Two sentences were handed down today, one for Charlottesville’s latest would be wife killer, Patrick Shemorry (28) and one for an apparent drug kingpin, Warren “Pop” Rucker II (19).

Shemorry has made the the rounds of all the local news outlets for his attempted hiring of Michael Terry with the intent of killing his estranged wife, Starla.  His sentence was only .5 years from the maximum allowed in his plea agreement.

Rucker opted to have his case heard by a jury, and was found guilty after a three day trial in September.  His initial indictment was for possession and distribution of 56 grams of cocaine, 197 grams of crack cocaine, and a .45 caliber pistol.

Neither individual appears to have much, if any, criminal history, which would easily have effected the sentencing guidelines.

The only conclusion which can be drawn from these two events, is that the willful intent of causing a life to be taken is a significantly less serious offense then providing consenting adults with a substance which they seek to obtain.  [Photo Credits]

Scott Shenk wrote a sweet article in the Daily Progress about how, in the 80s, Charlottesville was a booming town for the crack-cocaine business.  Drug dealers named the town “Sweet Town” because that implies that business was good.  Scott explains

By 1988, drug gangs had infiltrated the city. Open-air drug markets were running all hours — dealers and users crowded street corners and front yards alike, as crack was sold with impunity.

Was Charlottesville a banana republic of crack?  Sure sounds like it.  In the late 70s and early 80s, the police didn’t care about drugs.  When they witnessed an increasing amount of crime associated with drugs, that’s when their priorities changed.  The now-sheriff of Albemarle County, Chip Harding, led the charge to shut down the area drug rings.  The article mentions that even high profile UVA students were implicated (am not sure about this, but I believe Sigma Nu [another?] was once raided by the FBI for being one of the largest cocaine dealers on the East Coast).

Make sure you read the article.  It might change your views of Charlottesville.

Today, we’ve outsourced the cocaine production to Mexican cartels and still admit to powdering our nose.

[pic from hober]

Thats right another drug related post.  Wait a minute, this has nothing to do with local cocaine use, but that of bees.  Thats right, bees love coke, and according to the Guardian this is what happens when honey bees get a super low dose:

after dabbing low doses of cocaine on the bees’ backs before they went out, the researchers observed that when they returned they were more likely to dance for their nest mates, and performed particularly vigorous routines explaining where the food was located.

The dance language gave Barron and his colleagues an indication of what was going on in the bees’ brains. Rather like a cokehead in a crowded nightclub, cocaine made the bees much more enthusiastic communicators. This was not simply because they were generally more energetic: the extra enthusiasm was in order to communicate with nest mates.

You mean like a cokehead in a crowded bar in cville!? Yes, my ill attempt at trying to get all you cokeheads to fess up. I will take anonymous emails reporting vicious cocaine use among local honey bees via the contact page.

[pic from wwarby on Flickr]

You remember when everyone admitting to participating in “Charlottesville’s Secret Cocaine Habit?”  Turns out the Colombian cartels aren’t to blame.  According to a Daily Progress article by Scott Shenk, we need to blame the Mexican Cartels for sending us shitty coke.  According to JADE, the police drug task force, we used to get the stuff from New York City, but now bulk buys are coming from Mexico.  It’s probably because of NAFTA and free-trade.  Everyone knows we need to be supporting the American worker, so I say let’s import coke from NYC again!

Oh and much like real estate, it’s a buyers market for cocaine.  The Mexican cartels sell coke for $800 per ounce, whereas typical ounces run you $1,000.  Sounds like a steal to me. Can anyone verify these prices?

[don't snort the substance in that pic from Guiseppe Bognanni; it's actually little pieces of computers]

We always talk about the downtown mall as this end-all be-all hotspot of Charlottesville.  At no point do I remember anyone saying it was the go-to place for drugs!  We touched briefly on our cocaine habit, but we couldn’t pinpoint a location for that.  We weren’t quite sure how Sexshuns owner, Reynold George Samuels, FBI raid this past February would turn out, but he recently pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute a controlled substance (marijuana and crack) and copyright infringement (fake DVDs, I swear I am not making this up). The Daily Progress reports:

Authorities have described Samuels as the head of the drug operation, organizing shipments of marijuana from New York that others distributed locally. According to a news release, Samuels admitted in Charlottesville’s federal court on Monday that the conspiracy distributed more than 3,000 kilograms of marijuana and more than 50 grams of crack in the region under his watch. He also said in court that he sold several pirated videos to undercover law enforcement officers last winter, the release noted.

Since Reynold is out of the picture, I think its very important we fill his previous position ASAP.  Check out the job description below:

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The American Psychological Association just did a study on stress levels and the economy.  We already figured out that over 40% of you are scared of the housing crisis, but we figured “stressed” is one notch down from scared.  Hopefully you are not as bad as this guy.

After you answer the question, click read more to find the results of the study. They may surprise you.

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I have heard from various people around town about the prevalent use of cocaine.  This surprised me quite a bit!  Quoting a local:

If you are out past 2AM partying, odds are everyone is coked up

Seriously?  Maybe we are a little-big city!  What brought this to light was an article today from the Daily Mail that reports cocaine and ecstacsy deaths are up 1,200% since 1993.

‘People think they can copy celebrities and do a quick line because it doesn’t have the same stigma as other class As but it’s actually just as destructive. ‘People are often ignorant of the risks of combining alcohol with cocaine for example, which can increase the risk of liver and heart disease, strokes and epilepsy.

‘The increase in deaths among men in their 30s and 40s is worrying. It suggests that more people are continuing to experiment with drugs well into adulthood.

Do you powder your nose?

[pic]

Apparently at the Phil Lesh show, you could get what looked like nitrous oxide balloons smack dab on the streets of Charlottesville.  Now, we didn’t taste these baloons, but we’re pretty sure people don’t huff helium like this.  We aren’t saying they are nitrous balloons, but let your imagination do the work.

By the way, if you don’t know what nitrous is, go ask your local dealer… or, sneak some from your dentist.

If you remember, a while back we had rumors of nitrous baloons being readily available at another spot on the downtown mall.

More pictures after the break…

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Lake City starring Sissy Spacek and Dave Matthews was just bought by Screen Media. The film takes place in “rural VA”. I am not really sure it was filmed in rural Virginia, but hopefully our locals made it happen. The film will debut in New York and five urban markets on Nov. 7th.

The gist of the film: Guy has drug dealer issues (not sure what), hides with Sissy Spacek (his mom) in rural VA, Dave Matthews (the big, bad drug dealer – I just don’t see it) and his wife try to find him.

Details Here 

We’ve heard from various sources that they or someone they know has had an experience that sounds like roofies were involved.

One account:

My friend thinks she might have been drugged on Friday night. She came in to BAR and then she went to ANOTHER BAR and had a drink then next thing she remembers she was crawling in the road and almost got run over. She didn’t drink that much so we’re pretty suspicious.

I have another friend who had something similar happen to her at BAR a few months ago.

We’ve also heard stories of date rape pills being found at another bar.  We’re hesitant to name the places, but if anyone has any other experiences, please share.

This is a very serious manner and I haven’t heard of these situations occurring in Charlottesville, so I thought it was worth a discussion.