Month: August 2023

The City of Charlottesville is attempting to control invasive plant species, and it’s brought in a highly specialized team to help consume the unwanted greens. The Goat Busters, an Afton-based herd of 50 goats, are currently munching away in a wooded area near the pool at Washington Park. The controlled ram-page should take one week, before the herd is moved to its next work zone. After the goats are done removing non-native shrubs, vines, and trees, the city can replant the area with native species. If you’re planning on visiting the park to see what a billy good job the goats are doing, be mindful of the electric fence keeping them contained.

Name changers

The Albemarle County School Board will hold a meeting on August 10 to decide if four schools should keep their names. The public is invited to attend via an Albemarle schools livestream and make comments on the school board website.

At a July 13 meeting, research was presented on the names of six schools: Agnor-Hurt, Baker-Butler, and Stone-Robinson elementaries and Walton, Jackson P. Burley, and Joseph T. Henley middle schools.

While the history of Agnor-Hurt’s and Walton’s namesakes is still being investigated, ACPS staff recommended the other four schools retain their current names.

The name-changing process began in 2018 when the district began an investigation of the names of 14 schools to determine if they had negative connotations.  

Board member Kate Acuff told Charlottesville Tomorrow, “Even if you name something after an exemplary individual, it shouldn’t necessarily be in perpetuity. Whatever the exemplary people meant to the population in 1950 is not as silent now. Maybe we should just be forward-looking and adopt a value or a place name that is unambiguously timely whenever it is applied.” 

Most recently, the school board voted to change the name of Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, which is now named Ivy Elementary.

Piping hot

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on July 27 that construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline could resume. The justices lifted a lower court’s ruling that stopped construction and put the project on hold. 

Environmental groups oppose the $6.6 billion, 300-mile-long pipeline, which will pull natural gas from prehistoric Marcellus Shale deposits underneath West Virginia and carry fuel to southern Virginia. When completed, the MVP will produce around 90 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses each year, according to Oil Change International. For reference, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that the entire state of Virginia produced 105 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2016.  

“Allowing construction of this destructive and unnecessary fracked gas pipeline to proceed puts the profits of a few corporations ahead of the health and safety of Appalachian communities,” said Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society. “The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a threat to our water, our air, and our climate. We will continue to argue that Congress’ greenlight of this dangerous pipeline was unconstitutional, and will exhaust every effort to stop it.”

In brief

Dousing the flames

On July 29, Albemarle County Fire Rescue responded to and extinguished a fire in a duplex on the 5000 block of Browns Gap Turnpike. Although fire was contained to one room and quickly put out, the fire marshal’s office reminds residents to safely dispose of lit cigarettes, as it currently believes this blaze was sparked by improperly discarded smoking materials. Best fire-safety practices when smoking include smoking outside, using an ashtray, only smoking when alert, and never smoking near medical oxygen.

Indict the Right   

On July 26, Peter Cytanovic and Jacob Joseph Dix were indicted in connection with the 2017 Unite the Right tiki-torch march on the University of Virginia Lawn. Cytanovic, a 26-year-old from Reno, Nevada, is especially infamous for a photo in which he is shown holding a torch while mid-chant. Both men surrendered to authorities following the indictments, with Dix, from Clarksville, Ohio, currently out on a $5,000 unsecured bond.

Wipe out

Residents are being told to stay out of the water at Lake Monticello’s Beach #4 and Jackson Cove after July 24 tests revealed high levels of E. coli contamination. Lake Monticello officials blame the recurring water issues on service provider Aqua America. In a letter expressing frustration with the ongoing problems, the Lake Monticello Owners Association said Aqua has “failed to manage its infrastructure in the … LMOA community resulting in health hazards to our residents and polluting our lake environment.” Further water testing is currently being conducted at all Lake Monticello beaches.