The news broke on Friday that a group of white supremacists planned a meeting in Crossville and once word got out with plans for protestors to attend the word spread like wildfire bringing unwanted notoriety to Crossville.
The first problem came Friday night when word got out that the group planned a dinner and social event at a local Crossville restaurant. As the word spread and people began to call the restaurant with complaints and bad reviews started showing up on their online presence, the restaurant decided to cancel the reservation of the group.
Once the group was turned away, local police were called to the restaurant and no serious trouble was reported at that time.
Cars parked outside the CMSP recreation lodge Saturday
afternoon for the Stormfront meeting
On Saturday, the supremacist group reportedly tied to an organization called Stormfront planned a meeting at the Cumberland Mountain State Park and that brought a number of protestors who spent much of the day in the parking lot near the Park Recreation Lodge separated from the group meeting by some dozen or more law enforcement officers including park rangers, Crossville police, and sheriffs deputies.
A few of the park rangers separating the two groups.
Protestors at the Cumberland Mountain State Park were kept
away from the recreation lodge by rangers and law
enforcement.
Some of the protest signs
Protestors support each other. A few were
singing "All we are saying is give peace a chance."
Late Saturday afternoon some 16 to 20 protestors remained at the park but appeared to be packing up at the time. Reports said that the supremacist group had reservations at the state park restaurant for dinner. The group does not have the state park recreation lodge reserved for Sunday but reports are the group planned a hike on Sunday.
Cars from a number of states were spotted though many of the cars had been parked with their backs in so their license plates could not be seen.
The total eclipse has come and gone now, but it was spectacular and made a vast majority of folks stop and watch a shared experience that for many they may only get to see once in their lifetime.
The following series of photos shows the early partial period moving to totality and the diamond ring effect that is the very flashy part of the eclipse for most folks. Many cheered as the eclipse went total with the sun completely hidden behind the moon allowing the sun's corona to be seen and the darkness to come at the odd time of day.
The Gardens development describes
itself as “America's most active RV retirement home base
community.” The Gardens is working now on the first phase of an 8
phase expansion planned over the next 5 to 10 years that includes an
additional 149 lots.
Gardens homes designed for RV owners
Area of future expansion
The Gardens opened in the 1980's and as
of the end of last year included almost 180 luxury RV homes with
large, oversize RV garages. Developer Tim Wilson said, “We've
grown steadily over the last 25 years. We sailed right through the
recession while our housing values increased and we have now added an
additional acres for future development.”
A big event passing through Crossville
on August 21 as it speeds along at 1600 MPH, a total eclipse of the
sun.
I would strongly encourage you not to
miss seeing this event since it is coming right through Crossville
and should be spectacular to see unless the weather doesn't
cooperate.
Path of totality across the United States for the August 21
total eclipse. Most of the rest of the US will see
at least a partial eclipse.
I see it being called a “once in a
lifetime opportunity” and for some that might be the case, but it
will be a twice in a lifetime opportunity for me. I can talk about
the eclipse because I have already seen one previously and it is,
without a doubt, one of the most impressive astronomical events you
will ever see. You will need special glasses, welding glass or
completely exposed and processed black and white film to safely look
at the eclipse except during the time of totality.
The gray area is the total eclipse coverage area and
the blue line is the center of the totality path.
Everywhere in the gray will see a total eclipse of the sun.
The eclipse starts about noon and
becomes total at about 1:30 PM CDT. The eclipse remains total for 2
and one-half minutes. The sky will get dark and the temperature
could even drop and if you are near any roosters, they will crow as
if it is morning when the sun starts to come back out from behind the
moon. The eclipse happens when the moon passes in front of the sun
casting its shadow on the earth.
Up until the eclipse becomes total, eye
protection is required to look at the sun. In addition to the
protective glasses there are ways to watch the eclipse using pinholes
or reversed binoculars projecting on paper etc. Check out some
resource links below explaining those techniques. During the period
of totality you can safely look at the sun because it will be
completely blocked by the moon for that 2 and a half minutes in
Crossville.
