Post Looks Back at Balfour Case

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 9, 2009 in General News. 63 Comments

In Sunday’s Washington Post, Gene Weingarten has a long, detailed, nuanced look at how 15-20 young children die each year after being left in a car accidentally. The main subject of the article is Lyn Balfour, the JAG school employee who accidentally left her nine-month old in the car two years ago. She was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a Charlottesville jury last year, after just ninety minutes of deliberation (including a lunch break). Weingarten explains the perfect storm of circumstances that made her forget, including emergency babysitting duty for a friend, staying up with her sick baby, the baby being in a different car seat than usual (and not visible in the mirror), driving her husband to work that day (unusually), dealing with two small crises via mobile phone on the way to work that morning, and her babysitter having a new phone. Balfour simply believed that she had dropped off her son at the babysitter’s, as she did every morning.

I’m ashamed and upset to have discovered that the author even quotes the single worst comment ever posted to cvillenews.com, one that I’d managed to forget, and now hope that I can forget again:

If she had too many things on her mind then she should have kept her legs closed and not had any kids. they should lock her in a car during a hot day and see what happens.
stupid people need to no longer exist when they do stupid things like this. she killed her kid, she should be punished and put away.

This article is awfully hard to read; consider yourself warned.

Phillip Brown Running for Sheriff

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 8, 2009 in Politics. 19 Comments

BrownCharlottesville police sergeant Phillip Brown intends to run for Charlottesville sheriff, Scott Shenk reported in the Daily Progress on Friday. Not to be confused with James E. Brown, also a candidate, Phillip Brown has been with the Charlottesville PD since 1992. Brown is the third candidate to announce in the month and a half since Democratic incumbent Cornelia Johnson announced that she won’t seek a third term. All are seeking the Democratic nomination.

Spivey Slated for Release on Tuesday

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 7, 2009 in Education and Law and Justice. 3 Comments

Child molester Jonathan Spivey is due to be released from the Buckingham Correctional Center on Tuesday, I see on the Virginia Department of Corrections’ site. The 49-year-old Charlottesville High School choral director and Mount Zion Baptist Church minister of music pleaded guilty to taking indecent sexual liberties with a minor, in his own office at CHS, and was sentenced to twenty years in prison in 2007. All but 21 months was suspended; perhaps the 4.5 month shortfall is from time served prior to sentencing. He was sentenced to five years probation after his release, and he’ll have to register as a sex offender.

Norris Running for Reelection

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 4, 2009 in Politics. 45 Comments

Mayor Dave Norris is running for reelection to City Council, he announced in an e-mail this evening. His first term expires at the end of this year. He’s seeking renomination as a Democrat, and then the general election will be held in November. Vice Mayor Julian Taliaferro has not yet said whether he intends to seek a second term. His e-mail announcement follows.

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Colonnades Facing Bankruptcy

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 4, 2009 in Business. 5 Comments

The parent company of The Colonnades is facing bankruptcy, Reuters reports. Sunrise Senior Living is looking to reorganize, not go out of business, though they’re going to need some real accommodation from their creditors, since they’ve only got enough money to make it through the end of the month. They’ve got something like half a billion dollars in debt coming due in the next couple of years. The Colonnades is on Barracks Road, on the northern edge of town. I was visiting somebody there a few weeks ago, and it certainly seemed like one of the nicer senior living facilities in the area. Though it’s not clear how they’ll be affected at this point, this isn’t likely to be good for the place. Thanks to FM for the tip.

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