As the presidential race enters the seemingly interminable pre-convention period, there is little for the political world to focus on other than Sen. John Kerry’s selection of a running mate. While the Smarty Jones’s in the field such as Sen. John Edwards and Rep. Dick Gephardt receive most of the attention, at least three dark horse candidates also deserve consideration.

Although Virginia’s own Gov. Mark R. Warner has dismissed speculation concerning the possibility of his being selected to share the Democratic ticket with Kerry, the Southern politician would be an excellent choice for vice president. Elected in 2001 to a state with a primarily Republican legislature, Warner has had ample experience in dealing with and amicably resolving partisan disputes. Throughout the budget crisis this past year, the governor exhibited remarkable restraint, forcing state legislators into a special session to resolve the budget impasse themselves. By compromising with pragmatic Republican legislators, Warner convinced the House and Senate to reach an agreement calling for much-needed tax increases to help sort out the financial crisis while increasing state employee salaries and funding for public education. In a conservative state, Warner has also managed to remain a popular governor while maintaining his Democratic beliefs. During his term, he has amended both a parental consent abortion bill and a fetal homicide bill to protect women’s abortion rights, and earlier this year he attempted to amend HB 751 — the “Virginia is only for heterosexual lovers” bill — before being overridden by the General Assembly.

Aside from his political experience, Warner’s personality and reputation make him qualified for the job. As a moderate Southerner, he provides a nice contrast to Kerry’s Northern liberal reputation, boosting the Democratic ticket’s chances of winning Virginia and giving them an edge in the competition for Southern states. And although Warner is well-liked in Virginia and respected by his peers, as evidenced by his selection as the chairman of the National Governor’s Association, he is not likely to overshadow the Massachusetts senator as some of the other, more prominent potential running mates might.

Because the next state legislative session will not begin until January, Warner could concentrate on campaigning for the election without having to neglect his duties as governor to serve on Kerry’s ticket. Further, if Warner were to be elected in November, current Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine is a capable replacement who can continue the governor’s programs and commitments through the last year of the term.

Many pundits have mentioned the name of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as another potential vice presidential contender because of his national reputation as a former congressman and Secretary of Energy in President Clinton’s cabinet, as well as his ability to attract Hispanic voters. Yet Richardson’s performance as energy secretary was somewhat suspect, and his legislative priority as governor, tax cuts, makes him contrast with Bush about as well as pancakes contrast with flapjacks. Instead, Kerry would be well advised to consider Rep. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. As chairman of the Democratic Caucus, Menendez, who was first elected to Congress in 1992, is the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives and the highest ranking Hispanic in the body’s history. He is a well-spoken, principled leader and an astute politician who, as a Cuban American, would draw support from both Hispanics nationally and from Cuban Americans in Florida, the nation’s preeminent swing state.

Given Florida’s importance, many political prognosticators have also placed Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., high on Kerry’s list. Yet Graham’s bizarre diaries, his uninspiring speaking style and his disastrous presidential campaign make him a far-from-ideal candidate. Instead, Florida’s other Demorcatic senator, Bill Nelson, would be a better choice. Besides obviously aiding Kerry in carrying Florida’s electoral votes, Nelson, a former astronaut who has led efforts to curtail oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, possesses a folksy yet articulate manner of speaking that would be an asset in the campaign’s efforts to communicate with the American people.

Five years ago, Beth Oppenheimer could easily predict the result of each Virginia women’s club ultimate frisbee contest before it was played.

With only about a dozen members, most of whom lacked experience in the sport, the team didn’t even have enough people for a regulation 7-on-7 scrimmage at practice. The squad, known by its nickname of “Agent Orange,” lost every game that season, making it pretty easy for Oppenheimer to pose as a clairvoyant.

Half a decade later, not much had changed for Oppenheimer, now in her final year of eligibility. Every time she and her team took the field, she could still predict the result of each game with confidence.

Except this time, Agent Orange won every single game it played.

Captained by Oppenheimer, the squad compiled a 23-0 record coming into the national tournament, where they lost for the first time all season and finished 13th. Quite a turnaround from a few years before.

“I never would have guessed that we would wind up being this good during my stint on the team,” Oppenheimer said. “Back then [during my first year], we just liked to have fun. We had a few good players, but not enough to put seven quality ones on the field at the same time.”

