Publisher's Notebook

The question was pretty stark and pretty direct, but there it was on the Daily Press website:

Was Your Wife a Criminal?

Gee, I didn’t run a background check before we got married.

The provocative query sounds like the title of a 1950s film noir. Or maybe it brings to mind the plot from a bad TV show, in which the hero gets a really big surprise. The line comes from an ad for one of those online criminal records sites.

I have to wonder how many people are going to use this service to look up a spouse…is non-disclosed past criminal activity really a problem in this country?

Here’s some comfort for anyone who meets their mate in law school: The character and fitness people at the bar examiners’ office will out anyone with a shady past, so you can rest easy.

Anyone who went to Their Majesties’ Royall College or who otherwise spent much time in Williamsburg knows about Sal’s by Victor, the landmark Italian restaurant at the Williamsburg Shopping Center on Richmond Road.

An electrical fire destroyed Sal’s a year ago, and owner Victor Minichiello just reopened in his original location.

But in the interim he operated out of La Scala, a nearby joint which he later leased to a couple called the Salihs. The lease included a noncompete that forbid the operation of an Italian restaurant on the site within six months of Sal’s reopening. Minichiello recently filed a $1 million lawsuit against the Salihs in an effort to protect his business and enforce the noncompete.

According to The Virginia Gazette, the suit suggests the Salihs saw the success of Sal’s and wanted to open a similar business.

The parties may be in the process of working things out. The couple took “pizza” off their main sign. And the Gazette reports that as of last week, the Salihs’ business had a sign that read:

Scala’s Restaurant
Seafood, Greek and More

Nothing Italian about that.

Mrs. Salih said the couple was renaming their place “Salih’s Greek and Moroccan Restaurant.” Nothing Italian about that either. If it all works out, Minichiello said he would withdraw the lawsuit.