Author: ace-atkins

Dear Ace: I called my trash removal company today and they’re telling me that I don’t need to recycle, but that if I put all my trash in the receptacle, they’ll separate the recyclables from the garbage. This just seems too good to be true. What’s really up with trash removal and recycling?—Doubting in Fluvanna

If your garbage gets picked up by Dixon, All American, Fluvanna Disposal or one of six other independent waste disposal contractors in Central Virginia that send their trash to the Van der Linde Recycling Center for processing, then it’s true: Now, even if you don’t recycle, you still recycle.

If you missed the news about Van der Linde Recycling’s new household waste facility, Ace doesn’t blame you—it opened for operations in November 2009 in the midst of a long-standing lawsuit against the Fluvanna-based private waste collector by the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority. The suit ended in January with Van der Linde paying the RSWA $600,000, but Ace isn’t going to recapitulate the details of the messy legal saga. Instead, he’ll bring you up to speed on the particulars of your newly sustainable, albeit slightly less conscientious, disposal practices.

The Van der Linde Recycling Center, located near the Zion Crossroads off of Route 250 East, describes itself as “the landfill of the future,” separating and recycling nearly all types of household garbage—everything except hazardous or Freon products, toxic chemicals, or tires—and also sorts through construction and demolition debris. According to the Center’s website, its mammoth “Green Machine” can process 100 tons of trash per hour and recycle over 90 percent of it—although after several phone calls and an e-mail to Van der Linde, Ace wasn’t able to get an answer about what happens to the remaining refuse.

But on the whole, it’s a brilliant idea, right? Never mind that the reason we need a recycling center is because, by and large, we can’t be trusted to separate our own garbage. There aren’t many ways to derive a sense of civic responsibility so easily as tossing a depleted handle of Wild Turkey into the red receptacle instead of the green one. Even if those feelings were contrived, Ace will miss them.

If your trash removal company isn’t one of the contractors that go to the Van der Linde plant for processing, however, you can drop off your garbage at the facility yourself. You’ll feel like part of the conservation process again, at least, if you don’t consider the gas you burn getting there. 

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.

Dear Ace: Spring has put me in a Nietzschean mood. Where can I find a giant rock face to climb?—Der-Überbergsteiger-in-Charlottesville

Ace groks ya, Friedrich. Having put himself through the kinds of dramatic highs and lows that most people never see outside of Wagnerian opera, he knows a thing or two about living on the edge, and nothing takes him there faster than scaling a naked cliff face through sheer force of will.

If you’re skilled enough to be climbing outdoors, there are a variety of local and regional groups that will lead you to the right spots. The Outdoor Adventure Social Club, headquartered on the Downtown Mall, is not a bad place to start. You’ll also want to investigate the online Charlottesville Rock Climbing and the Blue Ridge Climbing groups, members of which meet regularly for climbing expeditions at sites like Shenandoah Valley’s Old Rag and the New River Gorge in West Virginia. Other popular spots include Manchester Wall, a series of old bridge abutments by the James River in Richmond, and places throughout George Washington National Forest and Great Falls National Park.

As for public indoor rock gyms, Charlottesville’s only got one: The Rocky Top Rec Center at 1729 Allied St., behind C’Ville Coffee. A “no-frills” neighborhood gym with a friendly, collegial atmosphere and abundant charm (not to mention some of the most affordable day use and monthly membership rates in town), Rocky Top features a vertical wall room with overhangs, plus an upstairs bouldering cave for lateral climbing. Bill Thompson, the longtime owner and operator of the gym, offers training instruction and conducts group exercise sessions.

And when, like Zarathustra, you’re ready to come down from the mountain for some cross-training, Rocky Top also includes a racquetball court, free weights, treadmills and a rowing machine.  

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.

 Dear Ace: Is there was any connection between Charlottesville’s Boar’s Head Inn and the Boar’s Head Brand of delicatessen meats and cheeses? And if not, just what is it about the head of a boar that makes me feel so danged refined?—Glazed-and-Confused-in-Charlottesville

To answer your first question: Nope. And even less so now, since Boar’s Head Inn’s Executive Chef Terry Sheehan has pledged to serve up more locally sourced dishes at the esteemed resort. To be honest, though, this is one of those questions that Ace has wondered about for nearly as long as he’s lived in Charlottesville, but was never motivated to ask. And it would make sense. Both the Inn and the Brand occupy a certain lofty, storied aesthetic space, a burnt color scheme of auburn, sepia and gold that doesn’t really have much to do, per se, with the hairy, mud-loving, wild ancestor of the pig.

