Tuesday, December 12
Bills the kid
 Is there anything this kid can’t do? Among Brian Bills’ abilities are hobnobbing with politicos, generating an uncanny interest in current events among his peers and making us feel really inferior about our accomplishment. |
The Virginia Department of Education announced yesterday that local wunderkind Brian Bills has been named to the Board of Education’s 2006-07 Student Advisory Committee. Bills was a “C-VILLE 20” this year for his work with the local group Young Democrats. Word has it the precocious teen’s got important local government folks ringing up his cell and that he’s rubbed elbows with Barack Obama. And he’s not even old enough to vote! The Charlottesville High Schooler (with a Day Runner that likely weighs eight pounds) will be one of 12 students from across the state to offer a students’ perspective on education issues to the board. Let’s hope the Board of Education has their coffee that morning, because, as local residents know, Bills ain’t got time to mess around.
Wednesday, December 13
The power of celebrity
 Academy Award-winner Robert Duvall is flashing his famous mug for the cause of keeping ugly power lines from slicing through the Piedmont. The actor keeps a farm in Fauquier County. |
Actor and Fauquier farm owner Robert Duvall lent his fame this week to an event organized by the Piedmont Environment Council against a proposed Dominion Virginia power line that would cut from West Virginia through the Piedmont to Loudoun County. The issue has Virginians all over the state—not just famous ones—feeling anxious over ugly power lines. The project would place 125′ electricity towers 1,000′ apart across four counties, the Fauquier Times-Democrat reports, and, Dominion claims, would bolster Northern Virginia’s energy supply and prevent blackouts. Fashion or function, people.
Thursday, December 14
Calling all identity thieves
The Daily Progress reports that a UVA teaching assistant accidentally sent a spreadsheet with 62 students’ Social Security numbers and class grades in an e-mail to that entire class. As embarrassing as the incident likely was for the guy who earned a C-minus, it’s also a glaring reminder that UVA’s use of students’ SSNs for almost every student activity is way un-kosher in the world of identity theft. UVA officials are furiously seeking an alternative to using SSNs and in the meantime, are urging professors to delete computer files with students’ information. Currently, 95 percent of UVA students use their SSN as their student ID number.
Friday, December 15
Who’s the creepy guy next-door?
Apparently, the gaps in Virginia’s sex-offender databank are international news. The International Herald-Tribune published an Associated Press story today detailing a recent development in Virginia’s plan to correct flaws in its sex-offender registry. When Charlottesville Police Captain J.E. “Chip” Harding discovered 125 local felons weren’t properly listed in the registry, he suspected there were larger problems with the system. Felons have been required to submit DNA samples in Virginia since 1989, but although Virginia has the most extensive databank (with 260,000 samples), officials estimate 20 percent—50,000 to 60,000 offenders—could be missing, and it’s not clear whether it’s been the duty of police departments or prisons to collect the data.
Saturday, December 16
Leitao takes a time-out on the naughty chair
 Leitao has left the building: The UVA men’s basketball coach got ejected for arguing calls, but the Cavs still easily conquered Hampton in a 91-69 victory. |
Maybe he had too many cups of coffee or maybe the distraction of the JPA’s new NBA-esq pomp and circumstance finally got under his skin or maybe it was the questionable offensive fouls called against the Cavs in the first half of the game that made UVA basketball coach Dave Leitao go berserk. Drawing two technical fouls for his outbursts, Leitao was ejected with four minutes and 43 seconds left in the first half. According to The Washington Post, the school believes this was the first coach ejection since Terry Holland’s in 1976. Leitao’s absence didn’t prove a factor, however, as the Cavs beat Hampton 91-69. Assistant Coach Rob Lanier obviously did a commendable job taking over command of the troops, but we’re not underestimating the power of a passionate coaching tantrum to energize the team. Remember Bobby Knight’s three NCAA championships?
Sunday, December 17
Grand ol’ rag
Apparently, Old Rag Loop, a seven-mile trip to the mountain’s 3,268′ summit in Shenandoah National Park, is one of the two best day hikes in Virginia. That’s according to the Reader’s Choice Awards in February 2007’s Backpacker magazine. So what if Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area, in the southwestern part of the state, got even bigger props (one of the country’s 10 best)? Ours is only an Old Rag, after all. We’ve had that mountain for simply ages.
Monday, December 18
Macaca man of the year
Talk about being in the right place at the right time. That’s what UVA senior Shekar Ramanuja Sidarth owes to being named as one of 15 citizens in Time magazine’s cover story “Power of the People” and Salon.com’s Person of the Year. In this case, the right place and time was being within eyeshot of Virginia senatorial candidate and former presidential hopeful-turned Tourette’s victim George Allen. In a comment heard ’round the world, Allen called Sidarth “macaca” and welcomed him to “America and the real world of Virginia.” Sidarth, a man of Indian descent who was raised in Virginia, was videotaping an Allen campaign event for Democratic challenger Jim Webb. Allen claims he didn’t know macaca was a term for a monkey or a racial epithet. No matter, Sidarth became a symbol for the implosion of the Allen campaign and a hero to Democrats and non-racists everywhere.
