The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - $1M In Federal Funds Cut From CVille, AlbCo Schools; Two Days Left To Nominate UVA Interim President

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: $1M In Federal Funds Cut From CVille, AlbCo Schools Two Days Left To Nominate UVA Interim President Was Jim Ryan Anti-Thomas Jefferson? CVille’s Mountain High Creates THC Seltzer Scottsville Restaurants Paying Meals Tax Twice Charlottesville City Market Releases Cookbook UVA Names New General Manager For Football Executive Offices For Rent ($350 – $975), Contact Jerry Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Wednesday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. It's great to connect with you guys in our building, in our studio in downtown Charlottesville, the Macklin Building. A lot we're going to cover on the program. We have topics that run the content gambit on today's show. We'll talk Jim Ryan and ask the question, was the ‑‑ is the fallen UVA president Jim Ryan anti Thomas Jefferson? Is he anti Jeffersonian? The Jefferson council believes that Jim Ryan is anti Thomas Jefferson. I want to unpack that and from an unbiased and reasonable perspective, ask you the viewer

and listener to help us answer the question, is the fallen president Jim Ryan anti Thomas Jefferson? We'll talk on today's program the news that is dominating the cycle locally. One million in combined federal funding has been cut from Charlottesville City Public Schools and Amar County Public Schools and goodness gracious are the school systems, their unions, their administrations, their parents, are they concerned and concerned they should be? We'll talk about that on today's show. We remind you, the viewer and listener, that there is two days left you to go to Virginia.edu forward slash nominations and offer your vote or your nomination for the next interim president of the University of Virginia. The website again Virginia.edu forward slash nominations. I continue to

comfortably stand on the hill that Ken Elzinga, the esteemed economics professor with 50 years plus at the University of Virginia, should be named the interim president. He will of course not be the permanent president. I think that process may go into next year, which might disappoint and dismay many out there, certainly those on the Jefferson Council side of the aisle. The interim president is going to be named very soon. You can offer your nomination at Virginia.edu forward slash nominations. a lot I want to cover on the program including Scottsville residents that again are imploring, drawing the attention that they're getting taxed twice from a meals tax standpoint, one by the town of Scottsville and another by Elmoral County. It's no secret that doing business in Scottsville from a

restaurant standpoint is extremely challenging. Outside of Tavern on the James, there's been a boatload of turnover in restaurants, ladies and gentlemen, in the town of Scottsville. I want to talk about the double tax, meals tax that these F&B businesses face and what we could potentially do about that. We have some breaking news with Virginia football naming a general manager. Carla Williams officially has made a statement and officially has announced the hire a new general manager for the football team. A lot we're going to cover on the program.

I want to thank Conan Owen and Sir Speedy of Central Virginia for being a partner of the show. He's the CEO and owner of locally owned and operated Sir Speedy, Conan Owen. If you have a logo, Sir Speedy of Central Virginia can help you find an application for that logo that will drive return on investment. Print, graphic design, window decals, the step and repeat banner that's directly behind me, direct mail,

stickers, signage, you name it. If you have a logo, Conan Owen and Sir Speedy can do something with it. He is a darting graduate. He's a good guy, he's a good businessman. Knows a lot that's happening in the business community. Judah Wickhauer, studio camera, and then a two-shot as we welcome you. Cavalier Daily's been on point lately, and I think the Cavalier Daily has done a fantastic job,

the student newspaper at the University of Virginia, covering the Jim Ryan fall from grace. The Cavalier Daily has done a good job covering the fact that five of the top eight positions are currently open. And as John Blair highlighted yesterday, it's really six of the top eight with Colette Sheehy's retirement with the foundation. President and Provost vacant the top three positions

at UVA Health, the second most important position at the foundation with Cole Atchihi, they ask the question now, was Jim Ryan anti Thomas Jefferson? You find that to be the most intriguing headline for today. Let the viewers and listeners know why. Well, I think the problem in the two thought processes on this are that I think the Jefferson Council is looking at the basics. They're looking at things like honor, like not cheating. Honor code.

