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THE CHRONICLE
of Mt. Juliet
The Largest Circulation in Wilson County
Celebrating our 28th year as the leading newspaper in Mt. Juliet and West Wilson County
www.thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Volume 29 June 17, 2009 Number 23
Latest - andlargest - offerfor old MJESproperty
Page 3
You Heard it First
How you canhelp a MJwoman struckdown in thestreet
Page 16
Sign ordinancecitationsdismissed byMJ judge
Page 5
Nearly a year later:
Nearly a year later:
where is the MJ
where is the MJ
Recreation Center
Recreation Center
expansion?
expansion?
Panattoni Development Company has built a lage industrial complex off the Beckwith Road exit on I-40, and whenlocal country music legend Charlie Daniels agreed to perform at their open house last year his representatives andPanattoni entered into an agreement for Panattoni to build an expansion to the Mt. Juliet Community RecreationCenter. That was in October, 2008. Nearly nine months later, there’s just a concrete slab. What happened?
Who’s the newDistrict 5county squire?
Page 9
Page 2, The Chronicle of Mt. Juliet, June 17, 2009
THE CHRONICLE
of Mt. Juliet
Largest Circulation in Wilson Countywww.thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Published each Wednesday in West Wilson County by Mt. Juliet Communications, Inc. A home-owned and operated community newspaper.
Tomi Wiley
Managing Editoreditor@thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Tonya Hinesley
Production Managerproduction@thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Amanda Oswalt
Sales Manageramanda@thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Brenda Parker
Accounts Managerbrenda@thechronicleofmtjuliet.com
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 647Mt. Juliet, TN 37121
Office Location:
11509 Lebanon RoadMt. Juliet, TN 37122
Telephone:
754-6111
Fax:
754-8203
Office Hours:
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F
Classified Deadline:
1 p.m. every Monday
VacationBibleSchool
Vacation Bible School
June22-25•9:00-12:30
June 22 - 25 • 9:00 -12:30
Kindergarten-6th grade
Register your child online atwww.vbcmtj.org or call the of
ce
Victory Baptist Church1777 Tate Lane Mt. Juliet773-5200
Hop on board Lifeway’s Boomerang express asVBS 2009 takes a train ride across the Land DownUnder! As kids wind their way through Australia,they’ll discover the vastness of God’s love, andthey’ll learn that no matter where they go or whatthey do in life- it all comes back to Jesus.
By Connie Esh
Special to The Chronicle
State Sen. ThelmaHarper (Dist. 19) told about200 local supporters of restoring Pickett-RuckerChapel Friday night thatif she needed to get a jobdone, she would call onMary Harris.Harris is the presidentof the Wilson County BlackHistory Committee, whichsponsored the fundraisingbanquet at James WardAgricultural Center, whereHarper was the keynotespeaker.Harper encouragedeveryone present to pledgesupport for the project,saying, “The Lord didn’tgive us money to take to thegraveyard. He wants us toleave some of it here.”She emphasized theimportance of the project asa way to preserve the historyof African Americans for thechildren who come after.“Children will know what their great-great-great grandmothers andgrandfathers did,” Harpersaid. “They will learn fromthe struggles, and they willlearn the work ethic fromthe slaves who built Pickett-Rucker.”She pointed outchildren now have a hardtime believing even some of the simplest changes thathave come about since thechapel was built.No air-conditioning,for example.“The shade of the trees was all the air-conditioning they had,”she said. “Had a horse and wagon, and rode to church
fi
ghting
fl
ies and gnats.” Sheadded that her grandsondidn’t believe her when shetold him that.Harper said she alsoopposed any bill allowingany one to carry a concealed weapon into a church.“Church has alwaysbeen where we go forcomfort,” she said. “Myconcern now is we don’t lookat church the way we oncedid. It was holy and safe.”She ended herspeech by encouragingthe group to work hard tocomplete the restorationand develop the buildingas a museum and historycenter.“It will be a centerpeople will come to from allaround to see how you didit,” she said.The chapel wasoriginally built by slavesaround 1827. It was the
fi
rstbrick building in Lebanonand served as a church for whites and slaves until afterthe Civil War.In the late 1860s,the white congregation builtanother church and moved,giving Pickett-Rucker to theblack community.It remained a blackMethodist church untilthe congregation outgrewthe building and moved toa larger building on C. L.Manier Street.Next, the historicchapel was home to a localtheater group, and whenthey disbanded it was soldto the Black HistoricalCommittee for a museum.The group plansto completely restore thehistoric chapel and renameit the Roy Bailey AfricanMuseum and HistoryCenter.The museum will notonly house artifacts gatheredfrom all over Wilson County,it will provide a meeting placefor a variety of historicalprograms, according toHarris.Anyone interested incontributing time, money,artifacts or skills to therestoration project shouldcontact Harris at 444-9487or email gballard@comcast.net. All donations are tax-deductible.
