Deputy attacked by hopping mad rooster

This one is straight out of the Dukes of Hazzard, folks. Yesterday (January 30), an Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office deputy fell prey to an infuriated rooster while serving a warrant on a person who failed to show up for a court date. Deputy Tom Wood caught the force of the rooster’s attack below the belt before retaliating with a can of mace that proved ineffective.

We’ll let Albemarle County Sheriff Chip Harding take the story from here.

"Deputy Tom Wood pulled out his can of mace while keeping a close eye on a dog in the yard that did not appear to appreciate him being there. All of a sudden he heard the sound of wings beating and a large rooster hit him beak first just below the belt hard enough to double him over. He at the same time shot the rooster with mace out of reflex. The mace appeared to have no effect on the bird. The bird never gave any ground. However after watching Tom’s fellow officers laughing in hysterics it went back to walking around the yard eating. It turns out that no one was home so the deputies continue their dangerous quest to capture the fugitive, Sara Bishop Gibson (w, f, age 34, 5’7” 160 lbs, Mountain View Drive, Charlottesville) who has gone a ‘fowl’ of the law."

Categories
Living

Commonwealth's for the good of all

“Are we in Charlottesville or New York?” my friend asked as she joined us at one of the throne-like circular booths in Commonwealth’s dining room. She and I, both six-year denizens of New York restaurants, were reminded of some of our old haunts, which managed to make large and soaring feel warm and welcoming. The new anchor to Downtown’s Fifth Street underwent such a transformation this summer that it’s hard to remember that it stood a dusty shell for five years after A&N moved out.


Get ’Wealth soon: Alex George’s four-month-old Downtown restaurant is a treat for the eyes and the palate, offering unexpected eats in a beautiful New York-esque dining room. (Photo by Andrea Hubbell)

Although the gutting and rebuilding process was a huge undertaking, it went fast in restaurant terms, and the various partners and investors spared no expense. On a pre-opening tour with partner and executive chef Alex George, I noticed that there was none of the used restaurant equipment or hand-me-downs that help keep overheads low. A massive walk-in for beer had been built, a dumbwaiter to send food up to the skybar was ready to go, penny tiling had been expertly laid in the bathrooms, and copper trim reflected glints of light. In the kitchen, there were stacks of pristine pots and pans in every size. The paper was off the large picture window that would give the kitchen staff a view of the world outside and passers-by a view of the action within.

After four months of business, everything’s still super shiny. The restaurant’s skybar (albeit a modest 20′ above street level) continues to hop and even on the cold, rainy night of our visit, imbibers ascended the staircase for a night of revelry tucked in a plastic cocoon amidst space heaters. The dining room was bustling too, with diners nestled warmly inside watching rain fall outside the window wall. Glowing, flickery light makes everything look sexy—the place, the food, the wine, the company—and service is attentive without being obtrusive or obsequious.

Had we not the pleasure of dining with Ox-Eye Vineyards owner John Kiers, who brought his old-world style wines, we would have been tempted by Commonwealth’s large selection of craft beers or a specialty cocktail like the “As American As,” which combines Wild Turkey with maple-butternut shrub and cranberry bitters. While the wines-by-the-glass list offers nothing out of the ordinary, the bottle list is extensive, with about a dozen half-bottle choices.

The food, which reflects George’s Guyana upbringing, is playful, and every dish includes at least one unexpected ingredient. The house salad combined long hearts of romaine with mandarin oranges, shaved pecorino, and toasted hazelnuts in a punchy cilantro vinaigrette. A cheese plate featured honeycomb, artisanal takes on familiar cheeses, and two types of delicate flatbreads.

The appetizers were inspired, lusty, and filling. We had little piles of ginger-braised pulled pork atop crispy yam croquettes (1); fluffy crepes rolled around a mixture of Belgian ale-braised rabbit and cheddar with a sauce of roasted figs; seared diver scallops with chorizo, arugula, and dill (2); and flaky empanadas stuffed with skirt steak and served with a sweet, spicy corn salsa. All appetizers cost between $7 and $13.

