Nope. The device pictured at left was installed at Stone-Robinson Elementary to monitor air quality. For years, some parents and teachers at the school have wondered about the dust that coated the playground and cars when neighboring Luck Stone was blasting. After a Hook article last October mentioned those concerns, parent Paul Accad asked the Department of Environmental Quality to test the air.

Fifteen days of random monitoring between February and May, including three days when the quarry was blasting, measured particles below state and federal standards. In this case, bigger particles— on average 16.7 microns— are better than those below 10 microns, which can cause pulmonary fibrosis. “That’s an insidious, vicious kind of disease to have,” says Kathleen Klumpp, a respiratory therapist whose children used to attend the school. “We don’t want to worry about kids having that down the road.”

While the larger particles can exacerbate asthma, says Klumpp, she refers to them merely as “nuisance dust.”

As for the students’ reaction to the testing, says Stone Robinson principal Ashby Kindler, “They all wanted to know about the spaceship.”

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George Garrett wasn’t much of an Internet or computer guy…he wrote on many, many yellow legal pads in large, flowing, difficult to read script. But as the Charlottesville literary world mourns the loss last Sunday of the enormously prolific writer, UVA prof, and former Virginia Poet Laureate, the folks at the Virginia Quarterly Review have launched a very web savvy way of paying tribute. (It seems like only yesterday that Garrett was the one evoking remembrances in the VQR, when he penned a 2003 tribute to former VQR editor Staige Blackford.) VQR editor Ted Genoways is asking former students, colleagues, and people who knew him to post comments on the VQR’s blog for possible inclusion in a tribute to Garrett in the Fall addition of the magazine.

“What we want, more than anything else, is to show the incredible impact George had as a writer, a teacher, a colleague, and a friend,” writes Genoways in an email to Richard H. W. Dillard, director of the writing program at Hollins College, and long-time friend of Garrett’s, seeking his support in getting the word out about the blog.

“We’re reaching out to as many people as we can,” writes Genoways, ” but George’s network was enormous, and we can use your help.”

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The couple whose long-running illegal junkyard has been keeping Albemarle officials scrambling got their day in court Wednesday, and they got out with a fine of just $200.

At issue May 28 in Albemarle General District Court were the County’s claims that junkyard owners Cecil and Doris Gardner missed four deadlines to clean up their 16-acre Campbell Road property that Albemarle officials had, at various points, claimed was grandfathered.

“I’ve asked you the last 30 years– we’ve had people come [from the county]– whether we’re grandfathered in,” said Doris Gardner, who acted as her and her husband’s own counsel, to county zoning inspector John Jones. “Does the county agree this has been going on 30 years?”

“Yes, for quite awhile,” agreed Jones.

The saga of the Cismont dump started with neighbors’ complaints in 1976. The debris hit the fan January 4, 2005, with a conflagration that could be seen for miles. That’s when Albemarle determined that oops, the junkyard was not grandfathered after all– a ruling the county had failed to make following the great tire fire of 1984 that burned for almost two weeks. (more)

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Charlottesville’s LexisNexis employees will receive a very special visitor today: Governor Tim Kaine. A little birdie tipped off the Hook to the Governor’s visit, and Kaine’s press secretary, Gordon Hickey, confirms his boss will be in town and is stopping by Lexis at the company’s request. Hickey would not elaborate on the reasons for the visit.

What’s Kaine’s appearance all about? One high-level insider, who requested anonymity, says the Governor’s coming simply because Lexis is one of the largest employers here– and “the state is focused on economic development in this area.” According to the insider, it won’t be the first time a governor has visited LexisNexis. In the past, says the insider, the Governor has been invited to celebrate renewal of Lexis’ contract to publish the Virginia State Code. (Some of those visits likely occurred before Lexis’ purchase of the Michie Company.)

Whatever the main reason for the Gov’s visit, it could also be intended to boost the mood of Lexis employees (more)

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Duner’s owner Bob Caldwell tells us that he got a call today from someone claiming to have found a metal object in a take-out chicken order last night.

“He wouldn’t give out his name or number, just wanted his money back,” says Caldwell. ” After checking our records and finding that we didn’t sell any take-out chicken, we figured it to be a scam.”

Vivace owner Tom “Zipper” Lippman told Caldwell about a similar incident that happened last month, and when he called Hayden Berry, the former Duner’s chef who opened Three-Notch’d Grill in Crozet with his wife, Cathy, Berry told him that he and the owner of Uncle Charlie’s, another Crozet restaurant, got the same call today.

