Tuesday, August 24
Extra cash in Richmond
Virginians are making more money than State bean counters had projected, creating a $324 million budget surplus. And now Gov. Mark R. Warner, who led a successful charge in this year’s General Assembly to raise taxes, wants to give about $28 million back to taxpayers, the Richmond Times-Dispatch today reports. The money will increase personal exemptions for each Virginia taxpayers by $100 next year. Warner is putting the bulk of the surplus, however, in the State’s “rainy day fund.” The looming question for next year’s budget is Virginia’s strained roads and public transportation, which need a serious chunk of change. But Warner says he has not detected “an appetite” for new highway money among State lawmakers, according to the Time-Dispatch.
Wednesday, August 25
Rapist strikes again
Local police departments today announced that the August 18 assault of a woman on Webland Drive in the county was the work of the serial rapist—his first reported attack in more than a year. According to a release from the Albemarle County Police Department, evidence at the scene was “forensically linked” to the other attacks. The man allegedly broke into the woman’s residence, punched her when she came home and then sexually assaulted her. Police are asking residents to report Peeping Toms, prowlers and “any suspicious persons or vehicles,” and are offering a $20,000 reward for a tip that leads to the suspect. The description of the attacker was of a 5’7" black male of medium build, with “very prominent” eyes, who may have bruised one or both hands during the struggle.
Thursday, August 26
The Nader effect
A fracas has erupted over whether Ralph Nader, the ultra-liberal independent candidate for president, should be allowed on Virginia’s ballot this November. Nader’s supporters, one of whom was recently spotted on the Mall collecting signatures, have wrangled almost 13,000 names on their petition to get Nader on the ballot. Predictably, because Nader may pull votes away from John Kerry, the debate over the legitimacy of Nader’s petition has broken down over party lines. The Washington Post reports that Gov. Warner, a Democrat, today argued that Nader’s troops did not follow the rules adhered to by other candidates, having failed to submit signatures organized by congressional districts. But Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, the likely next Republican candidate for governor, has given Nader’s bid the green light, saying the congressional district rule was never formally adopted.
Friday, August 27
First city murder of ’04
City police arrested Charlottesville resident William Franklin Marshall Jr., 38, for the murder of Azlee Keller Hickman, 18, according to a story by Reed Williams in today’s Daily Progress. Hickman was found dead on March 13 at a Carlton Avenue mobile home where Marshall was also present. The cause of death had been undetermined, but police recently received information from eyewitnesses that led to Marshall’s arrest. Police now suspect Hickman may have been strangled, the DP reports.
Saturday, August 28
Legendary doctor dies
The funeral for Herbert C. Jones Jr., a physician who treated local women for more than 50 years, was held today at St. Paul’s Memorial Church. Jones died Wednesday after a bout with lung cancer. An obstetrician-gynecologist who was a leader on women’s reproductive rights, Jones was recently honored at the opening of the new Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge building on Hydraulic Road. The building was named for Jones, who spoke at the event. Abortion foes took note of Jones’ death, with the website CovenantNews.com announcing, adjacent to news of a clinic bombingin Texas, that Jones had been “castinto hell.”
Sunday, August 29
Shooting near Westhaven
An early morning shooting in the 10th and Page neighborhood left a man and a woman injured, ending a busy week for local crime. The man was shot in the stomach and the woman was hit in the arm, with neither wound apparently being life threatening, WINA reports.
Monday, August 30
Bioterror conference at UVA
The UVA School of Nursing is today hosting a conference on “emergency preparedness.” With Washington, D.C., and the military stronghold of Hampton Roads only a couple of hours away, Charlottesville could “play a major backup role in handling casualties in the event of a critical emergency (terrorist or otherwise),” according to a press release from the nursing school. Medical pros, first responders and the general public were invited to the conference, which will feature two presentations on bioterrorism.