March 7, 1970 when I was 13 years old,
my parents took us to South Carolina to see the total eclipse that
happened then. We were driving through a fairly rural part of South
Carolina when we stopped to see the eclipse. We had fully exposed
film that we used at the time for watching the eclipse through and I
was a rank amateur photographer using an old Kodak 127 film Brownie
Fiesta camera to shoot pictures.
The eclipse was a fascinating event.
Things began to get darker as more and more of the sun was covered by
the moon until the eclipse became total and it was almost like dusk.
The most interesting thing was right before it went total there is a
point where only a tiny part of the sun remains unblocked by the moon
and it creates what is called the “diamond ring effect.” You see
just a bit of light around the sun and at one end a bright part of
the sun that looks like a stone. You have to be quick to see it as
it only lasts a very short time. There is another chance to catch
“the diamond ring” comes as the totality ends and the sun starts
to emerge from behind the moon.
The Diamond Ring effect of an eclipse.
I hope you'll be watching. I know I
will be.
keep your eyes open during the partial
phases that lead up to and follow it. As you view the beginning
through a safe solar filter, the universe will set your mind at ease
when you see the Moon take the first notch out of the Sun’s disk.
Around the three-quarters mark, you’ll start to notice that shadows
are getting sharper. The reason is that the Sun’s disk is
shrinking, literally approaching a point, and a smaller light source
produces better-defined shadows. At about 85 percent coverage,
someone you’re with will see Venus 34° west-northwest of the Sun.
If any trees live at your site, you may see their leaves act like
pinhole cameras as hundreds of crescent Suns appear in their shadows.
Fiddlin' Frazier Moss of Cookeville Tennessee was a national treasure and a true artist of old time fiddle music. Here is a brief bit of one of his appearances on the WCPT-TV Saturday Night Jamboree. I was the host of the show from 1979 through about 1981 or so and the show was originally broadcast live from the Main Street studio location and by the time this video was made the studio had moved out to Genesis Road and the building where Stonehaus Winery is now located. Special Thanks to the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound (TAMIS) for rescuing this old 3/4 inch video tape for posterity.
A church sign spotted along 127-N near I-40 offers prayer for Crossville mayor James Mayberry and the city. This sign is a far cry from some of the political opinion signs that have been directed at the city elected officials recently.
First action taken on the budget was to increase the water and sewer rates. Water rates going up 2 percent and sewer rates up by 5 percent. Because of the finances of the department, a rate increase has been required by the state comptroller's office. The comptroller's office wanted the rates increased all at once though in the discussion it was revealed that former city manager David Rutherford had negotiated a phase in of the increase.
Water and sewer rate increase discussion
Though the council says it wants to complete the downtown sidewalk project, the $3 million expenditure and loan was removed from the budget when an amendment to the budget was proposed by council member Danny Wyatt. The council is waiting for information on the cost of the project if the city hires a 4 man crew that will be dedicated to sidewalk construction and repair. Numbers on that program are being prepared by city engineer Tim Begley and public works department to be presented at the July regular meeting.
The final version of the city's 2016-17 budget remained in the red by $1.2 million with more than adequate funds in the rainy day fund to cover that amount many times over. The tax rate remains at 63 cents with no increase over the previous year.
Budget approval and discussion and approval of amendment removing funding for the downtown sidewalk project.
And the council approved the resolution listing the donations to the outside agencies and non-profits, all reduced by 10 percent from the previous year after a 10 percent reduction to most of them also in 2015-16 as well.
Action on resolution of donations to outside agencies
Crossville has been selected as one of 12 communities to be awarded $15,000 toward Downtown Revitalization. Tennessee Downtown is a precursor to the Tennessee Main Street program.
Other communities awarded include Ashland City, Dickson, Gainesboro, Hohenwald, Humboldt, Lenoir City, Livingston, Lynchburg, Manchester, Wartburg and Woodbury. The communities will be provided some training and have two years to complete a project using theri funds and the goal is to leverage the $15,000 into more suing partnerships and donations. Link to state announcement: TNCED-announces-communities-selected-to-participate-in-tennessee-downtowns-program/
Are they political or are they not? That is the
question about the signs put up in support of the recall effort
against city council members Danny Wyatt and Pamala Harris.