It was pretty obvious Agent Orange was a much better team Oppenheimer’s fifth year than it was when she first came, but they surprised even themselves with their undefeated run throughout the year. At the beginning of their campaign, they didn’t really know how well the team would fare.

“We knew to expect something different this year,” freshman Andrea Durran said. “But, we didn’t expect to go undefeated up until nationals.”

Agent Orange did well in their first two tournaments, taking first place at Queen’s City Tuneup in Charlotte, N.C., in February and continuing their perfect record against college teams by winning four games at SUNblock in Savannah, Ga. The success was not enough, however, to convince Oppenheimer that the team would be a national championship contender.

“After the first couple tournaments I thought we might have a shot, but there were always reasons why we might not make it,” Oppenheimer said. “We were still working out kinks and dealing with injuries.”

But the first tournament after Spring Break really opened Oppenheimer’s eyes. Agent Orange was competing at the Terminus tournament in Atlanta at the tail end of the week-long vacation. Because of the timing of the competition, only a dozen players decided to travel to the tournament.

Though heavily undermanned, Agent Orange was still able to prevail, winning all seven games to take home the title.

“That win really made a big difference,” Oppenheimer said. “It made us realize that, even with only 12 people, we were really able to get the job done.”

There seemed to be no stopping Agent Orange, as they ran the gauntlet at College Easterns and Blue Ridge Sectionals to stay undefeated going into Atlantic Coast Regionals. A first or second place finish would earn them a spot at Nationals — anything else would mean the end of their season.

Agent Orange easily won their first four games, but the tournament’s fifth contest was more of a nail-biter. N.C. State played them close throughout in their most competitive game of the year, but the ladies in orange prevailed, winning 11-9. They took down N.C. State again in the finals, this time by a more comfortable 12-7 margin, to win the title and a berth in the national tournament in Seattle.

The only problem was they didn’t have enough money to get there.

As a club sport, the women’s club ultimate frisbee team receives a limited amount of funds from the University, $245 to be exact. The entry fee alone to most tournaments is $200 and Agent Orange usually plays four or five of those each season. With travel and lodging expenses on top of that, University funds only make up a small fraction of regular season expenses, let alone plane tickets for the entire team out to the West Coast.

To solve their financial difficulties, Agent Orange held a bar night and conducted a silent auction. Several local residents and vendors in Charlottesville agreed to help, and the team raised enough money to make it to Seattle.

“We definitely had more stuff up for auction than I thought we would have,” incoming team president Laura Berman said. “The Charlottesville community, and especially those who play ultimate, have been incredibly supportive of us.”

Once Agent Orange got out to Nationals, however, their dream run finally came to an end. Expected to finish in the top five, Agent Orange started the tournament off well with wins over Illinois and Penn State but fell to Stanford, Brown and Iowa before salvaging a 15-10 win over Rutgers to finish in 13th place.

The season may have ended on a somewhat disappointing note for Agent Orange, but the future should be a bright one for the program. Among the returning players for next season is Durran, who won the ACC Freshman of the Year award last season.

“There are a lot of people waiting in the wings who are ready to step up,” the departing Oppenheimer said. “It’s not just about having one good season anymore with this team. It has developed into a strong college program that will be able to compete every year.”

And that’s another prediction of Oppenheimer’s you can count on coming true.

Men’s basketball starting point guard T.J. Bannister was found not guilty of disorderly conduct Monday in Charlottesville General District Court.

The rising sophomore, who earned a starting position at the end of last season, was arrested along with six other people after fights broke out near Beta Bridge after a large fraternity party on April 18.

Bannister will likely battle incoming freshman Sean Singletary for the starting point guard position next season.

After weeks of searching, men’s basketball coach Pete Gillen finally completed the two vacancies on his staff by hiring John Fitzpatrick as an assistant coach and Mark Byington as director of basketball operations.

Fitzpatrick spent the last four seasons at the University of Houston, the last two as associate coach. He was an assistant at Navy in the 1980s when David Robinson played there and also served as an assistant coach at Fordham, Wichita State and Ball State.

Byington spent the last two seasons as assistant coach at the College of Charleston. He has a master’s degree from the University of Virginia and served as a student manager for Gillen in 1999-00 and 2000-01.

