Robert McGrath moved to Charlottesville in 2007 after retiring from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. For almost a decade before retirement he held concurrent positions as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and also Vice President for Brookhaven National Laboratory Affairs. He is Professor of Physics Emeritus. He did accelerator-based nuclear physics research for most of his academic career. In retirement he has adopted climate change as an avocation, and has studied broadly both the modern scientific literature and literature and/or missives affecting how the public perceives the science. He is a member of the Senior Statesmen of Virginia. Mr McGrath spoke at the April 9, 2010 meeting of the Senior Statesmen of Virginia. The meeting was held at The Charlottesville Senior Center. Following the presentation, questions were taken from the audience. The program was moderated by SSV Vice President Sue Liberman.
Mainstream climate scientists argue humans must make dramatic reductions in the use of fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic changes to the environment. Calls for action have been out there for decades, but only relatively minor changes in energy practices have actually occurred. Polls suggest the majority of Americans are not convinced strong action is needed. Mr. McGrath reviewed the status of discussion about climate change, presented some simple facts about modeling climate, discussed the IPCC predictions about what the world is looking at for the 21st century, lamented some of the hyperbole and silliness surrounding climate change, and pleaded for the serious debate the subject deserves.
Jim Perkins of the Senior Statesmen of Virgina talks with Coy about the event they are hosting on climate change. The event takes place from 1:30-3:00pm on June 9th at the Senior Center.
Charlottesville is known to attract artists and musicians from all over Virginia who come to showcase their talent and entertain people. Jamie West, a twenty-four year old musician traveled all the way from England to play music on the streets of Charlottesville. Deepak Singh compiled this audio report.
On Wednesday May 19th Rick Britton himself delivered a presentation on the Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia’s first Civil War land battle. Fought on June 10th, 1861, 41 days before the First Battle of Manassas, Big Bethel pitted Confederates "Prince John" Magruder and D. H. Hill, along with approximately 1,400 men, against Union Gen. Benjamin Butler’s force of 4,400 from Fortress Monroe and Newport News. Prior to the fight, D. H. Hill had ordered his North Carolinians to dig in, and it was these earthworks that helped the Southern troops hold the field and prevail against superior numbers.
On Wednesday, May 26th, Rick Britton will lead a tour down to the Virginia Peninsula where this early battle took place. The tour will tour historic Fortress Monroe — a must see since it’s scheduled for closing this year — as well as the Mariner’s Museum featuring the turret of the original U.S.S. Monitor and a full-scale reproduction of that revolutionary vessel that the tour will actually board. Bus tour departs from the Charlottesville Senior Center at 8:00 AM. There is a fee for the tour. Call 974-6538 for more info.
Virginia will be a key battleground as Republicans try to take back the House, with a "toss-up" race right here in the Fifth District where Tom Perriello eked out the closest victory in the nation in 2008 and a handful of other House races across the state which will decide which party controls Congress next year.
Isaac Wood is the House Race Editor of Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He has been quoted in a variety of news publications and broadcasts, including NPR and TIME, and served as an off-air analyst for the BBC’s election night coverage in 2008.
Isaac produces, edits, and composes weekly articles which analyze the political climate and predict electoral outcomes for Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a political analysis web site and newsletter created by Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato. His areas of expertise are Virginia politics and U.S. House elections.
Prior to joining the Center for Politics, Isaac held political internships on Capitol Hill and in North Carolina and worked for several Virginia political campaigns. He earned a B.A. with distinction in Government and Economics from the University of Virginia, where he was Phi Beta Kappa.
Obama and the Democratic Congress passed landmark healthcare reform after a rancorous year-long struggle. Republicans are threatening to make “Repeal and Replace” their fall campaign slogan, while Obama has welcomed that referendum and polls have shown a bump in public support for the reform now that it’s law.
What did the law get right? How much will it really do for cost-cutting, expanding coverage, and improving quality? What major flaws of our system remain yet to be dealt with? How will the average American be impacted by the reform? What will it mean for political fortunes in the fall and beyond?
Leading this month’s Left of Center discussion are three University of Virginia professors:
Ann Mallek, chairman of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, and Dave Norris, mayor of the City of Charlottesville spoke at the March 10, 2010 meeting of the Senior Statesmen of Virginia held at The Charlottesville Senior Center. Following brief opening remarks by the participants, questions were taken from the audience. The program was moderated by SSV board member Jim Perkins.
Ann Mallek
Ann H. Mallek, was elected for her first term to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors beginning in 2008 representing the White Hall District. She was elected chairman earlier this year.
Ann grew up in Albemarle County and graduated from Albemarle High School. She received her B.A. in Zoology from Connecticut College. Since 1983 Ann and her husband, Leo, a general dentist with a practice in Earlysville, have managed the family farm in Earlysville where they raised their two daughters. The farm produces grass-fed beef and pesticide-free vegetables.
Ann is the educator and program coordinator for Central Virginia for the Virginia Museum of Natural History.