Do these qualify as political signs or not?
The city of Crossville's sign ordinance
has an exclusion that allows political signs while outlawing other
similar temporary signs that are not political. But even political
signs can not be put up as to block views and create hazards for
drivers.
Councilman Souza working on recall sign
Thursday evening before the city
council's meeting, city officials including city manager Steve Hill, city attorney Will Ridley and codes department director Jeff Kerley met with councilman Pete Souza who
has been seen putting up and working on some of the Crossville recall
group's signs. According to the discussion, it appears that the
current signs may not be political based on the opinion of Cumberland
County Administrator of Elections Jill Davis.
Councilman Souza said that if it was
clear that the signs did not qualify as political messages, he would
have them taken them down. Souza said that the city has removed
signs before that have been a hazard and usually those signs are
collected and the city tries to contact the person they belong to and
will hold them for a few days so they can be picked up.
City codes director Jeff Kerley said
that he felt the ordinance on signs needed to be fixed, adding that
it had many holes in it. He added that all signs need to be treated
the same way. Councilman Souza also agreed that for the enforcement
to be fair it had to treat all signs the same.
While the matter of signs did not come
up during the city council agenda, during the meeting a pickup truck
was parked in the parking lot in front of city hall with another sign
in the back. The same truck was at last month's meeting with a
different sign and appears to be brought to city hall by J. R.
Blankenship who reportedly has put up the signs on Mockingbird Drive
that mention councilman Jesse Kerley.
Parking lot political sign
The signs around town were brought up
during a public comment at the end of the meeting. Citizen Bill
Harwell complained about the political signs as well as the signs on
Mockingbird Drive. Mr. Harwell started by reading some of the 101st
Psalm and followed up with a discussion of the signs.
Public comments by Bill Harwell
Harwell said that county election
coordinator had told him that it was not political season yet and the
signs did not qualify as political signs. He said the signs were in
violation of federal voting codes. He also felt the sings on
Mockingbird land should be brought down or at least brought to
someone's attention.
Crossville mayor James Mayberry asked
if Harwell's comments were in reference to the earlier meeting and
Harwell responded that they were. Mayberry said he was sure those
involved in the meeting would looking into this.
On Tuesday, June 14, at 3:00 p.m. the City will begin a software upgrade that
will shut the financial system down. No payments will be accepted for utilities
or taxes from 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14, until Wednesday, June 15, at 7:30
a.m. at City Hall or the Catoosa Water Department. The night deposit at City
Hall will be available during that timeJune
The Crossville city council met in work
session last week and worked on trying to finalize the budget leading
up to the public hearing and second reading set for June 9.
At the start of the work session, the
budget stood at $557,000 in the red and after going through the
budget, cutting all donations to non-profit outside agencies to save
some $18,405 then adding some projects back into the budget the final
count left the budget at around $1.1 million in the hole. The city
has a large rainy day fund of some $13 million that would easily
cover the estimated budget deficit.
Non-profit donations were cut by ten
percent across the board. Councilman Jesse Kerley proposed cutting
the donations of all agencies but the Fair Park Senior Center and the
TAD Center but other council members felt that was not fair and that
all should be cut the same.
Some of the items that had been
previously removed but added back by the council include one
additional detective for the police department at a cost of around
$50,000. Chief Rod Shoap told the council that additional employees
will help the department be able to improve and his priority was to
have an additional detective first followed by two patrol officers.
Council members Danny Wyatt, Pete Souza and Pam Harris indicated
support for the addition of one detective to the budget.
Uniforms for the fire department were
added back to the budget at $15,000, medical supplies for the first
responder program added an additional $2,500 and training costs of
were increased by $5,500. Chief Mike Turner said that the department
had non had new uniforms in 2 years as it had been removed from the
last two budgets. New defibrillators and one of two requested
generators for the fire stations were not included in the budget.
Medical director Dr. Mark Fox spoke in favor of the medical supplies
and defibrillators and chief Turner said without power the doors to
the fire station had to be raised by hand slowing their response time
when the power was out.
Council left some funding in the budget
for hiring one of the retail consultants that the council heard from
last month. The amount originally budgeted was reduced based on the
information the council learned during the presentations.
