Leave Chilhowee Mountain Alone!

The photograph to the right is a view of Happy Valley and the Great Smokies as seen from Look Rock on Chilhowee Mountain.


I grew up at the foot of Chilhowee Mountain and I could go into a generalized rant about the importance of protecting it from greedy developers - which it seems Blount County is full of these days. I personally know a couple of these guys from years back. They were low lifes then and they're low lifes now - only with fancier suits. These guys are so good that when trying to buy property, they will convince the seller that "their - the buyer's" development costs are so high that it's a great sacrifice to them personally to have to pay a dime more than the appraised value for a piece of pristine mountain land. I know that doesn't sound logical but it's true. If Cades Cove hadn't been taken over by the National Park Service, I guarantee today you would never see a deer, turkey, or bear, but instead would see stack on stack of condos occupied by Floridians,New Yorkers, and half of Atlanta.

Okay, that is my emotional rant. Below is a letter to the Daily Times by someone much more eloquent than I am who has given a good part of his life and energy to protecting the natural beauty and resources of Blount County Tennessee.

Protecting Chilhowee Mountain important

Dear Editor:

I would like to express my opinion concerning the Planning Commission’s quest for information about scenic views that should be protected. I really appreciate The Daily Times for providing this forum for discussing a very important topic. I appreciate, too, the efforts of the Planning Commission to gather public thoughts about what changes should be made to the county’s 1999 Policies Plan.

I agree with commission member Brownlie that “we need to write tough regulations. Everybody understands the mountains are our resources.”

Chilhowee Mountain is a complex of scenic views and is in itself the most outstanding of scenic views in Blount County. How we deal with it might dictate the policies for the rest of the county.

My fear is that if we set up rules that piece-meal development of certain overlooks along Chilhowee Mountain that would only serve to enable development on the whole mountain. Development that is allowed in certain areas will only serve to set precedents for other areas and encourage wholesale development.

Looking at specific view areas that the county wants to protect sounds like “spot regulations” rather than countywide rules. Allowing development because of the quality involved, as stated in a recent article, seems to be an elitist approach. I hope that doesn’t mean that a well-known expensive hotel could be built on a local mountain top when other lesser financed structures could not. Quality designed and quality built developments demand that roads be built, sewer reckoned with, lighting tolerated, etc. in the same sense that less quality structures demand. These alterations to the mountainside do in themselves produce changed watercourses, erosion, and water pollution to those properties below.

My wish and my recommendation does concern Chilhowee Mountain. We need a rule, a regulation in black and white, that’s made to limit any development to below 1,000 feet from the mountain top. In other words, no development would be allowed on top of the mountain or within 1,000 feet of the top.

The north face of Chilhowee Mountain is foremost in my mind of views that should be protected. Chilhowee Mountain is the first view of the total mountain range when approaching Maryville and Alcoa from Knoxville on U.S. 129. From Mimosa Heights, Chilhowee Mountain appears to be the guardian of the Great Smoky Mountains. The view of Chilhowee Mountain from Maryville Municipal Building is incredible. Also, try stopping by the Foothills Elementary School to get another outstanding view of this treasure of Blount County.

A drive down Carpenter’s Grade Road or Six Mile Road gives one a full view of Chilhowee Mountain from Butterfly Gap, to Indian Grave Gap and the Devil’s Cockspur and on to Alleghaney. From the area of Heritage High School, the Walland Water Gap is a terrific sight. The Three Sisters, on toward the east, stand majestically as they were shown to be in pictures taken in the 1890s.

Driving on the Foothills Parkway, along the top of Chilhowee Mountain, gives us a breathtaking view of the valley all the way to the Cumberland Mountains. Looking in the other direction, we have a wide view of the Smoky Mountains up to the crest that separates Tennessee from North Carolina.

The very name of Chilhowee has come to be very important to Blount County citizens over the years. Several businesses have incorporated the name in their title. There’s the Chilhowee Baptist Association and the Chilhowee Baptist Center. We have Old Chilhowee Baptist Church and Lower Chilhowee Baptist Church. Some Knox County and Sevier County institutions have followed the same trend.

