LOCAL NEWS

PF presents annual audit
The City of Pigeon Forge is holding a special meeting on Wednesday morning to present an annual audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005. They will also be approving a list of current bills to be paid.
The meeting will take place today beginning at 9 a.m. in Meeting Room A of the city hall complex at 225 Pine Mountain Drive, in Pigeon Forge.

Groundbreaking for new Brushy Mountain Prison
State officials took part in a ground breaking ceremony last week for a 1,428 bed prison expansion project in Morgan County.
“The prison expansion project in Morgan County continues to be a sound business decision by Governor Bredesen for the Department of Correction and for the citizens of this state,” said Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner George Little.  “The expanded facility will not only provide much needed bed space in East Tennessee, but will also serve as an economic boost to the community by providing sound employment.”
The expansion project will cost $180.5 million, with approximately $61 million expected to be contributed by the federal government.  The construction phase is expected to last three years bringing the new facility online in spring 2009.
The expanded Morgan County facility is designed to house 2,441 inmates, and when it opens the old Brushy Mountain prison will be closed.  Both sites currently house 1,603 prisoners therefore the net increase of new space will be 838 beds.
Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex will employ nearly 700 people and have an annual operating budget of approximately $45 million.  The facility is located at 500 Flat Fork Road in Wartburg, Tenn.

Knoxville church added to historical register
The Tennessee Historical Commission has announced 12 Tennessee sites have been added to the National Register of Historic Places including Knoxville’s Central United Methodist Church, Christ Temple AME Zion Church in Dandridge, and Green McAdoo School in Clinton.
The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation.
The Central United Methodist Church was already listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Fourth and Gill Historic District, but is architecturally significant in itself. Built in 1926-1927, the church is an example of Gothic Revival architecture.
The Christ Temple AME Zion Church, an African American church in Dandridge was moved in 1935 from its original location adjacent to another church near the Dandridge town square to a new location several blocks north of the square. The church is now an annex of Belmont AME Zion Church, which is planning a restoration of the old building.
The Green McAdoo School in Clinton was the only public African American elementary school in the 1940-1950s. In 1956, the school served as a strategy center and staging area during the movement to desegregate the public high school in Clinton.