John Miska was arrested for possessing the razor blades he'd just purchased at CVS.
Photo Janis Jaquith
John Miska frequently shops on the Downtown Mall, especially when CVS has two-for-one sales on cases of Arizona iced tea. Today, he ran afoul of the city’s list of prohibited items after he made his purchases, and was arrested for possessing the single edge blades he bought for his ice scraper.
Miska, 64, says he was both open- and concealed-carrying handguns, which are not prohibited during the Downtown Mall lockdown that limits pedestrian access and requires a search of purses, bags and backpacks belonging to those who wish to enter the mall.
“I clear the checkpoint, I’m Second Amendment friendly, I go into the store and make legal purchases,” says Miska. A police officer picked up his bag and asked to search it, he says. “I didn’t give him permission to search. He did it anyway.”
The list of prohibited items in the city during the August 10-12 weekend includes metal beverage cans, aerosol cans and razors, but Miska says he was not charged for possessing the two cases of canned green tea and mango iced tea, nor was he charged for possessing the bug spray he purchased.
He questions why businesses were allowed to sell the banned items and says while he was getting arrested, he saw a woman at a cafe drinking a beer out of a glass bottle, which is also a prohibited item. “They didn’t arrest her,” he says.
Miska, who is a disabled veteran, says he cut his knees and arms while police “were trying to stuff me into a paddy wagon too small for a disabled person.”
More injurious, he says, are the “hypocrisy and sheer stupidity of what they’re doing downtown.”
Says Miska, “I was challenging the authority of the director of public safety, the governor and the new city manager that they could abrogate my civil rights when there was no known threat. There was no Nazi demonstration, yet they turned downtown into a no-go zone. The Supreme Court says in public, a citizen has a right of free passage.”
City spokesman Brian Wheeler says, “People entering a store within the security area would have already been through an access point and been informed about the prohibited item restrictions.”
After three hours, Miska was released with a notice that he would be considered a trespasser if he appeared in the restricted downtown area before 6am Monday and with a class 4 misdemeanor arrest for failure to comply.
Miska, who on August 23 of last year attempted to remove a shroud that was placed over the Robert E. Lee statue in Market Street Park, knows it could have been worse. “They could have charged me with 48 counts of having soda cans,” he says.
Also arrested was Algenon Franklin Cain, 28, of Red Springs, North Carolina, for trespassing on two separate occasions. He’s being held without bond. And William Erbie Hawkins Jr., 53, of Amelia, was arrested for being drunk in public after a Virginia State Police officer noticed him walking unsteadily and gave him a field sobriety test, according to a press release issued by the City of Charlottesville.
At the August 6 City Council meeting, public safety officials outlined precautions for the upcoming August 12 anniversary, including street closures and the shutdown of public pools. It wasn’t until two days later that the city announced pedestrian access to the eight-block or so Downtown Mall would be limited to two entry points.
Civil rights attorney Jeff Fogel is calling that tactic “beyond the pale” in an email to city officials.
“You’ve had all these public meetings and you pull it out at 3 o’clock two days before [enacting the closures]?” says Fogel. “It could be litigated and that’s why they pulled it out then.”
Restricting mall access to two points on Water Street—First Street and Second Street SE—”implicates the constitutional right to travel as well as the right to peaceably assemble,” says Fogel.
He also questions the state and city’s August 8 declaration of a state of emergency when officials have declined to answer questions about whether they have intelligence about a threat. Fogel cites a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that says there must be a “factual basis for [the] decision and that the restrictions . . . imposed were necessary to maintain order.”
Says Fogel to city officials, “You have consistently refused to answer the question of the factual basis for this decision.”
John Whitehead, founder of the civil rights organization the Rutherford Institute, agrees that city should have “particular facts” and disclose those to the community before impinging citizens’ ability to move freely. He says he sees a lack of transparency in the shutdown.
“To me it looks like martial law,” says Whitehead. “It creates a police state.”
He adds, “It sends a message they can’t do their job unless they create a police state.”
Fogel also says the city’s lengthy list of prohibited items that could be swung or thrown—including nunchucks, swords and catapults—are from an ordinance that applies to events. “There is no permitted event,” he says. “I think for the city and state police, this may be a training exercise,” which he says is fine, except when citizen movement is restricted.
The most egregious aspect of the restrictions, says Fogel, is that with all the community meetings, Chief RaShall Brackney never mentioned that pedestrian access to the mall would be limited.
“You wonder why some people in our community distrust you,” writes Fogel. “You speak about openness and operate in private. You speak about taking community input when the only input you wanted was how to make more restrictions. There is no doubt that you knew about the pedestrian restrictions before your press conference but held back that information so there would be little time to criticize and no time to litigate. That smacks of deception, manipulation and lies. That’s why many people do not trust law enforcement and your actions have only reinforced those perceptions, which will linger for a long time.”
Responds city spokesman Brian Wheeler, “The city does not have a comment on this email from Mr. Fogel at this time.”
At an August 8 press conference, Brackney said, “The goal and a successful outcome for us is there is no violence in our community.”