The honor code has never been more vulnerable or an afterthought at the University of Virginia than it is right now. It was at one time a single sanction honor code. If you cheated or got caught cheating, you were expelled. Now cheating is so rampant at the University of Virginia. An investigation, for example, at the Darden School found that cheating was so rampant that they could not bring this investigation to light for fear that if this investigation was brought to light, the entire Darden

School would crumble like aged blue cheese. That's scary. That is scary. That's how rampant cheating is at the Darden School right now. They did an investigation, found the cheating was so significant, we cannot announce the results of our investigation because the school would crumble and the value of the degree would be worthless. Let's just sweep that under the rug. I interrupted you, I apologize. Keep going. So, I think they're looking at things like freedom of expression, like we said, the honor code, they're looking at freedom of religion, preventing orthodoxy of thought from pervading

grounds. In other words, everybody thinking the same way, no discussion, they want open and civil debate, diversity, whereas I think the opposing viewpoint is looking at more nebulous ideas of, and they're talking about historians suggesting that Jefferson's views were not always consistent, that he changed his mind over the years, which you know, we all do. Of course. And talking about things like just coming to different conclusions about what goes on on campus, philosophy in a historical context, almost the way a lot of people believe that

the Constitution itself should be more malleable, that we should be looking at, obviously we have different ways of thinking about things than we did. A hundred and fifty years ago, we've changed our views, we've got technology that they never would have dreamed of. And so I think there's, the two arguments

are not exactly meeting each other head to head. I am really torn on rules and constitutions or zoning ordinances, honor codes, whatever you wanna call it, whether it's the honor code at UVA, the zoning ordinance in the city of Charlottesville, the constitution for our country, law and order, I'm very torn on the word malleable. Yeah.

Not of the mindset, and maybe you can persuade me otherwise, that honor codes and zoning ordinances and constitutions should be malleable or interpreted with different viewpoints that yield different outcomes. Because those don't seem like rules to me. Those seem like interpretations to me. Those seem like interpretations to me and they're very different. So I want to talk, Jude and I will conversate this in about five minutes. Tag a friend in the comment section or share the show with someone. Jenny Hu, thank you for the retweet. Was Thomas Jefferson, would Thomas Jefferson look unfavorably on fallen president Jim Ryan if TJ were alive today? That's a topic on today's show and it's inspired by

commentary in the student newspaper the Cavalier Daily. We need to lead the show as you put a lower third on screen with the federal funding. The federal funding for Charlottesville City Schools and Alamaro County Public Schools in part has been cut. And now Alamaro County administrators and city public school administrators are urging taxpayers, parents, teachers alike to contact their congressional reps over a very uncertain future. Alamaro County public schools, in a statement issued yesterday has said the federal government is holding back

$660,000 that go toward title programs such as Head Start and other title programs which we will describe. Charlottesville Public Schools also timed a statement right momentarily, right in the same time Almar County released theirs, the city schools said they have 417,000 cut by the feds for a combined $1,077,000 in total cuts for county and city schools. Judah Wichower, where do you want to begin with this one? I mean it's tough but fortunately the schools do have contingencies in place and they get a lot of money. I don't know, I don't remember the exact amounts but 660,000 is I would think a pretty small amount compared to overall what what

for instance ACPS runs on. Oh this is a this is a drop in the bucket okay I'm not gonna marginalize what's happening here right this is an absolute drop in the bucket for Almar County's total budget. In fact Almar County Public Schools yearly budget Almar County Public Schools yearly budget, Alamora County Public Schools yearly budget is about 60% of Alamora County's total budget for the year. The city school is about 60%. Did a quick Google search. The Alamora County School Board recently adopted the 2025-2026 operating budget for the Alamaro County School District totaling about $284 million on a Google search.

