My daughter and I just walked in the door from our first official tour bus tacky lights tour. The second to last stop was my favorite — the Phifers, in Farmington. This time of year, about once a week we make our way out that way and check out the lights at the Phifers.

Anyway, just sat down to check my email and this story came across my Google Alerts. How upsetting that people would think it is OK to steal Christmas lights. Especially, at a house like this in a working class neighborhood where you can tell the lights are plain and simply a labor of love.

It has been a myth in my family for as long as I can remember that the Phifer’s were electricians. How else would they have figured out how to rig so many lights safely? Tonight I got a chance to meet Ms. Phifer. They were handing out candy canes to all the children — bless them. She told me no, she is a manager at the Friendly’s Restaurant on West Broad Street and her husband had an equally unrelated job to Christmas lights. What a nice family and too bad kids these days are so self centered they don’t think of how many people they will affect by doing something so stupid.

What a sad story. This is the second time in less than a year that a pedestrian has been killed while trying to cross Broad Street near the 7900 block.
In last night’s incident, a woman was killed and a man was seriously injured as they left the Outback Steakhouse and tried to cross Broad Street, just after 7 p.m.
Last year, just a few blocks down, there was another fatality, after the man was on his way home from Bailey’s Tavern. Broad Street is dangerous for pedestrians, especially at night.

Just proves to show if you’re a business owner (or not even, of course), no matter what size, always pay your taxes. Uncle Sam WILL catch up to you.

A federal judge yesterday sentenced the publisher of Richmond Parents Monthly and Fifty Plus magazines to five months in jail plus 150 days of home incarceration.

Mark E. Fetter pleaded guilty April 17 in U.S. District Court to failing to account for and pay $64,770.51 in employee taxes and matching employer contributions.

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From the Times-Dispatch:

A man wearing a plaid shirt, dark glasses and a Virginia Tech ball cap held up a West End bank yesterday and escaped with an undetermined amount of money.

Richmond police said the man entered the BB&T branch at 7100 Three Chopt Road about 11 a.m. and demanded money from a teller. The man did not display a weapon, police said.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 780-1000.

The Times Dispatch reports a judge revoked the bond of Henrico teen Sara Ann Haislip and she was ordered to a juvenile detention facility.

A judge today revoked the bond of Sarah Ann Haislip, the 17-year-old Henrico County girl convicted of manslaughter in a New Year’s Day traffic crash that killed a man.

Henrico Circuit Judge L.A. Harris ordered Haislip to a juvenile detention facility this morning after a hearing that lasted less than one minute.

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Special thanks to North Richmond News for this important post:

The Richmond police department recently put out a survey to better focus their efforts. Unfortunately for the 21st century, it is a paper survey. Jon Baliles at River City Rapids wrote about it and posted a PDF link to the paper version. Ross Catrow at Pharrout and West of the Boulevard went a step further and created an actual online version of the survey.

Take a moment to take a bite out of crime in Richmond by completing the simple SurveyMonkey survey — data will be compiled anonymously and delivered to the Richmond police department.

Richmond City residents, the Richmond City Police are asking for your help. They want citizens to fill out a survey and send it to them detailing problem areas in the neighborhood. Or, Click Here for an online survey.
The West End is in the 3rd Precinct (sector 311) Lieutenant Sybil El-Amin 646-1412 is our point of contact. The Richmond Police will be hosting a neighborhood meeting in each sector to discuss concerns. Meeting time and date are yet to be announced.
Richmond Police Chief Rodney D. Monroe has done alot for the city and he is trying to do more.

Came across this article from the Times-Dispatch regarding our post on the 24th about the bank robbery at the Bank of America at 5707 Patterson Ave.

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The Bank of America at 5707 Patterson Ave was robbed around 10am this morning. Police have determined Steven Lowery, 39, was the suspect.

From the Time-Dispatch:

Police described Lowery as white, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with a moustache and wearing a baseball cap and short-sleeve shirt.

Police said Lowery may pose a danger to himself and others.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.

From CBS 6 WTVR website:

31-year-old private school teacher Daniel Hughes was recently arrested after accusations of a year-long sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student.

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