Logan Blanco was struck in a crosswalk by a turning vehicle in the pre-dawn hours of September 12.
PHOTO BY COURTENEY STUART

A pedestrian was struck by a car on the south side of the Belmont Bridge just before noon today, and on September 12, a pedestrian was struck at Ninth and Jefferson on the north side of the bridge.

This morning’s accident occurred at the corner of Graves and Avon streets near Spudnuts donut shop. According to city spokesperson Ric Barrick, the pedestrian, whose identity has not been released, “stepped off the curb into the street— not into a crosswalk— and the driver was not able to react in time.”

According to Barrick, the first officer on the scene interviewed the driver, the pedestrian, and witnesses, before deciding a ticket for the driver was not warranted. And unlike an incident in November 2007 in which a wheelchair-bound pedestrian was ticketed after being struck in a crosswalk, this time police decided not to pursue charges against the injured pedestrian, who was transported to UVA hospital. Barrick says there were no serious injuries.

In an incident on Friday, September 12, a woman out walking her dog was struck just after 6am as she crossed Ninth Street heading west on Jefferson Street. Driver James E. Shifflett was turning left onto Ninth Street from Jefferson St. and struck 59-year-old Logan Blanco. Both are residents of the Little High Street Neighborhood.

“It seemed to lift me up a little; I felt very rag doll-ish,” (more)

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And men aren’t excited about this. Why?
PHOTO BY COURTENEY STUART

If the reaction of Hook newsroom staffers is any indication, the news that a Sephora store is opening in Fashion Square Mall on October 17 will be greeted by men and women in markedly different ways.

“Oh my God!” squealed one female reporter (okay, this one) after Fed Ex delivered a large-ish black box bearing the black and white logo of the make-up emporium whose closest current location is Richmond’s Regency Square. Indeed, the bribe kit (ahem) press kit contained a bevy of beauty products that each XX-chromosomed staffer pored over with glee. Purity “high foaming facial cleanser” anyone? How ’bout “Buxom Lips” lip gloss? Bliss brand “triple oxygen instant energizing mask”?

Whoo-hoo!

Reporters with the XY chromosome’s response?

“Uh, what is wrong with you?”

Men.

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Racing cars was a passion for Newman, who voiced a character in the 2006 animated film Cars.
PHOTO JIM CULP/FLICKR.COM

Paul Newman’s passing last week made headlines around the world, and the tributes have been plentiful for the man who made scores of movies, raced cars, donated at least $250 million to charity, and embodied classic movie star mystique (while remaining married to– and smitten with– the same woman, Joanne Woodward, for 50 years).

In an obituary published Saturday, September 27 on Slate.com, Charlottesville resident/supreme court reporter Dahlia Lithwick recalled her days as a counselor at Newman’s Hole in the Wall camp for seriously ill children.

“Each summer of the four I spent at Newman’s flagship Connecticut camp was a living lesson,” she wrote, “in how one man can change everything.” Newman, who died at age 83 on September 26 after a battle with lung cancer, made his way to Charlottesville for visits on at least two occasions during the 1990s, and for at least two who spotted him, the memory is vivid. (more)

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Republicans anxiously await Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s vice presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) this Thursday, October 2.
PHOTO BY TOM LEGRO/PBS NEWSHOUR

A little over a month after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) surprised the world with his female VP pick, democrats aren’t the only ones criticizing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Palin is “out of her league,” wrote the conservative commentator Kathleen Parker in a September 26 editorial in New Republic that followed what many have called an “embarrassing” three-part interview last week with Katie Couric. (That interview was the subject of Tina Fey’s second biting Palin impersonation on SNL, the punch line of which was Palin asking Couric for a “lifeline” à la game show Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.)

Yet despite the mounting questions and criticism, on the eve of the one and only vice presidential debate this Thursday, October 2, some local Republicans say they still believe the plucky Governor from Alaska has what it takes to fill the nation’s number two slot.

“She’s been a good role model,” says UVA researcher Laura Berger. “She says, ‘You can have it all, you don’t have to be a liberal who’s backing quotas for women in the workplace.’”

Attorney Cyndra Van Clief, co-chair of the Albemarle division of Virginia Women for McCain/Palin is also standing behind the candidate. (more)

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Tom Perriello looks darker and “scarier” in the photo on the left used in a Virgil Goode ad, complains Perriello’s campaign.

Fifth District Democratic congressional candidate Tom Perriello has asked television stations to stop airing an ad from incumbent Virgil Goode that contains “a flat-out lie” and is “libelous,” according to the Perriello campaign.

The Goode commercial says Perriello opposes offshore drilling, a claim the Perriello people vehemently deny.

Charlottesville attorney Lloyd Snook sent a letter to television stations citing libel law from the New York Times v. Sullivan U.S. Supreme Court decision that specifies “actual malice” and “reckless disregard” for the truth in proving libel [or in this case, slander] of a political figure.

