As you read below, notice how many of these folks in the individual stories connect to the ongoing graft in Madison County.
Folks, you can’t make this up…
In any form, it is illegal and immoral. Morality is not a Madison County practice among the elected…
I am proud of all of you who are standing up for your county; it takes guts and willpower. Local actions have the greatest potential to create a significant impact. It won’t always be comfortable, but it’s essential.
This is your home; if you are proactive, you can protect her; fixing something after it has been wrecked is much more challenging.
Russell Blevins and his partner, Cliff Parker, the Ridge Rapers of Mars Hill, sure showed their stripes in Casey’s article below.
Over a month ago, I requested from Brad Guth the formal application from Russell Blevins to the planning board to remove the setback from the County’s Ridge ordinance. After contacting the County manager this morning, I received Blevins’s application this afternoon.
Here it is
This is a month after Guth received the application and two months after I requested it. The County manager, Rod Honeycutt, and the Zoning director, Brad Guth, have never responded to why the Madison County Zoning permit is checked (not on a protected ridge) in the Toole Application when it is.
Does putting the applications up on your site take so much work?
Brad Guth is Michael Garrison and Matt Wechtel’s chosen planner. This guy is a lazy disaster that we are paying out the wazoo for in our tax dollars.
It is time to send Garrison -Wechtel and Wimpy home… In 2026, we send the rest of the incompetent squad home!
Below is from Johnny Casey at the Asheville Citizen-Times. He did a good job on this story.
MARSHALL – Madison County residents are banding together in opposition to a proposed amendment to a county ordinance that they feel could potentially be harmful for not only the aesthetic beauty of the area, but for the local environment as a whole.
The issue is a proposed amendment to the Madison County Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance that would do away with the ordinance’s required 50-foot setback from the center of a ridge, which the Madison County Planning Board will discuss in its Nov. 21 meeting.
The county’s Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance “regulates the height of tall buildings or structures on mountain ridges, providing for the method of administration and enforcement, defining certain terms used herein, and providing for the imposition of penalties for violation of provisions of the ordinance.”
According to the meeting agenda issued by Development Services Director Brad Guth, the application was submitted by Russell Blevins.
Blevins’ request is to eliminate the 50-foot setback from the ridgeline required in the Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance, according to the draft agenda issued by Guth,.
Section 503 of the ordinance deals with regulations and setbacks.
Section 503-3 outlines the policy as follows: “Setbacks: When located on a Protected Ridge all structures shall be setback 50’ from the center of said Ridge.”
Blevins and Clif Parker purchased Mountain Park, a gated neighborhood in the Mars Hill headwaters of Gabriels Creek, in April.
Parker is managing partner of Mountain Partners, the company that owns Mountain Park. Blevins and Parker own the undeveloped portions of Mountain Park.
The News-Record & Sentinel spoke with Blevins and Parker Nov. 9.
Blevins owns roughly 400 acres at the head of Paint Fork, near Metcalf Creek Loop Road, where he hopes to build a cabin.
“That’s the reason I asked about this setback, because I own both sides of that ridge,” Blevins said. “On the property that I own with my two sides, I own both sides of the ridge, and I have since 1997-98. There are no houses on this property, and I want the ability to build where I’ve always wanted to build, which is basically on the center of that ridge.
“I think my children probably want to build a couple houses also, not big houses, but some houses. And it happens to be over 3,000 feet.”
The North Carolina Mountain Ridge Protection Act of 1983 established protections in the form of building height restrictions for ridgelines at or above 3,000 feet, and came into legislation in response to an Avery County condominium complex, Sugar Mountain.
Blevins said the state’s Mountain Ridge Protection Act says nothing of a 50-foot setback, which is why he wants to do away with it.
“What the setback does is pushes me off a perfect building site onto the slope of the ridge,” Blevins said. “Where I personally want to build, you cannot see the house. It makes no sense to me to arbitrarily push me off the center of a stable building site that’s less stable and more costly because of a setback.”
“I know I can’t build on the center of the ridge at Mountain Park, because I don’t own the entire vicinity of the ridge at Mountain Park.”
