UVA President John Casteen is waiting for “evidence” before agreeing to sign the Amethyst Initiative.
FILE PHOTO

Should the drinking age be lowered from 21 to 18?

That question is being asked around UVA Grounds– and around the country– thanks to the Amethyst Initiative, an effort by a group of college presidents to open an “informed and unimpeded debate” about lowering the minimum drinking age. On Saturday, UVA prez John Casteen told parents of incoming first-year students he still didn’t know whether he’d ink his own name below the 128 college presidents already on the list, according to a transcript of his speech.

“It depends on whether they’re able to develop and publish the evidence,” he said, “to prove there’s not a negative difference in the impact on young people.”

Some people intimately acquainted with the drinking habits of UVA students are hoping Casteen will soon see that evidence.

“I would like to see Casteen sign,” says John Crafaik, owner of Littlejohns, who believes the drinking age should be lowered.

“From my experience, they’re going to (more)

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Charlottesville radio host and autism parent Coy Barefoot not only scored an interview with presidential candidate Barack Obama a couple of days ago. He also got the Illinois senator to elevate the plight of autistic children, now estimated at one to six per 1,000 births.

“We are desperate,” said Barefoot, “for a political leader to stand up and say, ‘We have a national crisis, and we are going to help these children.’ Are you that guy?”

“I am,” Obama replied.

Last month, Barefoot, who has an autistic six-year-old son, helped push controversial autism doubter Michael Savage off WINA radio. The five-minute interview with Obama originally aired on WINA, where Barefoot hosts an afternoon drive-time show called “Charlottesville, Right Now.”

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Less than two months after an ATV accident on his Charlottesville area farm, Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore has died from unexpected complications stemming from his injuries, according to numerous internet reports. On June 30, Moore was seriously injured while riding his all terrain vehicle on his farm outside Charlottesville. Initially listed in critical condition, Moore was released from the hospital several weeks later, only to return to UVA medical center on July 21, reportedly with complications from a collapsed lung.

According to a release from the Dave Matthews Band publicist on TMZ.com, Moore died unexpectedly today in Los Angeles at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, where he had recently returned “to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.”

The Dave Matthews Band was scheduled to play a concert at the Staples Center in L.A. tonight. At posting time, the status of that concert is unknown.

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Andrea and her boys proudly remember their father.
PHOTO COURTESY DENA REYNOLDS

Every three days, someone in the state of Virginia dies waiting for an organ transplant. Andrea Tribastone is doing everything she can to turn reduce those numbers as she plans for the 4th annual Carl Tribastone Memorial race.

Tribastone knows more than anyone that one person’s tragedy can be another person’s— or other persons’— miracle. Her husband died unexpectedly in 2004 during surgery to remove a benign brain tumor.

“He was totally healthy,” Tribastone remembers. He was also an organ donor whose heart, liver, and kidneys were used to save four lives. While she chose not to learn the identity of the people he helped, she knows their ages and where they live. Her loss inspired her to spread information that could save other lives in the future.

On the one-year anniversary of his death, Trabistone planned a run in Carl’s honor. All proceeds went to LifeNet Health— the same organization that initiated the discussion with her about organ donation in the hospital.

According to Tribastone, after Carl’s death, LifeNet stayed (more)

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WINA decided to remove the Savage Nation.
PUBLICITY PHOTO

After comments blasting autism as just another over-diagnosed American problem, controversial radio personality Michael Savage has been dumped by a Charlottesville station. And for at least one local talk-radio host, the dismissal of “The Savage Nation” comes none too soon.

“As the father of a six-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with autism,” says WINA personality Coy Barefoot, “I was outraged. He clearly is spreading what I know to be outright lies about autism.”

“I’ll tell you what autism is,” Savage boomed in his July 16 broadcast. “In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’”

“Quite honestly, it came down to common decency,” says WINA program director Rick Daniels. “Although he was trying to make a bigger point, he didn’t clarify it at all. We took into account our listeners and some feedback we’ve gotten, and we wanted to do what was best for our community.”

While Savage’s syndicator, Talk Radio Network, found the comments merely “inartful,” Media Matters, a D.C.-based organization “dedicated to correcting conservative misinformation” agrees with WINA that (more)

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Last night, Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore was re-admitted to UVA Hospital “due to complications stemming from his recent accident,” according to a statement on the band’s website. This news comes two weeks after the band announced that doctors had upgraded Moore’s condition from fair to good following an all-terrain vehicle accident on his farm outside Charlottesville. No word on what Moore’s current condition is, and calls to UVA Health System, and to the band’s management were not returned at the time of this post.

On June 30, while taking a break between shows outside Washington, D.C. and in Charlotte, Moore was injured while riding an ATV and rushed to UVA Hospital in serious condition, which UVA defines as “vital signs may be unstable, and not within normal limits. Patient is acutely ill.” The next day, doctors upgraded Moore’s condition from serious to fair, and a week later, his condition had improved to good.

To date, neither the band nor the hospital has discussed the nature or the extent of Moore’s injuries.

While one of their founding members recuperates, Dave Matthews Band (more)

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A month after Charlottesville began installing Automated External Defibrillators in all public buildings, a man collapsed in a Downtown Mall office this morning, and rescue personnel performed CPR on him in front of Hamiltons’ restaurant for approximately 15 minutes, witnesses estimated.

According to an officer on the scene, the man was carrying furniture to a new business on the second floor above Hamiltons’, and on the second trip, complained of chest pains. Charlottesville Fire Department arrived in less than four minutes, says Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad Chief Dayton Haugh, and the rescue squad was there in eight minutes, but they were unable to revive the man.