Slam poetry gets a lot more fast-paced—not to mention, a lot shorter—with the Southern Gothic Futurist Haiku Slam. Participants must keep their poems to 17 syllables, as required by the original Japanese art form. Reigning champ Raven Mack hosts and competes, going head-to-head with a contender for the crown in a haiku death match that’s sure to have word nerds on the edges of their seats.
Wednesday, August 8. Free, 8pm. Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, 414 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 293-9947.
With Patisserie Torres, Fleurie’s Serge Torres (right) and Brian Helleberg have joined forces to raise the stakes in the bakery game. Photo by Tom McGovern.
Serge Torres and Brian Helleberg are joining forces to bring a taste of Provence to the Downtown Mall.
The Fleurie pastry chef (Torres) and owner (Helleberg) have opened Patisserie Torres on Third Street NE, directly across from Fleurie Restaurant, in the space once occupied by Cappellino’s Crazy Cakes.
The patisserie is the culmination of Helleberg’s desire to find the right space in which to showcase Torres’ baking talents.
“Serge has been trapped in a tiny space in the Fleurie kitchen, so it’s hard to shine,” Helleberg says, adding that a holiday in Provence with its beautiful pastry shops reinforced how much he wanted to undertake this project. “As Serge said, ‘it’s a little accent from the South of France here in Charlottesville.’”
Torres, who trained in France before working as an assistant pastry chef at Le Cirque and Le Périgord in Manhattan, came to Charlottesville to work with Patricia Kluge at her vineyard and the long-defunct Fuel restaurant. He joined Fleurie two and a half years ago.
The pair plans to use locally sourced products whenever possible to produce high-quality pastries, savory tarts, and sandwiches, salads, and soups that will be easy to grab on the go without having to wait in a long line for a meal.
Pastries to look for include the tarte tropézienne, with layers of brioche and pastry cream; a passionfruit baba au rhum, a rum cake topped with passionfruit sabayon cream; and chocolate brioche feuilletée.
There will also be classic French pâtés on the menu, as Helleberg says he’s got a terrific charcuterie person working part-time now, ensuring maximum use of the meats he brings in for the restaurant.
“Serge is really great at pastries; he’s been doing it for 40 years. So it’s the intersection of Serge creating pastries and what our fabulous charcuterie guy can do—it’s the triple Lutz of the culinary world, getting in whole meat and not wasting any of it, instead turning every bit into something flavorful,” he says. “That’s why French cuisine is so attractive. With classic chefs, nothing ever goes to waste. It’s our little ecosystem, looking for the outlet for something that’s not the rack of lamb that a customer might want to order at Fleurie, that can then be wrapped in puff pastry and taste delicious.”
Helleberg says he’s a fan of the chicken feuilletés. “It’s like a really refined hot pocket,” he says of the puff pastry with chicken salad.
The new space will also allow Torres—cousin of the venerated chocolatier Jacques Torres—to create custom cakes such as the croquembouche (pastry balls stacked into a tall conical shape and threaded with drizzled caramel), as well as wedding cakes. And he intends to eventually offer cooking classes on Sundays.
Patisserie Torres will have limited seating in front of the shop.
Initial hours of operation will be 7:30am to 3:30pm Wednesday through Saturday, with plans to extend to Tuesday.
Eze Amos’ photography exhibit “Cville People Everyday” will be on display in the Welcome Gallery through August 31. Courtesy of the artist.
By now you might know his name. You’ve seen it before in these very pages. Maybe you’ve started to put a face to the name. You see him on the Downtown Mall, holding a camera, watching.
He is freelance photographer Eze Amos, whose first photography exhibition, “Cville People Everyday,” opens this month at New City Arts Welcome Gallery. Originally from Nigeria, Amos fell in love with photography at age 18 when he stumbled on Photography Annual at his workplace library. Back then he worked part-time as a lab technician at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. When he first picked up the photography magazine, he says, “I was blown away by all the black and white photos.”
He started to see his world differently. Without a camera and unable to afford one, he told his friend about his interest. His friend’s father dug an old Pentax Asahi camera out of his garage and gave it to Amos. It was so old, Amos says, if you needed to use a flash you had to hold it in one hand while holding the camera in the other. Then, as if the universe was conspiring to guide him to his future career path, a new neighbor moved in who happened to be a photographer and shared with Amos what he knew. Using the only film he could find, Kodak ISO 100, Amos started taking photographs.
After immigrating to the U.S. in 2008, Amos took a job at Ritz Camera, where he finally developed the film he’d shot in Nigeria. “Some of those photos I took with those first rolls are some of my best photos ever,” he says. “Black and white kind of stole my heart from day one.”
Over the last 10 years, he has continued to develop his art. “I think it’s very important as an artist giving yourself time to discover yourself. I knew what I wanted to do but I didn’t know how to go about it, not until it was time,” he says. “And when it was time I knew it because everything just fell into place.”
