Curtain call
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor Sam Shepard, author of Buried Child, died July 27 from complications related to Lou Gehrig’s disease, according to a family member. Shepard lived with actress Jessica Lange on a farm near Scottsville for 10 years until the mid-’90s. He was 73.
Teacher in custody
Longtime Charlottesville High School environmental sciences educator Rick Wellbeloved-Stone, 56, was arrested July 27 for possessing child pornography. Police Captain Gary Pleasants says the victim is younger than high school-age and the photos were taken in a school setting without the victim’s knowledge. Wellbeloved-Stone’s employment has been suspended and police suggest federal charges could follow.
Suicide thwarted
Four city police officers prevented a 21-year-old man from jumping off the Market Street Parking Garage last weekend. Officer Jose Sanchez positioned himself out of sight behind the man and pulled him to safety after the man said, “Tell my mom I’m sorry,” to someone on his cell phone, hung up and began scooting to the ledge of the five-story garage.
19-year-old gets 30 years
A crime spree last summer netted three teens and a 24-year-old lengthy sentences for a home invasion, carjacking, kidnapping and robbery of five commercial businesses including a 7-Eleven and several pizza restaurants. Head honcho Terence Tyree, 19, was sentenced to 360 months in prison.
“To this overt display of white nationalism, and to the less visible systemic foundations of white supremacy, we say no!”—Brittany Caine-Conley with Congregate C’Ville
Lazy weekly recycles Onion headlines
Charlottesville hasn’t only been in the national spotlight for Confederate statue controversies and Ku Klux Klan rallies. We often get picked up by The Onion, too. And because we could use a lighter note, here’s a look at some of our favorite headlines from the past few years.
- Historians Discover Thomas Jefferson May Have Secretly Fathered Multiple Other Countries (May 15, 2017)
- Couple Spends Morning At Farmers Market Verbalizing Everything That Comes Into Field Of Vision (May 3, 2016)
- Researchers Reveal They Don’t Have Heart To Reveal What Happens to 1 In 5 Women (February 3, 2015)
- Creative Writing Professor Takes Time To Give Every Student Personalized False Hope (October 26, 2015)
- Report: Putting Head in Hands And Moaning Quietly Still Best Way To Get Through Next Several Seconds (May 14, 2015)
- Airbnb User Loves How Easy Website Makes It To Ejaculate In Stranger’s Sink (May 5, 2014)
- Report: Majority of Mothers Would Drop Kids Off at Warehouse Called ‘Fun Zone’ for Hour of Free Time, No Questions Asked (February 19, 2015)
Highly regarded
The Virginia State Crime Commission wants your opinion on whether personal possession of marijuana should be decriminalized in the commonwealth. Send written comments to vsccinfo@vscc.virginia.gov or 1111 E. Broad St., Suite B036 in Richmond by August 25.
The group will present its findings at the October 5 Crime Commission meeting.