—Written by Paul Fain from local news sources and staff reports
Collateral damage
Friendship Court residents roiled over police shooting
A violent encounter at Friendship Court on the night of Saturday, August 21, between two white Charlottesville police officers and Kerry Cook, a black wanted man, ended with one of the cops firing a single shot into Cook’s stomach—that much eyewitnesses and the police department agree upon. But what happened during the struggle off Garrett Street, which left Cook in a coma at the UVA Medical Center, has left residents of the public housing complex on Garrett Street, and, perhaps, a large segment of Charlottesville’s black community, disturbed, confused and angry.
Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo and City Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman are keeping quiet about the incident, citing an ongoing investigation, though Longo has issued a few paragraphs about the Friendship Court shooting in several press releases to the media.
But while City officials are tight-lipped, eyewitnesses to the shooting and many members of the black community are speaking out loudly, saying around 100 Friendship Court residents, including many children, saw police officers William Sclafani and Jeremy Carper severely beat Cook, who was resisting arrest, before getting one handcuff on him, dragging Cook into an apartment and then shooting him.
Chapman says the shooting was the first involving City police since a fatal incident in December 2002, in which Jonathan Jermaine Breeden, 23, shot himself in the head during a shootout with police near 800 Page St. Police were later deemed to have acted appropriately in the gunfight, Chapman says.
Charlottesville police have said that during the struggle with Cook, “both officers used escalating levels of force in an attempt to bring him under control. Ultimately, Officer Sclafani fired a single gunshot that struck Mr. Cook, thus bringing the violent confrontation to an end.”
The shooting was not Sclafani’s first encounter with Cook. C-VILLE Weekly has learned that Sclafani arrested the 33-year-old Cook in July 2003 for assault and battery. According to the arrest warrant, Cook, who has a lengthy rap sheet, was living in Kents Store, which is in Fluvanna County, at the time of the arrest. Sclafani arrested him for the assault and battery of Sanitha Grooms, with whom Cook had lived for years. The case was later waived.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Chapman says he can’t discuss whether Sclafani’s previous meeting with Cook is under investigation, or any other case specifics until the ongoing investigation is completed. Chapman says a lab in Richmond must analyze forensic evidence, which could tack time onto the investigation.
“It can be a matter of months. We hope to move things along faster,” Chapman says.
Word has traveled fast around Friendship Court, however. And according to Mary Carey, who witnessed the incident and is the president of the Friendship Court Neighborhood Association, the strong consensus among her neighbors is that Sclafani and Carper used excessive force while trying to subdue Cook.
“The way they were beating that man back and forth, it was ridiculous,” Carey says, while demonstrating the baton swings in her tidy ground-floor apartment, approximately 75 feet from the site of the shooting. “You could hear the whacks with every blow.”
Carey, a 22-year resident of Friendship Court, says she was drawn out of her apartment that night by screams coming from outside of the adjacent apartment building where Grooms, Cook’s former live-in girlfriend, was residing.
According to Carey and Lolita Smith, a former Friendship Court resident who was at the complex on the night of the shooting, Grooms had occupied the Friendship Court apartment for about a month. They say Grooms told them that she told a drunk Cook to leave her apartment out of fear that he would cause trouble and get her evicted. When he wouldn’t leave,
Grooms called the police, according to both witnesses and the department.
When the two officers arrived, the violence erupted. After the single shot was fired, the complex was swarmed by police officers, some of whom were toting pump-action shotguns, according to Smith and Carey. Smith says she whisked Grooms and her baby daughter out of the apartment amidst the chaos.
On Sunday, August 23, Friendship Court was quiet, with Smith calling the atmosphere “the calm before the storm.”
Though Carey says police detectives interviewed residents on Sunday and Monday, she says the police presence has been minimal after that initial flurry.
“They won’t have anything to do with us,” Carey says of City police.
Mayor David Brown and Kendra Hamilton, a City councilor, came to Friendship Court to speak with neighbors on Sunday, but no other meetings between residents and City officials have been scheduled.
