Cover Stories


COVER- Joie de livre: 15th Book Fest, 15 hot lit picks Published on Mar 12th, 2009 0 comments Seems like only yesterday that the Virginia Festival of the Book was an infant, and now, at 15– it's an adolescent– a very mature adolescent. With the tougher economic diet, the four-...
COVER- Hard row to hoe: Can local food movement save farmers? Published on Mar 5th, 2009 0 comments With less than two months left on her land lease, farmer Connie Hicks is desperate to find a new home for her cattle operation. PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Forget Pop Tarts and Cocoa Krispies. These days...
COVER- 'We just want the truth': Connie Hevener's family wants to know why a cop allegedly hid her killer for 40 years Published on Feb 26th, 2009 4 comments Though Staunton police say Connie Hevener's 1967 murder was solved this past November, many unanswered questions remain for Hevener's mother LaVerne Sowers and twin brother Carroll Smootz.PHOTO BY...
COVER- Death defying stories: love, loss, and rushing to the hospital Published on Feb 19th, 2009 0 comments Amanda Heale, a Fluvanna resident who suffered from a congenital liver defect, meets with transplant surgeon Timothy Pruett on Friday, February 13. Heale received a new liver at UVA hospital on...
COVER- Surviving the Depression: True tales of the 1930s Published on Feb 12th, 2009 0 comments The economy has crashed and millions of Americans have lost jobs, lost their homes, aren't sure where their next meal is coming from and basically are in Despair Central. It may seem to the softest...
COVER- King of the Road: The unstoppable Wendell Wood Published on Feb 5th, 2009 0 comments "People who oppose this stuff all have jobs," says Wood of those who would try to stop or thwart development. "They drive Volvos and Mercedes, and live pretty comfortably. This is...
COVER- Wahoo where? What's your favorite Cavalier sports legend doing now? Published on Jan 29th, 2009 0 comments Matt BlundinPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO For four years, they rise to celebrity status with Charlottesville sports fans. For that moment in time, every orange-and-blue-blooded Wahoo follows every move of...
COVER- The detector: Why it couldn't save a firefighter in his own house Published on Jan 22nd, 2009 5 comments Retired Roanoke Fire Captain Kenny Watson perished in a house fire on December 13. A smoke detector expert says he had an ionization detector. PHOTO COURTESY KIM TAYLOR Few people could have...
COVER- Road warrior: But Warner would rather be seen as green Published on Jan 15th, 2009 0 comments John WarnerPHOTO BY ASH DANIEL After winning $29.5 million in federal earmarks in 2005 for a highway intersection, the man who may soon be immortalized in Charlottesville with a road linking...
COVER- Getting away with murder? Former cop has serious questions about why Staunton's most infamous killer almost got away Published on Jan 8th, 2009 39 comments Former Staunton police investigator Roy Hartless says the way police handled a 1967 double homicide then and now "speaks to a cover-up." PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Two bullets was all it...
Unprecedented: Behind the '08 ball Published on Dec 25th, 2008 0 comments This has not been our best decade. The Hook, born only months after 9-11, has grown up in a grimmer time than those giddy, fin de siècle days when the biggest worry for the new year was how Y2K...
COVER- Person of the Year: Gary O'Connell- The CEO of Charlottesville Published on Dec 18th, 2008 0 comments Gary O'Connell PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Editor's note: This is our first-ever "Person of the Year" cover story. Our criterion is very similar to that of Time magazine's Person of the...
COVER- Horror in Mumbai: Inside a terrorist attack and the mind of Synchronicity Published on Dec 11th, 2008 0 comments Kia Scherr and Charles Cannon, known to his Synchronicity followers as Master Charles, spoke at length to reporters during a December 2 press conference at the Foundation.PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER "...
COVER- Cop out? What have police learned after last fall's crosswalk incidents? Published on Dec 4th, 2008 0 comments A year after the crosswalk incident, Gerry Mitchell says the effects of his injuries linger. PHOTO BY WILL WALKER Last fall, in the space of six weeks, a pair of incidents between pedestrians...
Minor mishaps: He built an Internet giant, so why is Halsey hurting? Published on Nov 27th, 2008 52 comments Halsey Minor, seen here at the March groundbreaking of the Landmark Hotel, has gotten into a public dispute with his developer and his bank over the luxury Downtown Mall property. PHOTO BY...
