Hotseat
Greg Smith: Boy Wonder and new Wahoo
Published on Jun 12th, 2003
0 comments UVA registration is always a bit hectic, but this year the frenzy was stirred by international attention. Greg Smith, whose 14th birthday happened to also fall on registration day, Monday, June 9,...
Busy funnyman: Why Mark Warner loves orange cones
Published on Jun 5th, 2003
0 comments When Mark Warner was running for senator in 1996 against incumbent John "No Relation" Warner, the challenger jogged down the street at a small-town Virginia parade in a dress shirt and tie, stopping...
There once was a... Dare leads Limerick to blaze trails
Published on May 29th, 2003
0 comments Everyone likes to be first, but only a few of us can point to as many trail-blazing accomplishments as Crystal Limerick: She was the first female Albemarle County police officer, the department's...
Master plan: Anderson quits UVA before he gets old
Published on May 15th, 2003
0 comments The plywood walls of construction sites have sprouted widely across University terrain of late, and in 10 years graduates will return to find their hallowed grounds a place transformed. The new...
Working prof: Bloomfield learned how things work
Published on May 8th, 2003
0 comments He'd prefer to be remembered for his popular UVA physics class, "How Things Work." Instead, his name will always be tied to UVA's largest cheating scandal, in which 158 students were investigated for...
"Old marrieds": 3WV's morning duo, Max and Rick
Published on May 1st, 2003
0 comments They are an irrepressible duo, and even off the air Rick Daniels and Max Hoecker are still "on," ribbing each other and cutting up to their own and others' amusement. As the Big Greasy Breakfast on...
Go west, young woman
Published on Apr 24th, 2003
0 comments One gets the feeling that for Teresa Dowell-Vest, race is never not an issue. It's integral to her work as a playwright, director, and actress, and even to her former day job as program director of...
Relaxed: Bobby Thompson keeps CHS calm
Published on Apr 17th, 2003
0 comments In schools today, students with problems have seemingly limitless resources to help them cope. But in the late 1980s, when Bobby Thompson was teaching in Dallas, Texas, the coping mechanism of choice...
Grant's retreat: Board departure a mystery
Published on Apr 10th, 2003
0 comments Gary Grant is no stranger to the hot seat. In fact, he's been on it pretty consistently since he was elected to the at-large seat on the Albemarle County School Board in 1999. Grant ran for office as...
Rob Bell: Delegate law and order
Published on Apr 3rd, 2003
0 comments During his first term in the General Assembly representing the 58th District, Rob Bell discovered one of the advantages of being an elected official: "If I see things in the newspaper that make me...
Rob Vaughan: Lord of the lore
Published on Mar 27th, 2003
0 comments It was a dark and stormy night... No, actually, it was a cold and rainy January day when Rob Vaughan got the serendipitous phone call that would change his life. He'd been teaching English and...
Baldacci: He's already living the fantasy
Published on Mar 20th, 2003
0 comments Best known for his mega-selling novels, David Baldacci also is a philanthropic kind of guy. In fact, the Virginia Press Association just named him Virginian of the Year, "a nice honor from hardcore,...
Mr. (Exit) Strategy: No more Huja to kick around
Published on Mar 13th, 2003
0 comments Sure, Charlottesville is one of those best-places-to-live kind of towns now, but that wasn't the impression Satyendra Huja had when he came here 30 years ago. "I'd heard great things about...
Casey's choice: Life's one big pajama party
Published on Mar 6th, 2003
0 comments Stories roll off John Casey's tongue like the proverbial honey. Never satisfied with a one-word answer to any question, Casey remembers and recounts a history redolent of a life well-lived. In the...
Lindsay Dorrier: the Tom Sawyer from Scottsville
Published on Feb 27th, 2003
0 comments In Lindsay Dorrier's family, it's a tradition to serve on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. His great-grandfather served in the early 1900s. His maternal grandfather served on the board in...