“We do not expect you to act as a censor, prejudging all advertisements that are offered to you,” wrote Snook. “But we do expect that (more)

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Could dredging prevent this coal-burner?
FROM WATER PLAN PERMIT SUPPORT DOCUMENT

Tom Frederick, the head of the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority has never publicly revealed that his wished-for mega-reservoir in the Ragged Mountain Natural Area won’t work without a pipeline to fill it. But a memo prepared for him does.

The memo, recently obtained by a band of water watchers through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that without the pipeline the planned reservoir— now in turmoil over a price tag which may hit $100 million and push the total project over $200 million— would provide a small fraction of its promised water and just one fifth of what would be supplied by simply dredging the community’s main reservoir.

According to engineering firm Gannett Fleming, dredging the existing Rivanna Reservoir— an officially dismissed but increasingly popular alternative— would supply five million gallons per day. A pipeline-less reservoir, by contrast, bolsters today’s water capacity of 12.8 million gallons per day by just 1.1 million to just 13.9 million gallons per day, according to a memo by Amanda Hess of the same firm.

“I know that, at first glance, that might not seem correct,” writes Hess. “Without the pipeline (more)

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Jay-Z’s set will be the first time a non-student promoter has ever brought a hip hop show to John Paul Jones Arena. In 2007, UVA’s student-run University Programs Council booked rapper Common to play an April 11 show at the JPJ.
PHOTO BY NRK P3/FLICKR

For Charlottesville’s hip-hop fans, life just got a little less hard knock. For the first time ever, a non-student promoter has booked the John Paul Jones Arena for a hip-hop show, and the christening will come from none other than the best-selling rapper of all-time, Jay-Z. Opening will be Atlanta MC T.I., who has sold 6.65 million albums of his own. The show will take place Saturday, October 25 at 8pm. Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 3 at noon. No word yet on how much cheese fans will have to spend to see the show.

Since making his debut in 1996, the man born as Shawn Carter but otherwise known as Jigga, Hova, the CEO of Hip Hop, or just plain Jay has sold more than 26 million copies of his albums in the United States alone— more than Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Buffett, Nirvana, or Frank Sinatra. That’s not counting the other 24 million records he’s sold worldwide.

Jay-Z’s beginnings in life may not have been auspicious (born into Brooklyn’s Marcy projects, abandoned by his father, shot his brother at age 12, dropped out of high school) but (more)

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Under questioning from the grand jury about his involvement with Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton rationalized having said there was nothing going on between them by uttering the famous line, ” It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” Clinton went on, “If the–if he–if ‘is’ means is and never has been, that is not–that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement.”

Huh?

Fortunately, the definition of “Is” on West Main is a little more straight forward–it’s a new music venue above the new tapas restaurant Si, both of which open next week in the old Starr Hill Restaurant & Brewery space on West Main.

“Si’s owners asked me what they should put in the space upstairs,” says Stew Hartman-Mart, who’ll be managing the music venue, ”and I suggested a music venue to fill (more)

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Melinda Denisenko sits at her dining room table, from which her husband Gennady has been absent since the Department of Homeland Security detained him on April 30.
PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO

As of today, local man and Soviet defector Gennady Denisenko is closer than ever to being deported back to his native Russia. The Russian government has processed Denisenko’s travel documents with what his attorney calls “unusual speed.” Now there’s nothing keeping the Department of Homeland Security from deporting Denisenko from the country he’s called home since 1991.

“The Russian Embassy told me on Friday it would take a few months,” says attorney Mark Urbanski, “but then I got a call this morning from the detention facility where he is in Texas saying they expected to receive his travel documents from the Russian government tomorrow and that they expect to put him on a plane in about two weeks.”

The news has hit Denisenko’s wife Melinda particularly hard.

“I’ve cried so much today I don’t think I have any water left in me,” she says. “I am struck to the core with fear.”

As the Hook reports in this week’s cover story, Denisenko came to America 17 years ago, having already served five years in a Siberian prison camp after writing several promotional materials calling for democracy and the overthrow of communism in the Soviet Union. Since defecting, Denisenko has (more)

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Peter Riegert, right, will be here to comment on his 1983 American-in-Scotland role in Local Hero.
PUBLICITY PHOTO

The Virginia Film Festival announced much of its “Aliens!”-themed program today for the October 30-November 2 film-a-thon, and actor Peter Riegert will be here for a 25th-anniversary screening of Local Hero. Despite a long career as a working actor, Riegert is still perhaps best known for his roles as Delta house brother Boone the 1978 classic, Animal House, and his performance in the 1983 cult classic, Local Hero.

On a more serious note, he’ll also be on hand for a screening of The Response, a new film about the legal proceedings of a Guantanamo detainee in which he co-stars, and Slate writer Dahlia Lithwick will lead a panel discussion.

As usual when there are few stars to announce, festival director Richard Herskowitz stresses that it’s all about the filmmakers. Guillermo Arriaga, screenwriter for Amores Perros and Babel, will present his directorial debut, The Burning Plain, starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger.

Local celebs will be (more)

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Dan Doernberg’s new program aims to help voters cut through political spin.
FILE PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO

Cutting through the spin of political campaigns can make one’s head spin, but thanks to Albemarle resident Dan Doernberg, founder of Fairness.com, voters across the country will have a new tool just in time for the final head-spinning stretch of the presidential race.