Other reasons to protect all of Chilhowee Mountain emerge when we look at other sides of the mountain’s history. Landslides have occurred at times on the mountain. At least three landsides are evident when you drive over the Parkway. Several fault caves are to be found in different areas. The area around Look Rock is an example. There have been at least two earthquakes in modern times that centered on the Chilhowee mountainside. The Guess Creek Fault and the Great Smoky Fault seem to parallel the mountain and help define its fragile side. All these factors have to do with the handling of water and sewer and roads from any development.

Almost every weekend there are at least 1,000 homes advertised for sale in The Daily Times. Many of these homes are publicized as having mountain views, even splendid mountain views. At least 60 percent of those views must be of Chilhowee Mountain. The mountain is so revered by Blount County’s people and so admired by our visitors. Let’s protect it.

Sincerely,
William B. “Booty” Miller
2153 Jericho Road
Maryville, TN 37803

"Nobodies" in Tennessee get Busted for Drugs while "Somebodies" skate free

In almost every city in Tennessee you read about the such and such "Drug Task Force" arresting some "nobody" for drug possession or distribution. That's very good and I applaud it because I think illegal and some legal drugs are the bane of American society.

Steroid abuse has become so common place in all sports that most fans grudingly accept it, causing me to wonder why baseball, football, and certain track and field events don't just set up different leagues and classifications for steroid and non-steriod athletes. If the steriod users want shorter lifespans in trade for weight gain and hitting the ball out of the park consistently so be it. Forget the argument about being role models for kids - it's not convincing. Pull your 15 year old football player,baseball player,soccer player,or high school weightlifter into the den for a chat. Do they know any of their peers who take steroids? You betcha! Have they ever thought about taking steroids - be tipped off by the nervous foot shuffle.

We live in a culture where drugs are becoming more and more acceptable. The police and enforcers of drug law are conflicted. They want to do a good job of ridding Tennessee society of marijuana,cocaine(crack and powder),and certainly want to shut down methamphetamine production and distribution, but struggle with the issue of going after the "big fish" in their town and locality who regularly use drugs,check in frequently to rehab centers, and feel they are "untouchable" and immune from the force of the law. These "untouchables" may be attorneys, county commissioners, wealthy mill and plant owners, and successful business people. It's okay for them to use drugs, but not so for the "scum."

So what does Law do? To make good theatre for the law abiding folks who are in every Tennessee community, the drug task force goes after "nobody" scum that everybody would suspect would be on or selling drugs anyway. It's called the "path of least resistance" and it keeps them out of trouble with their bosses who play golf and suck up to the "somebodies," who, by the way, prefer their cocaine powdered.

If I ain't telling the truth, shoot me!

Alien Abduction in Maryville

I've never experienced alien abduction,although I'm sure there are some who would doubt that. However, I have personally known a couple who once lived in Maryville who claimed it happened to them.

The story begins in 1972 when my ex-wife,Judi,and I were invited to the home of a colleague of mine. I won't tell you exactly where they lived, but I will tell you that their home was located in the slightly irregular square formed by W. Broadway,Best St,Montvale Station Road, and Montvale Rd.

During the visit, my friends originally from Ohio, asked Judi and I if we knew any ghost tales from the Smokies. My tale-telling grandfather grew up on Abrams Creek before the National Park arrived, so I had heard plenty of tales. Judi's ancestors came directly out of the Cove, so she had heard more than a few tales herself. We shared some with our friends. Strangely, they did not share any tales with us, making me wonder why they brought the subject up in the first place.

As the conversation progressed, W..., my friend, asked if I believed in UFOs. I replied that I was open minded on the subject and did not think it was a matter of belief - you've either seen one or you haven't. He then replied that he and his wife had seen one. "Where?" I asked. "In our backyard," he replied.

He went on to explain that a few weeks before that he and his wife had been awakened by strange noises and flashing lights in their backyard. They both said that the lights disoriented them and they saw a vehicle of strange design in their yard. They also said that it seemed as if they were both in a dream and it seemed as if time were "stretched."

By this time I was starting to wonder if I had sloshed too much Budweiser. I think they became embarrassed because Judi and I were reacting as if they were telling tall tales like we had just told them. We saw the couple several times after that and the story was never repeated again. That is... not until 17 years later.

My friend's career skyrocketed after that. He and and his wife went back to Ohio where he took a high position with the government. A few years passed and I, divorced now, was transferred to Austin, Texas. Shortly after I arrived, my friend transferred to Bastrop, Texas near Bergstrom AFB where he had received another promotion with the government with higher responsibility. No repeat of the story.

