Cover Stories
Bachelor parties Guys, rum, and strippers what more can you ask?
Published on May 1st, 2003
0 comments We've all seen Bachelor Party, right? You know the one: Tom Hanks acting all crazy, hookers and mistaken identities, coked-up donkeys, etc. Nobody I know really has the cash for renting out fancy...
The most unusual place we've done it
Published on May 1st, 2003
0 comments The question's been popped, the ring's been accepted, and the day's been designated. Now all you have to do is pick the place. But you're Jewish and you're fiance's Baptist, or maybe you're both...
Unveiled: Wedding tales beyond legend
Published on May 1st, 2003
0 comments Did you hear the one about the groom who stood up at his wedding reception and asked the guests to look under their chairs, where each found an 8x10 glossy of the bride and best man in flagrante...
Will you marry me?
Published on May 1st, 2003
0 comments Before there's a wedding, there's usually an engagement. The Hook asked some well known locals to share their love stories, and we got an earful. From love at first sight, to broken fingers, to "...
Real makeovers: Zippy transformations of movers and shakers
Published on Apr 17th, 2003
0 comments From the classic Jerry Springer maniacal shows (Help me, Jerry! My stepmother's in love with me, but she won't get rid of her mullet!) to Oprah's teary remodelings of frumpy housewives, one thing is...
Land use: Farmers' friend or tax break for the rich?
Published on Apr 10th, 2003
0 comments Behind lavish eagle-topped gates on Woodlands Road, former Value America mogul Craig Winn lives in a mansion that Albemarle County has assessed at $3.45 million. Fifty acres of rolling Albemarle...
The pits: Dogfighting's bloody aftermath
Published on Apr 3rd, 2003
0 comments The pictures on the walls of Carolyn Foreman's SPCA office are cutesy images of puppies, kittens, and ducks. The photos in her hand, however, are not so endearing. They show the battered bodies of...
My house as a life: When architects design for themselves
Published on Mar 27th, 2003
0 comments Driving around town, you've probably seen them: the louvered orange house with the terraces down by Riverview Park; the machine-like structure with the big green "V" over on Farish; or the three-...
Crowded house: It may be cozy, but should it be illegal?
Published on Mar 20th, 2003
0 comments Published March 20, 2003, in issue #0211 of The Hook BY LISA PROVENCE LISA@READTHEHOOK.COM Catharine Anas lives in the same Piedmont Avenue house where she grew up. In the '40s and '50s, the area...
Festivale cruise: Bookworms, crawl in here
Published on Mar 13th, 2003
0 comments There's nothing like four feet of snow over the course of three months to make a dent in your reading list. But it's time for the ice heaps to melt, the robins to move on, and for Charlottesville to...
Fiction contest winner: Deborah Prum
Published on Mar 13th, 2003
0 comments TRIAGE  Thursday Night (Emma)  Upstairs in bed, Emma hears the front door creak. She stiffens. It's Alex coming in late. She listens to him open the refrigerator. Something tumbles out...
Fiction contest: The Winners
Published on Mar 13th, 2003
0 comments  Jealous? You should be. Deborah Prum has made her living as a writer, which is hard if you don't you live in New York City, which Prum never has. Prum says she paid her way through a masters...
She's got Bette Davis Eyes: B.D. Hyman goes from Mommie Dearest to Jesus Dearest
Published on Mar 6th, 2003
0 comments How do you get from Hollywood to the Angel Network? Ask B.D. Hyman, local televangelist and daughter of legendary film star Bette Davis. She's happy to recount the trip. Just be prepared for detours...
Icons or eyesores? VDOT vows to replace roadside memorials
Published on Feb 27th, 2003
0 comments The small white cross surrounded by a wreath of faded flowers stands on the shoulder of the road. At another spot, someone has used black electrical tape to fasten a second cross to a tree, but that...
Eight years: for a 'minor' offense
Published on Feb 20th, 2003
0 comments All over Albemarle County there are women like Lisa Robinson. They volunteer at their children's elementary school. They haul the kids to extracurricular events. They yell at their teenagers to pick...