Gillen had previously made offers to former Clemson coach Larry Shyatt and East Carolina coach Bill Herrion, but both turned down the offer. Shyatt accepted a position on Billy Donovan’s staff at Florida and Herrion elected to stay at ECU.

The similarities between the Virginia men’s and women’s tennis program do not appear to extend much further than the sport they play.

The men’s team is led by Brian Boland, whose three-year tenure at Virginia is in the mere stages of infancy compared to the 22 seasons women’s coach Phil Rogers has been on the job.

Extending past the coaching discrepancy is the recent performance of each club. The women finished last season at a disappointing 11-12 and ranked No. 54 in the nation, a slight regression from the 16 victories and No. 35 ranking the year before. Meanwhile, the men’s team recently completed the finest season in school history, finishing 24-4 with a slew of school records. Their 24 victories and No. 10 end-of-year ranking were both school records, and they threw in a first-ever ACC title and the first win over ACC rival Duke in the past 25 years for good measure. All this was done by a team without a single senior, not particularly good news for the rest of the country.

For all that sets these two teams apart, there is one very important characteristic they share. Over the past few seasons, each has done a stellar job of making sure some of the best tennis prospects in the world decide Charlottesville is where they want to play college tennis.

The recent recruiting success at a school not known for tennis leads to a reasonable question: Why in the past few seasons has Virginia tennis done so well in getting the players that slipped away in years past?

The answer on the men’s side should not be too hard to figure out. The top players and success have coincided with the hiring of Boland from Indiana State prior to the 2001-2002 season. At Indiana State, Boland transformed his struggling alma mater into one of the top 20 programs in the nation. He was chosen as Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year four times in his five seasons with the Sycamores and finished with a stellar 120–31 record. Boland inherited a Virginia team that performed well in three seasons under Dick Stockton — going 44–28 and reaching the NCAA tournament each year. Boland was without, however, not only the best player in Virginia history, three-time All-American and 2001 NCAA runner-up Brian Vahaly, but quite possibly the second-best player in school history as well, Huntley Montgomery.

Losing that kind of talent from a team that went 14–8 meant Boland had his work cut out for him building another program. It took just three months and a persistent attitude to sign one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. Of the four signers, three of them, Doug Stewart, Rylan Rizza and Darrin Cohen, made their way from California, and Nick Meythaler came from Kentucky. Each member of that class was ranked as one of the 60 best prospects in the nation. Stewart and Rizza were ranked in the top 25.

“It was just good recruiting by Coach Boland because none of us on the West Coast were really looking to go [to Virginia] and he got us all there,” Stewart said. “The main thing is Coach Boland kept on calling me and nagging me to take a visit and once you get there the school basically sells itself.”

The year before that talented class could take the court, Boland guided the Cavaliers to a 12–12 record. After his first season, Boland brought assistant coaches Tony Bresry and Nathan Crich over from Indiana State to complete his staff. With a familiar staff and his own players on the court, the Cavaliers improved to 20–8 in Boland’s second season.

Virginia’s highly touted quartet of freshmen did not disappoint in their first collegiate season, going a combined 110–38 overall. Doug Stewart and Rylan Rizza especially showed why they were such hot prospects. Rizza went 19–4 playing at No. 2 and No. 3 in the lineup and finished with a 35–11 overall record.

Stewart refused to be outdone, going 21–3 as the team’s No. 1, earning ACC Rookie of the Year honors and becoming only the third player in Virginia’s history invited to compete in the NCAA singles tournament. Boland’s second recruiting class brought eventual Mideast Region Rookie of the Year Marko Miklo from Slovakia. Miklo continues the early success of the previous recruiting class with a 22-2 record in dual meets while playing every where from No. 1 to No. 5 in the line up.

With another class of top juniors including Eric Riley from California and Virginia’s Treat Huey and Andrew Downs, younger brother of current team member Mike, this staff is making all the right moves. The winner of last season’s ITA Mideast Region Assistant Coach of the Year, Bresky credits the extra step the staff takes for the top guys.

“All of the coaches are going to be at the big tournaments, so they know everyone is watching them there,” Bresky said. “It’s when you make the extra effort to go watch them at a local tournament or at a futures event or an open tournament where they pretty much know that you came to see them — that’s what makes the difference.”

