The One and Only

5 days ago

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1 week ago

The new tanker gets a fill up! BIG THANK YOU to our firefighters for thinking of us BEFORE we need you most! ❤️👨‍🚒 ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

The recent news article in the Lewis County Herald concerning the City of Hohenwald is salacious and misleading. The City of Hohenwald has an attorney of record as required by law. The City of Hohenwald never engaged an attorney merely because the Chamber of Commerce requested additional funding from the Lewis County Commission. That in itself would be absurd. The City of Hohenwald learned of the letter and Mayor McKnight and Economic and Community Development Coordinator Helen Ozier’s name on same as an authorized signer despite neither of them not attending the July 9th, 2020 meeting. Therefore, we requested our attorney review the letter and inquire as to how the letter was prepared with Mayor McKnight’s or EDC Ozier’s name but not their permission.

This is what we have learned. A Chamber of Commerce meeting did occur on July 9th, 2020. At that time, the meeting was not advertised to the public and not all of the members attended. This is despite the Chamber being funded by public tax money. Although the Chamber’s letter said that it had been sent via “unanimous vote,” there was no motion made nor vote to send a letter for a request for additional funding to the Lewis County Commission or the City of Hohenwald. Further, Director Landers reported she recorded only the first three minutes of the meeting.

In general, the Chamber President should sign any letter on behalf of the Board. It was learned that President Farr did not sign the letter. In fact, the letter was drafted by Ms. Celeste Blocker and Ms. Becky Newbold, and was never approved by President Farr nor forwarded to him in order for him to review prior to being sent to the members of the Lewis County Commission. In the meantime, Ms. Newbold, an employee of the Lewis County Herald, placed a “teaser” graphic in the July 16, 2020 edition stating a story about the financial “crisis” at the Chamber would appear the following week. It is clear that Reporter Newbold is seeking financial gain by generating an inaccurate letter and appropriating the name and use of the City Mayor and EDC Coordinator to make the story enticing. It should be noted this graphic appeared three days after the deceptive letter she assisted in authoring was sent to the Commission.

Our counsel requested the letter be retracted and not distributed any further especially in light of its future publication in the Lewis County Herald, either in totality or by quotation.

The reason the Attorney for the City of Hohenwald requested the Chamber to stop disseminating the letter is very simple. The letter was unsigned by former President Farr, was not from a unanimous vote, inaccurate in substance, and contained the names of the duly elected Mayor and EDC Coordinator as alleged authors of said letter.

Ask yourself, would you want your name to be included on the signature line of a letter you did not authorize, agree to, or even know about? Would you want your name added to a letter that you believed to be false?

Eighteen months ago, the Lewis County Herald led a witch hunt against the City of Hohenwald regarding “Christmas in Hohenwald” requiring hours of additional office work, legal work, and records. Now, the Lewis County Herald has manufactured another false headline, “City retains attorney when Chamber requests funding from County.”

From January, 2016 to date, there have been no requests from the Chamber Board for funding written or otherwise, with the exception of requests made by Rosey DePriest for assistance in funding the annual Block Parties. The City was happy to aid in these events.

A Chamber of Commerce Meeting occurred on July 23rd, 2020. We have learned that sadly, Chamber Board President Blake Farr has resigned. In addition, board member Austin Carroll made a motion, seconded by Stan Smith that all discussion, recording and minutes of the meeting be shared with board members in attendance only. Therefore, a publicly funded Board has now refused to allow the tax payers to know what occurred on July 23rd, 2020. Apparently, Ms. Newbold, “Champion of the Sunshine Law,” Chamber Reporter and Reporter for the Herald doesn’t want the public to know the truth.

A “governing body” is “any public body [consisting] of two or more members, with the authority to make decisions for or recommendations to a public body on policy or administration.”

Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-44-102 ... See MoreSee Less

2 weeks ago

We understand why so many have questions regarding our stance. We are compiling information based on FACTS in order to supply you with an accurate and honest accounting of events.

Please understand that YOUR City is conducting due diligence. We are wading through mountains of documentation to supply you all with physical proof of events as they truly occurred. All this while conducting the actual business of the City of Hohenwald.

We have nothing but sharing the truth to gain, unlike those who are financially driven.
Be ready for an extremely LONG post soon.
#teamhohenwald ... See MoreSee Less