Blevins said he is not in disagreement with the county’s Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance’s minimum 2-acre lot size requirement, nor its requirement that no one shall disturb or clear more than 25% of the lot.
“I’m not in disagreement with the 2-acre limitation,” Blevins said. “I’m not in disagreement with 25% clearing limitation, that’s in the ordinance. But what I am in disagreement with is the setback, which is not in the state law.”
Henry Gargan is an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Asheville office.
According to Gargan, Madison County’s ridgetop setbacks are consistent with North Carolina’s Mountain Ridge Protection Act and the broad authorities North Carolina counties have to protect mountain ridges.
“Removing the current setbacks would not bring the county ordinance more in line with that state law nor advance our legislature’s intention to protect the mountain region’s natural beauty,” Gargan said. “If one-off exceptions are necessary, the far better way to deal with those situations is by working with landowners to grant variances.”
Clear Sky Madison founder Jim Tibbetts said the organization hoped to present a letter to the Planning Board suggesting the same thing — that Blevins submit the project with a condition, rather than request to do away with the setback entirely.
“The current 50’ setback defined in Madison County’s Ridge Protection ordinance should remain intact to affirm the wise and thoughtful protections that have been in place for 40 years,” Clear Sky Madison said in a draft letter. “A text amendment application for a county-wide ordinance, submitted by a single landowner with a financial stake in the amendment, is not a good way for county governments to reconsider county-wide policy decisions.
“That said, there is an established process for seeking variances on individual development needs through the Madison County Board of Adjustment. Addressing site-specific concerns through variance makes far more sense than doing away with an important element of the county Ridge Protection ordinance entirely.”
The News-Record & Sentinel asked Blevins, a former Madison County Planning Board chair from 1997-2001, why he chose to apply for a request to do away with the setback requirement, rather than apply for the project and use a condition.
“My problem is, I don’t want to be restricted. I’m not doing this so much for myself as for my kids and my grandkids,” Blevins said, who worked for 31 years with the federal government’s National Resources Conservation Services department, and is the current chair of Madison County Soil and Water Conservation District, and a chair at Mountain Valleys Resource Conservation and Development Council.
“People come in here from out of here, and they don’t know the capabilities of the land, and they don’t know the difficulties of the land. There has been a lot of development started and gone bankrupt, because they didn’t understand the costs to try to build roads on impossible spots. So, you’ve got to build your roads where it’s not an impossible spot.” A Facebook group, Save Our Area Ridges, was started by East Fork community neighbors to raise awareness of the application for the amendment. As of Nov. 9, there were more than 120 members.
Chris Flaherty is an East Fork neighbor.
“In a county where there are deep-seated political, religious, and philosophical divides among its residents, there are few issues where a consensus can be achieved,” Flaherty told The News-Record & Sentinel. “Based on the support that I have seen, heard and read for the Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance, this is one subject that most Madison County residents appear to agree upon. It’s remarkable.”
For Asia Suler, who is one of the Facebook group administrators, the Madison County ridges are tied to its identity.
“I’ve always loved Madison County’s slogan: ‘The Jewel of the Blue Ridge.’ To me, the ridges of this county are what makes this area so uniquely beautiful and precious,” Suler said. “Our ridges are bastions of not only ecological diversity, clean watersheds and wild game, but also of Madison County’s deep heritage and history. To be able to build developments directly on these ridges would be like grinding diamonds down into dust.”
Parker and Blevins said they hope to clear up misconceptions about the project.
“We volunteered, when we bought this property, to not cut more than 25% of the trees on any time we go to cut any timber,” Parker said. “Have you ever seen that in any other real estate sale, that the buyer is agreeing not to do something with the land that they’re buying? So, we did that to show what our intentions were. The general public doesn’t know that, but we agreed to do that. We wanted to show to our neighbors, ‘This is our intentions.’
“I believe in property rights. I believe in conservation. This is not a new development, as they claim it is. Mountain Park started in the early 2000s, we just bought it. We didn’t create anything new. Some say ‘Some big-daddy developer.’ I’m not a big daddy developer. I grew up in Spring Creek and went to Madison High School.”
