Author: allison-cintins

Over the past month, C-VILLE has heard rumors of an increase of city break-ins. Local podcaster Sean Tubbs had a too-close encounter with city police (and their firearms) while they were tracking down a breaking and entering suspect near his home. And in Albemarle County last month, the County Police Department arrested two individuals involved in various burglaries dating back to 2006: Shawnita Nicole Graves, 29, and Dean Elliott Graves, 26, were charged with three counts of breaking and entering and three counts of grand larceny each for incidents throughout Albemarle County. The two were caught after tips led detectives to a residence in the 800 block of Montrose Avenue, where they discovered a large amount of stolen property inside.

The news got C-VILLE wondering: Does this mean that robbery from the home is up this summer? Did thieves pilfer from city and county residences galore? Was no house left uncased?

The summer was below average for rainfall, but it was about right on for breaking and enterings, with about 200 in the city and the county. Among the most prominent arrests: Shawnita Nicole Graves, 29, and Dean Elliott Graves, 26, were charged with three counts of breaking and entering and three counts of grand larceny each for incidents throughout Albemarle County. Shawnita Graves was charged with one count of arson as well.

It actually looks like it was a pretty average season for city and county burglars. There were 199 burglaries in the combined localities this summer. The city experienced a 28 percent decrease in breaking and entering numbers from last year, with a grand total of 94 between the months of May and August, though the figure is still one-thirds higher than it was in 2003. Albemarle County had a slightly higher raw total, with 105 burglaries in the four summer months. Residential burglaries in the county far outnumbered nonresidential burglaries, which comprised only a third of the total figure.

City burglars were most active in July, while county burglars favored August, with 26 and 36 successful crimes respectively. According to police, months such as July and August are the peak periods of residential burglaries due to the large number of people out of town on vacation.

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

Public webcams have officially run the gamut of subject material. The first webcam starred a coffee pot. Next came sexy teenagers, pandas and now, UVA’s Cavalier Marching Band. The appropriately named “bandcam,” featured on their website, sits atop the band’s storage facility and displays a view of their practice field that is akin to nosebleed seats at a baseball game. The image updates itself every eight seconds, though viewers may manually refresh the page for five second intervals instead.

Not terribly advanced for the YouTube age, you say, but still, some band members have high hopes for the bandcam. “I think it’s great, especially for people who live out of state whose parents might never get a chance to come to a football game,” says Drum Major Bryan Myers. Despite the lack of visual excitement and impossibility of telling one dot-of-a-person apart from another, there is presumably a sense of closeness conveyed by being able to see one’s own son or daughter in real time as they practice.

The Cavalier Marching Band steps to the beat of a five second refresh button on the Web.

For those not hip to the UVA marching band scene, the Cavalier Marching Band was formed in Fall 2004 after a $1.5 million donation by Carl and Hunter Smith was given to the University in 2003. The donation followed the defunding of the previous UVA band, the Virginia Pep Band, which had offended numerous people (including the entire state of West Virginia). The Cavalier Marching Band, a more traditionally structured marching band in contrast to the Pep Band’s scramble style, currently includes 218 UVA students and 12 members from Piedmont Virginia Community College.

When not making an appearance on the web, the Cavalier Marching Band performs at every UVA home football game in addition to a few away games per season. As far as what’s in store this fall, the band has “some pretty special guests coming to perform with [them], nationally recognized artists…as well as a pretty nice tribute that we have in store for the Virginia Tech game,” says Myers.

Any bandcam jitters? According to fellow Drum Major Lauren Schmidt, “compared to the 63,000 fans at a football game, it doesn’t seem that nerve-wracking. I think the more people who get to see what we’re really about, the better.”

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

A trip to the local convenience store is apparently a dangerous endeavor. Both CVS and Family Dollar are being sued in Charlottesville Circuit Court. It’s alleged that their negligence caused customers to fall, with costly results.

First, Marilyn Jean Welch is suing the Standard Drug Company (a.k.a. CVS). On March 4, 2005, Welch slipped on a patch of ice that had formed in front of the CVS on the Downtown Mall. She is asking for $250,000 plus court fees on the grounds that CVS failed to maintain the entranceway of their store.

Slip sliding away: A local woman is suing CVS for $250,000 after she slipped on ice in March 2005 outside the company’s Downtown store.

According to Welch’s complaint, neglected gutters allowed water to drip from an overhang above the CVS entrance—water that froze and that CVS employees then allegedly failed to clean up or provide warning of to customers. Furthermore, according to Welch, the façade of the building has a, well, façade of being under cover and thus seems to be protected from the elements. Welch asserts that she has suffered great pain, mental anguish, permanent disability and inconvenience, which continues to this day.

In its response, CVS counters that it is without sufficient knowledge to know if water was indeed dripping onto the entranceway, but suggests that it was "reasonably apparent to a pedestrian entering or leaving the CVS store that the ‘wet’ area in the entranceway was icy." CVS’s stance is that any injuries, losses or damages that Welch incurred are a result of her own negligence.

Family Dollar is facing parallel allegations put forth by Kimberly D. Crowder. Crowder asserts that on May 17, 2005, she was shopping at Family Dollar, located at 1135 Fifth St. SW, and fell on a clear, slippery substance that was located on the floor of a store aisle.

Similar to the CVS case, Crowder’s grounds for suit are that Family Dollar failed to keep the place of business free of hazards or warn customers of any danger. Crowder asserts that she has sustained permanent injuries that have caused a loss of earning capacity and quality of life. For this, Crowder is asking for compensatory damages of $300,000 and all court costs. Like CVS, Family Dollar contends that any damages are a result of Crowder’s own negligence. However, much to our chagrin, neither party identifies the clear, slippery substance.

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