A stowaway who apparently hid aboard a flight from Ethiopia to Washington was found in the plane’s baggage hold by workers at Dulles International Airport, authorities said last night.

As baggage handlers unloaded the Ethiopian Airlines flight Saturday morning, they spotted an arm protruding from between luggage pallets, officials said.

At that point, the workers went in to the hold of the Boeing 767 and found the stowaway, who was dehydrated and exhausted.

[Read](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/07/AR2009060702147.html?wprss=rss_metro/va “Read the Article”) (Washington Post)

Monday night, vandals spray-painted three police cars in Culpeper. Two cars were vandalized at officers’ homes, but the third was spray-painted at the town police station.

[Read](http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/122008/12242008/434468/index_html “Read the article”) (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

Montgomery County, MD police have noticed a speed camera prank that targets innocent drivers.

The prank works like this: A driver will take down someone else’s license plate number, print a high resolution image of that license plate, attach it to their own license plate, then speed by a speed camera on purpose, so that the fake license plate gets hit with the fine.

[Read](http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1556689 “Read the Article”) (WTOP)

Someone rode their bike to Walmart, and when she saw there was no bike rack, she *attempted* to take her bike inside. The manager told her that she should have driven a vehicle, and she couldn’t bring the bike inside because Walmart sells bikes. Using that logic…

so I asked her if they also sold shirts in the store. She said yes so I took off my jersey and said well then I’d better not bring this in either. She got kind of flustered and said that it was a different situation but couldn’t explain why. So I said that if they also sold shorts in the store that I’d better not wear those in either and I took off my shorts. Same goes for the shoes and sunglasses. Now I’m standing there in my spandex and a sports bra and I ask here if I can leave my things behind the customer service counter where they will be safe until I finish making my purchases.

…the answer was no.

[Read](http://acctcville.blogspot.com/2008/07/so-i-generally-choose-not-to-patronize.html “Read the Article”) (Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation)

A 17-year-old Culpeper youth is in juvenile detention after police say he told them he had been getting high on mushrooms collected from “cow pies” in local pastures.

He was charged with possession of mushrooms with the intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia.

[Read](http://fredericksburg.com/News/Web/2008/072008/0714culp1 “Read the Article”) (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

I seldom remember my dreams, but I do remember last night’s.  I was sitting up when I woke up at 5:50 this morning.  I dreamt that my wife and I and a friend of ours whose husband (Stan) died two weeks ago were at a Gourds show. 

The Gourds weren’t doing a regular concert – they were singing and performing a play.  The stage was configured to be a ship, and each member of The Gourds was a pirate.

During the performance, Stan appeared dressed in angel’s attire, and he hovered a few feet above the stage.  His white robe was dirty. It was the color of snow that’s been on the side of the highway for several days.

The dirty robe meant that his journey had been difficult.  His wings were drooping, which meant that Stan was tired.  He said that everything was okay, and then he ascended to heaven.

Vehicle In Front of Me on 2/28/08

Originally uploaded by Steve Jenkins

There was a vehicle in front of me this afternoon that had 2 confederate bumper stickers and a license plate that had a confederate flag on it. The van was driven by an older white man who was steadily smoking while driving. Why would Virginia offer a license plate with a Confederate flag on it?

After doing some digging, it looks like the Virginia DMV offers not one, but two, versions of a confederate plate!

A father and son were arrested in the town of Orange, VA Wednesday night after police found them intoxicated and inhaling Freon gas on the roof of the Silk Mill Grill, a popular downtown eatery and bar.

Police responded to the restaurant, across the road from Sheetz, after receiving a report around 8:15 p.m. that two men were on the roof inhaling something from a cylinder and yelling at people on the ground.
After being helped to the ground by the Orange Volunteer Fire Department, Douglas Twyman, 50, of Orange and his 25-year-old son, Douglas Jr. of Remington, were taken into police custody.

[Read](http://www.starexponent.com/cse/news/local/article/orange_police_father_and_son_inhaling_freo_on_resta_02_07_08_cse/11983/ “Read the Article”) (Culpeper Star Exponent)

Alphonso Albert, the head of Norfolk’s Anti-Crime Office, will be appointed to other duties at City Hall, according to two sources who asked not to be identified. The move is an effort to end a controversy that began last week after The Virginian-Pilot revealed that Albert is a felon. His criminal record includes convictions for manslaughter and drug dealing.

[Read](http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=136553&ran=5256&tref=po) (The Virginian-Pilot)

A dispute over money for a funk and soul show ended last week with a traveling musician jailed in Roanoke.

Darryl Nathaniel Jenkins, 49, who uses the stage name Darryl Ray, was charged early Friday morning with robbery by violence after an incident at Martin’s Downtown Bar & Grill. A bartender at Martin’s Downtown, said that Darryl Ray placed a steak knife against his throat just after midnight Friday and demanded $400 for the band’s performance.

By that time, the club was willing to pay only $200 for the show. The club’s owner said that he had a word-of-mouth agreement with Jenkins to pay him $100 per band member — or $400 for four musicians. But singer/saxophonist Jenkins brought only a guitarist, plus electronic equipment to cover the bass and drum parts.

“I told him he showed up with half a band, and so he was only going to get half the money,” the bartender said Tuesday.

[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/138738 “Read the Story”) (Roanoke Times)