Author: meg-mcevoy

“People ask me where I live and I tell them Friendship Court, and they say, ‘I can’t believe you live there.’ It makes me feel bad,” says Justina, a woman who has lived in the low-income housing complex on the 400 block of Garrett Street for more than 15 years.

Charles Martin, executive director of Urban Vision, a nonprofit that provides programs in Friendship Court, says residents are fed up with violence that happens outside the complex. “This is a nice community.”

I meet with Justina and four other Friendship Court residents at the office of Urban Vision, a nonprofit that runs programs at Friendship Court, and a community center. On this beautiful summer day, kids giggle and play in an adjacent room; teens socialize and type in a computer lab. Like some of her neighbors, Justina doesn’t provide her last name. Residents are feeling burned lately by TV news cameras that have swept Friendship Court for footage, following a series of beatings on the edges of the complex.

In the wee hours of June 2, a couple made their way south on Garrett Street to get to their car, when they were beaten by a group of young men.

Friendship Court resident Sherrika says the beating happened outside her window.

“It was drunken white people,” she says. Sherrika saw a man hit the woman in the face with a rock. “One of the guys was telling him to come on, stop beating her.” Then the men “ran back towards the Downtown Mall.”

Other assaults have occurred recently, according to city Police Chief Timothy J. Longo. In late May, a “male subject was assaulted by three black males” near Crescent Hall on S. First Street. And, one day later, a male victim was assaulted by three males with clubs on Garrett Street.

Friendship Court residents say outsiders are responsible.

Melvin, a 19-year-old resident, says his neighborhood is at the crossroads for trouble: “They come from the Armory [the Downtown Recreation Center at 800 E. Market St.] to Garrett Square because the police station isn’t right there.”

“Most of the residents here feel certain that what’s happening on Second Street and Garrett Street is not folks from Friendship Court, but just other people who are hanging out waiting for willing prey,” says Charles Martin, executive director of Urban Vision.

Martin provides stats that show crime within Friendship Court is on the decline. The number of total incidents, calls and arrests decreased to 590 in 2006 from 1,550 in 2003. The number of assaults fell to 99 from 226 during that same period, and drug incidents declined to 22 from 58.

Brenda, who’s lived in Friendship Court for more than two decades, says, “A lot of things have changed. Drugs are clearing out so a lot of [dealers] have moved on.”

But as nightlife has boomed Downtown, Friendship Court residents are still getting unwelcome visitors. Bargoers park illegally on the streets, and sometimes inside the complex. Brenda says, “They just get so pissy drunk after dark.”

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A Charlottesville man faces the death penalty in Buckingham County for charges stemming from the March 9 shooting of Clarence Maurice Austin, whose body was dumped along a rural road off Route 20. Two other men face life in prison for abduction, robbery and murder charges.

Theodore Calvin Timberlake of Charlottesville, Claude Lorenzo Booker of Palmyra and Ryan Martez Turner of Charlottesville were seen riding with Austin in a black Crown Victoria along Route 20 in Buckingham County, when the three got out and shot Austin, according to published police accounts. Austin’s body was found along a stretch of road a short distance from the scene.

Police allege that Ryan Martez Turner, 18, killed a man and dumped his body off Route 20 in Buckingham County.

All three men fled—Timberlake and Booker turned themselves in to authorities after 10 days, fingering Turner as the shooter. Turner was on the lam for two months before being picked up by U.S. Marshals in Wilmington, Delaware. The area where Turner was found is known for gang activity, U.S. Marshals confirmed. Buckingham sheriffs could not be reached for comment, but have not said whether Turner is a member of the Bloods or any national gang.

A grand jury hearing on June 12 upheld all prosecutor’s charges, according to Buckingham Clerk of Court Malcolm Booker. Turner’s attorneys filed a motion for stay until September 12. The three men’s cases will be heard separately.

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Two parents who were convicted of providing alcohol to minors, and who tried to take their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, will be forced to serve a 27-month sentence. The highest court in the land denied the now-divorced couple’s appeal that their Fourth Amendment rights were violated by an illegal search the night they threw a drinking party for their 16-year-old son.

