NEWS BRIEFS
Student from Midlothian charged with lying to police

Breanne Coventry Snell, 24, of Midlothian, has been charged with three misdemeanors for telling police she was the victim of an anti-Semitic hate crime last month at the University of New Hampshire where she is a student.

According to court reports, Snell told police she was attacked on Oct. 3 by a freshman football player and another man. However, police say the assault never happened, and allege Snell has a history of making false police reports when she attended Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Maine.

VCU police said Snell filed three reports while attending there, claiming to have been hit in the head with a brick, mugged and violently raped. Investigators later found all three claims to be untrue.

While attending University of Maine, Snell allegedly reported being attacked twice within an 11-day period. Again, her claims were found to be untrue.

During the University of New Hampshire incident, Snell said she was chased from downtown Durham, N.H. to her dorm, and claimed she was knocked unconscious and hurt her arm.

Snell was arrested Oct. 27 for lying to police. She is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 14 in Durham District Court.

Tennis club begins construction

The Midlothian Tennis Club (MTC) has begun construction on its indoor tennis facility at Brandermill Country Club. Four indoor courts will replace 12 outdoor courts. MTC is purchasing the land for the facility from the country club.

In addition to the enclosed tennis facility, MTC will own and operate 14 outdoor tennis courts while leasing the tennis overlook and two courts near the country club building for $1 per year.

New school board member

The Dale District has a new school board representative after David Wyman easily beat out four other candidates for the seat during the Nov. 7 election. Wyman received 5,788 votes compared to 3,288 votes for Jim Holland, Wyman's closest competitor. The other candidates received the following vote tallies: Verena McCall, 3,227; Janet Stephens, 2,313; and Arthur Maxwell, 1,276. There were also 95 write-in votes cast.

Wyman will serve the remainder of the term left vacant by Beth Davis, who passed away after battling cancer in June. All school board seats are up for election next November.

Runaway trailer strikes pedestrian

A pedestrian was struck by a runaway trailer on Elmstead Road off Midlothian Turnpike on Nov. 3. The trailer became unhitched and ran off the road after its load shifted. The pedestrian was transported to an area hospital for his injuries.

PFOA found at DuPont

Water samples taken from the James River and two creeks near DuPont's Spruance plant have tested positive for low levels of the chemical PFOA. Higher levels were found in samples taken from groundwater monitoring wells at the plant.

PFOA is used in the manufacturing of Teflon and has been shown to cause health problems in lab animals. The effects on humans are still uncertain.

The samples were collected in August after the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers Union found PFOA in water taken from the taps of nearby homes and businesses. Some DuPont employees have also tested positive for PFOA.