But as a symbol, the boar’s head has likely attained its regal standing in our collective unconscious due to its role in one of the oldest continuing festivals of the Christmas season: the Boar’s Head Feast, an ancient pagan and Roman pageant. In pre-Christian times, the boar was considered both the sovereign of the forest and a public enemy to be feared and hunted. Following its successful slaying, the boar would be the first dish served at a feast, often with its severed head ceremonially dressed and garnished. In time, the custom would spread across Europe and the Americas. Contemporary Boar’s Head Feasts—you know, with mince meat and plum pudding—follow protocols that originated at Queen’s College in Oxford, England in 1340, when according to legend, a scholar once killed a charging boar by shoving his metal-bound copy of Aristotle’s Metaphysics down its throat.

But that broadly traditional flavor is about the extent of the connection between the UVA-owned Boar’s Head Inn, which traces its name to a series of eponymous 16th-century London hotels, and the Boar’s Head Provision Company (a.k.a. Frank Brunckhorst Co., LLC), which began distributing products under that brand name to New York City delicatessens in 1905.

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.  

 Dear Ace: I had no idea Google had a dietary branch, but if what I’m hearing around town is correct, they’ve come up with something called “Google Fiber,” and the city and county want to bring it to Charlottesville! What’s up with that? And will it obstruct my ability to purchase digestion-assisting whole grains, flax seed, green beans and avocados locally?—Regular-roughage-recipient-in-Charlottesville

If you ask Ace, some of these Silicon Valley IT/tech corporations could just as easily strike it rich in culinary enterprises. Think of the possibilities: the Microsoft Taco, the Apple iPad Thai. As a matter of fact, Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, CA is renowned for its gourmet, organic cafeteria cuisine, ingredients of which are sourced within 150 miles of the campus. So maybe a Google Foods along Rte. 29 wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It might even take some of the edge off of our collective longing for a Wegmans.

What Google has in mind with its forthcoming Fiber project, however, is more in line with the regular operations of its evil/evil-opposing empire: the construction of an experimental, state-of-the-art broadband Internet network in at least one U.S. community of Google’s choice, which will deliver speeds “more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second,” according to the Charlottesville city website. Google’s blog claims that these speeds would allow users to download “a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes.”

Google is selecting its guinea pig via a contest-style selection process, in which Charlottesville faces competition from cities like Baltimore, Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh and many others. The winning candidate(s) will be announced later this year, to which Google will offer Fiber service “at a competitive price” to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people. It would also pay for the installation—estimated between $60 million and $1.6 billion—with no infrastructure costs to the chosen community. 

In other words, relax. In the event that Charlottesville’s bid is accepted, Google Fiber will have exactly zero effect on your future bran purchases. Digitally speaking, it may even relieve your congestive woes.

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.  

 Dear Ace: Every year, my husband and I celebrate the beginning of spring with an aerial tour of the renewed landscape. We’re new to Charlottesville, and wondering where around here we might find a private plane, helicopter, or balloon to give us a bird’s eye view of the area?—Fuselage-Fool-in-Charlottesville

Would-be Charlottesville aeronauts have several places to turn for a jaunt through the wild blue yonder. There are at least four nearby firms that offer hot air balloon rides: Blue Ridge Balloon in Charlottesville, Bear Balloon Corporation (which launches from Boar’s Head Inn), Bonaire Charters at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and Monticello Country Ballooning. Each has a website with answers to whatever more specific questions you may have. Did you know, for example, that people with a fear of heights don’t typically struggle with hot air balloon rides, due to a lack of physical connection between the carriage and the ground? This is good news for Ace, who fears heights almost as much as he dreads spilling ionized bottled water on his immaculately-pressed dress shirt and slacks. Indeed, the thought of wasting all those precious electrolytes is almost distressing enough to make him reach for an O’Doul’s. Almost.

If you’re looking for something a little more high-octane, though, you’re probably going to want to go through the Charlottesville Flight Center, which offers sightseeing tours, flying lessons and rentals for small aircraft. The CFC hangar includes several varieties of Cessna biplanes; a pair of Robinson helicopters; an Evektor SportStar light sport aircraft; and a spacious Piper Apache multiengine plane with room for four.

Ace would be remiss, however, not to mention Hotelicopter—perfect for sightseers looking to elevate their search with a luxurious flourish. The company, the brainchild of two UVA Darden School of Business graduates, offers multiple-night stays on its lavish, 18-room airborne roto-hotel, which went down in history as the first of its kind during its christening in early April last year. Each cabin, according to the company website, features a queen-sized bed, media center, whirlpool bath and customizable minibar (Ace’ll take Vitamin Water in his, thanks).

For find out more about the Hotelicopter experience, visit the company headquarters on the Downtown Mall, or visit their website at aprilfools.hotelicopter.com.

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.  

