The disappearance of Mechanicsville teenager Theresa Marie Meadows languished in relative obscurity from the time she vanished in September 2004—until she was located alive last week in South Carolina. On the flip side, the case of missing 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington has received intense state and national attention since she disappeared Oct. 17 after a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. A three-day search last weekend involved more than 500 volunteers.

The Henrico Christmas Mother program has been a vital part of Robin Smith’s holiday traditions since she was a child. The county’s 2009 Christmas Mother recalls carrying canned goods to school and working with classmates to decorate boxes so the items could be presented onstage to the Christmas Mother. Smith, who lives in Glen Allen, sees the volunteer-supported program as vital as ever.

The case of a former Henrico County drug investigator who has accused the county’s police chief and other top law-enforcement officers of destroying his career is moving closer to a possible trial. In a 21-page ruling released this week, a substitute judge hearing the case in Hanover County refused to dismiss key elements of a suit filed in August 2008 in which Williams G. “Trip” Hueston III seeks more than $1 million in damages.

Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc. has expanded its line of prepared foods to include several oven-ready, family-sized options aimed at working families.

Laptops in Henrico County middle schools are up for contract renewal next year, and the county is soliciting input. The current four-year contract, which ends June 30, supplies an Apple laptop computer for every middle school student. Considerations in the renewal process will include whether to stick with Apple models, switch to Windows-based computers and/or go to smaller netbooks.

Swine flu appears to have been cut in half in Virginia. About 8 percent of people visiting emergency rooms across the state reported flulike illness, down from a high of 15 percent three weeks ago, according to the Virginia Department of Health. “It looks like we’ve gone over a hump,“ said Dr. Marsh Cuttino, an emergency-medicine specialist with HCA Virginia Health System, which operates six Richmond-area hospitals. “We’re back almost to our normal levels.“

Chickens: No permit is required for up to 10 chickens. The enclosure must be 30 feet from another person’s house.
  Chickens, sheep, other livestock: Enclosures must be 200 feet from property lines.
  Chickens or other live stock: Conditional-use permits would be considered by the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission, and neighbors would be invited to express their opinions.

Despite tough economic times, Virginia has taken a strong interest in maintaining its programs for early-childhood education, according to a member of the Virginia Board of Education. Rob Krupicka, a member of the board and an Alexandria city councilman, was among a number of speakers yesterday at the Smart Beginnings Public Engagement and Advocacy Summit that highlighted some of the state’s opportunities for children from birth to age 5.

As he approached the massive ship with the familiar name, Franklin V. Pond picked up his pace. “This man was so excited coming onto that pier and going up the ramp, he had my hand in a death grip, and he was pulling me,“ Pond’s wife, Jean, said with BILL
LOHMANN
a laugh. Racing up a ramp—not bad for a man of 92. Pond traveled to New York last weekend for the commissioning of the USS New York, the $1 billion amphibious transport dock ship, a vessel that has drawn considerable attention because its bow was constructed with more than 7 tons of steel from the rubble of the World Trade Center.

The U.S. trustee charged with upholding bankruptcy laws filed an objection late yesterday regarding LandAmerica Financial Group Inc.‘s plan to exit Chapter 11. The bankrupt Henrico County title insurer filed a mediated plan of reorganization in September, saying that liquidation was the firm’s only option. The plan detailed how creditors would be paid but also had other provisions to which U.S. trustee W. Clarkson McDow Jr. objected.

Several school divisions in central Virginia are reporting delays tomorrow after this week’s heavy rains and flooding. The following county school districts are reporting two-hour delays for Friday: Amelia, Dinwiddie, King and Queen, New Kent and Prince George. Also, Sussex County schools are closed Friday.

A police sketch and a DNA hit have combined to reveal the identity of a 1991 murder victim. Henrico County police say they now need the public’s help in tracking down Cynthia Gilliam’s killer. Her body was discovered in 1991 along Evergreen Road, a little-used roadway connecting the Nine Mile Road area of eastern Henrico with Fulton Bottom in the city. It took 18 years to determine her identity.

Back in Mississippi where he grew up, highway signs honor Col. Van T. Barfoot. In March, the state legislature designated a stretch of state Route 16 near Carthage “The Col. Van T. Barfoot Medal of Honor Highway.“ At the dedication last month at the Big Horn Restaurant, Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall said this:

East End Landfill in Henrico County wants to quadruple the amount of construction and demolition debris allowed daily at its Darbytown Road operation, but the company is meeting opposition.