gonna have your attention please
could i have your attention please
please find your seats we're ready to
start we thank you we're just running
just a tad late tonight we apologize
um at this time
i'm going to ask for the invocation so
i'm going to ask you to please rise for
the invocation and remain standing for
the pledge please
let us pray
[Music]
father god lord we thank you for this
day we thank you for all the many
blessings you have given us we thank you
for allowing us to come out be a part of
this local government father be with
those that have been that have been
struggling with the flood here recently
father father we don't know all the
needs they have but you do so be with
them lead them guide them and direct
them father forgive us for where we fail
you each and every day lead us to be
better to be like you in your name i
pray amen
[Applause]
one nation under god
indivisible with liberty and
thank you
at this time
we're going to approve the agenda but we
have several
amendments that we need to make to that
and so i've got those and we're going to
go over it so the first thing we're
moving the presentation tonight
which is number one we're moving that to
the end of the committee appointments
i'm also going to add
in the county attorney reports and
request a number four which is uh for
pure salmon
i'm also going to add a number five
which is the steam building
lease
i'm also going over to the reports and
requests by the county administrator
number nine
is for the russell county planning
commission now do i have any more that
needs to be changed mr lester
okay i will entertain a motion to accept
the agenda as amended i'll make that
motion
thank you mr eaton i need a second a
second thank you mr steve breeding all
in favor
any opposed any abstention
motion carries thank you very much
okay moving along to a new business
is i need an approval of the minutes
from uh july the 11th and chair i'll
make a motion to prove the minutes
july the 11th
thank you mr breeding i need a second
i'll second it i got a second by mister
eating i eaten uh all in favor
any opposed
any abstentions motion carries
okay the next thing we're going to do is
the approval of the expenditures
i needed a motion
i'll make that move
i'm getting two um
i'm going to accept mr christian's
motion i need a second thank you
thank you uh carl
all in favor
any opposed
any extensions motion carries
now we have committee appointments
that's come to uh the board the first
one we have is the tourism advisory
committee
um this board has been lacking a little
bit they've they've had some meetings
and they could not get it for them so
we're going to try to eliminate that
district 2
which is lou wallace's district needs a
tourism advisory committee member now
are we going to take these all as a
slate or one at a time
one at a time because it represents each
district yes all right
for district two i'll accept a
nomination i'll nominate dustin black
okay i have a motion for dustin blackson
to take the seat in district 2 for the
tourism advisory committee
i have a motion i need a second
second
thank you mr e all in favor
opposed
motion carries moving to district four
madam chair uh
i'd like to be able to revisit it at the
next meeting
uh i see quite a few people out in
district four here tonight
if you would have an interest in serving
on the tourism committee
contact me
and let me know
if you have this interest in wanting to
do this and
i'd love to have someone in my district
uh to kind of move uh things along in
that area uh
i have approached
a couple of people and they said because
of time restraints and family and stuff
they can't do it so
uh if you do have that interest let me
know immediately and i'll revisit this
at the next meeting okay and it does
have some conditions to it
must be in the tourism business kind of
so or have a deep heart to want to come
and serve right thank you right all
right very good moving on to district
five
i need a motion i need a
motion for district five mr freedom do
you have someone i have janet halsey is
the only person
okay so you want to put that motion
forward i'll make that motion
okay we have a motion and a second for
janice halsey that will represent mr
breeding in district five all in favor
any opposed
motion carries thank you very much and
we have district six we have to accept a
resignation
all right that is my district so i will
make the motion to accept the
resignation of
mr danny alder he had to resign due to
family responsibilities
so i'll make that notion that we accept
his resignation okay we have a motion to
accept a resignation from district six
on the tourism advisory
committee i'll say
thank you um all in favor
any opposed
motion carries now uh ms dot do you have
someone that you need to place back on
there yes ma'am thank you i do i'm going
to
nominate mr doug hubbard for that
position okay i have a nomination for
mr doug hubbard his application is in
your packet
um i have a i need a second second thank
you mr eden i have a second all in favor
any opposed
motion carries thank you
so that will take care of our tourism
advisory committee and mr eaton will
work on district 4. thank you very much
moving along to the southwest virginia
community corrections
that's doug howard i'll make it
go ahead all right i'd like to make
motion
i'll say okay we have a motion to
reappoint mr howard to this uh committee
and a second
all in favor
any opposed
motion carries now uh we're moving along
to the russell county psa
we have a replacement here of donnie
christian and joe huff are their terms
have
expired i'd like to make motion to
reappoint joe
okay i have a motion to reappoint joe
huff for a four year term on the russell
county psa
we have a second all in favor
uh
any opposed
motion carries
