logo
Survey opens for future of David Crockett Birthplace State Park

Survey opens for future of David Crockett Birthplace State Park

Yahoo09-05-2025
GREENE COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Tennessee State Parks officials are asking the public to help shape the future of the David Crockett Birthplace State Park.
'We want Tennesseans to tell us what they would like to see in the rebirth of David Crockett Birthplace, a beloved state park that holds many memories of the beautiful Tennessee outdoors and is a treasured historical site,' Greer Tidwell, deputy commissioner of Conservation at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said in a news release. 'We need visitor feedback on how to best honor the legacy of David Crockett and the park that bears his name.'
The online survey will help inform park leadership on the future of the park.
According to the release, a master plan for the park has started and the survey is a key step in the process.
The survey is open until May 18.
The park, which was devastated by Hurricane Helene, has been temporarily closed since September 2024.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Tennessee parks expand accessibility with all-terrain wheelchairs, changing tables
Tennessee parks expand accessibility with all-terrain wheelchairs, changing tables

Axios

time29-07-2025

  • Axios

Tennessee parks expand accessibility with all-terrain wheelchairs, changing tables

Welcome to Day 2 of Tennessee Trailheads: This week, each edition of Axios Nashville will explore a different aspect of the parks where we picnic and play. Subscribe to Axios Nashville here for the next installment. It's not unusual for Chrissy Hood to walk into a bathroom and cry when she sees an adult changing table mounted on the wall. Why it matters: Hood's 22-year-old daughter Alaina has autism, cerebral palsy and other conditions caused by a rare genetic syndrome. Adult changing tables are a necessity for her, and for the Hood family, they have become symbols of independence and dignity. "Everyone deserves dignity," Hood says. When Hood sees a changing table, she says, she knows "I'm not having to lay my daughter down on that dirty, filthy restroom floor and change her." The big picture: Parks officials are working on parallel tracks to boost accessibility under the Access 2030 initiative, which aims to make Tennessee's parks the most accessible in the country. Changes are rolling out quickly. Earlier this year, Tennessee State Parks hired Ryan Jolley as its first-ever accessibility coordinator to oversee the ongoing projects. What she's saying: Hood works for the advocacy group Family Voices of Tennessee and serves on the state's Council on Developmental Disabilities, giving her a bird's-eye view of efforts to improve access to state parks. "What we are doing with our state parks and accessibility has really put Tennessee on the map in a very positive way," she says. "Tennessee is leading the way." State of play: Tennessee state parks have added adult changing tables at a rapid clip. Each new location represents a new opportunity for Alaina and her family. "We're getting to get out and see parts of our state we've never seen, and we're getting to experience our parks and nature," Hood tells Axios. "She's out getting to experience life." Zoom out: Also new at multiple state parks are all-terrain wheelchairs that can navigate trails and give people access to vistas they might have otherwise missed. Some parks have also added wheelchair-accessible canoe and kayak launches. Others have installed special viewfinders that can help people who are colorblind experience the vibrance of fall leaves. By the numbers: The state's fleet now includes more than 60 all-terrain wheelchairs. Hood remembers seeing one of the wheelchairs charging during a recent visit to Red Clay State Historic Park. "I was so excited, because the tires were dirty, and that means it's being used," she says. Reality check: Thirty-five years after the Americans with Disabilities Act passed, barriers are common. Inclusive playgrounds that accommodate children of different abilities, for instance, can be hard to find. "There's no rose-colored glasses on, that's for sure," Jolley says of the work that still needs to be done. He notes that plenty of older buildings and infrastructure across the state's park system are not up to date. Teams conduct assessments to prioritize needs and create improvement schedules. The bottom line: Jolley, who is legally blind, tells Axios his job is to listen to Tennessee residents, identify persisting parks problems and push new measures to solve them.

‘Sweet' pup survived hurricane. Now she's ‘living a cattle dog's dream' on farm
‘Sweet' pup survived hurricane. Now she's ‘living a cattle dog's dream' on farm

Miami Herald

time25-07-2025

  • Miami Herald

‘Sweet' pup survived hurricane. Now she's ‘living a cattle dog's dream' on farm

A 'sweet' pup survived a hurricane — then she got 'the ultimate happy ending.' 'She's living a cattle dog's dream now on a farm with lots of animals and lots of room to run, swim, and play to her heart's content,' Malinda Massey, marketing manager for a North Carolina animal shelter, told McClatchy News in a July 24 email. 'Seeing her not only heal but thrive in such a perfect environment is exactly why we do what we do.' The Forsyth Humane Society celebrated the heartwarming adoption after Lucy experienced a rough patch. The shelter said she had been living at another facility when it was 'devastated by Hurricane Helene,' which left parts of the Southeast with catastrophic storm damage in September. When Lucy landed at the Winston-Salem humane society, she was limping due to a broken bone. A team at Bedrock Veterinary Specialists was able to save her leg and help with the healing process. 'Lucy's injured leg definitely took a toll on her,' Massey wrote. 'She was on strict exercise restriction due to her leg injury. Cattle dogs like Lucy need jobs to do and lots of enrichment, so our team worked around the clock to ensure she was mentally stimulated.' At one point, someone tied to the veterinarian's office felt drawn to Lucy's 'sweet, adorable, and happy' personality. Though the woman was hesitant to take the dog home at first, the two soon kicked off their next chapter together. 'It was a big adjustment for her to walk around the farm with me and see all of the new things and animals,' said the woman, identified only as Brittany in a Facebook post from the shelter. 'You could tell by her face and eyes that she loved it instantly! It did take Lucy some time to adjust to my current pack of pups and to learn that the chickens were not to be chased and caught with our mouths!!!' The woman said Lucy became even more affectionate after she adopted her. Now, the pup loves being close to her new owner — unless she's trying to herd animals like geese or horses. 'It's the ultimate happy ending that fills our team with joy,' Massey wrote.

An Asheville respite supports the unhoused after hospital stays. It is now expanding.
An Asheville respite supports the unhoused after hospital stays. It is now expanding.

Yahoo

time24-07-2025

  • Yahoo

An Asheville respite supports the unhoused after hospital stays. It is now expanding.

ASHEVILLE - Trokon Guar was finally walking without a wheelchair. He'd come to Haywood Street Respite eight months earlier with a fractured leg. In July, the respite's screened-in porch dimmed the summer heat, an alcove tucked away from the near-constant activity of the downtown church. Guar demonstrated a few calf raises, grinning. He is a composer and musician. When it comes to genre, he's not picky — R&B, rock, jazz. But he favors spoken word hip hop. In a new music video on his YouTube channel, snippets of footage are filmed in Haywood Street Congregation's sanctuary, backlit by stained glass. The 12-bed respite offers post-acute, short-term care after hospitalization for people experiencing homelessness. The intervention is intended to give them a place to recover, rather than ending up directly back on the street. 'This place has changed my life," Guar, 34, told the Citizen Times July 17. He has been homeless for years. In-and-out of the hospital. If not for the respite, he said, "I had nowhere else to go." More: Homelessness after Helene: With final Buncombe disaster shelter closed, what's next? Respite expansion underway The respite is slated for expansion using funding from a $1.6 million grant, awarded by Buncombe County via American Rescue Plan Act dollars in September. The Continuum of Care recommended funding for the program after issuing a request for proposals last year to bolster area shelter beds. The project will grow the respite to 25 beds, more than doubling its capacity, adding a second-story addition to the building, along with an elevator and 3,300 square feet of new offices, bedrooms and common areas. Haywood Street Congregation, an urban ministry with the mission, "relationship, above all else," opened the respite in 2014. The brick church sits on the outskirts of downtown. It hosts a midweek Downtown Welcome Table, often a refuge for the city's unhoused. If the welcome table is the ministry's "hub," respite is its "heart," said Executive Director Laura Kirby. The city began processing its permit application July 1. Construction on the $1.9 million project is expected to begin construction in late September, Kirby said. It will take about 12 months. The respite will temporarily relocate residents to allow for uninterrupted operations. Respite Director Nicole Brown said the expansion will mean, first and foremost, turning less people away. Staff will also have more flexibility to keep people longer, leading to better outcomes for residents. A stay starts at two weeks, but lasts 45 days on average. Placements are made by referral, with many coming from Mission Hospital and the county's community paramedics. Those in respite care have a safe place to rest, meals, transportation to follow-up appointments and assistance accessing services and support. In 2022, the National Institute for Medical Respite Care selected Haywood Street's program, along with four others in the country, to receive capacity building assistance to increase the integration of medical respite with behavioral health care. There is a licensed clinical social worker on staff, as well as an in-house case manager, a peer support specialist, nurses and other 24/7 support. Asheville faces lack of affordable housing The goal is to create an exit plan for each person in respite care, like working toward long-term housing or connecting them with a behavioral health provider. It ensures people are added to the by-name list — a standard practice for an area Continuum of Care, with real-time information used to prioritize people to be slated for available housing programs dedicated to those exiting homelessness through coordinated entry. Asheville's list includes 690 people actively engaged with providers, according to Emily Ball, manager with the city's homeless strategy division. For the respite's first decade of operation, 70% of residents went somewhere other than the streets upon departure, and 87% were newly connected with primary care, with most attending at least the first follow-up appointment, according to Haywood Street figures. Guar, for example, is awaiting documents he needs to replace his identification and Social Security card before he can take next steps toward housing. He is hopeful for placement in a group home, before eventually moving into his own place. Others are waiting for housing at Vanderbilt Apartments or the housing authority. As the ministry shifted its model to work with people facing more complex issues — like those with intersecting medical and behavioral health needs — it can be more difficult to exit them into shelter, Brown said. Some shelters also may not be structured to support people in wheelchairs or on oxygen. 'So it might be that they're going outside, but they're going outside hopefully a lot more supported than they were when they came in," Brown said. Asheville also faces a lack of affordable housing options, Brown said. The city's 2024 Affordable Housing Plan found that 36% of all Asheville households are "cost-burdened," meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs. Between 2015 and 2021, median rent increased 33%, from $866 to $1,152, while median wages for workers in Asheville's top industries increased only 15%, the study found. Asheville has among the highest rents in the state. For this reason Haywood Street embarked on its own housing venture: constructing 41 permanently affordable apartments less than a half-mile from the church, aiming for occupancy by November. More: Haywood St.'s 41 affordable apartments named for Asheville activist Gloria Howard Free Community 'changes things' In the respite's kitchen July 17, hospitality manager Elizabeth Bower, affectionately referred to as the "house mom," was serving up a baked potato bar. She and Brown remembered the earliest days of Haywood Street Congregation's welcome table, back in 2010, making large batches of scrambled eggs in a residential kitchen. They didn't know the color changed when kept warm for too long. Faced with a pot of green eggs, they just made ham, too, Bower said. At the kitchen table was Tracy Fowler. He was homeless for about three years before coming to respite. 'I've been able to get the rest I've needed, get off the streets, get regulated on my meds. Become myself again," Fowler, 57, said. Accepting someone into a community is crucial to respite's mission, Brown said. "(It) just instantly changes things," she said. 'While the stay in respite might be short, the relationships that you build, and the support we offer, is long term with that connection with Haywood Street.' John Madden, 78, who prefers to go by "Jaunito," was living in Mexico when he fell ill. Unable to afford a doctor there, he came back to Asheville, where he lived for more than a decade before the pandemic in 2020. "I came back with no plans but to stay alive, if I could, or find out what was going on,' he said. He's experienced homelessness before — he estimated about 25 days total in the last five years — but the 10 days on the street before securing a spot at respite were brutal. One night on the street, "and I unravel in a way that is startling," he said. 'This place has been beyond miraculous," Madden said of the respite. "The staff are astonishing. I call them ninjas, because they have to handle every kind of problem, from psychological to housing ... I started to exhale once I got through the door.' Phillip Lucero, 65, was clear about the emotional and physical toll homelessness takes. He was in shelters for about three years, and on the street "fairly recently." 'This can really happen to anybody. I had a very good job. I had a really good apartment … And it just, piece by piece, fell apart in a matter of months," Lucero said. 'A couple of bad decisions and here I am. And it is extraordinarily difficult to survive." Places like respite make it possible, he said. They do a good job to make you feel "at home." He, Madden and Fowler are on various housing waitlists. Lucero said he has been on some of them for years. 'You become a target' The respite is working to break a cycle people can become trapped in when experiencing homelessness: bouncing from the street, to shelter, to jail, to the hospital and back. It is complicated by a lack of shelter beds. Further complicated by difficulty finding affordable housing. Sleeping or existing outside while homeless can result in a second-degree trespassing charge, Brown said. 'When you're homeless, you become a target for a lot of people. No one really cares about you," Guar said. You are arrested for disorderly conduct, for trespassing or are kicked out of buildings. It was enough to make him feel like no one "wanted anything to do with me." 'But these people here care," he said of respite. "They've shown me that there is people out there that care. My mentality has changed completely.' How to get help Call Haywood Street Respite at 828-301-3782. Learn more about respite referrals at More: BeLoved Asheville rebuilds with resilience in Swannanoa's Helene-damaged Beacon Village More: Could Asheville get alcohol-friendly social district downtown? Council may consider it Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@ or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Downtown Asheville's Haywood Street Respite is expanding its beds Solve the daily Crossword

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store