Virginia Film Festival celebrates 20 years, brings Turturro and Thomas to town; Toxins in local schools; Builders face financial trouble; Staunton News Leader reporter made it all up

Plus:
-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) sets Pavilion attendance record
-Tiki Barber draws a crowd at the UVA bookstore
-Why the Film Festival won’t be the same this year without Roger Ebert

#

Comments Off

Jennifer White spent an extra month in jail when a grand jury did not indict her August 20, but her attorney couldn’t get that information from the Charlottesville clerk’s office until September 21, leaving her in the slammer until a hearing could be called September 25.

White is back in jail again. She was indicted October 15 by a grand jury and is charged with obtaining money under false pretenses for a bridal expo that didn’t take place. The Hook is among her creditors. She goes to trial December 5 for the bridal expo, and faces another charge for obtaining money under false pretenses involving the Temptations, according to Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Claude Worrell. The classic soul band played a sold-out show here February 5.

Before she went back to jail, White told the Hook that the bridal expo was a legitimate business that was canceled because enough vendors didn’t sign up.

#

Comments(3)

Whether Barack Obama (D) ultimately becomes President of the United States, the senator from Illinois has already made history in Charlottesville. At his Monday night rally at the Charlottesville Pavilion, he pushed attendance at that two-year-old venue to beyond its capacity. “We estimate it was a total of just over 5,000 people,” says Pavilion manager Kirby Hutto. “That’s way beyond anything we’ve ever done. I’m surprised we could fit everyone in here.”

Before presidential hopeful ever spoke a word, former state senator Tom Michie said that in all his years in Charlottesville politics, he can only recall one instance of political fervor equal to this one. “The last time I can remember something like this was in 1960, Lyndon Johnson made a whistle stop at the train station and we had a mob this big,” he says.

For all the anticipation buzzing through the attendees, and the more than $250,000 they had plunked down to see (more)

Comments(13)

Local citizens recently formed a political action committee dedicated to the rights of crime victims, and less than two weeks before the November 6 election, have made an endorsement in the Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney race.

Crime Victims United of Virginia members include downtown businesswoman Joan Fenton (right), who served as chair of the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review and was a City Council candidate in 2002; former Albemarle police officer Karl Mansoor (left), who sued the county in 2000, claiming his free speech rights had been violated when he was ordered to stop criticizing the county; Tim Heaphy, a former federal prosecutor; Roger Mathias, a retired Albemarle cop; and Liz Seccuro, victim of a 1984 rape in a UVA fraternity that became known nationally as the “12-step rape” when her assailant, William Beebe, sent her an apology in 2005.

In endorsing Democrat Denise Lunsford for Albemarle’s top prosecutor, Mansoor called the commonwealth’s attorney “the most critical” election for crime victims.

Fenton says Crime Victims is bipartisan, and she cites a “culture of fear” in this community. “When I’ve asked for money, a number (more)

Comments(21)

The Monday morning routine was slightly altered this morning for thousands of Charlottesville-area Comcast cable customers. Those who usually start their day by tuning in to CNN’s American Morning, or ESPN’s Sportscenter, or even Tom & Jerry on the Cartoon Network tuned in only to find their favorite shows stuck in a freeze frame. Save for local broadcasts, every single channel was stuck on pause, and according to the clock in the corner of the screen on all the cable news networks, the big freeze came at 8:36am this morning.

A Comcast customer service rep confirms that this hiccup is happening all over the Charlottesville area due to an upcoming channel realignment, but that “It should be correcting itself by the end of the day.” (Last summer, one station let its broadcast get stuck for a weekend.)

#

Comments(4)

A week after Gov. Tim Kaine (D) issued a statewide ban on burning and amid a steady rain that’s dumped about two inches over much of Virginia, the Commonwealth’s top forestry official says he could recommend lifting the ban as early as Monday.

“We’re putting all decisions on hold to see what the final tally of rainfall is over the weekend,” says state forester Carl Garrison. “It’s easy to say we’re not in a severe situation today, but in three or four days, we could be back in this same situation, so we don’t want to lift the ban, only to impose it again a week later.”

