News Reports 09/15/2003 - 09/19/2003
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09/15/2003  Property Value
09/17/2003  Bristol Study still raising questions
09/18/2003  Big Business in Bristol
09/19/2003  "...This land is my land" (but I'll Sell it For A Song)

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September 15, 2003. 
Property Value.  WCYB News story by Amy Lynn, Anchor Steve Hawkins. 

Sorry, no links to their webpage as they only keep stories there for one week.  (Unlike text, video takes massive space on a server, so we understand why they do so)  We have tapped the show from their website, but not acquired permission to rebroadcast on our site, yet.  We will includes some "quotes" from us and all the quotes from the enemy, lest they call us unfair, for that's our battle cry. 

This was the first TV broadcast covering the Bristol land grab.  George Rogers stated that "Bristol needs these races, but we don't need this kind of activity, this un-American activity." referring to the city resolution calling for a study to determine if his property is blight.  "If we are blighted then 90% of Bristol is Blighted" Rogers went on to say.  Darrel Proffitt with Tri Cities Auto Parts found the blight designation ludicrous as well, "My parking lot is full of people buying blighted parts."  The Mayor defended his action stating "It is not that any particular owner might not receive $3 or $4 million for his property, they want twice that.”   That's just not true Mr. Mayor, 3 out 4 owners have never been offered one penny.  In fact, this got your webmaster so mad he sent a letter to the newspaper.  See No Offers in South Bristol.  The mayor went on to say that "The owners walk away with millions of dollars and the people of Bristol get restaurants and hotels."   Well, why do the development study Mr. Mayor, you have already decided what should be on the land.  Never mind that we have property plans.  Never mind that it is illegal to take land from one private owner to give to another owner, a violation of the fifth amendment. And never mind that you are trying to do so by twisting the use of the blight property law.

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September 17, 2003. 
Bristol Study still raising questions.  Bristol Herald Courier Editorial asks questions.  Why the secrecy in ordering the study? Why did the city attorney instruct the city to keep BMS involvement a secret?  Does this project serve the public interest or does it primarily serve the interests of one private, millionaire businessman?  This editorial points out that Bristol has not made a case for its land grab.

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September 18, 2003
Big Business in Bristol.  Bristol Herald Courier Letter to the Editor.  Local resident is hot over the deafness of the city council.  He asks how can these business be blight when there are so many abandoned buildings up and down the parkway?  He suggests that they consider renaming Bristol Tennessee to BMS Tennessee and it's citizens can ask themselves, who is the next victim of the land grab.

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September 19 , 2003
"...This land is my land"  (but I'll Sell it For A Song)  The Local View with Jody Lee TV show.

Sorry, no link available.  We have tapped show but have not acquired permission to rebroadcast on our site, yet.  Sorry our comments are so long, but it was a half-hour show

We think the Mayor owes Jody Lee an apology!  

On both the radio and TV, Jody Lee has always had a fair and balanced journalistic integrity in presenting any story.  She wanted to have Mayor Shumaker on the show to present his side.  Jody felt that there had been all kinds of news coverage giving the property owners' perspective on the land grab, but not much giving the city's side.  So, there were no property owners on the show, as they had "their say" in the press. 

We agree and honor Jody's believes that both sides should be presented.  And the Mayor's had some really great persuasive facts and arguments in this show..............if you over look that the premises for his arguments, and even the facts themselves were completely false. 

Jody could not have known that the Mayor was creating fiction on her show.  Perhaps, it was the Mayor's idea to have no land owners on the show, so he could broadcast his fantasies without challenge.  Jody Lee would have every right to be angry with Shumaker, because the Mayor was deceptive with her, and in turn used her to disseminate false information.  We will now counter act his proclamations of city propaganda, misinformation, and half truths point by point.

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The Mayor's arguments was framed right at the beginning with Jody's opening comments, "Thanks to the speedway those particular pieces of land are worth considerably more than they normally would be." And, "In the past, the owners have been approached by speedway and others about selling their property and they apparently want to sell, but not for the mere millions over property value that they are offered, but even more than that. So they keep saying 'no' to the potential buyers, it may sound like they are trying to take advantage of the rich guy."  (Or as one of Jody's radio callers said "raping the rich guy")  As you can see, Jody is not aware that 3/4 of the land owners have not been offered one penny, I am sure the mayor gave Jody these "so called facts" prior to her show which assited her formulated her opening statements.

The Mayor's basic argument is as follows:

1. The property across from the race track is valuable due to nothing the owners did, but as a result of the speedway.
    
2. The people across from the track would not sell their land to anyone because they were greedy, and wanted 2 or 3 times what it was worth.

We shall refer back to these above as argument 1 & 2  as we talk about the show. 

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In Jody's first question, the mayor reveals the real reason the city is keen on these properties.  Jody asks, "Why is it not just between the people who own property and the people who want to buy property?" 

The Mayor states, that "Any time that you have a business in the city that employees an awful lot of people, spends an awful lot of money, adds an awful lot to the economy; and they come to us and thy ask us to help; whether it's tips grants to move utilities or expand their business (pause) and that really is what this is about expansion of business, we try to get involved to help."  Gee Mr. Mayor, I thought this was about finding blight.  How about the shrinkage of business, there are 7 businesses that employee an "awful lot" of people, 60 in fact.

What the Mayor is basically saying is that we own our property, until someone else who can pay higher taxes comes along, then he helps them steal it.  ITS ABOUT THE TAX MONEY! 

The Mayor goes on saying that redevelopment studies are something new for Bristol but nothing new for Tennessee.  And refers to the city of Kingsport doing a redevelopment of the Kingsport Mall. 

This comparison is ridiculous for two reasons. 

First, the Kingsport Mall stores were completely empty (like the Volunteer Parkway), with the one exception of office depot.  The Bristol land grab properties have businesses on them that have been there for 20, 30 and even 40 years.  Second, the owner of Kingsport Mall, Mr. Roger Ball, had wanted to tear down that mall and build something else in its place for some time.  He could not because he had stores tied up in long term leases.  The redevelopment allowed him ability to break the leases on empty stores and to acquire the financing he needed to redevelop his property. Something he WANTED to do.  The redevelopment in Kingsport was requested by the owner, not by land grabbers.  Roger Ball was tickled pink with the redevelopment efforts!  There were never any intentions of condemnation!  Hardly a worthy comparison.  See BMA declares Kingsport Mall a redevelopment district 

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The Mayor goes on to say that the land owners are good folks, and its not personal.  We bet he would disagree with that statement if the shoe was on the other foot and we were trying to take his land!  Now that the mayor has established he likes us and we should feel good about him taking our land, he continues, "could the property be used in a better way, to benefit the people of Bristol better, could there be more income generated".  Again saying, we own our property, until someone else who can pay higher taxes comes along, then he helps them steal it.  ITS ABOUT THE TAX MONEY! 

The Mayor continues saying, "the one talked about the most, if you want to call it an Auto Parts Business, you can, you can call it a mountain of junk cars also."   Sir, as long as Mr. Proffitt pays the city of Bristol for a business license, and pays sales tax, then you sure as hell should refer to it as an auto parts business.  Quite frankly, you should be thankful after all the business closures in Bristol, to even have a business in this town!  The mayor continues saying that as a citizen, he would rather see shops, hotels, and restaurants on these properties.

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This created a great opportunity for Jody Lee to ask the Mayor a question, she asked, "But is it not up to the property owner to decide what should be on his property, at what point does the government come in and say your property would be better used as..." 

It was a great questions, the mayor quickly changed subjects so he did not have to answer it.

The mayor said, "yes its got people upset, the other thing that upset them was..." and he went on to talk about the advice that City Attorney Jack Hyder gave Anthony "Tony" Massey on how to "instruct" the city council to keep their mouths shut.  Shumaker went on to say that "most of us (referring to city council) did not feel comfortable with that."  Seems like the rest of city council feels real darn comfortable with that Mr. Mayor.  I will give you credit for one thing sir, you at least have the guts to speak for the city, while the rest of the council stays voiceless.  See EXTRA: Read the Advice of City Attorney.

The Mayor goes on to talk about the Bristol Housing Authority study; that the BHA will accept plans; and if it goes full course (referring to eminent domain), then the matter is in front of a judge to pay owners for the property. 

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Jody asks, "what is the purpose of the study, is it to condemn land?"   They mayor states, "well it could go there, some property might be declared blight."   He fails to point out that the property does not meet the legal definition of blight.  He states that, "his hope is that everyone can get together and talk about real price for this property, look at real prices and real money instead of these astronomical prices".   Again he is referring to argument #2, greedy land owners.  

At this point Jody states, that she "feels manipulated, that this is all about negotiations and that some property owners are using the media to further their negotiations putting the fear of God into people; (that) they can come after my property; they can come after your property."   Jody, you are the one being manipulated, by the Mayor!  That is why we feel he owes you an apology.  He lays on you argument #2, greedy land owners will not sell their property, yet  3/4 of the land owners have not been offered one penny by anyone.  Using the media to further negotiations?  There are NO negotiations on 3/4 of these properties to further. 

Putting the fear of God into citizens?  Not fear of God, fear of the government!  Using the media?  The media has simply reported the facts, the fear of the government has genuinely manifested itself in the citizens.  Why?  Not because the citizens are experts in the law and know that this is illegal; but because the citizens know in their hearts that this is wrong.   And they know that if any person or government gets away with doing something wrong that results in a gain, they usually try to get away with it again.  In short, if you rob a bank and don't get caught, you are likely to try it again.   The question they are asking themselves is, "will I be next?"  This reflects the existing feelings of citizens; not a concept we are trying to "plant" in their head. 

