The Avengers’ all-star cast of superheroes (including Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth) returns to battle the villain Ultron’s plans for human extinction. Photo: Disney
Has the point of every Marvel movie become nothing more than to plug the next Marvel movie? So it would seem with Avengers: Age of Ultron, a perfectly enjoyable actioner that is part sequel to 2012’s megahit but mostly prequel to whatever Marvel has planned next. The winning formula of its predecessor is back, as the squadmates struggle to maintain team cohesion in order to overcome a foe that threatens them all. Yet this time around, it feels like just that: a formula.
Joss Whedon’s freewheeling, sentimental wiseassery is still faintly detectable, but is mostly reduced to cracking a few jokes in between studio-mandated plot points and fun but unimaginative battle scenes. It’s rarely more than just O.K., which is part disappointment and part testament to the wildly successful experiment that is the Marvel cinematic universe (MCU).
For the last 10 films, the triumph of the MCU was that the films were getting steadily better yet always teased at bigger things, and for the most part they delivered. Nobody would have been excited for an Avengers movie if they didn’t know who half of these weirdos were, but by and large the introductory movies exceeded their obligatory nature. By the time the 2012 ensemble film opened, we actually cared about the heroes’ individual stories, and the second batch of stand-alone adventures managed to outdo the first in almost every way. Sure, Marvel’s long-term marketing plan was wholly transparent and we often knew key plot points ahead of time due to the Internet hype machine, but until now even the worst MCU movie has been at least as good as, if not better than, the average summer blockbuster.
Though the MCU has been the product of many great writers, directors and creative minds, its core has always been rooted in Whedon’s ability to turn the silliest, zaniest story into a heartrending tale of sacrifice and overcoming adversity, physically and mentally. Great care was taken to show the origins, meanings and limitations of each person’s power or backstory, where they intersect and where they collide with the others. In Age of Ultron, everyone just happens to be in the same place at the same time, often with over-explained reasons as to why they might not be back in the next movie. Loki’s machinations are replaced by evil-for-some-reason Ultron’s vagaries, almost to the point of feeling like the single-use foes of the individual films. The action is more confusing, the supporting cast is entirely incidental, the gaps in narrative cohesion are too massive to overlook for it being a comic book movie and the joy that has driven the franchise to this point is all but nonexistent.
Age of Ultron is fine. See it and enjoy. But it comes apart in key ways that could potentially threaten future movies in this series that has won over audiences and critics despite all odds and prejudices. Edgar Wright’s last-minute departure from Ant-Man and Whedon’s apparent lack of enthusiasm here casts an ominous shadow for Marvel’s strategy of recruiting established directors like James Gunn, Kenneth Branagh, the Russo brothers and Joe Johnston. If Age of Ultron is any indication, these auteurs may soon be nothing more than hired hands that connect predetermined plot points instead of the visionaries who propelled the MCU to greatness in the first place.
If you regularly run out of money before the month is over, it’s time to consider some economies. Here are concrete ideas to help stretch your money farther.
First, build an emergency fund—enough to cover three months expenses to start and building to six months. Then if an emergency strikes, you’ll have funds to cover it rather than withdrawing from a retirement account with the resultant penalty or having to use a credit card with a high interest. (As one wise man said, “Interest is something you earn, not something you pay.”)
Next, if you can’t afford to pay cash—or pay off your credit card each month—don’t buy it. If you have credit card debt, pay it off ASAP. At the very least find a credit card with a lower interest rate and transfer the balance. Call customer service and talk to a person. You can sometimes negotiate a better rate than is shown on websites. Investigate no-fee cards which offer cash-back rewards. Some offer gift cards worth more than the cash return you are due.
Stay healthy.Exercise, eat wisely and take care of yourself.Washing your hands can actually be a money saver if it keeps you from catching something that causes you to miss work, cough up a co-pay to visit your healthcare provider, or fork over for medications. You’ll even save money on tissues and throat lozenges!
Do it yourself. Cook more meals at home. Go vegetarian at least one night a week. Check YouTube for videos of home repairs from replacing a car’s headlight to fixing the washing machine. Paint your own bathroom. Choose clothes that don’t need dry cleaning. Mow your own lawn. Color your hair yourself. Use plastic bags and aluminum foil at least twice and you can buy them half as often.
Never buy retail. Watch for sales. Peruse eBay. Use on-line price comparison sites and check product reviews. Load apps on your smart phone to compare prices, download coupons, manage reward cards, and check out product reviews. Patronize thrift stores to find bargains, one-of-a-kind items, and help worthy organizations at the same time. Pre-select a major purchase like a lawnmower or fridge (after consulting Consumer Reports or other ratings), and then wait for a sale.
Always ask for a discount if you are a student, a senior, a teacher, or belong to another special group. Home Depot and Lowe’s, for example, offer 10 percent discounts to persons with a military ID card. Staples has a special program for teachers. Some businesses, especially restaurants and grocery stores, offer discounts on a certain day of the week. Visit GiftCardGranny.com to find the best prices for selling unwanted gift cards and for buying gift cards at attractive discounts.
Save electricity. The Good Housekeeping Institute estimates the annual cost for a single lightbulb (on for three hours a day and amortizing the bulb over its lifetime) at $8.21 for an incandescent, $2.05 for a compact fluorescent, but only $1.64 for an LED. Using a clothesline or drying rack is kinder to your clothes than a dryer and saves power at the same time. If you heat the oven for a pizza, bake some cookies with that same electricity.
“Vampire power is huge these days,” observes Charlottesville’s Better World Betty. That’s the wasted electricity used by “standby” items such as televisions and computers that draw current even when “off.” Other offenders are chargers for power tools or cell phones that suck energy even when they aren’t charging. The Department of Energy estimates that this vampire usage costs $100 or more each year in the average American household.
Forgo the fancy coffee for a cup of regular brew a couple times a week and only buy bottled water when the tap water is unsafe. Fill a reusable water bottle at home and take with you on outings. To see what a difference this can make, put the greenback you didn’t use to buy bottled water and the difference between the latte and regular coffee in an envelope in your pocket or purse. At the end of the week, put it in a big jar. At the end of the year you could easily have $500!