According to Garrison, total precipitation won’t be the only factor. “We’ll be looking to see if the rain is evenly dispersed, and if the forecast for first frost– which will accelerate the falling of the leaves– is supposed to happen during a drought period,” he says.

But as with any rule, there is an exception to the statewide snuff-out. “The way the law is written, there has to be flammable material that can carry the fire to a wooded area,” explains Garrison. “So if it’s raining, or it’s just rained, and the ground is wet, it’s okay to burn any type of solid fuels like charcoal or firewood. But as soon as the ground gets dry, you would need to put it out.”

–photo by Matt Lehrer

#

Comments(1)

Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority executive director Tom Frederick tells the Hook this morning that the recent rain– up to two inches thus far in the current storm– has raised water levels between four and 12 inches in all but one local reservoir and that his organization will determine “late Monday or early Tuesday” whether to lift the drought warning that’s been in place since August 15.

“The Sugar Hollow Reservoir is down 15 feet below full, and that’s the one we’re watching most closely because it’s the slowest to fill,” he said at 11:15am, “but that could change in the next two to three hours with a storm cell to the south moving across.”

Also on the upside of things Frederick says that recent demand has driven down the daily demand. “Over the last week, the average demand has been 9.8 million gallons [down from 10.1 million], and over the last two days it’s been 9.4 million,” he says. “We believe that comes from the fact that people aren’t watering their lawns and plants when it’s raining.”

Frederick declined to speculate about what he’ll decide early next week, saying, “We want to make these decisions with the benefit of hindsight, and not guess while we’re in the middle of a storm.”

#

Comments(4)

Once again, the Hook has received some unusual mail from an inmate at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. Last time, it was a letter from captured bank robber Jeffery Adams– who is now serving an 11-year sentence for attempting to rob the Union Bank and Trust on the Downtown Mall back in June– apologizing to the people of Charlottesville for his crime, commending the police and the city zoning inspector who thwarted the heist, and listing his favorite bands.

This time, one “Leste Green” (Mr. Green’s identity could not be immediately confirmed, and in the left-hand corner of the envelope it appears that another name has been scribbled out) mailed us a big flat dead cockroach.

Of course, with no accompanying note or letter, one can only speculate on the meaning of the 1.5-inch-long insect in Mr. Green’s mailing, but it would appear to be either a critique of prison life or (more)

Comments(3)

Entertainment overload; Abshire homicide investigation continues; County misses gas leak near church; Under the Roof building sells for big bucks

Plus:
*Kristina Cruise’s new world
*City Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman in the HotSeat
*Darjeeling Limited has limited appeal

#

Comments Off

When Dave Matthews and Coran Capshaw founded ATO Records, they had the financial resources of one of the world’s biggest bands with which to build the label. Now it’s being reported that the label may soon sign another band among the world’s biggest. The New York Times reports today that ATO is the frontrunner to be the new American record label for U.K. rockers Radiohead.

It would be a deal that would send shockwaves not only through Charlottesville, but through the record industry as a whole– the most prominent instance of a world-famous band foregoing a major record label contract for one with a smaller, independent company. The deal would reportedly allow Red Light/ATO subsidiary Side One to release Radiohead’s latest album, In Rainbows, in American record stores, while the band would retain ownership of the recordings. British label XL Records would sell the album internationally.

Before now, the only known Coran-Radiohead connection had been (more)

Comments(8)

Former NBC29 anchor Kristina Cruise, who was “reassigned” to general reporting earlier this year to make room for another anchor, has disappeared from the NBC29 website.

But not to worry, Kristina fans. Cruise has a new job with another, much larger NBC station: WLWT Channel 5 in Cincinnati. She’s a reporter for its morning news show, and starting on October 17, she’s back behind the anchor desk, filling in for the next month for an anchor on medical leave.

“We’ve seen her anchor and we know she can do that,” says WLWT’s news director, Brennan Donnellan.

And indeed, Cruise anchored NBC29’s news at noon and 5 until she was unceremoniously sent home by the station, purportedly for talking to the Hook without authorization, although former NBC29 staffers say her “special assignment” back to reporting was a move long planned by station management to make room for new anchor Sharon Gregory and Laura French’s return from maternity leave.

