Farewell, Hook
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My photo home prepares to turn out the lights.Bill Emory
My photo home prepares to turn out the lights.
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Commentator Bill Emory puts up a new photo nearly every day at billemory.com/blog.
Read more on: hook
My photo home prepares to turn out the lights.
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Commentator Bill Emory puts up a new photo nearly every day at billemory.com/blog.
153 comments
Hope they all land on their feet!
Courteney will be our scarecrow.
and the explanation for its demise is...?
It sucks.
Hopefully there will be an opportunity for us all to make a tribute to the Hook .... If not for the Hook, many stories and crimes would go uncovered. The Hook tells it like it is with it's honest approach to journalism. I am forever indebted to Courteney Stuart (and Hawes for allowing her to cover the topic) for her coverage of campus rapes. To lose the Hook is to lose the vitality of Charlottesville. It's very sad..... More to follow.....
A little shocking, but, not really. The Hook hasn't been the same since Hawes left, and it's been lacking meaty stories even before that. It was only a matter of time I suppose after Hawes made his departure announcement. Charlottesville will have a void without The Hook around helping to keep the spotlight on important issues and things that get swept under the rug. It made Charlottesville a more interesting place.
Karma! it's about time...
Another thing I thought of....what will become of Gasbag??? You know y'all are gonna miss him. :D A commentator so prolific he even got his own feature story in The Hook. Can't beat that. Damn. A world without the Hook and Gasbag.....
And Liberalace. I always enjoyed (his?) comments. Very clever. Part of what made the online Hook what it was is the commentators.
My last comment for the evening, but I think most would agree that a shining star that emerged from the Hook was Courteney Stuart. I hope she has continued success as a journalist. She wrote some of the best and most riveting stories.
Their comment forum disclaimer states no "potentially libelous" allegations, but check out the recent comments about Randy Taylor (to cite one example) that were allowed to remain on their thread and tell me if The Hook practices consistency in policy, or the promotion of public opinion lynch mobbery. I will miss indeed miss being able to comment (and maybe even some of the journalism) but hey, they've banned me from the comment board multiple times for exposing corruption, torture, and tyranny by local, state, and national government and that's why, in the end, they suck. I still think Hawes is OK because he lives in my former neighborhood and he's lanky like me.
Plus it's run by NSA agents, assets, and operatives.
Time for your meds, HBHODPFK!
Bill Chapman is Gasbag.
SO am I the last person to know this - is The Hook going out of business? Where will I get my local news? I must log in to this site 5 times a day!!
Let's face it: The only things that Charlottesville needs are features on new wineries, restaurants, cute couples, and new bands to watch. All that digging in the dirt stuff just makes people uncomfortable.
tom daley, you are wrong on Gasbag, as even Gasbag as acknowledged who he is in a thread a time or two.
I said it in 2002 and I'll say it again. There ain't enough ad revenue in this town to support two free papers.
Common, you don't get out much do you? Scout Guide, Albemarle Magazine & their um-teen sub-pubs all the sub-pubs of the Crap Weekly and countless others. There is plenty of money in Pretentious-Vile... you just have to know what you're doing & not print poorly researched stories with terrible grammar and lay off putting a page full of copyrighted pronography beside ads for children's stores. Seem's like COMMON SENSE to me/
Bill Chapman is NOT gasbag. I am Gasbag. Most everybody around these parts know who I am. The mention of my having my own front page story on The Hook can easily identify me for who I am.
How do you folks get these things so wrong?????
Back to business...... I am going to miss The Hook mall cam a lot.
I'm with gasbag, the mall cam was essential.
mall cam = stupid
Mall cam was great - was how we sent almost real-time video birthday wishes to distant family and friends before iPhones and facetime.
Time is of the essence.
Maybe I wasn't
Good-night JOHN BOY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How the Hell am I supposed to sleep?
I checked out the Cville weekly online = Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
No subliminal programming (readthehook), no guy named Hawes (at least not recently) = Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
The one advantage C'ville has is that they filter out John Guiliano, Sean, and Mr. Sutton.
Who else is going to keep asking the questions that deserve to be asked of our officials? It's a Charlottesville tragedy as we'll be without anyone to police the police (and other officials). It is no doubt because Hawes, Lisa and Courtney did so so often, and so persistently, that here we have so many comments reflecting relief. (Hey, Gasbag, I think I know who you are -- and if I'm right, you know well how officials need policing!)
cvillereader2, yes, I most certainly do know. I was shocked beyond belief when a local official recently promoted an employee who holds the current record for having the most lawsuits ever filed against him. The problem is 99% of the population doesn't know the past history, and for those that do.....the other 1%..... they simply don't care. It's a moral killer. The rest if the troops, those qualified for promotion, are already scratching their heads and asking, "What just happened?"
cville reader2 September 14th, 2013 | 5:37pm
Soon the Cville area will be a fascist paradise.
R.I.P Patricia A. Cook
Of the two, I've always prefereed the Hook - probably mostly because I am a real estate junkie and I love "On the Block" as well as the recent sales and foreclosure auction listings. Charlottesville has supported these two papers for a long time, but without Hawes, the light seems to have been extinguished at the Hook. Sad . . . I feel like I've lost an old friend.
the hook became a joke. the writing was marginally good considering all the poor research & grammatical errors. pretty bad for a "town full of writers". the "entertainment section" was non-existent. So what if the Cville had a "better" one. For a pretentious hick town the size of Cville it's not hard to find out what's happening, it's just that unprofessional & inaccurate was good enough for this rag & apparently Cville it's self. An editor that would print a full page or pornography, (without the consent of the original publisher,fyi) across from an ad for a children's store was not only careless but plain STUPID. Almost like it was done on purpose. I know how some people were treated by some of the aforementioned above and it was truly appalling. Unfortunately for some of the former mistreated hook employees, they didn't have a multi-million dollar theater to sell to a wealthy music mogul to support their families. Nice job, folks. Real nice.
