Medical personnel attend to the victim, whose pelvis was shattered in the incident.
PHOTO BY REID DAVISWORTH

The monster truck emcee struck and rolled over by one of the trucks in the Friday, March 12 show at John Paul Jones Arena remained hospitalized in serious condition at UVA hospital on Tuesday, March 16, and according to a representative for the company responsible for organizing the weekend’s two shows, the prognosis for the injured man, Ken Dickinson of Lyndhurst, is bright.

“I had the pleasure of speaking with him Saturday at intermission,” says Zane Rettew, safety and entertainment director for Checkered Flag Productions. “They expect him to make a full recovery.”

According to Rettew, Dickinson (more)

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Pilot James Arvid Youngquist, 62, of Reston died in the Louisa crash.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Less than a week after a fatal plane crash at a front yard in Louisa, the National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report which cites “a loss of engine power” and several recent bouts of trouble with the right engine of the twin-propellered Cessna which crashed March 4 shortly after take-off.

“The right engine had problems,” says flight instructor Skip Degan, although he seconds NTSB investigator Bob Gretz’s caution, uttered when interviewed at the site a day after the wreck, against drawing conclusions from such an early report.

Still, instructor Degan says the report’s emphasis on engine troubles and power loss, coupled with witness statements that the plane was discharging grayish black smoke and appeared to be rolling before a nose-down impact point to a chilling scenario: a stall-spin.

Degan, who examined the report but is unconnected to the investigation, notes that (more)

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The Cessna Crusader burned after impact.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

A preliminary report pointing to possible causes of the fatal front-yard crash of a private plane in Louisa could be posted later this week, following National Transportation Safety Board policy.

“It’s really day one of an investigation that takes about six months,” said NTSB official Bob Gretz. “We’re still in the fact-finding phase.”

Gretz, a senior air safety investigator based in New Jersey, made his comments on site March 5, a day after the twin-engine Cessna Crusader crashed shortly after take-off from Freeman Field in Louisa, a town about 20 miles east of Charlottesville.

The pilot, identified as 62-year-old James “Jay” Youngquist of Reston, died in the fire, which consumed the one-and-a-half story Cape Cod-style residence near Jefferson Highway, better known as U.S. 33. A man inside (more)

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Route 53– the main connection b/w Charlottesville and Fluvanna’s Lake Monticello remains closed.
VDOT WEBSITE

5:30am Tuesday update: the Newsplex reported yesterday afternoon that car-strewn Route 53 has finally reopened, yet eastbound Hydraulic Road near K-Mart has been closed due to icy conditions. (The Hookmobile drove several miles down Rt. 53 at 3pm yesterday to Simeon, but turned around in utter frustration because the lead vehicle in a four-car snake— a dark green Ford truck— refused to go over 15mph despite a “blackometer” level of about 70%.)

Orig. story: Crews are slowly extracting the dozens of abandoned cars along Route 53, southeast of Charlottesville as the Christmas Snowpocalypse enters day four of non-stop, non-stick mayhem.

The Hookmobile went out Monday morning for another tour of Charlottesville and environs. This slideshow shows what we found.

Also, this is the noontime Hook “Blackometer,” the percentage of black asphalt available on a few given streets:
• Route 250W/Ivy Road - 5%
• Emmet Street - 60%
• Main Street - 20%
• Rugby Road - 30%
• Market Street - 40%
• Barracks Road - 50%
• Route 29 South - 60%
• Old Lynchburg Road - 0.00%

Please note that these estimates may change as the day’s sunshine heats up the pavement. And authorities caution nighttime drivers that daytime’s snowmelt can create nighttime’s hazardous black ice.

Archive:
• Saturday’s slideshow
• Sunday’s slideshow

—original headline: “Still closed: Route 53 a mess; so’s everything else”
—second headline misstated closing party’s name: “53’s opened: But now VDOT’s slammed Hydraulic shut”

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A stuck truck, Saturday morning on 29 southbound.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

2:59pm update: new slideshow from Western Albemarle. (previous slideshow).

According to a new release from Albemarle County spokesperson Lee Catlin sent a few minutes before noon, officials allege that Route 29 South— utterly closed since early moments of the snow storm Friday— is now open for its entire length into Nelson County, but Catlin’s release warns that conditions are still very challenging and residents are discouraged from driving “except when absolutely necessary.”

At some point, people will start asking why Central Virginia’s major north-south thoroughfare— a road so important that millions of dollars have been spent studying ways to make its traffic move faster— could have closed when just three inches had fallen and then stayed closed for more than a day and a half.

“We’ll look at this incident as well as everything else that happened during the storm once we get through it,” says VDOT spokesperson Lou Hatter. “Right now we’re trying to get the roads open.”