Rather than lease poles for the Warner
complex, the council discussed and supported outright purchase of
metal poles at a total cost of $374,000. A playground to be located
at Meadow Park Lake added an additional $25,000 to the budget.
Council discussed the downtown sidewalk
project and appeared to be moving away from what some feel is a more
costly option to hire a contractor to do the sidewalks. Council
members Danny Wyatt and Jesse Kerley are proposing that the work be
done piecemeal by city employees. Kevin Music with the street
department is proposing adding a concrete crew to do the work and
added that there was enough sidewalk and concrete work to keep a crew
busy. Council is waiting to get information from city engineer Tim
Begley on costs before making a final decision.
After the meeting broke up the incident between council members Kerley and Souza took place. During some of the budget discussion, the two council members glared at each other several times during the meeting and Kerley took issue with Mayor James Mayberry's support of the downtown sidewalks claiming his business would benefit from the project.
The Crossville city council has their
regular June meeting scheduled for Thursday June 9 and agenda items
include the council's standing rules once again, public comment and
first amendment rights as well as a discussion on the Apex wind farm
proposed for Crab Orchard.
In addition, a public hearing is
scheduled for 5:30 pm prior to the regular meeting as well as the
second readings of the budget and tax rate ordinances leaving one
final reading for final approval expected to come later in the month.
The schedule for the evening includes
5:00 pm Audit committee meeting
5:30 pm Public hearing on proposed
2016-17 city budget.
5:50 pm Public hearing on annexation of
103 Meadowview Ln.
6:00 pm Regular Council meeting
The consent agenda includes the
readings of the budget and tax rate unless a council member requests
that they be pulled out for either discussion or separate vote. A
long list of annual bids on supplies purchased for the upcoming year
is expected to be a consent list as well and bids on several items
including the infrared FLIR camera for the police department's drone
are on the agenda.
For the third month in a row,
councilman Pete Souza is asking the council to consider rescinding
the council standing rules adopted March 10 this year that abolished
the monthly work sessions and public comment except at the end of the
council's meetings. The previous two times have been unsuccessful.
Another item requested for the agenda
by Mr. Souza is titled “Discussion and possible action on failure
to comply with the standard rules and Robert's Rules during the May
12, 2016 regular scheduled meeting, and violation of first amendment
rights." When asked about the item, Mr. Souza said it was about “the
right for people to speak without being interrupted and the right of
an individual to criticize public officials without abusive behavior.
To be told that they couldn't say anything derogatory about elected
officials is incorrect.” Souza continued by saying, “The council
does not have the right to just blurt in and take over the council
chambers without being recognized.”
Councilman Danny Wyatt has requested to
discuss the impact of the Apex wind farm on Crossville. Wyatt also
wants to discuss the proposed Crossville Memorial Airport Aviation
Hall of Fame and recognizing former councilman, the late Boyd Wyatt,
Sr. for his service and support of the airport.
Other agenda items include a presentation by Hospice, the city manager and city attorney reports, the marketing report and the final reading to approve the budget amendment to pay the severance package to former city manager David Rutherford.
The video of the incident Thursday night just outside of Crossville city hall that involved tow city council members is a bit difficult to see and with no other angle available, several have noted it is easier to follow in slow motion.
This is the slow motion version of the tape obtained exclusively.
Jim Young Reporter has exclusively acquired the video from inside Crossville city hall that shows at least part of the altercation that occurred between two council members following a budget work session meeting on June 2, 2016.
In addition to the video, Crossville police chief Rod Shoap investigated the incident and portions of that report are below.
An investigation into the allegations
of physical contact between two Crossville city council members, both
up for reelection this fall has concluded by Crossville Police Chief
Rod Shoap and no charges will result unless the men take out warrants
on their own.
The video above includes the interaction
between the two men though part of the video is shot from inside
Crossville city hall through glass windows and doors making it
difficult to see exactly what happened.
The video shows Councilman Jesse Kerley
and his father Jerry Kerley, who is also the Director of Water
Resources, waiting in the lobby. As Councilman Pete Souza comes down
the stairs from the meeting Councilman Kerley speaks to him briefly
and the three men step through the door and outside. The video shows
the men separate and then come back together with arms flailing.
