Month: June 2006

The Cavalier Daily has been the champion of student journalism, self-governance and free speech at UVA since, like, a long time ago. And yet, with all of that under their grosgrain belts, they still find time to dabble in a little constitutional law. Amazing!
By now you’ve probably heard that The Cavalier Daily is teaming up with Virginia Tech’s Collegiate Times to file a joint lawsuit against Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control. They say a law restricting alcohol advertising in college papers is unconstitutional and is costing them ad revenue.
Ellen Biltz, editor of the Collegiate Times, has emphasized that the lawsuit isn’t about advertising losses, it’s about free speech.
The Cavalier Daily says a lack of alcohol branding and heavily restricted descriptive language is hurting their ability to compete in the market. The suit states, “The same businesses that are completely prohibited from placing advertisements for alcoholic beverages in The Cavalier Daily are able to advertise in competing non-student newspapers such as the C-VILLE Weekly.” (Who, us?)
It’s true, we can print brand advertising—and we get to use a few more, um, descriptive phrases like “Polynesian drinks” and “spirits.” But our alcohol ads are no free-for-all, either.
So until the newspapers sort it out for the good of all mankind (or at least senior frat dwellers), here’s a handy guide to brand-name drink specials on the Corner.
Baja Bean Co.’s got Happy Hour every day from 3pm to 9pm, with Gold (that’s Cuervo Gold) Margaritas and Pabst Blue Ribbon for $2.
The guys at O’Neill’s were super-skittish about telling us their drink specials, due to ABC superstitions, but we do have it on good authority that there’s $1 Rolling Rock on Wednesdays.
Coupe DeVille’s has Budweiser for $1.50 Mondays-Wednesdays, and $3.75 pitchers (usually PBR or Keystone Light) on Thursdays.
Buddhist Biker Bar‘s got $1 PBR on Mondays to go with their tasty $5 burger special. Thursdays they’ve got Sol for $2.
The old chaps at The Virginian offer $5 Bud Light and PBR pitchers, and $4 top shelf bourbon (like Maker’s Mark and Wild Turkey) every day from 5pm to 7pm. They’ve also got $3 Jack-and-Cokes on Mondays, $5 Jager(meister) bombs on Wednesdays, $4 Red Bull-and-vodkas on Fridays and $2 Blue Moon on Saturdays. Whew!
There, that should be enough to tide you over until freedom is restored.—Meg McEvoy, with reporting by Mary Ashton Burgh

The defense for Ingo shooter Robert Lee Cooke made last-ditch attempts to lighten Cooke’s sentence at a hearing last week. Robert Lee Cooke was found guilty in April of shooting Ingo, a K-9 officer, while fleeing a burglary scene on October 24, 2004. He was paralyzed from the waist down when he was shot by Ingo’s handler, Albemarle County Police officer Andy Gluba. Ingo had to be euthanized due to his injuries.
The County estimated that the highly-trained Ingo was worth $5,000. But Cooke’s attorneys, Dana Slater and Janice Redinger, argued that since the outpouring of public support for Ingo had netted the police department $30,000, restitution had already been made. Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos called their argument “absurd.”
The defense also argued that Cooke’s concurrent sentences—five years for possession of a firearm and seven for shooting the dog—were too long, given Cooke’s paralysis. Camblos maintained that the jury had seen Cooke in his wheelchair and was well aware of his injuries.
Over a dozen relatives and friends turned out to show their support for Cooke. His wife gave an emotional statement, saying she wanted Cooke home to be with their 6-year-old daughter and second child, who is due in November.
In his statement, Cooke said, “When I think about the past, I realize I am lucky to be alive.” He apologized to the Albemarle Police Department, but said “I do feel I’ve been punished already… I’ve lost half my body.” Judge James Luke overruled all of defense’s arguments, but did suspend Cooke’s sentence by two years. He will serve 10 years in prison, and is eligible for parole after eight and a half.—Meg McEvoy