By Marilyn Pribus
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In the past few months, Marilyn Pribus and her husband learned from on-line videos how to fix the failed you-left-the-headlight-on buzzer on her Honda by swapping the passenger and driver door plungers. They also saw how to repair a microwave that didn’t work because the door didn’t close tightly—with just a screwdriver and a paper clip. They figure they saved well over $100 with those two tasks.
Defense attorney Steve Benjamin with Mark Weiner's wife, right, talks to reporters after a May 6 hearing with three new witnesses.
Staff photo
More than two dozen supporters of Mark Weiner, the former Food Lion manager convicted of abduction with intent to defile, sat in Albemarle Circuit Court May 6 to hear testimony from three new witnesses and a motion argued to set aside Weiner’s guilty verdict. They were joined by several lawyers, curious about a case that stunned legal circles two years ago when Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford successfully kept out cell tower evidence that Weiner’s legal team said would have cast serious doubt on the story of the alleged victim.
Weiner’s legal nightmare began on a cold December 12, 2012, night when he offered a ride to then 20-year-old Chelsea Steiniger from Lucky 7 on Market Street to her mother’s Carriage Hill apartment on Pantops. Weiner said he dropped her off there. Steiniger texted her boyfriend, who had not allowed her to stay at his place that night, that Weiner wouldn’t let her out of the car and drove past the apartment, according to court documents. She later told police Weiner put a chemical-soaked cloth over her face rendering her unconscious, that she woke up in an abandoned house she’d never been to before, and that Weiner, who allegedly had been sending taunting texts to her boyfriend, put her cellphone down beside her and left the room. She grabbed the phone and made her escape by leaping off a two-story balcony, while texting her boyfriend, “Im going out the window… hold on,” at 12:52am.
“The story told by Chelsea was incredible,” said Weiner’s attorney, Steve Benjamin, near the end of the four-hour hearing. He said the prosecution’s case against Weiner had hinged on the fact that she could describe the abandoned house at 2184 Richmond Road, therefore she must have been abducted. Benjamin presented an alternative story: Steiniger could describe the house because she had been there before, and he called three witnesses to testify to that.
Mike Pesca, 25, was serving time in Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail, and told Weiner he had once lived in the house on Richmond Road and he’d taken Steiniger up there “two or three times.” Pesca mentioned a couple of other friends who had been with Steiniger there, too.
Stephanie Houchens, 21, said she saw Steiniger a number of times in 2012 at the house, which was a popular site for underage drinking and smoking pot. She said she remembered seeing Steiniger with Pesca and described a seance in which they dressed in black and stood in a circle along with another friend, Stefan Jasionis.
Jasionis, 22, said he didn’t want to be in court, but he also testified he’d seen Steiniger at the Richmond Road house. In January, when Albemarle police officer Greg Anastopoulos asked him if he knew Chelsea or Stephanie, “I didn’t know who he was talking about,” said Jasionis. Later, when a defense investigator used Houchen’s nickname, “Emjay,” and showed pictures of both, he recognized them.
The young adults were unable to come up with exact dates they were in the house three years ago, although Pesca told Officer Anastopoulos that there had been a fire, and the investigator found the Albemarle Fire Department had responded to a structure fire there February 12, 2012. Pesca said he thought Steiniger was there, but her name was not among those police talked to that night. Jasionis said Steiniger was not there the night of the fire, but was there for the seance, and Houchens said Steiniger was there the night of the fire, but left before it got out of control.
Lunsford pointed out these inconsistencies when she told the judge the new witnesses’ testimony would not have resulted in a different outcome at the trial. And even if Steiniger had been there before, said the prosecutor, it was a dark night. “It was conceivable she didn’t recognize having been there before,” said Lunsford. “She was a credible witness.”
Weiner’s former attorney, Ford Childress, who has signed an affidavit saying he provided Weiner ineffective counsel, testified at the hearing. “It’s not often you see an attorney fall on the sword for a client,” said attorney Janice Redinger, who was sitting in the courtroom.
Childress said that he suspected Steiniger had been in the house before because she’d been homeless and the house was two miles from her mother’s apartment. He went to the house multiple times, and although Steiniger had described the interior to police as having a fireplace and a couch, there was no furniture in the house and a couch out in the woods. He also said he’d talked to homeless and transient people on the Downtown Mall and at the Haven to see if they had seen Steiniger at the Richmond Road house.
To set aside the guilty verdict, the defense must show due diligence was done and the new evidence could not have been discovered before the trial. Lunsford questioned Childress’ due diligence when he did not contact the house’s owners, information available through county property records. He would have learned Pesca’s stepfather rented the house, she said, and that would have been more reasonable than “going to the Haven and asking random people if they knew the house.”
Benjamin argued that if the three new witnesses had testified before the jury, it would have been a “quintessential Perry Mason moment,” when perjury is committed and confronted on the stand with witnesses who are friends. “The fact of the matter is, there was no abduction,” he said.
Judge Cheryl Higgins said she would take the new evidence and arguments under advisement, and issue a decision—either to set aside the verdict or sentence Weiner to prison—June 9.
“All we asked for today is a new trial because of new evidence the jury never got to hear,” said Benjamin. “An innocent man does not belong in prison. We look forward to June 9.”
Commonwealth's Attorney Denise Lunsford requests for a partial denial of the motion for Jesse Matthew to appear unshackled and in his own clothes in public. Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Tuesday afternoon brought a major development in a local case that continues to grab national headlines: Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford announced that she would charge Jesse Matthew with capital murder in the death of UVA second-year Hannah Graham. That means Matthew, who was in court for a hearing to set his trial date on first-degree murder and abduction charges in the case, could now face the death penalty.
“The Commonwealth received some additional forensic information in late February that led to this increased in charge,” Lunsford told a throng of reporters gathered outside the county courthouse.
February was when a grand jury indicted Matthew on charges of first-degree murder, abduction with intent to defile and reckless driving in connection with Graham’s death. The 18-year-old went missing in the early morning hours of September 13, 2014 after a night out with friends. Security camera footage shows she ended up on the Downtown Mall, apparently disoriented, where witnesses saw her outside a bar with Matthew, who was charged with her abduction soon after and arrested on September 24 near Galveston, Texas. After weeks of searching by volunteers and law enforcement officials from around the state, Graham’s skeletal remains were found on a rural property off Old Lynchburg Road on October 18. A medical examiner declared the death a homicide.
