John Borek One of the final acts of John Borek, one of many acts of his life, was to send 5-foot-tall cardboard cutouts of chocolate rabbits to friends in celebration of Easter, one of his favorite holidays.
Borek, a man of many hats known for his zany theatrics and serious commitment to the Rochester arts and cultural scene, died Saturday. He was 71 and had been ill with leukemia.
He was many things to many people in the city.
There were his 15 years as a legislative aide to former City Councilman Adam McFadden. In February, the City Council proclaimed Feb. 16 as “John W. Borek Day,” celebrating “a life story greater than the sum of all its chapters.”
A judge acquitted a Midlothian man Tuesday of killing a pedestrian in Colonial Heights while under the influence of alcohol, ruling that prosecutors failed to prove the driver was impaired even though his blood alcohol content was at the presumptive legal threshold for intoxication.
The victim, who was mentally disabled, also had been drinking.
After a three-hour trial in Colonial Heights Circuit Court, Judge David E. Johnson found Shane Erick Dent, 35, not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and DUI in the July 6, 2019, death of 65-year-old Jack Dale Leabhart Jr.
Leabhart was crossing the Boulevard near Birch Avenue in Colonial Heights after picking up some food when he was struck and killed in the far-right lane just after 9 p.m.