I was carbon copied on an email that a Jarrell family member sent out. Thats the family that has been resisting the attempts by west warren viola utility, Robert and Ben Newman, and a couple other out of town attorneys to take their land. The email follows and has details the paper didnt get to include. My name is Jackie Jarrell Koss, Vice-President of Jarrell Enterprises, a Coffee County family farm since 1929 that is incorporated with a goal of preserving the land as well as our family and Tennessee heritage. Three years ago West Warren-Viola Utility Company notified us that they wanted 6 acres in the middle of our farm, Flat Mountain, for a 2 million gallon water storage tank. Warren County Executive, John Pelham secured grant money through the Upper Cumberland Development District which was to be used on this project. Our farm lies within Coffee County and we are served and always have been served by the Hillsville Utility district. West Warren seeks the property due to its elevation and desire to expand their services further in Coffee County. We told them that we were not interested, so they moved to condemn our property and seize it through Eminent Domain. We went to Coffee County Circuit court three times. Judge Vanessa Jackson of Coffee County ruled that we were not in the WWVUD, and they could not invoke eminent domain to seize our property. WWVUD appealed stating that Judge Jackson had misinterpreted the law. She ruled again in our favor. We requested through our attorney that WWVUD pay our court and attorney fees. WWVUD took us back to court in a dispute over the fees which to date are 108K. Judge Jackson supported our attorney’s and family’s position that we did not ask for this fight and are merely trying to protect that which is rightfully ours. She ruled in our favor awarding us the 108K. Of course to date we have not seen that money, and WWVUD is moving to the state Appellate Court to continue their acquisition attempt. All of this expense will be parceled out to the citizens and customers of WWVUD including fees and expenses for WWVUD to fight this take over. During this time, since Federal Funding was being used to support this project, a cousin of mine who has been working diligently on this project, got in contact with the Federal Grant Office out of Knoxville. The federal office stated that there is a conflict of interest in administration of this project since County Executive, John Pelham, is brother to WWVUD manager, Tim Pelham, and Tims son, Anthony, of Hailey Construction and Engineering out of Nashville is the engineer chosen for this project. The next thing that happens is that John Pelham decides to not seek re-election as County Executive and the federal funding is rerouted for pipe line replacement in the Viola community since they are having a few problems with the land acquisition and they will reapply for more federal grant money at a later point in time. Michael Shane Wilcher, Warren County Commissioner, is trying to help us. He is taking a lot of heat because he is not a member of the McMinnville good ole boys club. Mr. Wilcher has received numerous threats. We could all use some media revelations to bring these injustices into the public light. Our attorney is Jim Cope of Murfreesboro Mosque fame. He is brilliant. We will be happy to provide supporting documentation that you might request for validation Please view the beauty of our land and tribute to our family at the following sight on You Tube: youtu.be/oIQ3JUMK-gA Sincerely, Jackie Jarrell Koss
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 19:32:45 +0000