Twenty-seven months may seem like a long sentence for parents who served alcohol at a party for their teenage son, but Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney James L. Camblos, III says the facts of the case were “outrageous.”

In August 2002, according to court documents, an Albemarle police officer was called out to the home of George and Elisa Robinson. Upon entering the driveway, the officer spotted two teens holding clear glass bottles, who dropped them and ran for the woods when they saw the cop. He walked around to the back yard where he found more teens and the Robinsons, visible through a glass back door, sitting at the kitchen table.

According to Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney James L. Camblos, III, the facts of the case were “outrageous.” Elisa Robinson lied to other parents who called to check if there would be alcohol at the party, and told several teens to rinse their mouths with vinegar to disguise their beer breath.

The Robinsons were charged with 44 counts of contributing to the delinquency of minors. They refused a 90-day sentence offered in an agreement by Camblos, and pleaded guilty in Charlottesville General District Court. Perhaps influenced by the recent alcohol-related death of another county teen, the judge smacked the Robinsons with eight years active jail time. The couple appealed to Circuit Court, where Judge Paul M. Peatross gave them a slightly softer 27 months.

The Robinsons again appealed, arguing in the Court of Appeals that the officer conducted an illegal search and seizure when he proceeded beyond the “curtilage” of the house. But the court found that the officer had a right to conduct a “knock and talk,” and, since the first few teens were visible from the front yard, the cop had probable cause to conduct the rest of the search.

The Robinsons themselves, who hired separate counsel, didn’t agree on exactly how their rights had been violated. In January, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentence.

That the appeal made it to the Virginia Supreme Court is rare—criminal petitions are the most commonly thrown out cases in the state’s “court of last resort.” But the Fourth Amendment arguments apparently weren’t compelling enough for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John G. Roberts and his ilk.

George Robinson and Elisa Kelly, who changed her last name following their divorce, reported to jail June 11.

The case may have the effect of making Albemarle County known far and wide as being tough on underage drinking. Or, if the citizens take search and seizure seriously, Albemarle may soon be known as the land of the high backyard fence.

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a well-known illness: A traumatizing event happens to someone and they experience trouble sleeping, memory loss and trouble learning new things. But researchers at UVA recently got a grant to explore what they think may be a fix for PTSD.

Dr. William Levy points out the hippocampus in the brain, a potential key to unraveling the mysteries of post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I’ve been told never to say ‘cure’ in psychiatric medicine,” says Dr. William B. Levy, whose systems neurodynamics lab will perform the studies. But Levy says significant “amelioration of symptoms” could be on the horizon.

So how would it work? Scientists have long observed that the amygdala is the brain structure responsible for fear, and is presumably also responsible for the fear that’s re-experienced by patients with PTSD. But Levy and his researchers think a totally different structure also plays a role in PTSD.

That structure is the hippocampus, which most scientists agree is responsible for encoding memories. In normal functioning, the hippocampus “sends” memories to the neocortex, where they become “declarative,” or explicit memories that people can access and talk about.

A case study brought to Levy’s attention by one of his students showed that people with PTSD weren’t processing their memories this way. Take the case of a woman who had been raped in an alley: She had no explicit memory of ever having been in the alley, but when investigators took her there, she had a strong emotional response.

To Levy, this indicated not only a fear response in the amygdala, but also that the hippocampus had not done its job in producing explicit memories in the neocortex. Why not?

Because part of the hippocampus’ encoding process happens at night, during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep cycles. But, people with PTSD commonly have trouble sleeping and wake up from nightmares, which “would ruin the encoding that the hippocampus was trying to accomplish,” Levy says. “It’s pretty obvious—all these people need is a good night’s sleep.”

Unfortunately, most of the anti-depressants used to treat PTSD are REM-inhibitors, meaning they’ll put a patient out, but the quality of sleep is decreased.

But Levy’s researchers also discovered that a depression drug that’s related to Prozac, nefazodone, was actually offering PTSD patients the REM sleep they were looking for. Levy has been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Health to create a computer program to reproduce sleep and dreaming in a computer model of a brain. Through this, Levy hopes to create a drug for PTSD that’s not just a “happenstance” treatment.