So this is an absolute drop in the bucket, ladies and gentlemen. A drop in the bucket. But the bucket is so tight with how its money is allocated that even $617,000 for the county or 400 ‑‑ was it $600,000 for the county? $600,000 for the county or 400‑some thousand for city schools, even this little drop is some pain that's going to be felt by these school systems. They spend every dollar they get. Every dollar they get, they spend. Like much of our government, it's spend, spend, spend, spend and not necessarily retain for

a rainy day. The Alamaro County, the 660,000 that the feds are cutting is affecting Alamora County the following ways. Support instruction and services for migrant students and English learners. That's what these funds are for. They're used for providing professional development for teachers and instructional staff. Support instructional coaching positions and fund certain interventions and academic enrichment opportunities. Almore County says the estimated budget represents about six full-time equivalent positions. Almore County, what steps is it taking? It's utilizing budgeted contingency staffing, reallocating vacant positions that would typically be used to meet other needs, increasing reimbursement requests under Title 1 Part A, and reducing central office staffing. This is what this means here, ladies and gentlemen. The folks that are on the Trump side of the aisle, the Donald Trump side of the

aisle, are posting on social media now, when you go woke, you go broke. The folks on the anti-Trump side of the aisle, the opposite end of the political spectrum, are posting this on social media, this is what you voted for, we told you so. Somewhere there's a middle ground. What is that middle ground. Yeah. Yeah. What is that middle ground? There's there's a lot here to unpack. Remember that last month the school board voted to increase the county school board voted to increase member salaries by 105 percent. They also approved a three percent pay raise for Haas who's now making close to two hundred and fifty,000 a year and extended this contract through June of 2028.

The superintendent of public schools got a raise. The Almaro County school board voted in a meeting to give itself a raise immediately. That raise was well over 100%. Yeah. was well over 100%. Okay? So when we highlight $660,000 that has been cut, please realize that the Almore County Public School Division is operating at a budget000, $300 million roughly budget. This is a drop in the bucket. Look beyond the headline. Now do you buy this argument? This is the federal government again targeting Charlottesville and Alamaro County. Jim Ryan, ICE, UVA, federal funding leveraged against UVA, Department of Justice targeting Jim Ryan, the ICE courthouse raids, now the public schools. Alamora County was named in a Trump report for its curriculum unchanging and now federal funding is being leveraged against the school.

Do you buy this as Trump going after Alamora and Charlottesville because he has an axe to grind? Or are we so punch drunk on ourselves that we actually believe that Charlottesville and Alamaro County are on the top of mind of the most powerful man in the world? I lean more towards the second one. A lot of stuff has happened to Charlottesville and Alamaro County. Another one would be the Federal Executive Institute on Barricks Road. Remember the federal executive institute

where the feds chose to close the federal executive institute as part of the Elon Musk doge efforts? And then the federal executive institute in Donald Trump's administration said city schools, you can have this at $0. And then said, na na na na boo boo, psych, you can't have this, we're going to give this

to UVA instead. But therein lies the problem. If you're arguing that Donald Trump hates Charlottesville and everything in it, including Charlottesville and Albemarle County schools and UVA, why would he give the building to UVA? Or ask this question. If the Federal Executive Institute had in fact been given to city public schools, was it 19, 20 acres, a former hotel, the Federal Executive Institute,

that the city schools would have had to maintain, would it cost them millions of dollars a year just to maintain and operate 19 acres in the city next to Barricks Road Shopping Center in between Barricks and Stonefield. Can you imagine the boondoggle that the Federal Executive Institute would have been for the city, a cost to maintain, now facing even more budget cuts? Yeah. I mean, it's look beyond the headline first and realize that a county's budget is roughly $300 million and this is $660,000 that's been cut. That's the first thing you need to do. The second thing you need to do is look beyond the headline and realize that the school board

gave themselves 100% plus raise about a month ago. Look beyond the headline and realize the superintendent was given a pretty hefty raise that is making a quarter million plus and and county academic performance has suffered notably under his watch most notably post-pandemic. Look beyond the headline and realize that Alamaro County Public Schools every single year is going to Alamaro County and its board of supervisors going to us our taxpayers County and its board of supervisors, going to us, our taxpayers, homeowners, renters, business owners, and asking for more money. Look beyond the headline and realize that the city of Charlottesville is doing much of the same. Look beyond the headline that where it says Trump withholds one million from Charlottesville