all right and the other appointment is
mine in district six and i would like to
make the notion of philip campbell and
his application is on your
the table
okay we have a motion to accept philip
campbell on the russell county psa
i need a second
second
when i get a second
second oh thank you i'm sorry you're
gonna i can't hear down here in the
world all right okay i have a motion in
a second all in favor
any opposed
mr christian opposes
motion carries
now we have the community policy
management team
uh miss farmer resigned
from that position
we have one i believe in the packet um
unless you you guys uh and gals have
another one i miss nunley
i'll make the motion we accept his
farmer's resignation
sick
thank you for the acceptance of the
resignation i'm sorry i get about the
part before the horse
all right all in favor
any opposed
motion carries
and i will make the motion to accept ms
natalie whose application is
in our packet she is the current
secretary for the special ed department
of the school system and she has been
attending these meetings
okay so ms nunley has been already
attending and she's very familiar with
how this committee works all right we
have a motion to appoint miss nunley
i need a second
second i have a second all in favor
oh okay on these terms like that the
three-year term will that be she just
fulfills the remaining part of that or
it won't start phrasing yes thank you
for asking that i'm just wondering it is
a four-year term and i apologize i did
not express that that's fine okay
all right so it's a she is finishing out
miss farmer who has had to resign from
that position so she's only there's only
three years left on that term
all right so we have a motion and a
second all in favor
any opposed
motion carries
now this one might get a little bit
tricky but let me see if i can explain
this and somebody stopped me mr lester
if i'm not explaining it correctly
the appalachian agency for senior
citizens um has board appointments
two of those appointments mr bostic has
uh said that he does not want to be
reappointed now these were for two year
terms
but according to the new guidelines for
the appalachian agency
it's gone to a four year term
okay
so mrs gray
is ill and she is not going to be
reappointed to that she she is decided
not to be here as far as we know yes
i talked to her and she indicated that
she would still want to be on that
didn't know what it was
she's had she had a stroke yes but she
is
you know she's been there for a long
time okay and i understand but she did
not contact me so i apologize to ms gray
for
not reaching out to her
she would like to if it became an issue
that she would resign okay
fair enough so we can go ahead and add
that back in there right mr lester yes
ma'am okay so what's going to happen
here is we've got larry burton alice
mead and pat gray and wayne bostic is a
no okay so what we're doing is we're
just it's we're just expanding their
turn
so they're already been there for two
years correct so it's a four year term
now instead of a two year so we're just
adding two years to this term so in
another two years
no he's telling me that's wrong
for your appointments man four-year
appointment
oh a four-year today
i apologize uh the their
here caleb perkins is here if you'd like
to clarify anything caleb would you like
to speak and thank you
brian cheer okay
yeah step to the microphone and explain
what i could not thank you very much
hello i'm brian beck i am
currently the chief financial officer
but i'm soon to be
not already the chief executive officer
of appalachian agency for senior
citizens regina sayers is retiring
just to provide some additional
clarification we have amended our bylaws
we now only require two
appointments per county
we've had some issues not with russell
county but maintaining a full board so
we're going to increase and add some at
large seats we do fully respect
pat gray's
wishes to attend
and we have
already decided we will make her an
at-large on our board
but larry burton and miss alice mead are
very active members and we would require
two appointments and it suits uh to work
out that they would be those
appointments and pat will continue to be
an at-large uh pending her
choice i see and brian that will be a
four-year terms correct all before your
term or beginning july 1 2022.
okay yes i understand now thank you so
much thank you
provide that clarification thank you so
much appreciate it all right so so now
we have clarification how this is going
to work all right so we can do this both
both together right you can't all right
i'll entertain a motion i'll make a
motion to reappoint larry burton and
alice mead for four years
i'll say
all right i have a motion and a second
any further discussion
all in
favor any opposed
motion carries thank you very much
all right now we've come to the end of
our committee appointments and we're
going back to
the presentation by marketa puckett and
tracy wilson
are we ready
you can just
pass them out and or i can help you do
that
you'll have to
give me some room for my script notes
tonight i'm a little weepy these days
and i need all the security blankets i
can use these days
i want to thank you for this opportunity
to extend an invitation to you as
community leaders to join us as
advocates for individuals with
alzheimer's and other dementia and their
family members who provide care for them
my name is marquita puckett
and
i am married to mike puckett
before i introduce my fellow advocate i
want you to understand my motives for
being here this evening
my son is 31 years old
he has lost his paternal and maternal
grandfather to complications from
alzheimer's
his paternal grandmother has been living
with dementia for 10 years
and his stepfather mike puckett
has been living with early onset
alzheimer's
since 2012.