Matthew is also facing attempted murder and rape charges stemming from a 2005 assault in Fairfax County. DNA from that assault has been linked to Morgan Harrington, the Virginia Tech student who disappeared in 2009 and whose remains were found three months later in a field a few miles from where Graham was found. No charges have been filed in that case.
When the indictment in the Graham case came on February 2, Lunsford took care to note that Matthew had not been charged with a capital crime.
“A great deal of serious thought went into the decision, including the impact on the Grahams, on the community and the ability to have a fair trial,” Lunsford said then.
She did not elaborate yesterday on the specific evidence that has prompted the Commonwealth to put the death penalty on the table now. But David Heilberg, one the few attorneys in the Charlottesville area who is certified to defend capital cases, said it’s possible that investigators discovered some kind of biological evidence that could help them prove what he refers to as “murder-plus.” That’s what a capital murder charge requires, said Heilberg, who is not directly involved in the Matthew case: not only willful, deliberate and premeditated killing, but proof of an additional element, such as a second homicide, robbery, sexual assault, abduction or some other crime.
“I can only speculate,” said Heilberg, “but maybe there’s some kind of DNA evidence, biological evidence on her clothing or her, that could improve their case”—because it supports a charge of rape or some other crime.
Heilberg can’t recall the last time the county pursued capital charges in a murder case. There’s no question, he said, that the already high-profile trial will now see much more scrutiny—and will cost taxpayers much more. According to various reports, James Camblos, the former Albemarle County prosecutor who has represented Matthew since his arrest, has been replaced by Doug Ramseur of the Virginia Capital Defender Offices and local attorney Michael Hemenway. Both are highly respected defense lawyers, said Heilberg, and have the experience and qualifications for such cases.
“There’s an expression: ‘Death is different,’” he said. “So much is at stake, and so much more can happen. It requires specialized training. Not more than a half dozen people in the Charlottesville area can do them.”
Another attorney with such experience and certification? Denise Lunsford. Contrary to what was reported in the Washington Post this week, the prosecutor did handle capital cases during her years as a defense attorney here. She defended Dorian Lester, the former Patricia Kluge bodyguard convicted of murdering a jeweler in 1997, as well as Craig Nordenson, who killed two people in a notorious shooting at the coal tower near downtown Charlottesville in the summer of 2001, among others. Both were sentenced to life without parole—the only other sentencing option besides death in a capital case.
Lunsford confirmed in an e-mail Wednesday that she was also a mitigation expert on a number of other death penalty cases. In that role, she would have served as a kind of biographer for the accused, Heilberg explained. “A mitigation specialist goes back into the defendant’s background and literally finds out what made them who they are today,” he said.
This will, however, be her first time prosecuting a death penalty case. (Lunsford charged a Louisa County man named Daniel Dove with capital murder after he killed a man during a robbery in an Autumn Hill apartment in 2008, but Dove pleaded guilty, and there was no jury trial.) Heilberg said she could face a long, tough fight. Matthew’s defense attorneys may push for a change of venue, he said, citing the intense media coverage of the case.
“It’s a very high hurdle to clear,” he said. “I don’t remember any change-of-venue cases anywhere around here, and that’s in the last 36 years. But this is the kind of case where the defense would certainly attempt it.”
That can be part of what adds to the length and expense of capital trials. “It means more rounds of pre-trial hearings, and it’s grounds for an appeal if you don’t get it,” he said. “To put someone to death is very expensive.”
Timbercreek Farm co-owner Sara Miller looks forward to moving into the Coca-Cola bottling plant in June. Her fellow tenants will include Kardinal Beer Hall & Garden, Blue Ridge Cyclery and UVA. Photo: Rammelkamp Foto
The old Coca-Cola bottling plant, currently undergoing a massive art deco renovation, has a new tenant, and the effects are being felt beyond Preston Avenue.
Timbercreek Farm, the local beef, pork, lamb and poultry supplier that services some of the best farm-to-table restaurants in town, will make its first foray into retail at the Coke plant, launching a 2,200-square-foot all-in-one market and eatery with around 20 indoor and 30 outdoor seats.
Where consumers were before restricted to finding Timbercreek’s organic meats, eggs and produce through their buying club, on restaurant menus and at a handful of local retailers, they’ll now be able to grab the goods straight from the source and go.
As for the restaurants that rely on the farm’s products, Timbercreek co-owner Sara Miller said they’ll be better off than ever before. If Lampo runs out of a cured meat mid-service on a Thursday, for example, the guys can run over to the new Timbercreek Market and restock without having to make a trip out to the farm at 2245 Garth Rd.
“This is about us taking control of our product—full quality control,” said Miller, who operates Timbercreek Farm with her husband Zach. “We raise it from the beginning and follow it to the end…This is an opportunity to see our product further through the process and cuts out the middle person.”
Indeed, it would seem to be a win-win for the likes of Brookville Restaurant, Citizen Burger Bar, Michael’s Bistro, tavola, The Local, Will Richey’s restaurant group, which includes The Whiskey Jar, Revolutionary Soup and The Alley Light, and other eateries, several of which reported they’ve experienced no change in their flow of Timbercreek products.
But what about those middle people?
Market Street Market, the Hunt Country Market down the road from the farm, Crozet Great Valu and Relay Foods will reportedly still get their usual allotment of raw meat, produce and eggs. But Feast!, which typically carries a Timbercreek prosciutto, reported it’s not been able to stock the cured meat of late. And JM Stock Provisions, the whole animal butcher shop on West Main Street that made Timbercreek its principal supplier when it opened in late 2013, has had to completely change course since learning in early April the product flow would stop.
“Ultimately as businesses we each decided to move in different directions,” JM Stock co-owner Matt Greene said. “Timbercreek decided they were interested in doing the retail end on their own.” Miller declined to comment on the relationship.
Now the competition is on for JM and others, with Timbercreek promising to roll out the big guns when it joins C’ville’s already long roster of specialty stores in June. Andrew Eaton, formerly of Relay, will join the team as general manager. Adam Lawrence of Whole Foods’ meat department will come over to head up the new Timbercreek butcher counter and deliver dry-aged meats, cooked meats, and sausages and charcuterie prepared in collaboration with the Rock Barn’s Ben Thompson.
