JATP chairwoman and WINA radio talk show host are honored as co-recipients of community service award
Charlottesville, VA – December 19, 2011
The 2011 Pat Napoleon Community Service Award was presented to co-recipients at City Hall at tonight’s City Council meeting.
Honorees Rob Schilling (host of 1070-AM WINA’s “The Schilling Show”) and Carole Thorpe (chairwoman of the Jefferson Area Tea Party) were commended for their accurate yet unheeded warnings to City Council against their allowance of the Occupy Charlottesville encampment. With media present, Mrs. Napoleon awarded the pair with certificates of merit and hardbound printings of the U.S. Constitution.
Occupy activists were evicted from Lee Park by city police on November 30 following over 40 days of encampment. The action resulted in 18 arrests and the unnecessary subjection of Charlottesville’s Finest to despicable shouts of obscenities that police officers calmly and professionally endured in the line of duty.
From the outset of the occupation to its end, Mr. Schilling and Mrs. Thorpe exposed multiple abuses of power and unequal protection under the law by City Council and its agents which included unprecedented waivers of numerous city codes, the issuance of a verbal directive by City Manager Maurice Jones to restrain police from enforcing park curfew prior to the grant of a legal permit, and an effort by Mayor Dave Norris to unfairly burden city taxpayers with the cost of over 40 days of electrical expense incurred in Lee Park.
Both recipients expressed gratitude for their prestigious recognition.
Mr. Schilling stated, “It is my great honor to receive this award from one of Charlottesville’s finest citizens, Pat Napoleon. Pat has been fearless in confronting corrupt government officials with difficult issues that would not otherwise have been discussed. Carole Thorpe, my co-recipient, although not a city resident, has done more to benefit Charlottesville citizens in the past few months than has the present City Council during their combined elected tenures.”
“I am humbled to receive this honor from Pat Napoleon, a great lady and patriot whose opinion matters more to me than the whole of Charlottesville city government”, Mrs. Thorpe said. “The sharing of this award does not diminish the honor by half, but its value is doubled when the co-recipient is the inestimable Rob Schilling. This award validates my efforts through the Jefferson Area Tea Party to serve our community with honesty, integrity, fairness, and respect for the law – objectives that I wish were practiced by Charlottesville City Council.”
A celebratory dinner with entertainment at another location followed the presentation.