In 1988, I retired from the Army and moved to a home I owned in Brewton, Alabama. Little did I know that my friend had transferred to Eglin AFB base where this time he had taken a very lofty government service position in a top secret weapons laboratory. They lived in a city near Eglin that was only an hour away from me in Brewton, Alabama.

Early in 1989 my daughter had to take her SAT test and the location of the test was in the town where my friends lived. I called my friend and told him this. He immediately invited us to spend the night with him and his wife and that he would drop my daughter off the following morning for her test and his wife and I could visit and catch up on gossip.

After my friend amd my daughter left, his wife and I shared some croissants and coffee in the dining room. Bravely, I asked her if she remembered the night we told "ghost" stories 17 years back. Her reaction was startling. She began crying.

She related to me that the night Judi and I visited that she and my friend had not been totally honest with us. She went on to say that the part about the flashing lights and the strange vehicle was true, but she and her husband were afraid to tell us that they had actually BOARDED the vehicle. Then she started crying again. When she recovered she said that they were separated from each other and the creatures who were directing the show performed medical experiments on them. She showed me a scar on her ankle where one of the creatures inserted some type of tube in her leg and removed a large amount of blood.

As she concluded the story she said that over the years, her husband had become stoic about the experience. He would not deny it happened but he would not talk about it,keeping it within himself. My friend's heart had deteriorated and his wife claimed that part of the problem was the affect of keeping their bizarre experience to himself over the years. I frankly told her that if my friend had told the tale and even undergone a polygraph,his career with the government would be over. She said that is what he told her, but was still frustrated because she was witnessing her husband dying before her eyes.

I too, was frustrated because I could not help both my friends who were among the best people I've ever known. A year after my friend's wife told me the full story, he dropped dead after teaching a Sunday school class in his church.

I still don't know what to make of it after all these years. My friend's phenomenal success ran counter to his education and experience. And his wife - about 3 years after her husband died - remarried - a millionaire with a yacht.

************


There is another Blount County tale of a man who saw alien creatures and strange spacecraft and went on to become successful and extremely prominent out of proportion to his education and experience. He should be about 79 years old and is a former elected official. I understand he hangs out with a group of guys at a well known coffee hangout. I will save this tale for a later day. He walks among you and his name is extremely familiar.

Until next time...

The Colonel, the County Judge, and Nehi Soda

Blount County is not the same place I left in 1978. It has changed tremendously in culture and population. At the time I left, there was roughly 75,000 people residing in the county compared to approximately 115,000 today. 40,000 newcomers in 29 years.

Now you can buy liquor in a liquor store instead of from a bootlegger or driving to Knox County. In 1978 and years previous, buying liquor or drinking alcohol openly on your deck or side porch was a taboo. Somebody from the "church" might see you and you would be talked about. Horrors, if you were picked up for DUI and your name showed up in the Times.

In the early seventies, I worked as an instructor at McGhee Tyson Airbase with the ANG Non-Commissioned Officers Academy. At the time, I was the only local on faculty. The main unit at McGhee Tyson was the 134th Air Refueling Group commanded by Colonel Robert Akin. The base was visited by many Blount Countians who were associate community members of The Officer's Club. In the course of a year, the who's who of Maryville, Alcoa, and Blount County would frequent that club. It was one of the few places in the county that a person could buy a drink unless they belonged to the local country club or the American Legion. There were several weak efforts to get liquor legalized in Blount County during this period. Unfortunately for me and my career at the Academy, I joined forces with one of the groups attempting to legalize liquor.

I could write pretty well then and the group I was associated with asked me to write some letters to the Times promoting a referendum. My mistake was pointing out the hypocrisy of the population. I spoke of the private clubs(among them the Officer's Club) where a person could get a drink or a bottle if they had the privilege of membership. All liquor sales at private clubs were illegal,at the time, before the law affecting private clubs was changed in the late seventies. The Officers Club was not an offical USAF club at that time. McGhee Tyson was a state facility and subject to state laws. One of my legal liquor advocacy letters to the Times hit a nerve.

Arriving at work one morning, my boss Colonel M... summoned me to his office. Usually a commanding figure, Colonel M... this day looked a little "shook." He told me that I had been summoned to Colonel Bob Akin's office at headquarters. Arriving at Akins office, I took a seat across from the good colonel. At no time during the one sided conversation did the colonel look directly at me.

