’re in media, Al’s Morning Meeting should be a part of your morning read.

Drought Danger?

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 28, 2005 in Weather. 12 Comments

In September of 2002 (my Lord, has it been three years?), the drought left us fast running out of water. Cars were filthy, we weren’t much cleaner, lawns were brown and toilets were left unflushed.

Earlier this week, NBC 29 warned that we could be facing water restrictions soon if we don’t get some more rain. Today the RWSA warns that stream flow is down. ACSA reports that Sugar Hollow, Beaver Creek, South Rivanna, and Totier Creek are full, with Ragged Mountain is down 2.2%.

With nothing more than chances of scattered afternoon thunderstorms in the forecast, Are we headed towards a repeat? More important, are we any better prepared for a drought now than we were in 2002?

Fox 27 (WAHU) On Air

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 27, 2005 in Business and Meta News. 6 Comments

Brian writes: “I was just going through my choice over the air TV and noticed FOX is on the air…now I can watch the World Series this fall.”

I get no love on my TV, but half of my antenna snapped off, and I barely get NBC 29, anyhow. Can anybody else pick up it up? Is there any local content just yet?

Background: Fox to replace PAX (03/11/05) and Charlottesville to get Fox Affiliate (11/05/04).

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