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Wilson Black History Committee hosts fundraiser for restoration project
Mt. Juliet business owner Lonnie Bender asked all those attendingthe Wilson County Heritage banquet Friday evening at the WardAgriculture Center to volunteer time and money to help renovatethe Pickett-Rucker Chapel. The building was the first brick buildingin Wilson County. ~
Photo by John Butwell
Jack Johnson became the first African-American man to hold theWorld Heavyweight Champion boxing title in 1908. He held on tothe belt until 1915.
The Chronicle of Mt. Juliet, June 17, 2009, Page 3
The highest offer sofar was put on the table last week for what is arguablythe most sought-after pieceof real estate in Mt. Juliet, acounty of
fi
cial said Monday, with a price tag of $3.4million for 12 acres.Wilson CountyMayor Robert Dedman saidMonday that he received anoffer on what is commonlyknown as the old Mt. JulietElementary School property,located at the corner of Mt. Juliet Road and Division, on Thursday, June 11. Dedmansaid he received the offerfrom a “local seller,” though wouldn’t divulge the name,for a total of $3.4 millionfor the entire 12 acres,although the offer “hasn’tbeen proved.”“There are four or
fi
ve pages (in the offeredcontract) of ‘if, ands orbuts,’ but it is for the entire12 acres,” Dedman saidMonday. “If we can sell the whole lot of it, that’s what(county of
fi
cials) we’d preferto do.”A contract for thesale of the property dated June 11 between WilsonCounty and Odell Binkleyobtained on Tuesday by thisnewspaper lists the purchaseprice as $3.4 million with$100,000 as earnest money. The contract states that“this sale will be closed on orbefore 90 days from the endof the due diligence period.”As far as zoningfor the parcel, which was within the boundariesof the recently defunctVillage Overlay District,the contract states that “If Buyer has not been ableto obtain zoning for retail/of
fi
ce/recreation facility and water and sewer capacityapproval for $100,000square feet + by the endof the contingency period,Buyer can extend thisperiod by making $5,000of the earnest money nonrefundable per month untilsuch is obtained. If theseitems cannot be obtained ina time frame satisfactory tothe Buyer, Buyer may cancelthis contract and receive arefund of all earnest moneythat has not become nonrefundable.“Seller has 45 daysfrom the receipt of thiscontract to accept or rejectit.”Dedman said he sentthe offer to Wilson CountyAttorney Mike Jenningsand Wilson County FinanceOf
fi
cer Ron Gilbert for theirconsideration late last week.He added that Jenningshad been out of the of
fi
ceuntil Monday and he’d yetto hear back from them. Thecounty’s asking price forthis property is reportedly$3.5 million.Dedman said thereare two other offers beingconsidered for purchaseof the property, includingpurchase of $1.1 million foraround two acres.A letter of intentobtained by this newspaperand submitted by KurtWolfman of K Jon Realtystates that he representsCVS Pharmacy and offered$1.1 million for two acres of the property. The letter wassent to Dedman on April27.Wolfman saidthe offer is currently“going through the properchannels.” He added thatthere is not an expirationdate on the offer, but he has yet to hear back from countyof
fi
cials.Binkley, a Mt. Julietresident, said Tuesday thathe earlier offered of $2.25million for the entire 12acres, which he presentedto county of
fi
cials “arounda month ago.” He said heplanned to develop retail andof
fi
ce space on the propertybut also has not gottena response from countyof
fi
cials.Jennings said Tuesday that he hasforwarded the offers to theWilson County Public WorksDepartment for consultation,but that committee has yetto schedule a meeting todiscuss the offers.
By Tomi L. Wiley
Managing Editor
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County gets $3.4M offer for entire 12 acres of Old MJES property
The Old Mt. Juliet Elementary School property, considered by cityleaders and officials to be one of the most prime pieces of real estatein the city, is owned by Wilson County, which has listed the 12-acreparcel at $3.5 million. It was the site of a temporary carnival throughJune 13, which benefitted the Wilson County Explorer program.~
Photo by Tomi L. Wiley
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