Latest news with #ERWIN
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Unicoi Co. Animal Welfare Board meets weeks after firing leadership
ERWIN, Tenn. (WJHL)- The Unicoi County Animal Welfare Board met Tuesday to discuss future operations and proposals. It comes nearly a month after the board voted to remove the animal shelter's directors. In a 5-2 vote on May 22, the board chose to remove shelter director Cody Walker and animal control officer and assistant director Pam Harris from their positions. The board says conditions at the shelter that's still closed are poor, despite spending $72,000 on repairs and cleanup fees. 'We really are making an effort to make the shelter's physical building better, to make policies better, just to make the whole process better,' said board secretary Ellen Reinhardt. 'It's a big job. And there are things we've not done as well as we could have. But, we've also always made the effort to do the best we could.' The only agenda items voted on were the recent minutes and the financial report. Several items were tabled due to one member being absent. More people have been at the last few meetings after the shelter's directors' firing. 'The public is frustrated, and there's a lot of gossip and misinformation that then gets spread around and magnified,' one citizen said during public comment. 'People don't really know what's going on at the shelter, but I've got people asking me all the time, 'Is there a shelter?' They don't know the timeline. I don't know about the work that y'all have been doing.' Some people aired frustrations while others asked questions. A big topic was the negative publicity about the board and shelter. 'Our fundraiser this year wasn't nearly as big of a success as it was last year…. the rain killed us,' said Debbie Mann with the Erwin Moose Lodge, which held a fundraiser for the shelter last weekend. 'And I honestly think that what she was talking about was all the negative publicity on social media concerning the animal shelter hurt us, as well.' 'There is a train of thought of not feeding the fire, and there's also a train of thought that some people, you're not going to convince of anything other than what they have convinced themselves of,' Reinhardt said of the negative publicity. 'And we've got so much else to do, that's just sort of going to do what it's going to do.' There is also public confusion being reported during meetings about multiple fundraisers, a lack of information and even wrong information. 'The shelter needs its own web page, which can have a lot of useful information on it and a contact number for things and protocols. And, like we said, frequently asked questions,' one person said during public comment. Reinhardt said several fundraisers popped right after the flood, which was 'a very confusing, chaotic time.' But, the board assured that the money from what they described as separate fundraisers started by multiple people is going to the shelter. Other people offered help and gave suggestions, like creating a subcommittee to focus on cats. 'A big problem here is the overpopulation, especially like the strays, ferals, [trap, neuter and release] programs,' said Louise Bailey. The board said it is working on a temporary shelter. 'We have a line on a container. The question is somewhere to put it, which has been the problem for 8 or 9 months now,' said Reinhardt. 'It's gonna be more of a temporary holding facility until surrounding shelters can have room to take those animals.' If someone has an issue or needs help involving an animal in Unicoi County, leaders said they should call dispatch, who will then call the animal control officer. The Animal Control Officer Selena Baubilitz was moved from part-time to full-time. Reinhardt said the board will pay her back time. The next meeting is set for June 27 at 10 a.m. at Erwin Town Hall. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Yahoo
A hidden gem of whitewater rafting faces an uncertain future after Hurricane Helene
ERWIN, Tenn. (AP) — After 24 years of guiding whitewater trips on the Nolichucky River Gorge for other companies, Patrick Mannion finally received a permit last year to operate his own outfitter business. But following the devastation of Hurricane Helene, he doesn't know if Osprey Whitewater will be around for a second year. Flooding driven by the September hurricane cut the fall rafting season short and devastated this mountainous region on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. Miles of railroad tracks and entire houses were thrown into the river. Some outfitters lost buildings and equipment. Guides lost their homes. Some lost friends. The river itself changed dramatically. But with the spring season set to open next month, the biggest problem outfitters are facing is silence from the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the river corridor and issues their permits to operate. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. 'It's been an interesting, interesting first season,' said Mannion, who reckons he has run the scenic 8-mile (12.8-kilometer) gorge more than 3,500 times. 