In addition to the meat, the market will team up with Flora Artisanal Cheese’s award-winning cheesemonger Nadjeeb Chouaf and bring in former Pippin Hill chef Allie Redshaw to coordinate the dine-in and takeaway food options. The Wine Guild of Charlottesville will lend its expertise, as well, helping the new market select its wines, educating staff and customers on wine pairings and holding pop-up events.
The location of the new market, amid a growing Preston Avenue commercial quarter just a few blocks from the booming West Main strip, also stands to be a boon for Timbercreek. The Millers will open alongside like-minded residents Beer Run, which is planning a European-style beer garden and restaurant, Blue Ridge Cyclery and the University of Virginia in a facility spearheaded by Riverbend Development, music magnate Coran Capshaw’s real estate company.
“This has been something our business has been needing to do for quite some time,” Miller said. “The demand from our customers and our chefs has been growing, and the building was a perfect place for us.”
While some of that growing demand was formerly satisfied by other local retailers, Greene for one thinks JM and Timbercreek should maintain different enough client bases to coexist.
“I wish Timbercreek the best of luck,” he said. “And on the completely other end of things, we are really excited about the producers we’re getting to work with now,” such as Wolf Creek Farm and Deep Rock Farm.
The only thing left for the old Coke plant at this point is for leasing rep Cushman &Wakefield|Thalhimer to find two more tenants (most likely offices), Riverbend to finish the parking lot and the individual tenants to complete their construction projects. Spokesperson John Pritzlaff said the building would be ready for tenants by June, with Blue Ridge Cyclery opening that month, UVA joining the complex August 1 and Beer Run’s Kardinal Beer Hall & Garden coming in August or September.
Miller said the Timbercreek team is looking forward to joining its fellow tenants. “It is coming full circle for us,” she said. “It’s completing the circle with our chefs as well as our household customers.”
Correction: The original version of this post and the print edition misstated the name of leasing agent Cushman &Wakefield|Thalhimer.—ed
Finding an interesting gift for mom (or from mom), like this judgmental giraffe by Troy Argenbright, will be easy at one of the many area festivals this weekend. Photo courtesy of the Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival
We all have moms and some of you out there are even mothers yourself. So, it makes sense that we celebrate moms, if for no other reason than their sheer abundance. Add to that their well-meaning advice and ill-advised fashion recommendations, and you’re looking at a Hallmark holiday that’s hard to ignore: Mother’s Day. While celebrating, why not swap out brunch for curry in the park? Or trade in that flower arrangement for a hand-crafted bronze bracelet? This week, two annual festivals offer creative ways to celebrate with your mom—or the kids who call you mom.
Charlottesville Festival of Cultures
The Charlottesville Festival of Cultures takes place on May 9, transforming Lee Park into a bustling global commons. The annual event features handicrafts, cultural exhibits, cooking demonstrations and live music and dance performances.
In all, the festival will highlight approximately a dozen craft vendors and 15 cultural exhibits, ranging from Bhutan to Argentina. A variety of food trucks are slated to sate your appetite and this year’s cooking demonstrations provide a chance to learn how to make your own Algerian cookies and chickpea curry. On top of it all, more than 10 groups will perform throughout the day, representing everything from Mexi-lachian music and the Tibetan Children’s Choir to Cumbia, Native American and Morris dancing.
“When we look in our own community and around the world, we can see so many problems,” said festival coordinator Zakira Beasley. “The festival is an opportunity to celebrate how, when we get to know each other, we can move beyond fear to the possibility of understanding.”
Beasley was drawn to the festival through her work at the Adult Learning Center, a program of Charlottesville City Schools and the main sponsor of the Festival of Cultures. “The festival became a way to celebrate the people who work so hard to learn the language and culture of Charlottesville,” she said. “I wanted my friends to meet these people and appreciate all they have to offer from their cultures and life experiences.” In order to help facilitate this exchange, attendees can earn stamps in their Festival of Cultures passport by visiting exhibits to learn cultural facts or a different language.
A large part of the festival also focuses on resource-sharing. “There will be information about educational opportunities, signing up for a library card, learning about rights as a resident, receiving counseling and more,” said Beasley. “This is also an opportunity for longtime residents to find a place to volunteer.”
The Festival of Cultures itself is one of these opportunities, inviting residents and recent immigrants alike to volunteer or serve on the planning committee. “New immigrants are arriving in Charlottesville every year, and we always make an extra effort to invite new arrivals to participate,” Beasley added. “Some of our exhibitors are very new to our country and I think it’s brave of them to share at the festival.”
Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival
The Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival takes place on May 9 and 10. Now in its 35th year, the festival will cover almost two acres of Claudius Crozet Park with fine art, crafts, artisanal foods and more. And whether you’re new to the festival or have experienced its wonders before, 2015 promises something fresh thanks to its festival director Amanda Polson.
Though new to town, Polson is an old hand when it comes to festivals, working with similar events for more than eight years. “A real challenge is to find the focus of this event and just make it the best it can be,” she said. “We have more exhibitors than there have been recently, which will be exciting to local patrons who have come to expect only familiar faces.”
The festival is a wonderful chance to wander the park while admiring hand-crafted hammocks from Twin Oaks, pottery by Nancy Ross or Carla Pillsbury, and unique wooden sculptures by Scott Deming, among many, many other artists and craftspeople. Polson estimates that she received 150 applications to exhibit this spring, with about 120 of those selected for the event. The festival also offers craft demonstrations, including silk marbling and pottery as well as the intriguing offering of a friction fire demonstration.
A new culinary arts section will feature regional food and drink vendors as well as artisanal food items and the Claudius Crozet Park cafe will serve up coffee, along with details about the park and its ongoing operations, which are funded in large part by the bi-annual festival.
Live performances will include the Brooklyn-based band Roosevelt Dime as well as local favorites Red and the Romantics and the Western Albemarle High School Jazz Band, among others. Kid-friendly performers, Kim and Jimbo Cary, will also make an appearance, accompanying the face painting and hands-on art activities that will provide plenty of entertainment for mommy’s little monsters, ahem, darlings.