Cosmic degrees: Out of body at the Monroe Institute
Published on Feb 13th, 2003
0 comments I couldn't have been more than 12 years old. Sitting on my bed with uncommon determination, my gaze fixed on the aerial antenna jutting crudely from my pre-remote-control TV, I attempted to master...
Winn's vision: Islam is very, very bad
Published on Feb 6th, 2003
0 comments Who's afraid of calling Islam an evil religion? Not Craig Winn. Who's afraid of writing a novel to convey this novel idea? Not Craig Winn. Who's afraid of parlaying two business bankruptcies into a...
When war hits home: Bush push changing lives
Published on Feb 6th, 2003
0 comments  It's a bright but bone-chillingly frigid Saturday as people gather to make their voices heard. A week before this cold rally, local U.S. Army Reserve members lined up in Charlottesville for...
Boxed in: A boy's lost week
Published on Jan 30th, 2003
0 comments This week's cover story is an edited first-person account of the kidnapping and sexual abuse Martin Andrews endured in 1973. He wrote it at the request of the Critical Incident Analysis Group. A...
Going public: Andrews talks, and the governor listens
Published on Jan 30th, 2003
0 comments For nearly 30 years, Martin Andrews kept silent about a hideous crime that happened to him in Tidewater. But last year he learned that the man who repeatedly raped him and kept him imprisoned in an...
Avoiding wrecks: Consumer tips for you
Published on Jan 23rd, 2003
0 comments Some steps to minimize the risk of acquiring a pre-wrecked vehicle:   –Begin by looking at its reliability record. If repair records aren't available, that's a bad sign.   –...
Taken for a ride: loopholes for lemons and the secret history of salvaged cars
Published on Jan 23rd, 2003
0 comments It sounds like something from the Twilight Zone. A Scottsville woman goes into a local auto dealership and shells out nearly $20,000 for a late-model used car. Within a year, she discovers the car...
Dealing with a serial rapist: Professionals weigh in
Published on Jan 16th, 2003
0 comments Here's some small comfort for women concerned about the serial rapist: You're far more likely to be raped by an acquaintance than by the predator who's preying on local women. In fact, 90 percent of...
M.O. of a local predator
Published on Jan 16th, 2003
0 comments Geography: Except for one attack in Waynesboro in 1997, all others have been in Charlottesville or close to its borders (Ivy Gardens and Georgetown Green). Time of day: Most attacks have taken place...
Rape city?
Published on Jan 16th, 2003
0 comments Serial rapists are nothing new to Charlottesville. In 1975, when rapes were at an all-time high, the Cavalier Daily routinely referred to the town as "rape city," according to Coy Barefoot in his...
On guard: Women brace against serial rapist
Published on Jan 16th, 2003
0 comments He's already picked his next victim. In fact, police believe the serial rapist currently terrorizing women in Charlottesville may have identified as many as a dozen or more targets. Police Chief Tim...
River city: Scottsville's awash... in cash
Published on Jan 9th, 2003
0 comments It's Friday night in Scottsville. As a small crowd gathers at the Dew Drop Inn to cheer on a local band, one bar patron proudly announces her connection to the musicians. "They rehearse in my...
The Year in Review, the best, the worst, and more
Published on Dec 26th, 2002
0 comments Remember the heady, irrational exuberance of New Year's 2000, when Y2K computer snafus were our biggest fear? Yeah, baby, those were the days. And how quickly that little party ended, as 2002 ushered...
MADD v. Foxfield: Liquor license in limbo thanks to boozin' Wahoos
Published on Dec 18th, 2002
0 comments It's become a University of Virginia rite of spring: Young gentlemen don a tie, ladies put on a spring frock and hat, then they head to Foxfield and get trashed. That tradition of properly attired...
Plane pasture: From aviation to steeplechase
Published on Dec 18th, 2002
0 comments Early in the 20th century, a horse trying to graze on the property now owned by the Foxfield Racing Association likely would have been buzzed by a newfangled flying machine. Charlottesville's first...