Be afraid, be very afraid County police flex the military metaphor Albemarle County Police Sergeant Peter Mainzer’s eyes lit up as he gazed on the black weapons issued to the department’s SWAT team––the .40-caliber submachine gun, the heavy bullet-proof vests, gas masks purchased with a Federal Homeland Defense grant. “Most of our operations are to […]
Sounds of silence Hiding from cars and John Ashcroft In the middle of McIntire Park, there’s a cluster of trees where you can settle into the green grass and lose yourself in the sounds of swishing leaves and chirping birds––provided you can sneak past the watchman who insists that stretch of the green space is […]
Making the green grade Local pols score on environmentalists’ report cards Call it the age of the report card. Children have to pass a standardized test to graduate from school, Top 10 lists abound for everything from all-time movies to worst hairdos of the past century, and TV shows live and die by the ratings […]
Lining up the shot Court Square Ventures brings unwatched college sports to the tube Chris Holden might have been a rock star. There’s a glimmer in his otherwise sober eyes when he remembers trying to put himself through medical school playing late-night gigs in a piano bar—the name escapes him—somewhere in downtown Richmond. “I would […]
Stripped searches Supreme Court ruling will mean local library users can peek no more If your plans at the public library include reading an e-mail from samantha35@adultfun.com or glancing at www.cumshots.com, you could find your mission thwarted, thanks to the paternalistic justices on the Supreme Court. On June 23, in a 6-3 ruling, the Court […]
License to ill City demands fees from failing business When Jeffery Spinello opened a letter from the City and read that he needed a permit to go out of business, he thought someone was pulling his leg. “In the past 15 years, I’ve opened and closed or sold 12 businesses,” says Spinello, who runs Main […]
Artists to Zion: Deliver us Will performance come to the house of God? In the year of the building’s 119th anniversary, Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Ridge Street stands vacant, and what fills it will likely stir conversation in the coming months. The Mt. Zion congregation held its final service in the building on May […]
Deadline blues Hawkins fails to file, Mitch marches on Blair Hawkins made a last minute decision not to deliver his Republican nomination speech at the local party’s mass meeting on June 2. For one thing, he missed the filing deadline of May 27 at 7pm and couldn’t be nominated, period. For another thing, other than […]
No sizzle, f’shizzle Sparks fly over shutdown of July 4 fireworks This year, the home of Thomas Jefferson may have to celebrate the Declaration of Independence without the traditional pyrotechnics, but not due to lack of effort from local concerned citizens. When Ray Caddell heard that Charlottesville may not have a fireworks display on July […]
Che behind the camera Johnny St. Ours returns with his guerrilla film crew Local “guerrilla” filmmaker Johnny St. Ours will soon be hosting the second summer session of his Guerrilla Film Unit Self-Taught Boot Camp. Anyone who is interested can show up at his studio behind Spencer’s 206 on South Street, shoot a movie on […]