Tag: Miller Center

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In brief: PrezFest, Monticello High news, and more

Former President Bill Clinton closed out the Miller Center's PrezFest last week at UVA. Courtesy Miller Center

Presidential address

Following a brief introduction by UVA President Jim Ryan—where Ryan mentioned he’d gotten food poisoning from the White House the first time he met Bill Clinton—the former leader of the free world then took the lectern in Old Cabell Hall to close out the Miller Center of Public Affairs’ first-ever PrezFest, aka Presidential Ideas Festival.

A few lines caught our attention during Clinton’s lengthy address on the role of the presidency. Whether they’re shots at Donald Trump, or generally just good advice for any commander in chief, we’ll never know.

  • Says Clinton, “I think the best presidents have sought to define ‘We the people’ in a way that broadens both the idea and the reality of who counts in this country.”
  • On those who have already served: “So far, they’ve had enough humility to know that no one is right all the time and power must be exercised with some care.”
  • On reputations: “Look, we can all act pious…everybody that’s ever been in politics who wanted to make change has had to feed the beast.”
  • On President Thomas Jefferson: “When he thought of slavery, he trembled to think that God is just, but he didn’t tremble enough to go sign the paper freeing all the slaves.”
  • On the fear that if President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, they’d take everyone’s jobs: “Sound familiar?”
  • On immigration: “There shouldn’t be a Republican or Democratic way to process people at the border.”
  • On being investigated: “I used to have fun with the people that were investigating me. I’d rag ’em and make fun of ’em and try to keep everybody in a pretty good mood.”
  • On significance: “[The recently photographed black hole] is so big, and it’s magnetic pull is so great, that if our entire solar system went by close enough, it would be sucked in and disintegrated immediately into a pile of dirt that could fit in a thimble. Now think of that. If that’s true, it’s not so important to be on Mount Rushmore, is it? But it does not make the life of any public servant less significant. It makes the trappings, the image, the b.s. less significant.”
  • On division: “We should not be despairing if we’re worried about America dividing. …There have never been permanent gains or permanent losses in human affairs, and we’ve got a lot of hay in the barn. We just need to saddle up.”
  • Bonus quote, on August 12, 2017, when then-Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe told white supremacists and neo-Nazis to get out of the state and not come back, while Trump called them very fine people: “The governor of Virginia, on that day, was my president.”

Quote of the week

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the next guy’s like: ‘You know, I still have a slave. He’s been in our family for years. Sorry.’”—Comedian Wanda Sykes, on Governor Ralph Northam’s apparent inability to remember if he was in the blackface photo in his medical school yearbook.

In brief

National champs

The UVA men’s lacrosse team took down defending champs Yale May 27 to secure its first NCAA championship since 2011. The No. 3-seed Cavs outscored the No. 5-seed Bulldogs 13-9 in Philadelphia, and will bring home Virginia lacrosse’s sixth national championship.

DMB death

When Jasen Smith went to find his wife’s misplaced souvenir T-shirt at a Dave Matthews Band concert in St. Louis, she says he never returned. She then found him unconscious, with blood dripping from his ear, after suffering a skull fracture from blunt force trauma to the back of his head. He died the next day, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The mysterious death is still under investigation.

Dramatic

Madeline Michel

Monticello High drama teacher Madeline Michel will receive a special Tony for excellence in theater education at the awards show June 9 in New York. The award includes a $10,000 gift for the school’s theater program.

Inappropriate

Former Monticello High coach George “Trae” Payne III will serve 30 days of a five-year sentence for sending a 17-year-old female student three inappropriate photos on Snapchat in 2018. Payne entered an Alford plea and said the teen did not deserve to be in the middle of his depression, the Progress reports.

The Cooch is back

Former AG Ken Cuccinelli Zuma Press

Former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, best known locally for demanding documents from UVA climate researcher Michael Mann in 2010, has been tapped by President Trump to head U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Washington Post reports Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes the nomination of the conservative firebrand.

