They put the "odd" in "Old Dominion," here are this week's nominees for Worst Virginians in the World!
We have our first Mother of the Year candidate. Nicole Burner of Ruther Glen was arrested Sunday for felony child neglect for leaving her three children unattended in her car in the summer heat. Burner told The Free-Lance Star of Fredericksburg on Tuesday that she left them briefly to use the bathroom at a friend’s house while leaving the car and air conditioning on down the street.
However, a Good Samaritan found that the 13-year-old son turned the car off and saw him cursing at his 4-year-old brother to get off the roof while their 2-year-old sister sat in her car seat. Police said they were left unattended for at least 13 minutes.
Burner insists it was all a misunderstanding. “Next thing I knew, my picture was in the paper and I was being made out to be some horrible mother.”
In fact, Burner said she has been drug-free since she was arrested four years ago for heroin possession and child neglect.
Remember Jeff? As state GOP party chief, he joked in 2008 that Osama bin Laden and Barack Obama “both have friends that bombed the Pentagon.” Republicans ousted Frederick in 2009, and he left the General Assembly when his last term ended.
Now he is seeking the Republican nomination for state Senate in the 36th District (Fairfax, Prince William, and Stafford counties) and is trying to repackage himself as a bridge-builder who will avoid social issues. Yet, Frederick was quoted in The Washington Post on Wednesday on his pro-life politics:
“The life issue is important to me, but it’s not everything I am. I try to focus on issues that impact your daily life. Now, you can argue that killing babies has an impact on daily life, but that’s not what you’re thinking about when you’re driving down the highway in heavy traffic. If conservatives are going to govern, we have to have a coalition.”
Nothing can appeal to a new big tent of younger voters, independents, and moderates like calling abortion doctors, providers, and patients baby killers. Maybe Frederick is envisioning a coalition of the far-right and the further-right.
In September, he was indicted on felony charges after racking up a $1,500 bill on his town-issued cell phone. He pled guilty in March to misdemeanor petty larceny and was slapped with fines and probation.
But while Puckett was released on bond, he tried to retrieve his rifle from a pawn shop. When asked on a federal consent form if he was under indictment for a felony, he checked “No.” Getting a firearm while under indictment for a felony or other serious crime is illegal, as is lying on the transaction paperwork.
The Bristol Herald-Courier reported that a Washington County grand jury indicted Puckett on Tuesday of materially making a false statement on a federal firearms consent form, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Puckett was transferred from the Police Department to the Department of Public Works during the cell-phone scandal. Perhaps now he will be transferred back to the criminal justice system – for up to 10 years.
That’s Jamey “Have Felony Charge, Will Travel” Puckett, today’s Worst Virginian in the World!
I will be on vacation next week, but Worst Virginians will return Aug. 12.
I will be on vacation next week, but Worst Virginians will return Aug. 12.
