Author: allison-cintins

The notion of "retro" has dipped in and out of fashion, but we’ve gotten to a point where relics from the past, specifically the 1970s, are being put away forever. It makes sense—the quintessential style of the decade isn’t exactly what one would call timeless. Still, we got Blondie, Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions, and Annie Hall out of those tumultuous 10 years. Local residents also saw the construction of Smith and Crow pools. But now, the jig is up for one of those pools. It’s time for something new.

Crow Pool itself is simple, with six swimming lanes beneath six painted aqua letters. Its rational, rectangular design clearly means business.

The City of Charlottesville recently entered a ground lease with the Boys and Girls Club of America to rebuild Smith Pool near the Buford Middle School. There are also provisional plans to build a state-of-the-art, 75,000-square-foot YMCA facility with a pool in McIntire Park. That means that in the next decade, Crow Pool will likely close.

It’s the classic debate of whether to fix something that ain’t that broke. Crow Pool would require $1 million to stay functional, but it also reflects different priorities: swimming as sport rather than play. In contrast, the new Smith pool will include a warm water facility with a play zone, a two-turn water slide, and an 80′-long "lazy river" in addition to the current cold-water pool with lap lanes. Though some older pool users are opposed to the changes, even going so far as to organize a petition to keep it open, it’s clear that the new pool’s additional features are geared toward a younger demographic.

The building that houses Crow Pool, located at 1700 Rose Hill Dr., is distinctly aged, a large brown brick complex with small, tinted windows near the roof and an understated entrance. Unlike more recently built glassy, heavily windowed fitness centers, there is no obvious front to the building. The pool itself is simple, with six swimming lanes beneath six painted aqua letters. It clearly means business. On a recent trip to the facility, I got to witness a Charlottesville High School swim team practice. The whole experience took me back to my own high school years, surrounded by white concrete walls and peers, all much taller than my diminutive self. Not much had changed.

Crow Pool isn’t innately playful with its rational, rectangular design. It left its swimmers to make of it what they could. The new pool facility at Smith will likely be more postmodern and whimsical, with high ceilings and delusions of grandeur. There’s something to be said for the straightforward simplicity of the old pool. Still, the new Smith pool promises to unite both work and play, old and young. And honestly, who doesn’t enjoy a lazy river?

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

Pesky parking tickets got you down? With the dearth of free parking spots in the city and expensive lot fees, parking illegally is increasingly tempting. While no one wants to get caught, take solace in the fact that when you do, at least those fines are going to a good cause.

When you see one of these bad boys on your car, don’t throw a ticket tantrum. Just think about your money being put to good use by city government for, say, a few extra seconds of corporate training.

According to Ric Barrick, city spokesman, the city makes about $1,000 to $1,500 a month in parking tickets, all of which goes into general city funds. With parking fines earning an annual revenue between $12,000 and $18,000, we decided to look into the city budget and see what the amount of average illegal parking decisions could add up to buy.

Unfortunately, Charlottesville’s looking for pricey upgrades in the upcoming year, and those fees can’t really buy much on their own. With all the parking fines, the city can possibly pay for half of the $35,000 "corporate training fund" for city employees. It could get close to covering the $25,000 cost of providing weed cutting on sidewalks, drains, and curbs for the city’s right-of-way areas. Or it could get lost in the sea of local school funding, at best a mere 0.05 percent of that $38.3 million expenditure.

So next time you’re feeling risky and are tempted by a yellow curb spot, think of the worst case scenario in terms of the overall civic gain. This year, maybe our efforts can actually buy something in full.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

Burnt pizza was the least of Farmington Country Club‘s worries when an oven fire caused substantial devastation to the property four years ago. Today, Farmington is seeking $1.3 million in damages with an Albemarle County Circuit Court case against the cleaning company it says directly caused the fire.

The Farmington Country Club blames Cannon’s High Pressure Cleaning, Inc. for a 2003 grease fire that started within the vent hood and ductwork of a brick pizza oven located in one of the restaurants in the country club.

