Less than a month after former C'ville Weekly editor Hawes Spencer was fired by his two co-owners, Spencer's new weekly paper, The Hook, will publish its first issue today.
Spencer lost his job at C'ville Weekly as the result of a dispute over profit handling. According to Spencer, Bill Chapman and Rob Jiranek, co-owners of C'ville Weekly, wanted to invest its profits in the struggling Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine.
"I objected, and they could have chosen to outvote me, but they chose to oust me instead," Spencer said.
The dispute had nothing to do with the content of the paper, he added.
Chapman and Jiranek voted in January 2001 to nullify a half-page document that required the three owners to come to a consensus on any financial investment over $5,000, as well as the hiring of an editor.
Nullifying the document allowed Chapman and Jiranek to fire Spencer with a simple majority vote.
The same half-page document that Chapman and Jiranek nullified also contained a non-competition clause that would have prevented Spencer from starting a new paper.
Spencer admitted there will be competition between the two papers.
"For the most part we are targeting the same readership," he said. But "we're more energetic, more timely and more colorful."
Spencer's new paper has prompted a small exodus of editors and freelance writers associated with C'ville Weekly to move over to The Hook.
"What's amazing is the people who quit their safe paycheck to come over here," Spencer said.
Courteney Stuart, senior editor of The Hook, is among those who left C'ville Weekly for The Hook.
Stuart said there was an element of shock when Spencer was fired, and that she decided to move to The Hook because Spencer "offered me a lot of creative freedom."
Lynn Jameson, a proofreader for C'ville Weekly, also followed Spencer to his new paper after six years with C'ville Weekly.
"The energy and vision of C'ville was Hawes," Jameson said. "We're coming up with our own ideas and our own energy."
Some of the writers at The Hook expressed animosity toward their former employer.
"It was obvious that [firing Spencer] was underhanded and deceitful," Jameson said. "I'd like to see C'ville suffer."
While some staff members and freelance writers moved to The Hook, C'ville Weekly has not suffered greatly, Chapman said.
"We're not doing anything very differently than we were six months ago," he said.
Staff writer John Borgmeyer remains with C'ville Weekly.
"I wasn't hired by a particular person to write for a particular person," Borgmeyer said. "I was hired by the C'ville company to write for C'ville."
Cathryn Harding, who assumed the editorship of the C'ville Weekly after Spencer left, agreed that the staff remains strong and respectful of their former co-workers.
"We are ever mindful that the opportunity we have to take C'ville to the next level was built by those who came before us," Harding said. "There is no sense of animosity or antagonism."
Spencer was optimistic about the possibility of the two papers coexisting though he predicted that one would be prominent.
"I would liken this to the Observer," Spencer said. "Though it survives, it doesn't thrive."
C'ville Weekly maintains an optimistic attitude.
"We welcome the competition," Harding said.
Read More
Winsome Earle-Sears talks higher education in first U.Va. event of the campaign
By Ford McCracken | 9 hours agoA Jamaican immigrant and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Earle-Sears is the first female lieutenant governor of Virginia,
U.Va.'s Earth Day Eco-Fair 2025 spotlights sustainability advocacy
By Leigh Bailey | 10 hours agoStudents from Contracted Independent Organizations and University Office of Sustainability leadership programs each shared their unique perspectives about sustainability advocacy on Grounds.
Student Council votes to relocate Hereford orchard and basketball hoop
By Lauren Seeliger | 20 hours agoStudent Council passed a resolution Tuesday to relocate the orchard and basketball hoop of Hereford Residential College due to construction in the surrounding area.
