Month: February 2005

Tuesday, February 1
UVA grad replaces Kilgore

Judith Williams Jagdmann was sworn in as the Commonwealth’s attorney general at noon today, replacing Jerry Kilgore, who is running for governor. A former deputy AG for the civil division, Jagdmann, 46, said in her remarks that she will “work tirelessly every day,” something that is undoubtedly familiar to the married mother of two.

 

Wednesday, February 2
County flies with CHO

At a meeting tonight, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors voted to incorporate the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport’s 20-year master plan into its own plans. The airport’s $90.5 million, three-phase plan includes expanding the runway and constructing a multilevel parking deck in the second phase. “The constraints on [Charlottesville’s] surface transportation network will offer Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport a significant role in the future transportation pattern of the region,” according to the airport’s master plan.

 

Thursday, February 3
County gets green acres

2004 was a record year for local conservation easements, the Piedmont Environmental Council announced today. Landowners donated 23,970 acres in the nine-county area, including 6,700 acres in Albemarle County. Local PEC officer Rex Linville said Albemarle’s largest donor was the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which gave 1,000 acres surrounding Monticello. Coming in third with 800 acres was Linda Wachtmeister, an Olympic equestrian who took home the silver last year. “I just feel a sense of responsibility that the land should be preserved, especially since I’m lucky enough to have a beautiful farm,” she told C-VILLE. “I’ve lived on a farm all my life, and you can see how the land is being developed.”

UVA considers tuition bump

As UVA pushes for more freedom from State oversight, critics have worried that tuition could skyrocket. As if on cue, UVA’s Board of Visitors today considered a major tuition hike. The BOV’s finance committee heard a proposal that would raise tuition for in-state students by 10 percent a year for the next five years. This would jack in-state tuition to $8,389 in 2009-10 from $5,243 this year. The report said the increase would cover UVA’s projected “base funding requirements… assuming the State meets its share of closing the gap in the cost of education.”

 

Friday, February 4
Sabato’s secret:
He’s a millionaire

Larry Sabato, UVA politics professor and resident talking head, today announced a personal pledge of $1 million to President John Casteen’s $3 billion Capital Campaign. “The Golden Age of state funding is over and it’s not coming back,” Sabato said. Part of the gift goes to renovate Birdwood Pavilion, which will house Sabato’s Center for Politics. UVA will meet Sabato’s pledge with $2 million to go toward the approximately $8 million restoration project. A 1974 UVA graduate, Sabato called on other Hoos to contribute. “If a teacher can save and donate $1 million, thousands of other University alumni can do the same thing or better.” According to The Cavalier Daily, UVA paid Sabato an annual salary of $200,000 in 2002.

Baseball legend lights up Mem Gym

Hoping to match last year’s fundraiser total of $50,000, the UVA baseball team tonight hosted its annual Step Up to the Plate dinner and silent auction. But even the pompon-festooned tables not to mention the autograph-signing players could match the spark and energy of event headliner Tommy Lasorda. “His passion for life is unbelievable,” said UVA head coach Brian O’Connor of the 77-year-old Hall of Famer. “He’s somebody a coach should model themselves after.”

 

Saturday,February 5
Loretta headed here?

With today’s unseasonably warm weather, Mall-goers’ thoughts might have turned to summer pleasures, such as music in the amphitheater. And if all goes according to plan, Charlottesville could host country legend Loretta Lynn, who, at press time, had a July 30 date here listed on her website to support her latest recording, Van Lear Rose. A surprised Kirby Hutto, who manages the amphitheater project for developer Coran Capshaw, confirmed that bookers had talked to Lynn. “I was unaware that anything had been firmed up yet, but if it’s on the website there must be some truth to it,” he said. Other artists on the list of hopefuls: Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, The Neville Brothers and Little Feat, Hutto said.

 

Sunday, February 6
Singletary for president!

Freshman wonder Sean Singletary is king of the world today—and Coach Gillen’s new best friend—after his putback in last night’s match against N.C. State in Raleigh, with 2.2 seconds left on the clock, gave UVA its second ACC win.

 

Monday, February 7
City property values soar

City residents continue to flood City Hall’s Real Estate Assessment office with calls related to 2005 assessments, which were sent to residents one week ago. Overall, taxable real property values increased last year by more than 13 percent, and by the middle of last week, City Assessor Roosevelt W. Barbour had already fielded 75 calls. “This is way ahead of last year,” he said. New real estate hot spots now include neighborhoods near Fry’s Spring, dethroning Belmont, last year’s sizzling section. “Quite naturally people are a little bit concerned about the changes to their neighborhoods,” Barbour said. Residents have until March 1 to appeal their assessments. Call 970-3136.

 

Written by Cathy Harding from news sources and staff reports.