Rhymes with lovey: Charlottesville rainmaker refuses to retire
Published on Feb 20th, 2003
0 comments Hovey Dabney's elegant office suite doesn't much look like the hangout of a retiree. It's huge enough that he could sublease parts of it to a start-up company, and it's tastefully decorated with...
Kevin Castner: Snow day
Published on Feb 13th, 2003
0 comments Leather sofa and chairs arranged around an area rug, M&Ms on the coffee table, and a golf-putting gizmo in the corner– hey, nice digs. Not exactly what one expects to find in a county...
Being John Casteenovich: The lighter side of the UVA president
Published on Feb 6th, 2003
0 comments John Casteen is not at all keen to do the Hot Seat. Maybe he figures he's in the hot seat enough as UVA president. After all, he's the one charged with maintaining the standards at Virginia's...
Will Morris: Greene County sheriff rides into sunset-- maybe
Published on Jan 30th, 2003
0 comments Judges, movie stars, pro basketball players, and congressmen have all felt the sting of law enforcement when speeding through Greene County. Recently, five-term Sheriff William Morris, the man who...
Sheriff Robb: Tales of fooling the Mafia
Published on Jan 16th, 2003
0 comments For someone who's infiltrated the Mafia and worked side by side with drug lords and hitmen, running to be reelected Albemarle County Sheriff should be easy. Republican incumbent Edgar "Ed" Robb's...
The Bison-tennial: Kay Slaughter leads explorer mania
Published on Jan 9th, 2003
0 comments The bicentennial of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's epic journey looms. Like so many others, Kay Slaughter has succumbed to the charms of the dynamic duo. Who's her favorite, Lewis or Clark? "I'...
Dan Jordan: Mr. Monticello prepares for L&C mania
Published on Dec 26th, 2002
0 comments Being director of Monticello has many advantages, not least the spectacular view outside Dan Jordan's low-ceilinged office tucked into the gift shop. And for a historian, living on Mr. Jefferson's...
Louise Dudley: Shooting from the hip. Yeah, right.
Published on Dec 18th, 2002
0 comments She makes being in the hot seat look so easy. Always poised, always well-spoken, Louise Dudley has calmly handled the press during UVA's worst calamities over the past 11 years. Now that she's...
Naughty and nice: Santa shares his trade secrets
Published on Dec 12th, 2002
0 comments Forget Barbie, forget Tickle Me Elmo. Laptops are the new hot ticket, according to the man who knows firsthand what kids want. It's his busiest time of year, but the jolly old elf graciously agreed...
Judge this: Hizzonor Helvin's gone fishin'
Published on Dec 5th, 2002
0 comments Here's the downside of being a judge: You can't have a beer with your lunch at Court Square Tavern because people might say, "He's drunk on the bench," or "Look at the guy ruling on drunk driving...
Rita Mae Brown
Published on Nov 28th, 2002
0 comments Not much gets past Rita Mae Brown. She can pick out a Yankee in any crowd– in this case, a Hook reporter who asks if she means Coca-Cola when she writes Co-Cola. "I can tell you're not from the...
Mitch Van Yahres: Elder statesman-- oak and maple, too
Published on Nov 21st, 2002
0 comments When Mitchell Van Yahres was approached in 1968 by a group of Democrats to run for City Council, he claims, he was probably "their third or fourth choice." At the time he was working on a low-income...
George Allen: The senator from Virginia eyes White House?
Published on Nov 14th, 2002
0 comments Charlottesville hasn't been able to claim a U.S. president in about 200 years. If you were to pick the Virginian with local ties most likely to take a shot at occupying the White House today, it...
Julian Bond: That's Bond, Julian Bond
Published on Nov 7th, 2002
0 comments What do you ask civil rights legend Julian Bond when you have only a few minutes for an interview? Should it be about the recent National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award he received October 23 in...
Larry Sabato: Political pundit and proud of it
Published on Oct 31st, 2002
0 comments Larry Sabato is running late. When he finally arrives in the building, one of his staffers announces the approach of "Hurricane Larry." The UVA Center for Politics, which Sabato heads, has just...