Albemarle schools and look at the fact that he's withholding money from schools across the United States. Whether or not you agree with that, whether or not you think he's a horrible person, the real headline is not that he's withholding money just from Charlottesville and Albemarle County schools. This isn't like a targeted attack on us. Like you said, step outside of ‑‑ Get out of the bubble. We're punch drunk with Charlottesville. That's why we live here. Because we love Charlottesville. I love Seville. But get out of your own bubble. We'll catch heat for that, ladies and gentlemen. But I'm comfortable on that hill. Philip Dowl, town of Scottsville, we've dubbed him the mayor of Scottsville watching the program. Philip Dowl, we'll talk about restaurants in Scottsville being

taxed twice from a meals tax standpoint, once by the town and once by Admiral County. Olivia Brantz, welcome to the show. Thank you for watching the program. Hammer that like button and share the show. If you love the I Love Civo show, let someone know about the program. We encourage you to look beyond headlines and click bait. Next headline, Judah Wichera, what do you got? Is it the nomination one? Put the nomination lower third on screen. I'll offer 30 seconds for this and then we'll go into the meat and potatoes of the show and ask the question, was Jim Ryan anti Thomas Jefferson? You have two days left, ladies and gentlemen, to nominate the

interim president of the University of Virginia. That nomination can be done at Virginia.edu forward slash nominations. My vote is Ken Elzinga, the esteemed economics professor. I think he would make a fantastic interim president. You have two days to do it. The nomination form will expire. The website will close on July 25th at 5 p.m. Next headline, put the lower third on screen please. Set the table, Judah Wickauer.

We've got a couple arguments, one coming from the Jefferson Council and another coming from the Cavalier Daily discussing the issue of whether or not Jim Ryan as president of UVA VA was anti Jefferson or I think a better term would be anti Jeffersonian. And I think it's an interesting discussion. But like I said earlier, I don't think that the two groups are meeting each other head on in this discussion. I believe that the Jefferson Council is looking at the bare bones, the basics of what Jefferson intended for the school, while the Cavalier Daily is taking the issue a bit more broadly and discussing more how DEI fits into today's world and whether or not it DEI, I think the argument really is more about DEI and whether DEI is anti-Jeffersonian. Is diversity, equity, and inclusion anti-Thomas Jefferson?

I think in some ways it is. Is an honor code that is so weak and so forgotten. Anti-Thomas Jefferson. Is an academic ecosystem where out of state parents are paying 100 grand a year to send their kids to the University of Virginia, roughly $100,000 a year, anti Thomas Jefferson. That's what's happened under Jim Ryan's watch. We've seen the honor code become an afterthought. We've seen the University of Virginia evolve into a playground of 1% wealth. And we've seen diversity, equity, and inclusion and the politicization of UVA curriculum become what the brand is probably most known for right now. Now, to answer the question, is Jim Ryan anti-Thomas Jefferson, become what the brand is probably most known for right now.

Now, to answer the question, is Jim Ryan anti-Thomas Jefferson, we have to ask ourselves this. Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia on some very clear tenets. One of them, what it was most known for when I was there, was the single sanction honor code. The second, a curriculum and a university that could be experienced or enjoyed by all walks of financial life. The honor code piece is extremely concerning. I'll say it again.

An investigation of the Darden School found that cheating was so rampant in the Masters in Business School at the University of Virginia that the investigation had to be covered up and swept as Judah, under the rug. Because the fear, if the report was released, then the Darden degree and the business model of Darden would become... A joke?

Laughing stock? A laughing stock. So now they're doing an alternative path to solving rampant cheating besides releasing the investigative reports. They're trying to figure out what is the best AI software platform or AI software tool to uncover or to highlight the cheating from AI with the students. God, to be a college professor now with all the technology that's out there. I mean the only way I think you could potentially solve this is by doing all proctored exams

and all exams proctored in person. And I think that's part of what they're doing. I think there was a time where I could take my exam and walk it out of the lecture hall and take that exam anywhere I wanted. And then turn it back in when it was due. And that is still happening, but the student's technology is so rampant and is so ubiquitous and so advanced and cheating is so rampant, when the exam or the essay leaves the lecture hall and returns to the teaching, the TA at turn in time, that exam is now most likely a chat GBT artificial

intelligence assist. Here's the question we have to ask ourselves. The tenants that Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia upon, are those tenants that can be malleable or are those tenants the mission statement that should be fixed and unchanged? Some of what Jefferson Council mentions are the core Jeffersonian principles like civil dialogue, intellectual diversity, and free exchange of competing ideas. And I think we've seen across a lot of universities the fact that some students are afraid to raise their voices.

