Charlottesville Breaking News
Dust and promises: Amtrak lot finally getting paved
Preparation for the paving job began on March 1.Photo by Dave McNair
Construction on the lot should be completed sometime in MayPhoto by Dave McNair
The construction crew jackhammers the remains of an old receiving platform that was discovered.Photo by Dave McNair
More train routes are expected to run these railsPhoto by Dave McNair
Amtrak employees are happy the lot is finally getting paid, but some think its shouldn't have taken this long.Photo by Dave McNairGood-bye dust devils and potholes. More than six years after the owners of Charlottesville Union Station first promised to pave the property's dusty parking lot, construction crews have finally gone to work, ending the public feud between the owners and some West Main Street business owners, who had called the lot a health hazard and a “blight on the Midtown landscape," and who were on the verge of filing a lawsuit.
"It's about time," says Delegate David Toscano, who made paving the so-called Amtrak lot one of his top priorities for the new year. "Not only will this spruce up the area and make it more attractive to businesses, but it will increase our leverage on the State to make sure money is available for continued rail service."
Indeed, since expanded rail service came to the town–- thanks in large part to the efforts of Meredith Richards and her advocacy group, the Piedmont Rail Coalition– Union Station has gained new prominence as a transportation hub. According to Amtrak, the station served 91,707 passengers last year, over 40,000 more than predicted for 2010, making it the fifth busiest st...Wrong caption on fire story
This is the burned-down barn atop the ridge in the Rosemont subdivision.photo by Hawes Spencer
Investigators appear to have pinpointed this burn pile as the source.photo by Hawes SpencerDue to a production error, the photo of the burned-down barn shown on page 13 of last week's issue was given the wrong caption. The online version of the story had the right captions.
Final tally: Officials seek $24 million more from Dowdell's minions
Terry Dowdell wasn't present for the press conference, but he certainly was mentioned. (Jean Hudson, Steve Levine, Jim Lamb, Bob Hilland, John Smith, Tim Heaphy, and Roy Terry.)photos by Hawes Spencer; Regional JailWith the prosecution winding down its decade-long work on the Terry Dowdell Ponzi scheme– one of the world's largest until Bernie Madoff took such crimes to new depths– prosecutors and investigators took a victory lap of sorts Friday at the Charlottesville federal courthouse. They announced an effort to seek more than $24 million in restitution atop the $34 million recovered by a quick-thinking Securities and Exchange Commission official's account freeze.
"It's a great message case," said Steve Levine, the SEC official who reportedly froze Dowdell's accounts nearly ten years ago, just a day before a pack of wire transfers were about to move the money to Dowdell and fellow conspirators. Levine notes that most of the convicts were brokers, those whose training is designed to prevent them from ever claiming that they, too, were duped.
The most recent broker to fall is Brigit "Gitte" Mechlenburg. A now 63-year-old Dane who'd been working in Massachusetts, Mechlenburg had already been barred by the SEC from the investment industry when she allegedly rounded up about $13 million from investors in what Dowdell and others had been calling their "Vavasseur" program.
Trial set: Eric Abshire pleads not guilty to wife killing
Abshire will remain behind bars until his October 12 trial in Orange.file photos by Jay Kuhlmann, Courteney Stuart
"It feels good to have it move forward," says Justine's mother, Heidi Swartz, pictured outside the courthouse with Justine's father Steve Swartz, after Eric Abshire's March 3 arraignment.Courteney StuartThe Greene County man accused of killing his wife and staging her death as an automotive hit-and-run pleaded not guilty to first degree murder at his arraignment Thursday, March 3 in Orange County Circuit Court.
Thirty-six-year-old Eric Dee Abshire, who has been incarcerated at the Central Virginia Regional Jail since his December 17 arrest, spoke clearly as he entered the plea before Judge Daniel Bouton. He agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial, giving his court-appointed attorney, Charlottesville-based Charles Weber, additional time to scrutinize several boxes of evidence collected by the prosecution during the four-year investigation into the November 2006 death of 27-year-old kindergarten teacher Justine Swartz Abshire.
Acknowledging the complexity of the case, Judge Bouton set aside two weeks for trial, October 12-26. He also granted the defense's request for access to transcripts from an investigative grand jury, but warned Weber that only he and his staff get access to the top-secret testimony.
At a February 10 hearing at which Abshire was denied bond, Commonwealth's Attorney Diana Wheeler claimed "many" witnesses reported fear of retribution if they testified before the grand jury. One in particular, Wheeler said...
Buck stops here: Former mayor settles throttling case w/client
Frank Buck in front of City Hall, where he ruled for eight years, after the hearing.photo by Lisa ProvenceThe trial for the assault charge against attorney Frank Buck for throttling his client in court ended quickly March 3 in another courtroom, without the former mayor getting hauled off to jail. Instead, Buck and his former client, Milton Leo John, a 53-year-old airline pilot who faced a separate charge for using abusive language, settled their differences with a civil settlement, and the criminal charges were dismissed.
The case rocked the Charlottesville legal community when the 65-year-old Buck, who served as mayor from 1980-1988, was arrested last fall for misdemeanor assault, which carries up to 12 months in jail.
"I snapped," Buck admitted to Hook reporter Courteney Stuart after the November 11 incident.
The case caused a cascade of legal calisthenics including seating a pair of special out-of-town prosecutors as well as a visiting judge after Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Chapman and General District Judge Bob Downer recused themselves, each citing Buck's long tenure practicing law in Charlottesville.
The throttling took place November 10 during a recess in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, where Buck was representing John on a child support issue and the discussion turned to a previous domestic abuse charge that John wanted expunged. According to John's complai...
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