@ voltron callahan, After reading your misspelled, badly punctuated, and generally poorly written rant against bad writing, I suspect you must be that guy who waves the "Get a BRAIN MORANS" sign at Tea Party rallies.
@ aforementioned above, I never claimed to be a writer like some of the folks at this rag and have never considered being paid for such... as far as your speculation to who I am, that's cute. I have no affiliation such an ignorant group such of that of this Tea Bag Party & I'm sure if you really knew who I was you would choose your words much more cautiously, even though people with your very low IQ entertain me greatly. So go ahead & stick up for the hacks from this rag that hung on till the bitter end, since no real news media would offer them a job as a janitor maybe you would be so gracious since you are the omnipotent grammar of your pretentious little hick town, ciao!
b17 September 14th, 2013 | 5:18pm
Get your facts, you bitter arse
I had never even seen C'ville [ I assume its the paper ] until Dakota sent us there to see the story on The Hook closing.
No one filtered me there or here.
I am one of a few that is not a coward. I use my real name. We know who Dakota is, we know who Gasbag is.
What we don't even care to know is just how boring your nose picking is. You have never even once made a comment that was not directed at someone. You have no original ideas!
We pity you!
Susan, they covered your daughter's rape case - but hushed up hundreds of others. They never even dared MENTION two dead UVA students: The one in the SERP House in 2010, or the one on DC a few weeks ago. They did as they were told to by UVA. Covering ONE case close to your heart doesn't erase all the others.
The Hook did EVENTUALLY let slip a few UVA-related details about the Harrington case, but it took a while there also. They might have had a tiny bit more integrity and journalistic ethics than al the other C-Ville media outlets, but that is saying almost nothing at this point.
Those lamenting that Courteney Stuart may be out of a job soon should be reminded of her article attacking someone for their political party affiliation, poking fun at him, and throwing partisan talking points into his.........................................OBITUARY.
http://readthehook.com/73384/restaurateur-former-city-council-candid...
By the way Courteney, not everyone is horrified that some federal tax money went to orphanages, and your beloved fetal and embryonic stem cell research went absolutely NOWHERE and proved to be a colossal waste of time and money.
Yes, she did talk about these things, in an OBITUARY, even though they had nothing whatsoever to do with the deceased.
Good riddance, Courteney.
A comment beneath that attack obituary (yes, that's what it was) from "Eric" back in 2008 that is well worth repeating..
"The Hook has a long history of publishing nauseating hit pieces on Michael. Whether it was printing an irresponsibly huge mugshot of him after he was arrested which (but later aquitted), or asking for comment from his political enemies in the article, the Hook has never given him a fair shake. The same was true when Hawes Spencer(then at Cville) wrote an extremely nasty article when Michael ran for city council called Crafaik the Younger. Michael hasn't been a public figure for years. This is a disgusting smear on a man that can't defend himself. I hope the publisher of the Hook makes enough money from his rag to buy back his soul.
Michael was kind, generous, loyal, and a far better human than the media vultures that couldn't wait to sink their talons into this fresh misery."
Agree with Doelmite. Cville has become a 'hotbed' of wine-drinking, concert- going, organic foodies. Who really cares about uncovering the back-slapping, financially underhanded shenanigans of a few good ol' boys..... or the assault crimes and rampant alcohol abuse that permeates campus life, which UVA continues to sweep under the rug.
Be careful Cville...it's dangerous to become so complacent and boring!
You could have left the organic foodie part out, but ya didn't, did ya?
@ GMO's- That was a little specific, huh? Well, I am of the organic foodie camp, speaking personally.
Sorry Seannie, Courteney and the staff did more to uncover rapes than anyone else in Virginia. If other stories were not covered, it's because the women did not have the emotional fortitude to go on the record. And the UVA machine --- well, let's just say they were the most uncooperative lying bunch of fools a person can encounter in a lifetime. Let's start with Casteen, Sullivan, Lampkin, Kaplan, Davis, Rivers, and Strine - the words that I would use can't be printed. Same goes for your beloved Chief Longo, Commonwealth Attorneys, and UVA Chief of Police Gibson - they deserve to be investigated for the way they refuse to handle rapes in your town. Show me another publication that had the spine to even print these tough stories --- there were none! The Hook tackled the tough subjects and even though "we" did not get the result we wanted with toughening the laws with the VA Legislature, we cannot fault the Hook, because they did their best to educate all of you to the way this crime is swept under the rug. They put the story out there. The fault lies with the Charlottesville people who refused to listen to the stories and do the right thing.
With The Hook closing down, crime will go unnoticed in Charlottesville. Who has the spine to discuss these topics publicly?
Who is Gasbag? Where's the link to the story? I've always used my name, I always wonder why others didn't feel they could......Although, I will say, one time you folks really beat me up in the comments so I used another name and EVERYONE agreed with me! I got great enjoyment out of that! LOL!