“We’ve reported it to the Albemarle police, but I’m sure this person is probably trying this scam at other places,” says Caldwell. “The phone number he’s dialing from is the UVA hospital. Of course, I thought this might be of interest to my fellow restaurateurs.”

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Bill Crutchfield, founder of the eponymous electronics retailer, is back from carrying the Olympic torch May 18 on its way to Beijing, and he explains why he’s not among those criticizing the regime.

“With this pall hanging over the country,” he explains, referring to the May 12 earthquake that killed nearly 70,000, “you don’t want to bring up Tibet. I guess the Westerners thought it would be inappropriate, given the tragedy.”

Crutchfield, who has recently leapt into political and water issues, stresses that he saw his 300-foot-stretch of the Olympic torch relay (which was suspended for three days of mourning shortly after he ran) as a chance of a lifetime. More than a million Chinese lined the route he took in Hangzhou, which is two hours southwest of Shanghai.

“It was a tremendous honor,” says Crutchfield today in his Rio Hill store. “It was a thrilling experience to see the excitement on those people’s faces.” He noted the pride many Chinese feel at “their joining of the world.”

Crutchfield was invited to the torch relay by sponsor Samsung, and was one of the few Westerners carrying the torch inside China. He got to bring his torch back as a souvenir from his journey, and will display it in the stores. Crutchfield shares one essential protocol for carrying the Olympic torch: always make sure the Olympic logo is facing the cameras.

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After a decade of recording and performing with Dave Matthews Band, keyboardist Butch Taylor has quit the group on the eve of a 52-city tour. In a written statement on the DMB website announcing the personnel change, the band writes, “We’re saddened by this sudden news, but he has our full support. He’s given so much to us and our audience through the years, and he will be missed.”

When the Hook attempted to contact Taylor at his Richmond home, the person who answered the phone hung up when she learned she was speaking to a reporter.

While never officially a member of DMB, Taylor began playing with the group when the Charlottesville-based band recruited him to sit in on (more)

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First the bad news: Seafood at West Main owner Chris Arseneault decided to close his lunch counter in the West Main Market. No more fish and chips, po-boys, and such. Now the good news: he’s opened a sushi counter in its place!

For Arseneault it was a no-brainer. After all, he’s been selling sashimi quality fresh fish for the last six years. And…

“We also expanded within the last two years to include Japanese groceries,” he says, “and my wife, Yoshiko, and I own the business and she’s Japanese.”

Using their sashimi quality yellow-fin tuna and Atlantic salmon, Arseneault says they’re currently offering tuna, salmon, spicy tuna, eel, California, and vegetable rolls.

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The strolling public gets its first chance to grab a copy of the latest free Corner 106.1 Music Sampler this Friday outside the Hook office on the Downtown Mall. The third such mix disc from the “different is good” radio station, the CD includes non-mainstream musical stylings by Death Cab for Cutie, The Old 97s, Virginia Coalition, and more.

“These CDs are a pretty cool thing for us to work on, because the playlist on the disc matches the current music on the station pretty well,” says Corner station manager Brad Savage. “We are super excited to partner with the Hook as a sponsor.”

While the co-sponsoring company, Horse & Buggy Produce, will conduct the first giveaways at its Frank Ix building pick-up point tomorrow, the Hook giveaway takes place between noon and 1pm on May 30 at the corner of Main and Second Street NW across from the Regal Cinema. Several Hook staffers and a Corner deejay will be there, and subsequent giveaways will occur at Corner-sponsored events throughout the summer.

Among other artists on this mix CD is Amos Lee, who Rolling Stone has claimed was rightfully dubbed Norah Jones’ male counterpart since they (more)

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Just Curry’s Alex George just dropped by to tell us that he’s signed a lease for a new Corner location– Mesob’s space next to the parking garage on Wertland Street. (Of course, the popular Ethiopian restaurant’s departure is news as well. George thinks they’ll be looking for a more intimate location up 29 North, but we’ll follow up on that.) As nearly everyone knows by now, Just Curry, along with Plan 9, Higher Grounds, and the Satellite Ballroom, will all get the boot at the end of the month, as the building’s owner has struck a deal with pharmacy chain CVS. For George the timing couldn’t be better.

“I’m hoping the Corner store will be closed for no more than 10 to 14 days,” says George, who’ll be moving from a 700-square-foot space to one with 2000 square feet. In April George opened a downtown location in the Transit Center, which he says he’ll keep and which is “doing great.”

