When Michael Watson, then 55 years old, accepted an unloaded pistol as payment for 24 doses of OxyContin, the definition of a single word came into question. A federal provision criminalizes the "use" of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense and imposes a mandatory consecutive sentence of at least five years. Because of the […]
Bernard Frischer spends most of his life living in—to borrow a line from Stevie Wonder—a pastime paradise. As I sit across from him at the foot of a 20′ projection screen, I can’t help but think that he’s a spittin’ image of the Motown recording artist, wearing dark virtual reality glasses, bathed in colored lights […]
They lay on their backs, shoulder to shoulder, for three minutes. Each was dressed in black, and each wore maroon and yellow ribbons around his or her neck. Thirty-two UVA students held a "lie in" October 16 in protest of what organizers say are the country’s lax gun laws, the 32 signifying the victims of […]
When Kurt Krueger, the president of the Piedmont Family YMCA’s Board of Directors, got up to speak at the October 15 City Council meeting, the first thing he said was that the YMCA and the city have some negotiating to do. The Council is considering a $14 million YMCA facility in McIntire Park, and that […]
This summer, Rydell Payne—executive director of Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries—approached Johnson Elementary Principal Vernon Bock with a proposal. For almost three years, Abundant Life had been working out of their office on Grove Street and in the Blue Ridge Commons area with Johnson’s most needy students as part of an after school program. Twice a […]
Dear Ace: I was a recent passenger of Amtrak‘s Crescent line and had a bit of a mishap. Not-so-spry passengers had to negotiate a wire fence and stumble over an unpaved surface simply to board the train. Is it possible there are no safety guidelines in place to protect at-risk travelers from falling through the […]
One morning almost three years ago, Forest Lakes resident Jim Grace woke up and walked out to look at his stunning view of Hollymead Lake. Stunned he was. "It was suddenly the view of a 20-acre mud puddle," he says. "It just kind of went from there." The "moonscape" land clearing at Hollymead Town Center […]
Built in 1967, the Crozet Shopping Center is now the drab home of a less than pristine Great Valu grocery store. Located in the heart of downtown, it is also an ideal candidate for redevelopment. On October 16, architect Bill Atwood appeared before the Albemarle Planning Commission with just such a request, asking for a […]
In Cecil McDonald's photographs, the opposite of documentary is ambiguity.
cd Sometimes Radiohead‘s front man sounds like a whiny dweeb who needs a lozenge. Then again, sometimes he sings like a sweet, demented angel who’s come to save the universe. Thankfully, the latter Thom Yorke prevails on the band’s latest offering, In Rainbows, which is available online for whatever amount you choose to pay for […]