CAN’T FLOAT THIS BOAT IN YORKTOWN
In the wake of a controversial entry into this year’s Yorktown Lighted Boat Parade (see photo), the Yorktown Foundation issued a statement saying that the polarizing messaging of one entry was overtly political and that the entry was therefore disqualified. The courageous decision by the sponsor followed a decision awarding Best in Show to the offending entry.
Accountability applies even to bad taste and insulting comments alleged to be humor. Not every time and place is appropriate.
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COCKFIGHTING BUST LEADS TO FIVE YEARS IN COOP
A Page County, VA, man recently received the state–and the nation’s–longest sentence in connection with a cockfighting operation police busted at his home: five years in jail and $29,000 in fees after being convicted on 47 charges. His sentence could have been longer, but 86 years were suspended.
A cockfighting yard, hens, roosters and traces of meth were found at his home. Three hundred fifty-five birds were removed from his property. The man has also been banned from owning animals of any kind for the rest of his life.
Labeling him a bird-brain insults avian culture.
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HAMPTON MAN WILL NOT SERVE 1,823-YEAR SENTENCE
An 18-year-old homeless restaurant worker and several others pulled off a home invasion robbery in 2001 in which no shots were fired and no one was injured. Still, he was sentenced to 1,823 years in prison. Yes, 1,823 years. Eighteen-plus centuries.
After assistance from the NAACP and the charge of inadequate representation from his lawyer, the man, who has served 19 years already, received a conditional pardon from Gov. Ralph Northam. He will be free within 30-60 days.
An example of “tough on crime” gone ballistic.
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WOMAN DIES AFTER HOSPITAL ORDERED TO ALLOW IVERMECTIN TREATMENT
A Fauquier County woman has died after her family successfully sued a local hospital for the right to try using ivermectin to treat her COVID disease.
The woman had been ill since October and on a ventilator since November. Ivermectin has not been approved for treatment of COVID-19.
According to the judge’s ruling, the hospital was “needlessly interposing requirements that stand in the way of [a] patient’s desired physician administering investigational drugs as part of the Health Care Decisions Act and the federal and state Right to Try Acts.”
After the lawsuit’s success, the woman was given the drug on Dec. 13. She died 5 days later.
A question remains concerning the wisdom (and authority) of a court to contradict medical protocols. Will the hospital now be liable for neglect or delay in objecting to the ivermectin?
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Categories: AROUND THE NOVAHOOD, Issues, Local, pandemic, POLICING, political discourse, State
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