Not welcome: As Lee Park empties, UVA shoos Occupiers

Members 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, some of those who are leaving the park to avoid arrest will stand outside on the sidewalk to video and photograph the police response to those who remain.

Read more on: Occupy Charlottesville


Sorry they can't leave peacefully. And once the show starts, I can only imagine some of Longo's lugnut rookies are going to embarrass him rather badly. This will be just like a new video game to the rookies. Hope the sergeants are close enough to keep an eye on the lugnuts.

I ask again, and again, and any of these notesters or occupuds have any idea as to what they are notesting and why they are occupuding??

UVA's position is very understandable. If they endorsed Occupy Charlottesville by allowing it to use their property - they would have also inherently assumed responsibility for the actions of this group. I wish the supporters of Occupy Charlottesville would honestly ask themselves if they would be willing to assume responsibility for the actions of this group if the decision were theirs to make.

You are welcome at my University, but if not there then the lawn of the county office building corner of Preston and McIntire, is all yours !

McGuffy Art Center lawn! Close to the Haven and free showers and bathrooms. Close to free food at the soup kitchens. Free speech a-plenty there. They certainly could not be accused of uglifying that lawn. No, not if they are engaged in Performance Art.

The real proof of their integrity will be to see if those who leave peacefully will clean up their mess before they go, but I doubt it and their integrity. They would rather find a new park to muck up in the name of making the world a better place.

McGuffey is not visible enough --don't understand why more people are not voting for the county office lawn aka Lane High.

Breathing into a paper bag will usually cure a case of the vapors. Once you have calmed down, try reading the Occupy Movement entry on Wikipedia. By concentrating, you will find the answers you say you seek.
Best wishes to you & Happy Holidays!

DIs is so funny mane. I hope da Sandman from Apollo show up at 11pm an sweep deez fools out da park. Exactly wut have dey accomplishd since dey started campin?

Yall Depressing

Steve, I guess if you were still a cop, you'd ALWAYS exercise good judgment and never make a mistake? amiright? Oh, that's right, you are human and even humans have to sleep.....

It sucks sitting on the sidelines an reminiscing of the "good ole' days", doesn't it?

" We are the One Per Cent " In case you're in need of a good laugh or a good cry. Try this :

" We’re angry. We’re angry at something we’re calling “imagined frustration.” By this we mean that, except for Congress, the White House, banks, major lobbyists, and the editorial boards of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, no one is listening to us. And we’re tired of it.
You claim to know something about us. You think we are rich beyond comprehension, that we can do anything we please at any time, go anywhere we want at a moment’s notice, wander the earth in a state of constant bliss, enjoying abundant and fabulous sex. Perhaps you do know us."

Read more

Protest during the day, go home and rest at night. And grow your numbers, you don't need to occupy to be effective. Most still don't know your message other than you are the 99%. How about protesting for Congressional term limits and slash THEIR pay and benefits.

Here at last, we may see how the herd reacts to an effort to move them from their current grazing space to something else, or, maybe, nothing else. My personal opinion is that most of the herd are decent people, who probably will clean up their mess and take it with them. And, we also possibly will discover some of the "leaders," even though leadership is denied.

First amendment rights? Spare me. In the entire time of the occupancy, not a single coherent statement about grievances and resolutions has emerged from the herd. Well, at least we have some refinement of the extent of the right to assemble. And just sitting around doesn't seem to meet the test.

Hopefully Longo's crew confiscate their tents and the various electrical devices they're using to steal from the city's taxpayers and allow them to continue their expression of their 1st amendment rights in the chilly December air. While we can guess at the ultimate motives of the "Occupy" protesters - whether it's the promotion of Marxism, reelection of Obama, or some combination of the two - their short-term goal is clear: to encourage the local authorities to turn this into a spectacle that makes them appear to be some sort of victims.

Anti-Gasbag, no. It really doesn't suck. My entire view on how things are done in the criminal justice system changed when I watched an entire chain of command in a local police department, from lowly rookie to chief of police, lie under oath in a court of law. I'll support good honest cops all day long. And I will comment on the rest as often as I choose to do so.

If the sergeants aren't available to keep the lugnuts under control, I hope Chief Longo can be there at 11:00 p.m. to protect his own interests and reputation.

Anti-Gasbag, ps - yes, humans need sleep. I learned this the hard way. I tried to work all day and sit up with my father dying of cancer. It didn't work. The city doctor wanted to take me off from work there near the end of my father's life, but I refused. My bad!

I don't quite understand why, in response to the economic distress caused by
the cosmopolitan finance capitalists whose actions caused the bankruptcy of
several investment banking houses and large insurance companies that were deemed
too big to fail and so had to be bailed out by the taxpayers at the cost of hundreds of
billions of dollars, much of which was used for bonus pay to executives and traders, we taxpayers, having paid the bonus checks of those who derailed the global economy, are now expected to quietly endure "austerity" measures while the finance capitalists laugh all the way to the bank at our expense. Don't quite understand why the general public tolerates diminished standard of living while the finance capitalists enjoy record profits.

