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By Will Goldsmith, Cathy Harding and Meg McEvoy
GOVERNMENT
Due to the alcohol-related death of Albemarle High School student Nolan Jenkins in a car accident in May, the Albemarle School Board examined off-campus partying and schools’ alcohol policies. Meanwhile, Virginia closed a loophole that allowed parents to serve alcohol to underage guests.
In a campaign riddled with marijuana puns (many for which we are responsible), Congressional hopeful and very loveable local Democrat Al Weed lost the 5th District again to Republican Virgil Goode.
And, city voters rid City Council of Republicans (and excess hair) in May, ousting conservative anomaly Rob Schilling and leaving Council to unabashedly enjoy a $9.9 million budget surplus.
UVA
At UVA, chartered restructuring went into effect July 1, giving the school unprecedented autonomy from the State. Meanwhile a revamped Human Resources system caused anxiety among people like Jan Cornell, president of the Staff Union at UVA, who fear the new system will be worse than the old.
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A lawsuit on behalf of a UVA employee who was critical of aforementioned restructuring raged on this year, with federal courts deciding Dena Bowers’ wrongful firing suit had enough merit to move forward.
And, UVA played annoying little stepbrother to Harvard and Princeton, following in their footsteps by abolishing early admissions, which the schools say negatively affects diversity.
DEVELOPMENT
Property-rights advocates and progrowthers teamed up to quash County efforts to “phase” development rights on rural area properties. The idea was to protect the rural areas from big McMansion style developers.
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And, the next wave of retail made its approach to the shores of Albemarle, as the County accepted the preliminary site plan for Albemarle Place and approved the North Pointe rezoning, which will bring a combined 1.3 million square feet of additional retail space to Route 29.
COURTS & CRIME
Several employees of the Whisper Ridge Behavioral Health System, a mental health facilty for teens, were indicted on charges of custodial abuse.
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Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Paul M. Peatross, on the bench for 21 years in the county, announced his retirement, prompting applications to pour in from the lawyering community to replace him.
And, this year saw too many reports of men who like kids…in that way: Raja Jabbour, an Albemarle High School JV girls’ soccer coach was accused of possession of child pornography; Gregory Briehl, local Lutheran pastor, was found guilty of illegal videotaping and charged with possession of child pornography; and Jonathan Spivey, former Charlottesville High School choir director, was accused of sexually abusing students.
