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FORECLOSURE SALES IN TODAY’S PAPER

‘Murda’ convicted of Essex Village slaying South Richmond man found guilty of first-degree murder in Henrico. Details, Page B4

Richmond Times-Dispatch u Editor John Hoke u (804) 649-6344 u [email protected]

Hit-and-run driver avoids active jail time She gets community service for killing man who fell into street in Shockoe Bottom BY REED WILLIAMS Richmond Times-Dispatch

A Richmond judge on Wednesday ordered community service and no active jail time for a woman who left the scene after her car struck two men — one fatally — who had fallen into the street during a brawl in Shockoe Bottom.

Substitute Judge Buford M. Parsons Jr. sentenced Jennifer Jon Slemp, 37, to a suspended two-year sentence, revoked her driver’s license for a year and ordered her to perform 500 hours of comSlemp munity service. Slemp, who apologized Wednesday to the families of the men who were struck by her car and testified about her own suffering as a result of the case, tearfully embraced defense attorney Jacqueline

W. Sharman after the judge gave his ruling. “She’s totally relieved,” said Slemp’s other attorney, Harrison Hubard Jr. “Judge Parsons certainly did the fair thing under all the circumstances.” In an August bench trial, Parsons found Slemp guilty of leaving the scene of an accident that caused injury or death, rejecting Slemp’s testimony that she did not initially realize she had hit anything. The incident occurred about 2 a.m. April 21 when her car fatally struck David M. Boyd, 25, and injured his friend Bren-

dan Ellis in the area of South 14th and East Canal streets. After Wednesday’s hearing, Boyd’s mother, Jean Boyd, described as “malarkey” Hubard’s arguments on behalf of his Boyd client. Hubard said Slemp was a good person with no criminal record who has been caring for her estranged husband’s 97-year-old grandmother. HIT-AND-RUN, Page B4

Henrico seeking meals tax authority

Liberated in WWII

Dutch show their lasting gratitude AMELIA — Three of the boys grew up on adjoining farms, a fourth lived not 5 miles away. When World War II erupted, the four cousins left home to serve their country. “It was a disgrace if you didn’t go,” said Harry Midkiff. They made their families and their communities more than proud, but none of the four made it back to Amelia. Conrad Midkiff, killed while serving in the Pacific, was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The other three served in the European theater — Frank Midkiff, Howard Midkiff and John McCraw — and were buried half a world away, within a few steps of each other, in the Netherlands at Margraten, a U.S. military cemetery that is the final resting place for more than 8,000 Americans. “Everybody supported the war,” said Harry Midkiff, kid brother to Frank and first cousin to the others. “They bought bonds, they had rallies. “But everybody lived in dread, that was the thing,” he said, having grown to know the news was seldom good

Hazelett urges General Assembly delegation to help pass legislation BY RANDY HALLMAN Richmond Times-Dispatch

Bill Lohmann

[email protected]

when a grim-faced visitor approached on the unpaved road to the old homeplace. “You hated to see somebody come.” Almost 70 years later, as we approach another Veterans Day, it still boggles the mind to imagine the anguish of one extended but close-knit family losing four loved ones, full of youthful valor and promise, in less than 20 months. It also amazes, in a good way, to consider the way the Dutch for going on seven decades have been surrogate kin for the fallen Americans so far from home. They tend to the graves, keeping them neat and tidy, leaving flowers, saying prayers, expressing appreciation. “We do this to say thank you to our liberators,” Henny and Henk Laenen wrote me

BILL LOHMANN/TIMES-DISPATCH

Harry Midkiff, 80, of Amelia County, looks through family photos. The Midkiff family lost four cousins in World War II in less than 20 months.

LOHMANN, Page B2

A visit to Margraten

An Amelia man talks about his trip to the Netherlands more than 50 years ago to visit the graves of his brother and cousins, who died in World War II. At TimesDispatch.com, search: Bill Lohmann.

Midkiff photographed his brother’s marker in the U.S. military cemetery in Margraten in the Netherlands.

Man charged in theft of Obama audiovisual gear Truck with equipment was stolen in 2011 from Henrico hotel BY FRANK GREEN Richmond Times-Dispatch

A Richmond man was arrested Tuesday — Election Day — and charged with the 2011 theft of a truck that contained the U.S. president’s audiovisual equipment.

Eric Brown, 48, appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge Wednesday and was ordered detained, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of theft of government property. An affidavit filed by an FBI agent in connection with the investigation says area law enforcement concluded that numerous vehicle thefts were likely being committed by an indi-

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vidual or group in the second half of last year. The thief or thieves were believed to be using a small black sedan and a two-toned GMC Yukon while stealing commercial trucks parked in hotel parking lots. The truck containing audiovisual equipment for use by President Barack Obama during public appearances was stolen at a hotel in Henrico County on Oct. 16, 2011, a few days before a

local speaking engagement. Video surveillance from the hotel showed a dark-colored SUV driving into the parking lot. Soon after, the truck containing the equipment was driven off of the lot, followed by the SUV. Among other things, the truck contained a laptop computer that belonged to the Department of Defense and audiovisual equipment bearing the presidential seal.

While high school culinary arts students served a chickenand-pasta dish and then a chocolate ganache cake dessert, Henrico County’s General Assembly delegation heard the case for a county meals tax. At Wednesday’s special meeting of the Henrico Board of Supervisors, County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett and his lieutenants implored the state legislators to persuade their peers to pass a bill authorizing the county to implement a restaurant meals tax — the suggestion was 4 percent — without submitting the proposal to a referendum vote. “We know this will be controversial,” Hazelett said. And it almost certainly will be. Lobbyists for the restaurant industry are likely to question any such bill. Anti-tax conservatives are expected to offer resistance. Virginia’s towns and cities have the authority Henrico seeks, as do 45 of its counties. Five of those counties were granted permission by the state legislature. The rest submitted the question to voters through referendums. Henrico submitted a meals tax question to county voters in a 2005 referendum, and the proposal was narrowly defeated. Two years ago the county backed an attempt by counties to gain the same taxing power as cities and towns, but the General Assembly turned down the idea. This time, Hazelett wants the assembly to grant the power to any Virginia county that runs its own road system. There are only two such counties — Henrico is one and the other is Arlington, which already has the power to impose a meals tax.

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MEALS TAX, Page B4

“We know this will be controversial,” said Henrico County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett.