At 11pm on Saturday night, a 1,200 pound black angus bull escaped the Charlottesville Livestock Market, and managed to escape pursuers, disappearing into Belmont around 5am. Around 1pm on Sunday, the bull turned up 5 miles north of the stockyard. Four officers attempted to contain the bull, but it became enraged, and charged them. Said Sgt. Michael Farruggio, “I’ve never seen the officers move that fast.” In mid-afternoon, a Belmont resident managed to produce a tranquilizer gun, and the animal was shot and hauled into a trailer. “It was fun,” Farruggio concluded. “It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve chased a bull.” Reed Williams had the story in Tuesday’s Progress.
Archive for October, 2003
Twenty-five-year-old Samantha Morris has been arrested for child neglect after a social worker discovered that her five-year-old and two-year-old sons had been left alone to wander through a trailer park, covered in filth. The social worker had gone to the trailer park to check on the five-year-old because he’d been missing school. Morris has been released on bond, and the children have been returned to her custody. Reed Williams has the story in today’s Progress.
Today is Bike to Work Day, WINA reports. Charlottesville Transit Services is providing free rides to anybody with a bike to put on the buses’ bike racks. It’s CTS’ hope that they can promote the bike/ride approach to commuting in order to cut down on automobile usage. Did you bike or walk to work? Have you? Would you?
Albemarle County police officer and firearms instructor David Wallace was unloading his service pistol yesterday morning when the gun discharged, firing a 40-caliber round into his right leg. The experienced shooter and member of the county tactical team was given first aid until a rescue squad took him to the UVa Medical Center, where he was reported to be in good condition. Reed Williams has the story in today’s Progress.
At last night’s Albemarle County Planning Commission meeting, vintner Patricia Kluge was denied the special-use permit that she sought to build a 28-home development just south of Monticello. Much of the area in question is set aside as an agricultural and forest preservation area, leaving one commissioner wondering how the proposal ever got as far as the commission, given the obvious conflict between the land use planning and Kluge’s intentions. Current zoning would permit 30 homes to be built on the property, albeit in quite a different configuration. Next, the proposal goes before the Board of Supervisors. David Dadurka has the story in today’s Progress.
Two Charlottesville residents have been arrested and charged with mob assault, active participation in a criminal street gang, and recruitment of a juvenile to join a street gang, following an attack on two UVa students two weeks ago. According to Chief Longon, 27-year-old Paul Jones and the 17-year-old selected their victims at random, an assertion that runs contrary to initial reports. A third suspect is wanted, 18-year-old Dustin Knighton. Each have been identified as members of the “D-Block” gang. Reed Williams had the story in today’s Progress.
The City of Charlottesville has launched a new program to seek addition revenue. Through their “Friends of Charlottesville” program, they’re asking for donations from the general public. It is not uncommon for people to declare that they would happily pay a little extra for a particular service, but there’s never been a means to follow through and make that possible. Council — both the Democrats and the Republican — support the program, believing that this program will not only provide an outlet for those people, but hopefully help the city get state and federal grants by allowing them to demonstrate community support. Liz Nelson has the story in today’s Progress.
There’s one issue that all six candidates for the three open Albemarle County Board of Supervisors seats have in common: growth. They all agree that the county’s rural nature is being threatened by suburbanization, and they all agree that some sort of growth limitation is necessary. From there, though, opinions diverge, as Wyant and Strucko (White Hall); Hallock and Boyd (Rivanna); and Dorrier and Fletcher (Scottsville) seek to distance themselves from their respective opponents. In today’s Progress, David Dadurka has a rundown of all the candidates’ positions on the topic.
Yesterday afternoon, a tractor trailer overturned, dumping its 30,000 pound load of semi-rotten chicken across a forty-foot stretch of Rt. 64 at exit 121. The chicken parts were being taken to the Valley Proteins processing plant in Linville, to be turned into dog food for Alpo, Heinz and Ralston-Purina. The smell was so bad that one onlooker actually vomited. The accident was the result of a driver hydroplaning off of the exit and onto the highway, and then colliding with the truck. Claudia Pinto has the story in today’s Progress.
Belle writes: A federal grand jury has been convened in Charlottesville to hear the testimony of witnesses who might know something about the alleged attack of February 26th on Daisy Lundy, who was then a candidate in a hotly contested UVa Student Council run-off election. Alexis Unkovic has the story in today’s Cavalier Daily.
dsewell writes: All over UVa Grounds today there are flyers from the University Democrats announcing that presidential candidate Al Sharpton will speak at Old Cabell Hall this Sunday, Oct. 19, at 3:15 p.m. Sharpton has been gaining respect for leadership and eloquence in the Democratic debates (as a Washington Post op-ed noted, he was the only candidate on the platform at the Baltimore debate capable of dealing with a couple of LaRouchite hecklers intent on disrupting the proceedings). Is he finally making it into the political mainstream?
Gordonsville police officer Emerson Brown failed to come home from work on Friday, October 10th. When he didn’t turn up, an expensive, intensive search was launched. Searchers found him early Monday morning in Fredericksburg, where police reported that he had not been kidnapped, and that his gun was missing. What had led him to Gordonsville was unknown, but the Orange County Sheriff was more worried about missing service weapon, which the sheriff said had not been “forcibly taken” taken from him. Now the sheriff has launched an investigation, and Officer Brown is saying that he was on a private mission to find two people that had stolen his gun at gunpoint. (Presumably, that’s two different guns.) Nobody’s buying his story, and he’s been suspended from the force. No charges have been filed yet. Two points to the first person who connects Officer Brown to ex-deputy Stephen Shiflett.
Coran Capshaw and Dave Matthews Band’s MusicToday have announced that they are moving their ticketing operations from their Ivy location to the former ConAgra plant in Crozet, which Capshaw bought in early 2001. He had long sought to find a frozen-food company to occupy the space, but was unsuccessful in doing so. The company is considering moving all of their operations from their buildings in the Ivy Business Park to the unusual structure, but that is currently undecided. David Dadurka has the story in today’s Progress.
In an effort to designate a supporting environment for gay students at Western Albemarle High School, some guidance counselors have put a rainbow triangle on their door. It was less than two years ago that the school board expanded their anti-discrimination rules to cover sexual orientation, a move that was prompted by anti-gay sentiments and even violence among some students. Parent Biff Rossberg wants the triangles to come down, calling them “a back-handed way of working around the requirements for getting sexuality information into the family life education curriculum.” He describes homosexuality as “immoral” and an “aberration,” complains that “this is so agenda driven,” and, believing the triangles may encourage homosexuality, asserts that girls are “making out in the cafeteria,” but goes on to say “I don’t have a homophobic bone in my body.” At-large school board candidate Linda McRaven agrees with Rossberg, while her opponent, Brian Wheeler, dissents. Says school superintendent Kevin Castner of the triangles: “They don’t promote anything other than a safe harbor for kids.” He’s ruled that the triangles aren’t going anywhere, but Rossberg intends to take his case to the school board. Lisa Provence has the story in this week’s Hook. 10/28/03 Update: Rossberg has commented extensively in response to this story.
For the past week a bear — or possibly two bears — have been wandering around Charlottesville, mostly around Rugby Road. On the 22nd, a bear was cornered by police officers, but got spooked when somebody took a flash photo of it, so an officer shot it twice. The bear spotted since then has shown no sign of being injured, leading to speculation that there may be two separate bears. A wildlife biologist is on call, and it’s hoped that the bear(s) can be tranquilized and released outside of the city. Elizabeth Nelson has the story in today’s Progress. If you see the bear, please call police, and look after him on behalf of Aunt Lucy. No flash photography, please.
Lafe writes: Last night, between about 8:00 and 8:30p, Charlottesville was treated to a fine view of the Aurora Borealis. It started with a red glow that transormed into a beautiful “curtain” of red and white light. It appeared to move from the north to the south, over a period of about half an hour. Space Weather is saying that another CME offers Charlottesville another shot at seeing the Northern Lights in our skies tonight and tomorrow night. So go outside and look up!
Post some pictures!
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