Would someone like to explain the reason that some parcels of land around the Golf Course area are not taxable even though they are property within Swain Counties tax base?
Why is it that the other people within the County have to save for their tax payments with even some paying on a monthly basis just to be sure that their obligations are taken care of?
Don't you think Swain County should offer up some explanations on this. Let's bring the whole thing out in the open and put it on the table.
Every Property owner paying property tax deserves to know just who's getting away with what and how.
The path to being tax exempt should be exposed so that everybody can get in on not paying property taxes.
For as long as the Golf Course has been in existence, just how much money never came in the counties coffers and then all they do is raise our taxes to make up for the short falls.
We're not talking environmental areas, we're talking lots with million dollar homes and million dollar views.
Just how low can you go? You tell us!
Friday, January 18, 2008
WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME!
Through various sources it appears that Job Corps is finally on the way back to Cherokee. Over the last few weeks the upper echelon of our Federal Government have came to the area to review the existing facility & grounds and come to some terms with planning the reopening of this Facility.
It appears that details are somewhat sketchy on the curriculum which is being planned for this facility. However the schedule for reopening appears to be early March of 2008.
Swain County will again have additional employment opportunities, as well as a possible additional voting block which could influence local politics, if left unchecked.
Should these students be given a pass to vote and influence Swain County?
We're talking about a somewhat captive audience which are brought to the area, educated & trained and subsequently returned to where they came from.
What do you think?
It appears that details are somewhat sketchy on the curriculum which is being planned for this facility. However the schedule for reopening appears to be early March of 2008.
Swain County will again have additional employment opportunities, as well as a possible additional voting block which could influence local politics, if left unchecked.
Should these students be given a pass to vote and influence Swain County?
We're talking about a somewhat captive audience which are brought to the area, educated & trained and subsequently returned to where they came from.
What do you think?
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Just the FACTS!
The issue of the North Shore Road issue has been clouded over the years by emotion on both sides, FOR and AGAINST. On the one side you have the emotion of the people or their relatives who have strong ties to past and the promises made, i.e. Contract / Agreement.
On the other we have the strong emotion of being good stewards in the present time through environmental conservation for an undeveloped area with the lure of a monetary settlement in lieu of a road.
Should we ever be able to lay all the emotion to the side and consider only the facts as they actually exist, and how we have gotten to the present day without the influence from any side the situation should be solvable.
This Blog would propose formulating a time line from the conception of the idea of the Fontana by the US Government / TVA to the present, including all known agreements, promises, and actions taken by any party or agents involved to show the actual situation as it was and is presently. But again emotion must be left aside. It would be very important to place these items or events in the order of which they occurred so as to accurately show a path to the present day.
Once the facts are out in front of all then it would be time to intelligently work through a reasonable solution regardless of the outcome to either side.
Are there any takers?
On the other we have the strong emotion of being good stewards in the present time through environmental conservation for an undeveloped area with the lure of a monetary settlement in lieu of a road.
Should we ever be able to lay all the emotion to the side and consider only the facts as they actually exist, and how we have gotten to the present day without the influence from any side the situation should be solvable.
This Blog would propose formulating a time line from the conception of the idea of the Fontana by the US Government / TVA to the present, including all known agreements, promises, and actions taken by any party or agents involved to show the actual situation as it was and is presently. But again emotion must be left aside. It would be very important to place these items or events in the order of which they occurred so as to accurately show a path to the present day.
Once the facts are out in front of all then it would be time to intelligently work through a reasonable solution regardless of the outcome to either side.
Are there any takers?
