Commissioners Up for Re-Election

We are an expanding group of homeowners that comprise the area surrounding Smokey Mountain Event Ctr. We can be contacted at taxpayersforpeace@gmail.com or visit our website: https://taxpayersforpeace.wixsite.com/website.

We want our fellow Haywood County residents to know and understand the "real story" behind our very serious problem with extreme noise levels coming into our homes, from sound systems and concerts at the Fairgrounds. And we want you to know the very disappointing reaction we experienced Monday night when we attended the Haywood County Board of Commissioners meeting. We presented what is a very serious community concern of ours, disturbing personal experiences, and were met with patronizing responses that not only belittled our problem, but basically left us with the general idea that it was our responsibility to fix it. Why do we want you to know all this? Because this type of problem could happen anywhere in Haywood County, and who is going to help you?

Listen for yourself @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI6sH9kQeWA

Skip ahead to about 1:02 Noise discussion.

Commissioner Brandon Roger’s (up for re-election) response included “we all have to put up with certain things.” And “you should go back to your realtors and ask why they didn’t disclose this.” He went on to change the subject and ask the Commission consider giving their employees raises because things were going so well in the county.

JW Kirkpatrick III also said “we all have to endure certain things,” that he lives in Waynesville and has to. He apologized for not returning our calls and said he has no answers.

Mark Pless stated he believes in people doing what they choose with their property and the Event Center is no different than an individual. He said he’d never been to our development and wondered if there was a way to “construct a wall.” He asked the County Manager if the county had a Sound Engineer. Bryant Morehead replied it did not and Pless told us “since we don’t have one maybe it’s something you could look into, someone that could offer a solution.” He told us “not to come to them with a problem without a solution and that they lease the property, but have no control over it.” He also stated it was the first he’d heard of our problem. However, on October 13 at 9:35 am he corresponded with a homeowner regarding this issue stating "I tried numerous times in May of this year to have the contract cancelled and rewritten to address this and numerous other issues."

Kevin Ensley, Chairman, (up for re-election) compared our situation to his neighbor who is the Coach of the shooting club at Waynesville Middle School. He said “it helps young people understand the 2nd amendment.” He said “when he explained it to his wife, we have a little bit of noise on Saturday, but it helps the community, so she is ok with it.” He stated he had driven around our neighborhood and “understands the noise.”

But, the most shocking response came from Tommy Long who stated that “not everyone who lives there is against it” and it’s “like the old euphemism beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” He stated “I remind you, we represent all the people in Haywood County, 62000 people.” And “sometimes if you tweak an ordinance it may affect a lot of other people maybe in a negative way.” He stated “we have to go through things in life sometimes that are uncomfortable, we just have to ride through them.” Then he commended the Fairgrounds Manager for doing a great job. He said the Commission offered us a “raw form of government” in which we can “address elected officials and exercise free speech.” He said that’s what we did.

Well, that’s all we did. Folks, you can watch the meeting on youtube. But, we are here to tell you first hand, if you want a Board of Commissioners to stand up for your rights, listen to your concerns, actually make decisions and take action in your best interests as taxpaying contributors, and make your community a better place to live, for every single constituent, think hard before going to the polls.

Taxpayers for Peace

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