cvillenews.com

John Kluge Has Died

Waldo Jaquith — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:27:05 +0000

Philanthropist and businessman John Kluge died yesterday in Charlottesville. The famed businessman ranked as the wealthiest American from 1989-1991, a run cut short by the rise of Microsoft. Nine years ago he donated his estate, Morven, to UVA, and auctioned off most of the estate’s contents in 2005. He lived mostly in Florida in recent years. Perhaps as locally well-known as him is his ex-wife, Patricia Kluge, and his widow, Tussi Kuttner. John Kluge was 95 years old.

Halsey Minor Threatens to Sue The Hook

Waldo Jaquith — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:14:34 +0000

Over at The Hook, editor Hawes Spencer has been writing about the latest in the slow-motion collapse of the whole Landmark Hotel / Halsey Minor / Lee Danielson thing, with the news of the moment being the Chapter 11 filing by Minor Family Hotels LLC. Within that piece, Spencer mentions that Minor started threatening The Hook with a lawsuit, and links to two e-mails [1, 2] that Minor sent to the newspaper in early July. The first one, sent July 2, reads:

Hawes you are the $7.5 mm man — so far. If it was not for you printing the outrageous comments from Lee and SFG I would not have done so well in court. You have clearly destroyed the value of the hotel with your series of inaccurate and in inflammatory stories based on completely false facts. SFG was horrible, and Lee was just as bad but with the hook accepting falsehood after falsehood as gospel you have made obvious the damages the bad actors can have in undermining a project and an important economic driver to a city like Charlottelsville.

As I said. Christies down $12.5.mm for fraud. Lee bankrupt. SFG bankrupt. You write one more story that is libelous and I have no choice but to go after the third leg of the stool, the Hook. Tell your people to quite inventing facts. Say you are sorry. Haas, I am suing you plain and simple to clear my name with one more nasty false story. Christies can afford to underestimate me. You cannot.

And the second one, sent July 3:

Hawes, trust me. When your down people start to pile on. You are just such an individual which is why you are generally disliked around town.

You need to publicly apologize to me. Divorce and a libel suit are not going to be a good plan for you.You apologize publicly or I am coming after you for lying about me when I was fighting my battles, which were for the sake of the city, not to sell sleazy papers.

The difference between you and I is you bug the fuck out of me, but I on the other hand can and will crush you if you don’t make amends for being such a lying asshole for the last 18 months — you, Lee and the FDIC. Your world is getting small fast and if you choose to take me on too you are not going to believe how far down the bottom really is. I crushed the jerks in my way. Good luck to you.

Wow. Those are scorchers. Minor never specifies what he believes to be falsehoods in The Hook’s coverage, so it’s tough to know what the merits are of his claims.

City Considering Closing Buford or Walker

Waldo Jaquith — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:29:15 +0000

The city school system is thinking about shutting down Walker Elementary or Buford Middle, Rachana Dixit wrote in yesterday’s Progress. Walker serves solely fifth- and sixth-grade students, while Buford serves seventh- and eighth-grade students. By consolidating them—probably at Buford—the city could save up to $700k/year in salaries…but it would require $21M in capital costs.

From the late sixties until the late eighties, Buford and Walker were both middle schools. In 1988, they split the duty, with Walker taking the lower two grades, and Buford taking the upper two.

The school board will vote on this in mid-October.

Augusta’s Waning Moon

Waldo Jaquith — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:33:38 +0000

It’s safe to travel to Weyers Cave again: the serial mooner has been caught (in the act).

Ranks of Unemployed Climbing

Waldo Jaquith — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:42:20 +0000

Unemployment is getting worse locally.

Sanminiatelli Named AP Editor

Waldo Jaquith — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:34:28 +0000

Former Progress staffer Maria Sanminiatelli has been named the AP’s North American editor.

Bob Tucker to Retire

Waldo Jaquith — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:24:47 +0000

Just a few months after Gary O’Connell departed as Charlottesville city manager, Bob Tucker has announced he’s stepping down as the county executive, NBC-29 reports. In the equivalent role to O’Connell’s, Tucker has run the county for twenty years. His retirement is effective December 31. Expect a search firm to be hired and a national search to be conducted. Presumably this puts the county in the awkward position of competing with the city for the same talent.

Maurice Jones Shooting to be City Manager

Waldo Jaquith — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:18:33 +0000

Maurice Jones is shooting to be the city manager, Rachana Dixit writes in the Progress today. He became acting city manager when Gary O’Connell stepped down in April. Before that he was assistant city manager. Jones is perhaps best known for his time as a sportscaster for NBC-29 in the mid-nineties and, after that, serving as the city spokesman. An outside search firm is trying to find a replacement for O’Connell; Jones has not yet formally applied, but intends to shortly.

As this process unfolds, keep in mind that Charlottesville has a strong city manager form of government. The city manager is in charge of the city—basically a mid-sized business—the equivalent of mayor in many other cities.

One if by Land, Two if by Sea

Waldo Jaquith — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:40:36 +0000

Here’s your annual warning: the students return this weekend.

The Hook Investigates VQR

Waldo Jaquith — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:27:15 +0000

In the current Hook is one of the longest articles that I recall them publishing: Dave McNair’s investigation into the suicide of VQR’s Kevin Morrissey. There’s a lot more information, and better sourced information, than in the Chronicle of Higher Education piece, published last week. Perhaps the most interesting revelation in the article is that there was a 32-year veteran of the UVA-published magazine who says she was forced out by editor Ted Genoways in 2005; after she filed a harassment complaint against him, the university gave her a severance package. She calls Genoways “a danger” who “should not be in charge of other people.”

Obligatory disclaimer: I work for VQR, I’ve accepted a new job elsewhere at the university, this is super awkward to write about, and I’ve lost all perspective as to when I should write about this on cvillenews.com and when I shouldn’t. Based on the explosion of comments on The Hook’s site this afternoon and evening, though, it looks like people are still pretty interested.