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knoxcotn-digest Sunday, February 20 2000 Volume 01 : Number 063
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 08:55:49 -0800 From: "Billie R. McNamara" <knox@tngenweb.org> Subject: [KnoxCoTN] More on the parks closure -- you'll be stunned! My cousin received this response from Milton Hamilton, the TN Commissioner responsible for the state parks. She asked some very pointed questions, and I'm happy to see his answers -- although I am so stunned by some of them that I can't think straight! He calls this "good management" and "we consider the mix of park experiences provided to park visitors." How can the "mix" you get at Fort Loudon, or Bledsoe Creek, or any of the other parks be replicated at any other site???? Please -- if you haven't written yet, write to the governor (dsundquist@mail.state.tn.us) and express your dismay. I'd love to see him so inundated with e-mail that it slows down the state's mail server!!!! Remember to share this with every Tennessee historian/genealogist you correspond with -- through personal mail or lists. This is too important, and June 30 will be here before we know it.
- ----- Original Message ----- >From: Jackie Berg <jberg@mail.state.tn.us> >To: name withheld >Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2000 6:21 PM >Subject: Re: Fort Loudoun > > >Dear Mr. Name Withheld: > >We have received your e-mail about the potential closings of eight of the >Tennessee State Parks and the Inn and Restaurant at Reelfoot Lake. We >understand your concerns and the information attached should answer your >questions. I hope this will be helpful to you. If this does not answer >completely your questions, you may contact Ted Murdock via e-mail at >tmurdock@mail.state.tn.us or call (615) 532-0014. > >Your opinions are important to us. Thank you for taking the time to express >your concerns. > >Sincerely, > >Jackie Berg, Administrative Assistant >Tennessee State Parks > >Dear Citizens: > >As many of you have already heard, I have proposed cutting some parks as >part of our budget package, which is now being reviewed by the state >legislature. Many of you have been concerned about these cuts and have >asked questions of our department. In an effort to keep you informed, we >have composed a list of some of the most commonly asked questions and my >responses: > >Which parks are you closing? > >Eight Parks and the Inn and Restaurant at Reelfoot Lake. The eight parks >are: Big Hill Pond, Bledsoe Creek, Burgess Falls, Dunbar Cave, Fort >Loudoun, Fort Pillow, House Mountain, and Indian Mountain; the Inn and >Restaurant at Reelfoot Lake will be closed, but the remainder of Reelfoot >Lake State Park will remain open. > >When will these parks be closed? > >These parks will be subject to closure on June 30, 2000. > >How were the parks recommended for closing chosen? > >We constantly evaluate our park operations. We monitor visitation to the >parks; we consider the mix of park experiences provided to park visitors; we >study the cost of operating the park, including offsetting retail revenues >and so on. Our state parks are very diverse. In fact, some of our parks >may be more appropriately managed by local governments or as natural areas. > >Why are these measures necessary? > >As I have said many times in the past, the Governor expects us to manage >state government in a way that we deliver services to the citizens in the >most efficient manner. We are closing these parks as a continuation of >those good management decisions. > >Commissioner, I thought closing state parks would only be something you >would do if the General Assembly failed to enact tax reform and revenues >were far lower than what the Governor recommended. Why are closings in the >budget the Governor is recommending now? > >Last year we closed Big Cypress Tree Park in my old district. I felt that >it was more appropriate to operate this facility as a state natural area and >have my rangers from an adjacent facility visit on an infrequent basis. We >are also open to local governments taking over facilities such as this. > >What about the state employees who work in the parks that might be closed? > >We will do everything possible to work with our employees in these parks. >Teams from my department and the Department of Personnel will be meeting >with staff at each park. We will explore available state positions both in >our department and in other state agencies in the area where the employees >live. We will make every effort to avoid any employee not having an >alternative job opportunity. I am very proud of our employees, and do not >want this action to harm any of them. > > >Can you elaborate on the Governor's budget as it pertains to your >department? > >The Governor has done exactly what he has said he would do. He has >recommended a budget that will provide Tennesseans with state services in >the most efficient manner possible and he has recommended the resources >necessary to accomplish this. > > >If this recommended budget is adopted by the General Assembly, would