Nobody's been deleted more than me.. I win! =o)
But, seriously, Susan deserved so much credit for at least trying to get HB2490 through the General Assembly. I did what little I could with those I know therein, but UVA is sitting on $5 billion and their private militia stays.. It's not the Charlottesville cops. It's not the Albemarle cops. It's not the state cops. It's the UVA cops, and the UVA Womens Center. When you have a police force that is answerable to nobody but Madison Hall, that is where this all starts.. They can refuse comment, and they can put a tremendous amount of heinous peer pressure on a very young and terrified woman to keep quiet - or relive what they tell her will be a losing case over many years that will basically destroy her college years.. When the COPS and your own university tell you that your case has no chance...............Get it?
Nobody at PVCC will ever forget our classmate coming to class the first day of school a few years back on crutches with two black eyes. She fought her rapist off in Clark park on the corner that night - but he was probably one of the privileged kids on that side of town that had that magic ID in his pocket. Silence. UVA even refused to provide fraternity class pictures. No way.. Don't ever believe one iota of these people say at the Cavalier Daily, C-Ville, or the Daily Progress when they tell you how much they care about the safety of women. Not one word.
This is Charlottesville, 2013. UVA folks do whatever they want to anyone outside the bubble. UVA cops maintain and protect the bubble. Outsiders get punished. Cocaine is absolutely everywhere, and on the West side of town that is protected also. Now we have yet another dead student and yet another conspiracy of silence from our "journalists."
Pathetic. See ya later, Hook. THIS is your legacy.
Sean must have reread his UVA rejection letter again recently. Seriously, the bubble is where his brain ought to be and some anger management is definitely in order.
Funny, I read the article on Michael Crafaik that Sean linked to before I read his post. I had Eric pegged as Sean's pseudonym immediately. Went back and read his post and noted that he had quoted himself as "Eric." Hilarious! Nick Carlton rightfully took Sean (Eric) to the woodshed in response. Boy, something never change and I suspect Sean never will get a clue.
Nick Carlton December 16th, 2008 | 1:21am
Eric
Hard to tell which is stronger, your self-righteousness or your ignorance.
I knew Mike and I know people in town like you. He was quite a wonderful person in many ways.
You, clearly, are not.
Perhaps you could direct your bitterness in a more constructive way in the future.
Susan, I have never hidden behind names here. Most people here have always known who I was. I used to be "Sick of the Local Rambos". But I soon felt that this user name painted the entire profession as crooked and corrupt based on the illegal actions and personal vendettas of just a few of them. Somebody then said I was a gasbag self ordained expert on everything. I agree, so I started using "Gasbag Self Ordained Expert. :)
http://readthehook.com/86294/cover-he-fought-law-and-law-lost-dont-c...
The Hook did some good reporting, and I'll miss it too, even though I'm not from the area.
God, I'm going to miss the articles by Mss. Stuart and Provence.
Their names are not yet listed as C-Ville staff....
Are they lost to us?
Will this farewell tour ever end? Shut it down now!
@I Dont Know For Sure But Was Told
Just stop reading it.
Poor little Seannie... so bitter and angry in his poorly little transparent sad-sack shell. Likely he's sorry he doesn't have more of a life. And egad, what poor grammar! He who
doth protest too much... ahhh one of you is right... that UVA rejection letter probably flashes repeatedly in his clouded little mind that has little abilities other than criticizing others.
As usual, all the hacks have is diversion, and trying to shoot the messenger..
Here are some more facts that will drive them nuts:
The University of Wisconsin-Madison (my alma mater) is ranked # 19 in the WORLD.
UVA comes in right about 147th..
http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2013.html
PVCC (my other alma mater) has a *guaranteed* admission agreement with UVA for Honors students - of which I was one. I could have waltzed right in to UVA when I got my second degree in 2011. I declined. Not worth the money, run by corrupt and dishonest people at present, and not even worth the effort given that I could just go back to the UW which is ranked *seven times better.*
There was a rejection letter, alright.. If you must bring such things up, it was me refusing to even consider them. Two can play the rankings and rejection game.. Looks like you'll have to think of a different diversion now, Lenny and Claire..
Have a nice day. =o)
So Sean has a second degree from a place that only offers an associate's and needed to do that despite having a superior degree from one of the world's best schools? Sean and the truth seem to keep some distance between themselves.
My daughter's rapist has a diploma from UVA. That proves nothing. You cannot judge a person by where their degree is from ......my degree is from a great little college in northern Vermont. And so what does that gain me? A person should be judged by their character and demeanor and willingness to better society, not by their paper credentials, which are often bought or passed on by legacy connection. I couldn't care less if or where you went to college - I care about how you treat others, how you help others, and what you have done to make the world a better place. Often no college is needed to do all the above.
What a moniker!
Now I remember you! Sorry I quit on you, one can pull but so many weeds before he goes insane!
The Hook in her dying breaths have gathered some bitter folk for I guess the last pow wow of the online minds.
Agreed the Hook cam will be greatly missed ! I many times checked it out during showstorms and big events on the mall..... sent a couple live greetings from the hookcam , maybe a couple one fingered salutes ...... seems like ages ago when the cell phone and hook cam found each other.
Maybe I am just getting old..... or tech is moving too fast for me ... seems like forever ago.
I checked out the Emory pics weekly .. I just love B& W and he tied it with local stuff.
The Hook has always been the go to place when government is challenged , that is the huge loss the area will lose at a time it may be needed most.
The C'ville Weekly would put a liberal moonbat hippie to sleep and thats who it's directed at .
As it looks , C-ville is in trouble for reporting on the subjects local News just water down.
I second Dakota. Especially the only place that government has been challenged.