mike's father hermann puckett passed
away from alzheimer's at the age of 60.
all of these individuals
were from russell county
or still living in russell county
herman puckett was elected and served on
the russell county board of supervisors
from 1971 to 1979.
he resigned due to cognitive and memory
decline
mike was elected and served to the
russell county board of supervisors
during the time of 1987 to 2010
for a total of 19 years
he resigned to take the role of
superintendent of russell county schools
in 2010
and he was forced to take an early
retirement retirement in 2012 due his
diet due to his diagnosis
both of these pockets served as chairman
of the boards
i remember the many phone calls that
came through our house
requesting paved roads put up a sign
take down the sign can you get me a
guardrail put in i remember those days
and just a quick note about mike he
quickly
earned the title of mayor of the blake
memory care facility and what he would
do is he would go around and shake
everybody's hand and say hello at dinner
time and lunchtime
and i told the staff i said ah he just
thinks he's at another free hot dog
political dinner and he's just working
the room trying to get votes
i'm telling you this because
i understand the commitment of time and
concern for the community that you're
giving
i've been there and i understand it
i share also about mike and his father
to point out the gap of time between
their diagnosis
30 years
30 years but yet we have so little to
show
for the advancement of resources for
russell county citizens
so it's time
it's time for individuals and families
of russell county to have access to
support
resources and education about
alzheimer's and other dementias
it's time
so i would like to introduce you
to tracy wilson she is the regional
director of northeast tennessee and
southwest virginia
alzheimer organization
please what i'm asking from you tonight
and all these people behind me together
if each of us now would take one hand we
could very quickly name someone or
someone we have known with one of these
diseases this is a lot of people
so please will you extend a hand of
cooperation
and throw out the welcome mat because
she can facilitate the services of our
russell county citizens i give you tracy
wilson
i am
so not sure that i want to go after that
but i want to thank you so much
uh you know last week when i i've been
with mike a couple of times and i did
not know him prior to his diagnosis of
early onset alzheimer's disease
but when i'm when i met him last week
and he took my hand and kissed it that's
exactly what marquita said
he's campaigning for another vote
um as marquita said tracy wilson
i want to thank you all for allowing us
to move a little bit on the agenda um
the reason for that is for things that
we can do for your community so i've
been in my position for 24 years we've
not worked in russell county uh for 15
years so i apologize greatly from that
but from today forward we're changing
that
statistically there are at least a
thousand people in this very county
living with a form of cognitive
impairment alzheimer's is one our
earliest diagnosed case is two years old
i worked with a 33 year old and a 60
year old last week so it has no barriers
as marquita has already mentioned we
want to help the community and we ask
nothing in return the reason she asked
you to move us on your agenda we know
that you have a vocational school we've
conducted
dementia training to over 92 future lpn
students this morning the reason i was
late is because we
trained 28 more police officers and
first responders on how best to advocate
in a situation that they come upon where
a person living with diagnosis is having
difficulty the
hallucinations the delusions the
thoughts that someone is stealing from
them when they're really not how do we
how do we do that after the training was
over which went wonderfully well not
because of me but because of them two of
them cornered me in the corner literally
and began spoking speaking to me about
their individual family members so i
apologize for my tardiness
um we want to do that for this community
we conduct home visits we can do
one-on-one counseling we work very
closely with the expansion
of services in marion and in bristol
that we want to help here
we are ready to do that there are no
charge there is no cost for any of our
services we just need people to take
advantage uh marquita mentioned our very
first event will be on september 20th
alzheimer's uh dementia a to z it's a
forum where people can come together get
some information get some direction but
most importantly leave that room knowing
that they are not alone it doesn't
matter you don't have to live in
knoxville you don't have to live in
richmond you can live in russell county
lebanon the only place in the world with
a wonderful bonanza still standing and
you can get help and support that's what
we're here to do i thank you so much um
of the thousand people that are living
with a diagnosis less than five percent
of our services are carried out in
russell county right now we want that to
change and i thank you for the
opportunity for allowing us to let that
change thank you
[Music]
yes
i would like to thank you marketa and
tracy
uh one of the hardest working men
that i've ever known
i just lost my father-in-law
with dementia
i've never experienced anything quite
