July 14th, 2005 issue #0428
July 14th, 2005
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Bad water: Avoiding a home nightmare
Don't assume you can handle the mold in the house you're buying. Don't assume a river of water won't run through your new home on move-in day. And never assume that just because the health department approves a new well, the water is safe to drink. Those are harsh lessons for local homebuyers recently reported in The Hook. So if you're getting ready to buy a house how do you find out if the water supply may be threatened by the biggest petroleum spill in Albemarle County? -
COVER SIDEBAR- Rusted stuff: Tank farm landmark doomed
Underground oil tanks aren't all that Charlottesville Oil has to scrap. The Department of Environmental Quality has decreed that a battery of empty fuel tanks on Ivy Road must be removed so the petroleum-soaked soil underneath can be cleaned up. "There's contamination underneath those tanks that needs to be addressed," says David Fitt, senior hydrogeologist at the DEQ. Fitt explains that petroleum has saturated the soil 15 feet down, and he estimates several hundred cubic yards will have to be removed. -
Gas by the glass: North Garden's contaminated water
Ann Messina still remembers the day the Department of Environmental Quality told her to stop eating the eggs her chickens were laying and to stop bathing and washing clothes in the water from her well. She and her husband thought they'd done the necessary due diligence before buying a home in North Garden in 1990. They stayed clear of the Ivy Landfill. They had the house tested for radon. And the health department found their high-yielding well potable.
4Better Or Worse
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The week in review
Best day for London: July 6, when the International Olympic Committee announces the city will host the 2012 Olympics. Worst: July 7, when four separate terrorist explosions...
The Dish
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Double Spot: Corner dining choices multiply
Don't be deceived by the seeming lack of traffic on University Avenue during these (blissfully) quiet summer months. Significant changes are brewing inside several Corner e...
Essays
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Killer instincts: Why suicide bombers do it
Four years ago, the late Susan Sontag was excoriated for arguing, in a brief New Yorker piece, that the attacks that brought down the World Trade Center were inspired not b...
Real Estate - $old
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$old
ALBEMARLE 5/3 Robert G. Davis, trustee, to Jin and Lixin Wang, 2416 North Berkshire road, Barterbrook, $199,500. Howard B. and Mary Jean Craddock to Mary Jean Cradd...
Real Estate - On the Block
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Hunt country: Old cabin lurking under roof
ADDRESS: 2400 Pine Garth Run NEIGHBORHOOD: Ivy ASKING: $799,000 YEAR BUILT: 1965, 1990 SIZE: 4,486 fin. sq. ft. LAND: 2.03 acres CURB APPEAL: 9 of 10 LISTED BY: Betty Dunca...
Real Estate - Update
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SOLD!
What happened to On The Blocks of the Past? APPEARED IN THE HOOK: November 18, 2004 ADDRESS: 307-A Riverside Avenue ASKING PRICE: $127,900 SELLING PRICE: $115,000 DAYS TO C...
DR. HooK
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Rabid response: One bite, five shots
Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck had some great adventures. "It's Duck season!" "It's Wabbit season!" "It's Wabbit season!" "It's Duck season, Fire!!" Boom! Remember when they ent...
Movie Reviews
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Sweet! Can Willie unseat Dorothy?
Unlike most of the movies that have been remade in the last few years, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was an ideal candidate. It has a cult of fans who originally sa...
News
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DMB on Stones stage? All signs point to maybe
No matter which town they're in, when the Rolling Stones plug in and play for an audience, there isn't a bigger event in the rock 'n' roll universe that night. But when Mic... -
Jumbo pad: Student building eyed for 15th Street
It's simple arithmetic: 20,000 students at the University of Virginia minus the 7,500 spots available for on-grounds housing leaves more than 12,000 students scrambling eac... -
Lot of money: Parking place could be linchpin development
One of the biggest– if not the very biggest– real estate deal in Charlottesville history might soon shake up downtown and the tightly-held company that stands t... -
Stretched: Pavilion covered, hiring staff
With the Charlottesville Pavilion's July 30 grand opening Loretta Lynn show just two weeks away, general manager Kirby Hutto is "absolutely" confident the city's newest ent... -
Train pain: Under the covers and fuming
These days, people strolling downtown can hear horns at almost every corner. Of course, they're usually accompanied by guitar, bass, and drums and waft from Fridays After 5... -
Wash out: New developments raise mud and ire
When the city recently painted a white stripe down the center of the Rivanna Trail, many trail-goers called it an unwelcome intrusion. But some say they're really seeing re...
On Architecture
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Pei's position: 'Naturalizer' champions change
The United States has been kind to I.M. Pei. He has completed 40 buildings in no less than 23 American cities, where they often occupy the most prominent locations. Pei's c...
Sports Doctor
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Sparklers: Nats light up the 4th
Ever since the Washington Nationals became a reality, my dad and I have joked about seeing a game. Like many baseball fans, we expected the expansion franchise to be the la...
Strange But True
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No deductible: Operating on yourself
DRAWING BY DEBORAH DERR McCLINTOCK Q. Is DIY ("do it yourself") surgery ever done? –J.D. Aller A. Necessity mothers much, as they say, including the recent case of ...
Facetime
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More Moore: Sundance channel signs Trevor
Whatever happened to sketch comedy program The Trevor Moore Show? More specifically, whatever happened to the Giant Walkin' Talkin' Box, Moore's conversations with squirrel...
Hotseat
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Pipe dreamer: Frederick wants millions (of gallons)
For a utilities director, Thomas Frederick's experience is hard to beat: he's been an expert on the subject for 25 years, most recently in Asheville, that hip enclave in th...
Letters
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Gay realtors were dissed
Regarding Dave Phillips' favorite bumper sticker ("Nuke the Gay Baby Whales") in your June 30 issue [Hotseat: "O, lucky man: Phillips and the rockets' red glare"], I'm alwa... -
Give Phil the credit
In the Hook's "Hot Seat" article of last week ["Rosé-colored glasses: Robert Harllee's wine-tinted world" July 7, 2005] an important fact was omitted. Since the interview ... -
No brown recluses here
I was very pleased with the response by Dan Foster regarding spiders [Gimme Shelter: "Spider man: Beasts in the basement," June 30, 2005] However, his response requires a ...
Cultural preview
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Cultural calendar, July 14-21, 2005
Cultural calendar, July 14-21, 2005 THURSDAY, July 14 DANCE CARD Slippery: Belly dancing and pole dancing lessons at the Berkmar Ballroom. Rio ...