After four years of steady work, Amos feels comfortable calling himself a street and documentary photographer. “There’s something about the human expression in the face,” he says. “Minute gestures and body movements tell a ton of story. That’s all I’m trying to do—tell a bunch of story with one click.” For the last two years, he has worked on a project—shared on Instagram—called “Cville People Everyday,” from which he selected the photos for his exhibition. For this particular project, he restricted his documentation to the Downtown Mall.
“It’s just a unique spot,” he says, sitting at an outdoor table at Mudhouse, a cold hibiscus tea in front of him. “There’s so much going on.” He gestures at a nearby restaurant, “Right there, right there, where they’re having dinner there’s probably someone panhandling with a sign that says, ‘Please help me I haven’t eaten today.’”
Documenting the Downtown Mall became a way to try to make sense of it. “How is it that all of this can coexist in this space?” he says. “Are they really coexisting or is it just that they find themselves in the same spot? I think it’s interesting and ironic to a certain degree. I can see a lot of wealth down here and at the same time immense poverty.”
Unlike some documentary photographers who avoid photographing buskers and panhandlers because they feel they would be taking advantage of them, Amos feels they are an integral part of the story. “They’re part of that environment you’re documenting,” he says. To illustrate his point, he pulls up on his phone a photo focused on a pensive young man sitting in a doorway with a backpack, just as a happy couple with their arms around each other enters the frame. “I don’t select who falls in my frame. If you’re in that frame, you’re part of that story.”
His documentation of the Downtown Mall is not only about what he sees, but what he doesn’t see, too. Last year he started to notice 90 percent of the photos he was taking were of white people. When he made a deliberate effort to photograph black people, he says, “I realized quickly there were a very limited number of black people I could actually photograph” on the mall. “That sparked something in me. That was when I really decided to document downtown and do it as a major project.” With “Cville People Everyday,” he says, “I’m inviting people to see the mall the way I see it, through my lens.”
The Rainey Day Quartet sets up for an evening of groovy summer jazz at The Garage on Friday. Photo by Martyn Kyle.
If you’ve been on the Downtown Mall this summer, you’ve likely seen four young musicians set up in front of Kilwin’s, beside a white board that reads “Help Us Pay For College” propped in a guitar case with a shallow sea of coins and crumpled bills pooling at its base.
The Rainey Day Quartet formed just over a month ago, but the band is already turning heads and swiveling hips with its approach to jazz music.
Home on summer break from Carnegie Mellon University, Albemarle High School graduate Sam Rainey was eager to busk on the mall and make a few bucks while doing what he loves—playing jazz. But jazz is more fun with a band, so he rang up Jack Treece, an AHS rising senior, to join him on upright bass (the backbone of a jazz quartet), and recent AHS graduate Ben Eisenberg to round out the rhythm section on drums. Rainey tapped another AHS jazz band alumnus and current James Madison University student, saxophonist Anthony Hoang, as the quartet’s soloist.
It’s a slightly unusual combination, explains Rainey. Typically, jazz quartets have piano rather than guitar, but pianos aren’t exactly portable (even keyboards are difficult to lug around and set up properly). Plus, guitar allows the band to explore a funkier, groovier sound that appeals to the quartet.
And also, evidently, to its listeners—the group draws a crowd during its noontime and Saturday evening pop-up performances, compelling passersby to stop and listen, tap a toe or even shimmy, swirl and twirl to the beat—summer heat be damned.
The four musicians, who play The Garage Friday night, are drawn to jazz because of its versatility, for the creative freedom it offers and encourages. “You don’t have to play exactly what’s on the page,” says Treece. “It can be more expressive within the band, because it’s meant to be more interpretive than exact.”
With that in mind, The Rainey Day Quartet is not averse to infusing swing, bop, bossa nova and funk elements into its music, and it’s equally willing to take a groove-heavy, see-where-it-goes approach to pop classics and current radio hits.
In a single set, RDQ might play jazz standards out of The Real Book, Erroll Garner’s classic “Misty” modernized with a hip-hop funk groove, a jazzy rendition of Jason Mraz’s pop track “I’m Yours” and a rendition of The Beatles’ “Yesterday.”
“Once we get a crowd, we like to give them something they’ve heard on the radio, something modern they can stop and dance to,” says Treece.
No matter what they play, it’s an adventure. Because jazz doesn’t demand musicians to play “exactly by the book,” says Hoang, the quartet is free to change key, tempo or flavor—even switch songs halfway through if they want to.
That freedom and versatility hinges on the quartet’s ability not just to play together, but actively listen to one another as they play. It’s a skill they say they learned from Albemarle High School band director Greg Thomas.
“A big thing for us is how we communicate through a conversation of improvisation,” says Eisenberg. That conversation is spoken in a secret language that only the band understands—a unique combination of eye contact, body language and music cues. For example, if the band is playing at medium tempo, Rainey can move it into double time on guitar, prompting Eisenberg to match that tempo on drums so that Treece can lay into a heavier groove on bass, paving the way for Hoang to divert his sax solos down an untrodden path.
This is what makes jazz the ultimate creative exercise, says Hoang to sounds of agreement from his band members.