like that
and as a family
it's very trying
and uh very hard
and you know i really appreciate this
and you know the russell county fair is
getting ready to get cranked up
i know we've got some people here that
represent the fair but that would be a
good way to to get the word out
uh you know but anything i can do from
that perspective i'm willing to
volunteer and do anything because i know
i was impacted heavily by my wife lost
her dad and i've never quite experienced
anything like that before but it's very
very hard thank you ron
thank you mr e
um at this time we're going to move
ahead to our citizen comment period time
and um those that are going to speak
should have
signed up on uh
the paper we've got a paper somewhere
thank you very much
so at this time i'm going to start
calling your name to come and speak
i ask that
you be respectful of each other
be respectful of this board
be respectful of the members in this
room we're here to listen to you
and so um
at this time i want you to make sure
that you give me your name your address
where you're from
if you have notes if you have anything
that you want to have part of the record
as we've said before when we've had
these moments together
if you want to give that to
county administrators office that will
be part of the record so your voice
will be permanently heard
okay so we're going to start off with uh
first one out of the gate is joanie
baker
give me your name address
three minutes my name is joni baker
lebanon virginia steve readings district
the reason i wanted to speak tonight
called for russell county to become a
pro-life sanctuary county and a short
story about myself why this is so
important to me is when i was born
i was told that i was left on doorsteps
of a stranger i entered foster care and
also
got involved with social services of
course and i was adopted by two
god-fearing parents of wise count in
particular
and
had
this been an issue
for me
and my biological parents
and i was afforded the right we talk
about a lot of rights but we don't talk
about the voices of the unborn that well
and if i was asked well joanie
what would you like for us to do you
could have a hard life
you could not fit in
people will say that you don't belong
we don't know where you're going to go
we don't know what's going to happen to
you would you like to be aborted or
murdered right now
what would you say
and i would say please let me live
let me live so i can try to make a
difference in this world
because
i know i can if you give me this chance
i will stand up
in our county in southwest virginia and
i will try my best to make a difference
to show and earn the right for this
chance that i'm afforded
thank god i had two biological parents
that seemed fit for me to have that
chance
and for god to direct my past to two
god-fearing christian parents in pound
virginia
but when when we talk about the rights
of others we need to consider the rights
of that child because i personally do
not feel like that it was my biological
mother's choice on whether i should live
or not because i feel like that was my
body and that should have been my choice
thank god i'm here and i've lived up to
that to try to make a difference i've
been in law enforcement over 20 years i
understand what it means to protect and
serve and like the lady said just before
me about people with alzheimer's that's
not getting off the subject they're
advocating for them which is awesome
because we need that but we also need
that for the unborn
so
i would like for the board to consider
making russell county a pro-life
sanctuary county and send a strong
message to this state that the god of
abraham is in russell county and give
these children a right to live and make
a difference
thank you all
next on the public comment sheet is lynn
hess
first of all i'd like to thank you all
for allowing me to speak here tonight
thank you all for the job that you do
thank you for listening to comments
about making our county a
a pro-life sanctuary county
i think this would be a great thing for
this county to do to speak to not only
this county but this state and the
united states let's start it right here
let's start it right here in russell
county showing that we are godly people
and that we believe in life from the
conception on
and that we need this to be a pro-life
sanctuary so that we don't have these
abortion clinics coming from these
states that shut an abortion down
they're shutting abortion down into in
like in tennessee and other states
they're going to be looking for
somewhere to go
if we can nip it in the bud now as the
old saying is it'd be a great thing for
us to do and i'd like to thank johnny
for getting this ball rolling and
getting this started and bringing this
up to us it's something as us as godly
people should have already done
but it hadn't been done and now's the
time to do it and i'd also like to ask
if everybody here that's for the
pro-life would stand up you can see that
the community here is for pro-life
our county is pro-life thank you all
thank you all so much every one of you
thank you all
it's also like to thank david eaton for
what he's doing in our district we've
seen some movement on a actual maybe a
park in swords creek and we're excited
in source creek to have something going
on over there
and uh believe it or not it means a
whole lot to us we appreciate your time
