Tag: Coy Barefoot

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Grappling with the past: Historical society struggles to find its way

The historical society receives a subsidized lease from the city for its space in the former McIntire Library, across from Market Street Park. For the next three years, the society will pay $9,000 a year for the building, whose market value is estimated at $114,000 a year. PC: Staff Photo

By Ben Hitchcock

“I feel like I’ve been training for this one job for 30 years,” said Coy Barefoot when he took over as executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society in April of 2018. In an interview with ilovecville.com, the local author and media personality expressed his desire to rebrand the organization and create “a whole constellation of museums that will offer really rich experiences.”

Eighteen months later, Barefoot had resigned from the position. The society released a statement on October 12 thanking him for his work as executive director over the last year and a half.

Multiple members of the society’s board of directors declined to comment directly on Barefoot’s resignation, citing a policy that forbids discussing personnel decisions, and Barefoot did not respond to multiple requests for comment. He told at least one person, who later described the conversation to C-VILLE, that his pay was being cut amid fundraising difficulties.

Barefoot’s departure is the latest shake-up at an institution with a tumultuous recent past.

In 2017, the historical society found itself in an unwelcome spotlight when UVA professor Jalane Schmidt, hoping to conduct research in advance of the June Ku Klux Klan gathering in Charlottesville, was stymied in her request to view a collection of KKK robes and membership certificates owned by the society. “Just a few days before the Klan was coming, these people were so recalcitrant,” she recalls.

The society declined to reveal the names of the owners of the robes in its collection (they were finally revealed in May of this year). And it came under more criticism for failing to respond to the August Unite the Right rally that happened right outside its front door.   

At around the same time, the society was seeking to renew its lease. Since the 1990s, the organization has been given a deal on rent at 200 Second St. NE, a column-fronted hall (formerly a whites-only library) owned by the city, just a few yards from the statue of Robert E. Lee. ACHS’ rent is well below market rates, and that generous lease raises the stakes for everything that happens at the society.

The increased scrutiny over the lease renewal revealed years of dysfunction and declining membership. At a City Council meeting that September, Councilor Kathy Galvin called the nonprofit “an absolute mess,” and a local historian accused the society of having an antagonistic relationship with the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

“It’s a shame that we basically have a black historical society and a white historical society, but that’s the way it’s played out,” former ACHS executive director Douglas Day later told C-VILLE, referring to the Jefferson School and ACHS.

The ACHS “just served as a genealogical society for white people, that’s what it seemed like,” Schmidt says.

Director Steven Meeks abruptly resigned in February 2018, and Barefoot was hired that April.

Under Barefoot, the historical society met nine of 10 goals set for it by City Council, and in February of this year agreed to a three-year lease with two one-year renewal options.

The market value for the building is estimated at around $114,000 per year. The historical society will pay just $9,000.

The current physical condition of the premises reflects an institution in transition. A recent visit revealed an empty exhibition room, maintenance equipment scattered around the main hall, and a cart of stackable plastic chairs in the middle of the lobby. The artifacts on display include a rusty cavalry spur from the Civil War skirmish at Rio Hill and a 1920s doll owned by a girl who died of pneumonia.

That collection doesn’t stand out in Charlottesville’s crowded historical tourism landscape. Shelley Murphy, who was elected chair of the board six months ago, conceded that it has been difficult for the society to attract visitors and philanthropy dollars. “Not that it’s competitive, but it is competitive,” Murphy says. “There’s I think 800 or more nonprofits in the area. For people coming in from out of town or even local, you have Monticello here, you’ve got Montpelier here, and you also have Highland.”

Despite these problems, there are reasons to believe that the organization can be turned around. The last two years have seen a near-total overhaul of the society’s board of directors. In addition to Meeks’ resignation, notable departures include Ken Wallenborn, a retired doctor who spent years arguing that Thomas Jefferson did not father the children of Sally Hemings.

“There seem to be more bona fide historians being asked to be involved, like Phyllis Leffler, Shelley Murphy…Certainly more women and people of color,” Schmidt says of the recent changes.

UVA history professor John Edwin Mason says he’s been “unofficially invited” to join the board. “I think that the society can play an important role in the reexamination of our history—something that’s happening in many places right now,” he says. “There’s tremendous energy out there at the moment.”

In order to survive, the historical society will need to shed its image as an insular and inaccessible club.

Barefoot made motions towards that end, renaming the institution the Charlottesville Center for History and Culture and launching a new website. But the site’s featured blog has not been updated since October 2018, and the sign in front of the building, as well as the Facebook page, still say Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society.

Board chair Murphy says Barefoot “started that change movement” and the society will build from there. “My hope coming in to the future is that we’re building local community partnerships,” she says. “We don’t want to just be sitting here and not serving.”

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In brief: Barefoot is history, first-gen funds, Daily Progress staff unionizes, and more

Barefoot is history

The executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has resigned less than two years into his tenure. Coy Barefoot, a well-known local author and media personality, was hired in March 2018 after his predecessor Steven Meeks resigned amid questions of mismanagement.

