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The Cavalier Daily retracts eight plagiarism cases
Kirk Honeycutt isn’t mad at former Cavalier Daily arts and entertainment reporter Tonya Dawson––just perplexed.
“I’ve never heard of someone plagiarizing movie reviews,” says Honeycutt, a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter. “I just find it so bizarre.”
On September 2, The Cavalier Daily announced that “significant portions” of seven film and record reviews published in the student-run newspaper between October 2002 and August 29, 2003, were “taken without permission from multiple sources,” including Honeycutt’s review of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.
Then, on October 29, the Cavalier Daily ran another retraction claiming that an October 27 column about low-rider jeans titled “Fashion’s Practical Joke: Mooning and the Low-Rise Obsession” by Demetra Karamanos was plagiarized from slate.com. The original article, “Hello, Moon: Has America’s Low-Rise Obsession Gone too Far?” by Amanda Fortini, circulated widely on the Internet and appeared on numerous websites.
Dawson and Karamanos––both undergraduates––copied ideas, phrases, sentences and even whole paragraphs from other writers. Dawson was fired in September, Karamanos was fired last month. Karamanos declined to comment, and Dawson could not be reached.
On November 5, The Cavalier Daily published a 650-word mea culpa acknowledging the impossibility of checking every article for plagiarism. Still, the editorial claimed, the paper’s staff met to reaffirm that plagiarism is bad. Further, the paper will change its bylaws to include a more extensive section on plagiarism.
Cavalier Daily editor-in-chief Justin Bernick won’t say who uncovered the deception.
“There’s no evidence this is a widespread problem at The Cavalier Daily by any means,” he says. He declined further comment, referring to the November 5 editorial as the paper’s last word on the subject.
The incidents come as two notorious fakers, Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass, reap fame and fortune for their journalistic sins. The new film Shattered Glass dramatizes Glass’ rise and fall as a hotshot staff writer for The New Republic. In September, the 27-year-old Blair landed a contract––reportedly in the mid-six figures––for his memoir Burning Down My Master’s House: My Life at the New York Times, due out this spring.
Instead of kudos, however, Dawson and Karamanos could face expulsion from UVA. The University’s honor code prohibits any student from lying, cheating or stealing while inside the boundaries of Charlottesville or Albemarle County, and the code also applies to people representing themselves as UVA students, no matter where they might be.
Carey Mignerey, chair of UVA’s honor committee, wouldn’t say whether either writer had been referred to that body. He says academic plagiarism is “certainly a common honor case,” but says he can’t recall anyone facing honor charges for plagiarism at The Cavalier Daily.
Hollywood Reporter’s Honeycutt says he’ll let UVA decide how to punish the copycats, and he’s not calling for blood. He says he just can’t figure out why journalists would ruin their reputations for pieces on low-rider jeans or bad action flicks.
“A movie review seems like a pathetic place for plagiarism, unless one is afraid of one’s own opinion,” Honeycutt says. “In the case of Charlie’s Angels, I can see how someone wouldn’t want to subject themselves to this movie. But all you have to do is sit through the movie, then go get a thesaurus and look up every invective you can find. It’s not brain surgery.”
Kit Bowen, a Hollywood.com writer whose review of the film The Hunted was plagiarized by Dawson, says the Internet’s boundless horizons give would-be imposters the feeling they can steal without getting caught.
“There’s just so much stuff out there. How could you monitor it?” Bowen says. “I’ve never had this happen to me before,” she says. “It’s bad journalism, obviously, but actually I’m sort of flattered.”––John Borgmeyer
Checks and balances
Budget surplus could force spend-or-save decision
A projected $3 million surplus in Albemarle County’s 2003-04 budget has officials asking, If Albemarle had a few extra million dollars, what would it do with the money? The County Board of Supervisors is thinking about giving some of the money back to taxpayers by cutting the County’s real estate tax rate. Not surprisingly, several representatives from local social service organizations and schools have their own ideas about what to do with the unexpected cash.
“I don’t think it’s prudent to cut taxes, particularly when we have a continuing unmet need in this community—that’s been documented,” says Gordon Walker, a member of the Albemarle County Public Schools’ Board and CEO of the Jefferson Area Board for Aging.
County Supervisor Dennis Rooker disagrees, saying it would be “fair and wise to look at the potential of cutting the [real estate] tax rate by two cents.” The Board of Supervisors took a step in this direction by passing on November 5 a motion from Rooker that required the first draft of the 2004-05 budget be developed with a 74-cent real estate tax rate in mind. That’s a two-cent reduction from the current rate of 76 cents per $100 of assessed real estate value.