And people seem to like it, adds Rainey. At one point during a recent Saturday evening performance, a crowd of at least 20 people gathered to listen to the band. Most of them were dancing, laughing and smiling as they moved, says Rainey. These are the moments that he savors, seeing firsthand how the music touches its listeners. “It feels great to make a small difference in their day,” he says.
For many of us, the relationship we have with our pet is the best one we’ve ever had. He never gets moody, he listens when you talk and he’s still interested in cuddles despite having seen you naked so many thousands of times. This issue takes into account the good, bad and furry side of pet ownership, because, while he’s usually down to eat anything (another plus!), sometimes that includes poop from the litter box. (Hey, every relationship has its compromises.)
ByCaite Hamilton, Jonathan Haynes, Tami Keaveny, Jessica Luck, Erin O’Hare, Sam Padgett and Nancy Staab
A purrdy good life
Carr’s Hill kitty is a commewnal pet
Frat Cat, as she’s known on Grounds, can usually be spotted at her favorite haunt, Carr’s Hill. Photo by Stacy Smith.
University of Virginia groundskeeper John Sauer remembers the first time he saw the cat. It was a cold and rainy February morning, and the fluffy-tailed feline sauntered up to Carr’s Hill from the fraternity houses below.
This was back in 2005 or so, and it wasn’t unusual to see an animal roaming around—Carr’s Hill was a veritable menagerie during John T. Casteen III’s nearly 20-year tenure as UVA president.
There were the dogs, Whiskey, Brady and Alice (a storied wanderer); a parakeet; chickens; and Sebastian the cat, who decided to forsake the house for the garage, though he stood near the front door of the house to greet guests (and, at least once, shake a dead squirrel at some pearl-clutchers).
But this new cat, Sauer hadn’t seen before that morning. He and other folks at Carr’s Hill started calling her Frat Cat, assuming she belonged to one of the many frat houses nearby. Frat Cat soon moved into the garage with a reluctant Sebastian who eventually grew to tolerate her presence.
Sauer kept space heaters going for both cats in the winter, and a variety of folks made sure the cats were fed; Frat Cat and Sebastian both earned their keep by helping Sauer deal with a variety of pests in the garden.
When the Casteens moved out of Carr’s Hill and Teresa Sullivan moved in in 2010, both Sebastian and Frat Cat stayed on, though Sebastian died of old age a few years later.
“Over the years, especially after Sebastian’s death, Frat Cat would let me pat her and [she] would rub against my leg, but she would never sit in my lap like Sebastian,” says Sauer, who is perhaps Frat Cat’s closest friend on the hill, though the cat who tends to play it cool has had plenty of other pals over the years.
Carr’s Hill was recently fenced off for a multi-year renovation project, and the UVA presidential operation—including Sauer’s gardening duties—moved a few blocks away to Sprigg Lane. At the time, Frat Cat was suffering from ear mites, so Sauer took her to the vet. Upon their return to the Carr’s Hill garage, he posted her certificate of vaccination above the old food table in the corner of the garage, where Sauer keeps Frat Cat’s food and water. “The workmen at Carr’s Hill know who she is and have spotted her going in and out of the garage. I go up to Carr’s Hill…regularly to make sure the food and water are okay,” he says.
Frat Cat often ventures to the School of Architecture, and when it snows, she’ll disappear only to come trotting back in good shape. Sauer can’t help but worry about the inadvertent communal pet, but he knows he doesn’t have to, he says: “Her story is one of survival.”—EO
A lush new home for rescued parrots, thanks to Project Perry
Louisa’s parrot paradise provides a safe haven for exotic birds who have been illegally imported into the U.S. Courtesy of Project Perry.
Green-winged macaws, blue crown conures, scarlet macaws…the very names of parrots conjure images of exotic, covetable, brilliantly plumed birds. Combine this with a parrot’s uncanny intelligence, personality and way with language (at least in some cheeky breeds, like the African grey), and you have some of the reasons why the trade in pet parrots has exploded. But keeping parrots as pets is problematic. They can be extremely needy, aggressive, loud and, with an average lifespan of 40 to 80 years, likely to outlive their well-intentioned owners.
This is where Matt Smith, founder and executive director of Project Perry comes in. His lush nonprofit sanctuary in Louisa offers a safe haven for exotic birds that have been captured in the wild and illegally imported to the United States, raised as breeder birds to support the pet trade or simply in need of rescue or rehabilitation. According to Smith, “Most owners are poorly equipped to offer their birds the two things they need most: flight and flock.”
By contrast, Project Perry offers a veritable birds’ paradise—27 acres for spreading their wings (literally), ample opportunities for socializing among the 200-plus parrots, cockatoos and other smaller birds, and six climate-controlled aviaries equipped with closed and open-air atmospheres, playful perches, native vegetation and even spa-like mistings.
Most recently, the vibrantly hued macaws moved into their new home, quickly adapting to the 39,000-square-foot space that allows for impressive flight paths. Their spacious digs were named after and funded with a $200,000 donation from Bob Barker and his animal welfare foundation, DJ&T, in 2015. When Smith received the call informing him of the generous donation, he confesses to being “a little bit starstruck” to be speaking to the TV legend himself, “with that same gameshow voice we watched on ‘The Price is Right.’”
