Tuesday, December 13
Casteen keeps checking cheddar for UVA
Jay-Z would say UVA president John Casteen checks cheddar like a food in-spector. Today the school’s prez celebrated news of a $45 million gift—the largest in school history—from the Ivy Foundation of Charlottesville. The money is earmarked for biomedical research, and the news comes on the heels of other windfalls for UVA. Last week Governor Mark Warner announced he would seek $255 million for education in his final State budget, with UVA seeking about $25 million of that for a new cancer center. The Ivy Foundation is headed by former Wahoo William C. Battle, who set up the Foundation in 2000 to help UVA by endowing professorships and fellowships in the sciences. For example, Ivy gave UVA $3 million in 2003 for four endowed professorships in regenerative medicine.
Wednesday, December 14
“Dukes of Hazzard” action on Fifth Street
An action-packed accident on Fifth Street Extended prompted drunk-driving charges against an Albemarle woman who jumped her car over a tow truck early this morning. The incident began when a State trooper pulled over a car on Fifth Street near I-64. The driver fled, according to WINA, and eventually the trooper called a tow truck to haul away the abandoned vehicle. At about 2:30am, a Ford Taurus sped towards the scene. The Taurus hit the police cruiser and the speeding suspect’s car, then drove up the tow truck’s ramp. The car flew over the tow truck and landed right-side-up. Jodie Ellen Finney, 34, was charged with DUI in the incident that one State police official described as right out of “Dukes of Hazzard.”
Longo to recruit Jesus?
It ain’t easy being the police chief. Sure, with his well-spoken manner, ultra-fit pugilist frame and fancy education, Chief Tim Longo could be mistaken for a man who has it all. But at a morning press briefing during which the chief clarified reporting procedures for the media, he suggested that his softer side is not getting the love it deserves. “On the other side of the camera lens, telephone, reporter’s pad is a human being who has feelings, friends…,” he said. Indeed, between last year’s DNA sweep, police shootings at Friendship Court and “mistaken identity” arrests, Longo has weathered plenty of criticism. The chief wasn’t whining, however, just trying to convey the reality of being the go-to guy when the fertilizer hits the fan. “I don’t have a full-time public information officer,” he said, “…it’s not going to happen. We don’t have the funding to make it happen.” Apparently, the press, and by extension the public, need to realign their expectations for how much of the story they can get and how quickly. “I only know one person who has all the answers,” Longo said with a smile, “and he doesn’t live down here and he’s certainly not a member of the CPD.”
Thursday, December 15
Ice storm cuts power to 40,000 in Central Virginia
About an inch of ice fell on Charlottesville and surrounding areas tonight, leaving 40,000 people without power as tree limbs froze and fell across utility lines. Most people had power by Friday morning, although The Daily Pro-gress reported that about 6,500 people were still without power by 2pm Friday. Candles caused two fires in Charlottesville, and County police blamed ice for about two dozen accidents. There were no fatalities.
Friday, December 16
UVA names former guv to head Miller Center
Today UVA president John Casteen and Governor Mark Warner announced that Gerald Baliles will head UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. Baliles, 65, is a 1967 UVA law grad who won the governor’s race as a Demo-crat in 1985, a year after President Ronald Reagan’s landslide re-election, and will soon retire from Hunton & Williams law firm in Richmond. Baliles replaces former Center director Philip Zelikow, who chaired the 9/11 Commis-sion and left UVA in January to become counselor to Condo-leezza Rice.
Saturday, December 17
Former Wahoo Barber sets record in NFL
Former UVA football standout Tiki Barber, now a running back for the New York Giants, ran for 220 yards today in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Barber’s performance set a new Giants team record for most rushing yards in a single game. Barber scored two touchdowns today, helping his team win their 10th game; if the Giants beat the Washington Redskins next week-end, they clinch the NFC eastern division title. Barber is a 1997 graduate of UVA’s commerce school; his brother, Ronde, graduated from UVA a year earlier and now plays cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Sunday, December 18
Warner sets State’s first ban on bias against gays
Gay rights activists celebrated today’s news that Virginia’s nondiscrimination clause would for the first time include sexual orientation. Warner added the protection for gays into his biannual budget by executive order, putting the policy into effect immediately. Governor-elect Tim Kaine announced he would continue the policy when his administration begins on January 14. It’s the first good news for Virginia’s gays in quite a while, although conservatives in the General Assembly have vowed to fight the change.
