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In brief: A12 legal guide, big-ticket sale, pet peril and more

Former Charlottesville police chief Al Thomas is named in several lawsuits stemming from the events of August 12, 2017. Eze Amos

Who’s suing whom

In advance of the two-year statute of limitations, a flurry of lawsuits have been filed stemming from the events of August 12, 2017, adding to several that are ongoing. Having a hard time keeping up with who’s a defendant and who’s a plaintiff?  Here’s a primer:

Sines v. Kessler

Ten victims of the Unite the Right rally, including Seth Wispelwey, Tyler Magill and Marcus Martin, filed suit against 24 UTR organizers, including Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, James Fields, Elliott Kline, Chris Cantwell, Matthew Heimbach, David Parrott, and Andrew Anglin. It’s the oldest lawsuit filed, filed October 11, 2017.

In addition to filing another federal lawsuit against the city, Jason Kessler is also a defendant in other suits filed by Unite the Right victims. Eze Amos

Kessler v. City of Charlottesville

Kessler and David Parrott are suing City Manager Tarron Richardson, former police chief Al Thomas, Virginia State Police Lieutenant Becky Crannis-Curl, and former city manager Maurice Jones, claiming their First Amendment rights were violated. kessler v. charlottesville

Tanesha Hudson v. City of Charlottesville

The community activist claims Maurice Jones, Al Thomas, Detective James Mooney, Sergeant Ronnie Stayments, and Sergeant Lee Gibson violated her First, Fifth, and 14th amendment rights and seeks $400,000. Filed pro se, which means she’s representing herself, in Charlottesville Circuit Court.

DeAndre Harris v. Jason Kessler et. al.

The 35 defendants include Richard Spencer, six attackers, Elliott Kline, David Parrott, and John Doe 1 and 2 (aka Sunglasses and Redbeard). Harris, who was severely beaten in the Market Street Parking Garage, is alleging  conspiracy to discriminate and attack on the basis of race. DeAndre Harris v. Kessler, Spencer et.al

Greg Conte v. Commonwealth of Virginia

Richard Spencer pal Conte and UTR attendee Warren Balogh named the VSP, former governor Terry McAuliffe, VSP Lieutenant Becky Crannis-Curl, Al Thomas, Mike Signer, Wes Bellamy, Emily Gorcenski, Seth Wispelwey, and Dwayne Dixon among the 16 defendants, and alleged First and 14th amendment violations. Also filed pro se. conte, balogh v. VA

Bill Burke v. James Fields et. al.

Bill Burke waits for the jury’s verdict at the James Fields trial. staff photo

The 19 named defendants include Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, Matthew Heimbach, David Duke, Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin, plus John Doe and Jane Doe 1-1,000. Burke traveled from Ohio to protest the white supremacists who came to Charlottesville. He was injured when Fields drove into a crowd, and Heather Heyer died beside him. Claims RICO violations and conspiracy, and seeks $3 million on each count. burke v. fields

Karen Cullen and Amanda Bates v. Commonwealth of Virginia

The widows of Virginia State Police’s Berke Bates and Jay Cullen, who died in a helicopter crash August 12, both filed wrongful death lawsuits seeking $50 million each.

 

Quote of the week

“The temperature at the floor when they entered was 500 degrees.”—Charlottesville Fire Chief Andrew Baxter describes the August 18 Pet Paradise fire

In brief

$4-million sale

Hawes Spencer, former editor of C-VILLE and the Hook, sold the Downtown Mall building that houses Bizou for $4 million to Bizou owner Vincent Derquenne and developer Oliver Kuttner, who purchased the property as Walters Building LLC. Spencer bought the building, which housed the Hook offices, for $2.5 million in 2006.

Elliott Harding. publicity photo

Slimed by Kessler

Independent 25th District candidate Elliott Harding’s brief association with Jason Kessler came to light last week when Kessler posted messages from Harding, who reviewed Kessler’s petition to recall Wes Bellamy in 2017. Harding, a former chair of the Albemarle County Republican Committee, says he quickly saw what Kessler was about and has worked to prevent him from gaining a platform. “We’ve been at it ever since.”

Another statue suit

Norfolk, fighting to remove its own Confederate statue, filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Virginia’s law preventing a locality from removing a war memorial is unconstitutional and forces the city to perpetuate a message it no longer stands behind, violating its First and 14th amendment rights, the Virginian-Pilot reports. City councilors are also plaintiffs in the suit.

‘Hitler’s best friends’

Two weeks after city councilors were accused of aligning themselves with the Nazi dictator for rejecting a proposal to bring D.C. rapper Wale to Charlottesville, Kathy Galvin, Mike Signer, Heather Hill, and Wes Bellamy issued a joint statement condemning the “abusive environment” created by some attendees of council meetings. Bellamy also apologized for not initially defending his colleagues, saying “I genuinely don’t believe any of you are racist.”

