Rover makes it safe at home

Q: Ace: With a serial rapist still on the prowl and some recent intrusions into homes where women were sleeping, our sense of safety is shaken. Can you tell me, did any of these women have dogs, or if dogs even make a difference in situations when it’s Man against Woman and her Beast?—Germanna Shepherd […]

How low can you go?

“I flunked,” Marybeth Wagner jokes as she checks out the nutrition facts on a bag of her favorite cookies, Pepperidge Farms’ Double-Chocolate Milanos, finding that they contain more than 20 grams of fat per serving—far more than the three grams or less she’s shooting for. Wagner and her two daughters are checking the nutrition facts […]

Trash talking

Q: My mind’s a little foggy these days, but if my memory serves me true, I believe that the upscale housing development of Mill Creek out on Avon Street Extended is located on what was once a city dump. With prices soaring for a Mill Creek home, say these poor folks aren’t getting royally duped!—Miss […]

Politics as unusual

There has never been a shortage of partisanship in presidential campaigns, as each party spends millions of dollars to support its nominee and rally its base. Yet while both sides have actively supported their candidates in recent years, there hasn’t been a lot of excitement.    Wake Us When It’s Over is the title of Jack […]

Stumper thumper

Q: Ace, a little bird told me the City recently chopped down the last two trees at Court Square. I understand that Charlottesville aspires to achieve a semblance of metropolitan chic, but does that mean our innocent trees must suffer?—Tré Hugger A: C’est vrai, Monsieur Hugger. A couple weeks ago, as part of the Court […]

Run for your life

Wes Kessenich doesn’t look crazy. Not at all. His sandy brown hair, slightly receding, is parted neatly on the left. He’s wearing a white dress shirt, a conservative blue and silver tie, dark slacks and black wingtip shoes. He’s about 5′ 8", 150 pounds. Watching him stroll across the lobby of Martha Jefferson Hospital, where […]

Potty pooper

Q: Ace, I just got a parking ticket in the Water Street parking lot because I fed the meter I thought corresponded to my parking space. Turns out, that meter belonged to the Port-a-Potty that occupies the space next the space where I parked! Tell me I’m crazy, but what kind of public restroom needs […]

It’s Capsaw’s world

It’s Capshaw’s world …we just live in it Real estate mogul Coran Capshaw may not be the biggest developer in town, but he’s the glitziest A whiff of development was in the air on a recent gusty spring afternoon. As it blew across W. Main Street, a stiff breeze carried the smell of freshly cut […]

Cicadas bring in the noise

Q: Hey Ace, I’ve been hearing lately that we’re going to get walloped this summer by this major cicada swarm. Is it true that we’re going to be besieged by insects? And are they dangerous?—Bugsy Malone A: The summer’s bumper cicada crop certainly has people abuzz, Bugsy. But Ace put his ear to the ground […]

Burning Bush

George Bush strides confidently in the background, looking strong and presidential. As the images taken from his campaign ads referring to the September 11 attacks scroll across the screen, a voiceover intones, “George Bush shamelessly exploited 9/11 in his campaign commercials.” Soon after, we hear the voice of Bush’s former counter-terrorism chief, Richard Clarke: “Frankly […]