Sheriff Randall Fisher defends the pursuit that landed Nargi.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Nearly three weeks after a reporter asked the sheriff of Augusta County for any dashboard camera videos of his department’s 90-mile-per-hour pursuit of a graffiti suspect, the sheriff says he doesn’t have any. But he did eventually produce a procedure manual, one that appears to have been violated with a March 2 pursuit.

“No videos exist in my agency of any pursuit involving [the suspects],” Sheriff Randall Fisher writes in a March 29 email, which comes nearly a month after a reporter began asking questions about the March 2 chase that reportedly traversed at least 15 miles, crossed three jurisdictions, blew through eight red lights, and wound up in a residential area.

For nearly a month, the Sheriff declined (more)

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The approved design for the façade of the former Victory Shoe store is a victory for the circa 1921 original façade.
PHOTO COURTESY GALVIN ARCHITECTS

Last November, city officials called the un-permitted demolition of the art-deco inspired façade of the former Victory Shoe Store on the Downtown Mall ‘inexcusable,’ the unique curved glass panels destroyed ‘irreplaceable,’ and sought to fine property owner Joe Gieck and force him to rebuild what was destroyed. Outraged Architectural Review Board members called it a “big loss” and an “extremely unique, and a special part of the Mall.” And that was nothing compared to how a family member of the original owners felt.

“It has made me so sick, I can’t tell you what it has done to us,” said Ethel Crowe, whose Russian immigrant grandparents, Isaac and Freda Kobre, opened the store at 219 West Main Street in 1921.

While the City’s Attorney’s office has yet to (more)

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The day after a blogger posted this address as Perriello’s and urged visits from outraged Tea Partiers, a propane line on a grill was found severed.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Writers for the New Yorker seem to be staking out Charlottesville restaurants. First, Calvin Trillin created a stir by writing about Taste of China, now journalist George Packer is predicting “Armageddon in Virginia” from Arch’s Frozen Yogurt.

On his New Yorker blog, Packer writes about having lunch with Perriello challenger Laurence Verga, a Monterey, California native and “hard-line libertarian conservative” who moved here six years ago, and who decided to seek Perriello’s 5th District seat after the thwarted Tea Party protests in front (more)

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Minor could lose “Andy Warhol and Members of the Factory,” shown here, as well as “Sexes,” by former Virginia Beach skater punk Ryan McGinness.
PHOTOS BY DENNIS HOPPER, JAY KUHLMANN

Internet tycoon Halsey Minor, who recently rescued his Albemarle farm from foreclosure after a spate of financial setbacks, has now been asked by Bank of America to give up dozens of artworks and pieces of furniture to satisfy the $21.6 million judgment won by its subsidiary, Merrill Lynch, in October. The request was part of a series of documents filed March 23 in a New York federal court.

“I have been trying to pay Merrill off, and they have been resisting,” says Minor, who claims that Merrill chose Christie’s auction house to liquidate his modern art collection in a deliberate (more)

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Company president Jim Berry, left, praised general manager Bob Stroh, right, as someone who “lives, breathes, and loves” downtown.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

For the third straight year, the number of cars visiting the three lots controlled by Charlottesville Parking Center has fallen. And yet that didn’t stop the company, the city’s oldest and largest parking company, from increasing its profitability.

The report came Thursday, March 25, at the annual meeting of the firm organized in 1959 to fend off competition from Barracks Road Shopping Center by providing free or low-cost parking to downtown businesses.

The privately-held company (of which the Hook owns a single share to gain meeting access) reported that the number of (more)

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Peter Chang’s food has created a frenzy among foodies.
PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO

Last fall, word that a famous Szechuan chef had quietly set up in Charlottesville had foodies salivating. There was a small newspaper mention and online chatter from groupies who track his every move, but after a March 1 story in the New Yorker, diners went into a feeding frenzy.

“We were surprised that it became so popular so fast,” says restaurant co-owner John Rong during a lunch time interview last week. “We noticed business going up after the story in the Hook, too, but when that story in the New Yorker come out…”

Indeed, sophisticated palates from Richmond and D.C. began making pilgrimages to Taste of China, where— even on cold winter evenings— lines could be seen snaking out onto the sidewalk of the north wing of Albemarle Square Shopping Center.

What was happening? Ever since the New York Times discovered the C&O back in 1976, Charlottesville restaurants have been making headlines. But this crossed some lines. For weeks, “Have you eaten at Taste of China yet?” was a popular refrain.

“I’ve been there at least 12 times since December,” says lawyer Ellen Teplitzky. “One week, I went there three times. And I’m not alone.”

Rong smiles and shakes his head, free to (more)

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