On November 3, 2003, a fire started within the vent hood and ductwork of a brick pizza oven located in one of the restaurants in the country club. The fire spread to the roof and caused extensive damage to the entire premises. According to the complaint, officials concluded that an accumulation of grease in the exhaust ductwork, which was then ignited by embers in the wood-burning oven, caused the fire.

Up to that point, Farmington had relied on Cannon’s High Pressure Cleaning, Inc. of Farmville, Virginia, to clean its oven equipment on a quarterly basis. Cannon’s had sole responsibility for the cleanliness of the oven equipment and thus, Farmington is placing sole blame on Cannon’s for the fire. As stated in the complaint, the cost of the damages to Farmington amounted to $1.3 million, which it has requested from Cannon’s and not yet received.

Farmington is now seeking legal justice against Cannon’s with a complaint consisting of five counts, all revolving around the inability of the company to fulfill its responsibilities in a professional and non-negligent manner. Cannon’s is formally accused of negligence, breach of contract, breach of express and implied warranties and gross negligence. Shortly after the complaint was issued, Cannon’s contested two of the charges, but the judge denied its request and all five counts are still being heard.

The trial date for the case is June 9, 2008. In the meantime, Cannon’s has filled out a mediation certification form, suggesting that it is seeking an alternative means of resolution.

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Beyond bikes, cars and buses, city and county residents will soon have another mode of transportation to consider: ferryboat. A "pedestrian ferry" is currently being developed that will cross the Rivanna River and allow access between Darden Towe Park and Pen Park.

The aptly named Rivanna River Ferry is part of phase one of the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center, a proposal slated for Darden Towe Park to educate the public about the Lewis and Clark expedition. The center has received $150,000 in enhancement funds from VDOT, which includes funding for the ferry, and is also developing a visitor’s center and extended trail systems.

A river runs through it: Travelers wanting to get from Darden Towe to Pen Park can soon come and see the riverman—or perhaps a river coin-operated machine.

The center has secured an 18-acre landsite for its visitor’s center, with the ferry allowing visitors to travel from the new trails and facilities to the Rivanna Trails system across the river in Pen Park.

"Access across waterways is one of the things that I think trail and greenway planners are dealing with, since either existing connections are along busy highways unsafe for pedestrian use," says Dan Mahon, greenways/blueways supervisor for Albemarle County.

There is no budget impact to the county or city—the project has been facilitated by a number of donations from individuals, businesses and foundations.

County staff still haven’t figured out what the ferry will look like, or how it will work. "I’ve been collecting historical images of various types," says Mahon. "We’ve actually thought we could build a replica of the canal boats that used to work on the river, [but we’ve also] looked at existing models in Europe and a few examples here in the states within various parks." Alexandria Searls, director of operations for the Lewis and Clark center, wants to incorporate a dock into the ferry design so that visitors can observe the riverbank surroundings without disturbing the environment. No developer has yet been selected.

Another issue is who will run the ferry. Volunteers are one option, though some pedestrian ferries in operation today are coin-operated and some are self-service, says Mahon.

Searls says that construction on the ferry should begin next fall.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

Sexual abuse charges against Bryan Antwann Vaughan have been dropped because an alleged victim can’t be found. On November 14, Vaughan appeared in the Charlottesville Circuit Court to be tried, only to have the case suspended indefinitely. The assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney, Elizabeth Killeen, asked that the charges be "null prossed," or not prosecuted, at this time due to lost contact with one of the two victims. Charges can still be brought back before a grand jury at a later date.

This was to have been a retrial for Vaughan, based on a hung jury result at the initial March 19 trial. He is accused of sexually abusing two underage female residents at Charlottesville’s Whisper Ridge, a health facility that treats 13- to 17-year olds with behavioral and psychiatric problems based on mental illness or drug abuse. Vaughan worked there as a specialist and was formally charged in August of 2006 with touching and having consensual intercourse with one female victim, and inappropriately touching the other. Four other Whisper Ridge employees were indicted that same August, with crimes ranging from sex with a minor in a custodial role to contributing to delinquency. The indictments were a result of internal investigations by the State Department of Mental Health.