Monday, December 19
State study: campus crime victims should call cops
A State commission released a report today saying that safety at Virginia colleges could be improved if school officials allow local law enforcement to punish law breakers instead of schools punishing them administratively.
Written by John Borgmeyer from staff and news reports.
Wheeler pushes smart growth
Local activist on how to grow and still be great
For Average Joe Citizen, trying to read a document from the City or County’s planning department is like trying to read hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone. This, says Brian Wheeler, executive director of Charlottesville Tomor-row, is one of the main reasons a community doesn’t complain about development until the bulldozers have already started pushing dirt around.
The implications of a “Comprehensive Plan,” what the hell “zoning” is, who’s running for the Board of Supervisors, and putting a picture on planning-speak—all are conversations Wheeler hopes to foster via his new organization, Charlottesville Tomorrow. Launched in September, the group is nonpartisan, Web-based (www. cvilletomorrow.org) and aims to educate the public about issues surrounding smart growth in the area.
The hope, says Wheeler, is “that [with Charlottesville Tomorrow’s help] people will be more informed, so that when an important comprehensive plan change is in front of the public, more people will be involved… Then, 10 years later when things are actually starting to happen, the public will feel like they were heard and listened to.”
The first step in that pro-cess, however, according to Wheeler, is that people have to make the jump from getting up in arms over backyard issues, to seeing backyard issues as issues that effect the community at large.
In fact, once upon a time, Wheeler himself was backyard issue-centric. As a parent of a second grader whose class had 27 students, Wheeler crusaded for smaller class sizes. In the process, County Supervisor Sally Thomas pulled him aside and pointed out that if he wanted to have a real impact he’d have to look further than Murray Elementary. Wheeler ended up running for and getting elected to the School Board in January 2004. He still serves.
Likewise, Wheeler’s interest in land use sprouted in his backyard, blossoming into recognition of the bigger picture, when Faulconer Con-struction planned to build behind Murray. Wheeler rallied the troops against Faulconer’s project.
Gradually, says Wheeler, “we learned that we didn’t just want Faulconer to go somewhere else; if they go somewhere else we’re just passing the problem on to someone else.”
After the Faulconer case got him thinking about land use and the need for greater communication between City and County governments and the public on that issue, Charlottesville Tomorrow be-gan taking form in his head. A year ago, he quit his tech job and started recruiting backers. In the upcoming year, Wheeler hopes to consolidate on the website all information on all the transportation projects in the area, what their status is and what the funding status is.
“We will read all the details but boil it down into terms [the public] can understand…because if the community’s voice isn’t heard, then five or 10 years down the road it’s going to come back to haunt you.”—Nell Boeschenstein
Goode deflects bribery fallout
Congressman gets folksy cred giving away dirty money
If he’s done nothing else in Congress —and, really, he hasn’t—Virgil Goode has mastered the art of winning
re-election.
Now approaching his 12th year as U.S. Representative for Virginia’s Fifth District, Goode, a Republican, has used his deep family connections and an “aw shucks” demeanor to cement his grip on power. Lately, Goode’s image has remained largely untarnished by news that his largest contributor was involved in federal bribery and fraud. In fact, Goode may be using the scandal to his advantage.
Last month, California Representative Randy “Duke” Cunningham resigned after confessing he accepted $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors, especially MZM, Inc. That company is also Goode’s largest contributor, giving him $90,000 over the past two elections.
On Sunday, December 11, The Roanoke Times detailed how Goode helped MZM get unorthodox sweetheart deals for cheap real estate in Martinsville, leading up to the company’s move there in 2003. As the paper reports, however, few people in that depressed Southside city were willing to criticize Goode for his efforts to deliver jobs.