American Craft Beer Week at Local Breweries
After a weekend of family bonding, it’s thoroughly understandable if you need a break from motherly advice or simply want to relive the days before you had kids of your own. You’re in luck: American Craft Beer Week runs May 11-17. Plenty of breweries in Charlottesville, as well as in nearby Nelson County, will be celebrating with all sorts of events, including live music at Three Notch’d Brewing Company, brewery tours at Wild Wolf Brewing Company, special beer pairings at Devils Backbone Brewing Company and more. Check individual breweries for details.
Have an alternative celebration for Mother’s Day? Tell us about it in the comments.
Kevin Quick's killers get life sentences. Photo courtesy Waynesboro Police
Fifteen months after Waynesboro Police Reserve Captain Kevin Quick was allegedly abducted and killed in a case that put a spotlight on the presence of gangs in Central Virginia, six people will stand trial on racketeering, murder and other charges in U.S. District Court.
The sprawling legal proceeding, which began with jury selection on Monday, May 4, could take up to six weeks, with court in session even on Saturdays. Convictions could result in life sentences for the four defendants charged directly with Quick’s death: Kweli Uhuru, and Albemarle County siblings Mersadies Lachelle Shelton, Shantai Monique Shelton and Daniel Lamont Mathis.
Two other defendants, Halisi Uhuru and Anthony Darnell Stokes, are accused of racketeering, narcotics distribution and obstruction of justice.
On January 31, 2014, Quick left his mother’s house in Nelson County on his way to visit his girlfriend and their infant daughter at the Turtle Creek Apartments on Hydraulic Road. He never arrived. According to the indictment, he was carjacked by some of the defendants, driven around as his abductors withdrew money from his account, and then murdered. He was found dead of a gunshot wound in the woods in Goochland County a week later, prosecutors said at a previous press conference.
According to a revised indictment filed in federal court, October 22, 2014, the six defendants facing trial are members of the 99 Goon Syndikate, a Central Virginia subset of the Bloods gang. From October 2013 to February 2014, the defendants allegedly committed a slew of crimes including robberies of stores and residences in Charlottesville, Albemarle, Louisa and Fluvanna counties, as well as the sale of cocaine and crack cocaine. But it was the alleged carjacking, robbery and slaying of Quick that elevated the charges against the four.
A trial of this scope under the federal racketeering law known as RICO is unusual in the Western District of Virginia U.S. District Court, according to C-VILLE legal analyst David Heilberg, who says the longest such trial he can recall lasted three weeks.
“We don’t often have four- or six-week trials in federal court,” agrees Brian McGinn, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia.
The four defendants charged with Quick’s murder could have faced the death penalty, but former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder removed the ultimate punishment option after reviewing the case, a decision Heilberg said could have been motivated by the expense of trying four individuals in a capital case.
Even without the death penalty on the table, the lengthy trial will be grueling for all parties, including witnesses, who will potentially be cross examined by six different legal teams.
Three other people originally charged in the case have accepted plea deals, something Heilberg said is likely in exchange for their cooperation as witnesses.
The term nonprofit belies some big numbers: According to a joint economic report from Johns Hopkins University and Virginia Commonwealth University, the state’s nonprofit sector employs 235,100 people, collects $40 billion in revenues annually and spends $38 billion per year. Charlottesville is a critical part of that landscape. Nonprofit expenditures per capita in the city are close to $33,000, according to the report, among the highest in the state. And the variety of organizations within Central Virginia drives home the fact that tax-exempt status applies to much more than charity kitchens and community foundations. We’re talking about a piece of the local economic pie that includes local theater groups (The Ash Lawn Opera Festival Foundation, which took in a total of $710,695 in revenues in 2013) and booming medical centers (Martha Jefferson Hospital, which brought in $252 million during the same year). Of course, understanding the local nonprofit world is much more than a numbers game. Here, meet five organizations working in Charlottesville and Albemarle that highlight the diversity within that arena—and the impact these groups can have on all our lives.
Burnet Commons III: The Park, on Elliott Avenue, is currently Habitat’s biggest project. When it’s completed (within a couple of years), the new mixed-income neighborhood will feature 18 Habitat owner-occupied homes and 28 market-rate homes. The development is a collaboration between Habitat, Southern Development Homes and the City of Charlottesville. Photo: Rammelkamp Foto
Here comes the neighborhood
Charlottesville’s Habitat for Humanity leads in program innovation
Sheron Sinclair minces no words about how Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville has changed her life. “I would never have been able to afford a house in Charlottesville,” said the 39-year-old assistant manager at Family Dollar. “I could barely afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment. My family has security it never had before.”
Sinclair lives in one of the 150 Habitat-built homes in Charlottesville, and including Southwood, around 2,000 people live in Habitat homes or trailers.
Within the international Habitat organization, the Charlottesville branch is a powerhouse, the first to look at neighborhood revitalization rather than building one home for one family at a time. “We are considered one of the primary innovators,” said CEO and president Dan Rosensweig.
An architect, Rosensweig had always been interested in affordable housing, and before he signed on with Habitat in 2009, he watched “from a distance with admiration” when the nonprofit bought Sunrise and promised to transform the trailer park without displacing the residents. “That was an incredibly bold move,” he said.
The old way of community development is to look at what’s broken and what’s wrong, said Rosensweig. “We ask, what’s working? What are the strengths of a community?” he said. And one of Habitat’s strengths is cultivating partners and leaders in redevelopment.
Looming ahead is the organization’s next major project: Transforming Southwood Mobile Home Park with its 342 trailers holding roughly 1,500 people into permanent housing and a mixed-income community with market-rate homes. The plan is to follow Albemarle’s neighborhood model with some commercial property and double the density to approximately 700 units, said Rosensweig.
Neighborhood revitalization is “the new paradigm that originated here and is now central to Habitat International,” said Rosensweig.
The group’s first mixed-income project was Paton in Fifeville, with 22 Habitat homes, 12 market-rate houses and one group home. This past year, Habitat finished its third mixed-income neighborhood, and plans to finish three more in the next one and a half years. “We like to think our impact is increasing exponentially,” said Rosensweig.
What’s remained consistent is the premise of partner families putting sweat equity into their homes. Sheron Sinclair couldn’t drive a nail straight when she was handed a hammer in April 2013. Now in the Cleveland Avenue duplex she moved into in December, she said, “To know I helped build it is not something everyone can say.”
