Conservationist Arrested for Protesting Paving

Published by Waldo Jaquith on September 8, 2004 in Politics. 20 Comments

Woolen Mills resident Louis Schultz was arrested last week after lying down in front of a paver in an effort to stop what he argues is an illegal paving. His neighbor on Steephill Street hired a private crew to come in and pave the city-owned road. Schultz has no desire to have the road paved, and was concerned that the paving would lead to pollution of the stream in his yard. More important, it’s in no way clear that an individual can take it upon themselves to substantially alter public property in such a manner. Lisa Provence has the story in The Hook, and don’t miss Jen Fariello’s hi-larious photos of the goings on.

Disclaimer: Louis is a long-time friend. For that matter, I’ve known Jen and Lisa for a long time, too…I don’t know why I bother with these disclaimers. It’s a small town. We all know that now.

ABC, CBS Stations Launch

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 27, 2004 in Business. 16 Comments

As planned, both the CBS (WCAV) and the ABC (WVAW) stations are on the air now, on channels 19 (18 cable) and 16 (3 cable), respectively. Both are just repeaters for national content, and won’t have local news until mid-October, or so goes the plan. The third new station, WCVL, is still shooting for a mid-November launch date, but there remains the matter of the $2M start-up funding. Inevitably, there is the question of whether the town can support a whopping four local TV stations — with the demise of the Observer, the question of how many local weeklies that Charlottesville can support may have been answered. Lisa Provence has the story in this week’s Hook.

Batten Down the Hatches: Students Returning

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 27, 2004 in UVa. 9 Comments

It’s time for the annual influx: this weekend, the students return, with UVa’s fall session starting on Monday. Somewhere between 5k-10k visitors will accompany the student body, which will include 3,100 incoming freshmen. Traffic should be as bad as always, so plan to avoid Emmett St. and West Main St. Kate Andrews has the story in today’s Progress.

Coked-Up Gordonsville Cop Imprisoned

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 26, 2004 in Law and Justice. 2 Comments

Gordonsville police officer Emerson Brown — who disappeared in October of last year, then reappeared claiming that he’d gone on a mission to hunt down some people who stole his gun, then was fired, then turned out to have just gone on a cocaine bender in Fredericksburg, where he traded his service pistol for drugs — has been sentenced to five years in prison (4.5 suspended), having pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement and another six months (suspended) for making false statements to police. Apparently, the cocaine wasn’t a problem, since that charge was dropped. (“It’s not the cocaine that bothers me…it’s that you lied about it.”) Olympia Meola has the story in today’s Progress.

Police Shooting at Friendship Court

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 26, 2004 in Law and Justice. Closed

Things seem to be getting tense in the community after two police officers shot a man in a struggle at Friendship Court, a man who is now in critical condition at the UVa Medical Center. Officers William Sclafani and Jeremy Carper responded to a call about a man who had entered an apartment without permission and begun to damage it. When they arrived, the man — Kerry Von Reese Cook — was hiding in a bedroom closet, and refused to leave. The police began to struggle with him, and the situation escalated to the point that officer Sclafani shot Cook, though it’s not clear exactly how that escalation occurred. The officers are on a routine administrative leave, and have been treated for injuries sustained in the scuffle. Reed Williams has the story in today’s Progress.

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