In the wake of Cunning-ham’s confession, pressure mounted on Goode to return the $90,000 he collected from MZM. Goode has said he sent letters to the donors asking if they wanted their money back; most, he says, did not. So last week he made political lemonade by announcing he would give the money to unspecified charities in the Fifth District. One $30,000 donation has already gone to Gleaning for the World, a Christian organization that collects surplus medical supplies for humanitarian groups.
One of Goode’s would-be Democratic challengers, Bern Ewert, says it may have been a mistake for Goode to deal with MZM in the first place. “There is a real chance the MZM house of cards could completely collapse and leave the city and the citizens of Martinsville in the lurch,” Ewert said in a statement.
Another challenger, Al Weed, says Goode should give the money back to the treasury. “It would be symbolic,” says Weed. “Everything MZM gets paid is through defense contracts, so in effect this is taxpayer money going into [Goode’s] campaign war chest.”—John Borgmeyer
Historic district set for approval
Planners advance new design controls near UVA
On Tuesday, December 13, the City Plan-ning Commission recommended approval of the Rugby Road-University Circle-Ven-able Neighborhood Architectural Design Control District.
Mary Joy Scala, the City’s preservation and design planner, said there are two options for design control in the Rugby area. Option one would establish a complete architectural design control district and protect more than 200 historic buildings within an 87-acre zone.
The second option includes a sub-area bordered by St. John and 14th streets where demolition of existing structures would need no approval. All of the structures in this sub-area, dubbed the “green zone,” are currently classified as not historically or architecturally significant.
The two options reflect disagreement between developers and preservationists on how best to “overlay” zoning restrictions on this section
of Charlottesville—which the City recently rezoned to allow for the development of high-density student housing near UVA.
The public comments began with residents who were in favor of protecting the entire neighborhood with option one. Developer Daniel Veliky, however, said he favors the development freedom that comes with option two. “A new building is far superior than anything they could build in the 1930s,” Veliky said.
The Planning Commissioners ex-pressed concern over new development expected for the green zone. Commis-sioner William Lucy thought the existing streetscape would be threatened by the height and massing of new buildings; Commissioner Kevin O’Halloran pointed out that new structures might better serve the area “if they are designed well.”
Finally, the need for more student housing and the commitment to the existing zoning ordinance convinced most of the commissioners to support option two, by a 5 to 1 margin. The City Council will make a final decision in January.—Jay Neelley
A peek at JPA
C-VILLE’s here to help neighborhood problems
The City’s Neighborhood Develop-ment Department certainly seems to have gotten its ass in gear late- ly. This month it sent out the first of what promises to be a series of newsletters called “In Our Backyard,” dedi- cated to informing people about issues and upcoming projects in their neighborhoods.
This month the newsletter describes changes afoot in the Jefferson Park Avenue neighborhood, which sits just south of UVA and north of the CSX railroad tracks. More than 4,000 people live there, with 94 percent of them renters. Here is the City’s assessment of zoning and maintenance issues in the neighborhood, amended with help from C-VILLE.—John Borgmeyer
Will Dettor’s property go up for sale?
Belmont site could be ripe for condos
Rumors circulated last week that a parcel of prime Belmont real estate could soon go on the market. Jimmy Dettor—a local businessman, neighborhood activist and auto-racing sponsor, owns 2.5 acres at 1005/1025 Carlton Ave.—directly north of Mas restaurant in Belmont. Off the record, a developer said that he wanted to buy the Dettor property for residential development, but that he couldn’t compete with other parties who might also be interested.
The property is home to an auto repair shop, Cole’s Import Specialists, as well as an adjacent parking lot and warehouse. According to City records, the property is zoned for commercial use and was assessed this year at a value of $620,900. Asked by C-VILLE whether he planned to sell the property, Dettor replied he “has no comment at this time.”
If rumors about a sale prove true, however, the Dettor property could be a choice investment for someone with the resources to put condos or apartments on the site (developer Coran Capshaw, who owns Mas, certainly seems like a prime candidate).