A class apart
School budget divide grows deeper

The ostensible topic of last week’s Charlottesville City School Board meetings was the $58 million budget that controversial superintendent Dr. Scottie Griffin has sent to the seven-member appointed body. But a student of human behavior could have gleaned lessons in more than just fiscal management. Nearly operatic, the Q&A budget forum on Tuesday night, February 1, and the public hearing on Thursday featured impassioned pleas, political speeches, Scripture-citing sermons, and the kind of race-baiting finger-pointing that shuts down dialogue everywhere. By the end of Thursday night’s three-hour hearing, the frustration in the packed Charlottesville High School media center was soaring. His voice shaking with emotion, Greenbrier Elementary special education teacher Charlie Kollmansperger finally told the board, “I resent being labeled a racist because me and my colleagues oppose cuts to P.E. and guidance.”

Indeed, Thursday’s hearing seemed like a huge step backward after the tentative moves toward reconciliation that Griffin and the board seemed to make on Tuesday. At the budget forum, parents and teachers not only asked questions, they got instant responses from the often-uncommunicative superintendent. Jeanne Inge’s remark that night was typical: “I’m glad to have open, face-to-face dialogue. It’s a pleasant change.”

   Not that everyone left satisfied. Repeatedly, questioners asked Griffin and the board as they have all along to specify the principles underlying her radical budget, which features large increases in travel and administrative spending and severe cuts in guidance counseling and physical education instruction. Additionally, Griffin proposes virtually no pay increases for school support staff. Griffin faces the unenviable challenge of meeting federal and state learning benchmarks. Prior to her appointment, Washington sanctioned one city elementary school; Buford Middle School risks the same fate now. But Griffin offers few guidelines when it comes to explaining her budget and how it will close what’s known as the achievement gap between poor and middle-class students.

   Speaking to C-VILLE last week, Griffin said she aims to put together a strategy. “We are going to develop a strategic plan, and that plan is going to be based on the vision we have for this school division, which is we are expecting that all of our students will achieve on an exemplary level. That cannot happen unless we have input from staff and community. It has to be a yearlong process.”

   By Thursday night, the subject of why Griffin would massively restructure school administration before that yearlong process is complete was a distant second to charges of racism that had resurfaced. M. Rick Turner, the divisive UVA Dean of African-American Affairs, had again labeled as uncaring bigots the white parents and teachers who question Griffin’s leadership. (Black teachers also testified against Griffin’s budget.) And others invoked Charlottesville’s strained racial history, too, albeit in less caustic terms.

   “No other superintendent has had to put up with this,” said Raymond Mason, a lifelong city resident. “This is the last stronghold of the South. White people run everything and they’re not used to having a black person in charge.”

   It’s been clear throughout weeks of budget meetings that few believe the city school system is functioning up to par. And as one pastor reminded listeners Thursday night, “no one can change this system by doing what has always been done.”

   But that statement could just as well apply to the communication disaster over which Griffin and the board have presided. During a break Thursday night, Griffin kept a tight orbit among board members and her Central Office staff—as she usually does. Observers were left to wonder what the effect would have been if instead she had walked into the crowd to thank teachers and staff, not to mention parents and pastors, who had given up yet another evening to passionately discuss the fate of city schools.

   The board must send a budget to City Council by March 7, with at least two more public meetings scheduled between now and then. If they and Griffin really want to shake things up, they might try this line on the public: “We’re sorry, we’ve really made a mess of this process. Let’s start again. Together.”—Cathy Harding

 

Herbal renewal
Natural health types upset over H.B. 455

A bill cruising through the General Assembly has some in Charlottesville’s “natural health” community feeling a little queasy.

   H.B. 455, sponsored by Del. Michele McQuigg (R-Occoquan) would require dietitians in Virginia to be licensed by the Virginia Board of Medicine—a move that would allow hospitals to be reimbursed by insurance companies for dietitian services.

   Seems simple enough, but Joe Guarino, a lobbyist for the Virginia Chapter of Certified Natural Health Professionals, says a few sentences at the end of the legislation could put natural health retailers out of business.

   The bill exempts from licensure “any person who provides weight control, wellness, or exercise services involving nutrition provided the program has been reviewed by a licensed dietitian.”

   Guarino says that passage could require natural health shops—such as Whole Foods, Integral Yoga, and Rebecca’s Natural Foods—to hire licensed dietitians.

   Terri Saunders, who owns Sunrise Herb Shoppe on the Downtown Mall, has been e-mailing fellow natural health retailers to sound the alarm about H.B. 455. “This bill would put me out of business,” she says.

   Local Del. Mitch Van Yahres voted for H.B. 455; his legislative aide Connie Jorgensen says the bill poses no danger to natural health retailers. “The dietitians wanted something done, and they went about it the right way,” Jorgensen says.

   Susan Dunlap, the nutrition information specialist at Rebecca’s Natural Foods, says North Carolina passed a similar law last year, and so far she hasn’t heard of any natural health stores closing in that state. The exemptions in H.B. 455 are confusing, Dunlap says, “but at first glance they seem to protect stores. It depends on someone’s interpretation.”

   The author, McQuigg, says there’s no need for Charlottesville’s herbal community to fret. “I’ve been taking herbs for more than 30 years and have used several alternative medicine doctors,” says McQuigg. “Nothing in H.B. 455 will prevent me from continuing to do that.”

