Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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Early Progress Archives Go Online

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 2, 2013 in History. 7 Comments

The Daily Progress’ earliest archives have been made available online, the newspaper reports, in an effort spearheaded by Jefferson Madison Regional Library and facilitated by the University of Virginia library. Eight people collaborated to scan in and catalog most every issue from 1892–1923, with the resulting scans hosted on UVA’s website. They’re just images scanned from microfilm at this point—the text itself isn’t searchable, and it can be tough to read at times—but it’s a great start. The project was funded jointly by JMRL and a private foundation.

So far I’ve just been opening up random issues and browsing around, and it’s just fascinating. Local history buffs are going to disappear into these archives and not be seen for weeks. For example, to pick one out of a hat, the front page of of the December 4, 1894 issue informs us that “metal is now being placed on Park Street”; “pheasants, judging from the number seen at the restaurants, are quite plentiful”; “the first car was placed on the electric street car line”; and “Mr. Thomas A. Marshall, while engaged in cutting feed for stock yesterday at ‘Clairmont’ Farm, had the misfortune to sever the index finger of his left hand between the first and second joints.”

News is enormously valuable the day that it’s published. Its value drops precipitously thereafter but, given enough time, it begins to rise again. Apparently after 121 years, it’s nearly as good as today’s news.

Hook Sued, But Case Promptly Dropped

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 20, 2012 in Law and Justice and Meta News. Closed

Here’s a bit of old news that’s new to me, from Courthouse News Service: The Hook was sued for libel in September, but the lawsuit was withdrawn the very next day. Curtis Ofori claimed a dozen defamatory statements in a December 2011 article about UVA student Kathryn Russell and her alleged rape by Curtis Ofori. The possibility of a libel suit was even pondered within the article, with attorney David Heilberg speculating that Ofori would be unlikely to sue, because he wouldn’t want the resulting public scrutiny of the matter. With the lawsuit dropped, that is presumably the end of the matter.

Ownership Change, New Editor at The Hook

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 19, 2012 in Business and Meta News. 19 Comments

Two years after The Hook and C-Ville Weekly merged their parent companies, founder Hawes Spencer is selling his shares and stepping down as editor. Senior Editor Courteney Stuart, a founding staffer at the publication, will become the new editor, effective January 1. In contrast with the acrimonious 2002 split that calved The Hook from C-Ville Weekly, this is by all accounts a friendly parting of ways, with Spencer off for new opportunities. In a phone conversation with Spencer this morning, he expressed confidence in Stuart, and is clearly enthusiastic about seeing his newspaper continue after his eleven-year time at the helm.

Army Corps Wants to See Bypass Alternatives

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 12, 2012 in Government and Transportation. 3 Comments

The Army Corps of Engineers needs to be convinced that there aren’t better ideas than the Western Bypass, Sean Tubbs reports for Charlottesville Tomorrow. The news organization learned about this by a FOIA request. The road will impact about three acres of wetland and seven thousand feet of stream frontage, and the Corps’ job is to make sure that this causes as little harm as possible, which means providing a permit only for the solution to the transportation problem at hand that has the least impact on those resources. Although some studies along these lines have been performed, they were done two decades ago, and are quite possibly no longer meaningful. The Corps wants to know why they decided not to use grade-separated interchanges, and what parts of the Places29 project are actually going to happen. VDOT’s rushed approval process provided no time to deal with concerns like these, requiring that they be handled as they’re raised, rather than anticipating them. It’s possible that VDOT will conduct another study, although it’s also possible that they’ll persuade the Corps that it’s not necessary.

Jefferson School Open for Business

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 11, 2012 in Development. 2 Comments

At long last, the old Jefferson School has been rehabilitated, Lisa Provence writes for The Hook. There was nearly a decade of talk about the proper use of the long-time blacks-only school, especially given its great location on 4th Street NW. A group got an $18M loan to overhaul the facility and turn it into a community resource, and it now houses Carver Recreation Center, the African American Heritage Center, and Martha Jefferson Hospital’s new wellness center (helpful now that they’ve moved out of the downtown area). PVCC, JABA, and Literacy Volunteers are also due to occupy the building, as well as a café. The public grand opening is next month.

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