Apparently the Bush Administration’s much- touted law-and-order focus doesn’t extend to actually paying for anything. Like, for example, juvenile justice and delinquency prevention programs. In his latest budget request for Fiscal Year 2007, Bush proposed to cut such federal programs 43 percent, to $176 million from $308.7 million.
According to Rory Carpenter, the juvenile justice coordinator for the Charlottesville/Albemarle Commission on Children and Families, similar cuts were threatened last year as well, but were shot down by Congress. He expects a similar outcome this year—with some funding getting cut, but not nearly as much as Bush has requested.
Should the cuts occur, Carpenter says that they could potentially affect funding in Charlottesville and Albemarle. Each year the CCF receives about $20,000 from the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant to fund programs on gang prevention and restorative justice. Bush’s budget proposes eliminating this grant entirely. In addition, throughout the years, Carpenter estimates that the CCF has received about $500,000 from the Title V Local Delinquency Prevention Grant program. Bush’s budget proposes cutting this funding to $32 million, down from $64.4 million in Fiscal Year 2006.
All in all, however, Carpenter is optimistic about the programs’ chances of survival.
“There’s a good chance that, through the lobbying process, we can get some of these dollars put back in,” he says.—Nell Boeschenstein

On June 13, Virginia Democrats elected James Webb—Ronald Reagan’s former Navy Secretary—to challenge Republican incumbent George Allen for his Senate seat in November.
A mere 3.3 percent of Virginia’s 4.5 million voters turned out for the contest between Webb and former telecommunications lobbyist Harris Miller. As election day approached, politicos predicted a low turnout, and wondered whether Webb—seen as the best bet to beat Allen—could overcome his Republican ties. He did. Webb won 83,146 of about 155,000 votes cast, giving him 53.5 percent of the votes to Miller’s 46.5 percent.
Commentators (like our favorite political blogger, Not Larry Sabato) chalked up Webb’s victory to his solid hold on Northern Virginia. Locally, voter turnout was relatively high—about 6.8 percent—and some observers were surprised that Webb swept every Charlottesville precinct and all but three precincts in Albemarle.
In a post titled “I’m sorry, Charlottesville,” Not Larry Sabato said he mistakenly assumed local voters were too “wacky” to vote for Webb. “The last time I visited a group of Charlottesville Democrats, most of them were still bragging about supporting Jerry Brown over Bill Clinton in 1992,” wrote NLS. “It seems to me the young people in Charlottesville have changed that community recently, and I congratulate them for it.”—John Borgmeyer

Beginning July 1, federal legislation will require all Medicaid recipients to present identification that proves they are American citizens. But, while the deadline is less than two weeks away, local agencies still have questions about what forms of ID recipients will need to provide.
“We’re not quite sure how that is going to filter out on a state or local level,” says Sue Moffett, chief of the division of benefit programs for Charlottesville’s Department of Social Services (DSS). Though she says she’s confident client service won’t be disrupted, she is concerned about potentially overloading her staff. At Albemarle’s DSS, Assistant Director John Freeman shares that concern. “Workers who are already working heavy loads will have additional processing requirements put on them.”
Currently there are more than 9,000 Medicaid recipients in both City and County, who in the past have signed a declaration of citizenship. Under the new law, however, applicants will need to present either a federally issued document—such as a passport, certificate of naturalization, or certificate of citizenship—or a birth certificate with another form of identification that has yet to be specified.
DSS might already have requisite documentation on hand for some clients, but in many instances, Medicaid recipients will need to track down birth certificates or other documentation. Local agencies are preparing to assist with that task. “It will increase the workload, but we want to make sure people keep Medicaid,” says Moffett. “We’re not anticipating that our clients in great numbers will have passports,” says Freeman, who is particularly concerned about finding documentation for children and nursing home elderly.
Because of the opacity of the new requirements, Charlottesville’s DSS is working overtime to do annual reviews of as many cases as possible before the July 1 deadline. “We’re just really concerned that people will be afraid to ask questions about the documentation needed to prove identity.”—Will Goldsmith

On Tuesday, June 13, a sea of people packed the Albemarle Planning Commission meeting. Most were Mill Creek residents fearful of the impact of the proposed Biscuit Run development near Old Lynchburg Road, which has the potential to house 5,000 new lots, and up to 12,000 new residents, on its 1,300 acres.
After sitting through a 40-minute slide presentation that explained a traffic study for the project, planning commissioners simply wanted to know when they could expect to see the actual study itself—by now known as “the monster” by its harshest critics. When pressed on this point, County planner Juan Wade admitted that he would not see the study himself until late summer.
Upon the meeting’s conclusion, members of the audience hung around outside the door, eager to confront anyone attached to the building project. “We will come to every one of these meetings, to simply show that there are people who care,” said Margaret Weeks, the identified leader of Mill Creek South’s opposition to Biscuit Run.
Outside the County Office Building, Commissioner Calvin Morris seemed relieved to have escaped the kerfuffle inside, but agreed that the fight over Biscuit Run is likely to become volatile. “No question,” he said, shaking his head. “No question.”—Jayson Whitehead