 Dear Ace: Times are tight right now. What’s the history of finding gold in the area? And do you think it might pay off for me to hit the creek with some panning equipment?—Ain’t-sayin’-he’s-a-gold-digger-but-ain’t-messin’-with-no-broke-rivers-in-Charlottesville

So you want to know whether your auric ambitions will pan out? Fortunately, there are several factors working in your favor. According to GoldMaps.com, various sites in Virginia—particularly near Fredericksburg and Wilderness along the Rappahannock and Rapidian Rivers, as well as around the Fluvanna/Goochland county line—fall into a loose configuration of gold-rich territory that extends from Alabama through the Northeast.

But don’t reach for that trowel just yet. Ace is dreadful sorry to break it to you, but prospectors have been mining and panning Virginian hills and streams for gold since at least 1804, and heavy lode mining began in earnest shortly thereafter, continuing almost without interruption until 1947. So whereas the Commonwealth once produced the stuff in abundance, with mines producing upwards of 160 lbs. of pure metal during Virginia’s gold heyday, you better get used to the fact that prospectors of years past have already picked the low-hanging fruit, so to speak, and then some.

Then again, that doesn’t stop the Central Virginia Gold Prospectors, a non-profit organization of amateur miners that formed in the late 90s around Dillwyn. As of 2008, in a New York Times article, the CVGP boasted seven “claims” or gold-bearing sites, the locations of which they guard as secrets. If you’re new to the prospecting game and looking for direction, or even just a social environment in which to try and strike it rich, then consider catching one of their meetings in Dillwyn, or check them out on cvgp.net. 

Other notable gold prospecting organizations in Virginia include the Virginia Gold Prospectors in Warrenton, as well as the Gold Mining Museum at Monroe Park in Goldvein, where according to legend, Thomas Jefferson stumbled upon the first gold nugget in the Commonwealth’s history, along the bank of the Rappahannock River in 1782.

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.  

Dear Ace: What’s up with that carousel at the east end of the Downtown Mall? I’ve never seen another one like it.—Merrily-Going-Around-Charlottesville

That’s because, according to New York/London appraisers Masterson-Gurr-Johns Inc., the little blue carousel on our mall is “the last known kiddy carousel in this country of its type.”

The attraction, featuring seven painted aluminum horses and a fabric canopy, is the property of the Virginia Discovery Museum, which received it as a gift from Fred W. Scott, Jr. of Bundoran Farm in North Garden. Since 2006, children have been enjoying the carousel nearly exclusively, because at nine-and-a-half feet across and eight-and-a-half feet high, it is a little too small for grown-ups to use.

The carousel, built in 1910, features William F. Mangels-commissioned aluminum horses, cast from ornate, painted woodcarvings of renowned carousel craftsman Marcus C. Illions. While Mangels and Illions worked together on other carousels, the one on the mall is evidently the last surviving example of their collaboration. Illions later began working independently, and would become best known for his three spectacular “Supreme” models, although each of these has been taken apart. However, a number of Illions carousels still operate, including one at the Agawam Amusement Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, and another at the zoo in Columbus, Ohio.

Following a five-year sponsorship by the Charlottesville Parking Center, in addition to the restoration efforts of artist Kathy Peace Bland, the carousel’s dedication ceremony took place on July 7, 2006. It has been open to the public during Discovery Museum hours, free of charge, ever since. 

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.  

Dear Ace: I’ve been on a cinema kick since crashing The Paramount Theater’s Oscar Night Party last weekend, and I’m jonesing to get back to the celluloid buffet. Sadly, the Virginia Film Festival won’t be happening again for a while. What other noteworthy picture shows should my fellow film buffs and I be aware of in the short term?—Fishing-for-Reels-in-Charlottesville

The malaise a cinemaphile feels the day after the Academy Awards rivals the inevitable annual post-Christmas/New Year’s serotonin crash that marks the onset of true winter. How does Ace deal with the disappointment of having his Oscar expectations both dashed and fulfilled? Dear reader, he could write a book about his coping rituals, but let’s just say they involve repeated viewings of the 1979 Best Picture Kramer vs. Kramer and Ace muttering to himself in the dark.

But that’s not the question you asked. Fortunately, yours is an easy inquiry to answer. Just this week alone, no less than three themed film festivals will hold showings in Charlottesville, so without further ado, Ace will shine the spotlight on each.

On Tuesday, March 8, the Virginia Film Society will be screening selected shorts from the 29th Black Maria Film & Video Festival at The Paramount Theater. Named for the world’s first motion picture studio, built by Thomas Edison in West Orange, New Jersey in 1893, the Black Maria Film Festival broadly celebrates artistic and humanistic achievement in independent short film. Highlights include The Solitary Life of Cranes, about the lives of building crane operators in London.

Then, on March 11 in the Monticello High School auditorium, and again on the 12th at Charlottesville High School’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center, the New York City-based Sprout Film Festival will showcase a variety of documentary and narrative films about developmental disability. Screening both local and international films, the Festival aims to “make the invisible visible.” Proceeds will support My Turn, Your Turn, an interactive DVD project featuring the music of local composer Cathy Bollinger.