Given the high number of traumatic events occurring, not to mention veterans coming back from the Iraq war, a cure for post-traumatic stress disorder would likely make big waves in the science world.

“When we see we can help, of course we want to help,” Levy says. “It’s clearly our responsibility to make our research relevant.”

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Hackers feasted on the personal information of 5,735 current and former UVA faculty members, including their birth dates and social security numbers, on 54 separate days between May 2005 and April 2007, a press release from University Relations announced on June 8.

While identify theft at UVA might not be push-button easy, hackers have weaseled out personal info on 5,700 current and former profs.

The breach could affect anyone who had any faculty designation at UVA or the College at Wise from 1990 until 2003, and includes 2,100 current UVA faculty members.

James Hilton, chief information officer, said obtaining the information required “a relatively sophisticated and intentional attack on the database.”

“Hackers could use the stolen information to set up fraudulent bank or credit card accounts,” the release states.

UVA says it has corrected the problem and is working with University police, in consultation with the FBI, to prosecute the invaders.

This isn’t the first time the University has let a few SSNs leak. Late last year, the social security numbers of 632 students were e-mailed to other students by Student Financial Services. UVA is in the process of phasing out use of social security numbers by students for course enrollment.

For peace of mind, the University is offering free credit monitoring for one year to those affected. And UVA faculty can call this toll-free number to check if their information has been compromised: 866-621-5948, between 8am and 5pm weekdays. Just in case this strikes anyone as a potential scam on top of a scam, we recommend making sure the folks on the other end can sing all the words to the “Good Old Song” before you dial in your information.

Or, for those completely disenchanted by UVA’s bungling, C-VILLE is offering its own Free Credit Cleanup Service! Just e-mail us your name, date of birth, social security number, a brief list of hobbies, favorite vacation spots, and the approximate monetary value of your average credit card purchase. We’ve got you covered.

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

Police now have three people in custody who, they suspect, fired bullets into a crowd of youths on Prospect Avenue on March 2, seriously injuring a 16-year-old Charlottesville High School student. One suspect is in custody at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail. Another is still in New York City, where he was picked up by police in the Bronx. A third suspect, a juvenile until his 18th birthday on June 10, was recently deemed incompetent to stand trial by a Charlottesville Circuit Court judge. All three are suspected members of the Bloods, a criminal street gang.

Pee Wee Carmello Martinez, 18, is one of the suspects in a Prospect Avenue shooting that wounded a CHS student. Martinez’s kid brother, a minor, is another suspect, and a third teen is being extradited from Bronx, New York.

According to police, the shooting occurred after 18-year-old Pee Wee Carmello Martinez argued with other teens at the Downtown Recreation Center. The argument moved to Blue Ridge Commons, where Martinez and his 17-year-old younger brother, Indio Martinez, wielded a handgun and an AK-47. The AK-47 was allegedly handed to 19-year-old Javier Garcia, who was ordered to shoot. A bystander was injured in the spray of bullets. The suspects reportedly fled the scene in a green SUV.

Indio Martinez was arrested first, in Charlottesville. Martinez has a record locally: He was one of the teens indicted in an April 2006 gang beating near the Downtown Mall that caused the victim to need reconstructive facial surgery. On June 6, Judge Edward L. Hogshire denied him bond and ordered him to be transferred to a mental health facility.

The elder Martinez was picked up in March in Bronx, New York, allegedly fleeing the cops. The Martinez family moved from New York to Charlottesville a few years ago, according to police, seemingly bringing their ties to the Bloods with them.

Garcia was picked up in the Bronx last month, though he has not been extradited to Virginia. Calls to the New York City Police Department and Bronx District Attorney’s office were not returned.

Though Martinez and Garcia came from an area with a lot of gang activity, local police have been hesitant to label the teens as “Bloods.”

Charlottesville Police Captain J.E. “Chip” Harding says, “We just don’t have enough information yet. We’re not labeling him as a gang member just yet.”

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Elvis Shifflett, 39, led police on a chase along the above route on October 20, 2006. The finale? Shifflett ended up getting shot. He recently entered a plea deal and could serve five years for firearms charges and eluding police.

