The VLW Blog

We are scratching our heads trying to understand the theory of liability in this bribery case arising from Buchanan County flood damage. It’s well-established that county officials solicited and accepted bribes, including a coon dog, from contractors in exchange for flood clean-up contracts. As reported by the Bristol Herald-Courier, it is undisputed that the contractors performed quality work when they got the contracts. There is no claim that the contractors overbilled.

The county says the federal government did not pay enough reimbursement for all this work, although there is no evidence as to why. Now, the county wants to make the contractors pay the difference.

Perhaps when he gets back to his blog, the county’s attorney will write a post explaining it all.

Lawyers may be known by the conventions they attend, and conventioneering lawyers know well the Appalachian highland resorts known as the Greenbrier and the Homestead. Today, the Roanoke Times reports, labor troubles or the threat thereof have been cutting business for the Greenbrier, with the Homestead enjoying the benefit of relocated meetings.

The Roanoke Times says Purdue Pharma, the folks that paid over $630-million in criminal penalties for over-hyping the easily-abused pain pills called OxyContin, now says it has a new version of that time-release medicine that is harder to misuse. Apparently, you can’t grind it up to snort or inject it. Of course, you can still gobble more than you should.

The Roanoke Times takes a look today at lawyer-turned-author David Baldacci and his life on Virginia’s Smith Mountain Lake. Best quote: “Lawyers are paid to tell persuasive stories. So are novelists. Sometimes I think some of the best fiction I ever wrote was when I was a lawyer.”

John Brownlee, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, will step down in a month after seven years as the region’s top federal prosecutor. He confirmed today that he is considering a bid for the Republican nomination for Virginia Attorney General, but has not made any final determination.

Julie Dudley, now First Assistant U.S. Attorney, will serve as U.S. Attorney when Brownlee steps down on May 16.

Fairfax State Senator Ken Cuccinelli is the only announced candidate for the GOP Attorney General nomination. Brownlee joins a field of potential candidates that includes Mechanicsville State Senator Ryan McDougle and former Delegate Paul C. Harris.

Grundy native Lee Smith, the award-winning author who has chronicled life in Southwest Virginia in a number of novels, was back in her home region this week. She had a speaking engagement at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise.

She was asked about an effort to ban her novel, “Fair and Tender Ladies,” by the Washington County School Board. The novel details the life of a young woman in Appalachia and includes a short passage about her first sexual experience. Some of the words used are “crude,” prompting the school board to appoint a committee to review the book and determine if high school honor students should read it.

Smith told the Bristol Herald Courier that she was sorry to hear about the book-banning effort. The novel is “a love story to Southwest Virginia,” she said. “Fair and Tender Ladies” is an homage to the older Appalachian women she knew growing up, she added.