 May 99 News Archives Welcome to Tennessee Online's News Archives Just Click the Headline of interest to go to the story. Dell Computer Corp eyeing Stones River Commerce Center Governor names new State Natural areas Confederate Flag issue packs Maryville gymnasium State battlefields get federal grants Chickamauga National Battlefield Park unveils new media program Pioneer Days in Livingston Cancelled Crafters/Artists being sought for annual Rugby Silver Festival Horse rustling on rise in Tennessee 
Shelbyville-In response to the numerous
cavalry hobbyists gearing up for the reenactment season, a warning
is out about a new rash of horse thieves practicing and selling in
Tennessee. The Southeast is becoming a place where horse thieves and
cattle rustlers like to do business, according to cattle theft investigators.
"A lot of people think it horse stealing went out with the Old West, but it's come back stronger than ever," said Don Moody, enforcement officer with Tennessee’s cattle/theft regulatory services. "They build trailers low to the ground now and thieves don't have to use a loading ramp. They just back the trailer up to a fence, lure the horse in and slam the door shut. "A horse was recently nabbed from a pasture in Sweetwater and switched hands five times before authorities tracked it down. In East Tennessee alone, investigators are working four stolen horse cases and the theft of 27 cattle. In 1993, investigators tracked one of the state's largest saddle theft operations to the Chattanooga area. They found more than 100 saddles that were stolen in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee,and Mississippi. According to officials with the McMinn County Sheriff's Department, horse thievery is becoming a problem in counties such as McMinn and Bradley. "We've recovered stolen horses around here before," said McMinn County Deputy Lt. Tim Smith "And you can't always tell by the markings. Once, we found a stolen horse, and its markings were covered with shoe polish. "Max Thomas is the chief livestock enforcement officer with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and says the better the economy gets, the more people get interested in trail riding and horse sales increase. Driving the horse theft industry is money. As market prices go up, so do the number of thefts. Classified as farm animals, horses can be sold as pets or to slaughter houses which process the meat for distribution. In 1996, horse meat sold for $1.20 a pound, nearly twice that of beef. Although not popular in the South, equine meat can be found at grocery stores in New York and Chicago, where the country's largest population of horse meat consumers are found. Most, however, is sold to European markets, such as France, who will pay higher prices. Thieves peddling stolen horses come to Tennessee because they can sell the horse without proof of ownership. Although medical papers are required to prove vaccinations, they aren’t concrete evidence of ownership. Everyone is asked to be on the alert and infrm their local law enforcement officers if the see smoething suspisious. “Times like this,” said horse breeder Daryl McCowan, “you wish the old laws were on the books and we had a hangin’ judge. You can get tens of thousands of dollars wrapped up in a single horse these days and then in a few minutes it’s stolen and on its way to God knows what.”
Maryville gymnasium Blount County-The Maryville High School gymnasium in Blount County was at capacity in late March when people gathered to discuss whether or not the school board should remove the Confederate Battleflag from the school. The controversy began when a black physician, whose daughter attends William Blount High School, attended a high school football game and saw the flag being waved in the stands by students.The Maryville High School “Rebels” have had the name and the battleflag as their unofficial symbol since the 1930s. The school board chairman had placed restrictions on who could and could not speak at the public forum creating some problems for the many who had traveled to speak for and against the flag’s use in school.The local radio station carried the program live so those Maryville residents trapped in the parking lot could listen to what was happening at the meeting. “I couldn’t believe how many turned out to participate,” said Tennessee High School history teacher Dean Schneitman. “The issue really became heated when some of the speakers started going overboard with their comments painting the entire community as racist because the school’s symbol was a battleflag. This is more about politics than anything else and the timing of it is suspect all the way around.What was ironic was to see the role reversal in the room. Usually it is the opponents to the flag that threaten lawsuits and try to shake up the officials. This time it is the other way around and many are furious that someone who isn’t a resident of the district can come in here and stir up controversy.” The issue is expected to be resolved sometime this month when the school board is expected to make a decision. As it stands, it appears that the flag will remain the unofficial symbol of Maryville high School and officials were as surprised as everyone else at the numbers that turned out for the forum. “This was amazing, for East Tennessee,” said one school board member. “Usually we can predict these things, but were stunned when peole just kept coming through the doors.” Two Tennessee Battlefields have nabbed $36,000 in federal grants to help preserve them and promote tourism in the region. U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant made the announcement on April 20 that The Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County will get $20,000 to develop policy and zoning recommendations for rural sections of Highway 31 that affect the Franklin and Spring Hill battlefields. The General Nathan Bedford Forrest Historical Society will get $16,000 to create tour brochures and signs for tour stops describing the Battle of Parker's Crossroads. Rep. Bryant says the grants were necessary because the parks face threats from private development. The grants are part of a $590,833 package from the National Park Service awarded to federal, state, local, and tribal governments, non-profit organizations and educational institutions. unveils new media program 