thank you mr hess and yes our
communities are vital our little ghost
communities are vital
all right next one is mr stephen dameron
swords creek
[Applause]
my name is uh pastor stephen dameron i
live in swords creek
and first i'd like to say i never did
think that we would ever
have to come to something where we had
to try to protect unborn lives
because they are important
we try to fight for this and fight for
that
but i think we need to fight more for
those that don't have a voice
and i thank god for every child that's
ever been born and
today i started to go to the internet
and look up and see if i could find any
information about
why there's laws
that baby should have to die
and about life and i and i thought lord
i don't have to go to the
internet i go to the bible where god
created man and told him to replenish
the earth
and god was the one that give the life
and
man thinks that they can tell the reason
as to why it's justified for any baby to
be aborted
but there's no justifiable reason
you tell they either kill the baby and
let the mommy survive or let the baby
born to mommy survive but they don't
know the end of that they don't know
what god has in store
whenever i was 46 years old my wife and
i
she become pregnant
she was 42 and the doctors told her
at her age that she needed to be
have an abortion
and we told her that we don't believe in
abortion
and we went on through and they told us
that it could have down syndrome to me
there's nothing
you'd still love a baby no matter what
you get you still love it there's no
reason to kill that baby
and uh our baby was born
and she's five years old now and she
sings in church and plays the tambourine
in church
i thank god that we chose to keep her we
don't believe in abortion no whatsoever
i want to say this in the bible a lot of
people don't like to talk about the
bible but in psalms
amen tells us
that for thou hast
possessed my reigns thou hast covered me
in my mother's womb
i will praise thee for i am fearfully
and wonderfully made
marvelous are thy works and that my soul
knoweth right well
my substance was not hid from thee
whenever i was made in sacred
the lord knew us before we was ever born
and if i got time and if run over i
apologize but i want to read this
said every pregnant woman has a baby
inside her stomach
and it is completely different body from
that of hers people say it's a woman's
body it's her choice
she had a choice before she got pregnant
whether she got pregnant or not
and the man and the woman is responsible
for that baby
that baby that's inside the woman's
stomach is a totally different body it's
not her body it's somebody else
and said i've heard all kinds of women
say it's my body my choice
not to even seem to care
whether it bothers them to abort and
kill a little baby
rather the baby be dead is to be alive
doctors and scientists and people that
study unborn babies call it a fetus or a
blob
it is a baby regardless what anyone else
calls it mr dameron
i appreciate you europe can i finish
this program sir i'm going to let you
finish all right
people try to find all kinds of
informations and studies
to justify aborting a baby
but we don't have to try to get studies
they're blessings and i thank god for
mine
thank you mr family
[Applause]
we have sandy hess
hello
my name is sandy hess i'm from swords
creek i'm speaking tonight requesting
that the board consider and advance the
proposal to deem russell county as a
pro-life sanctuary county
we are a majority of christian
bible-believing people in this county
i believe that life begins at conception
i also believe
that god is the only giver of life and
that all life has a purpose
i believe that all life is precious from
pre-born babies through the elderly in
the last stages of their life
all deserve dignity and protection
it has been stated that there's no need
for such a proposal since we do not have
an abortion clinic in russell county
but we are already seeing
abortion clinics fleeing from states
like tennessee that has banned abortion
and they're moving to virginia
why wait until they are here and then
try to do something
we fell asleep and allowed
soon to be eight suboxone clinics to be
established in the town of lebanon alone
much less the entire county
apparently russell county is attractive
to clinics
so what would stop abortion clinics from
coming here
there will be those that will argue that
we are trying to deny women's rights to
health care and that is not true
there are more than enough health care
providers in russell county and
surrounding counties that provide
women's health care
and health care providers cannot refuse
life-saving treatments in the cases of
ectopic pregnancies anywhere in the
united states and that will not change
this proposal will encompass much more
than just the protection of pre-born
babies it will declare that russell
county is a county that recognizes and
promotes the value of all life
since the overturning of roe versus wade
we'll put it back in the hands of the
voters in each state
we can only pray
that the voters in this state will have
the opportunity to ban abortion
completely
but until that time we can take a stand
and let the state and the rest of the
country know that russell county has
declared that we will protect the rights
of all pre-born children and preserve
the dignity of all life in all stages