Are you out yet?
I'm looking for some office space downtown.
I think I'm gonna start a newspaper.
Wow Seannie, how easily you are fooled by a completely BOGUS ranking. As you can see, that only rank ACADEMICS as 10% of the total score.
This is the weirdest "farewell" comments section I've seen in a long while. People fighting with Seannie, arguing over rapists at UVa and whose university is better, and why Charlottesville sucks.
Wasn't this supposed to be about the Hook? I think there's been maybe eight and a half comments so far that have anything to do with that. !!
At least, you have no evidence that I need one.
He's perfect just the way he is
From the castle of Greyskull!
SKELETAL EDITION
with Visbile Human TM movies
Yep Dakota:
Some of the Highlights were when Courteney Stuart broke the story of the witnesses who saw Morgan on the bridge. The article just put to rest all of those stupid theories on FM and Stink. Her article on Kick-ee totally set off a world of speculation that if anyone just read her article would see how simple it was. She kept the PR machine at bay.
In the comments section we were allowed to tell J.me to shut up! That we knew that the T-shirt purchased at the show was never worn by Morgan. Funny the Hook and you and I knew, but Gil never knew. All that was need was to ask Amy and Sara.
Hawes did a great job exposing the IP and ISP’s. Gave us enough info to cross reference with Stink’s visible IP and ISP on every user that ever posted there. Hawes knew we knew - each and every single one.
We flat out busted Observer and KJ for using V-Tech and UVA equipment while on the clock to work for the PR Firm! CAUGHT THEM BOTH REAR HANDED!
Hawes and Lisa were great with the George Huguely trial. I got to see them and we correctly predicted the sentencing.
Hawes busted KJ for using a Moniker. J.me was using one too! And Gil’s wacko sister. That was great!
But what showed so much class were the several times they didn’t release info. Courteney was a the top of her game. We knew the person that found Morgan’s personal items was a member of the LAX team. Man if she had released that with the George Huguely arrest can you imagine. She held tight lipped and protected the innocents more than a few times.
She or at least we knew of the sketch. Hawes and Courteney Stuart never caused harm to the PHAM family as Stink did.
Emery had some great pix's, but none more telling than one with girls all lined up like cows headed to the slaughter house [ girls in line for a sorority].
I will miss the Hook, I know Courteney Stuart will do just fine.
Maybe she will come work out here? We will welcome her!
Courteney Stuart has fire in those eyes, to even mention the article on Taylor. But she is a reporter true and true and that goes with the territory, I just have a very strong feeling Taylor has something coming his way via MS. Courteney Stuart no Hook needed!
Happy hunting Dakota!
I'm very sorry to see the Hook go. I was a C'ville weekly reader back when Hawes was the editor and followed him to the Hook when he started it up. It's sad to see this fine paper - the better paper by far in terms of journalism - disappear. We know the value of Ms. Stuart's critics by the quality of the critiques themselves...I too very much hope she, Ms. Provence and Mr. McNair all land on their feet. It seems to me it would have made much more sense to roll the events promo/calendar into the hook than the other way around, since hair transplants are technically simpler than brain transplants, but perhaps the C'ville will up the ante.
Susan: "You cannot judge a person by where their degree is from"
I didn't. A few others started in with the petty rejection letter stuff (just another diversion), and I finished it pretty quickly. It is always fun to put such people in their place. People who get second degrees from Community Colleges don't tend to be arrogant about names and rankings, fyi.
Susan: "I care about how you treat others, how you help others, and what you have done to make the world a better place."
I volunteered to coach McIntire Little League for three years (a city team of kids who didn't get picked by other teams), currently care for my mother with Alzheimers, dementia, and severe RA full time (she didn't get left in a nursing home), yet still find the time to take on the liars and the people who kill and do harm to others at UVA - along with my colleagues.
http://uvalies.org/uva_bov_letter
There are probably over a thousand volunteer hours that we have put into our four documents.
Susan, I don't need a speech from you about what I do for others. But I appreciate what you've done the last few years and did what I could to help with HB2490. We failed in that particular endeavor. Perhaps, a decade on, it's time you accepted that constantly bringing up your daughter's nightmare publicly is not likely a great thing for her at this point. Sometimes, you just have to let it go. You get an A+ for effort, but maybe it's time to direct your energies forward.
And, no, we will not agree that it is perfectly acceptable for a newspaper to completely ignore the death of two young students because UVA told them not to - and that they deserve such praise given those facts. Indeed, this most recent death may have been avoided had the previous one in 2010 not been hushed up, and the dome of silence about the UVA drug trade not been maintained.
michael sutton's some sort of spook and/or creep. Eat me, Bigfoot!
@Seannie: My comments were not at all directed at you. But I know who you are and we've have a rather odd dialogue over the years.Some of my other comments that agreed that this tribute should be for The Hook were deleted, so you can't see all my comments -- I don't understand why the comments were deleted because none of my comments were derogatory.
I don't talk about the rape with my daughter because it is not good to keep bringing it up to her. But NOTHING in your town has changed and if I have to keep reminding the townsfolk and new crop of students to save someone, then I will keep bringing it up. If my other comments on this board had not been deleted you would have seen the whole dialogue. Don't tell me how to parent and don't ever tell me that what I did was not good for my child. If you want to have this dialogue stop being a coward and contact me through my website using your REAL name. I am not afraid of dialogue and I certainly don't wish to engage in public dialogue with a coward. I got your anonymous letter in the mail - I don't appreciate the amount of effort you have put into contacting me anonymously.
