Author: jayson-whitehead

In less than 30 days, the 45-60 people that regularly spend their nights at the Hope Community Center will have to find another place to crash: Their beleaguered shelter will fold. Three roller-coaster weeks have left their caretakers, Pastor Harold Bare and his son, Josh, bereft and beaten but still determined to help their “clients.”

Now they must work with the various homeless agencies in town—PACEM, ASG, Region Ten and the Salvation Army—to help out, however they can. “One of the best things that could happen here for the whole community would be to see a concerted effort of agencies and individuals to take care of these 60 or so people over the next 30 days,” Pastor Bare says.

“One of the best things that could happen here for the whole community would be to see a concerted effort of agencies and individuals to take care of these 60 or so people over the next 30 days,” says Pastor Harold Bare.

“We go through this process every year,” says Dave Norris, PACEM’s executive director (and the city mayor), who has proposed a similar “triage” of services to attend to Hope’s homeless.

The city has also chipped in, agreeing to waive the $2,000 in application fees to file zoning amendments that would allow Hope to remain open through May (as approved in their April 17 BZA meeting). As Pastor Bare has stated on numerous occasions—including at a press conference on April 30—Hope’s funds have dwindled to the point that it could negatively affect the center’s daytime activities, such as after school activities for local students. “We need help,” he said as cameras whirred and snapped.

Another potential month as a shelter will also depend on the cooperation of the center’s neighbors, some of whom appeared at Region Ten on April 29 to express their outrage about the center and at the city for letting it remain open. Property values, racial concerns and homeless stereotypes spurred the 10th & Page neighborhood to complain about its omission from the discussion of the shelter’s existence. There to take the brunt of it, Pastor Bare apologized and pleaded for leniency.

Meanwhile, Hope has had to meet a May 2 deadline set by a city building official a week earlier requiring them to adhere to heightened fire code standards. Most significant is the reduction in their maximum guest occupant load to only 20 per building. Hope has sheltered more than 30 men on a regular basis for months and will have to turn at least 10 away initially (women and a few children occupy another building). “We can still bring them in and feed them,” says Bare, explaining that they will do what they can to find the excess men a place to stay.

Already, the pastor has raised a little money, including some provided by the UVA student group T-Rock in the form of the Bubble Brigade, an event organized on Grounds on April 29. At 5pm, a square machine on the concrete stage began to issue bubbles, as girls sold bottles of them provided free-of-charge by Target. Students could also sign up for a raffle, with all proceeds going to Hope and its homeless.

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A missing Charlottesville 12-year-old was safely located in Chicago by federal and local authorities less than two weeks after she went missing. Lorena Sanchez-Toledo had been gone since April 15, after she came home from Buford Middle School. She was last seen near her home in the Meadows Neighborhood.

Three days later, an abandoned red 1997 Mitsubishi was found nearby and the owner, identified as Jeremias Chagala-Mil, immediately became the chief suspect. Chagala-Mil, 5’4" and 150 pounds, was located with the girl in Illinois. Sanchez-Toledo is reportedly in good health while Chagala-Mil is in custody facing local and federal charges.

“We are extremely pleased that we were able to resolve this case safely. We are looking forward to returning Lorena to her parents and her school where she belongs,” said Chief Tim Longo of the Charlottesville Police in a press release. “This effort could not have been successful without the great partnership with the FBI, other local authorities, Buford Middle School and with the assistance and participation of the public.”

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When someone perched near I-64 and fired into several vehicles one night in late March, local police shot into action. Area schools were canceled as law enforcement frantically searched for evidence. By the next day, they had arrested two suspects, and charged both with 10 felonies apiece in Albemarle County. “That was a priority,” says Albemarle County Police Lieutenant Todd Hopwood.

What happens when it’s not? Scottsville resident Woody Ward had two electric basses stolen in early March and despite the evidence he says was gathered at the scene—including a hand-drawn map—he did not learn of the instruments’ fate until a month later when the criminals were busted in a bizarre set of circumstances that included the apprehension and escape of a 16-year-old Pomeranian dog.

That is because in smaller localities like Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville there is no capability to analyze fingerprint evidence. “We would love to have our own lab because turnaround would improve,” Hopwood says. At this point, the county has the ability to retrieve prints from evidence which is itself a complicated process.

Unlike in larger localities, local police can’t compare fingerprint results to a database unless they are shipped to Richmond, slowing down some investigations.

“It depends on the material,” says Hopwood, explaining that there are various techniques to retrieve fingerprints, like the practice of dusting, which involves placing a powder on the object and lifting the prints. According to Hopwood, there is a county evidence team with members certified by the state lab.

In larger localities, the fingerprints would then be compared to a database of fingerprints on file. Unfortunately for our area, that can only be done in Richmond where the fingerprint evidence must be sent.

“We don’t have CSI here,” Hopwood says, explaining that the wait for a comparison can be dependent on many factors. “Some things just take time and patience.”

That is no excuse for Ward, who sees this lack of print analysis as ultimately encouraging smaller crimes in our area. “You can say what you want about [Rudolph] Giuliani when he was mayor of New York, but the one thing he did that lowered the crime rate was hitting all these low-level crimes—car break-ins, stolen radios,” Ward says. “He would have cops staking out streets looking for these guys and nailing all this street-level crime—the real stupid stuff like spitting on the sidewalk—because he realized that if we don’t go after the low-end stuff the low-end kids are going to become high-end. Every time they get away with something they’ll try bigger stuff.”