   H.B. 455 has already passed the House; the Senate will consider it this week. You can see the bill for yourself by visiting the General Assembly’s website, http://legis.state.va.us/.—John Borgmeyer

 

The incredible brick mushroom
UVA plans more major construction at Ivy and Emmet

My, how time flies. It’s already been three years since UVA raised hackles with its plan to build a huge parking garage near the intersection of Ivy Road and Emmet Street. Neighbors held a candlelight vigil to protest the “1,200-car monster” while City Councilors denounced UVA’s disregard for local concerns.

   The garage went up as planned, although UVA officials smoothed over the controversy by promising better communication with the City regarding upcoming construction projects. Now UVA has surprised the City with plans to build a new arts center on Ivy Road.

   Maybe it’s time to break out the candles.

   In December, the UVA Board of Visitors’ Building and Grounds Committee approved the siting of a $91 million “Center for the Arts” at the intersection of Ivy Road and Emmet Street, on the current site of the Best Western Cavalier Inn, which is owned by UVA and will be demolished. No architect for the project has been hired yet, and so no drawings of the building are available, but the committee gave approval for an L-shaped complex housing two major programs—the University Art Museum and a 1,200-seat performance center.

   According to a report on the Board of Visitors’ website (www.virginia.edu/bov/), the 127,000-square-foot Center for the Arts is

 

funded by $79 million in gifts (including $22 million from Charlottesville’s Hunter and Carl Smith) and $12 million in bonds. UVA is considering expanding the performance center by 400 seats, which would add an extra 10,000 square feet and $7 million to the project. The concert hall will host “touring shows, dance companies, and other major performances,” according to the report.

   In 2003, the committee approved a plan that would have put the concert hall on Massie Road, near UVA’s new sports arena.

   Relocating the hall to Ivy “had a couple advantages,” says Mary Hughes, UVA’s landscape architect. “Adjacency to the
arts grounds themselves was viewed as very desirable,” Hughes says. “Now it’s more in the heart of the university, but in a public location where there’s already parking.”

   Hughes says that a new residence hall—something for which the City is constantly clamoring—is still in the “long-range” plans for that site, as well.

   “We haven’t gotten around to paying for the residence hall portion yet,” says Hughes. “I don’t have a timetable for when that would be coming along.” She says that UVA plans to spend $27 million upgrading dorms on Alderman Road, and expanding their capacity by about 10 percent, or about 200 students.

   Word that the arts center would be on Ivy Road, not Massie Road, is news to City Council. Councilor Kevin Lynch says he’s concerned about traffic at the Ivy/Emmet intersection, even as he praises UVA’s recent responses to City concerns—such as the school’s plans to clean up a coal-burning power plant on University Avenue and a recent commitment of $68,500 to pay for a housing inspector to patrol student neighborhoods.

   Lynch says he was still concerned to hear that new dorms (which apparently don’t attract bigwig donors like football stadiums and concert halls) seem to be on the back burner. Lack of student housing, says Lynch, “is one of the things contributing to the high cost of housing in this area.

   “By not providing student housing, UVA is making it more expensive for their own staff to live in Charlottesville,” Lynch says.—John Borgmeyer

 

Full steam ahead
Charter bill sails through Senate committee

“I’m not too optimistic, but I’m still putting up a fight,” says Jan Cornell, president of UVA’s Staff Union. “Everybody’s saying, ‘Jan, go away. Charter is going to pass.’”

   Indeed, Cornell’s voice has been one of the few notes of dissention regarding university autonomy, and last week an ambitious charter proposal sailed through a Senate committee.

   On Wednesday, February 2, the Senate Education and Health Committee unanimously passed a charter bill, S.B. 1327, drafted by Sen. Thomas Norment (R-James City), legislation that generally reflects a form of college autonomy favored by UVA. The committee’s 15-0 vote in favor of Norment’s bill suggests an emerging consensus for his charter plan. The House of Delegates is considering a bill similar to Norment’s, H.B. 2866, sponsored by Del. Vincent Callahan (R-Fairfax).

   The only thing is the legislation isn’t called “charter” anymore. Norment’s bill provides autonomy options for all Virginia colleges, not just the three big schools (UVA, William and Mary and Virginia Tech) that proposed the charter idea last year, and apparently “charter” sounded too elite.

   “We’re trying to get away from the word ‘charter,’ because it’s open to all universities now,” says Danita Bowman, Norment’s legislative aide. “It’s really a restructuring of the financial arrangements that the colleges can have.”

   Norment’s bill would establish three levels of autonomy. All universities would be eligible for the first level, which would grant the schools freedom from State oversight in purchasing, terms of employment and construction projects.

   The second and third levels would provide greater freedoms, but would require the schools to meet certain criteria, such as a sound bond rating and a healthy fundraising stream. UVA, William and Mary and Virginia Tech would likely pursue the third level of autonomy.

   Cornell’s objections to charter—or whatever it’s called—concern the universities’ freedom to set hiring policies. Current UVA employees who were hired under terms set by the Commonwealth will see no change if charter takes effect, but new employees will be hired under terms set by the universities.

