Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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Local Police Troll The County Fair

writes: I visited the Albemarle County Fair for the first time this weekend, and it will be my last visit as well. The fair itself was fun, and I especially enjoyed the fiddling contest and the many llamas that were there strutting their stuff. Unfortunately, the day took a dark turn when we left. As my girlfriend waited for a signal to turn out of the parking area onto the road, a friendly traffic management “volunteer” pointed out that the registration tags on her license plate had expired. Two minutes down the road there was a police car behind us with the lights on. You can guess what he pulled us over for. My girlfriend asked him if he was working with the Fair folk and he wouldn’t deny it, saying only that, “they were having a lot of problems.”

The police used the Fair as an opportunity to look for violations and to nab people on the way out. That’s a huge violation of the goodwill of the people who work hard to make the Fair come together. The Fair should be a place where we can all feel a sense of pride in our community. Being picked over by the police department does not give me that sense of pride. We won’t be back next year.

‘Not Gay’ Disappearing from Good Ol’ Song?

For the past few years, the lyrics to UVa’s “Good Ol’ Song” have been sung differently by many students at football games. After the line “where all is bright and gay,” many students shout out “not gay,” which has resulted in no small amount of turmoil over the years. However, today’s Cavalier Daily reports that Saturday’s game had very few people chanting “not gay,” the quietest within recent memory. This may mark the beginning of the end for “not gay.”

Hospital Fails Inspection

The Health Care Financing Administration, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid services, found problems during their July 12th full-hospital inspection of the UVa Medical Center. UVa has until Friday to provide a plan for correction of these problems. After this step, HFCA will release a report providing a list of the hospital’s deficiencies. The Daily Progress has the story in today’s paper.

Free Bike Program Scaled Down

The Charlottesville Area Bicycling Alliance has simplified their free-bike plan for the town, asking the city for $5,000 to start it up. They plan to sprinkle 30 bright yellow bikes along East and West Main (their original plan was to have them in more locations around the city) for anybody to hop on and ride around. There are a number of similar programs around the country, though perhaps the most well-known programs are Portland’s Yellow Bike Project and Copenhagen Free City Cycle. If CHABA gets the funding that they need from City Council tonight, bicycles will be out there by next month. Jake Mooney has the story in today’s Progress.

CHO US Airways Strike

Folk musician and noted union activist John McCutcheon just gave me a call from the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport. He tells me that the US Airways flight attendants are picketing, and intend to go on strike in eleven days. The Association of Flight Attendants have been negotiating with Piedmont Airlines (a corporation wholly owned by US Airways, serving the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport) for 15 months in an attempt to even up their pay and work hours with US Airways flight attendants. The AFA has been warning that strikes are possible anytime after 12:01am on September 16th. Piedmont Airlines provides the bulk of the flights in and out of CHO, including the daily nonstop runs to Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Philadelphia and New York. A strike would likely severely cripple CHO’s ability to function. For more information, see the AFA’s recent press release.

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