Cruise’s move to the Buckeye state sends her leap-frogging from Charlottesville’s number 181 media market to Cincinnati’s number 33.

“I see a lot of tapes and DVDs from candidates for positions like this, and they’re talented and they look good,” says Donnellan. “Kristina really sold us when she walked in the door. Her attitude, her love of journalism– there was a passion there and a sincere commitment to reporting.”

He points out that television news gathering is a team effort, and that Cruise displayed the same kind of passion for being a team member. “We talked with other people who knew her and they confirmed that,” says Donnellan.

The Hook was unable to reach Cruise for comment before blog time, and hopes her new station won’t send her home for talking to us about her new job.

#

Comments(19)

Those walking and driving along West Main this week may have noticed the “Emergency Liquidation” banner hanging outside Under the Roof and wondered if it meant the end for the high-end furniture store. As it turns out, after 13 years at the West Main Street location, those 19 scarlet letters only spell out the end of Under the Roof in Charlottesville.

The entire retail operation is heading to the company’s Waynesboro store, which will also become home to its Internet and warehouse operations. “Our building here has been purchased,” says Deb Henshaw. “Our last day in Charlottesville will be December 17.”

Despite the relocation, Henshaw says the move will mean a better overall experience for her customers. “The cost structure there will allow us to lower our prices and offer more selection,” she says. “The drive is easier and more beautiful than trekking up 29 North.”

She heaps praise on the River City. “Target, Kohl’s, PetSmart are also opening in Waynesboro,” says Henshaw. “It’s up and coming.”

While Henshaw says she has enjoyed Under the Roof’s home at West Main, she says she won’t feel any twinge of nostalgia once the store relocates. “I’ve enjoyed being here very much,” she says. “I would say that I will miss seeing the same familiar faces, but I plan on seeing them in Waynesboro.”

#

Comments(25)

There’s been another wreck on Route 151, but this morning’s accident does not appear to be fatal. The road, one of the main drags of Nelson County, has become a priority for area citizens and government officials, particularly after August 30, when it was the scene of the one of the most horrific accidents in the annals of local history.
“We’ve had five fatalities in 34 days” says Tommy Stafford, a Nelson newsmagazine publisher and citizen activist who leads a group called Project151.org. The group is devoted to documenting the dangers and improving safety on Route 151.
Already, the group has seen one success in the form of Nelson County government’s recent decision to prioritize a new turning lane at Greenfield Road.
Sadly, that proposed repair comes too late for Afton resident Laura Cavedo and her two daughters. On August 30, they all died when a panel truck driver Shawn Lloyd of Ruckersville allegedly fell asleep and rear-ended their car at that same intersection.
#

Comments(2)

This was the 8am commute scene on West Main Street, and this is the third time that a public drought measure has been ridiculed by the rain gods. Consider the following:

�€� Summer 2002 - government bans on carwashing immediately followed by a wet fall and 2003 as the wettest year ever,

�€� Summer 2007 - Albemarle and Charlottesville issue water restrictions August 16, and heavens erupt mere hours later with rain and high winds that damage trees and utility lines,

�€� Today - Not six hours into the governor’s ban on open fires, a light rain covers large swaths of Central Virginia.

Cause and effect? You be the judge.

Comments Off

Police say they’ve arrested the man believed to be the Stun Gun Robber– Taquan Lovelle Anderson, who is charged in the October 11 robbery of a Cherry Avenue Exxon clerk who was zapped when closing the store and was carrying the night deposit. Anderson is charged with five felony counts, including malicious wounding and use of a stun gun in commission of a felony.

He’s also a suspect in the robbery of another Exxon October 15 on Emmet Street. Police are looking for a customer (depicted at right in a surveillance still) who was in the store at the time of that robbery and may be a witness, and ask anyone with information to contact Detective Jim Mooney at 970-3374 or Crimestoppers at 977-4000.

Comments(18)

After a not-quite-voluntary hiatus, Daily Progress art critic Ruth Latter is back in today’s paper. Latter’s column was last seen August 23, and the disappearance of the reviewer from the paper’s pages for which she’d written over 50 years had the art community abuzz and fearing the worst– that she’d been fired.