   UVA Vice President Leonard Sandridge argues that charter could give UVA the financial wherewithal to provide better terms for its future employees. Cornell doesn’t buy it.

   “UVA will be just like a private company,” Cornell says. “They won’t have any of the rights, privileges and benefits of State employees. In 10 years, UVA workers will be stuck with low pay and low benefits.

   “If we have concerns,” Cornell says, “under charter the only people we can go to are the Board of Visitors, and you know damn well the Board of Visitors isn’t going to talk to a groundskeeper.”

   In an e-mail update of legislative affairs, Charlottesville Delegate Mitch Van Yahres says he has “reservations” about the bill because “I don’t feel it contains enough protections for employees.” He hasn’t seen the House version of the bill, so, Van Yahres says, he hasn’t made a final decision on how he will vote.

   Details about charter are still open to debate, but it appears that at least some schools will be able to set tuition rates without politicians’ oversight. Governor Mark Warner has said he wants charter legislation to include language that ensures access to higher education for low-income students. Given the complexity of the legislation (Norment’s bill is about 80 pages long), the whirlwind atmosphere of the General Assembly session and the colleges’ lobbying efforts, Cornell says she’s doubtful employee concerns will gain much traction.

   “People have told me that the employee part is off the radar,” Cornell says. “Tuition is what legislators are most concerned about.”—John Borgmeyer

 

Breaking ranks?
Goode not feeling great about Social Security overhaul

In his State of the Union address last week, President Bush formally launched his campaign to transform Social Security by carving out private investment accounts from the guaranteed-benefit program for the elderly and disabled. In facing down the notorious “third rail” of American politics, Bush is taking on remarkably united Democratic opposition and restiveness within even his own party’s congressional conference. Among notable Republican dissenters: Charlottesville’s fifth-term Congressional representative, Virgil Goode.

   “I’m negatively inclined towards private personal accounts,” Goode told C-VILLE. “I think Social Security’s a good program and I want to see it preserved and protected.”

   Goode says his view is based on media accounts of the president’s plan, and noted that the president “said he would consider other ideas.”

   “I want to see all the details,” he says, emphasizing that he supports tax-sheltered retirement accounts apart from Social Security, including their expansion as part of Bush’s first-term tax-cut packages.

   But on the concept of diverting payroll taxes into personal accounts, Goode is clear. “I do not favor private personal accounts taken out of employer and employee Social Security taxes that are supposed to go to the Social Security trust fund,” he says.

   For a Democratic Party on its heels, and for a president sailing on a decisive victory in November’s high-turnout election, this centerpiece of Bush’s domestic agenda represents an existential struggle. Many GOP strategists see Social Security overhaul as key in setting the stage for Republican electoral victories to come
and in advancing the party’s vision of small government.

   But GOP fiscal conservatives caution against taking on trillions of dollars in debt in order to fund benefits for current retirees while tax revenues are diverted into private accounts. Others question the priority given to massively change a system that is projected to fully cover benefits for decades. In addition, one potential soft spot for Bush’s plan could be Republicans in largely blue-collar districts—like Virginia’s 5th District—where constituents are heavily dependent on Social Security.

   Matt Smyth, director of communications at UVA’s Center for Politics, notes the sensitivity among Republicans to the potential political costs of the overhaul effort. Goode doesn’t appear vulnerable, Smyth
says, but “I think he wants to let his constituents know he’s not just approaching it from a party line.”

   Influential liberal blogger Joshua Marshall posted a constituent letter from Goode stating his inclination against private accounts on January 24. Marshall has been keeping a running tally of legislators who have publicly suggested they would likely break party ranks on the issue. Seventeen Republicans and nine Democrats were on his list by the end of last week.

   But broader Republican anxiety has been widely reported. “I think there are a lot more that have concerns, and I think they’re voicing them in a lot of inter-party outlets, rather than publicly, because they’re in the president’s party,” Smyth says.

—Harry Terris

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As Told To…
Conversations with Old-School Business Owners

Timberlake’s Drug Store’s John Plantz
Interview by Barbara Rich

Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall may not have a grocery store, but what other stretch of urban bricks can boast a drug store with a soda fountain and fireplace? One that’s been around since 1890? This is John Plantz’s Timberlake’s, which he bought nearly 30 years ago after getting his degree from Medical College of Virginia in 1969, extending the unbroken tradition of face-to-face service and unbelievably rich milk shakes.

Timberlake’s Drug Store was started by a man named Harshall Timberlake, who owned it from 1917 to the ’30s. I bought the store in 1977.

   I would have to say that prescriptions account for 80 percent of our business; I call all the extra stuff “poof.” For the past five to 10 years, the use age of drugs has doubled.

   We are a drug society, and the drug companies are making out very well.

   No, I don’t think there’s much of a difference between the lunchers and the other customers. It’s a cross-section that comes in here, and lots of people who eat at the soda fountain also get their prescriptions filled here.

   The elderly are the ones who primarily use the pharmacy. They don’t feel pushed out here; we give them all the time they need, and the service they want.

