Not surprising: Albemarle’s registered voters want to protect the county’s rural areas. Surprising: Fewer than half of those surveyed by a local group are satisfied with the government’s efforts to do so, in sharp contrast to a county survey that showed a more satisfied citizenry.

Nonpartisan development watchdog and information conduit Charlottesville Tomorrow released the results of a $51,000 public opinion research project Monday that surveyed 1,000 registered voters and conducted four focus groups.

“There was strong dissatisfaction with the government’s ability to prepare infrastructure,” says Charlottesville Tomorrow’s executive director Brian Wheeler, pictured above. Nor do respondents believe government is responsive to voter concerns, Wheeler says. (more)

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Some Charlottesville residents may have noticed a shortage of parking in the Water Street area and an overabundance of Wranglers and Cherokees around last weekend. What was up with that?

The Jeep “Go Anywhere, Do Anything Tour” chose downtown Charlottesville for its latest stop on the nationwide promotional campaign. The three day event, which occurred from July 27-29, happened to coincide with with Camp Jeep– a gathering of Jeep owners and enthusiasts out in Nelson County.

The promotional tour was (more)

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Click for a cool slide show
photo by Adam SorensenOnly four days after pleading not guilty, Tony Taylor– a co-defendant of Michael Vick– returned to federal court in Richmond today to plead guilty as part of a plea deal, CNN reports. The 34-year-old Hamptonian has reportedly agreed to fully cooperate with the investigation of the dogfighting ring in which Vick and his two co-defendants allegedly participated. He will be sentenced December 14.

At Vick’s arraignment on Thursday, Judge Henry Hudson set a trial date for November 26. Tensions ran as thick as the Richmond humidity that day, as hundreds of protesters camped out across the street from the Lewis F. Powell Jr. Courthouse for hours to express their outrage at Vick in person. The Hook was there to capture the spectacle and has made it available in a slide show.
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WINA radio is reporting today that the main house at Fairview, the 660-acre Scottsville-area farm formerly owned by Jack Manahan, the late Charlottesville eccentric married to faux czarina Anna “Anastasia” Anderson, was gutted in an early morning fire. Pictures on the AM station’s website indicate that the structure lost much of its roof in the two-alarm conflagration. The farm was the key asset in Manahan’s will, which was disputed by some of his relatives after his death in 1990. Ultimately, however, Althea Hurt prevailed in the Virginia Supreme Court and got to keep Manahan’s property. Manahan was the subject of the Hook’s July 5 cover story.
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Charlottesville police chief Tim Longo announced this morning that following an assault last night on a 34-year-old man, officers arrested two 15-year-old males who could be connected to the recent rash of assaults in the downtown area. In a press release, Longo says his department is investigating “any possible connections to other recently reported assaults in the Charlottesville area that are similar in nature.”

According to the CPD’s account, at around 7:39pm officers responded to a reported assault near (more)

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Last night, on a balmy evening on the bustling Downtown Mall, a decidedly, unhip, un-age-conscious crowd of nearly 1,500 moseyed in to witness the voice of a country generation, Randy Travis.
Not only did he did not disappoint, he stunned.
The 50-something singer has the pipes of someone half his age, and presents a musical experience that is produced but not campy, simple but not lacking fullness.
Backed by an eight-piece band, many of whom (more)

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As quarterback for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, Michael Vick has seen his share of screaming crowds, but none like the one he saw this afternoon. After weeks of media reports about his part in an alleged dogfighting ring, the former Virginia Tech standout pled “not guilty” in federal court in Richmond and faced hundreds of animal rights protesters who came to express their anger about Vick’s alleged activities.

The Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had organized most of the protesters, some of whom were camped out across the street from the courthouse as early as 7am.

“This doesn’t begin or end with Michael Vick,” said PETA youth outreach manager Caleb Wheeldon. “It’s about 40,000 people who fight dogs in this country. This is a unique opportunity for us to speak for the dogs.”

That speech came in the form of (more)

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Kings Dominion, White t-shirts, Fluvanna ad Miranda ON THIS WEEK’S COVER: The People’s Park: Kings Dominion always takes you back

The Lion Country Safari, The Happy Land of Hanna Barbera, the Grizzly. A trip to Hanover County theme park Kings Dominion can also be a trip down memory lane. Brent Baldwin pays touching– and hilarious– tribute to one of Virginia’s favorite family attractions.

(more)

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It’s not every day that convicted drug offenders laugh and mingle with the judge, prosecutors, and a state senator on the front steps of the Charlottesville Circuit Court. This morning, however, that’s just what happened at the 75th graduation and 10th anniversary celebration of the Charlottesville/Albemarle Adult Drug Treatment Court, a program that offers drug addicts convicted of nonviolent offenses a chance at rehabilitation rather than simple punishment.

“I knew I needed help and they gave it to me,” says Velda Conley, one of today’s three graduates (she is pictured on the right along with supporter Theresa Hughes, left, and drug court participant Brenda Fortune). Conley, 49, says she had tried other rehab programs in the past with no success. (more)

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Not content with four channels– CBS, ABC, Fox and the nostalgia-based MyC’villeTV– the Gray Television-owned Newsplex plans to launch a 24-7 weather channel in mid-August.

The new channel “will mirror what you see on the Weather Channel with a lot more regional and local news,” says Roger Burchett, Newsplex general manager. National and international weather will cover hot spots favored by traveling Charlottesvillians, like New York, London, and even Atlanta, where Gray Television is headquartered.

Burchett promises frequent local weather on the twos or on the fours– the exact intervals TBD– but there will be catchy slogans to help remember when to catch local weather.

Officially named the CBS19 News Weather Authority, the new channel will have local news updates and constant crawls with news and sports.