We could have happily ended our meal there with our stomachs full (but not aching) and with wine that was complimenting everything so well still in our glasses. But main courses—especially meat-centered ones—are so prevalent that we each ordered one. All were well-prepared and had that one unexpected component (a crispy half-chicken came with sweet plantains and violet mustard sauce (3) and a grilled pork chop was topped with a reduced sauce of chorizo, tomatoes, and mushrooms), but they were far more than we wanted and became tiresome after three bites. The one veggie entrée on the menu was the table’s favorite. Commonwealth’s curried chickpeas (4) raise the humble legume to holy heights in a complex and fragrant dish that we couldn’t get enough of—and it was only $13, instead of $17-26.

Americans still consume more meat than any other nation, but that’s been on a steady decline. In fact, the department of agriculture predicts a 12.2 percent drop this year. So, why are restaurants still serving 10-ounce pork chops and 16-ounce rib eyes? Probably because we’re still ordering them. More and more though, a chef shines in his smaller plates, where it’s quality of flavors over quantity of food and where a little bit of meat goes a long way. This was certainly the case at Commonwealth, where we’ll return for tasty appetizers and drinks in a setting so cosmopolitan that it makes even city slickers feel at home.—Megan Headley 

(Photo by Andrea Hubbell)

Commonwealth’s Curried Chickpeas with Mustard Greens

Serves 6
4 cups garbanzo beans
2 tbs. tomato paste
2 tbs. garam masala
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbs. cumin seed
2 tbs. turmeric
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. cayenne
1 bunch mustard greens
8 curry leaves
1 Vidalia onion, diced
3 tbs. clarified butter
Water

In a big pot, sauté diced onions in clarified butter with spices and salt until browned. Add garbanzo beans and enough water to cover them. Add tomato paste and cook until mixture begins to thicken. Cook mustard greens separately in simmering water for 30 minutes until tender and then add them to the chickpeas. Cook on very low heat for about an hour. Add curry leaves, and salt to taste before serving over basmati rice with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche.

Categories
News

Attorney for homeless plaintiffs mulls next move

Jeffrey Fogel, attorney for the five homeless men who filed a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the City of Charlottesville’s panhandling ordinance, was not surprised about the suit’s dismissal. Rather, Fogel was surprised about how District Court Judge Norman K. Moon dismissed it.

“The normal course is that the defendant files an answer and you proceed to a period of the case called ‘discovery,’ in which each side is allowed to get information from the other side in writing, documents, depositions in order to establish the proof necessary in a trial,” said Fogel. “By granting the motion to dismiss this case, he precluded us from gathering any evidence and demonstrating to him what we alleged in the complaint.”

According to Fogel, in a lawsuit one side has the burden to prove its argument and “it cannot solve it in a motion to dismiss,” he said. “How does the city satisfy the burden?”
However, City Attorney Craig Brown doesn’t believe the outcome would have been different had the case moved to the discovery stage.

“The stage in which the case was dismissed was on a motion to dismiss, which means that the judge assumes the truth of everything they have alleged. And even doing that, he found that they have not alleged a constitutional violation,” he told C-VILLE.

Shortly after the suit was filed last June, the city responded with a motion to dismiss, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing because “they failed to allege a plausible claim of ‘injury in fact.’” Although Judge Moon disagreed with the City and argued the five men had standing, he granted the motion to dismiss “for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”

“The ordinance actually leaves intact the right to solicit on most of the [Downtown] Mall, and it does not impose an outright ban on begging or panhandling on the mall,” wrote Judge Moon.

The suit claimed that the soliciting (formerly “panhandling”) ordinance approved by City Council in August of last year violated the plantiffs’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Officially, the city’s ordinance restricts soliciting within 15′ of an entrance or exit of a bank or ATM machine during business hours; within 50′ in any direction of the two vehicular crossings on the Mall, at Second and Fourth streets; and “from or to” anyone seated at an outdoor café or “from or to” anyone doing business at a vendor table or cart during the hours of operation. The ordinance also prohibits aggressive panhandling, an element Fogel and his clients are not challenging.

“We are pleased,” said Brown, referring to the dismissal. “I think City Council tried very hard to strike the appropriate balance between those who wish to solicit funds on the Downtown Mall and those who would be the objects of that solicitation.”

As for the next step, Fogel is tight-lipped. “I don’t know yet. We are definitely going to do something,” he said.