   No, the business hasn’t changed much since we renovated the soda fountain four years ago. Of course, lots of people were despondent when it closed, but they all came back, and now we have more room. We didn’t lose any lunchers; in fact, we may have gained a few.

   Our delivery area? Well, the city of Charlottesville, and out 250 West to Farmington, 29 to Carrsbrook and 250 East to Glenmore. I put in 50 hours a week: four full days from 8 in the morning to 7 at night. Used to be here 60 hours a week. Now I’m on a “slow-down rate.”

   We have two part-tine pharmacists, besides me. There is usually one pharmacist on duty at a time. All our other employees come to 13, so that’s 16 in all.

   What makes our milk shakes so good is REAL ice cream. Real ice cream, and lots of it! We don’t use any fillers. No, no special syrups, just the quality of the ice cream.

   As for our most popular sandwiches, we now have a new one: homemade turkey breast, baked. I would have to say that when I meet people, many of them comment that our chicken salad and egg salad sandwiches are their favorites.

   Yes, I do think that this is the only drug store in the country with a fireplace. I don’t know of any other. But that’s only because this used to be a bank. The People’s Bank was here until 1917 but it used to be on the block where Reid’s grocery store was.

   What’s the best thing about Timberlake’s? I will have to think about that a while. Well, it’s the nice people who come in here. Our customers. We have developed a real feeling with them. We care about them, and they care about us. It’s not one-
way. They know that they will be taken care of here. I would have to say it’s
just comfortable.

   And then there’s this: The place is also historical. There is a reverence for the business and the building. It is kind of like passing the baton. I feel I have been passed the baton from others. There’s a unique atmosphere in the store.

   I have two sons and one daughter-in-law who are all pharmacists. Would one of them take Timberlake’s over when I retire? I just don’t know, but I do have three people who might be carrying on the baton.

   You ask if I can imagine Charlottesville without Timberlake’s. No! There is a flavor here; it’s part of the past. If you are missing out on it, you should try it.

Tuesday, January 25
City death leads to murder charge

Just after 7 o’clock this morning, Artis Wayne Keyton, Sr., 48, died from knife wounds suffered last night in a brawl on Avon Street. City police had taken Joshua Lee Zimmerman, 25, into custody after Monday’s episode. Today charges against him were amended to murder, the city’s first this year.

 

Wednesday, January 26
Mr. Star Jones’ view

Big-shot investment banker Al Scales Reynolds, better known as hubby of “The View” co-host and wig-shiller Star Jones Reynolds, stopped by Sutherland Middle School today to kick off “A Step Beyond,” an after-school program to help African-American youth close the achievement gap. Reynolds came late but loaded with gifts, including $20, with which he exhorted 40-some students to scream, “Show me the money!” After that the kids listened attentively as the UVA alum explained how they could achieve their dreams: Identify your passions and live them, get plenty of “A&E” (access and exposure to learning opportunities), and go “a step beyond.” Follow this formula, he said in apparent self-reference, and one day you might be the one eating dinner with The Donald, Shaq and Bill Clinton.

 

Thursday, January 27
County’s first 2005 murder

Phillip Jamar Green, 21, was charged today with the shooting death of 19-year-old Ashley Lanette Toney, following an early morning conflict at Trophy Chase Apartments on Commonwealth Drive. The murder, the first in Albemarle this year, comes two days after the city’s first 2005 murder.

Local man to head Media General

The parent company of The Daily Progress, Media General Inc., today reported a 7.7 percent increase in monthly revenues for December compared to the same period one year ago. The greatest overall gains came in the company’s online division, although classified advertising revenues were very strong, especially in Richmond, thanks to the low unemployment rate. Also today, MG announced that CEO J. Stewart Bryan III, who started his career with the company with a 1954 summer job in Richmond, would step aside on July 1. Marshall N. Morton will replace him as CEO. Both men are UVA graduates. Morton is a Charlottesville native.

 

Friday, January 28
Homeless census taken

Homeless advocates today begin tabulating the results of the area’s third annual survey of homelessness, which was conducted over the past three days. Last year, the Thomas Jefferson Area Planning Commission found 157 homeless people in the five-county region, which also includes Charlottesville. Evan Scully, who heads the research for the commission, says that while early evidence suggests little indication that “the numbers have gone tremendously up,” women are probably least served this year among people seeking shelter. “In finding shelter for people who were previously sleeping outside we’ve almost managed to treat the symptoms,” says Scully. “Almost. But even sheltering all these folks… it still does nothing about the causes.”

 

Saturday, January 29
More groovin’ at Mas

The cava was flowing and the paella was going down by the skilletfuls as Mas, the Belmont tapas bar owned by developer-restaurateur-music magnate Coran Capshaw, celebrated its birthday. Two years ago, the opening of the high-style nightspot marked the official debut of cool in the neighborhood, which has led the pack in rising city real-estate assessments. With soul crooner Ezra Hamilton playing the restaurant’s first-ever live gig and DJ Quarter-Roy spinning, scores of partygoers kept it going until the wee hours.