 Coy Barefoot

Barefoot told at least one person, who later described the conversation to C-VILLE, that his pay was being cut among fundraising difficulties. Shelley Murphy, who’s serving as interim executive director, declined to comment on why Barefoot resigned, and C-VILLE was unable to reach Barefoot by press time.

“ACHS has accepted the resignation of Mr. Coy Barefoot, with appreciation for his work as Executive Director over the past 18 months as well as his contributions to our understanding of local, state, and national history over the past 3 decades,” the society wrote in a Facebook post.

In February, the historical society was granted a three-year extension of its subsidized lease by City Council. According to the January 22 meeting agenda, the city agreed to rent the society its space in the McIntire Building across from Market Street Park for $750 per month, costing the city $105,090 per year when compared to market value. The city has the option to cancel the lease after this year.

Per the February 4 meeting minutes, Mayor Nikuyah Walker had suggested a one-year lease instead, so the agreement could then be discussed with the new city manager, but Barefoot pushed for a three-year commitment in order to meet the requirements of a grant.

Rise in crime reports at UVA

Reported incidents of burglary, rape, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking increased at the University of Virginia from 2017 to 2018, according to the school’s annual safety report. A total of 141 incidents were reported to the University Police Department, including 28 rapes—with 20 occurring in student housing. 

The rise in reported sexual assault and domestic violence can be attributed “in part to outreach and education efforts by many University offices,” says University Spokesperson Wes Hester. The University has worked to make the reporting process more accessible by allowing students to submit a Title IX complaint over the phone, in person, or through the online Just Report It system.

The University’s new LiveSafe safety app also allows students, faculty, and staff to report incidents, suspicious behavior, and emergencies; communicate with police officers; and alert a friend when they have arrived safely at their destination.

In the coming weeks, the University will be publishing its AAU Sexual Assault Campus Climate Survey results, as well as updated Title IX statistics.

Quote of the week

“Ironically, the reporters covering the area’s affordable housing needs don’t even make enough to live here.” — Nolan Stout, the Daily Progress’ local government reporter, in a statement about the unionization of the paper’s journalists

In brief

Read all about it

The staff of the Daily Progress has announced its plans to unionize, citing poor pay and increased workloads. Since the Daily Progress was acquired by billionaire Warren Buffett’s BH Media Group seven years ago, staff has noticed cuts across the board. The union, Blue Ridge Guild, hopes to increase the bargaining power of the staff, and gain greater pay equity and better working conditions. The union will either be voluntarily recognized by BH Media, or it can seek recognition from the National Labor Relations Board.

Closer look

This winter, the Department of Neighborhood Development Services will conduct a survey of the 10th and Page neighborhood. Funding from both the state and city will back the study of the historically black neighborhood—one of the last in the area to be surveyed. The project brings with it the possibility of a historic designation, which could result in increased funding to the neighborhood.

First-gen funds

New York real estate mogul David Walentas and his wife, Jane, have donated $100 million to UVA, with $75 million going toward scholarships and fellowships for first-generation college students, according to a university announcement. Walentas, who attended UVA (Class of ‘61) on an ROTC scholarship, was the first in his family to go to college, and told the Washington Post that UVA “completely changed” his life. The university plans to roll out the program by 2022.

That’s a mouthful

UVA announced on October 11 that it has established the Democracy Initiative Center for the Redress of Inequity Through Community-Engaged Scholarship—or the Equity Center, for short. Headed by law professor Dayna Bowen Matthew, the center seeks to bolster town-gown relations and address racial and socioeconomic inequity through sustained collaboration between the university and its surrounding community. The Equity Center plans to open its doors November 14 or 15.

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In brief: School walkouts, vegan dating, butt whupping and more

Students at Charlottesville High school were among thousands of teenagers who participated in the March 14 National School Walkout to demand gun control legislation. Eze Amos

Walking the walk

Exactly one month from the day that a gunman shot 17 people to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, local students and their peers across the nation said they wouldn’t stand for that—so they walked.

March 14 marked the first National School Walkout, where thousands of students left their classrooms at 10am to demand gun control legislation.

As a seemingly endless current of teenagers streamed out of Charlottesville High School, 17 students lay motionless with their eyes shut tight, while holding signs made of red paper and black letters that spelled out the names of each victim of the Parkland shootings.

“We’ve become numb to the fear,” said senior Fré Halvorson-Taylor into a bullhorn to about 700 of her peers. She was reading from a statement that she wrote with Albemarle High School student Camille Pastore, and that representatives from Monticello and Western Albemarle high schools approved.

“The idea was that it would be read at all the surrounding schools or otherwise disseminated to the Charlottesville community,” Halvorson-Taylor says.

Over at Monticello High, teenagers also flooded out the front doors of their school, but the students who organized their walkout asked for 17 full minutes of silence as the group walked, one minute for each person killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

And as those same names were read at Albemarle High School, an all-female acapella group sang Coldplay’s “Fix You.”

Among the many signs held there, several said the same things: “Enough is enough. Arm us with books, not bullets,” and “We care, but do you?”

Students at AHS remind that they’re the school massacre generation. Photo Natalie Jacobsen

Several local students are organizing buses to Washington, D.C., for the March For Our Lives this weekend.