Hatter says he knows of no other Charlottesville area primary road that remains closed, though he notes that Interstate 81 has had some blockages southwest of here.

As previously reported, the Route 29 stoppage created a multi-mile queue that induced snow-capable cars to turn around but left other cars and practically all  truckers trapped.

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Ivy Road Saturday near Ednam at 9:37am.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

The two Charlottesville-area shelters have nearly 100 people holed up inside, according to a morning release from Albemarle County spokesperson Lee Catlin, who estimates approximately 45 people at UVA’s Aquatics and Fitness Center and another 50 at the North Garden Fire Department.

Meanwhile, Route 29 South remains a disaster with cars still getting stuck and rescue workers extricating drivers, according to Catlin.

Although the sun is shining, temperatures are still below freezing, and although most primary roads are “passable” according to Catlin, secondary roads remain “treacherous.”

With thousands without power and many trapped at home, the National Guard has removed several people with medical emergencies from their homes, while officials have renewed their plea for four wheel drive vehicles to help move stranded motorists and emergency and healthcare workers. Volunteers should call 434-979-INFO.

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One of the nine cars that slid off Dick Woods Road between Rt. 250 and I-64 before 7pm Friday.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

The botched commute that opened what appears on its way to becoming a record December snowfall has turned into an unwelcome slumber party for at least two dozen strangers who had been trying to get home along Thomas Jefferson Parkway and Scottsville Road, according to Albemarle County spokesperson Lee Catlin, who notes in a pre-dawn release that “at some time at around midnight, stranded motorists began to be transported to the Monticello and North Garden fire stations, with a total of about 25 being sheltered there overnight.”

The emergency around Charlottesville has gotten so dire that, Catlin notes, the National Guard has begun providing rescue assistance. As of early Saturday morning, she notes, there are about 100 cars— many still occupied— on Scottsville Road, aka Route 20 South.

Meanwhile, on Monacan Trail (Route 29 South), Catlin notes, there are another 100 cars and about 75 tractor trailers stranded— most since 5pm Friday, shortly after the storm began.

Officials have opened a shelter at UVA’s Aquatics & Fitness Center, with the Red Cross bringing a trailer full of cots and blankets and Albemarle’s Social Services Department staffing the facility. VDOT reports that Route 29 in southern Albemarle County is closed between Route 692 (Plank Road) and the Nelson County line.

Catlin notes that rescue efforts have been hampered by the vast numbers of stranded and abandoned vehicles, and residents are “strongly encouraged” not to drive until conditions improve. However, anyone with a four-wheel-drive vehicle to help transport hospital personnel and other essential workers is encouraged to call the Emergency Communications Center at 434-979-INFO.

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Westbound Route 250 traffic, seen from the Toddsbury lot at 6:56pm, crawled through the village of Ivy.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Commuter vehicles driven without appropriate equipment or skills are scattered like toys tonight, as the first two inches of what could become a two-foot snowfall brought Charlottesville-Albemarle transportation to a near standstill.

There were two vehicles stopped on westbound Route 250 Bypass just west of the McIntire Road exit around 6:15pm, turning the normal commuter artery into a capillary. Meanwhile, on Interstate 64, traffic never got above 30mph, and several drivers— apparently traumatized by the concept of driving in snow— were running with their emergency blinkers.

The situation in Albemarle on Dick Woods Road bordered on the ridiculous, as a reporter counted nine vehicles nosed into ditches along a half-mile stretch near Ivy Depot.

Two cars that smashed together head-on on Route 250 west of Morgantown Road stalled traffic and made for a 3 1/2-hour commute from downtown Charlottesville to Crozet for those leaving around 4:30pm. On Ivy Road heading west, speeds at times reached 5mph until grinding to a soul-deadening halt for hours. Route 240 and its uphill trajectory also proved tricky for autos without four- or front-wheel drive, causing further delays.

“It’s surprising that the salt is not doing as good a job as it usually does,” said City spokesperson Ric Barrick, who reserved blame for the havoc on commuters who waited downtown too long and set out without four-wheel-drive vehicles.

“We’ll start plowing when it gets to three inches, so that should start shortly,” Barrick said at 7:25pm. “VDOT hasn’t started plowing yet either.”

Barrick explained that plows require sufficient snow to create a buffer between blade and pavement to avoid injuring the asphalt.

Updated 9:16pm December 18.

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The northbound lane of U.S. 29 south tries to capture motorists’ attention.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

The billboard may not win a Clio. But all Albemarle County Police really want is to stop the carnage on U.S. 29 south of Charlottesville.