Brown, meanwhile, is ready for any action. “If they appeal, we’ll defend it,” he said. “The judge’s opinion is very defensible on appeal.”

 

Categories
Living

Crafty light: Tastes great, less filling, and a better buzz?

Today’s big news in big beer is Anheuser-Busch’s release of Bud Light Platinum, just in time for some football game that I keep hearing about. The new beer will step out in a tall, sleek blue bottle on the screens of chicken wing-mowing football fans in commercials set to air during Sunday’s Superbowl XLVI. But with 137 calories per bottle (compared to regular Bud’s 145 and Bud Light’s 115), isn’t Anheuser-Busch just reinventing the wheel, shining it up, and then spending fistfuls of money to advertise it? Perhaps, but what does set Bud Light Platinum apart from its other Buddies is a significant increase in alcohol by volume, or ABV.

Platinum weighs in at 6 percent ABV while regular Bud has 5 percent and Bud Light 4.2 percent. What’s in a percentage point though? Well, aside from its obvious ability to get one drunker faster, it supposedly tastes sweeter and fuller-bodied—more like the craft beers that are taking the beer world by storm.

Light beer has been delivering low-ish calorie, alcohol-tinged, skunk-flavored water to the masses since it came on the scene in the 1970s, and even today every other beer sold in America is a light beer. Low-alcohol beer costs less to produce because it requires less raw ingredient (which we’d like to think are hops and barley, but are often rice and corn in the mass-produced brands). And, because it takes two light beers to every one regular beer to feel the effects of alcohol, more units are moved. Which, of course, begs the saying: If it ain’t broke… But big brewing companies like Anheuser-Busch and Coors reported 3-5 percent sales losses the past two years, while the craft beer industry is basking in a 12-16 percent annual growth rate. These are figures significant enough to get the big boys all sudsed up.

Taylor Smack, owner and brewmaster at Blue Mountain Brewery, thinks that the shift is attributable to newly-legal beer drinkers, as opposed to big beer drinkers changing brews. “Every day a Bud drinker dies and a craft beer drinker turns 21. It’s that simple. We’ve passed the tipping point,” said Smack.

So, will Bud Light Platinum satisfy both the light-drinker and the craft-drinker as Anheuser-Busch hopes? And, if so, will it do so for the long haul, or just on game days? While the average football-watching endomorph doesn’t seem concerned with counting calories, light beer is the chosen brewski of NFL viewers in part because of advertising (Bud Light paid $1.2 million to be the NFL’s official drink this year), but also because fans want to ingest mass quantities without getting wasted (craft beers average 6-12 percent ABV) or getting so full that they don’t have room for that seven-layer dip. When games last three to four hours and there’s pre-game and post-game drinking to do, that’s a good thing.

Smack doesn’t think that being a craft-drinker and a light-drinker have to be mutually exclusive though. “I have craft-savvy friends who order the best-of-the-best craft beer when pub-hopping, having an upscale meal, or enjoying cooking at home, but have no problem with a go-to domestic light beer when it comes to extended football watching. Even I tone it down during a big college football Saturday. But people just haven’t quite figured out yet that there are good, lighter-bodied traditional pilsners, wheat beers, and British session ales that fit the bill about as nicely as a light beer,” said Smack.

Having potty-trained a daughter not too long ago, I can’t help but consider the frequency of bathroom breaks a considerable disadvantage of light beers, but I guess that’s what zipper flies and instant replays are for.

The fact of the matter is, the newer generations, especially in a locally-proud town like Charlottesville, are more and more demanding of a genuine, quality product. “Craft beer is real beer; it’s history, and it reflects America’s great and varied immigrant roots. Craft beer tastes better, and it’s a whole food without chemicals, preservatives, or industrial tampering. It’s here to stay,” said Smack. With 1,949 craft breweries currently open in the U.S. and another 915 on their way, they’re the team with the best odds of all.