George says he plans to expand the menu at the new Corner location, keeping his meat dishes but adding more vegetarian options. He says he’ll also open up the existing glass front for outdoor seating and ramp up his hours when the students get back, staying open from 11am to after midnight.

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He was cooperative, remorseful, and willing to seek treatment, according to testimony. So a probation supervisor, the defense, and Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Darby Lowe, left, recommended that the Crozet 16-year-old charged with shooting at cars on Interstate 64 be kept close to home for just six more months at the Blue Ridge Juvenile Detention Center, where he’s said to be a “model detainee.” But their pleas failed to move Judge Susan Whitlock, who sentenced the youth to a far grimmer fate with the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice– with no release date in sight.

“Because of the number of charges and the violent nature of those charges, the court believes incarceration to the juvenile justice system advisable,” Whitlock said today in Charlottesville Albemarle Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

The boy’s mother, earlier so hopeful, appeared crestfallen that her son would not do his time close to the family and friends who have regularly appeared in court with her. (more)

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The findings of a recent student-run UVA food study have finally been compiled– and it’s big news. We mean that literally. It’s 172 pages long! The product of a class of both graduate and undergraduate students in urban and environmental planning, called “Healthy Communities, Healthy Food Systems (Part III): Global-Local Connections,” the study examines our local food system, the local food movement in general, and according to its executive summary, is “the next step in a longer-term community project to foster better links between local farms and community schools and organizations, food stores, restaurants and residents.” Indeed, the study profiles Feast!, Blue Moon Diner, UVA dining services, Chipotle, a number of local farms– even a single family– in exhaustive fashion.

Conclusions? Well, considering it would take us about a week to read, here’s a quickie overview.

“The desire for a completely self-sustaining local food system is desirable to many; however, in the contemporary globally connected world, this is nearly impossible. A balance between local entities and its respective global ties work to provide a healthy system that most closely resembles the completely idealistic self-sustaining system.”

In other words, how the heck can small farmers feed millions of people?

“Local, organic food may seem phony, even elitist. The luxury of owning a share of Community Supported Agriculture for a weekly box full of unusual produce or paying $2.99 for a pound of ground beef sold at Kroger for $0.99, sets the local movement outside the reach of the everyday citizen.”

Which is the reason some folks call that grocery store on 29 North “Whole Paycheck.”

Still, the study profiles the noble efforts of area farms, restaurants, and organizations to make locally grown food more readily available, and even presents a number of strategies for improving the local food system, such as Feast! owner Kate Collier’s (pictured left) idea of establishing a publicly owned Community Food Center, a kind of local food grocery and distribution center. In particular, it examines Chipotle’s effort to make its Charlottesville franchise the first chain restaurant to use 100 percent locally grown produce.

Of course, there’s much more to the study than we’ve presented here, and co-creator of the UVA class, Tanya Denckla Cobb says the study will be available on the class website within the next week.

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At a hearing for pretrial motions in the obscenity trials of Rick Krial, owner of Staunton porn shop After Hours Video, and cashier Tinsley Embrey, Judge Thomas Wood denied the defense’s request to use a written questionnaire during jury selection to cover the more blush-inducing elements of the case.

“We’ve found in the past that we get more candid responses this way,” says Krial attorney Paul Cambria, whose past clients have included Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and shock rocker Marilyn Manson. “It also makes things go a lot faster, so we were just trying to make it easier for everyone.”

Staunton Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Robertson didn’t see Cambria’s questionnaire purely as an issue of efficiency. “He’s trying to find out the people who are against porn and get them to exclude themselves,” he says. “If you’re uncomfortable with this stuff, you’re allowed to have that opinion. All you have to be able to do is be able to put it aside and follow the judge’s instructions.”

All was not lost for Cambria, however. Judge Wood ruled in favor of his motion to (more)

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Charlottesville’s quirkiest barbecue man, Jinx Kern, is back in the news. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal recommends his restaurant in its “off the beaten path” travel article about Charlottesville, and foodies may appreciate (and debate) the three dining picks. Downtown bistro Bizou gets the nod for “delicious” food at “ridiculously low prices.” Sushi-centric Ten is loud and lauded, but the author ruins this place for Sissy Spacek by mentioning her presence. And Jinx’s Barbecue, no stranger to publicity, gets a nod for “hickory smoked barbecue and some seriously down-home atmosphere that ranks with some of the country’s best.” The barbecue man was pleased. “I’m speechless,” says Kern. “It’s a complete surprise.”

