Charlottesville Breaking News
Huguely mistake: Dabbling dad lost cash on Morgantown
The price of Father Huguely's land on Morgantown has been reduced 37 percent.hawes spencerIt's been said that nobody ever lost money buying property in Albemarle County. George Huguely IV may have found a way.
In September 2005, just as his namesake son was enrolling in his first year as a student-athlete at the University of Virginia, the elder Huguely made what he must have thought was a strategic land purchase near Charlottesville.
About five miles west of the city limits, amid the tony suburbs of Ivy, the 10.34-acre tract was near what was then the home of Dave Matthews Band bassist Stefan Lessard along Morgantown Road. Unfortunately, Lessard's home would burn down just two years later. Huguely's dreams would last a little longer.
Huguely, who lives in Bethesda (and who did not return a reporter's call), found that he could carve the Ivy land into three sellable homesites. What could possibly go wrong?
Things started out in a promising fashion. In 2007, Huguely sold one of the homesites for more than half of the total purchase price for the whole tract. With two more sites to sell– including a much larger one– he appeared well on his way not just to recouping, but perhaps doubling,...
Arrest, foreclosure: As trial nears, woes swarm elder Huguely
George Huguely V has been charged with murder, but his father's had troubles of his own recently.uva, cpdThe father of accused girlfriend-killer George Huguely V has had his own run-in with the law, and is facing three charges related to alleged drunk driving in Montgomery County, Maryland.
According to the Washington Examiner, George Wesley Huguely IV was arrested September 20 in Potomac after a police officer observed a dispute between Huguely and two joggers in which one of the runners allegedly hit Huguely's black Chevrolet Suburban. The officer followed the SUV and observed it driving erratically and going through a red light.
Huguely, 56, took a field sobriety test and was taken to the police station, where he refused to take an alcohol breath test, the Washington Post reports. He was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, driving while impaired by alcohol, and for failure to obey properly placed traffic control device instructions....
Occupy ousted: Cops take naked lady, 15 others
The final campfire shortly after 5pm.tom daly
They coached each other on non-violent resistance.tom daly
Their permit had expired 23 hours earlier.tom daly
As the sun set...tom daly
...their voices grew louder.tom daly
Supporters thronged Market Street...tom daly
...with the Bill of Rights front and center.tom daly
Another group of citizens had a different mission.tom daly
One found a unique way to rally on Market Street...tom daly
...and inside the park.tom daly
The bold gesture drew the men in blue.tom daly
She became the first arrestee.tom daly
Within an hour they were all gone.tom dalyThe night after their permit to remain in downtown's Lee Park expired, members of the Occupy Charlottesville movement, an ardent band of peaceful campers and protesters made a last stand as scores of supporters arrived to encourage their effort. But in the end, the final show– including a naked woman– was not enough to stave off ouster by the Charlottesville Police Department.
Since mid-October, when a few tents appeared in the one-acre park, the local version of Occupy Wall Street has attempted to rally support for the idea that too much wealth has been concentrated in the hands of too few. The provocative 24/7 effort stoked controversy as City government appeared to extend privileges including the r...
Not welcome: As Lee Park empties, UVA shoos Occupiers
Occupy Charlottesville members pack up tents and belongings in Lee Park on Wednesday, November 30.Courteney Stuart
The last campfire as photographed at 4:57pm on Wednesday, November 30.hawes spencer
Members of the Charlottesville PD stand ready.hawes spencerMembers of Occupy Charlottesville planning to move their tents to George Rogers Park on the Corner won't find a welcome wagon waiting, according to a warning issued by UVA brass, and those who choose to stay downtown in Lee Park against city orders are prepping for a confrontation with Charlottesville police.
"Such an encampment will not be permitted on the University’s Grounds," writes Michael Strine, UVA executive VP and chief operating officer in a letter sent today to Occupy Charlottesville members. Citing the Rogers park's proximity to the school and hospital at its location at the corner of Main Street and Jefferson Park Avenue, Strine claims such an encampment "would create significant health, hygiene, and safety problems for the University community and the citizens we serve," and warns would-be occupiers that they'll face trespassing charges if they don't heed the warning.
Whether Strine's warning is a deterrent remains to be seen at George Rogers Park, and as the 6pm deadline approaches, Lee Park is a flurry of activity as tents are folded, trash collected.
According to the Occupy Charlottesville Facebook page, Occupiers who plan to remain in Lee Park when the permit expires at 6pm are being offered tips on passive resistance. Arrests won't likely take place until 11pm, when a park curfew goes into effect. And according to Occupier Lyle Farmer, who plans to start a survivalist community on land around Charlottesville in the near future, som...