I don't criticize anyone for their efforts. I join in what I want and what I think will get the Public thinking. I have no dog in the fight. I hate Charlottesville and everything UVA stands for. They altered my family and since I live by the karma of "what goes around comes around", I hope everyone who did my kid wrong gets what they deserve. It's my hope; I am the mother and wish no good on anyone who crossed my kid. They don't deserve my positive thoughts.
As for The Hook staff, they are all great people and excellent journalists. No one covers the tough stories like they do. They are heroes in my book.
All that said, no one from Charlottesville contacted me about HB 2490, though all of you throw that bill around as if it were your own. There is power in groups joining together, but despite the efforts of The Hook, not one person from Charlottesville assisted me with that bill.
So Let's move on and make this board a tribute, not a hijack to other topics......
For once and for all, are you or aren't you the lady with the groundhog and snapping turtles?
Neither!! But I do make a good chili!
What was that lady's last name? It's driving me crazy!
Susan, I never sent you a letter (no idea what your address is) - but we emailed back and forth back in the Fall of 2011. I just looked it up, and they are still there. As I said therein, I spoke to a few state legislators and asked that they support your bill. It failed. We are not sitting on a $5 billion endowment. I moved on to engage in other battles. I have a good, personal relationship with a handful of senators and delegates, but they obviously don't do everything I ask of them. I did what I could for a good cause.. The end.
The drug cover ups are part and parcel of the rape cover ups at UVA, Susan. It's the "don't spoil the party" mentality that has ruled the roost at UVA since 1989. You keep praising this paper because they covered ONE accusation of rape on Grounds. And what of all the hundreds of others you yourself have verified were squelched at UVA? Eh, not so much...
Throw in TWO stories regarding quite suddenly DEAD young students, and not a WORD in the Hook, or any other paper in Charlottesville. But that doesn't seem to dilute your praise one iota for this paper either. Well, then it is pretty easy to see that your one family story trumps hundreds of others - and even two DEAD students - in importance. You refuse to even mention it/them..
The rest of us don't have to see it that way. The Hook has been a very consistent and cooperative partner with UVA in doing as they are told regarding both overdoses and sexual assaults. That they dared waver from that obedience ONCE doesn't change the overall history. In every other college town in the country, the sudden death of a 19 or 21 year old student therein would have made the papers, and a cause of death would have been front page news - and then likely national news to some extent.
But not here.
There are exactly ZERO journalists here employed as such. UVA maintains complete control of local media, and the Hook has been a very good example of that. This is as 'on topic' regarding the Hook's legacy as anything.
The Hook is a good .. no GREAT ... crew .. and they are not paid by UVA despite what you say. They have integrity ... and as I've always said ... Integrity is non-negotiable.
My bill didn't fail -- I just didn't get everything I wanted, I mean, everything that made sense. I did get MOA's required.... but what I really wanted was Commonwealth Attorney notification. Even Lunsford backed that concept..... Chapman didn't and we know why he backed down....
But no, absolutely no ... The Hook is not part of the UVA Machine. Never has been.
I assume that the final phase of the Hook's farewell will be the moment when all of its former commenters gather on the mall and finally tear each other limb from limb. That will be the most fitting tribute of all to a newspaper that always appealed to the basest instincts of its community of readers and operated with little or no standards of proof for its reporting. I hope the ownership will leave the mall cam on long enough to capture the Hook zombies devouring one another. It will be good to finally see the faces of the people in this town who for so long sought to smear themselves with each other's blood and filth.
@Fitting Tribute: Obviously you are one in the same -- you just smeared the staff behind an anonymous name. Add it to your calendar and join in because your comment was just as non-productive as 90% of the other comments on this board.
Sometimes reading the truth is uncomfortable. that's what The Hook did for us - they gave us stories that made us aware of what was happening in town. Investigative journalism is an art and is not practiced by the Cav Daily, The Daily Progress, or the local TV stations They deal in quick sound bites. I won't miss the Trolls and the conversation hijackings on the Boards, but I will miss the journalists who gave us topics that were relevant and made us aware of issues the other media outlets refused to cover.
Closing down The Hook was a decision based upon politics. The real story is why, and none of the other media outlets cares to report it.
For those of you yammering back and forth trying to praise the Hook as journalism, what a joke. This was not a news weekly, but more like the National Enquirer. Nobody is covering why they are closing the doors because nobody cares. I would say they safe bet would be the obvious reason, the paper could not have been turning a profit. No way producing such a small publication with so many house ads did anything but suck money out of Ted's pocket. Granted, those are deep pockets, but business is business and when something is draining your capital, sometimes you just have to cut it loose.
The idea was to offer an ALTERNATIVE to C-Ville weekly - at least in the original hype - but it quickly became the same paper with a different page layout. There were, of course, good articles among so many. The Piedmont Airways crash (recently updated with the death of the sole survivor), for example. But overall it was just another UVA mouthpiece and looney left partisan newspaper - as if we needed a carbon copy of C-Ville. As if people in the Obama economy have the money to advertise in THREE newspapers in one small city..
Notice that everyone who was heaped praise on the Hook has also carefully avoided any mention of the two dead students at UVA. One can easily conclude that they too support the silence enforced by Big Sister across town, even now that tragedy has struck yet again. Throw in the hundreds of sexual assaults hushed up every year.. Or forget everything else. Ask yourself what kind of place you live in where stories like that which would be front page news for a week in ANY other city in the country never appear at all here - and most everyone is AOK with that, with a wink and a nod.