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Over the years, many area residents have had their plans of attending UVA dashed when they failed to gain admission to the elite school sometimes referred to as the “Ivy League of the South.” In the last few years, though, the University has taken steps to free up its ranks, including its recent decision to revoke its early admission process.

In 2006, UVA took perhaps a more significant step when it agreed to guarantee admission to students from Virginia’s 23 community colleges. According to the agreement, a student who completes an associate degree in arts and sciences within the two-year period preceding application—earning a minimum of 54 transferable credit hours—and achieves a cumulative grade point average of 3.4 or better is guaranteed admission to UVA.

Piedmont Virginia Community College transfers to UVA have gone up almost 30 percent since 2006.

“This new agreement will encourage more community college students to transfer to the University of Virginia,” UVA President John Casteen said at the time.

Recent figures from Albemarle’s only community college, Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC), backs up this prediction. While UVA admitted around 70 students a year for the past couple decades from PVCC, that number jumped to 83 for 2006-2007 and 90 this academic year.

“There’s a heck of a lot of interest,” says Mary Lee Walsh, PVCC’s dean of student services, who explains that UVA has just mailed out their acceptances for next fall. “This is an incredible opportunity for students in the area.”

Especially for those who had their heart set on UVA but have neither the grades or the connections to get in. “Now they have a guarantee,” says Walsh. “Our job is to just keep getting the word out.”

While admissions are getting even tighter at UVA, the school says it’s pleased with the program. “PVCC students have been very successful at the University and we welcome the increase in numbers,” says Carol Wood, UVA spokesperson. “They bring a seriousness of purpose and maturity that serves them well here. They add to the richness and diversity of our community. Through the articulation agreement we hope to be able to attract more community college students in the coming years.”

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Kevin Strom’s long journey through the court system concluded on April 21, when he was sentenced to 23 months in jail, with credit for time already served. That sentence followed his January guilty plea for one count of child pornography, which carried a maximum penalty of 10 years and a possible $250,000 fine, plus a lifetime of probation. The plea and final sentence enabled Strom, former leader of the white supremacist group National Vanguard, to avoid a jury trial for multiple counts of possession of child pornography.

Kevin Strom, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center calls “a major American neo-Nazi leader for almost 20 years,” will spend 23 months in jail for possession of child pornography.

Strom was arrested in January 2007 on charges of possessing child pornography on his computer, as well as for witness tampering. Four months later, more counts of possession of child pornography were added, as well as one for trying to entice a 10-year-old to engage in sexual activity. Before the latter charge was tossed in October (as well as the witness tampering charge), Strom was looking at 30 years in prison and half a million dollars in fines.

Throughout his court proceedings, Strom maintained that he was innocent and that the charges were merely a vendetta by his wife, Elisha, who testified in October that she had walked in on her husband, naked and aroused, as he viewed child porn. She also testified that he physically attacked her when she threatened to report his alleged possession of child pornography.

Strom also protested the media’s characterization of his racist views, saying at his guilty plea that the reports were endangering his life. “They’re trying to kill me because of the press coverage,” he said of fellow prisoners. “I deeply resent the way I’ve been characterized. I’m no more a white supremacist than the Dalai Lama is. I love my people just as he does.”

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UVA senior architecture student Serena Weaver spent last semester dreaming of an ideal menu for the Fine Arts Café in the School of Architecture. The decades old cafeteria was finally getting revamped. What if, instead of the normal plastic-tasting cafeteria food, its menu was organic—or even better, from local Virginia farms?

Ever since Weaver, a Californian, had come to Virginia for college, she has paid attention to the vibrant local food movement.

Serena Weaver, a senior, interned this semester for UVA dining supplier Aramark, helping the company include more local and organic fare at the University.

“It was also really interesting for me to see that foods grow according to seasons,” she says. “The whole idea of there being a scarcity and then an abundance.”

In December, Weaver was surprised to find out the Fine Arts Café was opening up with a sustainable menu, just like she had dreamed, all organic, and some of it local.

“The dean asked me to be the designer of the renovated space,” says Judith Kinnard, a longtime architecture professor at the University, “and during the process of conceiving what the new café would be like, it became clear we would need to think about the menu as well as the space itself.”

That led to meetings with Aramark, the national company that runs UVA dining services. “It was not originally their idea to have a local and organic menu, but when we brought up the subject, they were interested,” Kinnard says.

As the café prepared to open, Aramark was also approached by Weaver, who proposed a position to them: a student intern who would study greater sustainability for the University’s cafeterias.

“We’re trying to come up with sustainable dining guidelines for UVA so there’s a written document with what we want clearly outlined,” says Weaver, who filled the intern post this January. As such, she is the connection between concerned students and an interested provider.

“We’re getting salsa from Red Hill, tofu and soy sausage from Twin Oaks, beef from Polyface,” she says, naming some products from local farms. All three were recently available on April 21, when Newcomb Hall hosted its first Green Dining Event. In a side cafeteria, students shuffled through lines to receive the asparagus and soy sausage, sweet potato hash and scrambled eggs scooped in heaps onto their plates. Peanuts abounded, as did corn tortilla chips.

“I didn’t like what I was eating four years ago,” says Weaver. Thanks in part to her own efforts, she now has more to enjoy. On April 9, UVA switched to buying cage-free eggs from Glenwood Foods in Amelia County (that doesn’t include hardboiled eggs). This change will equal 16,000 dozen a year.

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