Monthly Archive for August, 2011

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Whom Do You Endorse?

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 17, 2011 in Politics. 34 Comments

It’s that time again. This Saturday, Charlottesville Democrats will hold their primary at Burley Middle School from 9am–7pm, where people will be voting for the Democratic nominees for City Council and Clerk of Court. Any Democrat can show up at any point in the day and cast their ballot. (Note that Democrats use an instant runoff voting system now, which is a really great voting system that ensures that the most popular candidates win, rather than just the candidates that crack some incredibly low percentage required in a race with a lot of candidates. To see what the somewhat unusual ballot will look like, visit the Charlottesville Democrats’ website.)

This is your chance to convince people to support your candidates of choice. For Clerk of Court, the candidates are Llezelle Dugger, Paul Garrett, and Pam Melampy. And for City Council, the candidates are Paul Beyer, Colette Blount, Brevy Cannon, Kathleen Galvin, James Halfaday, Satyendra Huja, and Dede Smith. A lot of people haven’t made their mind up for clerk, and there are plenty of people who know one or two people who they want to support for council, and are looking to round up their list. Make a pitch for the candidates you’re passionate about. (For them, not against the other candidates. You do your candidate no favors attacking the opposition at this point.) Don’t support any of the Democrats? Then this as a chance to persuade people to sit out the primary and support one of the independent candidates.

Buyaki Running for Reelection

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 17, 2011 in General News. 1 Comment

Albemarle School Board member Jason Buyaki is running for reelection. He was appointed in February to complete Ronnie Price’s term.

Remembering the Ridge Drive-In Theater

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 16, 2011 in History. 11 Comments

My friend Rosanna Bencoach recently scanned in a few bits of memorabilia from the Ridge Drive-In Theater, which her father managed from 1953–1965, and she’s kind enough to let me share them here. Although I’m a generation too young to have ever gone there, I’m told the theater was adjacent to Hydraulic, between the bypass and 29, or basically where Kroger and Dominion Power are located now. Here’s a colorized black and white aerial photo, taken in the late fifties:

Ridge Drive-In Theater, Charlottesville, Virginia

You can also see scans of the April 1964 and August 1961 movie schedules, with features including The Facts of Life (starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball), West Side Story, Flipper, and Gidget Goes to Rome.

Nation Notices Study in Scarlet

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 15, 2011 in Education. 5 Comments

It was last week that the Albemarle School Board voted to remove Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet from the sixth grade reading list, in response to a parent’s complaint that the book’s portrayal of Mormons is insulting to them. Now it’s making national headlines with outlets like The Atlantic and Time writing of the book’s “ban.” (It wasn’t banned—it was stricken from the sixth grade reading list.) The brief novel was the first Sherlock Holmes story, one of four novels featuring the famed detective, although it was the short stories that made the character famous. A committee was appointed to read the book, and in the committee’s report (2.9MB PDF) they explain that they “could not fathom how anyone who read the book with a critical eye could not see the overwhelming religious bias presented,” and that the book’s general lack of critical claim made it a less than ideal choice for introducing middle school students to the genre, anyhow. I recommend starting with Part 2, Chapter 3 to get a sense of the book’s depiction of the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Since there’s really nothing more to this story, presumably the national attention will die off pretty quickly.

Libertarian Running for School Board

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 12, 2011 in Education and Politics. Closed

Charlottesville Libertarian Steven Latimer is running for school board, Graham Moomaw reports. The 24-year-old and newly minted library employee is running on a platform of limiting spending on education and establishing more charter schools. The 2009 VCU graduate moved to “the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Charlottesville” a year and a half ago. He’s an occasional blogger and regular twitterer. (Note that school board elections are non-partisan, so parties don’t nominate candidates, nor is party affiliation listed on the ballot.) Latimer is the fifth candidate to declare for the four seats up for election this year.

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