Emmy winners

UVA student journalists Yahya Abou-Ghazala and Robby Keough won the school’s first Student Emmy Award for video they created as third years covering the March for Our LIves student walkout March 14, 2018, a month after 17 students were mowed down in Parkland, Florida.

*Shrugs*

After Governor Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal, Eastern Virginia Medical School launched an independent investigation to determine whether he appeared as the man in blackface, Ku Klux Klan robes, or not at all, in the now-infamous photo on his 1984 yearbook page. Its conclusion: They don’t know. Also on the list of things investigators couldn’t determine is how the picture was ever printed in the first place.

Killer’s cancer

The man serving four life sentences for abducting and murdering UVA student Hannah Graham and Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington now has stage four colon cancer.

Monticello High grad Jesse Matthew was transferred from Red Onion State Prison, a supermax facility in Wise County, to Waverly’s Sussex I State Prison last week to receive treatment.

“This is justice and perhaps karma,” said Harrington’s mother, Gil Harrington, to a reporter from Richmond’s CBS 6.

Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci says under the terms of Matthew’s 2016 plea agreement, he is not eligible for release or parole.

In a rare, post-diagnosis interview with the same Richmond channel, a reporter asked the convicted killer whether he was sorry for the 2009 and 2014 murders.

Said Matthew, “I don’t think I can answer that question right now truthfully.”

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In brief: Diverging diamond, Way’s passing, educator arrested and more

Six road projects, one $36-million package

The Virginia Department of Transportation has identified six upgrades for Albemarle roads, and will choose one contractor
to design and build them for $35.9 million. Citizens can check out and weigh in on the projects from 5:30 to 7:30pm at Western Albemarle High School on Wednesday, October 10, and at Albemarle High on Thursday, October 11.

  • I-64 and U.S. 29 interchange: Eliminates crash-prone loop exit from U.S. 29 south to I-64 east, and installs two left-turn lanes on 29.
  • I-64 and U.S. 250 at Richmond Road: While left-turn lanes are being installed above, this project eliminates the current left turns across traffic onto 64 with a tricky diverging diamond interchange, like the one at Zion Crossroads, which allows lefts without crossing oncoming traffic.
  • U.S. 29 at Fontaine Avenue: Reduces number of lane changes needed to exit 29 north to Fontaine.
  • U.S. 250 at Route 151: Builds a roundabout at the collision-heavy intersection of Alcohol Alley and Rockfish Gap Turnpike near Afton.
  • Route 20 at Proffit and Riggory Ridge roads: Adds a roundabout at this intersection.
  • Berkmar Drive Extended. Adds a quarter-mile connector with Rio Mills Road

 

Quote of the week

“We knew all the details. Maurice always told the councilors.”—Bob Fenwick on former police chief Al Thomas remaining on the public payroll, according to the Daily Progress

In brief

Teacher’s aide indicted

The man knocked to the ground by Deputy Police Chief Greg Jenkins at an August 30 Albemarle County School Board meeting has now been indicted on a felony charge of assaulting a police officer. Michael Reid was among dozens of protesters calling for the school board to ban Confederate imagery from its dress code, and was brought to the hospital after the scuffle with Jenkins, who accused Reid of assaulting him.

Another Miller Center departure

Doug Blackmon. Wikimedia Commons

Douglas Blackmon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Slavery by Another Name, follows two other senior historians in leaving the Miller Center. The former director of public programs declined to stay after his contract ended, and wrote in an email to the center’s CEO, obtained by the Cavalier Daily, “our ships are traveling on very different bearings.” Like Melvyn Leffler and William Hitchcock, Blackmon also cited the appointment of former Trump aide Marc Short as a factor.

Korte sentenced

Former UVA film studies professor Walter Korte, 75, was ordered to jail October 2 for possessing two child porn images. Korte, who was sentenced to 12 months, had requested electronic home incarceration, but Judge Humes Franklin denied the request. Korte was arrested in 2016 after tossing thousands of legal pornographic images in a UVA dumpster.

