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By Dan McDermott
Warren County Report

Perhaps snatching public relations defeat from the jaws of a potential Iowa victory, Texas Congressman Ron Paul’s verified Twitter account caused quite a distraction tonight by posting the following about Republican rival and former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman.

@jonhuntsman we found your one Iowa voter, he’s in Linn precinct 5 you might want to call him and say thanks

Huntsman is sitting out the Iowa caucuses and setting his sights on next week’s New Hampshire primary.

We first learned about this on the social network Google+ from a post by popular user Linda Lawrey who has over 340,000 followers.

Shortly after Lawrey’s post the Paul campaign deleted the Tweet. Then a few minutes later it was posted again.

No official word yet from the Paul or Huntsman campaigns.

Follow Dan McDermott on Google+.

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BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Salem Field Office is continuing its efforts to identify a motive in the murder-suicide that occurred Dec. 8, 2011, on the Virginia Tech campus. State police investigators worked through the weekend and on into this week interviewing family, friends and acquaintances of Ross T. Ashley, 22, in order to piece together his movements and actions leading up to the murder of Virginia Tech Police Officer Deriek W. Crouse.

Despite investigators’ non-stop pursuit of this case, there still remains no prior connection or contact between Ashley and Officer Crouse. The Virginia State Police High-Tech Crimes Unit has been extensively reviewing Officer Crouse’s in-car camera video and surveillance video from on and off the campus. State police have secured surveillance video that does place Ashley at a local retail store in the Town of Blacksburg on Wednesday afternoon (Dec. 7).

The .40-caliber, semi-automatic handgun used in both shootings was legally purchased by Ashley from a licensed, Virginia gun dealer. He purchased the weapon in January 2011. (For more information on Virginia law pertaining to the purchase of a handgun, go to http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms_PurchaseEligibility.shtm )

*Timeline (Please note that times are approximate)*

12/7/11 – 11:25 a.m. – At gunpoint, Ashley steals a 2011 white Mercedes SUV from Gilbert Real Estate in the 600 block of Calhoun Street in the City of Radford.

12/7/11 – 12:11 p.m. – City of Radford Police issue multi-state teletype message to law enforcement for a “Be on the Lookout” for the stolen Mercedes SUV.

12/7/11 – Later that afternoon, surveillance video places Ashley inside a Town of Blacksburg retailer. This video was not discovered by investigators until Thursday Dec. 8 – when they were conducting their investigation into the murder-suicide.

12/8/11 – 9:30 a.m. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) notifies Blacksburg Police of an abandoned vehicle parked on a gravel drive near the VTTI complex. Police immediately respond, confirm the vehicle is the stolen Mercedes SUV and notify Radford Police.

12/8/11 – 12:15 p.m. –Virginia Tech Police Officer Deriek W. Crouse has stopped a car in the Coliseum parking lot along Washington Street near the intersection of Spring Road. Officer Crouse is seated inside his unmarked patrol car when Ashley approaches the officer and fatally shoots him. Ashley then flees on foot from the scene.

12/8/11 – 12:45 p.m. – As law enforcement search the campus for the shooting suspect, a Montgomery County Deputy Sheriff spots a male pedestrian walking by himself in the “Cage” parking lot along Duck Pond Drive. As the deputy drives towards the man, he momentarily loses sight of him. When the deputy finally reaches the subject, the man is on the ground and deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

12/8/11 5:20 p.m. – Outside of the Greenhouses, police recover a backpack containing a wool cap and pullover worn by Ashley at the time of Officer Crouse’s shooting. At this stage of the investigation, state police investigators have found no connection between Ashley and a handwritten message on the wall of one of the Greenhouses.

The Virginia State Police, with the assistance of local and federal law enforcement, have executed search warrants during the course of the investigation. Because this is still an ongoing investigation, the warrants remain sealed at this time.

Virginia State Police has been assisted during the course of this active investigation by the Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford City police departments, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and Secret Service.

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Assuming current unofficial results hold, the Virginia State Senate has just switched hands with Republicans gaining two seats to form a 20-20 tie, allowing Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling to cast deciding votes.

Control of the senate rested on the results of a nail-biter in district 17 where Republican Bryce E. Reeves edged Democrat R. Edward “Edd” Houck by just 86 votes, or .2%, out of 45,056 cast. An apparent glitch in heavily Republican Spotsylvania County precinct 303 had incorrectly shown only a handful of votes cast earlier.

