Rusty Mack - time to bring in the Pros from Dover

At nearly the final hour, it seems that the Colonial Heights commonwealth's attorney thinks he needs to bring in a "pro from Dover" to handle what remains of the Rusty Mack case. And given how the case has gone so far, maybe it is the right thing to do.

I don't relish William Bray's job in this case. It is high-profile to say the least, with nearly the entire community taking one side or the other. On its face, the case seems open and shut: the four came to his apartment twice and the second time, a fight ended his life. But those who defend the actions say it is not that simple.

No doubt this is a difficult case to try. Much of the evidence is hearsay and the case is charged with personal feelings. It doesn't surprise me in the least that Bray would comment how the case has raised tremendous depths of feeling and antagonism.

Some people who do not know all the facts of the case want what they perceive as justice for Rusty. They reduce the incident to its bare minimum: four on one. While they may not have meant to kill him - and I am reasonably sure that's the case - one man is dead and four are not.

In our innermost feelings the case screams for justice. We, the public, see what we think is injustice and demand that the wrong be righted. Unfortunately, the case must work its way through the justice system, which often is neither just nor fair.

It's hard not to think how much this case resembles the Trayvon Martin case in some respects. Even before the first person set foot in the Sanford, Fla., courtroom, masses of people had the case already figured out and George Zimmerman already jailed. But the public had only heard pieces of the evidence. Again, it seemed so obvious that an unarmed youth getting shot dead would have to be some kind of murder or killing. But in the end, Zimmerman walked.

And so it is with this case. A vast amount of information has been bandied about in virtually every conceivable form of communication. In person, by cell phone, and worst of all on the Internet via FaceBook - that notorious font of accuracy - and all of it with the natural bias of whoever was commenting. To be true, it is practically impossible to get the real story in Rusty's case, just as it was nearly impossible to get the real story in the Trayvon Martin case.

But in Florida, the state brought in a special prosecutor from the get go. They didn't wait around for a year trying to figure out what to do, only to have the matter get out of hand. Murder charges aside, it's hard for me to believe that no one is to blame for Rusty's death. There is, one would think, at least an assault charge that could be made.

But then again, not sitting in court and not hearing the presentation of the evidence makes all the difference. For those who sat around their Sanford homes and elsewhere throughout the nation, the result of Zimmerman's trial is probably equally baffling.

Maybe there just is no answer?

Still, it's a monumental move for the commonwealth's attorney to step aside, especially this late in the game. Maybe Bray should have called in some assistance from nearby Chesterfield County. The county has several high-profile litigators who might have been helpful in assessing charges and prosecuting those who were charged. And then again, maybe he did talk to other litigators.

Presenting evidence in court is not always easy. Making a case is not always easy. By and large, the cases heard in court are typically decided before the judge's gavel strikes for the first time. More often than not, the defendant is guilty and just looking for some sort of damage control, such as a plea bargain or pleading to a lesser offense. But some cases rise above the norm. Rusty's case in particular is difficult because of the nature of the events, but even more so because of its effect on the community. From the first day, it has been the talk of the town, and now, as every defendant seems to be slipping through the net, changing prosecutors seems like a last ditch hope for the commonwealth to earn a conviction and justify the cost of the trial.

Drones to Deliver Amazon Goods

Maybe it was the effectiveness of the Afghanistan drone policy or perhaps the way gifts are presented by parachute to the tributes in The Hunger Games, but somehow Amazon has caught onto a great idea:  use drones for local delivery of ordered goods.

In a 60 Minutes interview Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told Charlie Rose that using drones to deliver small (under 5 pounds) merchandise would be the wave of the future. And Amazon, the Internet giant, wants to offer that service to their customer base.

Forget Next Day Air. Prime Air, the delivery company, would deliver a purchased item to the buyer in 30 minutes or less. Now that’s service. Put your order in using a smart phone and voila in less time than it takes to get a Domino’s delivery your “gotta have it now” gift is plopped down in your front yard. Even Santa Claus would be impressed, and maybe in the winter we could make the drones look like a sleigh or reindeer, too. You know, just to join in the festivity. Not to leave anyone out, they could also make them look like flying Menorahs or whatever religious or political symbol might seem appropriate.

Bezos said we can expect to see this technology put to use in about 5 years. But, with the advent of flying cars, which also could be coursing the skyways in the same amount of time, I would think the airspace might be a bit crowded. Still, getting my goods in 30 minutes beats the heck out of driving to the mall or Richmond, but do I really need an item so quickly that sending it by drone is the way to go?

Sure, I know how it could be. You’re sitting there in front of the boob tube, LCD and HDMI connected, and your spouse or significant other starts to feel a bit of a chill. So, you take a second or two dig out your current I-phone and go to the Amazon website. In very short time, you’re browsing the Snuggies list and find one that meets your needs. You click the selection and then get the pop up that asks if you want it delivered in 30-minutes or less. Click that and then it’s merely a very short waiting game.