But Progress editors say she was merely on a break, and even the indefatigable Latter concedes that at 81, it’s time to slow down from whipping out a weekly column. She’ll now appear monthly.

Comments(1)

A UVA-produced video warning students of the perils of showing their nutty sides on the web has won an award from the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group for University and College Computing Services.

The 70-second video stars drama graduate student Ryan Stinnett and was written and directed by Scott Crittenden, a systems analyst in UVA’s Information Technology and Communication division. “We created this video to get our message across to students in a humorous, to-the-point way,” Crittenden said in a release.

Other videos and advisories created for the “Who’s Watching Charlottesville?” campaign to promote cyber security awareness can be seen at whoswatchingcharlottesville.com.

Comments(2)

To commemorate the 6-month anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings and protest what they see as lax gun laws, a group of 32 demonstrators gathered on the South Lawn at the University of Virginia last night. The number of participants represents both the victims killed that day and the daily number of lives taken by guns in the U.S.

The “lie down” took place over a mere three minutes, the amount of time it takes someone, and it is said to have taken the Tech shooter, to purchase a gun in America.

As the protesters moved to the ground one by one, dressed in black and wearing ribbons bearing the Tech colors, they made a poignant display of the unity that can come even in the wake of tragedy. The last representative to lie down was Randa Samaha, the sister of one of the 32 victims.

“I am here in honor of my sister Reema,” she said. “Federal governments need to be proactive in limiting gun permits.”

Andy Goddard spoke on behalf of his son who was shot four times in the incident but survived. He praised those who attended the Tuesday, October 16th demonstration.

“I want to speak to the reasonable and law-abiding gun owner and urge them to go through the checks system by providing a medical and mental history,” said Goddard who ended on an urgent note.

“Become advocates. Write to your senator for safer gun laws before something happens to you or your family that forces you to take a stand.”

The last demonstrator to speak was Abigail Spangler, the founder of www.protesteasyguns.com. She began the 32-person “lie down” movement by e-mailing friends and staging a protest at the City Hall in Alexandria, Virginia immediately following the April 16 massacre.

“After the first protest in Alexandria, Virginia I thought that if 80 percent of Americans want tighter gun laws, then why isn’t this reflected in legislation?” Spangler asked. “Then I realized that maybe people just don’t know how to get involved.”

So far, there have been 30 demonstrations across 12 states. The UVA lie-in joined Carleton College, site of a student demonstration earlier that day, as the first college locations for the lie-ins. More are scheduled in coming months.

Organizers noted how easy it was to mobilize forces. A protest in New York City’s Times square attracted the attention– and attendance– of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“We got together on a Friday, and I said I want to stage a demonstration in Times Square. The following Thursday we went,” Spangler recalls.

Dillon Hauptfuhrer, the head organizer of the UVA protest, also found very little red tape when planning the protest. She got 32 people to commit under 2 weeks, and received an immediate response from the Dean and event planner on how to coordinate the event. “I was worried about finding numbers, or getting permission to do the protest - but it has really moved me how willing people were to help,” Hauptfuhrer said.

The immediate goal of Spangler’s group, www.protesteasyguns.com, is to close the gun show loop hole in Virginia, which allows people to buy guns with no background checks. The group is also seeking to ban high-capacity ammunition cartridges such as the one that the assailant used in the Virginia Tech shootings.

Spangler has recently been awarded Redbook Magazine’s “Strength and Spirit Award” for her work. In her closing remarks before lying down to symbolize one of the 32 victims, she declared, “Today we lie down in protest to secure a better future for our children, our police, and our fellow americans.”
#

Comments(3)

A month after rape apologizer William Beebe left the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail after serving six months for a 1982 fraternity house sexual assault, he has settled in Chesterfield County just south of Richmond. Finding a place to live wasn’t hard: he moved in with the friends who have stood by him from his arrest in January 2006 through multiple hearings, his guilty plea, and subsequent sentencing. But finding employment– a required condition of his probation– has proved more troublesome.

The Hook has learned that the 42-year-old, who worked as a real estate agent and massage therapist in Las Vegas before his arrest in January 2006, was hired by the Richmond Smoothie King franchise in late September but was fired almost immediately.

“He worked here about a week,” says a manager (more)

Comments(14)