She is a member of the following boards, commissions and committees: the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission; Albemarle County Fire Rescue Advisory Board; Piedmont Workforce Network Council; Acquisition of Conservation Easements; and the Building Committee.
Ann is a member of the League of Women Voters; Albemarle County Farm Bureau; Charlottesville-Albemarle Chamber of Commerce; Piedmont Environmental Council; Southern Environmental Law Center; Rivanna Conservation Society; Ivy Creek Foundation; and the League of Conservation Voters.
Ann cites her experience on County boards focused on zoning, transportation, development, and conservation, and describes herself as a strong protector of the environment and rural spaces, and of growth areas that are developed only after rational, long-term planning and proper funding of necessary public services.
Dave Norris
Dave Norris was first elected to the Charlottesville City Council in 2006 and was elected mayor in 2008. He is the executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Blue Ridge and previously was the executive director of PACEM. Other positions include the associate director of Madison House, interim director of PHAR (the Public Housing Association of Residents), founding director of the Connecting People to Jobs Initiative (a joint venture between PHAR and Piedmont Virginia Community College), and coordinator of the Virginia Economic Development Corporation’s Micro Loan Program for low-income, minority and female entrepreneurs.
Dave has served on a number of boards and commissions including the Charlottesville Redevelopment & Housing Authority, Monticello Area Community Action Agency, PHAR Advisory Board, Piedmont Housing Alliance, Westhaven Nursing Clinic Coalition, Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless, and the Jefferson Area Board of Aging 2020 Community Plan for Aging.
Dave graduated from high school in Stuttgart, Germany, and received a B.A. in Politics & History from Curry College in Milton, MA, and an M.A. in Government from the College of William and Mary. He recently bought an old house in Belmont and is happy to call Belmont home. He has two children, Eli and Chloe.
Dave is a graduate of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Charlottesville program and a graduate of the Quality Community Council’s Explorations in Excellence leadership development program. He was named one of the Distinguished Dozen by the Daily Progress and was honored as Virginia Citizen of the Year by the Virginia Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors for his work with PACEM.
Central Virginia has always been known for its fascinating inhabitants. This six-session series featured: Dr. Thomas Walker, discoverer of the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky; James Monroe, forgotten hero of the American Revolution; Dolley Madison, our nation’s first "First Lady"; Claudius Crozet who built the world’s longest railroad tunnel; Ben Ficklin, founder of the Pony Express; Cyrus McCormick who invented the reaper; the "Moon Ghost" who haunted southern Albemarle; self-made millionaire Samuel Miller; Maud Coleman Woods, "America’s Most Beautiful Blonde"; lunatic and philanthropist Archie Chaloner; Congressional Medal winner Frank Peregoy; and "Anastasia," the Romanov family pretender who once convinced the world!
In a county famed for its wealthy eccentrics, John Armstrong Chaloner stands alone at the head of the class. He began his professional life well-educated, well-heeled, and well-connected. He became a poet, a novelist, and a playwright (of sorts), a patron of the arts, a philanthropist, and a dabbler in eastern philosophy and the occult. He believed he had special powers and could contact those beyond the grave. Chaloner’s bizarre behavior, and weird writings, were the source of cocktail-party snickering for close to four decades. "Virginia was his earthly tabernacle," wrote J. Bryan III, "but in spirit he lived Through the Looking-Glass, a congenial neighbor to the Mad Hatter and the White Knight." Despite his many oddities, however, Chaloner was loved by Albemarle County’s poor and disadvantaged. It is doubtful whether we will ever see his like again.
Central Virginia has always been known for its fascinating inhabitants. This six-session series featured: Dr. Thomas Walker, discoverer of the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky; James Monroe, forgotten hero of the American Revolution; Dolley Madison, our nation’s first “First Lady”; Claudius Crozet who built the world’s longest railroad tunnel; Ben Ficklin, founder of the Pony Express; Cyrus McCormick who invented the reaper; the “Moon Ghost” who haunted southern Albemarle; self-made millionaire Samuel Miller; Maud Coleman Woods, “America’s Most Beautiful Blonde”; lunatic and philanthropist Archie Chaloner; Congressional Medal winner Frank Peregoy; and “Anastasia,” the Romanov family pretender who once convinced the world!
Born in Nelson County and raised in Charlottesville, Tech. Sgt. Frank Dabney Peregoy was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the Charlottesville City Armory on June 4, 1945. The National Guardsman — a member of the Monticello Guard, Company K, 116th Infantry — had performed an amazing feat of heroism in France on D-Day plus two. Brig. Gen. E. R. Warner McCabe presented the nation’s highest award to Bessie Kirby Peregoy, Frank’s widow. “You will have the comfort and consolation and satisfaction of knowing,” he told her, “that your heroic husband’s memory will live forever in the hearts of his country and his valiant deeds will live in the hearts of his fellow citizens.” This is his story.
