Ball together
All eyes were on Tonsler Park Sunday night for the Banks Collage Basketball Association Championship. Some fans set up lawn chairs around the court, and others leaned on the fence. Kids played on the playground while parents cheered on their teams. Some people drank beer, others bought sno-cones.
The Charlottesville-based summer and winter basketball league draws high-level amateur players from all over the commonwealth. The championship is the culmination of months of play in Tonsler Park. This year, Team Legends, coached by George Rivera and Eugene Davis, faced off against the defending BCBA champions Team Takeover, coached by Antoine Johnson and Justin Shiflett. Takeover held the lead for the majority of the game, until a turnover early in the second half led to a Legends layup from John “Prototype” Fitch, who then was fouled and went to the line for a one-and-one. Prototype performed under pressure and tied the game, but not long after, a Takeover layup by Demario “Logo” Mattox put them decidedly in the lead, where they stayed for a final score of 55-45.
Mailing it in
For years, residents have complained about slow mail delivery in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. After receiving hundreds of messages from constituents about the delays, U.S. Senator Mark Warner visited the Charlottesville Post Office on Route 29 last week, demanding the office address its mail carrier shortage and poor management. Warner and Senator Tim Kaine also sent a letter to U.S. Postal Service Virginia District Manager Gerald Roane urging him to fix these issues.
“I’ve been getting a higher volume of complaints about mail delivery in Charlottesville by far than anywhere else in the commonwealth,” said Warner, according to NBC29. “If you don’t have 14 of your carriers and you need 85, you’ve got to do a better job of hiring folks.”
But according to one local resident with intimate knowledge of the Charlottesville Post Office, office management needs to make it worth working there.
“The treatment of carriers is demanding and dehumanizing. They are treated so badly,” says the source. “Their work is also incredibly hard and draining. They are driving in unairconditioned trucks, and walking in the heat and cold.”
Multiple mail carriers didn’t want to speak to the press about the situation, for fear of retribution from bosses.
Due to the staff shortages, the stretched-thin carriers have no choice but to work overtime to finish their deliveries, often working in the wee hours of the morning or late in the evening. Some work as many as 72 hours per week, the source claims.
“People are quitting,” says the source. “They’re not showing up to work, calling in sick, finding other employment.”
The Charlottesville Post Office is now holding three job fairs every week, in addition to advertising jobs through mail and online. The starting pay is $18.01 an hour for city carriers, and $19.06 an hour for rural carriers.
Warner said he will return to Charlottesville in three months to make sure the mail delays are solved.
“This is about righting wrongs. We all deserve a criminal justice system that is fair, equal, and gets it right—no matter who you are or what you look like.”
—Governor Ralph Northam, granting a posthumous pardon to seven young Black men from Martinsville who were given unfair trials and executed for the alleged rape of a white woman in 1951
In brief
McAuliffe scoffs at lawsuit
The Republican Party of Virginia filed a lawsuit last week, alleging that Democratic candidate for governor Terry McAuliffe had failed to properly fill out his campaign paperwork and arguing that the former governor shouldn’t be allowed on the ballot this fall. The Associated Press reports that several state election law experts expect the lawsuit to fail.
Polls show Youngkin trailing
Christopher Newport’s Wason Center polled 800 likely voters and found Terry McAuliffe with a 50 percent to 41 percent edge over GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin. Democratic lieutenant governor and attorney general candidates lead by similar margins. Earlier in August, Roanoke College polled 558 likely voters and found McAuliffe with a 46-38 edge.
Hospital mandates vax
UVA Health enacted a vaccine mandate for its employees last week, meaning the 2,000 employees who had so far not gotten the shot will need to get vaccinated or hit the road. The hospital system made the move in light of rising case counts in the region, and also after the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for full use.