Such a project would fit the recent trend in Belmont. The formerly blue-collar neighborhood has seen real estate prices soar with recent gentrification—assessments in Bel-mont went up by more than 12 percent in 2003 and nearly 15 percent in 2004. Mean-while, the influx of yuppies could mean old-school businesses, like auto repair, might give way to condos and hip new restaurants (it’s already happening with places like Mas and Frank Stoner’s Belmont Lofts.) What-ever happens with the site, we hope that Cole’s Imports finds a way to survive the changes in Belmont—the shop is a perennial favorite among readers in C-VILLE’s “Best Of C-VILLE” survey.—John Borgmeyer
UVA prof studies the brighter side of Wal-Mart
The oft-reviled retailer may not be as bad as you think
Maybe Wal-Mart is not so evil after all. The mega-retail chain is often bashed for mistreating workers and for sinking mom-and-pop shops. But according to a new report by UVA professor Zach-ary Courser, the only crime Wal-Mart may be guilty of is having the worst public relations department this side of Al-Qaeda.
Courser’s report, “Wal-Mart and the Politics of American Retail,” suggests that the principal criticisms of Wal-Mart are nothing more than the typical response to innovation within the retail industry.
Reviewing the history of the U.S. retail industry, Courser found many similarities with the criticisms of previous retail innovators like Sears Roebuck. Beginning with the first department stores in the late 19th century, change within the retail industry has always been met by some form of public outcry demanding that traditional retailers be protected. When Sears pioneered the first mail-order catalogue, local merchants in rural communities felt so threatened they held public burnings of Sears catalogues.
The one major difference between the early retail giants and Wal-Mart has been its communication with customers. According to Courser, from the beginning, “Wal-Mart has had a very singular, almost evangelical zeal for low costs.” By looking at cost through a strict a dollars-and-cents lens, it seems Wal-Mart has failed to account for the cost of pissing off its customers.
According to Courser’s report, Wal-Mart did not create a media relations department until 1989; and, despite being the largest retailer in the U.S. since 1990, it did not create a governmental relations department until 1999.
“[Founder Sam] Walton’s attitude against managing Wal-Mart’s corporate image has carried over in the period since his death and has contributed to the rise of public misunderstanding, resentment, and protests over its business,” Courser wrote.
Wal-Mart’s steadfast refusal to communicate with its customers and to foster a positive public image has had two significant impacts. Wal-Mart’s dominance has alienated its competitors, who understandably feel threatened; also its sheer size has alienated many American consumers to the point that they’re inclined to believe the anti-Wal-Mart propaganda.
As previously reported, Wal-Mart costs taxpayers an estimated $1.5 billion per year. But in his report, Courser cites another study which estimates that Wal-Mart saves its customers about $16 billion. Like Wal-Mart, Courser seems to see social costs and benefits strictly in terms of dollars and cents. If “consumers” is all that we are in America, then Wal-Mart does indeed seem to be good for us.—Dan Pabst
Carl Smith’s legacy of bricks and mortar
Millionaire industrialist bankrolled recent UVA development
On Thursday, December 8, Carl Smith died at age 78. The former UVA football player made his fortune in AMVEST Corp., a local coal and natural gas company, then became one of the school’s most important benefactors.
Smith and his wife, Hunter, contributed millions (UVA couldn’t say exactly how much, since many of the contributions were made anonymously) to develop programs in architecture, law, medicine, business, medicine and athletics.
In 2003, Smith donated $1.5 million to pay for a marching band to replace UVA’s ragtag “pep band.” The previous year, the pep band’s halftime skit offended West Virginia fans and Governor Bob Wise; AMVEST has significant coal interests in West Virginia and had donated money to Wise.
Smith’s most famous donation was a $25 million gift in 1997, most of which went to expand Scott Stadium. It was then the largest single monetary contribution in the school’s history, and the grounds around Scott Stadium now bear Smith’s name.—John Borgmeyer
Biomedical waste at UVA amounts to 800 tons
Most hospital waste is sterilized and dumped
What happens to all the old needles, tubes and bandages at UVA Medical Center?
According to UVA records, the hospital produces about 800 tons of biomedical waste each year. This includes all material that has any contact with body fluids—IV tubes, needles, syringes, dressings and all medical packaging. The total does not include body parts, which are collected and incinerated by Roanoke-based Sci-Med Waste Systems.