Why?
Seannie, people die all the time in any town, any city and it's not front page news. People get sexually assaulted routinely everywhere and it doesn't make the news, there's not enough paper or ink or time to write it all down. Yeah, they cover up stuff but there'd be nobody to fund any of the news if the wicked didn't. Ha ha!
Seannie, your over the edge broken record constant ranting about one thing does get boring. That's why people don't listen to you. Apply the lessons learned to other topics, broaden your horizons, join others in their causes (not just stuffing yours down their throats at every turn) and good luck with the next paper you try to dominate. The issues you are concerned with - abortion, sexual assault, and insanely deep hate for UVA come through loud and clear. The topic could be traffic lights and you talk about the dead student found in the frat. WE know. But we can't do anything about it. Your local politicos won't do anything about it. But if you want to teach the new crop of students about the dangers of frats and alcohol take another approach - the rants don't educate, they alienate.
Since there's a week left ... enlighten us all ... do disclose how you attempted to fix the UVA issues! Did you talk with Madam President? Did you talk with the Cops? Did you talk with your legislators? Did you start a program? Do you have your won blog? Or do you just rant about it in the Hook and mail anonymous mailings to people?
What's Seannie O' The Hills real name? Who is he? Talking to politicians doesn't do anything but get you a form letter in the mail. Ranting in the Hook doesn't do anything either. Nothing does anything. This sucks, somebody's putting drugs in my food and water. Energy vampires are sapping my strength. Psychotic zombies everywhere, getting more dead by the day and trying to make copies of themselves! I thought The Hook was supposed to have shut down. LIARS!
The good news? Local businesses won't have to pay twice for advertising in two publications.
You can buy that name from me to use for the next local tabloid rag for $1,000,000.00 Contact me at to work out a deal.
Seannie O' the Hills said:
"The idea was to offer an ALTERNATIVE to C-Ville weekly - at least in the original hype - but it quickly became the same paper with a different page layout."
Are you freaking kidding me? If you've been unable to see the enormous difference between the stories the Cville Weekly runs - a publication I only ever picked up in order to be amused by their "Rants" section at the back - and the stories The Hook has run, then I don't even know what to tell you. People actually read the stories the Hook puts out, because most have juicy substance to them and are about something at least semi-meaningful in most cases. The Cville Weekly pretty much never writes about anything meaningful, interesting, or relevant. Just because you rant negatively that something is a certain way, doesn't make it so.
Basically Seannie has some obvious vendetta against the Hook for some perceived personal slight, so she/he/it/whatever is going to insist things are a certain way even if they're not. Anybody who can't tell the difference between the Hook and the Cville Weekly is either a) lying out of spite, or b) truly suffering from some sort of mental incapacitation that renders them unable to differentiate differences between things.
Sean's real vendetta is against UVA. He also lashes out at anyone like the Hook staff who he imagines to be under UVA's control. (As if former owner and Hampden–Sydney boy Hawes would be among them!)
I'm sure the roots of his anger are probably more complex, but he has laid out his primary reasons in online comments he has made in the past. He is a frequent poster at the Cavalier Daily website and the WaPo on UVA related issues as well as here. His comments are usually just foaming at the mouth rants, but he has gotten autobiographical at times.
The story that Sean has told about himself is that he has long lived near the University, hangs around in bars on the Corner and has a taste for college girls who are probably less than half his age. He claims to have dated (picked up when they were too wasted to know any better?) a few which he has described as superior to himself in every way (see below). That may be some sort of bizarre boast, but it seems rather to indicate an inferiority complex regard UVA students.
One of those women who Sean "dated" suffered the misfortune of being impregnated by him. Upon sober reflection she apparently decided that she was not prepared for motherhood and/or she had no interest in being tied to Sean in that way for the rest of her life and opted to have an abortion. She didn't discuss the matter with him and only informed him after the fact. He still hasn't recovered from that rejection and since then has made a point of railing against the University and its administrators at every possible opportunity.
Sean used to portray himself as a confidant of Teresa Sullivan, she being the rescuing angel coming to right all wrongs committed by Sean's arch nemesis John Casteen. Sean imagined her putting an end to abortion at the UVA Hospital and she obviously hasn't so he doesn't seem so smitten any more.
Sean has also fantasized about Governor McDonnell or Ken Cuccinelli ending abortions at UVA, and that equally obviously hasn't come to pass. He has at times also insinuated that he had connection to them or other politicians. He's apparently unaware that they send out lots of form letters and smile at just about anyone who might offer them campaign money or vote for them.
In the real world, no politician in their right mind would want to get too close to him considering his remarkable gift for alienating even those who might have been his supporters. Search his name (click on one of his many links to his organization if you don't know it) an something like "catholic," "gay," "abortion," etc. with google and you will see countless people take him to task for his ignorance, bullheadedness, and sheer inability to think logically. I have yet to find anyone agreeing with him, ever. He wears that as a badge of honor rather than getting a clue. It's sad really.
The source of the quote about UVA girls being his better. To footnote anything else I'd have to read more of his drivel than I'm up for right now.
http://readthehook.com/69512/missing-pieces-witnesses-share-their-ta...
Sean- "I have dozens of good friends who now or in the recent past have attended or worked at UVA. I have assisted a few UVA organizations with a few projects. I have spilled my blood defending a UVA professor - a close friend - from an attacker on the downtown mall. I share a tiny 2 bedroom apartment with a female UVA undergraduate student. I coach a city Little League team with a UVA professor. I have shared a bed with three female UVA students who were all way over my head in the body, mind, and soul departments. I love the AFC, the JPJ, and all the libraries. I have volunteered hundreds of hours with a UVA fellowship. I attend UVA soccer, hoops, and football games and sing the good ole song with my alumni tailgate buddies."