Sinclair said she “absolutely” plans to continue volunteering with Habitat. She believes putting low-income families into home ownership is going to change Charlottesville for the better. “When you own your home,” she said, “it changes how you feel.”—Lisa Provence
For April’s artist educator performance, Robert Jospé Express Trio (Jospé pictured above) took the stage at Tin Whistle Irish Pub. The show included tunes from the group’s current repertoire and a talk about how the music is put together. Photo: Tom Daly
Noise makers
Charlottesville Jazz Society brings the beat in
The motive for founding Charlottesville Jazz Society was pretty selfish, its founders admit. “There wasn’t that much jazz happening in Charlottesville and we wanted to hear more,” said Marty Phillips, who helped start the 501(c)(3) in December 2005 with about half a dozen jazz lovers who showed up.
Ten years later, it’s possible to hear jazz somewhere in town almost every night, judging from the society’s calendar. Its monthly e-mail list has around 1,100 subscribers, said Phillips, and 1,500 people like it on Facebook. “We act as a conduit of information and promotion through the newsletter, Facebook and the website,” said Phillips.
While the desire for performance spurred its creation and the group brings in between six and 10 outside performers each year, its educational aspect is key for an original American art form that some consider is dying.
In March, the society brought in Matt Savage, a 22-year-old pianist from New York who taught a master class of 100 students at Western Albemarle High. The autistic savant musician was part of a collaboration with the Virginia Institute for Autism, said Phillips.
Gary Funston, who organizes the out-of-towner performances, said Savage was able to connect with the students. “The kids get a lot out of it,” he said. “The educational part is really important to us. High school kids go to college and form groups and come back and play, so it must be working.”
This month’s artist educator performance featured drummer Robert Jospé with a program on rhythm sections and how they work. Local jazz singer Stephanie Nakasian did a program on Ella Fitzgerald, said Funston.
Among his favorite performers the society has brought are two Dutch musicians: drummer Han Bennick—”amazing!”—and trumpeter Eric Vloeimans.
“Charlottesville Jazz Society puts on great shows on a shoestring,” said Reggie Marshall, a jazz booking agent who used to work at WTJU, which partners with CJS. The society’s annual revenues are less than $50,000, according to the IRS, and all the board members are volunteers.
Fellini’s and Tin Whistle owner Jacie Dunkle is on the Charlottesville Jazz Society board, and she got involved through legendary pianist George Melvin, who died in 2010. Every first Wednesday of the month, she donates 10 percent of her sales to the George Melvin Educational Fund, which is distributed to kids who need a little financial aid to carry on their music career, like the 8-year-old piano player who was going to have to stop his lessons without help, she said.
Albemarle High band director Greg Thomas said the performance clinics give students an up-close look at some top music practitioners at no cost to the school, and the intimate presentations are the best way of passing jazz along to the next generation.—Lisa Provence
Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Executive Director Brian Wheeler was hired in 2005, shortly after the organization’s founding. Since then, he’s helped launch a partnership with other local news outlets and earn the organization numerous awards from the Virginia Press Association. Photo: Rammelkamp Foto
Press on
Ten years in, Charlottesville Tomorrow offers a model for making nonprofit news work
When Michael Bills and Rick Middleton came up with the idea for Charlottesville Tomorrow in 2003 and 2004, they were thinking about closing gaps. Middleton, founder and executive director of the Southern Environmental Law Center, and Bills, founder and president of Bluestem Asset Management, felt that people in their growing city needed more and better information about crucial quality of life issues: growth, development, resource use.
“When a big or small issue came up, I would struggle to follow it in a complete or comprehensive fashion,” said Bills. Coverage of small issues with potentially big impacts on residents—sign ordinances, for instance—rarely made it into the local news.
From the start, they envisioned a community-supported nonpartisan nonprofit that lived on the Web, which was still a brave new world when former SNL Chief Information Officer Brian Wheeler joined them at the start of 2005. Eight months later, they had a board, $250,000 in pledged startup funds and a blog set up to provide purely objective information on a handful of topics, including transportation and the community water supply. The philosophy: To foster public participation in government, you need reliable information about the issues.
They were, in fact, some of the first people in the country to launch a nonprofit online local news site—such sites are now operating in virtually every major media market in the country—except that in the beginning, said Wheeler, they didn’t think of themselves as journalists. They did realize right away that they were important to reporters.
“A light bulb went off at our launch event,” he said, which took place in September of 2005 at The Paramount Theater. In a presentation to show off the fledgling organization’s blog, he shared a post about the rusting Charlottesville Oil storage tanks on Route 250 west of the city. Over the next couple of days, news stories popped up on NBC29 and in The Daily Progress about the tanks, with background information that had been supplied by the non-journalists at CT. “That quickly became a recurring thing,” said Wheeler.
Ten years later, there’s no denying the nonprofit is an important local news source in its own right—just take a look at the two dozen Virginia Press Association awards the staff of six took home last month. It also entered a partnership with The Daily Progress in 2009, unprecedented on a national level, that puts a few CT stories a week on the front page of the paper. But it’s still informed by a non-editorial, citizen-centric philosophy that sets it apart. Reporters regularly attend the kind of small-potatoes public meetings that other outlets skip, and post “gavel-to-gavel” audio of public meetings online so anyone can listen in after the fact.
And, of course, they still rely heavily on community support. Some of the organization’s $400,000 annual budget comes from grants, but Wheeler said it’s not easy to secure foundational support for the kind of work they do.
“It’s harder to raise money for a nonprofit that’s not advocating for certain outcomes,” he said.
It’s also a crowded scene in Charlottesville. But Bills said that’s a good thing.
“I love the Charlottesville not-for-profit ecosystem, and the richer the better,” he said. “Yes, it can make funding challenging, but this is a fair price to pay to know so many are working on important issues. We try to do things others are not, otherwise we just happily link to, fill in as needed, or compile what they do.”
That spirit of collaboration keeps the organization looking forward, too, said Wheeler.