Fatal infection

German shepherd Gunner died after a day of swimming in the Rivanna River, NBC29 reports. He contracted a bacterial disease called leptospirosis, which is transmitted in wet places where animals have urinated and can be deadly to humans as well.

More bad pet news

A fire broke out in Pet Paradise around 6:30pm August 18. Seventy-five animals were rescued from the Concord Avenue facility, but Pet Paradise is asking for help in locating two cats and a dog that were missing after the fire.

Beauregard splits 

Interim Deputy City Manager Leslie Beauregard is leaving after 16 years working in city government and will take a position as assistant city manager in Staunton October 7, the DP reports. Beauregard was best known for her budget work. She was put in an interim position under new City Manager Tarron Richardson’s reorganization of city hall.

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In brief: Take it or leaf it, when racists call, Facebook reprimand and more

Drawing lines in the leaves

It’s that time of year, when the natural cycle of trees becomes a source of controversy, lighting up Nextdoor. One neighbor’s decision to let them lie to decompose and enrich the soil—either through environmental conscientiousness or sloth—is another’s annoyance when leaves drift into a meticulously raked yard.

Some go the mowing route to speed the breakdown of leafy matter into compost, while other city dwellers, who receive a free roll of plastic bags, rake and bag and send everything off to Panorama Farms. Or they corral the leaves to the curb to be sucked up.

It’s enough of an issue that the city is conducting a survey at charlottesville.org/leaves to see what citizens think of its collection method.

Here’s what we learned from city leaf guru Marty Silman:

  • Both bagged and loose leaves go to Panorama Paydirt for composting.
  • The city distributes 25 plastic bags per resident, and anticipates passing out 350,000 this season, at a cost of $50,000.
  • The bags are not compostable nor are they recycled, but they can be returned if you don’t want them, to 305 Fourth St. NW.
  • Last year the city collected an estimated 98 tons of bagged leaves and 145 tons of loose leaves.

Quote of the week

“I didn’t respond to request for comment because I think these reporters are, a lot of them, not all of them…but the majority of these reporters, they have ill intentions and it’s not how I roll.”—Mayor Nikuyah Walker on Facebook Live in response to a Daily Progress article about councilors’ credit card spending

In brief

Racist robocalls

Idaho white supremacist group Road to Power again targeted Charlottesville residents with racist, anti-Semitic calls as jury selection for the James Fields trial began. The same group slimed the area with calls around the August 12 anniversary.

Love refiles civil suit

Sharon Love, the mother of deceased UVA lacrosse player Yeardley Love, has refiled her $30-million wrongful death lawsuit against George Huguely, her daughter’s former boyfriend who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2012 and sentenced to 23 years in prison. In June, Love dropped the case, called a nonsuit in legal terms, which gave her six months to refile.

Having his say

A memoir from City Councilor Wes Bellamy, who was vice-mayor when he called for removal of the city’s Confederate statues, will be available January 1. Monumental: It Was Never About a Statue covers the year before and after white supremacists came to town to protest removal of the statues. Says the book’s press release, “Step into his shoes and read what it felt like to be in the midst of a war for the soul of a community.”

Booted from Facebook

Former C-VILLE editor and Summer of Hate author Hawes Spencer was banned from Facebook for 24 hours November 30 for posting memes that will be presented as evidence in the murder trial of James Fields. Fields posted the images of a car driving into a crowd on Instagram three months before he did so in Charlottesville.

This is the image that got Spencer banned from Facebook for 24 hours.

Going rogue

Virginia students at the largest evangelical Christian school in the country have created an independent news website, the Liberty Torch, after Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. vetoed a negative article about Donald Trump in 2016 in the school’s official newspaper, the Liberty Champion, and said the school administration must approve student articles.

New office

County officials announced last week the creation of the Office of Equity and Inclusion under director Siri Russell. The office formalizes the county’s strategy to engage in work that promotes equity, using data to assess equitable access, according to Russell. 

New leader

Legal Aid Justice Center’s director of litigation and advocacy Angela Ciolfi will take on a new role as its executive director this month. She succeeds Mary Bauer, who left recently for a job at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Ciolfi is now suing the DMV and asked a judge for an injunction to stop the automatic suspension of driver’s licenses, often for offenses that have nothing to do with driving. 

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In brief: Books of August 11-12, stormy weather, babysitter’s rehab and more

Charlottesville writes back

Like many Charlottesvillians, the folks at the University of Virginia Press were shocked by the events of last August. “As publishers, we felt the best thing we could do in response is publish books,” says director Mark Saunders.

