CALL TO ACTION LOUDON COUNTY DIS

Below is an email that was sent out, anonymously I might add, by someone calling himself, "What's Up Loudon County (Your local Watchdog Group)". If I'm not mistaken, the mastermind behind this group is a man named Jim Stephenson, from Tellico Village of course. I've seen other posts and messages from this group with his name attached. Mr. Stevenson arrived in Loudon County/Tellico Village, a little over a year ago but has already amassed more knowledge about Loudon County and the county school system than anybody else.

Go ahead and read Mr. Stevenson's letter below then we'll pick it back up.

CALL TO ACTION LOUDON COUNTY DISTRICT-5

All,

This is a call to action from your local watchdog group.

Unfortunately, it has become necessary to call out our County Commissioners, Van Shaver and Joe Morrison from District-5, and demand that they take action to roll back the most recent property tax hike you've received. A few months ago, we all signed a "Will-of-the-People" petition to fight this unjustified tax increase, noting that four other County Commissioners voted down the tax.

This week, Van Shaver alleged that he has not received a single request to cancel the unjustified tax hike from anyone in District 5 (where you reside).

The attached video demonstrates unacceptable arrogance towards us taxpayers and County Commissioners.

As you watch this, please note that at time15:35, Van Shaver gets nasty with Commissioner Quillen; and at 19:39 Van states that he has not received a single call from his District objecting to the tax.

https://www.youtube.com/live/G3unKjEI7PI?si=bkZjlKwzGpMJGClF

CALL TO ACTION

When we signed this Will-of-the-People petition, we all agreed that this tax increase was 100% based on pure speculation and not justified. We are asking you all do the following:

Send a short email to Van Shaver (at sarahlccom@aol.com, his wife's email), and a phone call to (865) 986-6984. Tell him you are not happy with the tax increase, and will object to the tax as there was no "Needs Assessment," shared with the public, nor any shared TDOT Traffic Study. If he blames the Board of Education, you might want to remind him that according to the public testimony of Mr. Garren, it was Van who provided the Board of Education with bogus data and false claims about the Lenoir City school system rejecting our county students.

Send the same email to your other Commissioner in District-5, Joe Morrison who also voted for the tax at jrmorris7@proton.me, and leave a message on his phone (865)-317-3805

Send a short email to the County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw, stating the same thing at contact_us@loudoncounty-tn.gov , and leave a message on his phone (865) 458-4664.

If they refuse to listen to the people, we have no choice but to vote them out of office.



P.S. Please attend our first public meeting (to be held at the Tellico Yacht Club, 100 Sequoyah Rd., Loudon, on Nov 13, at 8:30am) to address this situation and how we can fight back locally, as well as on the state level.

What's Up Loudon County

(Your local Watchdog Group)

There are so many lies and misinformation in this letter, I don't even know where to start, so I'll just start at the top.

They claim to be a watchdog group yet they're anonymous and hide behind private social media groups.

They can demand all they want, but unless there's a major catastrophe in the economy or country, I'll assure them, I will not be changing my position on the tax increase of the school building program.

Apparently, they have a petition they call The Will Of The People. Last I checked, 6 or 8 villagers do not represent the will of all the people in Loudon County.

Unjustified tax increase. Again, in their opinion.

I didn't allege anything. I stated that since the tax bills went out, I hadn't had a single call or email on the matter and that's a fact.

"They" whoever "They" are, agreed that this tax increase was 100% based on pure speculation and not justified. Once again, "They" whoever "They", are just giving their opinion.

Please watch the video of our commission meeting. Every meeting of the commission is live streamed and retained on the county's Youtube channel to be watched at any time. All meetings are open to the public.

The email they posted is not my wife's, it's mine and has been for twenty years. It's a long story.

There was a two year needs assessment done by professionals. There has never been any bogus or false data provided to or by anyone.

Since the the Will Of The People, Call To Action went out, I have now received one email in opposition to the tax increase/building program but it was based on the misinformation from the letter. If I didn't know the truth of what it's all about and I had read the "Will Of The People, Call To Action" letter, I might have written myself an email of opposition.

"If they refuse to listen to the people, we have no choice but to vote them out of office". Interpreted, if we don't listen and do what the villagers tell us to do, they will vote us out.

Apparently, Mr. Stephenson and his band of villagers are going to vote me out in the next election. This is real simple, If I run again and if the voters of the 5th district, not Tellico Village, don't want me to represent them anymore, they'll send me home. That's how democracy works and I'm good with that.

Please attend their meeting at the Tellico Village Yacht Club. I'm sure it'll be a first class show.

In summary, Mr. Stephenson and his crew aren't mad about the property tax increase. His property tax just went up $361.00. He'll pay way more than that for his $80 monthly water surcharge and a whole lot more than that on his $177 per month POA dues. They're not mad about the BOE building program. What's got them boiling mad is, by golly, they told us what to do and we didn't listen to them. How dare us!

I've had to say this so many, many times. Ninety-nine percent of the folks in Tellico Village are great people who have moved here to enjoy their retirement years. But there's that tiny little minority, like Stevenson, who are what most consider a typical Yankee. They come here from somewhere else, they think they're smarter and know more than anyone else and know what's best for everybody. Yet somehow, Loudon County has survived since 1870 without their input.

I was born and raised in and have lived in Loudon County for 65 years and will die here. I will do everything in my power to keep Loudon County the best place on earth to live.