The inspiration for Project Perry (named after Smith’s deceased pet conure) came to Smith while volunteering at a bird sanctuary in New Hampshire. The need for a parrot sanctuary “opened up a whole new world to me,” says Smith. Soon after, he quit his health care job, relocated to his native Virginia and established his own sanctuary in 2006. “It was a completely grassroots movement,” he recalls. He purchased the initial acres of land in rural Louisa “because birds are noisy,” designed and built the aviaries by hand and recruited local volunteers. Twelve years later, the facility boasts four full-time caretakers and an accreditation from the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.
Though Smith refuses to play favorites among his flock, he admits to a special fondness for Peach, an elderly African grey who was wild-caught in her youth for breeding purposes and is now “retired.” Arthritic, partially blind and deaf, the old bird still displays her “zest for life” via acrobatic displays and a fondness for her playmate Sparky, says Smith.
“They are really like little people,” he says. “They show love and crave attention. There is something very fascinating and exceptional about a bird that you can do that with.”—NS
Doggone it!
Illustration by Mike Gorman
Safe to say Thomas Jefferson wasn’t a huge fan of dogs: “I participate in all your hostility to dogs and would readily join in any plan of exterminating the whole race,” he once wrote in a letter to a friend. “I consider them the most afflicting of all follies for which men tax themselves.”
That is until, during a trip to France, Marquis de Lafayette introduced him to the Briard, a guard dog known to be both excellent at herding and great companions to their owners. Jefferson paid 36 livres (about $6) for a pregnant one before boarding the ship back to America in 1789. She delivered two pups, which watched over his Merino sheep and served as household companions.
They didn’t accompany the third president to the White House, though. That honor went to Dick, one of Jefferson’s prized mockingbirds, whom he let fly around his office.—CH
Chickens, snakes and bees—oh my!
Classroom pets enhance learning
The Covenant School’s pet corn snake, Buttercup, provides a living learning opportunity. Courtesy of The Covenant School.
Pets are an unquestionably important part of our lives. From companionship, to teaching responsibility, there aren’t many lessons that can’t be learned by caring for a feathered, scaly and even chitinous friend. It’s this instructive aspect of pet ownership that has made critters mainstays of classrooms, allowing young students to dip their toes into the seas of responsibility. While the stereotypical idea of a class pet is something like a hamster named Chuckles, or a passively floating beta fish in a small bowl on the teacher’s desk, there are several local class pets that show the variety of ways they can be beneficial to young minds.
First, there is Buttercup, The Covenant School’s resident corn snake. Aside from being a living biblical allegory, Buttercup helps students “shed” their fear of snakes. Buttercup’s current chief caretaker, teacher Corrine Lennard, believes that “our general fear of snakes is a learned behavior.” She notes that Buttercup reminds her of a puppy, evaporating her students’ potential apprehension. “She loves being held and being close,” Lennard says. Most importantly, though, Lennard sees a great educational opportunity in Buttercup.
“Having a classroom pet is experiential learning at its finest,” she says. “Watching Buttercup shed her skin in front of the students was more valuable than any YouTube video.”
Also at Covenant, teacher Betsy Carter has been raising live chickens. Since the chicks are raised in an incubator in the classroom, the students are accordingly interested. Carter describes their hatching as a “zany” experience, but ultimately one that is fulfilling to her class. “For the most part, they all take pride in their roles as parents” she says.
One of the more unexpected local class pets—bees—is at the Waldorf School, which has recently built an apiary on its campus. According to the Waldorf’s gardening teacher, Dana Pauly, the bees are an indispensable teaching tool. While only certain students will directly handle the bees (barring any allergies), the insects’ presence alone on campus helps facilitate learning. “One of the things that a Waldorf education seeks to engender is a sense of wonder,” says Pauly. “For them to understand where their food is coming from and what’s involved in it is essential.”—SP
Recount your chickens
Rugby Hills were cock-a-doodle-bamboozled when a neighboring hen, Darlene, turned out to be a rooster.
The world can easily be divided into those who are morning people and those who are not—and you know who you are. For her part, Mother Nature has endowed us with morning animals. Enter the rooster, whose full-throttle, break-of-day crowing can needle even the cheeriest of early risers.
In April, when Rugby Hills resident Zak Billmeier was awakened by a bird “making a racket early in the morning,” he posted on NextDoor to ask if anyone else heard a rooster in the area, wondering if there was an ordinance: “I know female chickens are allowed in the city for making eggs, but does anyone know if a rooster is allowed?”
C’ville residents on the neighborhood social network dug in on both sides of the debate with tales of pastoral joy (“How lovely to hear farm sounds in town!”) and woe, with some citing the ordinance Sec. 4-8-Fowl at-large, which states it’s “unlawful for any person to permit any chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons or other fowl belonging to him to go at-large in the city,” and most conceding that the feathered noisemakers are a legal part of the local lifestyle.