Now out are Summer of Hate by former C-VILLE Weekly/Hook editor Hawes Spencer, and Charlottesville 2017: The Legacy of Race and Inequity, a collection of essays from UVA faculty.

Summer of Hate is an “objective, journalistic account,” says Saunders. “Hawes rose to the top immediately as someone trusted locally and experienced.” He has reported for other news organizations, including the New York Times on August 12. “He was best for an unbiased, objective account to put those facts on the table so people could decide,” says Saunders.

Editors Louis Nelson, UVA vice provost and professor of architectural history, and Claudrena Harold, professor of history at the Carter G. Woodson Institute, “corralled UVA faculty” to write essays for Charlottesville 2017 and to use their expertise on a range of topics from free speech to local history and the legacy of white supremacy and slavery, says Saunders.

Among the 14 essays are history professor John Edwin Mason’s “History, Mine and Ours: Charlottesville’s Blue Ribbon Commission and the Terror Attacks of August 2017.” English professor Lisa Woolfork writes “‘This Class of Persons’: When UVA’s White Supremacist Past Meets Its Future,” and Darden’s Greg Fairchild pens “How I Learned That Diversity Does Not Equal Integration.”

The collection uses “a set of experts in their own fields to unpack these topics for someone,” says Saunders. “It’s a testament that UVA has been grappling with these issues before we had these eruptions.”

Quote of the week

The safest place people think about in the world is where, a church. And we know what happened in South Carolina. Those [nine] people did not think their lives were going to end that day in church…With all the uncertainty, it’s not something you want to be wrong on.—Mayor Nikuyah Walker responds to complaints about park closures at August 6 City Council meeting

In brief

Jumper not found

Several local and state water rescue teams rushed to an I-64 overpass August 2 after a woman was seen jumping from the bridge into the Rivanna River. Police suspended search efforts around 3pm the following day because of “dangerously fast currents,” according to Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller.

Severe weather

Though media had published photos of windows ripped from Monticello High School during a stint of bad weather on August 2, locals were surprised to learn later that day that a two-mile, 70mph tornado, which touched down at 11am on Avon Street Extended, actually caused that mess, according to the National Weather Service.

Kind of severe weather

On the third day of this month, Charlottesville had already received 7.22 inches of rain, which is 177 percent of normal August precipitation. And we’d gotten 2,750 percent of normal month-to-date precipitation, according to climatologist Jerry Stenger.

New leaders—UVA

New UVA President Jim Ryan, who officially took office August 1 (see article on p. 11), appointed two women to hold high positions of power just two days later. He named Elizabeth “Liz” Magill as executive vice president and provost and Jennifer “J.J.” Wagner Davis as executive vice president and chief operating officer. He also appointed Alejandro “Alex” Hernandez as dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

New leader—city

John Blair will find plenty of litigation in his new job as city attorney. Submitted photo

Albemarle’s deputy county attorney John Blair takes the city attorney job previously held by Craig Brown. Lisa Robertson, deputy city attorney, held down the fort in the interim.

 

Babysitter released for rehab

A woman who pleaded guilty in May to felony cruelty or injury to a child and to operating a home daycare without a license was in court again July 25 asking to be temporarily released from jail to seek treatment at a rehab center in Williamsburg.

A judge allowed Kathy Yowell-Rohm, the owner of the Forest Lakes daycare where police found 16 children last December—almost all with dirty, soaked diapers or crying and strapped in swings in a dark room—to attend a 30-day program at The Farley Center, a drug and alcohol addiction facility near Colonial Williamsburg.

Attorney Rhonda Quagliana said Yowell-Rohm has been sober while locked up for eight months, and has worked through every recovery program in the jail. She asked for her client to be released directly to the custody of her father, who would transport her immediately to The Farley Center.

“I think that this is a substantial investment by WhiteSands orlando rehabs and her family,” said Quagliana. “They wanted to make sure it would happen.” She also added that Yowell-Rohm’s mother has passed away since she’s been incarcerated.

As Yowell-Rohm, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit with a blonde bun piled on top of her head, exited the courtroom, she winked at her dad.

Prosecutor Darby Lowe noted that Yowell-Rohm was arrested for driving drunk in February 2016, for being drunk in public, and for assaulting an EMT at Scott Stadium at the UVA-Virginia Tech football game in November 2017.

“She certainly, obviously, needs treatment,” said Judge Franklin Humes.

Yowell-Rohm’s 30-day program could be extended to 90 days, if necessary, according to her attorney. She’ll be back in court for a pre-sentencing report on September 7.