you >still consider establishing an entrance fee system for state parks? > >Yes. As I have repeatedly said, the Governor's recommended budget brings >our expenditures and revenues into balance for the coming year. We must >explore ways to fund our state park system for the future. We must preserve >these magnificent resources for our children. Most states have entrance >fees for their state parks, as do the National Parks. The comments we are >receiving from citizens across Tennessee are supportive of our >suggestion*provided (and this is very important!) these fee dollars stay >within the state parks budget and are used only for the state park system. > >Also, keep in mind that we don't anticipate these fees will raise very much >money for us in the first year or two. We'll have start-up costs to >consider, plus it will take some time for us to determine the best way to >implement the fees. We'll probably start out with a few test areas, and >that's not going to give us the money we need. > > >When all is said and done, Commissioner, isn't closing state parks really a >political scare-tactic by you or the Governor to put public pressure on >legislators, therefore forcing them into tax reform? > >The recommendation to close these eight parks is simply good, responsible >management. The Governor and I, as his Commissioner of Environment and >Conservation, are recommending the best way to manage our state park system. >It is as simple as that. Our citizens expect us to be good stewards of our >park system and the recommendations contained within the budget are >presented in that spirit. > > >I hope that you have found this information to be helpful. If you have >questions, please contact Ted Murdock via e-mail at >tmurdock@mail.state.tn.us or call (615) 532-0014. > >Sincerely, > >Commissioner Milton H. Hamilton Jr. >Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2000 18:11:04 -0800 From: "DeanZ1" <dean21@email.msn.com> Subject: [KnoxCoTN] Walker My brick wall is finding any information about my ggrandparents on my father's side. My grand father died when my dad was very young and now my father is also dead, so I'm having trouble finding any info. My grandfather was Paul Luther Walker, he was married to Lorena Christina Campbell until his death in 1950. He had 3 children: Gerald Eugene, Carol Ann and Patricia Lee. His mother and father were Luvernie Massengill and Ballard Airy. The spelling of their names is questionable. Tammy Zaino ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 09:27:52 -0800 From: TeddyB_52@webtv.net (Terri Jurca) (by way of "Billie R. McNamara" <knox@tngenweb.org>) Subject: [KnoxCoTN] Flatfords Need information on the family of Flatford's in north Knox county 1860-1880. James Flatford was living with my gg-grandmother in 1860 from census....lists him as servant/laborer. In 1870 census says John Flatford and wife were living next dwelling....Is this John, Jame's brother? They are buried in Glenwood cemetery near where my gg-grandfather and my ggggrandfather and ggg-grandmother are buried....this is John Brown, Joseph and Sarah McClain Wood....does anyone know of a family connection to any of these three families...I sure would like to clear up this mystery!!!! Thanks for any help anyone can give me here. Terr Brown Jurca http://community.webtv.net/TeddyB_52/TerrisSearchPage ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 09:22:57 -0800 From: "Billie R. McNamara" <knox@tngenweb.org> Subject: [KnoxCoTN] 20 Feb 2000: Sunday Afternoon Rocking Jan Philpot gives her permission for this to be forwarded to anyone you think would be interested, but PLEASE make sure she gets credit when you do. ============================================================= From: "j" <unicorn@sun-spot.com> "The Lessons of the Search" (from Afternoon Rocking series) Afternoon All, I think sometimes, that the greatest lessons to come from a search for our roots, is an understanding of our place in the life that blossoms forth from them. It often occurs to me, the older I grow, that what we really are on earth to each other is no more than a loan...or perhaps, more appropriately, a gift. And I think that the longer we live upon the earth, the more people we see pass through our lives....leaving their memories secreted in a special corner of our hearts, the more we come to realize that. Few of us have lived very many years without having to give up someone we love deeply...and we go through all the facets of accepting that we must. We begin with the disbelief of it when it is sudden, and we live a long time with the pain of knowing what is going to happen and the pain of watching suffering when it is not. Our emotions run the gamut from deep depression to anger...and at some point, most of us begin to realize the inevitability of it all. At some point we truly deep in our hearts realize that death is simply a part of living, and with faith, we realize it is only a gateway to another form of living. And if the sadness never leaves completely, and if even years later we can open a box or a trunk