A few months earlier, another Rugby Hills dweller, Jenn Silber, had purchased two young hens for the production of fresh eggs and named them Darlene and Ethel. Darlene developed beautiful tail feathers and grew larger than Ethel, then sometime around the six-month mark, Darlene let loose at sunrise and the Silber household realized it had a rooster on its hands.
“The first morning that Darlene started crowing, I immediately posted to NextDoor and our neighborhood Facebook group to apologize for the noise and let everyone know we were working on getting him back to the farm,” says Silber. “I had seen Zak’s post on NextDoor regarding a loud rooster in the Westwood/Rose Hill area a month prior.It seemed like people were very divided about that rooster—some enjoyed the farm sounds and others were extremely bothered by the noise.”
Being that Silber wanted the hens for eggs, and roosters were creating an online dust-up, Darlene was exchanged for a hen about a week after his circadian rhythms had activated.
“I’m not a chicken-hater,” says Billmeier who wants to be sure neighbors know he’s supportive. “I was curious to know if they [roosters] were allowed in the city. I think it’s great that people can have chickens and get eggs.” The moral of this story? Keep counting your chickens after they hatch.—TK
Louie the tabby keeps his owners on their toes
That darn cat! Louie, who also appears on the cover of this issue, loves to join his owners on hikes along Rivanna Trail.
Stopping by the DJ booth at Wild Wing Café, chasing teenagers around the Downtown Mall, exploring the Charlottesville Fire Department—Jenn Spofford says it’s hard to know exactly how many people have crossed paths with her cat, Louie, on his travels. But it’s a lot.
“I think the funniest, strangest thing about Louie is his tendency to follow people,” Spofford says. “Even after three years, we get about a call a week from someone who has walked home and found him on their heels and eventually in their apartment.”
She and her partner, James Rutter, adopted Louie and his sister, Nico, from the SPCA in Lovingston at 8 weeks old, and found out pretty quickly after bringing them home that the kittens had an adventurous streak. But whereas Nico would prowl around and mainly keep to herself, Louie was much more friendly.
“He would explore the neighborhood, but if he saw someone walking by, he would start to follow them,” Spofford says.
Then, while housesitting for her family in the country, the couple went for a walk and noticed Louie trailing behind them.
“He would tag along for long hikes, and so in the last couple years we’ve decided to lean in,” Spofford says. “Our favorite place in town to go is Darden Towe Park, where we’ve hiked some portions of the Rivanna Trail and taken breaks by the river.”
And don’t even get her started on how Louie taught himself to use the restroom.
“One morning I walked in the bathroom and found him peeing in the toilet, with absolutely no training,” she says.—CH
Walking the walk
Give yourself—and your dog—a break
Cynthia Elkey started her first pet-sitting and dog-walking business three decades ago. Rover’s Recess has been offering pooches-and their owners-a break as a midday walking service since 1999. Photo by Tristan Williams.
Cynthia Elkey is so dedicated to her work, she’ll wriggle through a dog door to get to her clients. Elkey, owner of dog-walking business Rover’s Recess, had misplaced the key to the house of one of her clients (who were out of town for the week). Elkey didn’t have the housesitter’s number, so she scaled the backyard privacy fence and stuck her head through the door to gauge how big it was. Immediately, a barking Shar Pei came charging toward her—and began licking all over her face. Elkey was laughing as she tried to catch her breath between licks while squeezing through the dog door.
Elkey had wanted to be a veterinarian as a child, and when she was living in Alexandria, a friend mentioned she was doing some part-time pet sitting. In 1985, primo pet care was not the topic du jour—you either knew some neighborhood kids who helped take care of your pet or Fido went to the kennel. Elkey filled a niche and launched a petting-sitting and dog-walking business for the Northern Virginia area; when she sold it in 1998 she had 40 employees.
A year later, Elkey launched Rover’s Recess, a weekday dog-walking business that serves about 70 clients each month in Charlottesvilkle. New customers meet with Elkey in their home, along with the dog walker who is matched with their pooch. The goal is to make sure each canine feels comfortable with its walker—there’s only been one instance where a dog was too afraid to come out from under the bed, Elkey says.
Each Rover’s Recess walker sees four to eight clients a day, and walks them for between 15 and 45 minutes each (on hot or rainy days, walks are kept short or playtime is spent indoors). Elkey requires any new hires to commit to at least a year with the business (most employees are semi-retired and looking for part-time work) because she wants to make sure her clients feel comfortable and build a trusting relationship with their caretaker.
“You’re the highlight of their day,” Elkey. “Dogs wear their heart on their sleeve—they’re just great.”—JL
Walk this way
Cynthia Elkey gives a few tips for dog walking:
• Using a harness like Easy Walk that attaches on a dog’s chest and makes the walking experience easier.
• Walk against traffic, so you can see what’s coming.
• When the dog is outside, know you’re thelast thing on its mind: “All they want to do is sniff the doggy newspaper, see who’s been walking around here,” Elkey says.
The Wildlife Center’s animal rehab
The Wildlife Center of Virginia urges people to not take care of wild animals on their own, instead recommending they contact the center. Courtesy of The Wildlife Center of Virginia
Oftentimes, when people encounter a wounded animal, they take it home and care for it themselves. The Wildlife Center of Virginia says don’t. It’s illegal and it has unintended consequences on the patient.
