Liberty University – C-VILLE Weekly

Monticello not pleased

The website of Ronnie Roberts, independent candidate for Albemarle sheriff, used one of the county’s most iconic images—Monticello—in its background. The only problem is, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns the mountaintop manse, does not allow images of the house to be used for commercial or political purposes.

“Monticello does not endorse political candidates or campaigns,” says spokesperson Jennifer Lyon. “We’ve respectfully asked the campaign to remove that image from its website.”

The Roberts’ campaign chooses a new background after Monticello complained.

That was on September 3. By September 5, Roberts’ campaign website sported a new iconic image: the Albemarle Circuit courthouse at Court Square.

According to campaign manager John Darden, Roberts’ website developer bought a stock image of Monticello. “It appears someone voiced a complaint,” says Darden, suggesting it may have come from the camp of opponent Chan Bryant.

“No one from my campaign notified Monticello,” says Bryant. “What Ronnie uses on his website is between him and Monticello.”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” says Darden. “We’re focusing on campaigning, not on who’s using what photo.”

Quote of the week

“We’re not a school; we’re a real estate hedge fund.” —A senior official at Liberty University is one of several criticizing university president Jerry Falwell Jr.’s behavior in a bombshell Politico report.

In brief

Over the top

UVA Health System sued former patients with unpaid medical bills more than 36,000 times from 2012 to 2018, sometimes for as little as $13.91, leaving many families with no other options but to declare bankruptcy, according to the Washington Post. UVA President Jim Ryan says that he’s working to make the hospital “more generous and more humane,” and expects proposals to be announced in the next week.

Long-awaited trial

The Confederate statues lawsuit against the city finally is set to begin Wednesday, September 11. Under state law, the monuments are protected as war memorials. However, defendants argue that the statues violate the equal protection clause of the Constitution. Plaintiffs in the case are seeking more than $500,000 in attorney’s fees.

Dubious distinction

Virginia is ranked the worst state for workers—for the second year in a row—in a recent Oxfam report, beating out even perennial worst-state-for-everything Mississippi. On the other hand, in July, CNBC ranked the right-to-work commonwealth the best state for businessVPM radio reports.

Amended alma mater

UVA, ahead of its September 6 football home opener, launched a video campaign to dissuade fans from singing “not gay” or “fuck Tech” during the “Good Old Song.” Notable UVA figures like actress Tina Fey and basketball player Jay Huff appeared in the video, imploring fans to refrain from singing offensive lyrics.

UVA slips in rankings

In U.S. News & World Report’s latest university rankings released September 9, UVA dropped three spots to No. 28 among national universities and fell from third to fourth place among public colleges. This snapped UVA’s unbroken 28-year streak of ranking in the top three of best public universities. UVA President Jim Ryan had announced plans earlier this year to make the school the top public university in the country by 2030.

Mobile homes get an upgrade

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville and the Local Energy Alliance Program have teamed up to reduce high energy bills for Southwood Mobile Home Park residents. Created due to poor insulation and inefficient HVAC systems in their homes, a pilot program is in the works to provide energy-efficient, cost-reducing upgrades—like adding roof insulation, repairing or replacing HVAC systems and sealing drafty windows—to 10 mobile homes and is set to launch this fall.

Hero memorialized

From right, Ghazala and Khizr Khan are joined by Senator Tim Kaine and Representative Abigail Spanberger to honor their son. Eze Amos

The Barracks Road post office was officially renamed September 9 to memorialize fallen Army Captain Humayun Khan.

Khan, a UVA graduate, was killed in 2004 while deployed in Iraq when an explosive-filled taxicab detonated on its way into Khan’s compound. The then-27-year-old was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

Then-congressman Tom Garrett filed legislation to dedicate the post office to Khan in July 2017, but accidentally identified a contract postal unit near UVA—not the Barracks Road location—to be renamed. The erroneous address was amended this past April.

Senator Tim Kaine and 7th District Representative Abigail Spanberger joined Khizr and Ghazala Khan to unveil the honorary plaque renaming the Barracks Road facility in honor of their son.

The ceremony took place on what would have been Khan’s 43rd birthday.

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.