Trauma often alters a person's personality. It is clear to me that Sean has endured some sort of trauma and probably not gotten over it, nor gotten help to move on from it. Reading this will ignite his fire, I'm sure, but we've all been on these boards for years (with various nome de plumes) and so Sean, take it from a long time board acquaintance, don't live your life with a vendetta. It didn't work for me, nor the Sopranos. It won't work for you. Life is to short to remain focused on the negative. You try to do good, but when you can no longer budge the system, have a glass of wine and say "I did my best". Then find someone positive that you can really influence and gives you joy.
Never give up Seannie O' The Hills, even if you're a spook ass mofo! Don't cave in to alcoholism and self defeat like those sad Hook readers who believe it's something more than a NSA run propaganda outlet for the local fluoride headed automatons to presume legitimate until proven otherwise by John Giuliano (who can't because he doesn't have all the facts the alphabet agencies have, being a non spook unlike the spooks who run and fund The Hook!
And always be in doubt, don't assume anything else, ever!
You can assume it's an even deeper conspiracy by anti government operatives trying to intercept the spooks. Now that's really pushing the boundaries!
Or somebody's freedom.
You're alright, George Noory
You're the man!
You suck ass!
Could I be the one?
There's got to be a better way.
And the decision was made to pull, ugggghhhh...and that's when we watched the building collapse.
I hope the Hook prints their last issue on tin foil .
It seems a few will need it for hats .
Please Hammer, don't hurt me!
From the Hill of The Camorra!
Sad to see the Hook demise being reported over at Newsplex.
The last issue story sounds like the guy under the car story... Wow , in the works 5 years.
Troll their forum, make yourself appear to be so completely insane and crude and moronic that hardly anyone will even want to visit the site anymore (since paper news is already pretty much dead nationwide) because they want to act like their ignoring you. Then it will go out of business and you'll have your sweet revenge. Ha ha ha ha ha! (of course we all will still have to wait until and see if this is all a psy op and there's no gaurantee I'll be around to find out.) I hope I'll at least make it until Season 6 of Breaking Bad is on Netflix. It'd suck to die before finding out whether Hank busts Walter or not.
Seriously. Then I'd have no reason to live.
No matter whether you tell me Hank busts Walter or tell me he doesn't, I'll always be aware of the possibility that you're lying to me as part of a psy op. Ha ha!
Ha ha, I'll bet you thought I was really crazy and not the world's most powerful mob boss! I'll bet you still believe it and you're incapable of believing otherwise! That's how slick I am!
You've got my number, but do you have my real name?
Dear John and/or Leonard,
(aka, wholiesmokes),
While I understand that jealousy is powerful emotion, I doubt it is worth the great effort you obviously have put into stalking me online. Just imagine if there had even been a single real journalist in this town who covered the dirty details of the revolving door of wives up there on Rugby. How old were YOU when you got with that grad student again? And, wow, $1 million in university money for a condo atop Wintergreen as hush money/real estate? Well then, who says English majors never make any money..
But I digress, while you were having such a good time, look what happened to UVA. As anyone who reads the Washington Post or even the New York Times can tell you, you left one of America's greatest universities in a shambles of national story proportions. Sure, you transformed it into a Marxist indoctrination center, but that happened a lot of other places too. The revolution isn't going so well the last five years, is it?? Perhaps your greatest achievement was taking complete control of local media via intimidation, and having it become Playboy's favorite campus. I'll give y'all those dubious achievements. But what kind of trophies are these to display? That ARWU ranking really got you guys angry, didn't it?
As for your presumptions that all is well with the killing and lying policies at UVA, you're living in 1995 dudes.. We're less than three years in, and it probably won't take 5. The blood of 2660 infants is on your hands, as well as lots of women who were deliberately never told about some popular drug risks, and that is forever. You think a publicly funded university will get away with these things forever? In Virginia? Well, your best efforts to keep all that under wraps is going about as well as the president's handling of the economy, no?
Look on the bright side, you got filthy rich and had a good time with some women while turning a place of honor into a center of dishonesty, drugs, corruption, secrecy, killing, and political nonsense that is currently falling flat on its face yet again. But this will wear off, and these unfortunate legacies of yours will slowly evaporate. So sit back, sell some more cigarettes, and watch it it happen..
Progress at UVA is happening now on several fronts, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.
Last week .... can I say you all suck?! You are the reason this great paper is ending. Go troll somewhere else.
Really? Progress? Your embellished and inflated remarks were interesting and often entertaining but in no way did you influence the way the University is managed. I wish all the people who tried to influence change had not been so demoralized by your efforts.
Abortion is an issue best handled by the Church, not by you. I'm sorry for your loss, but you have always made the issue to be about you and your loss, not anything any others can relate to. Get some therapy.
Anybody else notice that the Hook finally covered the sudden death of a UVA student ONE DAY after I gave them hell about not doing so (again) in this thread??
http://readthehook.com/110146/molly-dangerous-drug-blamed-deaths
Gee, Times are a-changing maybe - but much too late for the Hook. And yes, John, this is further proof that there is nothing you can do about it anymore. You can't even bully a free newspaper in its dying days anymore. Talk about a rejection letter!