In some cases, this well-meaning nursing causes a bird to imprint on humans instead of other birds.
Gus, one of the center’s barred owls, imprinted on a human family that raised her during her early phases of development. She came to perceive her human caregivers as her own kind, which triggered behavioral issues, such as repeated attempts to mate with humans and an inability to mate with other owls.
Gus is housed outdoors in a five-acre tract of land that extends into the George Washington and Jefferson national forests, where the center shelters each animal in a custom-built, wooden enclosure screened with wired mesh. Most animals are treated or rehabilitated so they can be released back into the wild.
But some that cannot be released because of medical or behavioral issues—mostly snakes, raptors or opossums—are retained as “educational ambassadors” who assist the staff in teaching visitors about wildlife.
Gus is a popular ambassador.
Alex Wehrung, an outreach coordinator at the Wildlife Center, recommends that when people come across a sick or wounded animal, they contact his staff or the 200 other rehabilitators permitted by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to handle wild animals.
Tucked in a niche off the side of the road, the center operates in a lodge-like facility that provides office space for employees in one wing and a laboratory for animal care in the other.
It was founded in 1982 by Ed Clark in Weyers Cave, where it serviced wildlife until it relocated to its current location in Waynesboro in 1995. Relying entirely on donations, the nonprofit employs 20 full-time staff members and admits between 2,000 and 3,000 animals each year.
On its website, the center streams live feeds of some of its bear yards and flight tents, and it posts updates on most of the animals’ health—no matter the outcome. “We let people know that not all of our stories have a happy ending,” Wehrung says. “Sometimes we have to euthanize animals.”
Unlike a nature center, the Wildlife Center is not open to the public because of its obligations as a veterinary hospital. But individuals, businesses and schools can schedule a tour through the website.—JH
Top dog
Get to know the Downtown Mall’s gentle giant
Mozart the mastiff, says his owner, is as sweet as he is big. Photo by Eze Amos.
If Mozart likes you, he leans on you. He’ll take a seat at your feet and lean all 198 pounds of his apricot brindle body into you, a gentle invitation for a scritch on the head.
Not that there’s much Mozart doesn’t like, says his human, Susan Krischel, co-owner of the IX property downtown. The nearly 4-year-old English mastiff loves eating ice cream, sucking on stuffed animals, walking through puddles and playing with his best dog friend (who happens to be an 8-pound Pomeranian). Mozart is as sweet as he is big.
He’s lazy, too, requiring a nap after just a single tennis ball chase, or after four rambunctious laps around the coffee table in Krischel’s Downtown Mall apartment.
On their morning walks, Mozart—“Mozey” for short—stops when he’s tired and lies down spread-eagle, drooling and snoozing until he’s ready to proceed. Because of these rests and greetings from Mozart’s adoring fans, Krischel plans extra time into all of their walks. “He’s the ambassador of the mall,” she says of her pet. “A celebrity.”
At a recent party at IX Art Park, Mozart somehow made it into the MoxBox photo booth and sat there for two hours, getting his photo taken (sometimes wearing big plastic sunglasses) with more than 250 different people. He’s very agreeable, unless you’re a skateboarder—then he’ll bark at you.
Krischel especially loves when tiny kids run full-speed up to Mozart and fling their arms around his neck for a hug while the kids’ parents look on, wide-eyed—and possibly terrified—at what might happen. Mozart always just nuzzles them, she says. “He’s a big love muffin.”—EO
Therapy dogs provide helping paws to those in need
Kristen Bowsher and Kuiper, a Leonberger, make regular visits to UVA Hospital as part of a team with Therapy Dogs International. Courtesy of UVA Health System.
When Kiwi’s owner, Julie Walters, puts on her gentle leader and fluorescent green vest, the Labradoodle knows she’s going to work. Specifically, she’s volunteering as a therapy dog through Green Dogs Unleashed, which is a rescue/rehabilitation/therapy training nonprofit based in Troy. Green Dogs mainly rescues special needs dogs that are deaf, blind or amputees, and its therapy dogs run the gamut: Mr. Magoo is blind, and all ages and breeds have come through the program. Currently the organization has 26 teams of dog/human volunteers who visit schools, nursing homes and hospitals to help spread joy.
Walters started fostering dogs four years ago, first through the Fluvanna SPCA after seeing a photo of a dog-in-need on Facebook, then through Green Dogs (she’s fostered more than 65 dogs). After her children aged out of 4-H, she was looking for another way to volunteer and immediately thought of training a dog to help others. She went through the several-weeks-long training process (each segment takes six weeks) with two of her fosters, but both weren’t suited for the work. Then she got Kiwi when she was surrendered to Green Dogs at 4 months old. The puppy had been given up for “bad behavior,” but Walters says it was more likely a case of the original owners not understanding the breed they had gotten.
“They didn’t give her much of a chance,” she says.