as elected representatives of the people
of russell county you have the power to
set the direction of this county
you are concerned about bringing tourism
into russell county and having it known
for its history and its beauty
but it should also be known for its
boldness and its strength to stand up
for what we believe in
i have heard my supervisor david eaton
proclaimed that if we honor god he will
bless our county and we've seen that
happen
so let's continue to honor god and we
ask that this board advance and approve
this pro-life sanctuary as requested by
the majority of the people that you are
elected to serve
[Applause]
mr cody jackson
good evening border supervisors and
thank you as always for granting us time
to speak my name is cody jackson and i'm
a resident of cleveland a minister at
harmony community church and
co-coordinator for the russell county
christian coalition i am here to
encourage and voice support for this
board to adopt a resolution declaring
russell county to be a pro-life
sanctuary the coalition has drafted a
petition in support of this measure and
are currently collecting signatures
which as of tonight stands at 745 people
all within a matter of a couple of weeks
while the legal authority of this board
may be limited we believe this will
serve two great purposes one is we do
not want abortion clinics who are
fleeing states with abortion bans to
settle in our county and hope this
stance will encourage surrounding
counties to do the same second we hope
that this will send a message to our
state legislature and our governor to be
pro-life is exactly that pro-life from
conception no exceptions abortionists
make many arguments in support of their
case and while all can't be addressed in
a very short time frame allow me to
address a few points and provide some
facts to encourage your resolve in this
matter since roe v weighed in 1973 has
estimated that over 60 million babies
have had their lives cut short some
argue it isn't a separate life yet
that's hard to prove when it contains
all 46 chromosomes and a unique set of
dna matching neither parent
some will say it isn't a person but a
potential person if the answer for
personhood is not conception then when
does the birth canal magically convey
personhood many in this room delivered
by c-section would certainly disagree
many argue about instances of rape or
incest while these acts are morally
despicable and their punishments another
topic worthy of conversation this
overlooks the fact that there are three
lives involved in that conversation two
are innocent one is guilty neither
innocent life should be ended based on
the evil committed by the guilty
what about when the mother's life is in
danger we can approach these terrible
situations from the standpoint of
attempting to preserve both lives such
as labor induction in a situation of
choreoamnionitis or salphingectomy for a
tubal pregnancy sometimes in those
situations the baby can be saved and
some not
but even if the end is the same for the
baby the means by which we arrive
is vastly different these arguments also
overlook the fact that these situations
are extremely rare uh reasons for
abortion in one survey 85 of women who
had an abortion gave a specific
lifestyle reason such as career
education as why they decide on abortion
and then there's always the states that
pro-lifers are just pro-birth but don't
care about the child that is a big
exemption and i'm happy to say that our
coalition is beginning to work with
state and local leaders to help bridge
the gap in foster care for children in
our community as i stated last month our
coalition and the members of our
community will stand behind you we will
be there to support you and most
importantly this will put you on the
right side of history defending the most
innocent among us i leave you with these
words that mordecai gave to his niece
esther for if thou altogether hold
holdest thy peace at this time then
shall their enlargement and deliverance
arise to the jews from another place
and thou and thy father's house shall be
destroyed and who knoweth whether thou
art come to the kingdom for such a time
as this
[Applause]
mr mike died
i should have signed up for cody
uh i'm mike dyer pastor of harmony
community church
i'm a board member of the russell county
christian coalition i live in district
three huntington virginia
uh there ain't much i could say on top
of what's already been said other than
i'd really like to encourage all seven
of you to vote
uh to make our county a pro-life
sanctuary
um i actually got a call from someone in
dixon county
last week that said their eyes is going
to be on russell county
it was mentioned how that russell county
uh led the way in southwest virginia
against the transgender policy last year
on our school board
and how that that snowball effect
through southwest virginia
and he said the rise is going to be on
russell county to see what we do
and he said if y'all pass and make this
a pro-life sanctuary he's going to get
the ball rolling dixon county
uh also washington county buchanan
county's taught and so i i just like to
encourage uh we've got a shot of being a
leader in this
instead of being a follower and so uh i
i think we can do this i know just a few
years ago i mentioned this last month
just a few years ago this board voted to
make our county uh a second amendment
