Charlottesville Breaking News
Johnson's journey: Parkway chase ends in naked capture
Trevis Johnson allegedly fled naked along the Blue Ridge Mountains.middle river regional jailAn early Wednesday police chase on the Blue Ridge Parkway ended with a crashed-and-burned sport utility vehicle and a driver who, by the time a canine team caught up with him, had ditched his clothes.
Police say the trouble started around 6:46am on May 2 in Augusta County. A Virginia State trooper allegedly began trying to stop Trevis H. Johnson, 28, of Charlottesville, for speeding and then eluding arrest on Mt. Torrey Road.
Johnson, driving a 2004 Ford Explorer, allegedly continued south to the Blue Ridge Parkway, a winding mountain-top road favored by cyclists and sightseers. Police say Johnson barely made it a quarter mile before the Explorer ran off the road, hit an embankment, and rolled onto its driver's side.
Climbing out of the passenger window around 6:52am, Johnson fled on foot into the woods, according to Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller, who says the Explorer burst into flames, so pursuing Senior Trooper D.C. Brydge put out the fire with an extinguisher– twice.
"He didn't pursue on foot," explains Geller, "because he had to make sure no one was in the car."
Next up was the Augusta Sheriff's canine team, called in to track Johnson in an area of "pretty rugged terrain," says Geller.
By 10:45am, about two miles away and close to the popular Crabtree Falls hiking area in Nelson County, pursuers captured Johnson, who was completely naked. Asked why Johnson might have shed his clothing, spokesperson Ge...
Battle of the noodle: Allied heats up recycling rhetoric against Van der Linde
hook staff
Van der Linde's "dirty MRF" has changed the landscape of the local trash business.File photo by Dave McNair
Ads created by Allied Waste have been challenging the trash collection method espoused by Van der Linde and the haulers who use his facility.From Allied Waste website
Trash in the city ends up at Van der Linde's facility, while Allied still does the city's recycling bin pick-up.waste collection, recyclingFor several years now, Allied Waste, which is owned by mega-waste company Republic Services, has been largely silent while Van der Linde Recycling (VDLR) steals all the local trash and recycling glory. Now the company is fighting back with a vengeance. With an onslaught of web, print, radio, and TV advertising, Allied suggests that much of the recycling collected by local haulers using VDLR is ending up in a landfill.
However, according to Peter Van der Linde, Allied's new "separate, don't contaminate" ad campaign is just the last gasp from a company tied to an outmoded way of handling trash– and to its own landfills.
"Republic's business model in our area is built on its landfill business," says Van der Linde, "and they are understandably fighting to stay alive."
Four years ago, Van der Linde put his money where his mouth is by opening a 100,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Zion Crossroads, a facility that transformed the trash business. Suddenly, local haulers such as Dixon Disposal and Time Disposal could offer their customers all-in-one, single-stream recycling: just throw all your household trash and recycling in one big bin and let Van der Linde's facility do the sorting. Not only does your recycling get processed, but those bags of household trash get probed for recyclables too.
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Café-market: Batesville gets its store back
There's a new foodery in the old Batesville Store-- Plank Road Exchange.photo by jim duncan
Good olive oil, local cheese, and Albemarle Baking Company bread join the rustic inspired cuisine at Plank Road Exchange.photo by jim duncanThe historic structure that previously housed the beloved Batesville Store has reopened, and its new incarnation is Plank Road Exchange, which its foodie proprietors describe as a "café-market."
Jessica and Aris Cuadra, who met in a restaurant and have 35 years experience between them, ran a restaurant in Luray last year called the Victorian Inn. But nights-and-weekend childcare for their son, three-and-a-half-year-old Rocco, was difficult, says Jessica Cuadra, and when they became aware the Batesville space was available, they took it. Now Rocco gets to hang out with his parents.
"It's much more relaxed," says his mom.
Not that running a café-market is necessarily relaxing. The couple makes a lot of prepared foods for "grab-and-go dinners," says Cuadra. "The broccoli peanut salad has been a really big hit."
They also make their own baked goods, like the salivation-inducing blueberry brown-butter tart, chocolate chip cookies, macaroons, and bittersweet chocolate brownies. "Those we can't keep on the counter," she says of the brownies.
"The sandwich I had was fantastic," says realtor/blogger Jim Duncan, enthusing over the "MC-50," a Cuadra creation of Boar's Head roast beef, green chili mayonnaise, and onion marmalade, the two latter ingredients made in-house, served on an Albemarle Baking Company baguette.
"All our sandwiches are our own creation," says Cuadra, "and we make the c...
Material macabre: Sensational acting drives Poe-laced melodrama
Absinthe-addled, Edgar Allen Poe (John Cusack) stalks the streets of Baltimore in search of the killer he inspired.Relativity MediaIt is widely known that on Oct. 3, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found wandering the streets of Baltimore, raving and incoherent. He died on Oct. 7. He was 40. His death was about as much of a surprise as the passing of such modern icons as Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. Poe was an acute alcoholic, particularly fond of the notorious spirit absinthe. He also used opium and who knows what other substances, and as a man supported only by his writings, may have been badly nourished. This is a lifestyle known to lend itself to incoherent wanderings.
The Raven, a feverish costume thriller, attempts to explain Poe's death by cobbling together spare parts from thrillers about serial killers. It should not be mistaken for a movie about Edgar Allan Poe, although to be sure he buys a drink for a man in a tavern who is able to complete this line of poetry: "Quoth the Raven ..." When I heard that John Cusack had been cast for this film, it sounded like good news: I could imagine him as Poe, tortured and brilliant, lashing out at a cruel world. But that isn't the historical Poe the movie has in mind. It is a melodramatic Poe, calling for the gifts of Nicolas Cage.
T...
Taking action: Group forms for autism support
Amy Laufer, Frances Greenstein, and Jess Kysar are among the parents volunteering their time.Courteney StuartWhen a child is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, parents' devastation is likely compounded by the overwhelming need for support– and the lack of a centralized resource for families. Creating such a hub is the impetus behind the newly formed Charlottesville Regional Autism Action Group, which launched in April.
"There are a lot of families who need a lot of help," says Frances Greenstein, a counselor and one of several parents who've helped launch the volunteer-run group that offers support meetings, tips on obtaining state and federal benefits, and a directory that parents of autistic children will appreciate.
'It's not just 'which doctors are best?'" says Greenstein. "It's 'where should I take my child for a haircut?"
As reported recently by the CDC, the reported incidence of autism has jumped to one in 88, and while many peg the increase to more aggressive diagnoses, it suggests there are hundreds of children in Charlottesville and surrounding counties who have been diagnosed with a disorder that may mean a lifetime of dependence on family caregivers.
"We want to offer a sense of a team," says Greenstein, mom to a 9-year-old boy, "a sense that if you can change one thing, you begin to have hope again."
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