Recommend This StoryYear in review: Quadruple fatal crash year's top story
|
Editor's note: The Northern Virginia Daily has named is top 10 local news stories for 2011. After reviewing the newspaper's coverage of the Northern Shenandoah Valley during the year, senior news staff members nominated 23 stories for consideration, basing their selections on reader interest. The entire Daily staff was asked to vote for the top 10.
ONE
Four members of a Frederick County family were killed in a fiery crash on U.S. 11 in Stephenson the morning of June 26.
A 1994 Jeep Cherokee, driven by Amanda Louise Roe, 31, of Stephenson, was struck from behind by a 1985 Chevrolet pickup while stopped at a red light in the northbound lane of U.S. 11 at an Interstate 81 exit ramp, according to state police.
Roe died in the crash along with her husband, Mark Kevin Roe, 49, and their sons, Tyler Kevin Roe, 4, and Caleb Andrew Roe, 11.
The collision caused the Jeep's fuel tank to rupture and the vehicle caught fire, killing all occupants, police have said.
The driver of the pickup, Steven Andrew Boyce, now 21, had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.27 percent at the time of the crash, according to the results of a preliminary breath test.
His Frederick County Circuit Court indictments on charges of aggravated involuntary manslaughter state his BAC was even higher, registering 0.33 percent, which is more than four times the legal limit for someone 21 or older. The limit for persons under 21, which Boyce was at the time of the crash, is 0.02 percent.
A week after the crash, about 200 family members and friends gathered to remember the Roes at Clearbrook Park.
Although initially charged with one count of aggravated involuntary manslaughter, indictments on three additional counts -- one for each of the remaining victims -- were handed down by a grand jury in November.
Boyce is due back in Circuit Court next month.
Because of the horrific nature of the crash and the outpouring of grief in the community for the Roe family, the incident has been named The Northern Virginia Daily's top story for 2011.
TWO
Buildings shook, water lines ruptured and nerves twitched as shock waves from a 5.8-magnitude earthquake rumbled through the Northern Shenandoah Valley on the afternoon of Aug. 23.
No injuries were reported in the area, but the quake caused severe damage to several buildings in an apartment complex in Front Royal.
Cell phone service also was disrupted by heavy traffic generated by people calling to check on one another.
The earthquake left the occupants of at least 18 units at the Shenandoah Commons apartment complex temporarily homeless. The shattered water pipes caused sprinklers to go off in the units. One resident said his water heater "exploded."
Vouchers were provided by the Red Cross for some displaced residents to spend the night at a Super 8 motel. Other people stayed with family members.
THREE
Paul Thomson, a former Winchester prosecutor who had seen countless defendants face justice, found himself on the other side of the bar on June 27 when he pleaded guilty to five federal felony counts.
Thomson was later sentenced in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg to three years and two months in prison for possession of cocaine and tampering with witnesses and evidence.
Three other charges were dropped as part of his agreement with federal prosecutors.
Thomson, who in recent years had worked as a defense attorney in private practice, admitted to cocaine possession and tampering with the investigation into his criminal activity.
"My clients were in the same position I am in today," Thomson said at his sentencing. "And so I feel that I am not so special that I should not stand before all of you and the court in the same manner as my clients and accept, with a humble heart, punishment. It is the only brave thing to do."
Thomson told the court he suffered from addiction that developed with a "nagging chronic sadness" over the death of a young son.
FOUR
In October, a respected Shenandoah County attorney and substitute judge found himself on the wrong side of the bench.
James H. Allamong Jr., 62, faces drug charges after a fire on his property in Fishers Hill led to the discovery of his large stash of marijuana in early October.
Firefighters battling a shed fire on Allamong's property at 1817 Copp Road discovered "a large number" of what appeared to be marijuana plants growing behind it, Shenandoah County Sheriff's Maj. Scott Proctor said.
Processed marijuana also was found, he said.
Investigators found 41 marijuana plants growing outside, and more of the drug inside Allamong's home, according to a criminal complaint filed in Shenandoah County General District Court.
Allamong, who has since resigned as a general district substitute judge in the 26th Circuit, has said the marijuana was for his personal use to cope with the debilitating pain of combat injuries suffered in the Vietnam War.
A special prosecutor, Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert -- who famously prosecuted D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad -- has been brought in to try Allamong, who is scheduled to return to court in early 2012.
FIVE
In the most high-profile bank hiest of the year, James Louis Whittlesey, 51, was accused of robbing the United Bank on Berryville Avenue at gunpoint on Oct. 14, then shooting at officers who unsuccessfully pursued him on foot.