sanctuary and i want to say i appreciate
you for that and and i think our second
name is important uh but this right here
is far more important than me being a
pack a gun
this is this is the motion in my opinion
this is the most important thing that
this board of supervisors could ever
vote on
and i ask you we we're trying to not to
be a voice for them and now we're asking
you to be a vote for them uh that can't
vote for themselves and so uh thank the
board and the chairwoman for moving this
to the conference room tonight uh to
accommodate the crowd i just say i
appreciate you and uh i'm gonna pray for
you and god will bless you and i believe
if we do the right thing i i'm i'm a
firm believer in this if i'll do what's
right god will bless me
and if i don't god will curse me and so
it's our choice and so i just want to
encourage you please vote to make our
county a pro-life sanctuary
[Applause]
jody shelton did i get that right yes
ma'am
thank you very much i appreciate the
board for uh taking time out tonight to
hear what we got to say uh jody shelton
from swords creek area uh mr eaton's my
representative uh
you know i noticed uh before the meeting
started we had prayer
and every board member i i looked i was
watching pray i looked and everybody
bowed their head in prayer
so that tells me one thing either you're
a christian or you're very religious and
so
that ought to
solidify where everybody stands on on
this
uh i thank god that everybody here
tonight had uh
pro-life parents
uh or we wouldn't have been here
and uh we also said uh
we play uh everybody put their hand over
their heart and pledge allegiance to the
flag uh that flag means a whole lot to
me and what i pledge to it i intend to
uphold and i'm sure you do also
and at the very end of it we said that
we supported liberty and justice for all
not for some
but for all
and every u7 board members have the
power
to pass this pro-life sanctuary for
russell county
and to help us be
the forerunners for this uh
you know these babies got to have
somebody to stand up for
you know a lot of times their mothers
don't their fathers don't but we can
and you know you hold the power in your
hands when you vote for this i
understand the vote might not be tonight
it may be next month
and that's going to give you a lot of
time to think about this but i just
encourage you to think about
the prayer that you said before and the
pledge that you took to the flag if you
stood up and done that
then either you mean it or you don't and
i think that when you vote on this
and i hope it's an open open vote to
where everybody
everybody the crowd next month hopefully
it'll be larger than what it is tonight
and like
uh mike said i appreciate y'all moving
into this room so that
everyone could be here
people are going to know where you stand
and i just want to say i thank you for
what you do i thank you for
trying to help us make russell county
the best county that it can be
and we can only do that if if we're
doing what god instructs us to do
you know
uh the bible says thou shalt not kill
i'm sure all of y'all seen the sign
uh that's a commandment not a suggestion
so
you know it's up to us but i thank you
for your time appreciate you
[Applause]
salyer
really i didn't know what really
just let everybody know where i stood on
the
you know the situation you know uh
i didn't know that i'd even be called
but i'm glad you did
i i've been a christian for many a year
and i don't
i don't believe in killing i you know
the death penalty that's different
but uh our children unborn children they
they deserve a right to live just like i
had a right to live
my mom could aborted me
and may have ortov but she decided not
to but
i just wan i've lived in russell county
all my life
but uh
i worked in tennessee most of my life
and brought my taxis i paid virginia
state tax and never had a job here
i worked a couple of years
later in life
in virginia but uh i believe our state
should stand up and our county should
stand up for the unborn children
i really do now i've signed that paper
and i just wanted you know maybe that
was what people just based our opinion
that we was pro-life and one children
i i've got one of the beautiful daughter
and grandson
we could aborted them
but what would i had then
you know uh uh
there's a woman i'll tell this and then
i'll sit down
we were uh when my grandson was born he
was born with a crippled foot
and he could have been aborted just on
the count of that
but he's growed up he works he's 23 year
old
he works every day goes to work comes
home
but that woman that was with me and my
wife
when our grandson was born she looked
over at me
and she said uh
that's the best thing ever happened to
you
and you know i looked at that girl it's
my wife's uh first cousin
i said no
he's a great little man
but being a christian when i was saved
was the best thing that ever happened to
me
and i thank you people for your time i
didn't even know i've lived in russell
county i don't even know who sits on the
board but i hope
i live i live down on the lorry of the
county
and i'll let y'all run this and i run
the lower end but uh
hey i appreciate i appreciate your
people i really
[Applause]
well after john went cathy do you want
to come up here and see if you can top
him as is kathy salyer does she want to
come talk
[Music]
you're fine thank you for your testimony