Unlike its more heavily traveled counterpart north of town, the southern Monacan Trail end of U.S. 29 is usually a pretty easy, uncongested drive. So when the 2009 death toll between I-64 and the Nelson County line reached seven by October, Albemarle County Police looked for a way to slam the brakes on those grim statistics.

“It’s a disturbing trend,” says Lieutenant Todd Hopwood, who noted December 17 that there were no fatalities on 29 South the previous four years. Yet during the last week of October, two accidents took three lives in a couple days, and within a quarter-mile of each other. One was activist farmer Kathryn Russell, who was struck crossing 29 at Plank Road October 22 and thrown from her truck.

Why the sudden spate of deaths? Police found two things in common: five of the seven were not wearing seatbelts, and five were from out of town.

In a multi-agency effort, Albemarle police have stepped up patrols and added  rumble strips and a radar-equipped, your-speed-is sign.

AAA of the Mid-Atlantic sprang for the $1,500 billboard near Crossroads Store that warns of the strict enforcement. The billboard went up December 7 for the holidays and will go up again in the spring, says AAA’s Windy VanCuren.

The buckle-up warnings have been repeated a million times before, but with seven deaths in a short stretch of road and short period of time, VanCuren hopes the message sinks in: “Most of these could have been avoided.”

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Tiger Woods meets with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office back in April.
PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA

While the world appears shocked by Tiger Wood’s recent car accident, the result of an apparent argument with his wife, Elin, over admitted infidelities, which may, appropriately enough, have involved his wife brandishing of a golf club, Golf Digest writer Tom Callahan, a former Barboursville resident who wrote a 2004 biography of Woods called Searching for Tiger, wonders what all the fuss is about.

“He’s a famous billionaire, and he’s been with other women,”  says Callahan, who now lives in Florida and says has no idea what really happened at Tiger’s house that night. “Gee, stop the presses. It’s just not that startling to me.”

Callahan says he’s not particularly close to Woods, despite tracking down his subject’s namesake for the book, and he won’t speculate on what happened the night of the accident.

“I haven’t seen him since the Players, but I’ve been in his house, talked to him,” says Callahan. “He associates me with his father, because I went to Vietnam.” (more)

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A motorist gets out of the way of the chase near Madison House on Rugby Road.
PHOTO BY CHARLOTTESVILLE P.D.

There has been an arrest in the case of the 85mph chase that resulted in a stolen car scalping a house on Rugby Road. About two months after the summertime incident, a 17-year-old city student was arrested, according to Charlottesville spokesperson Ric Barrick, who also— in response to a reporter’s request— released a tape of the chase, a 112-second video in which even the police car hits 85mph on the residential road.

In a related development, a work crew installed a guardrail Friday at the spot where the vehicle left the roadway to prevent such future dangerous aerobatics, but in so doing, the crew cut an underground gas line, causing a road detour lasting much of the morning.

Meanwhile, Friday, October 30 is also move-back day for (more)

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Kathryn Russell, bottom left, seen here a few years ago with her husband Wayne and some of their eight children and four grandchildren.
PHOTO FROM MAJESTY FARM WEBSITE

The local food movement lost one of their own last week, as Kathryn Russell, owner of Nelson County’s Majesty Farm and a founding member of the Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmer’s Association was killed in a traffic accident as she tried to cross Route 29 South at Plank Road on October 22. She was 54.

According to news reports, Russell was crossing 29 in a 1989 Dodge pickup with a crate of chickens in the back when she was hit by a van with two passengers inside. Police says neither alcohol nor speed was involved, and the two passengers were taken to the hospital with “non-life-threatening” injuries. Russell, however, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from her truck by the impact and killed instantly.

Russell leaves behind her husband of 36 years, Wayne Russell, as well as eight children and four grandchildren.

Russell, in addition to being a farmer, wife, and mother, was an outspoken activist for the local food movement. Like fellow farmer/activist Joel Salatin, Russell felt strongly that current government regulations on food production were (more)

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‘Everybody who’s anybody musically in this town played with Johnny Gilmore,’ says singer-songwriter William Walter.
PHOTO COURTESY WILLIAM WALTER

Acclaimed local drummer Johnny Gilmore has died in a fire, and his father was hospitalized after the blaze erupted Thursday night in the musician’s room at the Green Leaf Townhouses in midtown on Fifth Street, SW.

“I was talking to him an hour or an hour and a half before it happened,” says Rougemont Avenue resident Kenneth Jackson, who was visiting his sister in the unit adjacent to Gilmore’s in the nine-unit apartment complex. “He was sitting on the wall, and we were talking about music.”

Music was the 45-year-old’s life, say those who heard the (more)

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