Bryan Antwann Vaughan was facing a retrial for sexual abuse charges, but city Commonwealth’s attorneys opted not to prosecute because they have lost contact with one of the victims.

One of the indicted employees, Bianca Nicole Johnson, pleaded guilty on June 20 to having carnal knowledge of a minor while under her care and signed a plea agreement to assist city prosecutors with the prosecution of other allegations involving Whisper Ridge employees.

Previously known as the Brown Schools, Whisper Ridge is a for-profit business that was purchased by Tennessee-based Psychiatric Solutions Inc. in 2003. Before changing names and hands, the Brown Schools incurred over 100 human rights and licensing violations issued by the state of Virginia.

Whisper Ridge, a health facility that treats 13- to 17-year-olds with behavioral and psychiatric problems, has had several former employees indicted for crimes ranging from sex with a minor to contributing to delinquency.

Vaughan continues to deny the charges, but Killeen suggested in court that he may be involved in additional cases.

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On Columbus Day, a posse of protestors dressed in prom gowns crowded around the Lewis and Clark statue on Main Street. They were protesting the subordinate position of Sacagawea in the statue, holding signs like "Sacagawea Never Cowered."
C-VILLE went and dug through the records at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society to try to get to the bottom of the Sacagawea question.

"By making her look down I have tried to suggest that they were on a high prominence, and she was more interested in the immediate surroundings, and not aware of what was in the minds of the explorers," said the statue’s sculptor.

The development of the Lewis and Clark statue dates back to 1912, shortly after a September 8 editorial in The Daily Progress reprimanded the Charlottesville community for ignoring the small park in front of the historic Midway School, at the juncture of Ridge and Main streets. Soon enough, new owners of the Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway Company got interested and proposed to City Council a civic improvement project for the area that included adding trees, shrubbery and a fountain.

City Council approved the request in November 1912, but members of the community thought a statue might be more appropriate than a fountain. Another Daily Progress editorial suggested a likeness of Thomas Jefferson, but the railway company decided to seek a statue in honor of Lewis and Clark, given that Meriwether Lewis was born in Albemarle County, as were William Clark’s father and brother. Main Street was not directly involved in the Lewis and Clark expedition, but the paper thought the street fitting as a "great early artery facing West."

Though attempts were first made to derive funds from Congress, local philanthropist Paul Goodloe McIntire (of McIntire Road and McIntire Park fame) eventually decided to fund the project with a $20,000 gift to the city. On the advice of McIntire’s friend and mural painter Duncan Smith, McIntire contacted Charles Keck in 1917. Keck, a member of the National Sculpture Society known for depicting subjects in an accurate and lifelike manner, had previously sculpted representations of Booker T. Washington and the Prophet Mohammed. A contract was signed on November 12, 1917, and the statue was unveiled in 1919.

There is no documentation of the negotiations between McIntire and Keck over the statue’s design, but McIntire noted that the terms specified a description of the pedestal and two figures. Keck changed the original plan by adding Sacagawea, and McIntire saw it as a welcome surprise: "The sculptor threw in the Indian and she is the best of the lot," McIntire said, adding that the statue has been "greatly improved." In fact, McIntire was so impressed with Keck’s work that he commissioned him to produce the Stonewall Jackson monument in Charlottesville’s Court Square as well.

Though there has been controversy over whether Sacagawea is tracking or cowering, in Keck’s words, she is bending forward, intent on the vast expanse of the ocean. "The guide Sacagawea is at their side, a little to the rear, so that she shall not compete too much in the composition with Lewis and Clark," he said. "By making her look down I have tried to suggest that they were on a high prominence, and she was more interested in the immediate surroundings, and not aware of what was in the minds of the explorers."