The reasons for the recent success on the women’s side are a little more subtle. For a coach who has been around virtually since the inception of the program to sign three top recruits last season (all-ACC selections Kristen Jones from Virginia, Lauren Bruch from Indiana and Lori Stern from California in 2002) is one thing, but to follow that up by bringing in Caroline Hammond (who went 70–0 in high school singles) the following year and then snag what he calls “our strongest recruiting class ever both in terms of the quality of the athletes as well as the depth” is an even greater feat.

Rogers has worked hard in building Virginia into a solid program which perennially receives invitations to the NCAA tournament, but he has never seen such a successful recruiting period as this one.

“I give a lot of credit to the administration,” Rogers said. “They’ve really changed the atmosphere and there are a lot better resources and I’ve had a great assistant coach. These guys have seemed to break through some barriers that seemed to hold us back… I really think the sky is the limit.”

The current atmosphere must be just right because the season’s recruiting class is overflowing with talent from every source. At the top of the class is highly-touted Canadian Diana Srebrowil, who spent last season playing professionally before deciding to attend college. Srebrowil “is very possibly the top player in women’s tennis,” according to Rogers.

The team also signed another highly ranked international player, Jessica Moraw. Moraw was ranked as high as No. 2 in Portugal at one point. After this pair are two more highly ranked Americans juniors, Lindsey Pereira from Texas and Rachel Del Priore from New York.

As if those four players were not good enough, former No. 8 player in the nation, Dougias Wink, is transferring from Georgia. Her ranking last season makes her the highest ranked American ever to play for Virginia.

The recruiting class coupled with the return of Lori Stern, who won 17 matches her freshman year but sat out last season with a shoulder injury, gives Virginia six additions to an already solid squad.

Beyond the renewed support of the administration and the contributions of assistants Mait DuBois and Michelle Naverlovsha, Rogers places great emphasis on Virginia ultimately being a good fit for these players.

“I really think that we are the right school for them,” Rogers said. “I end up turning it back on to them that they need to do their homework as to what they want in a school. Then they’ve got to step back and for a lot of them it’s a gut feeling… whatever school they end up going to, there is something in their gut that tells them it’s the right place.”

Recently, it appears as if Virginia is the right place for a lot of great tennis players. As Darrin Cohen recalled of his recruitment, Boland “made it seem like the future of tennis is at U.Va.”

Three years later, it looks like Boland was right, not only about his own team, but about the women as well, whether that was his intention or not.

Arguably Virginia’s best baseball player of all time is now a Tri-City Dust Devil. And quite happy about it.

Two weeks ago, graduate Joe Koshansky was drafted in the sixth round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft following his senior campaign at Virginia that earned him honors such as third-team All-American and ACC Player of the Year. After completing his degree from Virginia, Koshansky boarded a plane for Washington State where he joined the Class A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.

In his senior year, Koshansky started all 59 games as either a pitcher or a first baseman for the Cavaliers. On the mound, Koshansky posted an 8-3 record with a 2.98 ERA including two complete games. At the plate, Koshansky wreaked havoc on opposing pitchers to the tune of a .302 batting average and a team-high 16 home runs. Such numbers earned Koshansky two ACC Player of the Week awards as well as ACC Pitcher of the Week on April 26.

“Joe is the type of player you don’t find in college baseball very often,” Coach Brian O’Connor said. “On the field, Joe was two separate players wrapped into one as well as one of our tri-captains. Those things made him critical to our success on and off the field.”

Despite his accomplishments in both facets of the college game, Koshansky was drafted by the Rockies as a first baseman and will concentrate solely on that position for now.

Getting drafted wasn’t always something Koshansky considered. Knowing he wouldn’t be eligible for the draft until after his junior season with the Cavaliers, Koshansky spent his freshman and sophomore campaigns working with the Virginia coaching staff on ways to improve his overall game.

“All of the coaches have really helped me out a lot,” Koshansky said. “They changed my mindset at the plate, making me more aggressive and focused on driving balls into the gaps.”

Things began to change for Koshansky following his junior season in which he hit .320 with nine home runs. Professional scouts began attending Cavalier games and talking to the coaching staff about their extraordinary pitcher/first baseman.

“The first couple years, getting drafted wasn’t really something I thought very much about,” Koshansky said. “I focused more on adjusting to the college game which was so much faster than what I had been used to in high school. Even though I wasn’t drafted junior year, I knew if I performed well this year that I would be.”