We are not interested in "planting" anything, except maybe planting beautiful "Rogers Gardens" shrubs underneath quality "TVA" aluminum window frames on garages filled with cars bought from "Jacks Used Autos" that use auto parts purchased from "Tri-Cities Auto Parts" which were installed at "Jacks' Service Center" and/or "Accurate Auto Repair."

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Jody, recognizes that people are afraid, regardless of how they became that way, and she wants the mayor to set their mind to ease.  So she reads him a demand from one of her listeners.  The demand directed to the mayor was, "State for the record that the city of Bristol will not attempt to take these people's property by eminent domain, against the will of the owners.  If it is a mater of price negotiations, as suggested by Jody, the city has no dog in that fight.  If the mayor will not state for the record that the city has no intention of seizing this property by force then you can rest assure, that is exactly what they have been planning to do."

The mayor says, he "can not rule that out!"

Jody asks, "Is there any chance that the property owners will walk away with nothing?"  To which the mayor says no.  That they would be compensated by a judge or jury.

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The mayor than goes forward to say "the property across the street is valuable because it is across the street, Bruton Smith has pumped millions into the economy and that speedway." Jody then completes his thought saying that it is not a put down on the business owners, and that they do a good job running their businesses, but "its not their own business efforts that has made their property worth so much." Also known as Argument #1.  

Well, we did do something, we bought it!   See Risk and Reward.  We also invested in improving our properties.  At Rogers Gardens, we started by removing the "massage parlor" that was on the property.  This probably made our neighbor's property value go up, and they had no control over that either.

If you think back to 1981, you might remember that "massage parlor" and you might remember that the mountain used roll up to the front of the property.  Mr. Rogers had tons upon tons of dirt removed from the property; making possible the "campground/parking lot" that is there now. 

If Rogers had not done this; there would scarcely be an acre of parking today.   In short, his property would only be worth 10% of whatever it is worth now.  So, perhaps the speedway created a demand for camping and parking, but Mr. Rogers created a supply of space. 

By the way, where did all that dirt go?  It was moved up and down the Volunteer Parkway by developers who used it as fill dirt.  Many valleys on either side of the Parkway were raised so that shops, businesses, and restaurants could be built.  For example, Councilman Messimer's Chiropractic office building.   Not only did Rogers move tons of dirt up and down the parkway, but so did Darrell Profit over the years.   Do you ever wonder what Mr. Rogers charged the developers per pound, per ton, per truckload?   He charged, ironically and coincidently, the exact same amount that was offered him for his property.  NOTHING!   Not one penny. In this respect, both Mr. Proffitt and Mr. Rogers have created more businesses in Bristol than Mayor Shumaker. 

Seriously, see see Risk and Reward if have not already to see more on why this is such a lame argument.

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Then the mayor goes forward, with a litany of false statements. 

""One of those pieces of property had an independent person come in, (a) real estate appraiser.  (He) appraised the property at 2.3 million, they have been offered 3 plus million, but they want between 7 and 8 million dollars.  It just boggles the mind."

The mayor then goes on to say, "another owner doing a good job of working the media, they were going out of business last year but now they want 5.5 million for the piece of property that they were closing up just last year".  

Pardon us ladies and gentlemen, but that's just a bunch of BMS without the "M".

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Now,  the Mayor for the third time gives the real reason they want the property.  He says, "the businesses that do so much for Bristol, whether BMS or one of our other businesses, that were looking to expand.  They can expand, continue to hire people and put money in the economy and the people of Bristol get something they are proud of that contributes to our tax base and keeps us down the road from raising property taxes on everyone else". 

ITS ABOUT THE TAX MONEY! 

Jody may have picked up on this, asking "What's is to stop them from coming to my property and deciding that they can do something better with it?"  They mayor says he can not see that happening. 

Probably because Bruton has not asked yet.  (See Bruton's Education)

He gives examples of Tennessee High, Viking Hall, and roads, saying the eminent domain is used all the time everywhere.  These examples he gives are all legal uses of eminent domain, however, the Bristol land grab is illegal, see We Plead the Fifth.

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Jody then asks her final question, "I keep coming back to this, they have a right to ask what ever they want for it and if nobody comes up with it; don't they have the right to sit on their property and not sell it?" 

The mayor responds, "I guess, if we step though all of this process, I guess we're going to find out." 

Yes sir you will.  I just hate you will waste taxpayers money on attorney fees, court costs, litigation fees and ultimately damages, just to learn about a law that is 212 years old. 

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Bristol Herald Courier content © 2003 Media General, Inc.
The Marc Bernier Show © 2003 Bernier Broadcast Services, Inc
WJHL News content © 2003 Media General, Inc.
WCYB News content ©2003 Appalachian Broadcasting Corporation
Kingsport Times News content © 2003, Kingsport Publishing Corporation
The View with Jody Lee © 2003 SuperTalk WFHG