When the current fiscal year wraps up on June 30, the County’s bean counters should be sitting on a surplus of about $1.4 million from these real estate taxes, according to Melvin Breeden, the director of Albemarle’s Office of Management and Budget. The boost is mostly due to a binge in construction. Breeden says personal property and other taxes round out the rest of the $3 million surplus.
Real estate in the County skyrocketed by more than 18 percent in assessed value between 2001 and 2003, and Breeden forecasts another 15 percent increase in the 2004 assessment. But what’s good for the County’s economy isn’t necessarily good for taxpayers, particularly those who live on fixed incomes. For some residents, the real estate tax on their property has increased by as much as 30 percent in just two years. For example, a property that increased in assessed value to $150,000 from $115,000 (slightly over 30 percent) would have a tax rate jump to $1,140 from $874, an increase of $266.
Still, a two-cent cut won’t go too far in helping people cope with real estate taxes. The owner of that $150,000 property would see only a $30 savings on her tax bill at the proposed 74-cent rate. By contrast, if the tax cut were to be passed next year, it would have a big impact on the budget surplus, knocking about $1 million off of the $3 million projected for this fiscal year.
John Baldino, a former teacher and school administrator who serves as a local representative to the Virginia Education Association, thinks that cool million would be better spent on teachers’ salaries and books, buses and buildings for County schools.
“Albemarle needs a lot of things,” Baldino says. “We’re talking about a basic need to improve education.”
Rooker insists that the tax issue will be revisited if significant County programs lack cash when the new budget is drawn up. Also, the Supes have yet to vote on the actual tax cut. If passed, the earliest a cut could go into effect would be next June.
Albemarle School Board Chair Diantha McKeel would like to see more discussion before the decision is made. The schools usually get about 60 percent of County funds, and McKeel wants assurance that unexpected needs (such as those arising from higher gas prices for buses, for instance) are factored into budget discussions. McKeel adds that the schools already have existing areas that could benefit from new dollars, such as improvements in class size and in teacher salaries. “Oh absolutely, we could use that million,” McKeel says.
The Monticello Area Community Action Agency, which administers health and youth programs such as Head Start, could also find a good home for some of Albemarle’s surplus, says Executive Director Noah Schwartz. However, Schwartz says that Albemarle’s funding for his organization is “consistent with” funding from Charlottesville, and he understands why Albemarle might look to cut the real estate tax. “I think it’s great that the Board of Supervisors is being so fiscally responsible,” Schwartz says.
Several other officials from social service agencies and from County schools say it’s too early to talk about spending a surplus that has yet to be reaped, or to discuss the wisdom of a tax cut that won’t be voted on for months. But most acknowledge that tough choices between unmet needs and tax relief are inevitable.
“I think that Albemarle County has an increasing gap between high-income and lower-income residents,” says Saphira Baker, director of the Charlottesville/ Albemarle Commission on Children and Families, which advices local governments in the funding of social service organizations. “It does pose a challenge in terms of determining tax rates.”
The fickle nature of economic indicators doesn’t make the job any easier. Though Albemarle is currently making budget projections 20 months into the future, they are only estimates. When asked if solid revenue trends will continue, County budget guru Breeden says: “Your guess is as good as mine.”—Paul Fain
Flooded with money
Scottsville’s close ties with transportation leaders pay off
For most of its 258-year history, the town of Scottsville has endured an uneasy marriage to the James River. The waterway made Scottsville a vital commercial crossroads in the pre-railroad era, but every few decades the placid James would send muddy floods raging through downtown.
A towering brick and slate monument in Scottsville’s newest park, Canal Basin Square, marks water levels from significant floods––the normally 4′ high James River hit 34′ during Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Most recently, the James topped 26′ in 1987. The most dramatic flood happened in 1771, when water levels crested at an estimated 40-45′, about 10′ above the monument.
After Hurricane Agnes, some downtown businesses relocated to higher ground just northward, the Village Square Shopping Center. In 1989, the Army Corps of Engineers built Scottsville’s A. Raymond Thacker Levee, named after the former mayor who secured Federal money for the levee to protect downtown Scottsville from floods once and for all.
Dedicated in September, Canal Basin Square is a monument to a different kind of flood––the torrent of State transportation dollars the Scottsville Town Council is using to remake downtown.