Federal lawsuit

Ira Socol, the Albemarle school division’s former chief technology and innovation officer, says he was wrongfully punished for his unauthorized purchase of school furniture earlier this year. He is suing the school board and Superintendent Matt Haas for firing him without a hearing, violating his right to due process, breach of contract, and defamation, according to the complaint.

Preacher, public servant dies

Courtesy Rob Bell

The Reverend Peter Way, who served on Albemarle’s Board of Supervisors and school board, and was the 58th District delegate in the General Assembly, died October 6 at 82. The Keene resident was elected to the House in 1991 in a seven-vote squeaker.

After his retirement from elected office in 1997, he founded the Conservative Coalition, a Tea Party forerunner. “He was a passionate fiscal conservative,” says Paul Wright, who worked with Way in the coalition in the late ’90s.

Way was passionate about his religious beliefs as well, says Wright, but he was not judgmental toward those who did not share his beliefs. “He was one of the good guys in politics.”

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Shoegate: Miller Center of controversy

Miller Center board member Fred Scott resigned after a controversy known as "shoegate," which led his wife to claim in emails that he is a "kind-hearted, cuddly bear" who meant no harm. Photo by Eric Kelley

The usually staid UVA institution devoted to the study of the U.S. presidency has recently found itself mired in controversy, first with the hiring of Trump administrator Marc Short, and then with the August 31 resignation of Miller Center board member Fred Scott—and the revelation of resignations of two other unnamed board members because of inappropriate behavior.

Politico broke the “shoegate” story that precipitated the resignation of Scott, whose family name is on Scott Stadium and who sold his Bundoran Farm, now a high-end preservation development, in 2005.

Scott offered to take 10 female Miller Center staffers shopping at deluxe shoe boutique Scarpa, and some were offended by the shopping spree Scott said was in honor of his mother’s 102nd birthday, according to emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

In a May 2, 2017, email, Scott admits he’s been called “clueless” before and apologized for his misstep. But it was an email the next day that led to his resignation more than a year later.

In that missive to then-council chair Gene Fife with a subject line “What set them off,” Scott really stepped in it with observations such as, “There are no United White People College Funds or White Students’ Alliances or Men Against Drunk Driving. Even at a ‘tolerant university’… especially there! Women’s Initiative. We both support it. Is there a Men’s Initiative???”

He speculated that some people “just like to stir up trouble” and may not be the best to promote and others “dislike/envy those who are more successful, privileged, or powerful.”

As a result of Shoegate and the misbehavior of two unnamed Governing Council members at an October 17, 2017, dinner, the Miller Center adopted a code of conduct in January that instructs council members “not to discriminate against, harass, or exert authority or undue influence” on staff or faculty, according to a statement from the center.

Scott declined to comment, but in his resignation letter, he professed puzzlement at the reaction to what was supposed to be a generous offer, and said he had “no interest in putting anyone in an awkward situation.”

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In brief: Bigfoot erotica, council infighting (again), white supremacist infighting and more

Leslie Cockburn captured this screenshot of opponent Denver Riggleman.

Bigfoot erotica

Fifth District Democratic candidate Leslie Cockburn called opponent Denver Riggleman a devotee of “Bigfoot erotica” because of images of Bigfoot with a black bar over its genitals on Riggleman’s Instagram account. Riggleman, who co-authored a book on the legendary ape-like creature, said the images are a joke from his friends, and returned fire at Cockburn’s 1991 book on U.S. relations with Israel, which Republicans have called “anti-Semitic.”

Quote of the week

“This is an attempt to put me in my place.”—Mayor Nikuyah Walker on Facebook after fellow councilors ask if she should recuse herself from the selection of a new city manager because she’s a temporary parks & rec employee

Zemp’s response

Sidney Zemp, the man who was offered the interim city manager position, which sparked a major outcry from Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who denounced the selection process and read his resumé aloud on Facebook Live, cited “the controversy contrived by the mayor and her questionable motivations” as a reason for turning down the offer. Assistant City Manager Mike Murphy was named interim city manager hours before Maurice Jones left the position July 31.

