One of the top 10 home sales in September in the Richmond area was for a house with 12,870 square feet that sold for $931,900. It is assessed for $1.845 million. Is this a crazy market or what? Yes and no. The house, at 330 Pembroke Lane in Goochland County, was a foreclosure. It was listed in 2006 for $2.995 million, according to the county assessor’s office.

Goochland County schools will have to cut staff because of budget reductions, school officials say. The cuts are in response to the county’s projected revenue shortfall of $2.5 million this year and $5.4 million next year. In an Oct. 6 letter to school Superintendent Linda Underwood, County Administrator Rebecca T. Dickson wrote that in 2011 local funding for schools will be cut by 15 percent, or $2.9 million. The county also is asking the school system to cut $650,000 from this year’s $27.1 million budget.

There will be no tricks, treats or Halloween parties this year for many of Virginia’s convicted sex criminals. Officers with the Virginia Department of Corrections and the Virginia State Police are teaming up again to make sure registered sex offenders who are under state supervision won’t cause any harm to young ghouls and goblins.

Five Virginia Department of Corrections officers have been charged with animal cruelty involving the fondling of a K-9 dog and videotaping the two incidents. All five officers were training at the Academy for Staff Development in Goochland County to become K-9 handlers. They were charged across the James River in Powhatan County where the kennel is located, at the Powhatan Correctional Center.

Eight local governments in the Richmond area will have a new way to talk to one another in an emergency, with no telephone wires attached. A $1.73 million grant provided by the U.S. Homeland Security Department will allow emergency officials to complete a regional microwave system that allows them to share critical information in a natural or man-made disaster.

Ashland Farmers’
  Market, 101 Thompson St., Ashland, 798-9219. 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays through November.
  Byrd House Market, behind William Byrd Community House, South Linden Street and Idlewood Avenue, 643-2717. 3:30-7 p.m. Tuesdays through October. A Harvest End Celebration will be held at the final market on Oct. 27, with free food, dance and music.

Murray Fisher could be the Better Man. The former Goochland County resident and son of Brookview Farm owners Sandy and Rossie Fisher is one of five finalists in GQ Magazine’s 2009 Better Men Better World Search, a contest recognizing accomplishments in charitable work and community involvement. Fisher, 35, the founder and program director for the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, was nominated in June by his girlfriend, Emily Neville. From a field of thousands, he has made his way to the list of finalists. Online voting ends today at 5 p.m.

Voting runs through 5 p.m. today.
  Cast your vote at http://www.thegentlemensfund.com/nominate.asp.
  The winner will be featured in GQ magazine, have $10,000 donated to a charity of his choice, receive $2,000 in cash and a $1,000 Nautica gift card, and be honored at The Gentlemen’s Ball in New York City.

Central Virginia has seen a slight increase in homicides so far this year, with higher numbers in Richmond and Petersburg offsetting improved numbers elsewhere. For the first nine months of the year, the region had 59 homicides, compared with 55 at the same time last year. The biggest shift has been in Richmond, where city police recorded seven more homicides as of Sept. 30 than a year earlier. Richmond’s nine-month count of 34 exceeds the total of 32 homicides for all of 2008.

There are many Hanover County residents who have intellectual and physical disabilities who could benefit from a residential group-home environment, according to the Hanover Community Services Board. Next summer, five of them will get the opportunity to live in such a place. Heart Havens Inc., a Goochland County-based nonprofit organization, is collaborating with Hanover county officials, the Community Services Board and another nonprofit, Hanover Community Support Services, to build the organization’s 12th group home.

Rice Jamerson A runaway killer arrested by state police last year told a Henrico County judge this week that he killed his live-in girlfriend in a jealous rage. But the wounds suffered by 22-year-old Melissa Jamerson spoke to more brutal violence. Forensics evidence showed that she suffered from 25 stab wounds to the neck. Jamerson’s body was discovered Nov. 2 in an upstairs bedroom of the couple’s apartment at 9001 Patterson Ave. after state police arrested Justin L. Rice, now 23, near Interstate 64 in Goochland County.

When: Gates open at 8 a.m. today and tomorrow; most exhibits close at 6 p.m.
  Cost: $10 for general admission; $8 for guests ages 55 and older; free for those 12 or younger.
  For more info: Call (804) 741-8468 or visit http://www.fielddayofthepast.net.

About 30,000 people are expected to venture to eastern Goochland County this weekend for the 18th Field Day of the Past, an event known for its unique presentation of the region’s rural heritage. The three-day celebration, which started yesterday, offers typical county fair offerings: funnel cakes, thrill rides and carnival games. But most of the 50 acres dedicated to Field Day have been transformed into a setting where volunteers re-create turn-of-the-century agricultural and industrial workplaces.

Ashland Farmers’ Market, 101 Thompson St., Ashland, 798-9219. 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays through November. Byrd House Market, behind William Byrd Community House, South Linden Street and Idlewood Avenue, 643-2717. 3:30-7 p.m. Tuesdays through October. Chester Farmers’ Market, Chester Village Green, Village Green Drive and Centre Street, 748-9650. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays through October.

Area farmers markets Ashland Farmers’ Market, 101 Thompson St., Ashland, (804) 798-9219. 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays through November. Byrd House Market, behind William Byrd Community House, South Linden Street and Idlewood Avenue, (804) 643-2717. 3:30-7 p.m. Tuesdays through October. Chester Farmers’ Market, Chester Village Green, Village Green Drive and Centre Street, (804) 748-9650. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays through October. Goochland Farmers’ Market, 2955 River Road West, Goochland, (804) 332-3144. 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays through October. Huguenot-Robious Farmers’ Market, Great Big Greenhouse, 2051 Huguenot Road, (804) 320-1317. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursdays through Nov. 19. Lakeside Market, 6110 Lakeside Ave., (804) 262-6593. 8 a.m.-noon and 3-7 p.m. Wednesdays and 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays through November. Market Emporium at Bryan Park, Hermitage Road between Bryan Park and Bellevue avenues, (804) 513-3100. 3-7 p.m. Tuesdays through November. St. Stephen’s Farmers’ Market, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 6000 Grove Ave. (804) 288-2867. 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays through October. 17th Street Farmers’ Market, 17th and East Main streets, http://www.17thstreet farmersmarket.com or (804) 646-0477. 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through mid-December (except as noted). South of the James Market, Forest Hill Park, Forest Hill Avenue and 42nd Street, (804) 513-3100. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays through December. West End Farmers’ Market, Gayton Road and Ridgefield Parkway, http://www.westendfarmersmarket.com or (804) 564-9989. 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays and Wednesdays through mid-December. Whole Foods Market Farmers’ Market, in front of the store, 11173 W. Broad St., (804) 364-4050. 4-7 p.m. Wednesdays through October.