Monday, January 14, 2008
A LETTER FROM THE PAST to THINK ABOUT
From the Desk of Lamar Alexander
http://alexander.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=1078&Month=12&Year=2006
SEN. ALEXANDER SAYS STOPPING ‘ROAD TO NOWHERE’ WOULD BE GOOD CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR TENNESSEE Urges New Park Service Director to Abandon Construction Plans
December 21, 2006
The Honorable Mary A. Bomar
Director
National Park Service
1849 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20240
Dear Director Bomar,
I am writing to suggest that a good Christmas present for the people of Tennessee and North Carolina would be a National Park Service decision to abandon the proposed $600 million "Road to Nowhere" through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The Environmental Impact Statement review for this proposed road is near a conclusion. Now is the time to bring this dispute – which has lasted since World War II – to an end. There is surely a federal obligation to the people of Swain County, North Carolina, but the U.S. Supreme Court has said there is no legal requirement to satisfy it by building this road. Common sense, as the elected Swain County Commissioners and the governors of Tennessee and North Carolina have said, suggests a cash settlement instead.
The proposed road would be a stupendous waste of taxpayer dollars – costing at least 75 times the annual roads budget for the Smokies – and it would be an environmental disaster, tearing up slopes and streams in one of the largest wilderness areas of the eastern United States.
I have opposed this road since 1984 when, as governor, I hiked the Forney Creek area of the Park where the road would be built. I reported what I had seen to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, on which I now serve. I have not changed my mind. I am enclosing my February 2006 letter to former Interior Secretary Gale Norton that further outlines my opposition to the road.
I urge you to brighten this Holiday Season by making the decision to abandon this ill-advised road so that we can begin to work together on an appropriate cash settlement for Swain County.
Sincerely,
Lamar Alexander
United States Senate
Enclosure
cc:
The Honorable Dirk Kempthorne
The Honorable Phil Bredesen
Members of the Tennessee Congressional delegation
Food for thought, what do you think?
http://alexander.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=1078&Month=12&Year=2006
SEN. ALEXANDER SAYS STOPPING ‘ROAD TO NOWHERE’ WOULD BE GOOD CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR TENNESSEE Urges New Park Service Director to Abandon Construction Plans
December 21, 2006
The Honorable Mary A. Bomar
Director
National Park Service
1849 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20240
Dear Director Bomar,
I am writing to suggest that a good Christmas present for the people of Tennessee and North Carolina would be a National Park Service decision to abandon the proposed $600 million "Road to Nowhere" through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The Environmental Impact Statement review for this proposed road is near a conclusion. Now is the time to bring this dispute – which has lasted since World War II – to an end. There is surely a federal obligation to the people of Swain County, North Carolina, but the U.S. Supreme Court has said there is no legal requirement to satisfy it by building this road. Common sense, as the elected Swain County Commissioners and the governors of Tennessee and North Carolina have said, suggests a cash settlement instead.
The proposed road would be a stupendous waste of taxpayer dollars – costing at least 75 times the annual roads budget for the Smokies – and it would be an environmental disaster, tearing up slopes and streams in one of the largest wilderness areas of the eastern United States.
I have opposed this road since 1984 when, as governor, I hiked the Forney Creek area of the Park where the road would be built. I reported what I had seen to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, on which I now serve. I have not changed my mind. I am enclosing my February 2006 letter to former Interior Secretary Gale Norton that further outlines my opposition to the road.
I urge you to brighten this Holiday Season by making the decision to abandon this ill-advised road so that we can begin to work together on an appropriate cash settlement for Swain County.
Sincerely,
Lamar Alexander
United States Senate
Enclosure
cc:
The Honorable Dirk Kempthorne
The Honorable Phil Bredesen
Members of the Tennessee Congressional delegation
Food for thought, what do you think?
Just what is the view worth?
On any day when the sky is clear as one drives over the mountains headed south from Newfound Gap, or from Clingman's Dome's vantage points you can view just what Swain County once was. Oh, one could say, there's other counties out there in the "VEIW SHED" but over 85% of everything you can see is what was once Swain County.
And what about along Hwy 28 going toward Graham County, as you drive along you can look to the north and see just what was once Swain County as well from another angle. Simply breath taking, mile after mile of Swain County undeveloped in raw form.
From an environmental stand point heaven on earth. From a human stand point concerning those who once lived in this heavenly place simply an open wound which is salted from time to time by a simple broken promise.
Let's put it in prospective.
They, those who once owned and flourished in this land gave there all or it was simply condemned and taken for a simple pittance, along with a small insignificant promise to build a road so that the burial sites of their ancestors could be visited from time to time, and as well to allow these people to return and remember for only a moment of what once was.