“The levee made this a safe place to live and do business,” says Town Councilor Jim Hogan. “That was Mayor Thacker’s deal. This is a new deal. This will make Scottsville a nicer place to live.”
Since December 2000, Scottsville has received more than $1.8 million in Federal TEA-21 grants, which are distributed through the State’s Commonwealth Transportation Board. The money is being used for two parks, a parking lot, a trail along the levee and a streetscape project that will build crosswalks and old-time streetlights, as well as bury power lines along Valley Street, Scottsville’s main drag. Hogan says the aim is to put the “historic” stamp on Scottsville.
“This is what everybody wants, the small-town way of life,” Hogan says. “As you develop the town, the shopping experience becomes richer. We’re not going highbrow, we just want to protect our historic feel.”
The most recent grant, a $224,000 allocation the CTB approved for Scottsville earlier this month, is the largest single award for 2003, and it represents nearly 25 percent of the total funds distributed in the CTB’s Culpeper district, which includes Culpeper, Warrenton and Charlottesville, as well as Albemarle and Louisa counties. The TEA grants require a 20 percent match, which Scottsville has easily raised, thanks to a massive private fundraising effort—the city secured $500,000 in private funds for the projects during the past three years.
In these times of tight State budgets, how did a leafy hamlet that is home to 550 people end up with such a fat wad of cash? It turns out this small town has some big friends.
Hogan cozied up to Carter Meyers, former CTB representative for the Culpeper district. Meyers, who owns Colonial Auto Center in Charlottesville, is tight with State Republicans and most famous locally as a vocal champion of the now-defunct Western Bypass project.
“Scottsville suffered so many years with the floods,” says Meyers. “This was an opportunity to help a town that never really had a chance to fix itself up. You could tell the people were behind it, and I think it will be another tourist attraction for Charlottesville.” In 2002, Governor Mark Warner appointed Butch Davies to succeed Meyers as Culpeper representative, yet Meyers has remained instrumental in keeping Scottsville’s funding stream flowing.
Scottsville has still not conquered the water, however. Engineers overseeing the streetscape project say the town sits right atop the water table. This could make the cost of burying power lines––which already runs between $300,000 and $500,000 per mile––even more expensive.
“We can’t just go flopping around in the water,” says Jack Hodge, vice president of Volkert and Associates, the Mobile, Alabama, firm directing the streetscape project. “You have to pump the water out. That could run the cost up considerably, or it may not affect it that much.” Hodge says engineers will conduct tests in the coming weeks to figure out how much undergrounding Scottsville can afford.––John Borgmeyer
Holier than thou
Ear plugs are turning heads in Charlottesville
When Ben, a 28-year-old body piercer for Capital Tattoo on Ivy Road, arrived in Charlottesville two years ago, he says his earrings were a big attention-grabber.
“People looked at me like I stepped off the mothership,” Ben says.
The reaction from Ben’s new neighbors may not have been borne of provinciality, as Ben’s earrings are rather big. In fact, he has stretched earlobes containing plugs that are 1 1/2" in diameter.
But though Ben and other piercing aficionados around town say the large ear plugs (also called flesh tunnels if they include a hollow center) have a tribal history that stretches back thousands of years, apparently Charlottesville has been a little slow to catch on.
The piercing pro at Big Dawg Tattoo on Preston Avenue, who goes by the name Pirate Dee, moved to Charlottesville from Las Vegas a few months ago and says of the ear plugs, “every other kid has ‘em out there.”
Pirate Dee, who wears half-inch plugs he says are made of dinosaur bone, observes the ear plug itch has yet to hit Charlottesville in full force. But he says his shop does stretch the earlobes of two or three customers a month. “It’s definitely starting to take off,” Dee says of the trend.
So what’s the attraction with plugs and stretched lobes?
Matteus Frankovich, the owner of the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, says large ear adornments have an origin in the Massai culture of Africa and are a response “to an insuppressible tribal urge.” Frankovich, who wears small discs made of ox bones, says he increases the gauge, or size of his ear plugs, every time he enters a new phase of life, such as becoming a homeowner. “American youth have an urge to display some sort of physical symbol for metaphysical changes going on inside,” he says.
A different motivation inspired Dave Munn, the lead singer of the hip-hop rock band Frontbutt, to stretch his earlobes: boredom.
“I’m not trying to get all mystical,” Munn says. “I guess it goes along with the rock ‘n roll lifestyle. It’s my bling-bling.”