Burchett doesn’t know what number the new station will occupy, but he says (more)

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Standing under the illuminated marquis of the historic Paramount Theater this morning, venue officials ceremoniously pulled a gold quilted sheet from an easel revealing the 39 acts of the 2007-2008 season. Survey says? This year offers an eclectic and wide-ranging if not truly star-studded season.

Among the bigger names who’ll take the stage in coming months: R&B diva Dionne Warwick, jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, and country singer Wynonna. While the upcoming season may not have the biggest of big names like Tony Bennett or Yo-Yo Ma, both of whom the Paramount has boasted in the past, there’s no shortage of choices.

Classical music lovers and opera buffs will get a chance to see The Ten Tenors and the State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico; country and folk music aficionados can soak up Clint Black, as well as returning artists Ricky Scaggs and Arlo Guthrie; gospel devotees can see the Mighty Clouds of Joy; big band freaks might enjoy Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra; and there’s even a throwback to the late 1960s with the 5th Dimension. There’s also plenty of dance, comedy, and shows for the kids, as well as the Paramount’s classic movie screenings– Viva Las Vegas, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and a Halloween showing of the classic horror flick Night of the Living Dead, to name just a few.

Tickets go on sale to the general public August 21, but members who donate to the organization have access either one or two weeks prior to that date, depending on how much they’ve shelled out. For a complete schedule or more information, visit the Paramount’s website.

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Paychecks in the Charlottesville area have gone up 4.7 percent in the past year. The bad news? “Charlottesville is 6 percent below the national average,” according to Joe Kilmartin with Salary.com, which conducted the survey for the Chamber of Commerce.

Nationally, wages increased 3.9 percent, so Charlottesville’s gain “brings us closer to the national average,” says Kilmartin.

“The Charlottesville market is not all that it could be in terms of wages,” acknowledges Tim Hulbert, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, which commissioned the survey. (more)

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It took just seven minutes for the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority Board of Directors to vote unanimously this afternoon in favor of a voluntary water conservation measure.

Data issued in a press release and discussed at the meeting points to a worsening dip in reservoir and stream levels, which is projected to continue throughout the summer. According to the RWSA, as of July 18, the Ragged Mountain reservoir is (more)

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One of the larger protests Charlottesville has seen in recent years began this afternoon on the occasion of a visit by America’s most renowned bereaved war mom, Cindy Sheehan.
“We could impeach Dick Cheney in one day!” declared Sheehan’s local host, David Swanson, before a crowd of nearly 1,000 nestled between the Omni hotel and the Charlottesville Ice Park.

Sheehan supporters appeared to outnumber “Victory” marchers by a ratio of at least two to one. But what they lacked in numbers, the pro-war marchers made up in pithy slogans. Among them: “Say No to War… Unless a Democrat’s in the White House” and “War Never solved anything… except for slavery, facism, nazism, and communism.”

Sheehan supporter Daniel Cioper, part of the traveling entourage, regaled the crowd with his original song, “Fascist Dictator,” and then listened patiently as an intellectual opponent showed bearing a sandwich board that incorporated the designs of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

In fact, both factions (each amply equipped with American flags) urged their compatriots to respect the rights of the other side in the debate over the war in Iraq, and although the Sheehan supporters seemed more likely to punctuate their speeches with salty language (Cioper, for instance, called President Bush a four-letter word that sounds like the first syllable of dictator), there was no shred of violence.

A Charlottesville Police presence of at least half a dozen, including Chief Timothy Longo, didn’t seem to hurt. But there was never a hint that either side– particularly the peace-lovin’ retinue of Code Pinkers– wanted a war in Charlottesville.

Here are some additional photos of the day’s events (more)

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Serial Killer?, Over-assessed, Society vs. Skateboarders

ON THIS WEEK’S COVER:
Implicated: Serial Killer or convenient scapegoat?
On April 30, 1992, the doors of the Buckingham Correctional Center swung open, and a free man walked out. Nine years after his conviction for the 1982 murder of 12-year-old “Katie” Worsky, who disappeared during a sleep-over, Glenn Haslam Barker had served just half his sentence.
Barker might have settled somewhere and lived out his days quietly. In fact, he claims he tried to do just that. But within a few years, it was clear that his hopes for a life of tranquility and anonymity would continually be dashed.
As Barker moved around Virginia and eventually to New Jersey, headlines reported the furor his presence inspired. Warned by police of Barker’s arrival, people picketed in front of his house as television cameras rolled.
Yet if his conviction for Katie Worsky’s murder was enough to create fear, his connection to a gruesome double murder in 1996, four years after his release, sent new ripples of terror up and down the East Coast. Courteney Stuart has the story. (more)

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Albemarle police are asking for help in identifying happy shoppers believed to be involved in a series of break-ins in the Mill Creek area. These photos came from a security camera at Wal-Mart in Mechanicsville June 4.

Although hard to tell from the grainy security videos, the suspects above are described as a heavyset, black female (in the yellow shirt), a black male, and a white male. And they allegedly followed this haul with a shopping spree at a Richmond Wal-Mart. (more)

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Ten months after the unexpected and unexplained departure of its founding executive director Chad Hershner, the Paramount Theater introduced its new executive director, Edward W. Rucker.

Speaking to a group of journalists on the stage this morning, Paramount Board chair Gary Taylor called Rucker a man of “vision, enthusiasm, and experience” found in a national search that produced 71 candidates. The best person for the job, Taylor said, was “right here.”

Rucker– a Charlottesville resident since 1988– served as President and CEO of the nonprofit Richmond Forum, a nonprofit that creates rock concert fervor and and charges rock concert-level ticket prices (as high as $55) for Richmonders to hear heads of state and other high profile speakers.

For 14 years, Rucker has maintained homes in Richmond and in Charlottesville, where, from the late 1980s, (more)

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