So did Keck mean that she was the practical one leading around a couple of absent-minded ninnies, or that she was incapable of high thought? Let the debate continue.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

The town of Blacksburg has received notices of potential legal action in regards to last April’s Virginia Tech shooting that left 33 dead. Lawyers representing the families of victims sent Blacksburg notice of 25 possible lawsuits in time for the October deadline. Filing notice does not guarantee that lawsuits will follow, but it certifies the possibility. Twenty of those notifications came from D.C. personal injury attorney Peter Grenier, who is representing families of 12 who were killed and eight who were injured in the shooting. A spokesman for the state attorney general said that as of October 17, he was aware of 20 notices for possible claims against the state from Grenier as well.

The town of Blacksburg got notice of 25 possible lawsuits related to the April 16 Virginia Tech shooting. Charlottesville spokesman Ric Barrick says that our city has done "a complete evaluation of procedures but found that most of what we had in place would have been the best response to an event like that here."

The claims against Blacksburg officials include negligence, reckless misconduct and civil rights violations, including the right to life and personal security. Specific complaints against the Blacksburg police focus on the lack of sufficient notification to Tech officials and students of the potential severity of the situation, as well as inadequate investigation following the initial shootings, when Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed two students in a dormitory two hours before his second attack that killed 30. According to the claims, police only looked for the boyfriend of the first victim as a potential suspect and told university officials that this identified suspect had probably left campus. Letters included with the claims also cited the fact that while Blacksburg public schools immediately issued a lockdown following the first shootings, the Virginia Tech campus remained open.

The deadline to file notifications of lawsuits against a locality is six months after the event, which meant that October 16 was the last day they could be filed. Notice of claims against Virginia Tech or the state must be sent by April 16, 2008. No official lawsuits have been filed yet, either against the locality, state or school.

Charlottesville and Albemarle officials declined to comment on the claims, but city spokesman Ric Barrick weighed in on how Charlottesville has responded to the tragedy. "We have done a complete evaluation of procedures but found that most of what we had in place would have been the best response to an event like that here," Barrick says via e-mail. "Police did provide heightened security in and out of their offices as a response and have been actively involved in some of the seminars and brainstorming that they are doing down in Blacksburg and here at UVA."

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

An Albemarle judge has certified an attempted murder charge for Phyllis Spangler, the 51-year-old woman who was arrested two months ago for assaulting her 94-year-old mother. Spangler appeared in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on October 22 for an incident that occurred on August 28 at The Laurels of Charlottesville, a retirement home where her mother, Pearl Powell, was staying. Spangler’s case is being sent to a grand jury in December, and if Spangler is indicted, the case will go to the Albemarle County Circuit Court for trial.

Phyllis Spangler is alleged to have attempted to kill her mother in The Laurels retirement home for financial reasons.

On the night of August 28, employees of The Laurels heard noises coming from Powell’s room. According to county Police Lieutenant John Teixeira, they entered to find Spangler sitting suspiciously close to her mother, with what looked to be her hand over her nose and mouth. Powell had bruises on her nose and face, and authorities at the hospital reported an assault to the police. Spangler was arrested that night and is being held in the Charlottesville-Albemarle Regional Jail.

Her lawyer, David Heilberg, insists that Spangler was intoxicated and that the attack could not have been premeditated. Because of this and a lack of criminal history, he requested bond on Monday. The judge denied it, but Spangler has a bond hearing scheduled for next week. "Intoxication is not a legal defense to any element of a crime in Virginia, except in a proper case for the element of premeditation in first-degree murder," says Heilberg.

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Moore insists that the motive behind the assault was financial, according to reports in The Daily Progress. Spangler allegedly had the option of either removing her mother from The Laurels or putting her house up for sale after Powell’s Medicaid payments ran out and the bills were not paid.