Because as, I mean, this comes as no surprise to anyone, I think, that a large portion of colleges in the United States are left-leaning, both students and teachers. Or you have influential students within the student body, for example, Zyanna Bryant, that are so quick, who's running for Charlottesville City Council School Board, Charlottesville Public School School Board. She's running for the school board in Charlottesville. She is so influential and has such a vast and robust social media following that she is able to call someone a racist anytime she wants. Morgan Benninger is a great example. Yeah. Well, talk about freedom of speech. I mean, not even she wasn't even I don't think she was even what was it she was in abeyance. What do you call it when

he kicks him out of school? Expelled. Yeah, expelled in abeyance, which means that she got to finish out the year. But she was expelled in abeyance, not even over what she actually said. Yeah. But over hearsay over hearsay She was sitting in her car Morgan Benninger in her car on Water Street at a black women matter Protest on Water Street in downtown Charlottesville. There was a city truck that was blocking the roadway Morgan Benninger made the comment to the truck driver the guy that was in the truck driver Bettercher made the comment to the truck driver, the guy that was in the truck driver, it's a good thing you're in that truck or the people at this protest would be speed bumps or road kill.

Yeah, meaning she wouldn't have seen them and a tragedy would have occurred. And that comment, which she made to a truck driver in a city vehicle protecting the Black Women's Matter protest was not heard by Zyanna Bryant. Was heard by somebody else who then passed it along to Zyanna Bryant. And then Zyanna Bryant took that gossip or that third party communication and posted it on her social media, doxed Morgan Benninger, labeled her a racist, and that influence with her social media platform and her clout led to Morgan Benninger being expelled. What we found out though was Morgan Benninger's comments were by no means in any capacity

racist. They were a conversation she had with a truck driver that was taking out a context. She sued the University of Virginia, got a substantial payday which the University of Virginia will not release. And bringing this back to Jim Ryan. Never apologized to Morgan Benninger. Not only never apologized, he did not allow the reversal of the... Expulsion.

Expulsion. The damage he did to her personal brand. You look up her name online now, and this will forever follow her in a digital age where your personal brand is tracked online. We'll put it in perspective without utilizing names. There was someone looking to rent office space from our company. We have 24 offices in our portfolio.

We help many commercial landlords with their office space renting. Many. One of a tenant reached out to us because we if you need office space, Charlottesville Business Brokers, our firm can help you find it. We're doing it on the regular. DM me, email me, call me. This guy did. He comes in, says he needs office space, says he's looked at the vault, says he's looked at code building. They're too expensive. Needs something, we find it for him. We get the lease ready, like we do with all potential tenants, we do a little due diligence on him, Google search his name, immediately find multiple arrests and convictions tied to his name. The one most concerning was for something along the lines of rent fraud. Raised a red

flag with our team immediately. We didn't go the path of renting to this particular individual as a result. It's an example of a paper trail digitally following someone for a long time, even though these concerning events happened years ago in the past. Yeah. Years ago. Imagine Morgan Benninger. Anytime she's looking to get a job, with Zyanna Bryant, who may win a seat on Charlottesville

School Board, do you think she's going to win the seat? I think she's got a good chance. I think she's got a good chance. Do you think school board's going to be the last stop for Zyanna Bryant in her political career? Definitely not. Definitely not. How far does Zyanna Bryant go? If she wins a spot on the school board,

is she going to run for city council following that? I would bet you she does. If she wins a spot on Charlottesville City Council, does Zyanna Bryant set her seats as a state delegate, as a state senator, on Congress, as a U.S. Senator. Imagine if you're Morgan Benninger and you pursue a professional career for the next 40 years with Zyanna Bryant who's looking to climb the professional political totem pole. And 15, 20 years from now, Morgan Benninger, as she pursues a professional career,

changes jobs, has an HR department, search her name. And Zianna Bryant, what comes up online is this Zianna Bryant person who could be a politician of significant proportions said that you were a racist in college. And she got no apology from Jim Ryan. That is horrific. Another thing that should be brought to our attention, William McChesney, thank you for this. How about the University of Virginia and its tour guides? Board of visitors, the tour guides banning the university tours because of their interpretation of how they are presenting

the University of Virginia to prospective students and their parents. How does that fit into this, Judah? I don't know how, I don't know if that really fits into this argument particularly. It's certainly a question of, you know, whether... You don't think it fits into the free speech? It kind of does, but at the same time, they're... Remind me how closely connected they are to the school. They're students.