'It was certainly not the end of our first season that we were hoping for.' Whitewater rafting on the Nolichucky is a keystone of the local outdoor tourism industry, which helped generate over $18 million in visitor spending in Tennessee's Unicoi County in 2022, according to a study. While most rafting rivers in the Southeast are dam-controlled, the upper Nolichucky runs freely, making every trip a different experience and attracting boaters who seek adventure. It also feels particularly remote, flowing through a deep gorge surrounded by national forests with the occasional CSX train the only sign of human activity for miles. 'There's no cellphone service. ...It's rugged. It's wild and scenic It's the steepest, the deepest and the most remote river corridor that's commercially rafted in the southeastern United States," said Mannion, who calls the river 'my therapy.' 'Our future is uncertain' Matt Moses owns USA Raft, the largest and oldest outfitter on the river. The flood destroyed much of his business, taking out campgrounds, lodging, a day recreation area, vehicles and equipment. He is determined to rebuild, but the Forest Service is not making that easy. Moses said that typically this is the time of year that big groups book with companies like his. He has people answering phones, but they are not taking reservations. 'We tell them that our future is uncertain," he said. 'I'm not taking anybody's money. I've got enough refunds I'm trying to figure out." The Forest Service has temporarily closed the boat ramps in Poplar, North Carolina; and Erwin, Tennessee, where outfitters put in and take out rafts. CSX Transportation is using them as access points as it attempts to rebuild miles of railroad tracks lost to the flood. And that is yet another worry for the whitewater community. A lawsuit over rebuilding the train tracks Mannion supports repairing the train tracks but has been disturbed by the sight of heavy equipment removing rock, sand and gravel from the riverbed to rebuild the railbed and embankment. A lawsuit filed in November by the nonprofit groups American Whitewater and American Rivers accuses federal regulators of failing to enforce the Clean Water Act and other laws, and failing to monitor the work that is being done. In the meantime, boaters have taken it on themselves to document the destruction, kayaking through the gorge in frigid winter conditions to shoot photos and videos from spots not visible from any road or trail. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers referenced video it had received of 'potentially unauthorized work being conducted in the Nolichucky River' in December, when it ordered a temporary halt to the reconstruction. The Corps later issued permits that Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Patrick Hunter says are insufficient to protect the river. A Jan. 21 letter from Hunter to the Corps suggests that CSX's plan to use material from the Nolichucky gorge as reconstruction material, rather than trucking it in from a quarry, will have 'significant consequences for scenery, water quality, wildlife habitat, protected species, flood risk, recreation, and the navigability of the river.' Mannion said it is perplexing that he had to go through a long, arduous process to get a permit to run rafting trips on the Nolichucky from the Forest Service while he believes CSX has not been held to the same standard. 'I think in the grand scheme of things, we just want to make sure that the I's are being dotted, the T's are being crossed, and that, in this remote corridor, that there is just a little bit of oversight, because I don't think that this would be happening if this was in downtown Erwin,' he said. For his part, CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs has said they are working with the Corps to oversee the project, and 'I believe we're going to leave the territory better than we found it.' 'The whitewater has gotten better' The flooding moved huge boulders and made big changes to the river channel, but after running it many times since September, outfitters are excited. 'The whitewater has gotten better,' said Brannon Schmidt, of Blue Ridge Paddling. He is considering raising the age limit on trips "because it has stepped up a bit in adventure.' Schmidt and his brother Mason Schmidt spent five years working to get a permit for the Nolichucky before they were able to run their first trips there last year. They have a large building with a taphouse that was heavily damaged by the flooding, but they managed to save a majority of their equipment. 'This next season we were definitely planning on going all out. You know, having a big springboard year. Yeah, the flood definitely is derailing that for us,' Brannon Schmidt said. There is no timeline for when the Forest Service will open the river up to commercial rafting, Forest Service spokesperson Sheila Holifield said in an email to The Associated Press. "Safety of rafters and our commercial outfitter partners is one of our top priorities while we continue working to identify any hazards left by Helene in the Nolichucky, and we continue to advise the public to stay off the river for their own safety," Holifield wrote. The uncertainty around permits and concerns about what affect the CSX work will have on the river are making it hard to plan for the future, Schmidt said. 'It's hard to talk about financial decisions like where your money's going to go to rebuild," he said. "You know, if we are going to rebuild? Is the river going to be ruined? You know, there's all these questions.'