Republicans already hold all three statewide offices and control the House of Delegates by a wide margin. The GOP last had total control of the commonwealth from 2000 to 2002.

Texting over pay, rather than alcohol cited as cause of erratic I-66 trip

By Roger Bianchini
Warren County Report

It ended not with a BANG, a body slam or even an appearance by TNA World Wrestling Champion Kurt Angle. Rather, if not exactly a whimper, the legendary wrestler’s reckless driving case ended with a $1500 fine but no jail time attached.

Angle’s attorney Todd Gilbert entered a plea of no contest to Reckless Driving on Nov. 8 in Warren County General District Court. After hearing the prosecution’s evidence presented by Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Fleming and the defendant’s explanation of his erratic driving down I-66 following an appearance at the Shenandoah County Fair on Sept. 3rd, Judge W. Dale Houff imposed the maximum fine of $2,500, suspending $1,000 of that total. The judge agreed with the defense that the case did not bear any jail time.

Angle was initially charged with DUI by State Trooper Robert Scally after he judged the 6-foot, 240-pound, 42-year-old Pennsylvania resident to have failed a series of field sobriety tests, including an on-site breathalyzer test registering .091.

However the commonwealth’s attorney’s office later amended the charge to Reckless Driving because Angle blew only a .06 in a legally-admissible BAC test at Front Royal Police headquarters between 11:50 PM and 12:10 AM after being taken into custody and charged with DUI. The legal blood-alcohol limit is .08 or below.

The prosecution presented Angle’s driving record which showed a May 2010 reckless driving conviction in North Dakota and several dismissed driving charges in Angle’s native Pennsylvania.

At the time of the traffic stop following a citizen cell phone call from a motorist and passenger, who witnessed Angle’s driving erratically after they pulled onto the interstate behind him, Angle admitted to Trooper Scally to drinking three beers earlier that evening.

Fleming told the court the arresting officer found a 12-pack of beer in Angle’s vehicle, with two beers missing.

Gilbert told the court Angle admitted to driving poorly and inappropriately. However, rather than alcohol being an underlying cause, defense counsel said the cause was texting.

During the summary of the prosecution’s evidence Fleming told the court Angle was texting the promoter of the earlier wrestling show about his payment while driving eastbound on I-66 away from the Shenandoah County Fair appearance.

As for his client’s poor performance in the field sobriety tests, Gilbert pointed to Angle’s long wrestling career during which he has suffered several broken necks and multiple knee injuries.

Angle was a 1996 U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist in heavyweight freestyle and NCAA champion before launching his highly successful professional wrestling career. Wikipedia describes Angle as one of only four people to complete the amateur wrestling “grand slam” of winning the Junior National, the NCAAs, the World Championship, and Olympic title. He was named one of the top 15 college wrestlers of all time by USA Wrestling and has been named the “greatest shoot wrestler”. According to Wikipedia, after initially turning down offers to join the World Wrestling Federation, Angle signed a multi-year contract with the company in 1998. After leaving WWE, Angle joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he became the second wrestler in TNA to win TNA’s Triple Crown and the first man to hold all three TNA championships simultaneously.

Gilbert challenged the prosecution’s contention Angle’s offense was a particularly “egregious” example of bad driving in arguing against any imposition of jail time as part of the sentence for his client.

“Were this not a high-profile defendant it is to likely the prosecution would have produced the North Dakota abstract or have had out-of-county witnesses present for this hearing,” Gilbert told the court. “His insurance will be impacted – it will go up – and his license will be impacted in his home state. And there is a stigma to his career and public image … but ultimately it is a case of someone driving poorly while using a phone.”

Judge Houff called the case unusual in his experience due to the length of time and distance of cell phone or texting use causing erratic driving. However, in the end he agreed the offense and evidence did not meet a standard to require jail time as part of the sentencing of the defendant.

And those out-of-county witnesses – nah, they weren’t Angle’s arch-wrestling nemesis Jeff Jarrett and his wife and Angle ex, Karen. They were identified in court as Mr. Mallory and Ms. Knight, who were present but not called to testify. They are believed to be Loudoun County residents, and pretty snippy ones at that … Hey, maybe it was the Jarretts in disguise … NO, I’m just getting sucked into that wrestling soap opera scenario again … I think.

rogerb@warrencountyreport.com