Police soon discovered that the fugitive had been in and out of prison for most of his adult life. Whittlesey escaped from Brockbridge Correctional Facility in Maryland in 1980 before being picked up in Florida three years later for drug trafficking and armed robbery charges.
City police charged him with attempted capital murder of a police officer, aggravated bank robbery and use of a firearm in connection with a felony. Federal agents also charged him with armed robberies in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
On Dec. 11, days before an "America's Most Wanted" segment was scheduled to air about the fugitive, police captured him in Canada.
The United Bank heist was one of five bank robberies in the Northern Shenandoah Valley in 2011. Cecilia Heather Kerns, 24, of Stephens City, and Damon Stanley Robinson, 38, of Woodstock, Md., were both arrested in August for separate local bank robberies.
SIX
Homes and farms were damaged, power lines were downed and roads were flooded by a tornado that roared through southern Shenandoah County on April 28.
While the tornado left a swath of destruction in its path, there were no fatalities and only two injuries.
National Weather Service officials estimated an area 30 miles long and up to four miles wide was affected by the early morning tornado, which measured EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Maximum wind speeds in the storm reached 130 mph.
At least 10 farm buildings were destroyed and another 30 damaged. Many valuable stands of timber also were flattened by the twister, according to Virginia Department of Forestry officials.
The damage estimate for residential and farm buildings in the county was eventually put at $2.74 million.
SEVEN
The Shenandoah Area Agency on Aging, one of the Northern Shenandoah Valley's most important social service organizations, found itself besieged by a financial crisis that involved the dismissals of its top three executives.
Helen Cockrell, president and CEO; Ann McIntyre, director of development; and finance director Jim Shaffer were dismissed at a board of directors meeting in September.
Cockrell and McIntyre have since filed lawsuits over issues surrounding their departures.
Preliminary and follow-up audits into the agency's finances were conducted after the initial discovery in August of checks that were never mailed to vendors. The agency was rocked by a cash flow shortage that led to staff members voluntarily paying part of their health insurance premiums to help the agency survive.
The Virginia Department for the Aging stepped in with an emergency infusion of money after staff members went unpaid in the latter part of September.
The agency still faced a heavy debt and unpaid bills by the end of the year, but board members held out hope that a proposed budget could provide a path toward a restoration of fiscal health in 2012.
EIGHT
Shenandoah County will start 2012 with its first female chief prosecutor.
Amanda McDonald Wiseley was elected commonwealth's attorney in November.
She garnered nearly two-thirds of the vote in what was widely seen as the county's ugliest election battle of the year.
Wiseley and her opponent, Woodstock Mayor Jeremy McCleary -- whose wife is an assistant commonwealth's attorney -- traded jabs throughout much of the campaign, with each saying the other didn't have the experience necessary to be the top prosecutor, and accusing each other of dirty tricks.
Two other candidates had initially vied for the spot. One of them, Assistant Shenandoah County Commonwealth's Attorney Ken Alger, dropped out and ran successfully for the same position in neighboring Page County.
NINE
Up to five regional post offices may close as a result of the U.S. Postal Service effort to downsize its operations.
Community meetings held throughout the year focused on hearing residents' concerns about closing their local offices or cutting back on services. At most of the meetings, people expressed outrage at the thought of losing their post offices, and in many cases the hearts of their small communities.
Offices in the Northern Shenandoah Valley targeted by the Postal Service for cuts are in Winchester, Star Tannery, Orkney Springs, Fort Valley and Fishers Hill.
After the initial proposal to close, residents have 60 days to make their arguments before a final decision is made. After that, they still have 30 days to file an appeal before the office is closed.
TEN
The Shenandoah Farms Fire Department struggled for much of the year with investigations into finances and personnel practices.
The investigations turned up numerous instances of misconduct involving questionable spending and improper accounting. At one point, the Clarke County commonwealth's attorney and state police, acting on information contained in a financial audit, investigated the department for criminal activity.
Perka issued a statement on Sept. 22 declaring no charges would be filed against anyone in the fire department.
Shenandoah Farms officials insisted the critics were misinformed, and the investigations overlooked many changes initiated in the last year to remedy the department's problems.
Stanley released the results of an audit earlier in the year that included a report of gunshots fired at the house of a department critic. Reports from the Warren County Sheriff's Office confirmed the critic's house had been vandalized, but raised the possibility that a BB gun may have caused the damage.
0 
Leave a comment
Comments
Comments that are posted on nvdaily.com represent the opinion of the commenter and not the Northern Virginia Daily/nvdaily.com. If you feel that a comment is objectionable, please click on the Report Abuse link above and in your e-mail to us include the comment. We will review the reported comment and make a decision on deleting it if we feel that it contains inappropriate content.