Yeah. connected they are to the school. They're students. Yeah, but I mean the the tours are they are the the group is connected to the school. They're students. No, I know that, but the actual the overarching group. Yes, the university guides, they give tours to parents and students that are considering UVA. And they were in these tours positioning Thomas Jefferson as a slave-owning rapist. Literally. And politicizing many messages. That's certainly free speech, but the school does have a right

to put a stop to it. What's that? Free speech doesn't mean you can say anything you want without consequences. You can say anything you want. The tour guides can say anything they want about Thomas Jefferson on those tours. But the school or whoever, you know, overall is in control also has the right to say, you know what, we don't appreciate you doing that and so you're

off the group. 100%. And that's a lesson I'm working with our oldest son, my wife and I. He says, we have the right to say anything. And I said, son, you do. But what you say comes with consequences. Exactly. Is Jim Ryan anti-Thomas Jefferson? I don't think Jim Ryan himself is.

I don't think he's against what Thomas Jefferson was for. But I think the DEI measures severely undermine some of those ideals. I 100% agree with you. I also think that under his watch, the single sanction honor code becoming watered down or a thing of yesteryear would have Thomas Jefferson rolling over in his grave and has many alumni rolling over, whether alive or dead. I don't think that was Jim Ryan's intention. But it happened under his watch. To undermine the honor code, but yes, it happened under his watch. The honor code, but yes, it happened under his watch. It happened under his watch. And another, other aspects that happened under

his watch, the, the racists, the, the racism to Jewish students. Anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism. The fact that it was allowed to, to grow, to exist is troubling. The fact that out of state students are paying somewhere between 80 to 100 grand a year to attend the University of Virginia, happened under his watch, that's anti Thomas Jefferson. Never intended the university to be a playground of the rich. That's fair. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. We'll put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air.

William McChesney says, I was with a group of tourists several years ago that commented on the bias of the tour guides. Harold Hertz watching the program. Harold Hertz, a mover and shaker. Jeremy Wilson watching in East Tennessee. He asked how would the Commonwealth of Virginia be if there was no federal funding and it had to take care of itself. This is a question for all states. Yeah. Philip Dowell in Scottsville says, if I'm not mistaken, back when Wes Bellamy was on city council, they were encouraging UVA to become anti-Thomas Jefferson.

I did an interview with Nakaya Walker on this show. An interview to this day, when we interact on social media, she says, I regret doing that interview with you, Jerry. Literally has direct messaged me, I regret doing that interview with you, Jerry. Did not wanna shake my hand post interview. Judah was there. I ask, let me see if I can still find it.

I asked the former mayor of Charlottesville, Nakai Walker, should Thomas Jefferson be removed from UVA? You can Google this. Should Thomas Jefferson be removed from UVA and I Love Seaville show? Should Thomas Jefferson be removed from UVA and the I Love Seaville show? And you can watch her 2 minute and 42 second answer on this question. Two minutes and 42 seconds. Next headline. What do you got? We've got Seville Mountain High. Harold Hertz, you're welcome. Thank you for watching the program. Seville Mountain High, this is a great partnership between two people I know. Blake D'Amasso and Joe Kuhn. Joe, I hope I'm

not butchering your last name. Joe is a great guy. Blake is a great guy. K-U-H-N. Blake D'Amaso most known I think for being the publisher of Blue Ridge Outdoor Magazine. Also being the founder of Mountain High Media, fantastic advertising agency. I'm not sure if it's still in existence today or not. I do not know if Mountain High Media is still around. They used to have their headquarters right over here on Market Street. That building has since been sold.

