Alvin Lee “Butch” Morris is free of the charges that he killed Roger Shifflett back in 1988, Tasha Kates writes in today’s Daily Progress. You’ll recall that Morris was arrested for the murder last year, with the bizarre twist that he went on to marry his alleged victim’s wife. The new evidence that came last year was DNA testing of cigarette butts found at the scene of the crime, which matched Morris’s DNA. But a jury deadlocked, and there was a mistrial. Commonwealth’s attorney Denise Lunsford hasn’t dropped the charges—she’s hopeful that more evidence will come to light—but she isn’t going to push for a second trial now, since there’s no reason to think that the outcome would be any different than the first one.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for August, 2009
A Shippensburg University study has found that the ecological carrying capacity of the county will have a hard time with continued growth, Brandon Shulleeta writes in today’s Progress. Commissioned by Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population—and funded in part by the city and the county—the study (4.9MB PDF) is limited to environmental matters, and considers how well our water, air, and other natural resources on which we depend will fare under an ever-increasing population density. It turns out that the trouble starts when the population climbs from our existing 140,000 to 217,000, when we’d wind up with air pollution problems, nitrogenous waste in water, and storm water filling our lakes and streams. The forecast was done in part with the CITYgreen program, a sort of a grownup SimCity.
The good news is that the requisite 55% population growth is a long way off, but the bad news is that it’s well within my likely lifetime. These results are sort of obvious—more people are bad for the environment, duh—but the ability to quantify the county’s ecological carrying capacity is important as one of a great many factors to use to determine if we want to grow, how much we want to grow, and how fast that we want to do it.
Disclaimer: I’m on the board of ASAP, I’ve helped oversee this study in that (limited) capacity, and I helped write the press release announcing this study. Really, I’m about as biased as I could be on this, save that I’ve got no financial interest in the matter.
In 1994, Joel and Ben Jones created a mockumentary honoring “Zeke Hoffmeyer” for Live Arts’ “Off the Mall” show that summer. At the time, the story of the slacker Gen X musician and downtown denizen was hilarious, timely, and intertwined perfectly with the real downtown Charlottesville. Joel made Zeke Hoffmeyer available online this weekend, and I just watched it for the first time in fifteen years. It’s aged beautifully. If you spent any significant time living, working, or relaxing downtown during the mid-90s, you’re bound to enjoy this look back into that time. And even if you didn’t, heck, it’s just plain funny; carve out twenty three minutes and give it a watch.
City Council is again talking about moving the Farmer’s Market to a permanent location, Rachana Dixit writes in today’s Progress. It’s been setting up in the metered lot on Water St. for a little more than fifteen years now; before that it was in the Jefferson School parking lot, as I recall. On Monday night Council talked about making another push at finding some better digs for the weekly market, although that’s something that comes up every few years and never goes anywhere. Court Square is the perennial suggestion, both for historical accuracy and because it lends itself to a decent shopping experience today, but it’s not clear how vendors would be able to set up there with the ease that they do at the current location. At this point, it’s all just talk—here’s no movement that indicates that anything’s more likely to happen now than before.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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