Finally, on March 14 and 15, Canada’s 34th Banff Mountain Film Festival will present 13 films at The Paramount Theater that loosely fall into the mountain culture, rock climbing cinematic milieu. It also includes a documentary about Roz Savage, a British woman who rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean, as well as a short called Project Megawoosh, the saga of German engineer Bruno Kammerl’s quest to perfect the world’s tallest human water slide.

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.  

Dear Ace: Some friends of mine are passing through Charlottesville, but I don’t have enough room in my apartment to put them up for the weekend, and their shoestring budget—to say nothing of their enormous, shaggy beards—puts most local hotels, inns and bed & breakfasts out of their range. Where in this town might a group of young backpackers find fun, affordable lodging during their visit?—Banking-on-bunkspace-in-Charlottesville

It sounds to Ace like you’re describing a youth hostel. Ace would know—during his carefree youth, Ace spent a summer hitchhiking up I-95. Ah, those were the days: living out of a suitcase, wearing the same thing—a trench coat, mostly—day after day. Come to think of it, not much has changed.

Point is, Ace knows a hostel when he sees one. And of all the lodging options on offer in Charlottesville, only one establishment fits the category: the Alexander House, on 1205 Monticello Road in Belmont.

Alexander House has been operating since Mare Hunter, whose grandmother ran a boarding house in Charlotte, NC during the 30s and 40s, founded the business in 2005. On October 1, 2009, Hunter sold Alexander House to a group of young entrepreneurs, who currently run it as a co-operative. In other words, the house’s six-person staff equally shares ownership and responsibility for the property, as well as decision-making power regarding its operation.

Formerly a one-storey, three-bedroom inn, Alexander House is expanding next week to include an adjacent bunkhouse, featuring three sets of bunk beds in a single co-ed dormitory. The going rate for a bed is $30 per night, while private single rooms cost $75. Additionally, the entire house, entire bunkhouse, or both are available for rental. Price of a stay includes coffee, tea, bread, butter, jelly and fruit, and guests can store and make their own food in the house’s kitchen space.

So who what kind of people use a hostel in Charlottesville? In an e-mail, Alexander House shareholder Lun Brown describes the clientele as “a very eclectic crowd,” including cross-country cyclists, couples getting away for the weekend, prospective UVA students, and world travelers passing through town. Business, notwithstanding a winter slump and weather-related cancellations, has been “better than our projections,” according to Brown, who expects a busy spring and summer season, and says that the house has been booked solid for UVA’s graduation weekend for several months already.

Interested? Then don’t miss Alexander’s House’s grand opening of its bunk area on Sunday, March 14 from 1-5pm. Live music, refreshments, and local art on display—what more could a wayfaring traveler ask for?

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com. 

 Dear Ace: What kind of effect has all this snowfall had on Charlottesville-area snowsports? I’ve never tried any, at least without the vicarious aid of a Nintendo 64, but everywhere I look now I see these scintillating heaps of powder, and I would hate for it all to go to waste. What does it take to learn how to ski or snowboard around here? And how much time do I have to get up to speed before the slopes melt?—Roamin’-Pole-and-Ski

The 2010 Snowpocalypse appears to be inducing fits of quasi-religious ecstasy in regional ski enthusiasts. Just consult an all-caps February 15 snow report of “SUPERB CONDITIONS!” on Wintergreen Resort’s website, or the Massanutten Resort Twitter feed, which stated on February 8 that slope conditions in the Shenandoah Valley “couldn’t be better!”

Talk about a silver lining. Here Ace has been knocking on wood in hopes that these weather patterns will never repeat themselves in our time, only to realize that there’s probably some chapped-lipped punk swiveling down a mountain on a snowboard, crossing his fingers that exactly the opposite will occur. And you, too, can be that guy—with the benefit of a little schooling, that is.

Wintergreen Resort’s Snowsports School offers a variety of ski and snowboarding instruction options, suited to trainees of all ages and skill levels. Complete novices should take particular interest in the Guaranteed Learn to Ski & Ride program, a reduced-rate lesson package that allows first-time skiers and snowboarders to repeat their introductory class, free of charge, until they can turn, stop, and ride a lift. Other notable Wintergreen programs include a women’s ski seminar, an adaptive sports series for people with disabilities, and The Treehouse, which features classes and activities for children two-and-a-half to 12. 

Massanutten Resort, near Harrisonburg, also offers clinics and private lessons, a youth instructional program for ages 4 to 12, and adaptive sports instruction. Additionally, Massanutten hosts youth skiing and snowboarding teams, which compete in both racing and freestyle events. New this season, Massanutten has instituted a four-week program for Boy Scouts pursuing their snow sports merit badge.

So how much time do you have left? Both resorts conclude their winter sports seasons in the middle of March, so turn off the Nintendo and get shredding. 

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.