 

Sunday, January 30
Second icy weekend

Traffic was quiet in the early part of the day due to slick roads caused by freezing rain that began at about 9 o’clock last night and finally tapered off at about 3 o’clock this morning. Although the brief winter storm left only a quarter-inch of precipitation, according to AccuWeather.com, it was enough to prompt area salt trucks to saturate major roads.

 

Monday, January 31
Belmont puts safety first

Residents of Belmont plan to meet tonight in the Clark School gymnasium for a personal and neighborhood safety meeting after their neighborhood suffered one
murder and two violent break-ins, including one incident that ended in a rape. Scheduled speakers, including Police Chief Tim Longo, representatives from the Sexual Assault Resource Agency and others were to discuss crime-prevention techniques, since crime “is definitely on the forefront of peoples’ minds,” said meeting organizer Heather Higgins. “We can pull our resources together as neighbors and help ourselves out that way.”

BRO turns 10

Blue Ridge Outdoors, a regional sports monthly that first kicked off as an insert to C-VILLE, today publishes its anniversary issue, a retrospective look at a decade of serving the outdoor sports enthusiast. Now reaching “a quarter-million readers from D.C. to Atlanta,” according to a BRO news release, Charlottesville’s Summit Publishing produces the free magazine.

 

Written by Cathy Harding from news sources and staff reports.

 

Who’s your daddy?
With Public Policy Virginia, Al Weed tackles the GOP’s “strict father” shtick

No two ways about it: The Democrats got their ass kicked. (Pun intended—Dems? Donkey? Ass? Kicked? Ha!) We kid.

Democrats aren’t laughing, though. Republicans control the White House and Congress, and they’re making rapid gains in state politics, too. For progressive-minded Americans, the conservative ascendancy is no joke.

Al Weed knows how hard it will be for Democrats to kick the GOP off the hill. Despite having raised about $500,000 for his campaign to take Virginia’s 5th Congressional district, Weed lost to Republican incumbent Virgil Goode by a 2-1 margin (Weed did carry Charlottesville, however).

Now Weed, 62, is using the $3,000 left over from his campaign to launch a nonprofit group called Public Policy Virginia. Weed says a website (www.ppvir.org) will soon be up and running, along with a fundraising campaign. We sat down with Weed in his Nelson County winery to get the lowdown on how Democrats might at long last get the last laugh. What follows is an edited transcript of our interview.—John Borgmeyer

 

C-VILLE: Why do you think you lost in the 5th District?

Al Weed: For the most part, most people don’t think too much about politics. They’re going to vote for the known quantity. I didn’t understand how big a barrier that is. We clearly underestimated Virgil’s name recognition throughout the 5th District. It’s not that people think Virgil is the best Congressman they ever had; it’s just that his is the name they know.

Some people said that I’m just too liberal. But I think it wasn’t necessarily my liberal politics as much as it was a lack of understanding about how conservatives have been selling their message.

A good book to read is Don’t Think of An Elephant by George Lakoff. What he’s saying is that conservatives have spent the last 30 years creating a moral structure that supports the policies they want to pursue. Democrats haven’t done that. We have values, but we haven’t framed them.

 

How have conservatives framed their values?

Conservatives view the nation as a family writ large, with everyone subservient to a strict father. If you do what you’re supposed to do, you get rewards. If you don’t, you get punished. Their politics follow from that view.

Their moral structure says that if you’re a good person, you will succeed. People who are wealthy are, almost by definition, morally upright. Their view is that people who are poor just aren’t working hard enough, and anything that inhibits a person from getting success in the free market is an affront to their moral structure. That’s why you get George Bush and Virgil Goode telling people, “Just wait, the tax cuts are going to create jobs.” They’re consistent. It’s fascinating.

 

Do you think the politicians really believe what they’re saying?

I don’t think Virgil really believes tax cuts are going to create jobs in Martinsville, with an unemployment rate of 16 percent. But that’s the only message they have. They had to keep the rest of the people convinced that there was a plan, and the fact is that the Democrats weren’t offering anything more compelling. We were saying, “Without taxes, we can’t do X, Y and Z.” It got too complicated.

 

How can Public Policy Virginia change this?

Liberals think that if we just tell the truth that will be enough. It’s not. If you can’t connect with people in a religious context, you’re not going to win. You see guys like George Will and William Safire preaching that Democrats need to be more like Republicans. That’s wrong. We need to explain better why we’re Democrats.

Public Policy Virginia is going to have four missions. We’re going to unmask the conservatives. I respect their belief in their moral structure, but what George Bush is doing does not support those morals. He got us into a war that’s weakening us. He’s not a strong leader.

Next, we need to articulate a compelling alternative moral structure. We’re going to be talking about strength through community. Family is inherently exclusive—if you’re not like me, you can’t be part of my family. It’s the basis of tribalism. Liberals, on the other hand, believe in community—we seek to educate our children well, to be inclusive. It’s a very different worldview. We need to talk about strength through unity.

The third thing will be to talk about public policy issues, like single-payer health care, social security, public education, and relate this to the moral structure in a way that people will be able to say, “O.K., I get that.”