“People are definitely upset,” Brown says. “It is a tension. To some degree, it’s unavoidable.”
However, Brown says he supports Chief Longo’s decision to keep his public comments about the shooting minimal until the facts emerge from a full investigation.
Deborah Wyatt, an attorney who has challenged local police in lawsuits, including a recently filed suit over the Department’s DNA dragnet, also thinks Longo is handling the situation correctly.
“Even despite the public clamor, I think it’s worth doing the responsible thing,” Wyatt says.
But back at Friendship Court, residents’ trust in the police force has suffered a heavy blow.
Asked how long it might take to win back trust in her community, Smith says, “It’s going to take a long time.”
“It makes you wonder,” Carey says of the shooting and the DNA dragnet. “Is it safe to walk up to a police officer and say ‘hi’ and not be afraid he’s going to pull his gun out and shoot you?”—Paul Fain
Shelter skelter
New homeless shelter plan beats zoning tangle, but still requires funds
A group of local churches want to set up a new shelter for Charlottesville’s homeless, but they’re going to need some help.
“We need more than just sympathetic sounds,” says Rev. Dr. Sam Massey, pastor at First Presbyterian Church, which is spearheading a new nonprofit group called People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry (the acronym, PACEM, is Latin for “peace”). “We need finances,” Massey says.
So far, PACEM has raised about $11,000 from individual donors and other congregations, says Adriana Nicholson, lay ministries coordinator at First Presbyterian Church on Park Street and one of PACEM’s organizers.
But the group will need to raise much more than that, Nicholson says, to fulfill its mission of giving every homeless person in Charlottesville a place to sleep in winter.
PACEM will be modeled after a program in Richmond, with a group of churches taking turns providing shelter and meals each week between October 15 and April 15. PACEM needs a van to drive homeless people from a central intake site to that night’s shelter, and they need money to hire a counselor to help people find jobs or social services.
Nicholson says PACEM will fill gaps in local homeless assistance. The Salvation Army is often full in winter, and it strictly prohibits anyone who uses drugs or alcohol.
“There’s people out there who are trying to give up drug and alcohol addiction, but they’re still stuck without a shelter,” says Massey. He says no one will be allowed to bring drugs or alcohol into the shelters. Very drunk people will be sent to the Mohr Center, which provides a place for homeless people to sleep off a bender, but it’s not exactly a homeless shelter, Massey says.
PACEM will have gaps of its own, however. In its first year, PACEM will only accept men, who make up most of the local homeless population. Women and children are a small percentage of local homeless, but nevertheless they’re out there, says Lynn Wiber, who was homeless herself until recently. She now works as a homeless advocate. There aren’t many places for homeless women and their children to go, Wiber says.
“I’m glad the churches are doing something,” she says, “but they’re going to exclude the most vulnerable population.”
Nicholson promises homeless women and children will be given hotel rooms. “We will not turn anyone away,” she says, but Nicholson admits PACEM will need more donations to pay for the rooms.
Until last week, it looked like the City might slam the door in PACEM’s face. Some of the seven churches that have joined PACEM are located in residential or mixed-use sections of Charlottesville, and are therefore not zoned to permit homeless shelters. It looked as if each participating church would have to apply for its own special use permit—a process that could have taken months, especially since PACEM is still recruiting congregations to join the group.
“No one wants this not to happen,” said City Planning Manager Ron Higgins of the shelter plan. The problem is legal precedent. If zoning officials allowed the churches legal leeway on the shelters, it could open the door for other, less charitable uses.
“We have to be consistent,” Higgins said. “We don’t want to open a wedge for other uses that could overrun our neighborhoods with traffic and noise.”
On Thursday, August 26, Higgins gave PACEM some good news—the City would treat the shelters as “incidental uses” that relate to the churches’ normal function, so they don’t need to get special use permits.—John Borgmeyer