Joe and Blake, Joe known for, I mean, I'll just cut to the chase, for being an entrepreneur in the cannabis space. Props to Joe. Props to Joe. They partnered together on a seltzer. Set the stage. This is the THC infused seltzer, which a lot of people are touting as the replacement, something to entice younger people who are increasingly drinking less, not wanting to drink alcoholic beverages and feeling more comfortable with this type of high, so to speak. Is this the first one? And this is from the Charlottesville based Mountain High seltzer and will be the first legal THC infused seltzer to be sold in Virginia coming out

this summer. So Blake D'Amasso's advertising agency Mountain High Media creates Mountain High Seltzer in a partnership with Joe Kuhn, a noteworthy and successful cannabis businessman and entrepreneur. I love this story. It's a positive story. Yeah. And it's also an indication that Gen Zers, young millennials, Gen Zers are heading more toward not just an alcoholic seltzer, but a THC infused seltzer. This is a headwind for the alcohol industry. For craft spirits, craft beer, for wine. Yet another head win. Is this again the first one THC in Virginia? Seltzer? It will be the first one sold in Virginia. First one sold in Virginia, right? Do we think

this is going to be the last one? No, probably not. Do we think there are going to be many? Do we think the THC seltzer is going to be its own category? Probably so. What does the alcohol space look like in the future? Is it an alcohol category? Is it a THC category? Is it a mingling of both? What do we call that category? Is it called alcohol?

Is it called spirits? Is it now just spirits the category? Spirits would be good. Is THC seltzer a spirit? I can see bars adopting these drinks. Curtis Shaver made a comment years ago on the I Love Seville show. I hope Curtis Shaver is watching, his comment was someone is going to be the first to do this and they will kill it, they will crush it. Opening a restaurant where the entire menu is a THC infused menu. It will have appetizers on the THC menu that create a sense of hunger. You get the munchies from the appetizers. It will have a main course aspect of the menu that offers some satisfaction and a post course aspect of the menu that might get you sleepy and ready for bedtime or relax. Maybe the first course are sativas that give you little pep, little energy, little laughter, little jovialness. Maybe the last courses are Indicas, where you get ready to go in the couch, baby.

Hopefully, not before you get home. Once you get home. Who's going to do that? I do want to highlight this. The THC seltzer is a brilliant idea. It's going to be wildly successful to talented businessmen behind it. I think that category is going to boom. I think when that category booms, it erodes market share from craft liquor, craft beer, and craft wine. At a time when craft liquor, craft beer, and craft wine cannot afford market share erosion. The next question I have for you, the geniuses or the entrepreneurs, the business people in craft beer, craft wine, and craft spirits, do they dip their foot

into THC seltzers? Many of the craft breweries are already doing seltzers. Many of the craft breweries are already doing seltzers. Many of the craft breweries are already doing liquor. At one time, a craft brewery distilling its own liquor and making its own seltzer would be blasphemous. Now there's craft breweries locally that do their own liquor and do their own seltzer. Are they now gonna jump into their THC seltzer? I'm sure a lot of them are already looking into it.

I 100% agree with you because they have the infrastructure in place to do it, the distribution to do it, the brand recognition to do it. Next headline, what do you got? We have Scotsville, poor restaurants. Philip Dowell, I'm very curious of your take on this, you live in Sctsville. Judah Wickhauer, set the table and put the lower third on screen. Taxed twice the restaurants in Scottsville. Once by the town of Scottsville for the meals tax and a second time by Almarra County on the meals tax.

Good night, being a restaurant owner in the town of Scottsville. There is currently a petition in place to hopefully, or that's what the petition is hoping to do, eliminate the dual meals tax in Albemarle and Scottsville, particularly in Scottsville, where business owners, I mean, as we've talked about so many times, restaurants run on a razor thin margin and having to pay taxes to both Albemarle County and the town of Scottsville creates what must be a very difficult problem for restaurants there. How do you survive when taxes are already eating into your profits and you've got two sets of them competing for your money? 2025 the year The restaurant business faces the following headwinds

labor is few and far between You're struggling to hire people number one number two the people that you can hire are expected to be paid a wage where their job at that restaurant is able to be a career position. At one time, working at the restaurant was never seen as a career position. It was seen as a way to climb the professional ladder, to platform up. Labor's hard to find. The labor that you can find is extremely expensive. Number

three, the cost of goods, either because of tariffs, supply chain issues, is obscenely expensive. Number four, the consumer, their social habits change during COVID. And they're much more inclined to order food, take out delivery through third parties like Grubhub or Uber Eats and eat that food and their tidy whities in Judah Wickhauer's case or their plush bath robes in my case at home while streaming Netflix as opposed to going to their dining rooms, the restaurant dining rooms.