 

Categories
News

C-VILLE News Briefs

Parents of Morgan Harrington mark morbid anniversary
Since January 26, 2010, the Harrington family has kept a steady vigil on their blog and continued to make media appearances as part of their Help Save the Next Girl campaign and their effort to bring Morgan’s killer to justice. Last Thursday, they marked two years since the confirmation of their daughter’s death, during a stop at the Copeley Road Bridge where she was last seen alive. “Gil and I are held up daily by people who continue to help keep Morgan’s story alive,” said father Dan Harrington to media.

Gil and Dan Harrington at their daughter’s memorial.

UVA basketball standout rebounds from injury
Assane Sene, UVA basketball’s 7′-tall Senegalese center, is recovering from an injury to his right ankle, and hopes to be back on the court in March. After a January 19 win over Georgia Tech, UVA team doctor David Diduch told Cavalier Insider that fractures such as Sene’s typically heal within six weeks. The recovery timetable of six weeks would put Sene, ranked 10th all-time for UVA blocked shots, back on the court in time for the season’s final matchup with Maryland on March 4, and potentially ready for the ACC tournament, which starts on March 8.

Applications to UVA increase by 18 percent
UVA received 28,200 applications for undergraduate admission for the Fall 2012 semester. That’s a nearly 18 percent jump over last year’s total. According to a New York Times survey, UVA’s jump sticks out: At present, the school has the greatest percentage increase in admissions among those listed. (Save for Iowa’s Grinnell College—which, it should be noted, received fewer than 3,000 applications last year.)

Stonefield still slated for 137-room hotel
Last week, C-VILLE reported that a Staun-ton-based hotel developer had plans for a 137-room Homewood Suites at West Rio Road. One unanswered question we had concerned hotel plans for the Stonefield development on U.S. 29, once considered home for Homewood. With Homewood Suites bound for a different site, was Stonefield looking for another hotel developer? No, said Tom Gallagher, a principal with developer Edens & Avant, who spoke with C-VILLE. “We’re working with MacFarlane Partners, from Richmond,” said Gallagher. “The project is a Hyatt Place.” He estimated that the site would have 137 rooms.

Arrested occupiers found guilty
The 17 members of Occupy Charlottesville who were arrested in Lee Park in the wee hours of December 1 were found guilty of trespassing, according to a report from the Newsplex. On Friday morning, a judge denied a motion to dismiss the charges filed by their attorney Jeffrey Fogel, and the occupiers received $100 fines. Indecent exposure charges against one occupier, who stripped naked on Market Street in protest, were dropped.

Mr. Halfaday goes to court
Former Democratic City Council candidate James Halfaday waived his rights to a preliminary hearing on Thursday and will face a grand jury in late February. Halfaday is accused of election fraud for making false statements in his candidate documents, a Class 5 Felony that carries a hefty penalty.

 

Categories
News

Golf versus garden in McIntire Park

It’s not the first time that the future of McIntire Park has divided residents of Charlottesville. First, there was the Meadow Creek Parkway. Then came the YMCA. Now, it’s golf versus botanical garden in the master planning process for the eastern side of the city’s biggest park.

The area under discussion is currently home to a nine-hole golf course and a skate park. The question for residents is whether the 61 acres should be devoted to any other use or activity.

“In order to open up the park fully, there cannot be golfing activities as well, because golfing and walking around with children on strollers don’t complement each other. It’s a safety issue,” said Helen Flamini, president of the nonprofit McIntire Botanical Garden.

Wayne Hall, chair of the Charlottesville First Tee Advisory Board, disagrees.

“A botanical garden doesn’t have to be 65 acres. You can have a 5-acre botanical garden, a 25-acre botanical garden. It’s a matter of scale,” he said in an interview. “You can have a short, par-3 golf course, which is very functional, very usable for the community. It serves a niche purpose. The botanical garden serves a niche purpose.”

At a recent public meeting, city staff presented three concept diagrams that hint at what the park could look like once the master plan is adopted. All include a botanical garden, a golf course, a skate park and a mixed-use area adjacent to the planned pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks.

However, Flamini added a fourth, all-botanical garden option, which won the most votes, followed closely by the option to divide the park into a 26-acre golf course located in the center of the park, with an 11-acre botanical garden to the north.

The addition has prompted city staff to consider another meeting to discuss the fourth option and to revisit what a botanical garden really is.
“One of the big issues that we need to consider and continue the community conversation on is, is it the desire for a full-blown botanical garden or is it a desire for a passive park?