What's next? Occupiers ponder the future
Tom McGregor, 50: "I spent my 50th birthday here in this park," says McGregor, who became homeless for the first time three months ago after going through a divorce and losing his job as a cook in Greene County. Occupying Lee Park wasn't on his mind six weeks ago, he says, when he was approached on the street by a protester who suggested he join the movement. Now, he says, after living among the dozens of Occupiers, the movement "got my support." McGregor says he spends some of each day looking for restaurant work, so far with no luck. And he says derogatory comments about the homeless he's heard from passersby make him angry. "If some of these people complaining became homeless as quick as I did," he says, "they'd understand."Courteney Stuart
William Johnson, 30: "I haven't eaten in two days," says Johnson, who remembers the exact day he became homeless: November 9, 2010. He'd lost his job painting and says the meager amount he was bringing in from side jobs wasn't enough. "I couldn't keep myself stable," he says. Johnson claims he's no longer allowed to utilize homeless resources at the Haven or the Salvation Army due to conflicts he's had with staff or other patrons, which he attributes to a crow-bar inflicted head injury a dozen years ago. Occupying Lee Park, he says, is his way "to present myself as a person looking out for the homeless."Courteney Stuart
Larry Bishop, 58: The Occupy movement may be new to a younger generation, but for Bishop, protest is nothing new. "I've been pretty active in social and political activism since I was a teenager in the late '60s," says Bishop, who works at Wild Birds Unlimited on 29 North. "I see this as a movement that is doing what people should have been doing all along," says Bishop. "Standing up in a very public way and expressing opinions."Courteney Stuart
Ashley Wyche, 26: "This is what I do full-time," says Wyche, who quit her job as a part-time wine rep and chef and gave up her Fifeville apartment to move into Lee Park. "I plan to exercise my 1st Amendment and human rights and be in this park," says Wyche, who says she's tired of law enforcement and government entities protecting one percent of the population and "marginalizing other people."Courteney Stuart
Lyle Farmer, 26: "I'm here mostly because I want a sustainable community to exist without capitalism or consumerism," says Farmer, a Charlottesville native, who joined the Occupy Charlottesville movement three weeks ago and has been camping in Lee Park ever since.Courteney Stuart
James Fitzgerald, 53: I got a thing against City Council," says Fitzgerald, who's been homeless for 20 years and believes "people need to be able to stay where they want."Courteney Stuart
Linda Doig, 51: Holding a photo of herself from her days as a model with the Wilhelmina agency, Doig weeps as she recalls becoming homeless only 10 days earlier after being evicted. "I'm disabled," she says, citing a serious back injury she sustained falling off the roof of her home as she attempted to repair it. While she wasn't an activist when she set up camp in Lee Park, she says she is one now. "You have to listen to what they're saying," she says of the activists and their message of economic equality, "cause they're making sense."Courteney Stuart
Carey Hicks, 47: "I became homeless when she did," says Hicks, who was living with Doig when she was evicted. An out-of-work carpenter, Hicks says the loss of his driver's license has made finding employment difficult and he worries about Doig's health problems which he says are exacerbated by the rough outdoor living conditions. Meeting other people in the same situation as he and Doig, however, has made sudden homelessness bearable. "Thank God," he says, "for the camaraderie."Courteney StuartTuesday, November 29 is deadline day for Occupy Charlottesville, but at noon– just six hours before protesters must decide whether to stay in Lee Park in violation of an expired permit or to move to another location– there's still no consensus.
"We just don't know yet," says one Occupier, who declines to be identified before cutting off a reporter's questions to "go check out another option."
Indeed, consensus isn't always easy to reach among the loosely organized group that took up residence in Lee Park on October 15 following the lead of Occupy Wall Street. But if Occupy Charlottesville began as a political rally, it quickly broadened into an unlikely community, pulling together factions including anarchists, socialists, peace activists, and the homeless.
"Thank God for the camaraderie," says Carey Hicks, a newly homeless unemployed carpenter who moved into Lee Park just before Thanksgiving. Hicks and others say they see value in the Occupation even if, as many critics have pointed out, the mission of the group can't be easily stated.
"Without people coming together like this," Hicks says, "other people, homeless people included, are blind to the magnitude of the problem."
Blake Brame agrees.
A contractor who lives in Afton, Brame, 40, has frequently pitched a tent in Lee Park and says that while he doesn't feel he's part of any one faction of Occupy, the appeal for many of those campin...
