[at-l] TN state parks -- whazzup?

[Snodrog5@aol.com (Snodrog5@aol.com)]

Here's an old news story about the State Parks.
TJ

 <A HREF="http://www.oakridger.com/stories/113001/new_1130010051.html";>The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News --Norris Dam State Park, others close 
today 11/30/01</A> 
Story last updated at 1:35 p.m. on Friday, November 30, 2001

Norris Dam State Park, others close today 
County attorney filing lawsuit against state 

from staff and wire reports Norris Dam State Park will effectively close at 
4:30 this afternoon, when the park's workers leave for the day -- their final 
day of work."We're closing," Park Manager Fred Talley said Wednesday. He said 
park employees were working to winterize the cabins, blow leaves and do the 
necessary paperwork for 18 employees to receive unemployment.Anderson County 
Attorney David Clark plans to file a lawsuit against the state later today or 
Monday on behalf of the "public." When the Tennessee Valley Authority entered 
into a contract with the state for use of TVA lands for the state park, it 
reportedly did so with the understanding that the land would be open to the 
public.Clark said Thursday that the lawsuit is very complicated and he does 
not yet know which court he'll file it in. Anderson County Commission 
authorized him to file suit against the state if no agreement could be 
reached with state officials to keep the park open.The filing of the suit 
will be too late for the Norris Dam employees. Talley said hopes or promises 
are not suitable to plan families' financial livelihoods upon.Clark isn't 
confident the state Legislature will work to reopen parks when it returns to 
session in January."There is a sense of permanency that I think kind of 
belies the temporary label that has been placed on the closure," he said. "I 
mean, people are moving their families and relocating kids to different 
school systems and losing their homes. It is a big deal."He called it a 
tragedy."It is one of the few things at which Tennessee state government 
excels -- our state park system," Clark said.State Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak 
Ridge, said he hopes to force reopenings by requiring the administration to 
get General Assembly approval before closing parks.Meantime, he worries about 
lost sales taxes to local governments from park visitors and the untold costs 
involved in reopening the parks, when and if that happens.Longtime clerk 
Connie Lawson spent the past few days leafing through a thick stack of pink 
reservation forms at Norris Dam State Park so she could return $9,000 in 
deposits. Talley said $10,000 was having to be returned.Wedding receptions, 
family reunions and other gatherings -- all canceled because the state 
government is closing the park to save money."I don't see how this is really 
going to help," she said. "Especially after the Sept. 11 attacks, people are 
going to want to come to places like this."Norris Dam State Park, a 
4,000-acre park some 20 miles north of Knoxville, has been part of the state 
system since 1953.Today, Norris joins four other parks shuttered indefinitely 
because of state budget problems: Big Ridge, Frozen Head and Indian Mountain, 
all in East Tennessee, and Henry Horton, except for its golf course, in 
Middle Tennessee.Nine parks already have closed since September, and 37 more 
are operating only five days a week. More than 200 workers are out of 
jobs.Lawson, 49, a single mom with a new house, will join them. She's worked 
at Norris for eight years, but wasn't offered a transfer. "I didn't have 
enough years, I guess."Talley, a 25-year park veteran who has managed Norris 
for more than four years, will be transferred, with a demotion, to South 
Cumberland Recreation Area at Monteagle, some 100 miles away. He figures he 
will be there "until they decide to close that one, too."Two rangers will 
remain to secure the park and the other closed parks in the area, while 
another will be transferred to Cove Lake State Park in Caryville. All but two 
members of an 18-man maintenance crew skilled at repairing everything from an 
18th century grist mill to a modern sewage treatment plant at the park, will 
be let go. Talley said a couple of maintenance people are also moving on to 
Cove Lake, which is starting to charge $3 admission fee and will continue to 
be closed Mondays and TuesdaysMeantime, construction of a new pool continues 
to fulfill a contract obligation. Who will use it? "The frogs and snakes, I 
guess," ranger Steve Smith said.Gov. Don Sundquist announced the park 
closures in August. The savings amounted to only $3.2 million out of some 
$100 million in budget cuts ordered by the administration as lawmakers 
wrestle with tax reform.The closures angered people across the state. Around 
Norris, some 15,000 people have signed petitions to keep their park open.The 
Department of Environment and Conservation understands, spokeswoman Kim Olson 
said."State parks aren't just a government service," she said. "They are an 
emotional experience, and closing them has stirred up a lot of those 
emotions."Amy Byrge, 30, of nearby Andersonville, called the closures 
ridiculous.As she guided her four young children to the car after an outing 
at Norris Dam, she said the family visits the park about three times a week 
"to go to the playground, take a walk, go fishing, just have a good time.""It 
has been here forever, as long as I can remember, and I have lived here all 
my life," she said.Now the park is closing."It is crazy," she said. "It is a 
shame."County officials have called attention to the amount of 
tourism-related revenue the county will lose because of the closing. Talley 
said park employees have already returned $10,000 to people who had reserved 
cabins or the Norris Tea Room for the coming months.County Tourism Director 
Stephanie Ailey told commissioners that approximately 890,000 people visit 
the park each year, many of them tourists. Along with the park, the Threshing 
Barn, the Grist Mill and Tea Room will be closed. The marina will remain open.
    



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