“Somebody’s going to knock on my door and say, ‘Have you thought about working with us on X?’” he said—some new and different way to get the public engaged in the community. “I think we have a role to play facilitating that.”—Graelyn Brashear
Two of Madison House’s mentoring programs, Bridging the Gap and Big Siblings, co-hosted an end-of-year social for mentors and their mentees at Lambeth Field at the end of April. Photo: Rammelkamp Foto
Strength in numbers
Madison House is uniting communities through service
Stroll down Rugby Road on any given day and you’ll see students shuffling to class while others fling Frisbees and play music as they socialize in Mad Bowl, the grassy field at the northeast corner of Rugby and University Avenue. College life may look relaxing to a passerby, but many of these same students also dedicate hours to service outside of the classroom on a daily basis. Between Beta Bridge and the University Grounds lies Madison House, an independent nonprofit organization that connects student volunteers with more than 100 nonprofits and other programs across Charlottesville.
From providing free tax preparation services to tutoring local elementary school students to assisting with construction projects through Habitat for Humanity, Madison House has closely tied University of Virginia students to the greater Charlottesville community since 1969, when it was founded by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and named after UVA’s Madison Hall.
“I feel like students learn more outside the classroom often by getting outside the bubble of a university and getting to see what’s happening around the town,” said Jennifer Walker, director of programs for Madison House and one of six paid staffers who help organize the nearly 3,000 student volunteers. While students don’t receive any academic credit for their volunteering, Walker says there’s ample value in the programs offered.
“I think a lot of personal development can happen in volunteering. A lot of times people will find interests and passions they never knew they had before,” she said.
Students agree.
“Volunteering with the Big Siblings Program has made a hugely positive impact on my UVA experience,” said UVA third-year Maria Mencini, one of Madison House’s 220 student program directors. Madison House’s Big Siblings Program pairs a UVA student with an at-risk local child, and Mencini’s been working with the same girl for two years. “Every week, I look forward to being a kid again with my little sib, whether we are seeing a movie, going bowling or making cupcakes at my apartment,” she said.
Children aren’t the only beneficiaries of Madison House volunteers.
“My insightful, interesting grandmother is 97 years old and blind, yet she lives life to the fullest!” said third year Neale Walton, who volunteers through the Adopt-A-Grandparent program.
For some of these students, volunteer work may even become a career. Yousaf Sajid, who was a Madison House volunteer as a UVA student prior to working at the organization full-time as director of program development and engagement, said it was the rewards of his time as a student at Madison House that inspired him to stick around.
“It’s been very enlightening and meaningful knowing that we have that impact in the community,” he said.—Amanda McDermott
More than 250 protesters gathered at the Albemarle County Office Building on April 21 to support Medicaid expansion in Virginia. Photo: Virginia Hamrick
Rallying point
Virginia Organizing celebrates two decades in the trenches
On a bulletin board in Virginia Organizing’s headquarters in Charlottesville’s Rose Hill neighborhood is a sticker that’s been there as long as anybody can remember. It reads, “The most radical thing we can do is introduce people to one another.”
It’s a fitting motto for the nonprofit, which has been pushing for progressive change in communities around the Commonwealth for 20 years. Charlottesville is home for the organization, which claims about 1,000 members, largely because founder and executive director Joe Szakos and his family live here. A left-leaning city might seem like a natural headquarters for a group with a statement of beliefs that includes the establishment of a living wage, protection of workers’ rights and the elimination of the death penalty. But the organization is firmly nonpartisan, and much of its work takes place in corners of Virginia not known as blue strongholds.
“Our idea is to go places where other people aren’t,” said longtime development director Michele Mattioli. The first target community back in 1995 was in Lee County, she said, and what happened there is a model for chapter starts ever since. In hundreds of conversations with individuals about what they wanted to see change in their government and their lives, the group found an issue it could push on: A tradition of all-white juries, apparently a result of white jury commissioners tapping only people they knew to be “upstanding citizens” to serve, she said. The newly organized members went to each of the county’s five commissioners and had a conversation about changing their selection process to a random one. It worked.
“They didn’t need to make a big fight,” Mattioli said. “Sometimes people just need it brought to their attention that what they’re doing might not be the fairest thing.”
Now there are nine chapters across Virginia that work in the same way, all connected to the nerve center in Charlottesville: They learn from people without much voice what they want, help them figure out which people and institutions can make it happen and get everybody to work asking.
Dell Erwin, a volunteer leader with the Charlottesville-Albemarle chapter for years who has helped with efforts to institute a living wage and restore the rights of felons, said the organization inspires commitment from people because it offers routes to real change.
“I found the things I care about in one place here,” she said, “and they not only talk about it and study it, but they actually do something. Protests, rallies, marching, writing letters, going to visit our legislators. We really put feet to our words.” Or wheels, in her case; she’s nearly 80 years old, she said, and the last time she attended one of the organization’s annual all-chapter meetings, a neighbor pushed her there in a chair.
This spring, the group was able to mark a major victory in a campaign Erwin and many others have poured years of effort into. Known as “Ban the Box,” it aims to convince localities to stop including a spot on job applications for individuals to check off if they have a felony record. Organizers around the state got 15 local governments on board, and then last month, the Charlottesville office got a call from Governor Terry McAuliffe. He was signing an executive order for state agencies to “Ban the Box,” too, and wanted some members of Virginia Organizing to join him for the announcement. The next day, Charlottesville staff joined a van load of volunteers and drove to Richmond.
One Danville volunteer proved that the 20-year-old sticker that bears the group’s unofficial motto about introductions still holds true. When the woman met McAuliffe, Mattioli said, she asked him point blank if he’d send a letter to the Virginia’s top private employers asking them to follow the state’s lead on “Ban the Box.” He agreed.
Sandra Cooke, chair of Virginia Organizing’s board for the last five years, said longevity for a nonprofit like theirs requires them to foster that kind of willingness to step up to the plate, to ask for what’s needed and not back down.
“After you’ve been around for a while, you realize what works and what doesn’t,” she said. “We don’t just come in and then move on. We stay.”—Graelyn Brashear
Giving good
While the nonprofit spectrum is as diverse as the causes out there to support, all tax-exempt 501(c)3 organizations have one thing in common: They’re required to provide a detailed accounting of their finances to the IRS each year via something known as the form 990. It’s a publicly available record—the website Guidestar.org provides PDFs of recent filings for most tax-exempt organizations—that can offer insight into a nonprofit’s operations. Some information you can glean:
Where does the money come from? In Part I of the 990, a summary offers a breakdown of the last two years’ worth of revenues and expenses. The organization must report how much of its revenue comes from grants, program revenue, investments and other sources.