Yeah. The third party platforms, Grubhub and Uber Eats going to their dining rooms, the restaurant dining rooms. The third party platforms, Grubhub and Uber Eats, are a roding margin where the restaurant can barely make any money on third party delivery. The average consumer, as another example, is so strapped financially they're less inclined to eat out and more inclined to just eat at home.

I do not know an industry right now that is facing more headwinds than food and beverage. Find me one. Seriously, find me an industry that's facing more headwinds than restaurants right now. Right, and fostering a healthy business environment is great for any city. Scottsville, Charlottesville, Albemarle County,

think about restaurants, think about businesses hiring more staff, think about businesses expanding their operations as John Shave has done with Renata. As the fabulous Kit Ashy has done. Our client, we have exciting news coming for Kit Ashy. It's her news to break. It's materializing as we speak. Kit Ashy and her restaurant empire expanding.

That's her news to tell first, though. Love working with her restaurant empire expanding. That's her news to tell first though. Love working with her restaurant group. Grateful to work with her. Scotsville restaurants paying the meals tax twice, once to the town and once to Albemarle County. Good God, that's a travesty. That's a travesty. And there's a reason there's ridiculous turnover in the town of Scottsville. Outside of Tavern on the James and James River Brewery, what's been consistent? There's I think it's an Amici's or something. How long has that been there? I couldn't tell you. It's been there a while.

I think there's a Chinese place as well. That's a question for Philip or friend of the program, Aaron King, if she's watching. Next headline, what do you got? Let's see. Next up we have Charlottesville City Market. All right. This is a feel good story. A cook right, this is a feel good story. A cookbook. This is a feel good story.

Yeah. Charlottesville City Market's releasing a cookbook. A lot of quality vendors at the city market. A lot of vendors at the city market that end up becoming brick and mortar businesses in Charlottesville and Elmora County. These are a variety of recipes, all contributed by vendors,

regular vendors at the Charlottesville city market. The book's going to highlight creative ways to use all the fresh produce and local goods that you normally can find at the Charlottesville city market. I think you're 100 percent, this is a feel good story. You love to see it. Local recipes that people will be using local ingredients to create. Love this story. Love everything about it. Would love to see a future where both Saturday city markets, the one at Ix and the other at the Asphalt parking lot on Water Street, are somehow unified into

a power city market, into a mega city market. We'd love to see that. The cookbook is going to be $25 and you can get it at either one of the city markets. That's a great price for the cookbook. Saturday city market and the midweek market. Great price for the cookbook. Yeah. The final headline is the GM. Yes? Yes. Put his photo on screen. Carla Williams, the athletics director at the University

of Virginia has officially announced a new general manager for the football team. It's about time this announcement happened. We're a month away from the start of football season. And this announcement comes at a time where just about every major program at the – in power football has a general manager at the helm. Ladies and gentlemen, his name is Ty Jones, the GM for football at women's basketball.

Ty Jones will have a lot of responsibilities. No doubt. He's gonna work closely with each head coach on key responsibilities including the roster construction, talent evaluation, student athlete negotiations, resource allocation, navigating the portal and the market. He's going to be the cap manager, like the budget. He's going to manage the cap. How much the team has and what it can spend and where it can allocate. The new general manager of the

football team, Tyler Jones, who matriculated here from a job at Northwestern University. He's been at Charlottesville and at UVA for two years, not a long time. A very key position for this man, Ty Jones. We'll give some love to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. 61 years in business, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, John Vermillion and Andrew Vermillion online at CharlottesvilleSanitarySupply.com. On East High Street, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, communicative, honest, trustworthy, support the businesses you want to see make it another 61 years. The Vermillions are five generations strong in Alamaro County. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. And we want to let you know if you need office space of any capacity,

DM me, contact me, text me, email me. We are doing this left and right, ladies and gentlemen. Left and right. Judah Wickhauer on point. My name is Jerry Miller. It's the I Love Seaville show..