If Spangler is convicted, she faces up to 10 years in jail.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

Ford Motor Company is facing a hefty product liability lawsuit through the Albemarle Circuit Court because of a tragedy involving one of its minivans. The owner of the vehicle, Steven K. Funkhouser, is suing both Ford Motor Company and Obaugh Ford, Inc., where he purchased it, for a compensatory sum of $15.5 million after his minivan burst into flames last year.

On May 4, 2006, Funkhouser’s 3-year-old daughter, Emily, died as a result of burn injuries she incurred while sitting in her family’s 2001 Ford Windstar, according to the complaint. The Windstar allegedly caught fire while parked with the engine off and keys out of the ignition. Her 3-year-old brother, Evan, was also in the vehicle and suffered burns and inhalation injuries from the fire.

A Waynesboro man is suing Ford after his 2001 Ford Windstar caught fire and killed his daughter.

Funkhouser, of Waynesboro, asserts that he made no changes or alterations to the vehicle after purchase in 2003 and that, at the time of the fire, the minivan was in substantially the same condition as it was when he bought it. He is suing the two businesses on three counts: negligence, breach of warranty and damages. His negligence charges include the claim that Ford would design a vehicle prone to electrical problems for free distribution and without warning of these potential problems. According to Funkhouser’s complaint, this also entails breach of warranty, as the minivan was assumed to be fit for ordinary use. Funkhouser cites emotional damages as a result of the loss of his daughter and substantial injury of his son.

As it stands, Ford is denying all allegations with a number of affirmative defenses that would absolve it of responsibility. Obaugh Ford has responded in the same manner as Ford, with the additional request to separate Evan’s injuries into a second case on the basis of past jurisdiction.

This isn’t the first time that Ford has heard from Charlottesville attorneys. Two years ago, C-VILLE profiled local attorney Edgar Heiskell, who had prosecuted Ford in 34 nationwide cases over a 10-year span. All involved product liability issues with Ford’s Bronco II and Explorer models. Heiskell is not representing Funkhouser in this case, but he is a member of the same law firm—Michie, Hamlett, Lowry, Rasmussen & Tweel—as one of Funkhouser’s attorneys, J. Gregory Webb.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

As if getting home repair work done wasn’t stressful enough, with that oh-so-ambiguous "arriving between the hours of 8 and 4" business, a recent scam makes judging the credibility of contractors another headache. A few weeks ago, police exposed a series of frauds in the city and county that targeted elderly residents. In these cases, men would go door-to-door offering roof and chimney repair for a "good deal" and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Charging exorbitant prices after their work was done, including over $12,000 to one poor sap, their so-called repair work amounted to little more than spray painting areas of the roof and chimney.

If dudes come by your place offering to do prune trees or repair your roof, they might be scammers, not good Samaritans.

Five men were charged on October 4 for being involved in these frauds, with one suspect left at large. According to Ric Barrick, city spokesman, less than a dozen cases have been reported. Payment was usually demanded in cash, presumably on the assumption that these elderly victims had not yet sent it away for their grandchildren’s birthdays. The home repair tactic used by these men is common in other parts of the country, with other types of repair work offered, including asphalt paving, gutter repair and electrical wiring. In set-ups like these, including the recent city cases, a burglary may occur by accomplices in tandem with the shoddy repair work.

Another type of fraud that can occur in the city involves lawn maintenance, according to Barrick, where again, men will go door-to-door offering their services to prune trees. They do so, only to charge per limb rather than per tree, as was initially implied.

Beyond offering home repair and yard work, burglaries can also occur under the guise of other circumstances. Burglars will pretend to be cable company workers, city inspectors, or just distressed folks who need to use the bathroom. They may have official-looking badges, cars, and uniforms, or be accompanied by women and children for credibility. While they distract the homeowner, their accomplices steal money, jewelry and even safes.

While the number of reported cases remains low—less than a dozen were reported for the contractor scam—it’s always wise to be cautious. As for those who claim to need to use the bathroom, well, just point them toward your nosy neighbor’s house.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.