Exploring campus black history

In 1936, “Jefferson’s University” so wanted to maintain its segregated self that it implemented a unique admissions policy for dealing with black applicants. Its forward-thinking solution? The best and brightest African American minds were paid to go anywhere but UVA—”anywhere” usually being a blacks-only college, according to a new weekly tour of UVA’s African American history.

Developers talk affordable housing

“The real answer to solve our affordability problems for our mainstream workforce lie in our for-profit developers.” So thought Dave Phillips, CEO of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors, following an August affordable housing info session with various nonprofit groups at the County Planning Commission. To give the County the developers’ perspective on affordable housing, Phillips organized a similar work session on October 24 with local developers Vito Cetta, Josh Goldschmidt and Don Franco.

Chain reaction

Dear Cy: Oh, Ace sure does hate being hassled by The Man! And, ever the libertine, he certainly understands your deep-seated desire (or narrow-seated desire, as the case may be) to flout the laws of the land, and to pedal wherever your heart leads you. Yes, Cy, you and Ace are the last cowboys-he free men of the range who spit in the eye of authority and invite all others to eat our dust.

Groovers and shakers

“Charlottesville”? Sometimes it seems like they may as well call it “Musicville.” From eager bards lining up at open-mic nights to secretive electronica geeks hunkering in basements, this town has more than its share of musicians. With many would-be stars orbiting the community, perhaps it’s natural that someone would serve as a center of gravity. […]

Piercing Questions

A: That’s a pretty sharp question, Needling (sorry, Ace couldn’t resist). But seriously. Ritualistic piercing has been a part of the “body modification” menu since at least 1979, when Fakir Musafar, known in some circles as the “father of the modern primitive movement,” presented his personal piercing work at the first International Tattoo Convention. On […]

Growing up in public

When Joy Johnson moved into Westhaven, the City expected public housing residents to follow the rules, not help make them. With little else besides willpower and her own commanding voice, she has given residents unprecedented influence in the notoriously raucous world of Charlottesville housing politics. As an activist, Johnson has relished her role in the mix, but as a mother, she is ambivalent about the challenges her family has faced as a result.

Shootings spur investigation, lawsuits

Local police are being questioned for their use of force in several incidents. An investigation by Virginia State Police will look into a Charlottesville police shoot-out October 20 that left fugitive Elvis Gene Shifflett wounded and hospitalized. Less than a week later, two cousins who were shot by police in separate incidents in 2004 filed suit against the Albemarle and Charlottesville police departments.

Man pleads guilty to JPA Rape

Police think they’ve found the real rapist in the year-old case of a UVA law student. John Henry Agee pleaded guilty October 24 to sexually assaulting the woman and acknowledged the court could also convict him of rape. But a man who was wrongly accused of the crime is still suing the victim for misidentifying […]

Choose life, activists say

Virginia has a long love affair with capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the colonies was in 1608 when Capt. George Kendall was put to death in Jamestown for being a Spanish spy. Four years later, the governor issued the Divine, Moral and Martial Laws, which imposed death for even minor offenses such as killing chickens, trading with Indians and—wait for it—stealing grapes.

Bowers case to go forward

The case of a fired UVA employee seeking $1 million for wrongful termination inched its way up the legal ladder last week. On October 24, U.S. District Court judge Norman K. Moon ruled that while some of her secondary claims wouldn’t hold up, on the constitutional claims Dena Bowers just may have a point.Bowers is […]