A Colonial Heights jury has convicted two men in a violent attack in a home during which their five young victims were tied up naked on the floor with their heads or faces covered. Three were pistol-whipped or assaulted before being robbed. After a three-day trial that ended Wednesday in Colonial Heights Circuit Court, Daryl L. Sample, 22 of Hopewell and Ryan P. Wilson, 21, of Chesterfield County were convicted of a combined 17 felonies, including multiple counts of robbery and attempted robbery, burglary, conspiracy, use of firearm and wearing a mask in public. The jury recommended prison terms of 42 years for Sample and 37 years for Wilson.

A Petersburg man has been sentenced to serve 13 years in prison for fatally shooting his mother’s neighbor in the back during a trifling disagreement that spiraled out of control. “I think it was [a situation] where people just didn’t know how to resolve conflicts,“ said Petersburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Cassandra Stroud-Burns, who prosecuted the case. “It’s just really sad.“

PETERSBURG—Changing the culture of low student achievement at Petersburg High School didn’t happen overnight. Through steady, persistent work by an administration and instructional staff led by Principal Alicia Fields, the high school is leading a resurgence in student achievement in Petersburg’s much-maligned school system. For the first time, Petersburg High is fully accredited by the Virginia Department of Education and met Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks set forth by the federal No Child Left Behind.

HOPEWELL—The incumbent commonwealth’s attorney in Hopewell was defeated by a big margin last night, while Petersburg’s sheriff and Colonial Heights’ commissioner of the revenue easily won re-election. Newcomer Richard K. “Rick” Newman defeated Anthony N. “Nino” Sylvester for Hopewell’s commonwealth’s attorney. Newman, 53, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Petersburg who has lived in Hopewell less than a year, received 62 percent of the vote, compared with Sylvester’s 38 percent.

HOPEWELL—The incumbent commonwealth’s attorney in Hopewell was defeated by a big margin last night, while Petersburg’s sheriff and Colonial Heights’ commissioner of the revenue easily won re-election. Newcomer Richard K. “Rick” Newman defeated incumbent Anthony N. “Nino” Sylvester for Hopewell’s commonwealth’s attorney. Newman, 53, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Petersburg who has lived in Hopewell less than a year, received 62 percent of the vote, compared with Sylvester’s 38 percent.

The Tri-Cities area’s hospitality industry is receiving significant support in their campaign against an Army plan to build a 1,000-room hotel at Fort Lee. On Monday, the National Restaurant Association and the American Hotel and Lodging Association sent a joint letter to key members of the House Armed Services Committee and its Military Personnel Subcommittee asking them to reject the proposed $114 million project.

In spite of a growing military presence and increasing lodging demand for servicemen and servicewomen in the Fort Lee area, the federal per-diem rates for lodging and meals here are the lowest in the state. The rates vary in the Greater Richmond area, with the per diem for lodging being as much as $55 more in Richmond than in some localities in the Tri-Cities.

FORT LEE—When Staff Sgt. Ziomara Cruz and her family moved to Fort Lee three years ago, they couldn’t find a Spanish church service nearby. Every Sunday, she and her husband, Jose, and their two children drove about 30 minutes outside Fort Lee to a Hispanic Pentecostal congregation. The Cruzes found other Hispanic families at Fort Lee who also wished they had a closer religious service in Spanish. So they requested one on post.

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.

When citizens are denied public benefits like food stamps or unemployment insurance, they rarely seek legal council, said Geraldine M. Doetzer, the only public-benefits attorney at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Petersburg. “If they apply and are turned down, they feel that it is something they didn’t deserve, so they don’t pursue a legal avenue even though they have a right to those benefits,“ she said. “An attorney could be crucial for them to get the benefits.“

Equal Justice America , visit
http://www.equaljusticeamerica.org
To learn about the Legal Aid Justice Center and its services, visit http://www.justice4all.org.
For the Petersburg office, call (804) 862-2205.
For the Richmond office, call (804) 643-1086.

In an unpopular vote, the Petersburg City Council last night unanimously approved a rezoning change to allow redevelopment of a downtown warehouse into luxury apartments. The action was taken after a two-hour public hearing in which more than two dozen residents spoke against, and five in favor of, changing the industrial designation of the 225 Hinton St. property to a multiple-dwelling district.

A Petersburg father has been charged with severely injuring his 4-month-old daughter, who was scalded over the weekend during a bath. Jeffery Morris, 25, was charged with unlawful felony injury; failure to secure medical attention for his baby; and felony child neglect. The infant suffered the burns Saturday at her home in the first block of East Fillmore Street, said Esther Hyatt, a Petersburg police spokeswoman.

A Hopewell man surrendered to police yesterday in Friday’s fatal shooting of an acquaintance in Prince George County. Robert Edward Moore, 30, turned himself in about 11:15 a.m. and was charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of William Joseph Miller Jr., 39, who was found shot to death in the driveway of his sister’s home in the 3700 block of Prince George Drive. Moore also was charged with using a firearm in the commission of murder.

A candidate for Petersburg sheriff was arrested yesterday on a misdemeanor charge of committing voter fraud in last November’s election. Troy Bernard Fobbs Sr., 56, surrendered to Virginia State Police investigators following a monthlong investigation, said Sgt. Tom Molnar, a state police spokesman. A warrant charging him with one count of illegal voting and registration alleges that Fobbs cast his ballot last November knowing he was not qualified to vote in Petersburg.