Due to the extreme length of the Major League Baseball draft, it is not televised like with other professional sports’ drafts. It is, however, broadcast over the Internet for anyone who wishes to tune in and listen.

“I really had not planned on listening to the draft at all,” Koshansky said. “I had just gotten back from hanging out with some friends and happened to turn it on for like five minutes. That just happened to be the exact time my name was called by the Rockies.”

His initial surprise at witnessing his draft number picked was less than that of being drafted by Colorado. Rockies’ scouts had attended many of Virginia’s games and conversed often with Coach O’Connor about Koshansky’s game on and off the field.

“Part of our job as college coaches is to educate players on how to handle the pro draft,” O’Connor said. “We often communicate with pro scouts about when certain guys are pitching and things like that. I knew the Rockies were interested but you never know if Joe would fall to them at the right pick or not.”

In his four years at Virginia, Koshansky earned many awards and achievements. However, none were more meaningful than the success of this year’s entire squad.

“Our first regional game this year will always be a great memory for me,” Koshansky said. “It had always been a goal of mine to get that far. And then to get to host a regional series in front our home crowd, it was really exciting.”

In only his fourth game with the Dust Devils, Koshansky led off the second inning of Monday night’s game against the Eugene Emeralds with a monstrous blast over the fence in right field for his first professional home run. Koshansky is currently second on the team in runs, home runs, RBIs and walks after only a handful of games played.

No matter how successful Koshansky is at the next level, he will forever be remembered as the first-ever Cavalier to earn ACC Player of the Year honors. Replacing a player of Koshansky’s abilities will be difficult, but that is exactly the task that awaits the Virginia coaching staff next season.

“On the mound, we have some options,” O’Connor said. “Losing Joe will create some opportunities for some of a younger pitchers. This institution has seen a lot of great players. We will just have to move on and try and improve the overall team next season.”

However tough it may be to replace a player like Koshansky in the Cavalier lineup, one can imagine the road from Class A to the major leagues is an equally difficult task. But if his collegiate and early professional performances are any indicator, Koshansky ought to do just fine.

Every year before the college football season commences, every sports magazine, Web site or other form of sports media puts out a pre-season poll. These can provide a quick football fix when the occasional golf major, the Lakers soap opera and baseball aren’t intriguing enough. Unfortunately, as Athlon Sports’ recent pre-season top 25 shows, these polls are based almost solely in conjecture, providing only a few more clues to the season’s outcome than a call to Miss Cleo.

Last year is an excellent example of how cloudy the college football picture can get. Virginia was picked to finish eighth in the nation by ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel, and even got tabbed at No.5 by the renowned college football analysts at Playboy. But instead of a BCS bowl, the highlight of Virginia’s season was its continued dominance of the Continental Tire Bowl and its storied history.

Bottom line, predicting the top 25 football teams in the nation before the season starts, or in Athlon’s case before camp even starts, is a shot in the dark at best.

Many starting lineups haven’t been set yet, as in the case of Virginia’s quarterback situation, where although Marques Hagans seems to be the favorite, his numbers in the spring game were not overwhelming. In his first action under center for the Cavaliers since his solid performance against Western Michigan early last season, the junior went just 7-15 for 64 yards and threw two interceptions.

Not only have the upperclassmen not all settled into starting positions, but most freshmen have not yet arrived on campus, many of whom will impact immediately in starting positions or in added depth to a squad. As Athlon points out, Olu Hall of Fairfax may be an important part of the Cavaliers’ rotation at linebacker this season.

Some freshmen, like Phillip Rivers of N.C. State and Larry Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh can have an immediate impact on the entire attitude and outlook of a team as soon as they arrive on campus.

Pre-season polls are usually simply fodder for Internet message boards, and sometimes teams are inexplicably overrated, as many across the nation must have thought when a Cavalier team that went 8-5 the year before was picked to finish in the national top 10.

This year, Athlon seems to have overrated West Virginia in much this same way. With the defection of Miami and Virginia Tech, the Mountaineers are expected to feast on a depleted Big East and, according to Athlon, reach a BCS bowl as the No.5 team in the nation. This is a team that has been blown out in their last two bowl appearances, by Virginia two years ago at the Tire Bowl, and most recently by second place ACC finisher Maryland 41-7.