At this point a number of others from
the meeting come through the door and Councilman Kerley and Souza
reenter the building and go up the stairs where Crossville Police
Chief Rod Shoap was. Others who were in the parking lot at the time
of the incident also reenter the building and some spoke with Chief
Shoap.
By this time things had calmed back
down and a short time later both councilmen left city hall.
Crossville Police Chief Rod Shoap filed
a report this afternoon that was released to the media. The report
covered the incident on June 2 as well as an incident in February of
this year when the two men bumped into each other behind the council
desk after that meeting.
Excerpt from Chief Shoap's report of the
incident reads: “At about 6:50 pm the meeting adjourned and an
altercation took place by the exit doors located on the north side of
city hall on the 2nd floor. Councilman Kerley and
Councilman Souza are both complainants in the issue and both are
requesting reports of the incident.
Jerry Kerley stated to me that as he
exited the building, words were spoken between him and Councilman
Souza. Councilman Kerley stated that Councilman Souza turned to
Jerry Kerley and began raising his voice. At that point Councilman
Kerley approached Councilman Souza and the altercation occurred.
Councilman Souza said that he was
leaving the building, going through the door as Jerry Kerley said
something to him. Councilman Souza turned to hear Jerry Kerley
mention the painting of signs at which point he was trying to make a
point about the signs when Councilman Kerley interrupted and the
altercation took place.
This morning I reviewed the video that
came from a camera at city hall that was pointed at the location of
the incident. The video has no sound and it is difficult to
determine what occurred outside the building. The video should speak
for itself.
The incident is a misdemeanor, if in
fact a crime, and both parties have been advised to seek a
magistrate if they choose to prosecute.”
The Crossville city council's budget
work session had a few moments of friction between some council
members but the real issue came after the meeting was over when
according to statements, one council member allegedly bumped another council
member as they were leaving city hall.
The incident involved council member
Pete Souza and Jesse Kerley. Kerley stated that Mr. Souza was
speaking angrily to Jerry Kerley, Kerley's father and Crossville director of water
resources. Councilman Kerley said he informed Mr. Souza to stop.
According to Councilman Kerley, Mr. Souza then bumped councilman Kerley with his shoulder
as he was going out the door.
Howard Burnette of the Crossville
Recall group was reportedly in the parking lot at the time of the
interaction and others are believed to have seen the incident as
well. The city hall's video camera's may have captured the incident
and Councilman Kerley reported the incident to Crossville Police
Chief Rod Shoap right after it happened.
Several times during the meeting
discussion Mr. Souza and Mr. Kerley traded glares with each other.
In addition, during the discussion of the downtown sidewalk project,
Mr. Kerley and Mayor James Mayberry had brief angry words over
Kerley's accusation of benefit to Mr. Mayberry from the sidewalks.
Animosity continues to surround the
council over Mr. Souza's involvement with the recall movement against
Council members Danny Wyatt and Pamala Harris and the split votes
over firing the previous city manager.
During the budget work session, the
council cut all funding by 10 percent to the non-profits while adding
a number of project back into the budget that took the budget from
$557,041 in the red up to just over $1 million in the red. Funds to
cover the deficit will come from the city's rainy day fund that holds
over $10 million.
The City of Crossville's 2016-17 budget
could get some additional finishing touches at a work session on the
budget set for Thursday June 2 at 5 PM. The meeting will be held in
the city hall conference room 317 and is open to the public.
The the city will hold a public hearing
on the budget and, in addition, the second reading the budget
ordinance are scheduled for the regular council meeting on Thursday
June 9.
The budget started at $2.4 million in
the red and at last tally according to city finance director Fred
Houston stands at a much lower $577,641 in the red. The city also holds a fund balance of well
over $10 million. The budget as it stands includes a 3 percent raise
for city employees and a continuation of the wellness program. Final
decisions on the funding of outside agencies or non-profits remains
to be determined.
With a change in city managers at a critical point of the budget the process has appeared to stay on track and be close to completed.