Finally, Public Policy Virginia will look to coordinate different kinds of groups, to get environmentalists across the table from abortion rights people and advocates for the poor. Conservatives understood that they all need to sing off the same sheet of music. We haven’t done that.

 

Maybe Democrats just need to learn how to steal elections.

The reason Republicans have gotten so good at stealing elections is that they don’t have anything to offer to the public. Democrats do. If we get our message right, we’ll be able to win elections straight up.

 

Warning signs
Sarah Crawford was not the first to fear alleged wife-killer

On May 15, 1992, having just been acquitted of marital rape by a Columbia, South Carolina jury, Anthony Dale Crawford and his lawyer, Wayne Floyd, stopped by CNN’s “Larry King Live” for an interview.

Crawford’s then-wife, Trish, had accused him of rape, using as evidence a video of the couple having sex in which her hands and feet are tied, and her mouth and eyes are shut with duct tape. Crawford and his lawyer argued this was a consensual game the couple played often; the jury agreed. Crawford recounted this in the interview, also telling King that he and Trish Crawford separated the very evening of the alleged rape, shortly before she filed for divorce.

While King let Crawford off easy, callers took him to task. One caller from Columbia asked why when Crawford left the house he had left his wife still “tied up” and “in hysterics.” Floyd responded, calling this an exaggeration and explaining that Crawford left his wife with her legs untied and the ropes on her wrists “loosened.”

More than a decade later, on December 2, 2004, Crawford, a former Manassas car salesman, was arraigned in Charlottesville on four deadly charges. Among them, he was accused of using a firearm in the commission of a felony and abducting and murdering his estranged second wife, Sarah Louise Crawford of Nokesville. On November 22, she had been discovered shot to death at the Quality Inn on Emmet Street. Last week, Crawford’s case was continued until March 25, when he’ll stand for his preliminary trial in Charlottesville Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

Contacted by C-VILLE for comment on Sarah Crawford’s murder and the charges his former client faces, attorney Floyd said, “I was surprised and shocked. From my experience with Dale, I was very surprised about the charge. There were no injuries involved in the incident in 1992 and the tape indicated that they were just playing a game.”

While Crawford was acquitted of domestic abuse in Trish Crawford’s case, affidavits for preliminary protective orders filed by Sarah Crawford in Prince William County Juvenile and General District Court point to, at the very least, Crawford’s capacity for roughness. Sarah appealed to a judge in 1997, two years before the couple married, and again just three weeks before her death.

In her 2004 statement Sarah Crawford testified, “Dale only gets violent when he uses drugs,” meaning a fifth of Jack Daniels a day and crack “whenever he can,” adding that he’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She described a time when he repeatedly smashed her head into a light switch, requiring six stitches. Another time, he beat her on the head so hard that the hand she used to protect her head was put in a cast. She also described several occasions when, she said, he forced her to have sex with him.

On October 30 of last year, Sarah alleged Crawford called her and told her he “understands why husbands kill their wives.” That’s when she filed for the second preliminary protection order. Two-and-a-half weeks later, a Prince William County judge dismissed Sarah’s second petition for a protective order at her request, according to court documents.

Experts on domestic violence say it’s not unusual for a woman to submit to the manipulations of her attacker, finding it hard to reject someone who claims to love her and wants to change for her. When Crawford’s case is heard in March, Sarah’s reason for relenting might come to light. But it seems more likely that her rationale went with her to the grave.—Nell Boeschenstein

 

HOW TO: Apply for real estate and rent relief With local property assessments ever on the rise, we could all use some help come tax time. The City of Charlottesville may be able to hook you up. From now until March 1 or May 1 you can apply for real estate relief or rent relief, respectively. Raymond Lee Richards, commissioner of the City Revenue Office, says the relief programs have been around for decades. And if you qualify, it can help a lot; depending on income, homeowners can have up to 100 percent of their real estate taxes covered by grants, while renters receive a one-time check for up to $1,500. Last year, 112 people applied for the rent relief program and the City doled out $57,000 in grant checks. To qualify for real estate or rent relief, you must be either 65 or older or be permanently and totally disabled. The gross combined income from anyone living in the residence cannot exceed $50,000. And the total combined net financial worth cannot exceed $125,000. Meet the criteria? Then fill out the application at the Commissioner of Revenue’s office, Room A-130, City Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22902. Or call 970-3170 for more information.

 

Rumblings from below
Are school principals and Dr. Griffin headed for a standoff?

Dr. Scottie Griffin may want to cut back on guidance counselors and gym teachers in 2005-06, but could she lose principals along the way? In public meetings last week about the city school superintendent’s proposed $58 million budget, some parents and teachers challenged her cuts. Many pointed to the loss of P.E. teachers and guidance counselors that Griffin figured into next year’s spending, to save about $312,000. Other objections came up, too: tight salary increases for staff; investing new money in grant writing instead of preschool or after-school programs. And more. “I think the whole budget is terribly misguided,” said parent Ellen Wagner.