Blevins said people have the wrong idea about him, too.
“People all of a sudden think I’m just some out here, rich developer that’s going to destroy the environment, which I’ve spent 30 years protecting, or longer,” Blevins said. “I’m a forestry guy. I tell people I’m a tree hugger. I hug about every tree I come to before I want to cut it.
“My degree from University of Tennessee is forestry, and I’ve specialized in upland hardwood management.”
In Blevins’ view, a serious overhaul of the county ordinances is needed.
“I have a real desire to see logging roads laid out in the correct way, and not cause erosions and sediment,” Blevins said. “To think that we want to do what’s being done in Woodfin, that’s absolutely incorrect.”
But Blevins conceded that scrapping the setback requirement could usher in more development.
“It might,” He said. “Let’s take the 50-foot off. Madison County’s Subdivision Ordinance has nothing in it that protects that. If they wanted, they ought to put it in it. But Madison County’s Subdivision Ordinance will not stop that.
“Madison County Subdivision Ordinance has a 1-acre minimum lot size. So, if you want to do something about it, make it 2 acres.”
Johnny Casey- Asheville Citizen times
You must read this twice to understand how stupid these two developers are; the contradictions here are telling.
It is laughable that Blevins speaks about other developers going bankrupt in Madison while stating how gifted and intelligent he is.
What background does he have in development? He has been a logger his whole career and used the Forestry system not to pay property taxes. He made much money off this scheme while other taxpayers in single-family residences paid his and his wife’s tax burden.
By Blevins claim, these properties below are why he wants to remove Madison County Ridge Protections, just a portion of the 400 acres.
Most of this is obviously in another county because it is not showing up on Madison Tax maps.
Blevins could be the poster child for the Napolean Complex of the Mountains.
He has been riding the tax gravy train with biscuit wheels his whole professional life. And now he wants to destroy everyone else’s property values and the legally protected ridges so that he and his family can feel tall on top of that clear-cut mountain ridge… Just Priceless
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Do you honestly believe this is about the property near Metcalf Creek Loop Rd by the Madison/Yancey line along Paint Fork Road?
That’s the property he claims he wants to have the ridgeline ordinance destroyed for – he wants to build a cabin on it since he owns both sides of the ridge. Remember, most of it is in Yancey County.
What did Big Daddy Parker say in the above article?
“We volunteered, when we bought this property, to not cut more than 25% of the trees on any time we go to cut any timber,” Parker said. “Have you ever seen that in any other real estate sale, that the buyer is agreeing not to do something with the land that they’re buying? So, we did that to show what our intentions were.
Big Daddy Parker
See how stupid these two are? You bought a development with an HOA in place for almost 20 years. Yet you and Napoleon think you have some right to have no restrictions implemented on you. You two are buying something subject to limitations.
This sounds like Hanlon’s Razor…
Below are the Developer’s Restrictive covenants for this property.
I don’t think Parker or Blevins agreed out of the goodness of their hearts to curtail their clear-cutting in this subdivision. I believe the residents stepped up and demanded that their property rights be protected or else…
The Mountain Park HOA controls these two developers’ forestry management schemes extensively. I hope they keep an eye on them.
You don’t want homeowners’ rights and property values lowered because of greedy carpetbagger developers.
This restrictive covenant deed was filed in 2004; the HOA was established in 2005 and has been operating since…
Remember the agenda from the County commissioner’s secret untelevised meeting at the Library on October 30, 2023?
Line 9-Legal advice regarding potential litigation of planning and zoning matters.
What is this about?
Is it connected?
Blevins states in the article above that the ordinance would align more with the actual 1983 GS Statute by removing the setback restrictions.
An Asheville attorney from the Southern Environmental Law Center debunked this.
But what do you expect out of a guy who pleads in the article above he is so misunderstood and says this:
“People all of a sudden think I’m just some out here, rich developer that’s going to destroy the environment, which I’ve spent 30 years protecting, or longer,” Blevins said. “I’m a forestry guy. I tell people I’m a tree hugger. I hug about every tree I come to before I want to cut it.