I don't quite understand why people demonstrating against the obvious injustice
of rewarding the cosmopolitan finance capitalists whose reckless gambling with other
people's money on a grand scale caused the ongoing global economic disaster are treated
like trouble makers. There is plenty of trouble, but the people in the park did not make it, they are on the receiving end and are not happy about it and are trying to call attention to the obvious injustice and inequality by the excercise of their right to free speech and freedom of assembly. But this is being portrayed as something dirty and undesirable, untidy
and out of line, not to be accepted by those fortunate to have a comfortable secure, tenured
job for the state. No doubt some of the people in the park are homeless, and perhaps have not had a shower lately, and perhaps the result of their demonstration is messy. But then so was the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the bail out of AIG, Bear Stearns, and the other big Wall Street firms who received zillions of taxpayer dollars so the executives could
keep their bonusses, country club memberships, yachts, triplex penthouses, and multimillion dollar pay packages, all at taxpayer expense. Of course these executives have plenty of hot water, showers, nifty suits, starched shirts, silk ties, and kids in all the best schools, nothing smelly about these guys.

So why are the taxpayers so docile? why so willing to make sure the fat cats stay so fat?
why are more people not out demonstrating, throwing bricks?

I have a feeling it has to do with the fact that over 200 million prescriptions for "anti-depressants" were written in the Untied States in 2010. So if 2/3 of the population is on
zoloft and other happy pills why go out and demonstrate? just have another prozac and
don't worry about losing your house or your job, it's ok.

~Aldous Huxley, Tavistock Group, California Medical School, 1961 scroll down to tabulation of number of
prescriptions per brand of anti depressant, totalling over 209 million in 2010 in USA

dr james b kiracofe- can't you use one phoney name and leave it at that (veeroff69)? Your dribble is just that, one reads it for sure.

make that "veerhoff69"

So, because you continue to sing the "entire chain of command lied" song, you are painting all of charlottesville's cops with the same brush from something that allegedly happened to you long ago. Don't you think that's a bit unfair? I don't think longo can hire veteran, seasoned officers like yourself all the time. there will always be rookies and rookies will make mistakes, as will veteran officers. I'm sure YOU can agree with that .....

"My bad"?? What, are we 12?

dear harry d,
actually i use my own name for all the world to see, nothing to hide in what i have to say, and i do not use any other name when I offer a comment, only my own .
I am glad to learn that you, at least, read my comment so attentively, and that it provoked such a strong, if personal, reaction from you. your contributions to this discussion have been
so instructive, insightful, and helpful that i want to take a moment to thank you and give you my best wishes.


@ HarryD...I read it, sir, and it brings more to the table than your constant vitriolic line. Well said, JBK.

there's a great south park episode with a smug cloud and citizens getting high off their own farts, I can always count on charlottesville to best emulate that episode.

Dr. Kiracofe- sorry about that. I usually google those with what appear to be real names, but I missed yours.

As for my vitriolic line, beats a line of coca..........please keep up the humorous ramblings- and I'll keep reading them...............

@ HarryD...You're just one of those people who can't stand others with differing opinions. Takes more than your inane demeaning remarks to change opinion. Try adding a little substance to your argument.

Harry D,

I use my real name (+ the number of what I consider a very good year).

Full disclosure: I am not an Occupier. I do feel some solidarity with elements of the major grassroots political movements developing currently (yeah both the Tea Party and the Occupiers). I do not lean either way as there are extreme positions in both camps I disagree with also

Neither am I Dr James Kiracofe, although I think this man can articulate himself superbly.

I grew up in Washington DC in a permanent family of 5 generations, not as an intransigent politician. I have witnessed my entire life first hand many people engaging in the exercise of their Civil Liberties, and with the never ending debate about public policy. I understand how just fragile the continuing struggle to preserve Liberty can be.

I moved here about 17 years ago, and I am now a local citizen in the truest meaning of this word. I witness what is going on here now, through this lens. I have reserved myself from making judgments about others however I can.

I am not impressed by people who cowardly sit behind their computers in anonimity, and do not contribute positive discourse to a public dialog, but I do respect the inalienable right for people for to speak their opinions in any instance, even if I do not agree with them.

My children can claim at least 6 generations of ancestry to this very piece of Virginia. I am most concerned for their welfare and that they have the opportunities to live in as great a country as I have.

It feels very awkward to put such an egotistical post forward, indeed, but I will do this just once to set the record straight.

Brian Veerhoff

"nowhere man"...............the perfect description for them.

Differing opinions? Sure I do...........what is their opinion, exactly.

veerhoff69- perhaps I am just waiting for the occupiers to tell me what it is they want and provide a plan for how they can get what they want.

That is all I am asking..............