Chattanooga-Visitors to the nation's oldest and largest national battlefield can now see an improved multimedia program at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center's Centennial Theater. During a reception on April 17, the new 26-minute, multimedia program was presented to members of the Friends of the Park, the local organization that was a catalyst for raising the $155,000 that was spent on the upgrade. "We now have a program that is refurbished and ready for the 21st century," said Park Superintendent Pat Reed. “It is going to be a lot more cost effective to maintain and will allow us to show a really outstanding quality program to the over one million visitors each year that come to the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National MilitaryPark.” Reed went on to say that much of the equipment installed in 1990, when the new $3.2 million display room and theater was built, had become outdated. This latest upgrade primarily uses new computer equipment that sequences the 1,100 slides shown by 32 slide projectors. In addition, new computer driven digital technology has replaced the old reel-to-reel tapes that were housed in the theater's 20-by-12-foot control room. The reel-to-reel tapes were used to create the sounds of the war. Chickamauga Battlefield is the largest of numerous units of the 8,000-acre national military park, with is 666 monuments and statues, 725 historic markers and 255 pieces of artillery. The national park also includes Point Park, Signal Point, Orchard Knob and the Bragg, Ohio, Turchin, DeLong, Sherman and 73rd Pennsylvania reservations along Missionary Ridge. Chickamauga National Mliitary Park is scheduled to be the site this year of a mega-reenactment scheduled for September. We will bring you more information on the reenactment as it comes available. Livingston-The 19th Annual Pioneer Days Bluegrass Festival scheduled for July 15-17 in Overton County has been canceled. The Pioneer Day Committee issued the following statement: "At a meeting of the Pioneer Day Committee for 1999, held April the 8th, it was decided that the 1999 Livingston/Overton County Pioneer Days Bluegrass Festival will be canceled due to the constraints imposed on the Pioneer Day Committee by the City of Livingston. "Everyone that has made a financial contribution for 1999 will receive a check in the amount of their contribution from the Pioneer Day Committee in the very near future." According to reports, the City of Livingston would not let the Pioneer Day Committee block off Broad Street on the square between Church Street and McHenry Circle this year. The Pioneer Day Committee, after a thorough discussion, felt that by not blocking off the square would create a serious safety problem and the committee felt that someone could possibly get injured due to the traffic coming through the square. The Pioneer Day Committee expressed appreciation to all the individuals, city and county government, local civic organizations and businesses that have financially supported the event for the past 19 years. Anyone with questions about the cancellation of the festival may contact Herman Phipps, chairman of the 1999 Livingston/Overton County Pioneer Days Bluegrass Festival, at 498-2945 or Gene Snowden, treasurer for the committee, at 498-3302. annual Rugby Silver Festival 
Rugby-Area craftsmen and visual artists
are invited to apply for space at the 25th annual festival of British
and Appalachian culture set for May 22 and 23. The festival booth
fee is $25 for each 12x12 space. Entries are juried through photographs
and slides which must accompany an application form. The annual event
is one of the biggest in the historic village and draws people from
across America. The restored 1880s village is open year round offering guided tours, museum stores, and specialty restaurants. In addition, there are numerous hiking trails and lodging available for those who want to explore the nearby Big Southfork National Park. For more information or an application, you are encouraged to write: Historic Rugby, P.O. Box 8, Rugby, TN 37733 or call at (423) 628-2441. 
Atlanta-Many Tennessee Online visitors
have been asking for more information on the upcoming TNT movie on
Sumner County native Horace Lawson Hunley. What we have gathered from
Turner Network Television studios so far is that the film is to be
directed by John Gray (The Day Lincoln Was Shot, Glimmer Man) with
Armand Assante and Donald Sutherland set to star. "The Hunley" is
an Adelson Entertainment production from Gray’s original script. The
movie will follow the crew of the submarine CSS Hunley - the first
sub to sink an enemy boat in war time - during the 1864 siege of Charleston.
It explores the complicated relationship between the eight men who
led the Hunley into the history books. Donald Sutherland takes the
role of General Beauregard, while Cal Johnson plays Captain Hunley.
The movie is scheduled to be released this summer on TNT. Studio officials have been tight-lipped about the production, but a film trailer is expected to be out soon promoting the film. As for historical accuracy, many historians in South Carolina and Tennessee had said “let’s wait and see.” Gatlinburg-Tennessee Online has added a new section on its Resource pages to handle the hundreds of requests we get each month on the state’s Native American tribes. You will find it under Official tribal homepages and it lists the Native American’s who were part of the “Five Civilized Tribes” mentioned often in history texts on the region. In addition, we have also added other links in the classroom and updated others. We are grateful to those who have sent us e-mail informing us of changes in address and ask everyone else to do the same.. We will be working on new artifact pages this month as well and hope to get some more photographs in the gallery. Keep sending us the photographs and we will add them as time permits. In addition, we have received many requests to start linking headlines from the front page to the stories in the news section. We will try to get that done in the next couple of weeks. Last month’s stories on the Confederate Flag controversy raging in Nashville and Maryville brought in scores of letters on the issue. We are currently working to devise a bulletin board or “Letters to the Editor” section on the site in order to post all those we have received. On another note, as the school year starts coming to a close, we receive literally hundreds of letters across the country from students asking us for help, (Often last minute requests), that we can not possibly fulfill. In the future, we would like to ask that all such inquiries be specific in the information they are seeking. We do try to answer everyone of them, but some are so broad in their scope that we don’t know where to begin. In closing, we would like to again thank everyone for their support and suggestions. They are what makes this site so unique and we hope they will continue. News Archives |