At some point, you get a message on your phone that the snuggie is about to be delivered. Head outside and look up into the sky. What do you see? Not one, but dozens of these drones careening through the night and making deliveries everywhere. For a second, you worry that you won’t get the snuggy you ordered. No instead, you end up with a couple medium pizzas from Domino’s.

Oh well, at least it made it there in under 30 minutes and you don’t have to tip a robot. So all’s good and you can move along and dine on your neighbor’s pizza. In the meantime, your Amazon order skims in and drops from the drone. And there you have it:  dinner and a snuggie. Who could ask for anything more?

Ok, so does this sound plausible to anyone? Really?

It works in Gettysburg, why not in Petersburg?

If there’s one thing that can bring all of the Tri-City area localities together it’s the Civil War history that dots every community. From the Howlett Line that runs from Chester to Colonial Heights, to City Point in Hopewell, to Violet Bank in Colonial Heights, to Five Forks in Dinwiddie, and the Great Beefsteak Raid in Prince George every county, city, and town in the area has strong ties to the Civil War. And that isn’t even taking into account Pamplin Historical Park, which can serve as a model for the Tri-Cities.

So it just makes sense that any expansion to the Petersburg Battlefield Park would reap tourism benefits for the entire area. Just take a look at Gettysburg. What the people of that area have been able to do to make the park a growing tourist mecca goes without saying. In fact, it would serve as a great model of what can happen right here.

There is no better single tourism attraction around. Over the years gobs of money has been spent by all localities to try to reap tourist money. But there is nothing like the Civil War, not even Disneyland can compare. By increasing the size of the park, you open opportunities for everyone.

It seems to me that Petersburg in particular has been trying it’s best to revitalize the city. They have developed, redeveloped, and re-re-developed the Old Town area so much in trying to get people to “come to town” that it has almost become a joke. How many times has there been a push to re-open Petersburg harbor?

The two cities and those portions of southern Colonial Heights could create a sort of Civil War Triangle, from Battlefield Park to the Civil War Museum to Violet Bank as main attractions. In fact, they already are major attractions, but if somehow the localities and National Park Service could put their heads together, why couldn’t this become the next Gettysburg? Why not take advantage of what already exists and then expand it.

City Point could easily be added to the fold, as well as the Five Forks Unit in Dinwiddie. Is it so hard to imagine how bundling all of our local sites into one could bring in tourists not for a day or a weekend, but for whole weeks at a time? It’s interesting enough and would certainly take a large amount of work. But the Citie of Henricus was little more than a clump of trees with some old foundation blocks when it first started. But a few people had a vision and it has become a pretty big tourist attraction.

If you have ever taken a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, you can see another example of how history can create a tourist Mecca. St. Augustine is the oldest city in America. If you go, it takes about four days to really check things out. The entire area thrives on tourists and the money they represent, of course it is Florida and not Virginia, but hey the same kinds of things would work right here.

They have a trolley system that runs between all the sites and for which you pay a nominal fee for a certain number of days. The drivers serve as docents and inform the people of everything that they can see at all the different sites. It would be easy to see such a trolley line extending from City Point, the Battlefield Park, Violet Bank, Petersburg Civil War Museum, and Pamplin Park. St. Augustine also has a late night ghost tour bus that travels from several different places pointing out haunted houses and buildings and areas. If I’m not mistaken, this area has its share of haunts, hauntings, and specters. Why not use St. Augustine as a model?

One way we might be able to make this whole thing work is to develop a master plan of the sites in the area. What is available for tourists, what parameters are there, how far and wide do we want to extend the trolley idea? Really, this requires some planning.

But some people are already making plans. Do you think the National Park Service wants to double the size of Petersburg National Battlefield Park simply to hold onto the land? I don’t. Take a look at City Point. Twenty-five years ago, the National Park Service was just starting to work there. Now they have a very nice place for tourists to come. And a short walk on Brown Avenue will take you to City Point Early History Museum at St. Dennis Chapel.

The Tri-Cities is full of place like St. Dennis Chapel. And there are tons of driving tours, like the Howlett Line Driving tour which runs approximately from Chester to Colonial Heights. The Howlett Line is the Confederate defensive positions that kept the Union from being able to attack Richmond from the south and Petersburg from the north.

In the end, Union forces attacked Petersburg from south of the Appomattox instead, resulting in the siege. Tell me one piece of Civil War history that is more pivotal than the siege? Gettysburg, Atlanta, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga were merely battles. Sure there was fighting and what goes along with that, but most of those battles were over in a day or so. In Petersburg the fighting lasted 10 months from June 1864 to April 1865.

To me, expansion of the park is a great idea. In addition, the Tri-Cities should join forces to make the entire area a place to go for Civil War history buffs. That alone would draw a huge amount of tourism. The benefit to the area is almost incalculable. Think about it, maybe it is time to work together.