Three former Mathews County officials who are defendants in a case brought by Mark and Candy Eubank involving their waterfront cottage at Tin Can Alley on Gwynn’s Island have requested a change of venue for the trial, which is scheduled for Nov. 1 and 2 in Mathews Circuit Court. Their request will be heard in a proceeding at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 20, in Gloucester Circuit Court.

In addition, the Eubanks have requested a continuance of the trial, stating that they don’t believe it can successfully be heard in two days and asking that a week-long trial be scheduled.

In their motion to transfer venue, former environmental codes compliance officer Sue K. Thomas, county administrator Mindy Moran Conner, and planning and zoning director John Shaw claim that prejudicial publicity “has saturated Mathews County and tainted the pool of potential jurors.”

The suit “has been a matter of considerable local interest in Mathews County” in local media and local blogs, states the motion, point...