Russell Blevins
Blevins is so arrogant. That is like saying I am a Serial killer, and I hug every victim before I strangle them.
In the Casey article above, Blevins and Parker use the good ole boy “I am from here” to substantiate their goodwill toward the county.
This sounds just like these Republican Commissioners – I am from here, that is why you should vote for me.
Are we all supposed to look the other way because these two rascals are from here? How has that worked out for Madison County?
Look below one of Madison County’s Finest, Jack Fisher of Little Pine Preserve. Born bred and went to that oh-so illustrious college Mars Hill College…
Why has the press in the area been so silent on this criminal? He is a good friend of Buddy Harwood, John Ledford, and Larry Leake. Wouldn’t you have to believe the Mountain Park Napoleon would also have a relationship with him?
Blevins pompously states above he wants NO RESTRICTIONS. He pays no property taxes on his logged mountain properties and has the righteousness to claim he should not be restricted, yet everyone else should. This speaks volumes to his character and the character of anyone who would agree with this meathead.
On Tuesday, November 21, at 6:30 p.m., at the Madison County Public Library
Marshall, 1335 N Main St, Marshall, NC 28753.
Please try to attend
We have an area logger who has purchased a development and subsequently filed an application to remove a protective setback in a protective ridge ordinance of Madison County. He then claimed it was only for his acreage on the Yancey County Line.
We have a County manager and a county employee who is the director of development services who can’t answer a simple question as to why an application for building on a protective ridge was marked NO when it was on a protective ridge.
All the contractors and the owner of this property are Republicans; the county commissioners are all Republicans. Alan Wyatt, a commissioner, is related to these contractors. He served on the planning board and changed ordinances that ultimately helped him in his cabin rental business.
What number of permit applications that have been processed and/or denied involve the protected ridge box being checked “Yes.”
Several of the homes and commercial buildings in the Wolf Laurel development could be in violation. What about the houses built along the protected ridges of Bear Branch Rd (Willis property- Contractors)? Are they in Violation?
This is why involvement and commitment to working together to save your county are significant. Protecting Madison County beauty and planning its growth is vital to all of us.
Jack Fisher and his Toadie James Sinnot were convicted on September 22, 2023. He and Sinnot were immediately detained and sent to prison.
On Friday, September 22, 2023, a federal jury convicted Jack Fisher and James Sinnot of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns, and subscribing to false tax returns. His original indictment brought increased scrutiny to the industry as a whole. His conviction can now have even more of an impact on other conservation easements and how they are handled going forward.
The impact of Fisher’s conviction extends far beyond his individual case. It raises questions about the effectiveness of the current regulations and oversight within the industry. If someone as well-respected as Fisher can be involved in fraudulent activities, what does that mean for other conservation easement cases? Will potential donors now hesitate to enter into these agreements, fearing that their intentions may be exploited?
Forbes
This is why developers should always be vetted and watched. Jack Fisher gave plenty of money out of a nonprofit to Madison County- Beacon of Hope, Madison County schools and various fire departments connected to Buddy Harwood.
Mobsters have done this for years in our country. They pay the churches and the nonprofits who serve the poor out of their blood money.
This is to ensure that these religious souls never complain and support them.
It speaks volumes…
Now, onto the rest of the Rot in Madison County
Any of you who have to go to the courthouse should be prepared for some inconveniences. The County Manager and the commissioners have moved the staff into the county extension offices until further notice. These commissioners are redoing the Courthouse and using all the money from a grant that should have gone to a new building. Essentially, they have robbed this grant money fund for other projects in Madison County.
This is what you get when you have incompetent people in County Manager positions who are doing the bidding of the furors of their party.
While he was county manager, Forrest Gillium had every opportunity to move forward on a bond issue when interest rates were almost 0% to accomplish this project. Some commissioners had asked him to look into this, but his buddy Larry Leake, who had previously secured jobs for him, did not want this.
Buddy Harwood, Jim Baker, and Larry Leake do not want the County Court House moved to its natural place beside the Sheriff’s Department. WHY?