Before sending it off to the landfill, UVA sterilizes its medical waste by heating it with steam at 275 degrees for one hour. It is hauled away by Waste Management, Inc. and taken to the Maplewood Recycling and Waste Disposal Facility near Richmond, at a cost to UVA of about $76,000 per year. “When it leaves here, medical waste is considered the same as regular trash,” says UVA Medical Center spokesman Peter Jump.—John Borgmeyer
Man falsely accused of rape seeks $850,000
Commonwealth’s Attorney criticizes lawsuit against rape victim
Early last week, local civil rights defense attorney Deborah Wyatt filed a lawsuit on behalf of Chris Matthew against a former UVA law student who was raped in early September. The woman mistakenly identified Matthew as her attacker and he sat in jail for five days without bond before a DNA test exonerated him. A few days later, DNA evidence taken from the crime scene was found to match the genetic profile of another man—a previously convicted felon, 37-year-old Charlottesville resident John Henry Agee.
The suit, which is unprecedented in the area, according to Charlottesville Common-wealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman, charges defamation and seeks $850,000 on behalf of Matthew.
“The clearest person who instigated the victimization of Chris Matthew is being sued,” says Wyatt—who likens being falsely accused to being raped. “The [accusers] of these misidentifications—why should they not be held accountable? Do we say, ‘That’s life. Get over it,’ to the victim of rape? We say that to the accused.”
Yet while Wyatt convolutedly characterizes the suit as potentially empowering to women (she says her case assumes that women can in fact think straight after they’ve been sexually assaulted), Chap-man says that this suit could only add insult to a rape victim’s injury. The normally staid Chapman is so disturbed by the lawsuit that he released an unusually impassioned statement to the media in response to it.
“No one fails to understand that what happened to Mr. Matthew is a terrible tragedy,” wrote Chapman. But, “…this lawsuit will have a chilling effect—in this community and elsewhere—on the willingness of women to report to police when they are sexually assaulted.”
Chapman says there is no evidence there was “intent to harm, or malice of any sort” on the part of the victim when she pointed the finger at Matthew. In order for a defamation claim to hold up in court, malice or ill will must be proven.
Eyewitness identification is notoriously unreliable. According to the Center for Wrongful Convictions, of the 86 studied cases of inmates sentenced to death who were later exonerated based on DNA evidence, 54 percent of those convictions were based on eyewitness testimony.
This is why, says Chapman, eyewitness testimony should always be considered along with other evidence. It’s not a matter of doubting what a victim might say, but as with any crime that involves close physical contact, explains Chapman, “those are circumstances where there are factors that can make the ability of an involved party to identify somebody subsequently less accurate.” Circumstances, presumably, like the trauma of rape.—Nell Boeschenstein
UVA law school ducks ROTC controversy
Others challenge military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell”
policy in court, but UVA stays homeDoes the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy violate nondiscrimination rules on college campuses? That’s a question some major schools are taking to the Supreme Court; UVA, however, is ducking the controversy.
Two weeks ago the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR), a coalition of 36 of the nation’s law schools. FAIR’s challenge is to the Solomon Amendment of the Constitution. The 1995 amendment denies certain funding to any college that does not permit military recruiting on its campus.
FAIR argues that by allowing military recruiters, colleges are implicitly kowtowing to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy towards gays and lesbians. Doing so, FAIR maintains, is in violation of the nondiscrimination policies most colleges and universities employ.
The FAIR coalition includes Top 20 law schools like Stanford, NYU and George-town, but not UVA, currently ranked eighth nationally. Only 24 of the participating FAIR schools have attached their names to the case; 12 remain anonymous.
As for the University’s position on the issue, Law School Dean John Jeffries, Jr. calls it a “controversial question,” saying that “the law school doesn’t take corporate opinions of that sort” as a matter of policy. Moreover, he considers the matter settled by the Solomon Amendment: UVA both accepts federal funding and allows military recruiters.
Further insight into the law school’s tight-lipped approach to the controversy can be found in its Fair Employment Policy. The policy states that the school is “committed to a policy against discrimination based on age…race, religion, sex, sexual orientation…” However, an addendum states, “The Law School policy applicable to sexual orientation will not be applied to military employers.”—Nell Boeschenstein