Join us again next Thursday when Rick returns with the life of eccentric John Armstrong Chaloner who became a poet, a novelist, a playwright, a patron of the arts, a philanthropist, and a dabbler in eastern philosophy and the occult.
Central Virginia has always been known for its fascinating inhabitants. This six-session series featured: Dr. Thomas Walker, discoverer of the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky; James Monroe, forgotten hero of the American Revolution; Dolley Madison, our nation’s first "First Lady"; Claudius Crozet who built the world’s longest railroad tunnel; Ben Ficklin, founder of the Pony Express; Cyrus McCormick who invented the reaper; the "Moon Ghost" who haunted southern Albemarle; self-made millionaire Samuel Miller; Maud Coleman Woods, "America’s Most Beautiful Blonde"; lunatic and philanthropist Archie Chaloner; Congressional Medal winner Frank Peregoy; and "Anastasia," the Romanov family pretender who once convinced the world!
In this podcast Rick looks at the twists and turns of "Anastasia’s" life — her journey from a Berlin asylum to No. 35 University Circle in Charlottesville, Virginia — have fascinated the world for decades. The questions seem insurmountable: How had she escaped a Bolshevik firing squad? How had she escaped a Russia ripped to shreds by civil war? Chronically plagued by ill health and a fluctuating disposition, "Anastasia" consistently maintained her ersatz identity. Whether she was using the name Madame Tchaikovsky, or Anna Manahan, her claim remained the same. She said she wasHer Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, improbable survivor of a royal dynasty and rightful heiress to all remaining monies and holdings that had belonged to her father, Csar Nicolas II of Russia.
Join us again next Thursday when Rick returns with the life of Tech. Sgt. Frank Dabney Peregoy. Born in Nelson County and raised in Charlottesville, Peregoy was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the Charlottesville City Armory on June 4, 1945.
Sally Thomas has represented the Samuel Miller district since 1994 when she first won election to the board in 1993 as an independent write-in candidate over Carter Myers by a margin of 192 votes. In all elections since (1997, 2001 and 2005), she has run unopposed.
“I originally ran to give Samuel Miller voters a choice when only one name was on the ballot. Since then, I’ve been privileged to serve those voters and all the residents of Samuel Miller and the County….I love the job and the responsibility that the voters have given to me, but sixteen years probably is as long as one should stay, so I won’t be running for re-election this November,” said Thomas. She announced she would not seek a fifth term on April 8, 2009.
Sally grew up in a small town in Oregon and has B.A. and M.A.T. degrees from Harvard/Radcliffe in Government and Education. She and her husband, George Thomas, have lived here since 1963, raising two daughters who attended Albemarle County public schools.
Before being elected in a write-in campaign in 1993, Thomas was director of Governmental and Community Relations at the University of Virginia. Thomas served on the Albemarle County School Board and was president of the local League of Women Voters. Thomas was also appointed to the Albemarle County School Board as the At-Large member during 1980-1983. Sally was selected as the 1994 Virginia Women’s Forum “Woman of the Year,” and the Leadership Charlottesville “Leaders’ Leader of 2001.” She received gubernatorial appointments to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Local Government Advisory Commission; the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations; and the Natural Resources Partnership.
She served as chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization; the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors – 2001, 2002; the Planning and Coordination Council; the Citizens Committee for City-County Cooperation; the Thomas Jefferson Venture; and the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir Stewardship Task Force. She served as president of the Virginia Transit Association and the Charlottesville/Albemarle League of Women Voters.
Sally served on the boards of the AIDS Support Group; the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center; the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission; Scenic Virginia; Albemarle County School Board; and the City Social Development Committee. She was board liaison for the Mountain Protection Committee; the Albemarle County Historic Preservation Committee; and the ACE committee. Sally was a member of the Lewis and Clark Festival planning committee; Virginia Association of Counties Finance Steering Committee; Thomas Jefferson Sustainability Council; Jefferson Area Board for Aging Plan 2020 Advisory Committee; and the Policy Committee for VDOT’s U.S. 29 Corridor Study. She is a graduate of the Albemarle County Citizens Police Academy.
News media across the country are collapsing. After recent staff cuts, furloughs and the shutdown of local printing for the Daily Progress, will Media General be doing more downsizing? Can we support four TV stations? Two weeklies? Will blogs replace all of them? What about the partnership between the non-profit Charlottesville Tomorrow and the Daily Progress, being watched nationally as a possible future model for local news?
That topic was the subject of a Left of Center forum jointly sponsored with cvillenews.com. The event is moderated by site founder Waldo Jaquith.
University of Virginia media studies professor Bruce Williams began with a historical overview of how changing “media regimes” in the U.S. have impacted political communication and civil society, and how the recent ‘broadcast era’ may have been an anomaly in the larger sweep of American history.
Then the event continues with a panel discussion with Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Sean Tubbs, Daily Progress assistant city editor Josh Barney, and Hook editor Hawes Spencer, with moderator Waldo Jaquith, editor of cvillenews.com and Left of Center steering committee member.