Dubbed “CriTweak”— a combination of critique and tweak— the tool is a computer program that Doernberg hopes will revolutionize the way people read and comment on online articles and documents. Instead of the typical commenting format, in which readers post comments at the bottom of the page, CriTweak allows users to comment on specific passages simply by mousing over them, and to see what other commenters have posted on those same passages without leaving the page.

“If someone lays out an idea or something in a speech, a reader might think, ‘That’s a really good idea, and I’d add this implication,’ or say, ‘don’t forget about this aspect,” says Doernberg. “It’s meant to both be critiquing things you don’t agree with and amplifying and expanding ideas that you do like.”

The program is already up and running at electiondocs.com and features 400 searchable documents– speech transcripts and news articles relating to the election. Doernberg says the full transcript of the first presidential debate will be online at the site in the near future and ready for commenters. (more)

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Writers gathered at the UVA Chapel on Monday to remember George Garrett.
PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

At a memorial service held at the UVA Chapel on Monday, September 22 for writer and UVA professor George Garrett, who died after a battle with bladder cancer on May 25, UVA president John Casteen called the author of 11 novels, eight short story collections, eight books of poetry, as well as plays, essays, screenplays, and biographies a “great man of letters” and a “reader and teacher without peer” and credited him with conceiving of and shaping the university’s program in creative writing, which is consistently ranked among the best in the country.

“He took his work seriously,” Casteen said to a packed Chapel audience, “but never took himself seriously.”

As evidence, Casteen cited how Virginia’s poet laureate delighted in talking not about his best, most serious work, but about a screenplay he wrote in the 1960s called Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, which became a very cheaply produced science fiction film, and later a cult favorite, before it was finally voted one of the 50 worst movies ever made in 2004. Indeed, Garrett spoke at length about the story behind the movie for a Hook feature in 2003.

“George made fun in every way,” said novelist John Casey, talking about Garrett’s ability to both make and poke fun, at others and himself, “and this side of him was a blessing.” (more)

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Luke Russert says UVA student voters are “a microcosm of the state” for the upcoming election.
NBC NEWS

Alumna Katie Couric may have left the show, but the Today show keeps coming back to the University of Virginia. As part of the NBC morning program’s ongoing series on battleground states in the upcoming presidential election, Luke Russert, son of late Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert, paid a visit to UVA yesterday to take the pulse of the student vote at Mr. Jefferson’s University.

In his analysis, “You have to remember, the smartest kids in the state go there, so it’s leaning a little bit towards [Sen. Barack] Obama [D-IL]. But it really kind of is a microcosm of the state. White males we spoke to, overwhelmingly for [Sen. John] McCain [R-AZ]; African-Americans overwhelmingly for Obama; white women kind of split right down the middle.”

The younger Russert just graduated from UVA’s ACC rival Boston College this spring, and has been covering politics for NBC News ever since (more)

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Neil Diamond, seen here at June’s Glastonbury Festival in England, will play John Paul Jones Arena on Monday, December 8.
PHOTO BY NEIL WHITEHOUSE PIPER/FLICKR

In the 1991 movie What About Bob?, Bill Murray’s title character famously declared, “There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t.” Charlottesville is about to find out who’s who.

The “Solitary Man” himself announced today that he will be coming to John Paul Jones Arena on Monday, December 8. The arena has yet to announce when tickets go on sale or how much they will cost.

Though Diamond has sold 120 million copies of his albums worldwide to date, back in the ’60s it didn’t seem as though he would make a living as a performer. Rather, Diamond worked as a songwriter in New York’s legendary Brill Building alongside the likes of Carole King, Burt Bacharach, and Neil Sedaka. The music world took notice of Diamond in a big way when the Monkees’ version of his “I’m A Believer” sold 2 million copies in its first two days of release, and would go on to be the best-selling single of 1967.

It wasn’t long before Diamond (more)

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Bob Fenwick of Save McIntire meets with Supervisor Ken Boyd last week— but will he be heard at the City’s softball organizational meeting?
FILE PHOTO BY STEPHANIE GARCIA

Following the example of Albemarle County supervisor Ken Boyd and his community conversation at the Elk Lodge September 11, the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation is hosting a “softball team organizational meeting” at the end of the month to gauge the current pulse of softball players, many of whom have expressed anger at the move their league may soon be forced to take.

“It will give an opportunity for the teams to ask questions and give comments— similar to Mr. Boyd’s conversation,” Director of Parks and Recreation Mike Svetz says.

But will this “organizational meeting” stray from the issue of lighting Darden Towe’s three softball fields to the softball community’s growing anxiety about the future of McIntire Park? As Boyd discovered in his conversation, the softballers and Towe neighbors are united under the mutual purpose of questioning the city’s decision to convert McIntire’s softball complex into a rectangular, multi-use field and additional parking for a planned YMCA. According to Bob Fenwick of the Save McIntire campaign, the city should expect a vocal crowd.

“I expect the city will not want to hear from me,” Fenwick chuckles. “But (more)

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