| Scott County supervisors oppose
proposed High Knob recreation area
(Note: Besides the many connections that the Clinch Coalition has to The Wildlands Project, The Wilderness Society calls the High Knob area " ... one of the nation's 15 most endangered wildlands." The private homeowners and landowners are in trouble!) March 6, 2003 By Kevin Castle, Kingsport Times-News contributor 423-392-1377 701 Lynn Garden Drive Kingsport, Tennessee 423-246-8121 Gate City, Virginia - The Scott County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to endorse a resolution asking Virginia's federal lawmakers to oppose a national recreation area proposed for High Knob. The vote came after more than 20 people, mostly from Fort Blackmore, spoke out against the proposal. The resolution comes just two days after Supervisors Frank "Sarge'' Reed, the board chairman, and Dorothy Hicks, a Fort Blackmore resident, voiced their concerns over possible private land condemnations at a meeting of an advisory committee appointed by U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va. Boucher formed the committee late last year to gather information for a possible bill he could introduce that would establish a national recreation area (NRA) within a 150-square-mile radius in Wise and Scott counties. The committee met Monday at the Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon and will hold at least three more meetings before giving final recommendations to Boucher in early April. "It has not been a pleasure serving on Mr. Boucher's advisory board. I appreciate (the other board members') stand on this NRA,'' said Reed. "Obviously, there are driving forces with ulterior motives behind this project. We have to represent and serve the interest of the people of Scott County, and from what we've seen and heard today, people do not want this. We hope that this proposal will just eventually evaporate and disappear," Reed added. Reed also said he had planned to make a motion Monday night to have the committee dissolved due to the representation issue but decided against it, saying he did not have enough votes to get that accomplished. Land owner Roger Wolfe, who said land that has been in his family for 137 years is "in the middle'' of the proposed federal land in question, is also weary of the project. "I think that once they get a foot in the door, they'll be able to do whatever they want. They've said that they will not consider condemning land, but personally, I don't think we have a chance or a choice in this matter when it comes to the government,'' said Wolfe. Boucher said in a letter to Committee Chairman Dr. Ed Davis that if legislation to designate the recreation area is introduced, it would not allow the condemnation of private land holdings or restrict the rights of mineral owners. Several of the public speakers said their names were included on a petition that the Clinch Coalition circulated a few years ago in the Fort Blackmore area and have since been listed as coalition members supporting the recreation proposal. County Attorney Dean Foster said he plans to formally request a copy of that petition. "That has to be checked into because if a petition was signed for one reason [only] to represent a totally different issue, that is misrepresentation, and that is a problem,'' said Foster. A letter posted on the organization's Web site -- www.clinchcoalition.org/ -- from Coalition President Detta Davis states that "private landowners are at no risk'' if the recreation area is developed. "A designation like this will benefit the community in so many ways, but will not harm private landowners,'' Davis says in the letter. "The reason the 'area of interest' reaches to the Clinch River on the southeast and to U.S. 23 and 58-A on the northwest is so that public and private development funds can be used to assist those who wish to develop new business and opportunities,'' Davis' letter states. Supervisor Kenneth Hensley said after the meeting that although the recreation area does not fall within his district's boundaries, he wants to support what the people want. "I think these people have made it abundantly clear that they want to be left alone and live their lives on their private property with no interference from the outside, and I respect that,'' Hensley said. The resolution will be sent to Boucher and Sens. George Allen and John Warner as well as to officials in Wise and Lee counties and Norton to ask for their endorsement. http://www.timesnews.net/articleregistration.dna?_StoryID=3189990 |