Profs resign

Two UVA history professors—William Hitchcock and Melvyn Leffler—resigned from the Miller Center in protest of its offering a senior fellowship to former Trump legislative affairs director Marc Short. Both Hitchcock and Leffler are tenured and retain positions in the history department.

Creepy teacher sentenced

Richard Wellbeloved-Stone

When former Charlottesville High School science teacher Richard Wellbeloved-Stone was sentenced in federal court July 30 to 23 years in prison for one count of production of child pornography, it was revealed that he had also taken more than 100 photos up students’ skirts and down students’ shirts from 2012 to 2014, which could warrant more charges.

 

Teacher killer sentenced

The man charged in the involuntary manslaughter death of Western Albemarle music teacher Eric Bretthauser in 2016 was sentenced to three years in prison. Aaron Johnson of Richmond initially was charged with manslaughter while driving under the influence.

No prison time

Stephen Dalton Baril

In a case that has been picked up across the country, Stephen Dalton Baril—an ex-UVA student and grandson of John Dalton, the former Republican governor who served Virginia from 1978 to 1982—had his felony rape and sodomy charge reduced to misdemeanor sexual battery and felony unlawful wounding in exchange for an Alford plea. “You raped me whether you want to hear it or not,” the victim said. He’ll serve five years of supervised probation.

 

It’s an alt-right infight

While it’s become clear over the past year that Jason Kessler isn’t the most popular guy in town, he’s also not the most popular among white nationalist internet trolls. And his decision to allow people of color to volunteer at the Unite the Right reunion planned for D.C. and his apparent ban on neo-Nazis at the event aren’t helping. A quick perusal of snippets from social media site Gab—where many white supremacists flee when Twitter gives them the boot—gives insight into what they’re arguing about these days.

 

 

Doggy duty

courtesy draftsman hotel

There’s a new employee at the Draftsman Hotel and this one has fur.

Meet Bulleit Rye Whiskey, the resident Wheaton terrier who was born 21 miles from the hotel at Shady Lane Family Farm in Free Union, and who clocks his hours by greeting guests and their pets.

The Draftsman, the 11-story, 150-room upscale boutique hotel that opened on West Main Street in May, will celebrate its official grand opening this summer—and Bulleit will be there making sure everything goes according to plan.

“Bulleit absolutely loves being around people,” says Draftsman manager and doggy daddy JP Roberts. “He’s thrilled to greet new guests and wander around the library and lobby, but we are most excited about having him interact with the incredibly tough kids next door at UVA Children’s Hospital once he completes his therapy dog certification.”

Bulleit, who bribed us by mailing us a couple beef bourguignon dog treats, has his own message: “I don’t want to brag, but most people say I am a very good boy,” the pooch said in a press release. And his shameless plug?  “I wanted to let everyone know that the Draftsman is open for business and we are having our grand opening on September 20.”

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In brief: Interim imbroglio, Miller Center imbroglio, gunman imbroglio and more

Mayor Nikuyah Walker takes it to social media.

Infighting implodes council

The hiring of an interim city manager, an event that usually takes place behind closed doors, has become heated and public, with reports of shouting at a July 20 closed City Council session. Mayor Nikuyah Walker has gone on Facebook Live twice to express her concerns that the process is part of the old boys’ network because someone suggested a candidate for the position to Vice Mayor Heather Hill, which she calls a “white supremist practice.”

On July 23, councilors Hill, Mike Signer and Kathy Galvin issued a five-page response to Walker’s Facebook Live video. “We regret that our rules requiring confidentiality about closed session discussions for personnel choices—which are in place under Virginia law, to protect local elected officials’ ability to discuss and negotiate employment agreements—were broken by the mayor.”

The search for an interim city manager became more urgent when Maurice Jones took a town manager job in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, leaving the city without a chief executive as the anniversary of August 12 looms.

Chris Suarez at the Daily Progress reports that three sources have confirmed U.S. Army Human Resources Command Chief of Staff Sidney C. Zemp has been offered the job.

In the councilors’ response, all three say they’ve never met the candidate, and that review panels are not used when filling interim positions.