A dozen area activist groups, such as the local chapter of Moms Demand Action and the Charlottesville Coalition for Gun Violence Prevention, have organized a sister event at the Sprint Pavilion from 2-4pm on March 24 to demand that the lives and safety of young people in schools become a priority.

“I don’t know what to say but that. That was a thorough butt-whupping.”—UVA Coach Tony Bennett after the historic loss of his No. 1-seeded Cavaliers to No. 16 seed UMBC in the first round of the NCAA tournament

City settles FOIA lawsuit

Charlottesville will give freelance reporters Jackson Landers and Natalie Jacobsen redacted copies of police operational plans for August 12 as part of a settlement of their Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit. The reporters also asked for Virginia State Police plans, but the state argued March 13 in court against turning plans over because they may reuse them. Because they worked so well the first time?

Legislative success

While the General Assembly killed all bills that would allow Charlottesville to better control another Unite the Right rally, it did pass a bill carried by Delegate Steve Landes that will allow Albemarle to regulate parking on secondary highways.

Meat market

New research from meal delivery service Food Box HQ says Virginia singles are among the least likely in the nation to date vegans. In a recent survey, 38 percent indicated that they would not consider dating someone with a diet sans animal products.

New historical society head

Coy Barefoot File photo

After Steven Meeks abruptly resigned as executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society last month, the organization’s board of directors named journalist, author and historian Coy Barefoot as his successor.

Jogger dies

Andrew J. Yost, a 49-year-old who was struck by a sedan while out jogging around 8:30pm February 19 in Barboursville, succumbed to his injuries at the University of Virginia Medical Center on March 10. Driver Guy Wilde, also 49, was charged with one felony count of hit and run.

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Grinchy: Skimmers and scammers bilk locals

Jim Duncan was involved in the sale of this house that made it onto the list of fake rentals on Craigslist. Photo by Jim Duncan

For local writer Coy Barefoot, it was having his debit card refused December 7 and going home to discover his BB&T account balance was zero.

For Amy Paquette, it was a call from BB&T’s fraud department asking about an ATM withdrawal that she didn’t make while she was on a business trip in upstate New York December 8.

That’s how both locals discovered their debit cards had been skimmed and withdrawals made from ATMs in New York City.

Skimmers are electronic devices that can read and store credit or debit card information that thieves then use to make their own unauthorized withdrawals. The devices can be attached to gas pumps or other card readers, although some are so small they can be handheld and your info swiped when you give your card to a cashier or waiter.

“I have confirmed one has been found in the last few days in the Charlottesville area,” says Barefoot. “If there’s one, there’s likely more.” At least a dozen other people have chimed in on Barefoot’s Facebook post to say they’ve recently been skimmed as well.

He declines to say where the skimmer was found, and says Albemarle police told him there’s an ongoing investigation.

Paquette says it’s the second time in the past three months that her debit card info has been stolen. “The first time purchases had been made in Singapore and in the Netherlands,” she says. A phone call from BB&T told her a $1,100 withdrawal had overdrawn her account, and she says the bank was great about taking care of the overdraft.

The debit card is not one she uses frequently, and in the latest breach, six ATM withdrawals from different locations in New York took $1,000 plus ATM fees.

“I used to live in a big city for 15 years and never carried cash because too many friends had been robbed,” she says. “Now I live in a small town and we’ve got these thieves who can rob you without physical contact.”

“It’s horrible,” says Barefoot, who says he has to wait for the fraud withdrawals to post, then make a claim and wait two to five business days to be reimbursed.

Chips in cards are supposed to prevent this type of theft. “My chips always fail after two or three months and I have to order new cards,” he says. And most gas pumps and ATMs don’t use chips, he points out.

BB&T spokesperson David White says in an e-mailed statement that the bank uses “sophisticated layered fraud tools” to monitor accounts and encourages customers to watch their accounts and sign up for text or e-mail alerts.

Barefoot plans a change to prevent future skimming. “One word,” he says. “Cash.”

Skimming isn’t the only way thieves are conning locals out of their money.

The fake rental, a perennial in which a Craigslist ad offers cheap rent on houses taken from the MLS, and the faux landlord needs the rent mailed, is back. “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” says realtor Jim Duncan, who was recently involved in a sale in which the house ended up for rent on Craigslist at a discount rate.

“If someone wants you to mail them the money before sending keys, that’s a big red flag,” he says.

In another recent area scheme, a swindler pretending to be from the Albemarle Sheriff’s Office calls people and tells them they failed to report to jury duty, and must get prepaid credit cards to post a bond and give him the authorization number.

“A lot of people have been contacted,” says Chief Deputy Chan O’Bryant. She estimates the department has gotten four or five calls and two to three e-mails a day. Three local citizens have been bilked of $6,000, $2,500 and $1,000 respectively.

The sheriff’s department would never demand money over the phone, O’Bryant reminds.

Unlike those duped by the fake deputy and fake landlord, Barefoot and Paquette will get their money back.

“It’s a pain in the butt here at the holidays,” says Paquette.

Says Barefoot, “Hopefully Santa will still get here in time.”