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A sampling of their wine, food, and spirits. Featuring a Jazz Cafe by Bill Harris
June 14, 4-7pm, Sperryville.
More info.

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One week ago, we caught the Citgo on Ivy Road at $3.74 (pictured right). Today, that seems so 20-cents-a-gallon ago.

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Recent UVA grad Kathleen O’Brien heads to Aspen hoping to carry the Cavs to victory in the Rooftop Comedy National College Comedy Competition May 30-31. In what almost looks like an ACC tournament, O’Brien, an English education major, squares off against funny people from Duke, UNC, and Xavier.

First-time stand-up comedienne O’Brien was a semi-finals winner April 6 in Arlington, and then had to round up online votes to get into the final four. “I had to do a lot of shameless self-promotion,” she admits, particularly since UVA has never been in the competition before.

Because she was a fifth-year in the Curry School, “I don’t know as many undergrads,” says O’Brien. “I talked to the Cavalier Daily and they never got back to me.” She did get help from UVA’s media relations department and from the Curry School, and says, “Probably as this becomes more of an annual event, more people will know about it.” (more)

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Not to be denied their voice in this year’s presidential election, local freedom lovers from the Jefferson Area Libertarians were among those who made a field trip to Denver last Saturday to nominate a White House candidate of their own. After much debate, they chose former Georgia congressman Bob Barr to be their 2008 presidential candidate. Members of the local group participated in the convention and “represented Jefferson’s thought,” according to JAL Chairman John Munchmeyer.

Despite the fact that third-party candidates have often spoiled the election for the major party candidate with whose views they are most aligned, Munchmeyer insists his party is not trying to rain on anyone’s parade.

“Our goal is not to affect the election,” Munchmeyer says. “Our goal is to offer a candidate who’s different from the two other big government candidates. We’re offering the only choice for smaller government.”

During his time in Washington, Barr– a former Republican– was (more)

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Christy Strick, this year’s Hook fiction winner, isn’t resting on the laurels she garnered for her short-story “Moving” . With the help of her writing group, Strick has moved on to an even more ambitious project— a place for writers to hang their laptops and do writerly stuff.

WriterHouse, located behind the Preston Avenue Bodo’s, opened its doors May 21 and offers secure, affordable writing and meeting spaces for members, and classes and literary events that will be open to the public.

“We’d been meeting three years as a group, critiquing each other’s manuscripts,” explains Strick. “We talked about how great it would be to have a place to meet. There’s nothing wrong with coffee shops, but they’re not as quiet or private as we’d hope.”

For $50 a year, scribes can (more)

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How will the May 22 announcement by Richmond-based media conglomerate Media General Inc. that it will lay off 11 percent of its workforce– a total of 750 employees– affect Charlottesville’s longest-running news outlet?

“We are reviewing all of our newspaper operations in an effort to be more efficient,” says Progress publisher Lawrence McConnell in Friday’s edition. “In some cases, the positions have not been filled and will not be filled, and are part of company reductions reported today.”

McConnell declined to elaborate on how many

Progress employee are affected by the cuts.

Media General, a publicly held company that owns news outlets throughout the southeast– including the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Waynesboro News Virginian– hopes to save $40 million ($53,333 per lay-off) annually with the cutbacks, which are planned by occur by October.

While word of the trimmings may not have played well in newsrooms from Tampa to Alexandria, they did play well a little further north: on Wall Street. On announcement day, word of pink slips and hiring freezes sent Media General stock (symbol: MEG) climbing by almost 10 percent to close at $16.40 per share.

It could be that Progress reporters have seen the writing on the wall. In the last year, the paper has lost some of its most prominent bylines with veteran political reporter Bob Gibson leaving the 166-year-old paper in March to direct UVA’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership. Last year, veteran courts and crimes scribe Liesel Nowak departed in August to become communications specialist for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. More recently, newsroomers Rob Seal and John Yellig have also departed.

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The final chapter in the colorful life of critically acclaimed novelist, essayist, and former Virginia Poet Laureate, UVA writing professor George Garrett, was written Sunday night. Seventy-eight-year-old Garrett died at his Rugby Road home “very peacefully,” says his wife, Susan, and surrounded by his family including his three children and two grandchildren. Garrett had been battling bladder cancer for a year and a half.

If Garrett is known and respected internationally for his literary works, he may be best remembered by some as the professor who launched 1,000 writers– or maybe more. And they weren’t all UVA students. Although Garrett taught at UVA in the 1960s, he left after the University learned (more)

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