He told me that one of the reasons McGhee Tyson Airbase and the 134th maintained its good place in the community was because of the Officers Club and its large membership of "associates" from the Blount County community. He said that my letter to the Times could cause embarassment to these associates who preferred their drinking activities at the club not be exposed. He ordered me to cease and desist my activities promoting legal liquor in Blount County. According to Akin, exposing the legal status of the Officer's Club to the public could jeopardize the jobs of the 300 civil service technicians who worked there. He also told me in passing that at one time, the clubs at McGhee Tyson Airbase represented the largest liquor operation in East Tennessee i.e. the good colonel admitted to me that he was one of the area's biggest bootleggers. After that conversation my fortunes at McGhee Tyson changed for the worse. I eventually left and later went on active duty in the Army.

Shortly after that I got to see another example the hypocrisy about booze in Blount County first hand. The sheriff at that time was a "good old boy" and a close friend of my family. He had a fishing camp on Little River in Townsend. Each year he and my uncle would have a barbeque at the camp. I was a "field" deputy and always got invited. There was always beer and other assorted booze. This particular year there was some nervousness because County Judge Asher Howard announced on short notice he was coming to the barbeque. Panic. What to do with the beer? Asher Howard was very religious and most likely would not approve of the booze. My uncle came up with a solution. There were several empty cans of Nehi soda scattered about. They were gathered up and rinsed out. The rule was that if you wanted a beer, you took an empty Nehi can into the tent where the beer was and poured your full can of Budweiser, Schlitz, or Falstaff into it.

When the judge arrived he saw nothing but the Sheriff and his deputies and assorted county officials sitting around drinking Nehis and chomping barbeque. Fortunately we had a full can of Nehi left when the judge asked for one.

I wonder how much the attitudes about booze have changed since I left home?

Note to readers: I have several blogs, click the "view my complete profile" button to the left to see them all. Also I have a site where I write serial novels,Thomsontalks and a site where I have a collection of southern newspaper links, Dixie Bugle The majority of my writing is done at The Partial Observer, an opinion website, where I am a columnist and publications editor.

Cunningham disappointed with Maryville Tennessee Newspaper

Jerry Cunningham, Maryville attorney and Blount County Mayor is disappointed with the Daily Times, Maryville and Alcoa Tennessee's hometown newspaper. From Cunningham's perspective the paper has been unfair to his friend,Blount County Circuit Court Judge W. Dale Young, who is currently the subject of a judicial review by the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary.

Cunningham has gone so far in support of his friend that he recently spoke at a rally sponsored by the Republican party where he castigated the judge's critics among them the Daily Times newspaper by saying,

“It disappoints me,” he said. “Because it’s not The Daily Times I grew up with.
“I have not met anybody who is not upset or troubled by the unfairness of the reporting.”

... it's not the Daily Times I grew up with...

Its certainly not Jerry. The Daily Times I've been reading lately is far different from the one I grew up with which was a rag perpetuating the "Good Ole Boy" establishment of Blount County, Tennessee. When I was reading the Times in the sixties and seventies it had some quaint policies about news reporting. The most memorable was its policy on stories about women. The times under the leadership of its former publisher, Tutt Bradford, would not publish a story about a married woman under her own name i.e. if "Sue Jones" received an award as an outstanding educator the story had to be published as Mrs. Edgar "Sue" Jones wins education honors. I'm not even sure if they would publish the "Sue."

Once there was a story about a suicide of a woman who was the wife of a prominent Maryville businessman. It was reported as a gunshot suicide, but the Times(at that time)never dug into why the County Coroner and others were at the scene as part of a clean up crew after the woman's death. I know this because a reporter from a neighboring newspaper attempted to enter the home and was told "there's no story for you here" by the Coroner holding a mop in his hand.

The Times today is a paper that digs for news and is not afraid of hurting the feelings of the ruling establishment. The new Daily Times is bringing Maryville, Alcoa, and Blount County into the 21st Century. It's about time.

A bit of perspective of the recent rally where County Mayor Cunningham was the main cheerleader: Blount County has a population of 116,000. Only 125 people (mostly County officials and Republican Party stalwarts) showed up for the meeting.