The man who led county police on a car chase and three-hour manhunt entered a plea deal with prosecutors saying there’s enough evidence to convict him of the crimes, without admitting guilt. Elvis Shifflett entered Alford pleas on charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle, eluding police and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

SHIFFLETT’S WILD RIDE

Shifflett began his run from the law October 13 last year, after he allegedly tried to shoot his ex-girlfriend (the mother of his children), in an altercation near Court Square in Charlottesville. Police believed Shifflett to be armed and dangerous.

A week later, on October 20, Shifflett’s red Dodge Shadow was spotted near Albemarle County Police headquarters on Oak Hill Drive off Fifth Street Extended. Cops followed Shifflett as he drove east on I-64 at a “high rate of speed,” according to police Lieutenant John Teixeira. Shifflett headed south on Route 20 before dumping his vehicle near Lyman Hill Drive and fleeing on foot. In the car, he left a female passenger and a loaded semi-automatic rifle.

Police searched for three hours before finding Shifflett a little more than a half mile away on Brookhill Avenue.

From there, Shifflett hopped in a truck that had the keys in it and frantically tried to drive away. City police called to the scene shot one of the truck’s tires and through the windshield, hitting Shifflett with one bullet, which fragmented, causing multiple injuries, police said.
An internal police investigation concluded the officers were correct to fire on Shifflett, who was unarmed.

Shifflett recovered in the hospital and at a rehabilitation center before being sent to the Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Jail, where he is still held.

Prosecutors reduced a grand larceny charge (for stealing the truck) to unauthorized use of a vehicle.

Shifflett could still serve about five years—the plea agreement outlines a recommended sentence of five years, or the mid-point of the sentencing guidelines for the three charges, whichever is longer.

Shifflett still faces felony charges in Charlottesville for the Court Square incident; he will appear in court July 2.

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

In April, an investigation into the relationship between university financial aid offices and banks hawking student loan programs came to a head. When the dust cleared, several financial aid administrators were fired, allegations had surfaced about shady stock deals between banks and a U.S. Department of Education official, and universities were forced to take a hard look at their arrangements with the banks that offer loans to their students.

Yvonne Hubbard, director of student financial services, says that UVA has been ethical in its relations with student loan lenders. “Lenders always did very fancy things that we just never participated in because it makes you feel uncomfortable,” says Hubbard.

UVA seemed to come out ahead of the storm since, according to Student Financial Services Director Yvonne Hubbard, the University has always had strict rules against accepting gifts from lenders. “We have procurement rules at UVA about what a lender can send you.”
Hubbard recalls, “Lenders always did very fancy things that we just never participated in because it makes you feel uncomfortable. …What was going on was uncomfortable, but not illegal.”

Soon it may be. In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Student Loan Sunshine Act, to prohibit gifts between banks and university officials and put stricter requirements on schools offering government-backed student loans from private lenders. The Senate is expected to pass similar reforms.

Like other schools, UVA must soon comply with the new federal laws. That includes diversifying their student loan offerings beyond their current single provider, Bank of America (BOA).

BOA, a large national bank based in Charlotte, North Carolina, was awarded a five-year contract as UVA’s preferred lender in 2003, after the University issued an open request for proposals. BOA handles 95 percent of UVA’s $70 million in subsidized student loan volume.
Hubbard says UVA carries a single lender because “they had the strongest, best terms.” [A copy of the BOA response to UVa’s request for proposal is available here as a PDF.]

“We’re having some meetings in the next couple of weeks to determine how we’re going to choose another two [lenders], at least,” Hubbard says. UVA could lose interest rates and fees it negotiated with BOA when other lenders get included on the “preferred” list.

UVA may also have to alter some of its co-branding with BOA. New federal laws ban any shared logos that imply a university endorses a bank’s products. Bank of America currently prints Money Matters, a booklet on finances written by UVA staff that gets distributed to UVA students at orientation. The Bank of America logo is printed on the back.

As for the law’s gift ban, UVA officials say it won’t affect them much. Spokesperson Carol Wood says, “Our goal is always to do what’s best for our students. …The University receives absolutely no benefit from [its agreement with Bank of America].”

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