COVER- Missing billion: how UVA's investment strategy worked... until it didn't Published on Nov 20th, 2008 0 comments UVA's endowment and its mostly stellar investment performance is handled by a separate foundation– the University Investment Management Corporation. PHOTO BY WILL WALKER UVA has "ample...
COVER: Out of nowhere: How Tom Perriello's 450 mile Election Day made the difference in the race for Congress Published on Nov 13th, 2008 7 comments PHOTO BY LINDSAY BARNES Tom Perriello doesn't look like a rock star, but when the Democratic congressional candidate took the stage at Gravity Lounge on Tuesday, November 4 just before...
COVER- Encore? Did a violence-free Jay-Z show just save local hip-hop? Published on Nov 6th, 2008 18 comments Jay-Z surveys the crowd at John Paul Jones Arena at his concert on Saturday, October 25, 2008. PHOTO BY MEGAN LOVETT/DAILY PROGRESS It may not have been obvious to those in attendance, but...
COVER- And the nominees are...: Nine people we'd like to see run the Virginia Film Festival Published on Oct 30th, 2008 0 comments With Virginia Film Festival director Richard Herskowitz ending his 14-year tenure and riding off into the Oregon sunset at the conclusion of this year's festival, all of Charlottesville's...
COVER- Lien on me: How one high rolling firm's troubles trickle down Published on Oct 23rd, 2008 0 comments PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO In September, Church Hill Homes announced that a Richmond-based firm was swooping in to purchase nearly a dozen of its properties in the massive green development off Rio Road...
COVER- Attack of the clones? Have freedom and tradition taken a back seat to fan uniformity at UVA? Published on Oct 16th, 2008 13 comments PHOTOS BY MICHAEL NEEL/HAWES SPENCER "This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor...
COVER- Segregation's storytellers: History emerges from those who lived it Published on Oct 9th, 2008 0 comments Governor Lindsay Almond's decision to close Venable Elementary and Lane High schools in Charlottesville, as well as other schools in Norfolk and Warren County, stunned the nation, and made the cover...
COVER- 'Uncle and maestro': Remembering George Garrett Published on Oct 2nd, 2008 0 comments Friends and colleuges gathered at the UVA Chapel on Monday, September 22 to remember writer and UVA professor George Garrett. PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR At a memorial service last week for writer...
COVER- Ripped apart: How Homeland Security broke up this family Published on Sep 25th, 2008 0 comments Melinda Denisenko hasn't seen her husband Gennady since April 30, 2008. Now, he awaits deportation in a Texas prison. PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO It was the moment Gennady and Melinda Denisenko had prayed...
COVER- Big steps: Will Martha Jefferson's leap bring a footbridge? Published on Sep 18th, 2008 0 comments PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Martha Jefferson Hospital is planning to complete its move to a new site on Pantops Mountain in 2012, and bicyclist Randy Salzman is very, very worried. Armed with a county...
COVER- Madison for resident: Montpelier gets extreme makeover Published on Sep 11th, 2008 5 comments Before... PHOTO COURTESY MONTPELIER FOUNDATION ...and after. PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Like a delicate butterfly emerging out of a bloated pink pupa, Montpelier has metamorphasized back into...
COVER- Vive LeRoi: 1961-2008 Published on Sep 4th, 2008 18 comments LeRoi Moore's memory continues to loom large over Dave Matthews Band FILE PHOTO BY H. MITCHELL JARRETT As a soft but steady rain– the first in more than a month– fell on his...
COVER- The diplomat: Piecing together Casteen's longevity Published on Aug 28th, 2008 0 comments John CasteenPHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GABRIEL ROBINS It's a wonder the offices of college presidents aren't outfitted with revolving doors. Among U.S. News and World Report's top 50 universities, the...
COVER- Obscene! (sort of)- Staunton porn trial bizarre from start to finish Published on Aug 21st, 2008 0 comments PHOTO BY LINDSAY BARNES STAUNTON–- It was a scene straight out of The Andy Griffith Show's fictitious town of Mayberry. On Tuesday, August 12, just before the judge gaveled Staunton...
Painful puzzle: Abshire talks about the fatal night Published on Aug 14th, 2008 0 comments ABC NEWS It was first considered a tragic but straight-forward incident of hit and run on a winding, moonlit country road in Barboursville. But the 2006 death of Justine Swartz Abshire, a 27-year...