Adding that up, West Virginia has really come to play in the postseason, getting beat 89-29 in their two bowls under fourth-year coach Rich Rodriguez. The Mountaineers also lost their top rusher (Quincy Wilson) and top linebacker (All-American Grant Wiley) to the NFL. West Virginia is led by junior quarterback Rasheed Marshall, a player who is sometimes erratic and unreliable, as is shown by his brilliant postseason play (10-16 for 87 yards for no touchdowns).

But Athlon thinks this is a team ready to peak, ready to jump to the upper echelon of the sport. Other experts like Maisel have WVU around No.15, slightly more realistic but still high for a team that hasn’t proved much of anything yet.

By December or earlier we’ll know if Athlon was correct in placing WVU so high and whether the Cavaliers have moved up from Athlon’s No. 25 spot. But really, it’s just a flat-out guess, because as the Cavaliers proved, pre-season polls don’t mean much when the bowl committees start visiting in November.

Monday was the last obligatory City Council meeting for Charlottesville Mayor Maurice Cox and Vice Mayor Meredith Richards. Newly-elected councilors David Brown, a University alumnus, and Kendra Hamilton, president of the Rose Hill Neighborhood Association, will take over the Council positions.

Brown and Hamilton, as well as incumbent Kevin Lynch, were elected in a stand-alone election on May 4. Council elections are staggered so that three seats are open for re-election one year and the remaining two are open for re-election two years later, according to the Charlottesville City Web site.

Although Brown and Hamilton were both present at the June 21 meeting, they will be officially sworn in on June 30 and will not serve in their official capacities until the July 1 Council meeting.

Following a long series of budget appropriations, “the councilors made a few remarks about their eight years,” Clerk of the Council Jeanne Cox said. “We also presented them with a plaque.”

Mayor Cox was elected mayor by Council in 2002 after a two-year term as vice mayor, and both Mayor Cox and Richards have served on the Council since 1996. Mayor Cox also works as an associate professor in the University’s School of Architecture. Richards serves as chairman of the Fontaine Avenue Task Force.

Brown said that Mayor Cox “has really had a vision that has been a part of transformation of Charlottesville in the past few years.”

Brown also said that Richards is a “strong advocate in a number of areas that have affected U.Va., including the living wage.”

At a July 1 meeting, Council members will elect a new mayor and vice mayor to serve two-year terms.

The installation of Brown and Hamilton, both Democrats, will not affect the political makeup of the Council, currently composed of four Democrats and a single Republican, Rob Schilling, whose current term ends in 2006.

Brown said that key issues for his campaign included the achievement gap between the performance of low-income and high-income citizens as well as the high cost of area housing. Hamilton’s campaign included a push to improve to the Charlottesville Transit System.

In order to lower costs the election and increase voter turnout, Council is considering a proposal to move Council elections to be in line with fall state elections.

Brown said that a majority of Council members, including himself, would accept shortening their terms by six months in order to make this change.

Representatives from across the state convened in Charlottesville last weekend to learn from each other about preparing for and preventing natural disasters at the very first Virginia Hazard Mitigation Summit, hosted at the University June 16 through 18.

More than 100 local and state government officials, community leaders and emergency management officials attended the conference in Newcomb Hall that addressed issues such as avoiding loss of life in the event of a disaster, keeping costs low and recovering quickly from disasters. The Summit helped communities fulfill hazard mitigation requirements that are under federal law.

The School of Architecture’s Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, the Virginia Emergency Management Office and Virginia Commonwealth University hosted the Summit.

The most common hazards confronting Virginia are flooding, hurricanes, tornados, drought and winter storms, said Deborah Mills, state hazard mitigation program manager and one of the Summit organizers.

“In the last three years we’ve had eight presidentially-declared disasters,” Mills said. “Having that many things happen at once leads you to think that the threat of hazards is always around.”

Mills said that while terrorism was also a threat, Virginia law currently does not require “human cost hazards,” — referring to terrorist actions and human-caused hazards — to be included in community plans.

“I believe that the next round of laws will require human cost,” Mills said.

Albemarle County’s largest threats are flood and hurricane. In 1985, 1995 and 1996, the county was severely affected by floods — all of which were presidentially-declared disasters, Mills said.