Where does the money go? In Part III, the organization’s top three program expense areas are detailed with a description and an accounting of expenses and revenue for each.
How much do they pay their top staff? Part VII shows the compensation of directors and key employees.
The form can’t tell the whole story of an organization, however. “While the 990 is one place that the public can go to learn more about a nonprofit, we don’t recommend it as the sole source of information—because it wasn’t created for that,” said Cristine Nardi, executive director of the Charlottesville-based Center for Nonprofit Excellence.
For one thing, a simple breakdown of expenses—so much for salaries, so much for program expenses—doesn’t actually tell you a lot about the health of an organization, Nardi said, because those numbers can vary widely depending on the size of the organization and the kind of work it performs. The best way to judge how well a nonprofit is living up to its mission and how efficiently it’s run, she said, “is to get to know the organization and its leaders—go on a tour, volunteer, check the website, sign-up for their annual report.”
Another good resource is CNE’s Effective Philanthropy toolkit, a guide that walks would-be givers through learning how to be an educated giver.
Want to learn more about the sterling members of the local nonprofit sector? CNE is hosting its annual Celebration of Strong Nonprofits from 5-7pm Tuesday, June 9 at Second Street Gallery, where organizations and donors will come together to give it up for good governance.
Dani and Ken Norari have partnered with Chef Jarrod Brown to open Nude Fude. Photo: Rammelkamp Foto
Food dudes
It’s hard not to notice a sign featuring the words “Nude Fude” on the side of the road. New-to-Charlottesville Culinary Institute of America graduate Ken Notari and his wife Dani recently hung that sign outside the old Cobb’s Pizza & Grill on Hydraulic Road, and their plan is to open a casual farm-to-table restaurant by May of this year. The name Nude Fude doesn’t reflect anything lewd or crude about the restaurant, according to the owners, but rather the simplicity of the ingredients.
“It’s an unadulterated approach to food,” Ken Notari said. “We want to make great local ingredients accessible to people on a quick service timeline and quick service price point.”
After retiring from a career as an Air Force pilot, Notari found himself in New York City, pursuing a long-time dream of learning how to cook on a professional level. He and his wife spent more than two years in the city, immersing themselves in the restaurant industry and cobbling together a plan for a family-owned restaurant. They came across Jarrod Brown, a Virginia native who happened to be in New York at the time, and teamed up to create Nude Fude. Despite Notari’s love for cooking, he’ll handle more of the behind-the-scenes restaurant duties while Brown manages the kitchen.
“Because of my operational background, it makes more sense for me to spend less time standing on the line and more time managing the operation,” Notari said.
The location was a deliberate decision. Notari and his wife looked at spots downtown and along West Main, but as residents of the area near Hydraulic (only two miles from the restaurant), they couldn’t help but notice that their own neighborhood seemed underserved when it comes to fresh local food. As for the grub they’ll serve at Nude Fude, that’ll vary depending on the time of year.
“We won’t have four distinct menus, but we’ll take advantage of what’s being harvested at the time as things kind of fall off the vine,” Notari said.
The current spring menu features small plates like a flatbread green pizza and egg skillet, main dishes like pork pastrami and turkey confit empanadas, plus sandwiches, salads and soups. The order-at-the-counter system is designed to get people in and out and on with their day fast, Notari said, but if you’re really in a hurry, you can grab a sandwich or salad from the restaurant’s retail market.
“Our idea is to get people home to their families as quickly as possible,” Notari said.
Notari expects to begin a series of soft openings in May, with a grand opening before the end of the academic school year. For more information, check out www.nudefudedudes.com.
Buffeted
The Asian Fusion Buffet on Route 29 by all accounts appears to be closed, but ownership isn’t coming to the door to explain.
The sushi and Eastern fusion spot in Seminole Square Shopping Center hasn’t been open for its posted business hours for weeks, its phone is disconnected and repeated knocks at the door went unanswered even after a worker indicated someone would come out to answer questions.
Patrons seem to be the last to know about the closure, as numerous regulars have shown up in the past two weeks only to find locked doors and a darkened dining room. When an elderly couple arrived for opening last Thursday, they were surprised and dismayed that the place they said consistently served them “really good food” was no longer in operation.
The last post to Asian Fusion Buffet’s Facebook page, which has 23 likes and 412 visits, was February 23. The restaurant’s website displays its menu of lo mein, chop suey and other Chinese staples along with sushi and sashimi, but it offers no further indications of why it’s been closed or if there are plans to open back up. A glimpse through the window shows a largely unchanged dining room aside from several workers moving about and ladders in place.
Adios, amigos
On Tuesday, April 28, the owners of El Tepeyac announced via Facebook that the restaurant will be closing its doors. The little spot tucked away in a strip mall on Greenbrier Drive started serving up authentic Mexican and Salvadoran grub in 2010, when it originally opened as a Mexican grocery store with a small food counter in the back.
Since expanding into a full-service restaurant, it’s become a Charlottesville staple of sorts, offering classics like tacos, gorditas and burritos, with meat ranging from the standard chicken and steak to beef tongue and tripe. The drink menu features margaritas made with the real stuff, not the electric green bottled mix, and horchata, a classic creamy Mexican beverage made with spiced rice milk.
If you haven’t tried anything on El Tepeyac’s menu yet, you’ve got less than a month. The restaurant will officially close on Sunday, May 24. The good news is the owners are considering making the food available via catering. So if you can’t live without the chicharron en salsa verde tacos or al pastor tortas, check out the restaurant’s Facebook page and respond to the poll.
Goth icon Aurelio Voltaire keeps the flame alive at the Main Street Annex on Wednesday. “I say, if you’re over 40 and you’re still rocking the goth look, that’s pretty cool, but you’re going to be even cooler when you’re rocking it at 90,” Voltaire told The Huffington Post. Publicity photo
When national gothic icon Aurelio Voltaire isn’t penning one of his popular graphic novels or teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York, he’s on the road playing his unique brand of “dark cabaret” symphonic rock. He is currently on a 30-city tour with special guest Ego Likeness, so if you’re in the mood to add a little pain to your pleasure, don your gear, sharpen your canines and fade into black.
Wednesday 5/6. $10, 9pm. Main Street Annex, 219 W. Water St. 817-2400.