In her July 20 video, Walker walked back a comment she made on Facebook and Twitter July 19: “We might have to protest a City Council decision. Are y’all with me?” She said she didn’t want supporters to shut down a council meeting, but did want them to pay attention to the process.

Walker was back on Facebook Live July 23, blasting her fellow councilors for their “very privileged” backgrounds and questioning their integrity.

She says she favors an internal candidate—the two assistant city managers and a department head have been floated—which councilors Wes Bellamy and Signer initially favored.

Bellamy issued his own statement: “Elected bodies agree and disagree all of the time” and that can lead to “healthy debate.”

Will council actually vote for an interim city manager at its August 6 meeting? Stay tuned.

Mayor Nikuyah Walker expressed concern in a July 20 Facebook Live video about the hiring process for an interim city manager.

In brief

Too much heritage

The Louisa County Board of Zoning Appeals said the giant Confederate battle flag on I-64 must come down because its 120-foot pole is double the county’s maximum allowable height. Virginia Flaggers erected the “Charlottesville I-64 Spirit of Defiance Battle Flag” in March and argued that after putting up 27 flags across the state, they wouldn’t have spent $14,000 on this one without confirming county code.

Controversial hire

A petition with more than 2,000 signatures of UVA faculty and students objects to the Miller Center’s hiring of Trump legislative affairs director Marc Short as a senior fellow. The petitioners are opposed to Trump administrators using “our university to clean up their tarnished reputations.”

Presidential paychecks

New UVA president Jim Ryan commands a higher salary than his predecessor, but can’t touch Brono Mendenhall’s paycheck. Photo UVA

Outgoing UVA prez Teresa Sullivan’s base pay of $580,000 and total compensation of $607,502 last year makes her one of the higher paid university chiefs, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Her successor, Jim Ryan, starts with a $750,000 base pay, but to put those numbers in perspective, remember that UVA football coach Bronco Mendenhall makes $3.4 million—with a possible $2 million-plus bonus. At this week’s ACC Kickoff event, media members predicted—for the fifth straight year—that UVA will finish last in the conference’s Coastal Division.

New tourism director

Adam Healy, the former CEO of online wedding marketplace Borrowed and Blue, which closed abruptly last October, will now serve as the interim executive director of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Standoff on Lankford

A state police vehicle on the outskirts of the standoff.

About 50 city, county and state police and SWAT team members were on the scene of a four-hour standoff with 29-year-old Alexander Rodgers, who had barricaded himself inside a Lankford Avenue home on July 19. Someone called police around 8am and reported shots fired. Rodgers, who has a history of domestic violence and was wanted on six outstanding warrants, eventually surrendered and was charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor.

Quote of the week:

“The fish rots from the head.”—Senator Tim Kaine, after U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and UVA alum Kirstjen Nielsen said about last summer’s violence in Charlottesville at a July 19 press briefing, “It’s not that one side was right and one side was wrong.”

County crime report

The Albemarle County Police Department released its annual crime report for 2017 last month. Here are a few things that caught our eye.

-Police misconduct has been reframed in a new “cheers and jeers” section, where police complaints are compared side-by-side with commendations.

  • Complaints: 57
  • Commendations: 69

-The award section may come as a surprise, because Detective Andrew Holmes, who faces five lawsuits for racial profiling, was granted a community service award.

-Albemarle County had the second-lowest crime rate in the state while Charlottesville had the highest. Crime rate is measured by tallying the number of crimes committed per 100,000 people.

  •   Fairfax: 1,273
  •   Albemarle: 1,286
  •   Prince George: 1,334
  •   Arlington: 1,355
  •   Prince William: 1,370
  •   Chesterfield: 1,450
  •   James City: 1,611
  •   Roanoke: 1,638
  •   Henrico: 2,548
  •   Charlottesville: 2,631

-County police officers made 2,296 arrests and used force “to overcome resistance or threat” on 14 occasions.

-Assaults on police officers have gone up and down.

  • 2015: 3
  • 2016: 10
  • 2017: 7