The jackals of corruption at Sheriff Buddy’s Revolving Door will be observed if the Courthouse is by the Sheriff’s Department. This bunch includes Republicans and Democrats on both sides; it is like a can of fishing worms, all entangled together.
Take a bow, Mr. Nato County Manager Rod Honeycutt; you have earned your Brotherhood Pin…
The County Commissioner’s agenda for Tuesday, November 14, is below:
As of the publication of this story, 11-13-2023 Madison County Middle School Facebook site still has porn up!
Link BELOW
(19) Facebook
This Porn has been on their Facebook site for at least five days. Is it hacked?
It is not the school’s fault if they were hacked; it is the school’s fault for not effectively responding to this risk to their students and faculty.
I have been told that the school is saying they can’t get it down. I don’t buy that for one minute that idiot Buddy Harwood made a spectacle of taking down his FaceBook page during the election. It took him 30 minutes, so there has to be another reason.
Just remove it; how hard is that?
Heck folks, I don’t know; maybe they are enjoying it; this is what the Woke Education System has become…
French Broad Electric Contractor shows up drunk with his pants unzipped onto private property.
A French Broad Contractor has been harassing a female neighbor of a poor guy who is being foreclosed on by Madison County. Tax collector. All of you know him as the good friend of Jeff Loven -Cameron Gunter, who is also a close relative of Greg Fowler.
Gunter has a bid in for William Treadway’s property, and according to Treadway, Gunter told him he better be out of there in two weeks. What was this reprobate doing on this man’s property anyway? Why are the French Broad contractors of Madison County such rot?
Seems like this is what he likes to tell anyone who challenges him.
But the worst part is this creepy drunken stooge shows up on a female neighbor’s property with his fly open and his business out; below is the detailed confrontation from the neighbor.
Cameron Gunter pulled into the right of way (drunk, and his fly was open). He pointed to Bill’s property and told me he was “buying that.” I asked if he had won the 10-day upset, and the tide shifted. He became drunk & disorderly. He kept telling me, “I’m just here to tell you how things are going to go.” He then drove across the bridge to Bill Treadway’s property, yelling, “You have two weeks to get out of here.
Why does Buddy Harwood allow these French Broad Drunks on Madison Highways? Gunter is the tree contractor for French Broad, and as I have been told, he has hired all illegals because they are cheap labor, and he can bully them.
Do you want Cameron Gunter with his pants unzipped drunk on your property? Do you want illegals on your property? You have rights. FRENCH BROAD EMC does not own your property, and you have every right to demand to know who these people who cannot speak English are.
Gunter placed a bid of $16,800 on 10-06-23.
Mr. Treadway owes for three years from 2020 to 2023-$1254.30, but the amounts for the attorneys are more than $7000.00 for fees, which is a 650% increase of the actual tax due.
This is a racket, which may be why other counties in the state don’t do this. Treadway claims he never received notice of Tax foreclosure. The address on his tax bill to his nephew is not valid. It doesn’t exist, and he may have a point…
Elected Employees believe they are special and can take up handicapped parking while the handicapped taxpayers are left to park farther away.
Mary Jane Wallin – Register of Deeds and her vanity plate have been caught parking in front of Madison County offices because she is too unhealthy to park in a regular parking space.
If she is too unhealthy to park in standard parking like other employees, she is too unhealthy to be elected for a second term of Register of Deeds.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner…
Our country and its people weren’t shaped solely by the government. Our country’s foundation was fought for by a handful of dedicated patriots who were often outnumbered, underfunded, and underfed. Yet, their determination led to the remarkable nation we have today.
Unfortunately, many have lost their way and forgotten what being an American means. Don’t fall for the Zionist propaganda being spewed to get us into a war. Have sympathy for the children and civilians being killed because of hate. This is not who we are; turn off the tube and think.
If you are watching any MSM network, you are being preyed upon, and those of you who are fellow conservatives who are still watching Fox News or listening to that idiot Sean Hannity are probably doing it while drinking a Bud Light. Wean yourself from this propaganda.
Below is a good video that will open your mind. Remember who you are, and have a great Thanksgiving. -CH