Seannie, you really have no life to think you are the reason The Hook covered this. The story was subpar. You just wanted to insult Lampkin (who deserves a public lashing, but not over this). Since we only have few days left, tell us ... what is your paying day job? NARC? Rape Advisor? Priest? Predator? or Deadbeat?
I just wanna know if the Hook will clear up the Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsfords naked pictures + Chris Dumbler and a protection order .
Maybe last issue :)
Bizzarre
Pam, there is much you don't know. If we are so wrong, and you are so right, come take us on publicly - anytime. All you seem to be able to do is attack me personally. You clearly cannot refute one iota of what me and my colleagues have done at UVA, despite all our very public documents. We even go on the air, and nobody shows up to EXPLAIN why we are so wrong about everything..
http://blip.tv/spiritusfilms/uva-abortions-5028178
As for the Hook's sudden burst of interest in a two week old story.......
The Daily News in NEW YORK CITY covered the latest UVA death story on September 7th.
I gave the Hook hell about not covering it on September 17th/18th.
They covered it on September 19th.
Better to have some guts and some integrity your last day in business, than never at all.. I'll give credit to the Hook for that. Like I said, there were blips of journalism amidst the attack obituaries and doing all of UVA's bidding.
Seannie, I know you better than you think ....
For what it's worth, I don't want to see Denise Lunsford's (or anyone else's) naked pictures in the final issue of the Hook. The "Nude Shalala!" print issue of the Onion in Madison many years ago kind of ruined it for me.
Somebody has it in bad for UVA.
I wonder if his UVA girlfriend flushed his unborn blob after realizing who it was created with.
This would have been a harsh blow to his Narcissism.
My work here is done.
Goodbye, Hook. You may have proved that nothing can possibly be as bad as C-Ville Weekly, but that isn't saying much of anything. Let's all set a goal to be better people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q
I did find it odd how Dumbler got a felony sexual assault charge down to a misdameanor and picked his days in jail . Where not other women denied access to charges .. or did I dream that .
I wonder what movie they watched.
A flying dog that can even post comments on the Hook telling people they suck and to go troll somewhere else!
You're pretty amazing too, Dakota.
Tune in next week!
Seannie O' The Hills September 24th, 2013 | 8:48pm
----------------------
Well so far you are in luck , make do with a pretty classy pic of Mrs lunsford from an old HOTSEAT story on the hook.
There is no trace of the pics over at C-ville craigslist rant and raves.
I am thankful the Hook plans to archive all the old information for access.
Is freelance dead too ? I hope the CVILLE weekley allows some carry over from the Hook.
If not , what a waste
http://readthehook.com/81590/hotseated-secrets-2007-hotseat-sitters
I really like when Courtney shows her class passed out in the bathroom at the Box. CLASSY!
You trolls suck! The Hook uncovered the tough topics and did some of the most cutting edge reporting in the state! I am very sad they are ending ..... but I see great things in their future!
Then you'll have plenty of use for a cutting edge.
Go on, girl! Do it!
I see horrible things in the present
I call him Gerald!
Sean, you are a laugh riot! You actually think "John and/or Leonard" actually know who you are or even begin to care what you think or write here? I'm a nobody, just like you. All I care about is making sure that people who read your rants know that you are not affiliated with UVA and that you don't have a clue what you're talking about.
Your delusions of power over what this newspaper chooses to cover are probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever read by you and that is really saying something. You really need to take a deep breath or two and consider getting mental help.
Stop ignoring me, wholiesmoke's!
Keep ignoring me, wholiesmoke's!
It's one or the other!
IF YOU GO TO UVA YOU'RE FUNDING IT!
I mean I've helped feed the people who have paid to attend the classes. We're all baby killers!
IT'S ALL THE MORE REASON TO STOP THEM!
Tuition doesn't cover the University's operating expenses let alone the operating expenses of its hospital. That's why they send bills to hospital patients.
I've even attended football games. This isn't a joke! It's serious!
Hell if I know!
It all goes into and comes out of one budget, one 2400+ baby murdering system.
John, put a cork in it. I still need to live in this town.
By paying to attend, and attending baby murdering school.
And my soul is being ripped apart by demons on one side and angels on the other.
I"m not a fan of the arrogant UVA - so for that I"m in Sean's corner. But geesh, Sean, you have gone so far extreme you are a problem. Your comments on this board hijack the conversation to what you want, and are not at all productive. You are not a team player - you are a rogue and your comments have undone so much of the good many of us have worked hard to do.
UVA is not the only hospital that performs abortions, so attacking it for that reason falls on deaf ears. But what is sad is that the University Police actually work to coverup crimes, not investigate them. The Hook, over the years, has covered these topics with fierce reporting and hopefully from that, more students are aware and policies have changed.
The ousting of Sullivan was covered very well. I dare say, if the Hook had not covered her firing/resignation, she might not have had the opportunity to return.
So what's my point? Here in the last week, when the comments could be thoughtful and a written legacy to a group of hardworking people, the comments here show how stupid people can be. So often the comments have sparked ideas and encouraged good dialogue. But looking at these, it's clear that one or two people have had a little too much to drink, type comments that have no purpose, and hit send without thinking. Sad, really.
The Hook will be missed by many. I don't think any other paper will even come close to filling the void.
Courteney Stuart will be on the Shilling show today at Noon 1070 am WINA.....
I guess I gotta tune in to the radio to find out where our print journalist are going .
Whats up with that ..........
Tune in next week to see it naked!
Come on, you know you're all dying to see me without my hat on!