Hamiltons’ does not have an AED, which delivers an electrical shock to an irregularly beating heart and increases a cardiac arrest victim’s survival rate by as much as 85 percent. The restaurant was not open when the man collapsed at around 10:30am.

“In general, the sooner you can do that, the better the chances are of survival,” says Haugh. Both rescue units carry the device as part of their regular equipment.

“We’re trying to promote putting them in businesses,” says Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner. He cites an AED rescue in Madison in the past week. “They had one, the person went down, and they were able to revive that person,” says Werner.

That was not the case this morning, and the man was dead when he arrived at UVA hospital.

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The Albemarle school board discussed disinfectants at its July 10 meeting.
FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

That was the mantra of the Albemarle County school board July 10, as members voiced their support for continuing routine disinfection in schools with traditional synthetic chemicals. By backing disinfection, the school board countered a vote of the Board of Supervisors, who last month unanimously decided to switch to sanitizing– cleaning with greener products or simply soap and water– in all county buildings.

While following recommendations from both its health advisory panel and a joint school and local government committee, the school board’s position did not sit well with the Sierra Club, including Toxics Committee member Jackie Lombardo.

“We’re disappointed,” says Lombardo, whose group has pushed for a switch to non-toxic green cleaners. They’ve cited various studies that show that even very low exposure to pesticides– disinfectants are classified as pesticides– over time has been linked to learning disabilities, cancer, and asthma in children.

One distinction between the chemical and green cleaners, Lombardo says, is how they kill germs.

Chemical disinfectants kill by poisoning the microorganism, while non-toxic cleaners– using thyme oil or hydrogen peroxide– kill by burning. A microorganism can build up immunity to being poisoned, Lombardo explains, which can lead to resistant superbugs that require ever stronger chemicals to be killed.

“If there’s an issue in the future with MRSA,” says Lombardo of the already drug-resistant and often fatal bacteria, “we don’t want to create a super MRSA.”

Lombardo says chemical cleaners also create problems through the chemicals they “offgas,” or release through evaporation. Rubbing alcohol releases petroleum; bleach gives off chlorine gas. Hydrogen peroxide, meanwhile, releases oxygen.

“Which would you rather (more)

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If your name is Lysol or Clorox, you’re no longer welcome in Albemarle County buildings, and you may soon be banned from county schools as well. On June 4, the Board of Supervisors did away with synthetic chemical cleaning agents in county buildings, ending routine disinfecting of high-touch areas— bathrooms and kitchens– unless there’s a viral outbreak or other health emergency. In place of disinfecting, the new policy calls for sanitizing— cleaning with plain old soap and water or green cleaners. On Thursday, July 10, the Albemarle County School Board will begin considering whether schools should also go green when it’s time to clean.

The idea is horrifying to Ivy resident Kevin Connally, who believes the new cleaning procedure makes anyone in county buildings– and children in particular– vulnerable to gastrointestinal bugs including the flu.

“Children have a lot more hand-to-mouth activity, especially the little ones, and their hand-washing habits may not be as rigorous as adults’,” says Connally. “We know that (more)

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July 9, 9:22am update: Dave Matthews Band announces on its website that doctors have upgraded LeRoi Moore’s condition from fair to good.

July 8, 12:35pm update: Bela Fleck saxophonist Jeff Coffin has announced on his website that he will fill in for LeRoi Moore for the rest of Dave Matthews Band’s North American tour this summer.

A week after an accident with an all-terrain vehicle left him in serious condition, Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore remains at UVA hospital, where he is in fair condition, according to a band spokesperson. “Nothing has changed since the last statement on the website,” says DMB publicist Ambrosia Healy, “but we will put new information up there as things change.”

Local blogger and longtime DMB fan Waldo Jaquith says that going back to DMB’s early days as the house band at Trax, he’s never known Moore to be reckless in the pursuit of fun. “He’s no dope,” says Jaquith. “He’s not a kid. He’s 46 years old, and I’ve always known him to be a level-headed guy who wouldn’t be going off ramps or anything like that.”

Not that such stunts would be necessary to result in a serious injury. According to Karl Woerner, a salesman with Virginia Tractor who has both owned and sold ATVs, the risk of serious injury on the four-wheeled vehicles is (more)

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7:27pm update: The official DMB website says Moore’s condition has been upgraded to fair and that you can send an e-card to wish him well.

CHARLOTTESVILLE— Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore remains in serious condition at UVA hospital following an all-terrain vehicle accident on his farm outside Charlottesville yesterday, according to a statement on the band’s website. He was spending some time at home following the band’s Saturday show at Nissan Pavilion near Manassas.

“We cannot release any additional information,” says hospital spokeswoman Megan Rowe, “but what’s on the website is accurate and up-to-date.”

Rowe says “serious” condition is defined as, “vital signs may be unstable, and not within normal limits. Patient is acutely ill.”

Calls to the band’s management were not returned at the time of this post.

Reached for comment, frequent DMB collaborator and jazz trumpeter John D’earth says he had not yet heard of the accident and said he was too shaken to comment.

Moore is a founding member of Dave Matthews Band, having been (more)

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Three months after Charlene Smith was fired, she’s still angry about what she calls her “wrongful termination,” and she alleges there’s a pattern of discrimination against minority employees at Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge.
“I was falsely accused of sleeping on the job,” says Smith, a certified nurse assistant who had worked at the posh Pantops retirement community for more than a year. She says she was folding laundry at the end of a double shift at 7am April 4 when a nurse she’d never seen before came in. When Smith returned to work that afternoon at 3pm, she was called into the nurse manager’s office and told she was fired for sleeping.
“I was so upset,” says Smith. “I was hysterical. I couldn’t believe they’d make up something like that.”
Smith contends that she was not asleep, but if she (more)

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