These are two very different things,” said Chris Gensic, the city’s parks and trails planner. “Is it a tourist attraction or is it the local central park?”

Flamini is clear with her answer: “Our vision is to create this open space in the heart of the city to become like a Central Park atmosphere,” she said. “Our plan isn’t to have buildings on the park area, but to keep it open and enhance it with pathways so people can actually walk.”

For Hall, however, the debate has lost its original focus and has become centered on Charlottesville First Tee, which uses the park sparingly, he said.

“The question is not is it the First Tee versus the botanical garden, or the First Tee versus the rectangular field, or the First Tee versus the swimming pool,” he said. “It should be, ‘What should the land use be for the best use of the community?’ Golf is part of that.”

The First Tee and the city also have a 15-year contract; to honor it, the park needs at least a 9-hole course.

Gensic said if city staff agrees an additional meeting is needed, it will happen in the next six weeks.

 

 

Categories
Arts

Review: Richard III at Blackfriars

William Shakespeare’s Richard III is the study of how a politician’s over-developed ego drives the dark deeds he executes towards the attainment of high position. The play itself is a tidy piece of propaganda, according to Ralph Cohen, American Shakespeare Center’s director of mission, who described it as a reinforcement of Queen Elizabeth I’s legitimacy aimed at glorifying her grandfather, Henry VII, and vilifying his enemy, Richard III. With the presidential candidates gracing our television monitors on a nightly basis, it’s fun to see Richard stalking the stage, worrying about how to “…seem a saint where I must play the devil.”

From the first monologue, Curns exerts his control over the role, revealing a character who is human in his desire to be loved yet twisted in the methods he uses to pursue it. The cast leads us from one foul deed of deception and murder to another as the noose of insecurity pulls ever tighter around Richard’s neck, but the production notably uses humor to punctuate the play’s darkest moments. Lines like, “My hair doth stand on end,” are funny as delivered by actor Daniel Kennedy, whose head is shaved. The grim comedy in a game of catch played with the bloody bag containing the head of one of Richard’s targets elicited giggles from the crowd. The newest ASC version of the play opens with members of the acting troupe singing an a cappella version of Florence And The Machine’s hit song “Dog Days Are Over,” setting the tone for the peaceable rule of Richard’s brother King Edward IV. Richard, played by Benjamin Curns, then launches into the famous, “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York,” soliloquy, in which he exposes all manner of evil plans to usurp the king in such a self-absorbed way that you can’t help but think about today’s politicians.

But the most riotous laughter ensued during a staged offer of the kingship by Buckingham (Rene Thornton, Jr.) to Richard, the usurper. Richard is purportedly at home in pious contemplation when Buckingham rallies a crowd to offer him the crown, following a well-orchestrated discrediting of the rightful heir’s parentage. Richard appears on his balcony flanked by his henchmen, who are posing as priests, and feigns humility. The ruse was so masterfully imitated by the players that the audience was moved to cheer in mock approval of Richard’s acceptance of the crown.

Richard III is littered with treachery: a widow wooed at her husband’s funeral, the murder of two young princes, constantly shifting allegiances. Basically, Richard eats people for breakfast, and his utter disregard for humanity to the end of personal gain is all too familiar. He is the guy you love to hate so much that you can’t help but cheer when he cries out in desperation, “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,” as he is slain on the battlefield. His successor is scarcely better—the lesson being that one despot (read: politician) is just as immoral as the next. The best way to view Shakespeare’s plays is through the lens of the moment, and while I’m not counting on Gingrich, Romney, or Obama slaying anyone in the next couple of months, I couldn’t help but think of Cantor’s infamous sneer as I watched Curns bring one of Shakespeare’s greatest villains back to life.

Facing major shortfalls, Charlottesville circulates budget survey

The City of Charlottesville has mailed 23,500 copies of the Citizen’s Budget surveys and made it available online to obtain residents’ feedback on spending as the budget season approaches.

Director of Communications Ric Barrick said the city is facing a $1 million budget gap while Charlottesville City Schools are preparing for a nearly $4 million shortfall.

The survey combines priority rankings and written statements and allows citizens to have a more direct and personal effect on local government.