Parent discontent has swelled in the six months since Griffin took the district’s top job. Now, could the alienation extend further as she defends her budget?

The city’s 10 principals put in budget requests, but they’re not getting a lot of what they asked for. If budget time would seem perfect for the superintendent to win over principals, well, it’s not happening yet. Principals work with Charlottesville’s 4,400 students every day. That’s demanding enough, but Griffin unsettled things this fall with her fast-moving changes (new achievement tests and reading programs, for instance).

But instead of payback, two of the city’s seven elementary schools didn’t even get the bus monitors they want. “The school administration finds itself dealing with issues that happen on the bus daily…” wrote Johnson principal Dorren Brown, suggesting she’d rather spend her time raising the achievement of “all Johnson students,” echoing a district-wide goal.

Timothy Flynn, who heads Buford Middle School, also talked about discipline; he wants to get back the assistant principal job Buford gave up in 2004-05. “Student discipline is a full-time job at Buford,” he wrote. But so far, no go.

Griffin has earmarked more than $108,000 for a “grant writer” and a beefed-up “public relations” specialist. Another $361,730 is flagged for four additional “coordinators.” No principal listed a coordinator or flak among must-haves in their budget requests, which are included in documents Griffin provided to the School Board, but some principals wanted full-time nurses and library assistants. “The number of children with health plans continues to increase,” said Faye Giglio, the Greenbrier principal.

At last week’s budget forum (the first of four) about 100 people were directed to discuss the budget’s ups and downs, but principals were not speaking out. Some teachers were, however, including Walker gym teacher Kelly Hann, who questioned why P.E. would be on the block when 50 percent of Walker children are either obese or on the way there. Also in that discussion group, Leah Puryear, a former city schools mother who directs UVA’s Upward Bound program, said she liked the salary increase for teachers that Griffin proposed: “I thought 5 percent was really nice.”

Still, the principals are said to be on the outs.

As a group, last week they aired their grievances with two City Councilors and two School Board members (Council appoints the School Board). The principals want another private meeting, but this time with the full School Board present, according to a meeting participant who spoke on condition
of anonymity.

It’s not entirely clear how Dr. Griffin sees things. For six months she has refused all interview requests from C-VILLE.

The budget is the Board’s main focus between now and March 7, when it goes to Council, and there are at least three public meetings scheduled along the way. Can the seven-member Board straighten out the dialogue and avert a confrontation between the tense- talking superintendent and her skippers?

They just might have to. City Councilor Blake Caravati, who attended the budget forum, was disappointed Wednesday night. Would he accept Griffin’s budget, if, as is unlikely, it made its way to Council unchanged? “No, I’d turn it right back around,” he said. “To me, every budget needs to be keyed into a strategic plan and there is no plan here.”

Caravati further said he expects budgets to incorporate “collaboration and communication.” “I see very, very little collaboration with school staff,” he said.—Cathy Harding

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As Told To: Conversations with Old-School Business Owners

Brown’s Lock & Safe’s
Margaret Brown
Interview by Barbara Rich

Brown’s Lock & Safe was started by my late husband in 1950. His name was Stewart K. Brown, Jr., and he died five years ago. How many years was this the only business of its kind? I would have to say a LONG TIME!

Our customers are varied. We serve law offices, doctor’s offices, townspeople and those who are from the university. A mix of town and gown. Also technical offices and big plants. And we also serve builders and homeowners.

We get customers from as far away as Luray, and from all the surrounding counties.

Yes, we have family working here. My two sons, Daniel and Stewart, are here, and I am blessed to have them, and we also have eight other employees. One of them retired after working here for 41 years, and we have another employee who has been with us for 32 years.

We do keep our employees, that’s true. And we are good to them, but then they are also good to us.

No, we haven’t always been here on Market Street. Just since 1970. For 20 years before then, we were in the University Shopping Center on Ivy Road. My husband decided to buy this store when the person who was going to buy it decided not to.

Western Auto was here before we were. This is a good location, and we do get drive-by customers because of that.

Oh, what we sell. Well, locks of all kinds, and knives. HASPS—those sliding door locks—and we have small items, like these containers of pepper spray, that you can carry in your bag.

We also have burglar alarms, and we make keys.

It is a different world now. I can remember when we didn’t lock our doors at night. But you can’t do that now. It’s important to be aware of your safety and security at all times.

Yes, I do still come down to the store. I used to do all the bookkeeping, but now I fill in when my sons are out having lunch. No, I don’t wait on the counter, just answer the phones, and do a little office work.

What’s the best thing about this business? I would have to say that it’s providing security. Our motto is: “Customer security is our concern.” Our concern, our main purpose, is seeing to it that we provide for people’s security.

But another good thing about this business is the opportunity to deal with different people. Meeting all kinds of people who come into the store. People who come from here, and also from far away.

We don’t do any advertising. We never have done that. Even our vans don’t have our name on them, although we are going to start doing that soon.

Because of our lack of advertising, I would have to say that our best source of business is by word-of-mouth. Our customers who are satisfied with what we do tell other people about us. That is how our business continues to grow.