and find ourselves again overwhelmed with the original grief for a short time...well at least we come to an acceptance of it as we go on living day by day. But it is true, at some point a voice becomes harder for us to conjure in our minds, although we think often what that loved one would have said, would have done at any given moment or event. We run our memories through our minds like snapshots of the past that only we can see...and we come to a point that we feel it very important to pass on those snapshots, those ideas of who that person was to a younger generation who either had not the opportunity to know this person...or was far too young to really have the vivid understanding that we have. At some point it concerns us that the snapshots in our minds are ours alone...and will leave when we do. It is at this point I think...that many begin to do the things that we are doing...searching our roots, preserving those who have passed before us, and with far greater depth of empathy, we also try to preserve those we did not ourselves know that passed before us...the loved ones of our grandmothers and our grandfathers...because they mattered to those we loved...and to those who loved them...and so on, in an endless chain. We gather the pictures, the documents, the letters, and even things...anything we can find that will make the "realness" of these people real to us and real to those who come after us. And even those who do not turn to genealogy, do with age begin to talk more and more of the past, more and more of the people they knew who are no more....much to immaturity's dismay. For only those who have lived to see people they loved dearly pass, ever can evolve to either dwelling on passing the memories...or appreciating what they hear when they hear it. I think often of the hours my grandfather sat telling his stories of people none of his grandchildren or even children could remember...and now I understand why. He had realized with his passing those loved ones were essentially "lost"...no more than a date and name on a tombstone, no more than what "official documents" existed somewhere in a dusty courthouse basement. I think of a man who lived near me when I was much younger. At the time it occured to me, as I watched him on his daily walk past my house when he was well about the age of 90...how sad. How sad to live so long that almost all of the people who peopled your childhood are gone, how sad to outlive most of the friends of your youth...how sad to see many of your children gone and your wife, the places totally different...to actually live in a world where nothing or no one bears a resemblance to how it was when you began. And I have often wondered...did he, like my grandfather, try to pass on that world so it would not be forgotten? I suspect he did. And I know, now that I am older...I would rejoice as much for him as feel sadness...for as a distant cousin who also has reached this great place in life frequently says, "I want to see what is going to happen next!" <smile> And wonderful that attitude is, and a lesson for us all! But I would also rejoice because of what he could teach..what he could tell...because he was a living embodiment of life of the past, the present, and could yet touch the future.
Yes, our elders are truly gifts...and special ones, because more than the presence of someone we love remaining with us, they are also links to a past. But so are we all gifts.... Death is no respector of persons, and it comes knocking at doors at the least expected times, and is always unwanted. But it comes, and so I often think as I look around me at those I try so hard to give the gift of the past...perhaps there is also a time to understand the gift of the present. We are only gifts to each other...temporary gifts, gifts that will pass... We are on loan to one another for a bit of time in order to get through this world... and waiting until that time is over may be far too late to realize.... while we yet had that gift, we little realized how soon the time might pass. And I also have thought, that if when we look in our loved ones faces, if we realized fully in our hearts that this person really was ...only a gift, a loan....how much differently we would react in so many situations...how much differently our responses would be, our choices would be. But perhaps that too, is something we learn, as assuredly as we learn why it is important to the elders to pass on the past... and we learn it by the same acceptance... I think sometimes, that the greatest lessons to come from a search for our roots, is an understanding of our place in the life that blossoms forth from them. just a thought, jan (Note: Afternoon Rocking messages are meant to be passed on, meant to be shared...simply share as written without alterations...and in entirety. Thanks, jan) c2000janPhilpot John 3:16 Future Resident, artist, scribe-in-residence, general troublemaker of the Old Genealogists Home, best kept secret in America ------------------------------ End of knoxcotn-digest V1 #63 ***************************** |