November 20th, 2003 issue #0246
November 20th, 2003
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Clifton at a glance
Built: circa 1799 Became an inn: 1985 Restaurant opened: 1991 Rooms / suites: 14 (6 in house; 8 in outbuildings) Room rates: $165-$585 Amenities: pool, outdoor hot tub, nature trails, clay tennis court, renowned restaurant Guests staying at Clifton at time of fire: 15 Guests who were UVA Law grads: 6 Guests who were Willkie employees: 9 Guests inside main house during fire: 6 Location of hospitalized victim: downstairs -
Firm of victims: Willkie Farr & Gallagher
Employees: nearly 300 in New York; 500 worldwide Offices: New York, Washington, Paris, Milan, Rome, Frankfurt, Brussels Famous current partner: Mario Cuomo Famous early partner: Wendell Willkie Offices: 10 floors of mid-town building near Times Square UVA Law hires last year: 6 UVA Law hires this year: 7 (tentatively) Rank of all firms in hiring from UVA: 7th (in a 3-way tie) –sources: UVA Law School, Willkie Farr & Gallagher # -
Pre-dawn terror: Clifton fire kills two women
Stepping through the front door of Clifton Inn on Friday morning, November 14, one sees sickening evidence of the pre-dawn blaze that took two lives and left two other guests hospitalized. In the entryway, once elegant wallpaper is crinkled into brown scraps on the wall, a result of the searing heat. The walls and ceiling are dark brown and cracked, and the acrid scent of smoke is overpowering– even hours after the fire has been extinguished. -
Storied history: Clifton a gift from TJ
Long before it made headlines with the profound tragedy of last week's fire, Clifton had earned worldwide accolades for its hospitality. The property's storied history, however, goes back to Thomas Jefferson. When his 17-year-old daughter, Martha– "Patsy" as Jefferson called her– married the son of his best friend in February 1790, the future president bestowed 1,000 acres on the young couple. Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. and Patsy began their family of eight children on that farm, called Edgehill. -
Tragic trip: Recruiting junket turns deadly
PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Katie Leicht was there for dinner November 13. The second-year UVA law student was being wined and dined by a prestigious New York law firm at one of Charlottesville's best inns. The dinner at Clifton Inn wasn't an official UVA Law School function. Willkie Farr & Gallagher sent seven attorneys and two recruiters to sway the handpicked second-year law students who hadn't yet accepted the law firm's offer to work in its summer program.
4Better Or Worse
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The week in review
Worst fire: The historic and luxurious Clifton Inn burns November 14, killing two women. Worst murder: Police discover a dead man in a car parked in a driveway on Yancey Mi...
The Dish
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Cheered up: Magnolia to lift Scottsville's spirits
Winter might be just around the corner, but for the town of Scottsville, it might just as well be spring. After having been hard hit by 9/11 and last year's drought, our ch...
Essays
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My son: Adopting an orphan demands care
"Your son needs a therapist," I told my husband when we returned home from the doctor. "That's what she said, he needs a therapist?" "A behavioral therapist." We were not t...
Question of the Week
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Where were you when JFK was shot?
Pat Mullarney: "Well, that's easy. I was having lunch with two of my friends in Brooklyn Heights, New York." David Nobles: "I was two years old. Heck, I was still sucki...
Real Estate - $old
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$OLD
CHARLOTTESVILLE 9/25 E. V. Bayliss to William J. DeButts Jr., unit 12 in Carter Gilmer Place condominiums, $195,000. Janet M. Darrow to Johnathan and Devony Sonett,...
Real Estate - On the Block
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Ramping up: Location makes house a fishbowl
ADDRESS: 860 St. Charles Avenue ASKING: $349,950 SIZE: 2760 fin. sq. ft. YEAR BUILT: 2003 NEIGHBORHOOD: Locust Avenue CURB APPEAL: 5 out of a possible 10 LISTED BY: Gene Fi...