Timothy Beatley, the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities at the School of Architecture’s Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, was also a conference organizer. On Friday, Beatley spoke on the relation between sustainability and hazard mitigation.

“It’s disaster by design — we’re building households in flood plains and we’re putting ourselves at risk,” Beatley said. “Our concern about sprawl is also about our concern about natural disasters.”

Beatley agreed with fellow Summit presenter Andy Lipkis, president of TreePeople, on the tremendous potential for integration in the development of sustainable communities.

“We need to be moving in the direction of more efficient use of land, developing a strong sense of place and community and social responsibility,” Beatley said. “Planners have tremendous potential to develop these stronger social relations in their communities.”

Beatley also said natural areas like wetlands and dunes are very effective defense systems against hazards like flooding and storm damage.

“The more we’re able to protect this natural resource base, it’s a very effective approach,” he said.

The Summit focused on helping local and state planners develop effective hazard mitigation plans. Currently, nearly all cities, counties and towns in Virginia are engaged in developing all-inclusive hazard mitigation plans, Mills said.

“Our job is to support our local programs because that’s where all these thing happen — at the local level,” Mills said.

As for the possibility of another conference in the future, Mills said she was uncertain.

“We’ll see what the audience and evaluations say,” Mills said. “We’ve heard a lot of success stories so far, which is great.”

Capt. Humayun S. Khan, CLAS 2000, became the first U.Va. alumnus to die in Iraq on June 8 when two Jordanian suicide bombers detonated a car bomb in front of the forward supply base, Camp Warhorse, in Baquaba, Iraq, where Khan was stationed and assigned to perimeter protection.

On the morning he was killed, Khan spotted a vehicle with Jordanian plates and painted like a taxi traveling erratically through traffic. Khan told his men to “hit the dirt” and approached the car as he signaled for it to stop, causing the suicide bombers to detonate their explosives prematurely before actually entering the base. Khan was killed when the car exploded.

“If they had gotten to where they were trying to get to inside the base, they would have killed many more people,” Neurology Prof. Jim Bennet said.

Bennet is Shaharyar Khan’s — Humayun’s older brother — Medical Scientist Training Program and Ph.D. mentor at the University. Shaharyar Khan graduated from the University in 1997.

Humayun Khan, who was a member of the Army ROTC and a psychology major at the University, became a second lieutenant after graduation and was at the end of his four-year tour, the majority of which he spent in Germany, when he was reassigned to Iraq and became a captain in February. Khan was supposed to return from abroad this past May, but his tour was extended until next February, Shaharyar Khan said.

“Humayun always said he had two purposes in Iraq,” his brother said. “He was there to protect his soldiers and to benefit the people of Iraq.”

A devout Muslim and fluent in Arabic, Khan interacted extensively with the local community and established a job program to help local Iraqis find work, Bennet said.

Khan employed over 300 Iraqis in a pilot program at Camp Warhorse as an alternative to the inexpensive contracted and imported labor typically employed. Khan’s program, which he intended to reinforce the benefits of Americans’ presence in Iraq, was the first of its kind in the country, Shaharyar Khan said.

“The Iraqis at the camp used to call him ‘our captain,’” Shaharyar Kahn said.

At the time Khan was killed, he was welcoming Iraqi workers to the base for the morning.

“He wasn’t supposed to be there until noon to do inspections, but it was where Iraqis would come in to work and he was welcoming them,” Shaharyar Khan said.

Others agree that Khan’s presence in Iraq was exceptional and unique.

“He was a valuable bridge-builder, someone who could cross cultures and present a different side of America, the good side of America,” Bennet said. “The loss is tragic personally but it is also tragic symbolically for what he represented.”

Khan received full honors at a military funeral held at Arlington Cemetery on June 16. He also received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for Valor from the Army.

“Humayun Khan represented the best of America, the best of the American Army and the best of Islam,” Bennet said.

Khan’s pilot program to employ Iraqis will continue in his memory, and the gate where he lost his life has been named in his honor, Shaharyar said.

The University’s ROTC is planning on honoring Khan in a memorial service on Sept. 21, including the Air force, Navy, Marines and Army ROTC, said Lt. Col. Hampton Hite, chairman of the University’s Army ROTC.

In addition, the new ROTC Cadet Center, now located on the corner of McCormick and Alderman Roads in the Astronomy building, will be named in honor of Khan.