Walters had a hunch Kiwi would make a great therapy dog, and says it was clear during training how much the year-old dog loved it: She was calm, paid attention to commands and—perhaps most important—loved the attention. “You can’t pet this dog enough,” Walters says.
Kiwi, 3, is a “foster fail”—as soon as she graduated from therapy training Walters knew she had to keep her; she had fallen in love with her. And Walters isn’t the only one.
The pair visits Central Elementary every Tuesday during the school year to interact with children who have attention deficit disorder. Starting their day petting or reading to Kiwi calms the students down. And Kiwi has become somewhat of a celebrity: During one of their twice-monthly visits to Mountainside Senior Living in Crozet, Walters said a child shouted across the parking lot, “Is that Kiwi?!”
Anne Gardner and her 18-month-old mixed breed, Chewy, just completed the Green Dogs therapy training program (including basic commands, therapy scenarios such as riding an elevator and walking near wheelchairs and learning nonverbal cues), where they met Walters and Kiwi. Although Chewy is still a puppy, Gardner says she’s eager to continue honing his skills so he can pass his test, and start working in schools and the hospital system. And he’s picking things up on his own. The Gardners have new neighbors with young children, and without being told, Chewy sits and waits for the kids to run up to greet him.
“I’m fortunate I have a home that can accommodate an animal; it’s something I know I get my own sense of joy and relaxation and purpose out of,” Gardner says. “There’s more than enough love to go around with these animals.”—JL
Get involved
For more information on fostering or getting your dog certified to be a therapy animal, go to greendogsunleashed.org.
Disco Risqué’s mission? “To take over the world one sweaty, borderline-psychotic-music lover at a time.” Their method? Creating and performing some of the most high-energy, hard-to-categorize music in Charlottesville. Imagine George Clinton on his angriest day, combined with Santana-esque riffs at triple their normal speed, and you can start to appreciate what the group does on epic tracks such as “Wreckfest at Riffany’s” and “Nosebleed Blues.”
Friday, June 29. Free, 5:30pm. Sprint Pavilion, 700 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 245-4910.
While strolling the Downtown Mall this summer, you may encounter an enormous bass drum with “FREE CONCERT TONIGHT” emblazoned across the head. This refers to the Charlottesville Municipal Band, a group whose performances are as impressive and larger-than-life as its advertisement. Now in its 96th season, the band offers widely appealing events, such as the Family Pops Concert. Attendees can expect to hear tunes plucked from movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Frozen, as well as Looney Tunes tracks. And this concert will be preceded by a musical instrument petting zoo, making the event even more kid-friendly.
Tuesday, July 3. Free, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 979-1333.
Order Up!, located on the Downtown Mall at the Third Street SE intersection, serves typical grill foods like burgers, hot dogs and more. Photo by Tristan Williams.
By Sam Padgett and Erin O’Hare
Food cart Order Up!—not to be confused with Grubhub’s predecessor, OrderUp—recently set up shop in the former Catch the Chef spot on the Downtown Mall at the Third Street SE intersection, next to Virginia National Bank.
Owners Max and Troy Robinson, who have operated the food cart for a few years, were based out of their home turf in Greene County before deciding to plant themselves in the middle of downtown Charlottesville foot traffic.
The inspiration for Order Up! came during Max’s time working for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, when she struck up a friendship with Catch the Chef’s owner, Tyler Berry. After that, she was motivated to start her own mobile food service.
Order Up! chiefly serves a variety of typical grill foods like burgers, hot dogs, chili, etc., but the cart offers something unique to go alongside the classics: mambo sauce. When asked to describe the taste of mambo sauce, Max says it’s a “sweet sauce but with hint of spice.” While Troy admits he doesn’t know what’s in it, he says it tastes like “heaven,” and that even though it’s made for chicken, it can go on anything.
So far, Order Up! has provided catering for several events throughout the surrounding area, and it can be found on the mall from 10am to 3pm Monday through Friday.
Eater’s digest
Revolutionary Soup’s 14th Street location on the UVA Corner is temporarily closed for renovations, but it’s scheduled to reopen in the fall. And don’t worry: You can still get your soup fix at its location on Second Street SW, off the Downtown Mall.
Sugar Shack on West Main Street is set to open any day now. The donut bakery has been keeping us posted on its progress via Twitter (@cvilledonuts), and word is that its “open” sign will be turned on sometime this week, followed by that of its partner restaurant, Luther Burger, in the coming weeks. So keep your eyes peeled to this spot for updates.
Tiger Fuel Co. recently bought the Shell station on Preston Avenue and plans to transform the place into the sort of fancy market deli the company is known for (Tiger Fuel also owns Bellair Market and the Market at Mill Creek). For those who fear that the station’s fried chicken program will go away, a representative for the company says the fried chicken will remain, but we’ll believe it when we eat it for ourselves.
At 7pm on Friday, June 29, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters will host a latte art throwdown at its Downtown Mall location. There’s a $5 buy-in for latte artists hoping to win the $50 cash prize, and money raised from a raffle (among the prizes is a primo burr coffee grinder) will benefit victims of the June 3 eruption of Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego.