As time has went on the priorities of this mighty nation changed and little thought is given to this small insignificant promise since the prize of an INTERNATIONAL BIOSPHERE has been accomplished. Priorities to live and let live is given over to the environmental aspects with little concern to the Americans who surrendered to what they thought was a worthy and respectable cause in duty to their Country. All they want now is what they were promised. All they want is that this Country simply live up to its responsibilities and commitments.
We as a Country in times of peace as well as in war spend billions of dollars abroad to live up to commitments made over the years, its very troubling to understand why we can't live up to commitments made at home just because they seem to be politically incorrect now when it wasn't politically incorrect then. Why have our priorities, responsibilities changed? Why have we forgotten our own who came before us? Remember they gave what they had, it may not have been diamonds and gold but it was all they had.
When you cross over the mountains or stand at Clingman's Dome or drive along Hwy 28 and look upon this beauty, I would hope it weighs heavy on your mind that all of this scenery once belonged to those who gave all they had. For a pittance and a promise that is now politically incorrect.
In the overall scheme of things a simple road to allow people to return and visit their heritage, their beginning.
We should be ashamed of this injustice upon our own.
And what about along Hwy 28 going toward Graham County, as you drive along you can look to the north and see just what was once Swain County as well from another angle. Simply breath taking, mile after mile of Swain County undeveloped in raw form.
From an environmental stand point heaven on earth. From a human stand point concerning those who once lived in this heavenly place simply an open wound which is salted from time to time by a simple broken promise.
Let's put it in prospective.
They, those who once owned and flourished in this land gave there all or it was simply condemned and taken for a simple pittance, along with a small insignificant promise to build a road so that the burial sites of their ancestors could be visited from time to time, and as well to allow these people to return and remember for only a moment of what once was.
As time has went on the priorities of this mighty nation changed and little thought is given to this small insignificant promise since the prize of an INTERNATIONAL BIOSPHERE has been accomplished. Priorities to live and let live is given over to the environmental aspects with little concern to the Americans who surrendered to what they thought was a worthy and respectable cause in duty to their Country. All they want now is what they were promised. All they want is that this Country simply live up to its responsibilities and commitments.
We as a Country in times of peace as well as in war spend billions of dollars abroad to live up to commitments made over the years, its very troubling to understand why we can't live up to commitments made at home just because they seem to be politically incorrect now when it wasn't politically incorrect then. Why have our priorities, responsibilities changed? Why have we forgotten our own who came before us? Remember they gave what they had, it may not have been diamonds and gold but it was all they had.
When you cross over the mountains or stand at Clingman's Dome or drive along Hwy 28 and look upon this beauty, I would hope it weighs heavy on your mind that all of this scenery once belonged to those who gave all they had. For a pittance and a promise that is now politically incorrect.
In the overall scheme of things a simple road to allow people to return and visit their heritage, their beginning.
We should be ashamed of this injustice upon our own.
The Truth never satisfies the Dishonest.
Through exhaustive research of the ALLEGED Supreme Court Case cited so many times in the argument of the North Shore Road. It appears that the case in question was relative to no more than 6 families of the area looking for access to their property. With this said the rationale for furnishing access to this limited number of individuals was the reasoning behind the condemnation of the property's in question. Simply it was not reasonable for the Governmental Agencies to provide access based on this limited number of individuals.
There is NO relation to this case regarding the North Shore Road, i.e. replacement of Hwy 288.
Simply the case has never been brought.
Please reference this case through the internet by simply searching,
"USSCvsSwainlandowners"
Too many times we beleive some idle comment from someone who manipulates the truth to their own benefit. We believe it is time for YOU to DECIDE.
There is NO relation to this case regarding the North Shore Road, i.e. replacement of Hwy 288.
Simply the case has never been brought.
Please reference this case through the internet by simply searching,
"USSCvsSwainlandowners"
Too many times we beleive some idle comment from someone who manipulates the truth to their own benefit. We believe it is time for YOU to DECIDE.
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