Ear plugs come with a price, however, both physical and fiscal. Though Dee says that earlobe stretching is “a good pain,” none of the popular methods are pain-free. According to Tribalectic Magazine, the self-proclaimed “definitive source for everything pierced,” the popular methods for extending the chasm in an earlobe include inserting wet sponges or frozen wood in a lobe, and hanging weights from an earring.
Dee had his lobes altered with a scalpel, but says his preferred method for stretching is the periodic insertion of a metal stake called a taper bar, a service for which Dee charges $40. Dee displays a taper bar that resembles a rifle bullet, and says that lobes can be stretched every four to six weeks.
The plugs for sale on Tribalectic’s website, including some made of amber (with insects inside) and those with inlaid bullets, run in the $25-50 range per pair.
When asked why he gravitated to ear plugs, Pirate Dee smiles and changes the subject. Asked again, he reluctantly admits, “the smaller earrings looked kind of pussy to me.” (A reporter in his shop was wearing a small earring.)
Dee also cites benefits of wearing ear plugs that extend beyond the aesthetic. Unlike a regular earring, which can be torn from a lobe, an ear plug will pop out easily when under duress in an environment such as a mosh pit, he says.—Paul Fain, with additional reporting by Ben Sellers
Stat man
Virginia’s Michael Colley is a walking football almanac
The statistics swim in Michael Colley’s head. There are numbers and names and dates, several lifetimes of UVA football lore. Colley keeps it all up there, fishing out facts as he needs them. And he even gets paid for it.
Colley, an assistant director of media relations for UVA Athletics, compiles the team’s gridiron figures each week. At home contests, Colley is the game’s official statistician, responsible for determining who ran, how many yards he gained and what the new line of scrimmage is. When the TV announcers proclaim that kicker Connor Hughes just became the first Cavalier to kick two 50-yard field goals in a season, it’s because Colley, sitting nearby in the press box, just told them so.
Football is a game of inches, and Colley’s is a world of minutia. The job is enviable, if Wahoo trivia is your thing, and perhaps pitiable when the Cavaliers lose.
“What some people use as diversion,” Colley says, “I now use as a career.”
Data dredging is only part of his weekly routine, however. When Colley is not nosing through a record book, he must do the grunt work of big-time college sports—publicity. On Mondays, for instance, Colley helps arrange head coach Al Groh’s press conference, and media interviews with the players. On Tuesdays, Colley meets with television announcers, to prep them for Saturday’s game.
Colley handles calls from professional football teams seeking information about quarterback Matt Schaub and helped produce postcards touting Schaub’s achievements. He also tries to update the virginiasports.com website faster than fans call in to complain about dated information.
“People have no idea the demanding hours his position requires and the tightrope he has to walk between the coaches and the media,” says Mac McDonald, WINA-AM radio announcer and “the voice of the Cavaliers,” one of several local reporters who speak highly of Colley.
“Love him or hate him, you always know where he’s coming from,” says Jed Williams, the station’s sports director. “With everyone digging for the scoop or the banner headline, his honesty ensures that everyone enjoys equal opportunity to get their job done.”
Colley, 41, grew up in Charlottesville and graduated from Albemarle High School. He attended UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1985. After college, Colley sold computers for a firm in Virginia Beach, but he soon soured on the corporate world.
In 1989, just as Virginia football was winning its way to respectability, Colley moved home and started volunteering for the athletic department’s media relations office, writing press releases, compiling stats—whatever was needed. He got a full-time job there in 1991. Suddenly, the ferocious fan had access to all of Cavdom.
He has since learned to temper his emotions during games. Losses once kept him up all night “pissing and moaning,” he says. Now he has attained a rare state of sports-fan Zen.
“Not that anybody likes to lose, but you’ll go insane if you let the losses get to you too much,” Colley says. “Now I can go to a game that I have no interest in, or a game that I am dying to know who’s going to win, and they’re almost the same as far as I’m concerned.”
Football isn’t Colley’s only forte. He also keeps numbers up to date for men’s lacrosse and serves as the official statistician for home men’s and women’s basketball games. In each game, his goals are accuracy and objectivity.
“It’s not a statistician’s job to say what would have happened,” Colley says, “just to interpret what did happen.”
Still, Colley’s love for the Hoos burns as bright as the orange socks he often wears on game days. Jerry Ratcliffe, the Daily Progress sports editor, says Colley “is as passionate about the Cavaliers as anyone I’ve ever run across.”
As he will be on the job at Saturday’s Georgia Tech game, though, Colley must root vicariously.
“Since I can’t,” he tells this reporter, “cheer loudly for me.”— Eric Hoover