Real Estate - Update
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Back on the block
What happened to "On the Blocks" of the past? APPEARED IN THE HOOK: September 12, 2002, in issue #32 ADDRESS: 2850 Morgantown Road, Ivy ASKING: $399,000 LISTED BY: Sonja Ca...
Real Estate Property auctions
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Foreclosure auctions
November 26, at noon, at the Albemarle County Courthouse Property: 1095 Autumn Hill Court, Crozet Debtor: November 26, at 2:45pm, at the Fluvanna County Courthouse Debtor:...
Movie Reviews
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Gothica: Flick goes from soap to nuts
Fearless prediction: Halle Berry will not win her second Oscar for her performance in Gothika. Not that she doesn't give a good performance, but: 1) It's a horror movie. Ma...
Music Reviews
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Bring earplugs: Hardcore bands crank it up
Preston, Forensics, and Ultra Dolphins at Tokyo RoseNovember 14 It was an eardrum ripping, scream-intensive, and all in all pretty fabulous evening last Friday at th... -
Clubby club club: New dance space gets 'em moving
Rapture 2 OpeningDJs Bob Mould and Richard MorelNovember 14 Just in case you've had your head up somewhere dark for the last two weeks, Charlottesville just welcomed its s...
News
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Firefighter down: Friends mourn 'good ole country boy'
The last time Howard Sisk saw his son, Walker, was the evening of November 7. Walker had been on duty the night before at the Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department and h... -
Jem: ATO's latest Welsh signee
Jem, the latest signee to ATO records, the label founded by Dave Matthews, reveals she'd never heard of the Seattle-Charlottesville superstar until earlier this year. Shopp... -
Just a trim: Attorney General recruits hairdressers
Attorney General Jerry Kilgore has declared war on domestic violence, and he wants hair and nail stylists out on the front lines. "As a prosecutor, every murder case I trie... -
Learning curve: Boxer auctions stuff
A recent tour through the former Boxer Learning offices on the Downtown Mall revealed stuff– and lots of it. Computers, office furniture, plants, even Sharpies, all s... -
Reverse discrimination? Lawsuit accuses Progress parent
A former Lexington, Kentucky, television news producer has sued the parent company of the Daily Progress, claiming she was fired for standing up to reverse discrimination i... -
Sky's the limit: County estate sales could set record
Money no object? Looking for the ultimate Christmas gift? Forget the Neiman Marcus catalogue with its $12 million Lear jet. Forget Victoria's Secret's $11 million diamond...
The Brazen Careerist
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Want to advance? Clean up your cubicle
Here's a way to kill your career: Have a messy office. These are things that people with messy offices say: My work gets done; I know where everything is; people are too co...
Strange But True
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Get it up: How levitation really works
DRAWING BY DEBORAH DERR MCCLINTOCK Q. Levitation– floating in midair as if by turning off gravity– sure looks like fun in magic shows. Is it true a real frog h...
Facetime
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Hands on: Scholars get Mallory treatment
When Mike Mallory was growing up in Madison County, schools were still segregated, and racism was a daily reality. "Every time you would want to forget you were black, some...
Hotseat
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Alice Handy: Mistress of the Universe(ity)
Alice Handy has the Midas touch. She ends her 29-year stint making gobs of money for the University of Virginia on December 1 to start a new business, making gobs of money ...
Letters
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Bright Beginnings is the bully
When I first submitted my concern to the Fearless Consumer ["Bright Beginnings: Violations galore vex center," June 26], I never imagined it might lead to subsequent articl... -
Stop Kluge's development now
Patricia Kluge is now planning to develop her property by right [News, "In your face: PEC attacks new Kluge plan," November 6]. Under the plan denied by the Albemarle Count... -
Two sides to preschool story
In response to the letter to The Hook by Lori Mendez ["Daycare story should be told," October 30] regarding Bright Beginnings Preschool, my office manager, Diane Boland, an...
Cultural preview
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Cultural calendar, November 20-27, 2003
THURSDAY, November 20 ART Listening to Lincoln: Les Yeux du Monde @ dot2dot presents a talk by Lincoln Perry on his new painting series, The Musi...