“This is an important survey that our City Councilors depend on to make the best decision on where public monies should be allocated,” City Spokesperson Ric Barrick said in a press release. “We want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to express their opinions before the 2012 budget goes officially before City Council.” Completed surveys must be submitted by tomorrow for consideration.

There will be a series of public feedback sessions in the spring and City Council will conduct a final vote on the budget in April. Click here for more information and the official press release. Official budget information can be found here.

 

A new way to freecycle

My ears perked up today when someone mentioned getting a free sandbox for his son on "Trash Nothing." Eh? What’s that? When he explained, I said, "Oh, sounds like freecycle"–the Yahoo group I’ve long been part of where people offer up stuff they want to give away.

Turns out, Trash Nothing is kind of an aggregator for freecycle and other similar groups. You get an account, choose the groups you’re part of, and let TN pull together all the e-mails you’d been getting in one central place.

There are some neat features, too, like color-coding that helps you easily sift through messages, e-mail alerts that help you nab the stuff you want when it’s posted, and (I love this) a "personal balance" that keeps track of how much stuff you’re offering versus receiving.

Anyone used this? Has it improved your life? I am a big fan of freecycle because I’ve gotten some rather large items through it (a dryer, a co-sleeper for our baby), but finding those things did require a lot of patience for tedious scrolling. If TN makes freecycle even easier to use, I’m all for it.

Categories
News

Curtains fall on Paramount employees

Heather Walker, a “star circle” theater donor, put it diplomatically: “Interesting shake up at the Paramount.”

In a Facebook post directed at the Paramount—the Downtown Mall theater that underwent a $16 million renovation and reopened in 2004—Walker documented a recent round of layoffs that followed the hiring of new executive director Chris Eure and board chair Mark Giles, who resigned from the board of the Virginia National Bank in December. At the Paramount, those terminated include general manager Mary Beth Aungier and marketing director Tami Keaveny, who both declined comment for this story.

The Paramount Theater lost its general manager and marketing director following a December change in leadership. (File Photo)

Since its reopening, the Paramount has seen a few changes in leadership. After shepherding the building through its renovation, executive director Chad Hershner resigned. He was succeeded by Ed Rucker, who left after less than a year. Not long after Rucker’s departure, the Paramount inked a management agreement with SMG, the venue management company that oversees the John Paul Jones Arena, as well as convention centers, theaters and performing arts facilities around the country.

The same time period saw some rocky financials for the two nonprofit organizations that own and operate the theater. According to tax exemption filings for Fiscal Year 2010, the Paramount Theater Foundation’s net assets dropped by more than $600,000 due mainly to a decline in grants. During the same year, The Paramount Theater of Charlottesville, Inc., a second nonprofit, saw increases in grants and program revenue. However, total liabilities still outpaced assets by $590,377.

Shortly after the Paramount brought in Eure and Giles and renewed its contract with SMG for another two years, Aungier and Keaveny were let go. In an interview, Eure told C-VILLE that the Paramount is “on sound financial footing” and has performed “quite well” in the past six months. However, she also said she analyzed operations and looked for places to streamline. The two jobs she found were marketing and general management, where Eure’s responsibilities as executive director overlapped with Aungier’s job in some responsibilities.

“I was technically not even allowed in on the notice that was given to them,” said Eure. “It was all done corporately through SMG.” Dolly Vogt, SMG Richmond’s regional general manager, attended those meetings, but did not return a reporter’s call for this story.

Jay Ferguson, former board chair and current treasurer, reiterated the Paramount’s improved financial footing, but did not tie a number to the comment. “In this current year, we’re going to show some progress in some longer term goals which I think will be exciting,” said Ferguson.

If numbers stayed consistent with FY2010 filings, then the theater foundations retain millions in assets. Generally speaking, business operations can fluctuate with the market, or with demand for tickets, or with new organizational goals, or all of the above. Additionally, theater donor Mary Helen Jessup donated her Glenmore home, assessed at $526,400, to the Paramount foundation in May 2011, so the theater might sell the house and reap the benefits. The listing was removed from real estate sites, which suggests a pending sale. However, if that money might’ve retained staff, then it didn’t arrive in time.