Charlottesville says goodbye to John Conover; local news landscape changed, and will Sen. Warner save our restaurants?

"What I like best about Charlottesville is that it's full of 'competent eccentrics'." - John Conover

John Conover, 74, passed away recently. Bryan McKenzie provided a nice write-up here. John and his wife, Virginia Daugherty, moved here in the 1970s and started a printing press, Papercraft Printing. They later sold the business and John launched a new career as an attorney with Legal Aid. John also served as a city councilor from 1980 to 1984, and Virginia was elected to city council in 1992 and 1996 and served as Mayor from 1998 to 2000. John was truly one of my favorite people in Charlottesville, and whenever we ran into each other on the street, he always stopped and caught up, asking me how my kids were, how things were going at The Hook, and what stories I was working on.

"Local politics has all the flavor of national and international politics: petty jealousy, overarching ego, dishonesty, humor, people forming temporary alliances, always shifting and intriguing," John told The Hook in 2004. "What I like best about Charlottesville is that it's full of 'competent eccentrics'."

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