all right angela carpenter
remind me and i will certainly relate to
you going last if you want to sit here
excuse me
i'm gonna murder this word uh kenny
ballings
bowling
kenny did i get it right
almost
i apologize kenny
i have on my glasses and they're not
working
uh yes ma'am and you wanted me to follow
him that's great i'm uh gone down too
right now
but i will be uh quick i want to thank
you uh for allowing me to speak madam
chairman and the board
i want to uh reiterate what everyone has
already said i want to do
give you a little bit of a different
perspective just briefly
i stood outside of bristol regional
women's health center for two years
every monday and reached out to those
that were
going for the so-called medical services
they do offer medical services but they
also offer abortions
if you do not know where that is most
people do not know where bristol
regional
women's health center is
it is at the corner of state and
slaughter
uh if that doesn't ring something with
you i hope it does
it is on slaughter street and they do
slaughter babies they murder babies
because that's what abortion is it is
murder
and they hide behind health care
several people that we
uh minister to i am a pastor in the
county i'm sort of a pastor at large
right now
uh
but they do
uh offer abortion services many of the
people that we ministered to some people
we even went to church with did not know
that bristol regional women's health
center was
an abortion clinic
and our reason i say that to you is is
they will sneak in under the auspice of
health care
they may come in before you know it they
may be set up before you know it
and i think if
it is imperative that this board vote to
make russell county
a uh
sanctuary of life county
that we do stand up and take the lead as
my brothers and sisters have
challenged you to do i appreciate
uh the work that you have done and the
work that you are doing and as
some of them said already we've taken
the lead
uh we can be a leader in
the state of virginia not just the
appalachians but in virginia as a whole
we can be a leader and not just say well
virginia ends at roanoke and let that be
our complaint and go on and expect
someone else
to do something about it we can be the
leader we can stand up and say we're
going
to make sure that life
is
as honored as the scripture said
children are heritage from the lord
and you've heard those other passages of
scripture
that
we could repeat but
i will leave you with this
you will be accountable to the citizens
come election day you will have to
answer for
this vote or that vote what you do
whether they're happy or not
but on judgment day the sovereign god of
the universe
that whose life it really is
that life
of the mother and of the child
belongs to the sovereign god of the
universe
you will be accountable of your actions
to him so i ask that you think about and
pray about
doing what god
would consider right and has called you
to do
thank you thank you very much
dane owens
[Music]
okay
remind me
i'm sorry
uh okay
just a minute
brandon castle
well good evening
i'm thankful to be here thankful to be
saved my name is brandon castle
and i live on my family farm in the
thompson creek section of russell county
and mr ray's
district i am here for one reason
uh simply because i love the lord
and i'm thankful for each and every day
what he has done for me
and for the fact that he allowed me to
be a father to a child
i had a bone marrow transplant that
caused me to have to have a lot of
chemotherapy
so when me and my wife got married i was
unsure if i would be able to even father
a child
i'll never forget coming home from work
that evening and my wife had a little
box
sitting on the table
and i was we hadn't been married very
long just maybe like four months
and
i was a little bit concerned about
opening that box
but when i opened it
i was overjoyed
because that's when i found out that my
wife was carrying
my little baby
there was a lot of nights that
i laid on her stomach as time went on
and i listened for my little girl
and her mama's belly
and i'll tell you something god is the
giver of life
and i'm so thankful
for the blessing i think somebody
already said that that the children are
the heritage of the lord
i'm so thankful that i have a little
girl
that i can call mine
there is so many things that we could
talk about tonight but the reality is is
we're fighting a war against
evil we're in a spiritual warfare
we're living in a day in an hour when
people are calling good things evil and
evil things good
and i'm here tonight to declare that
this murder of these unborn children
it is nothing
but evil
it is darkness
it is wickedness and it is sin
and it is contrary to the word of god
and i thought about what i could deliver
to you know you're in trouble you know
you're either gonna get churched or
either somebody's gonna get saved when a
preacher walks up here to the microphone
with the bible but there was a scripture
that the lord laid on my heart in the
book of james chapter 4
that i want to share with you
it's in verse number 17 and it said
therefore to him
that knoweth to do good
and doeth it not
to him
it is sin
my friends
heaven and earth is going to pass away
but this right here
will stand
for ages and ages throughout all
eternity
we need to put god back in government
we need to put god at the front of
everything in our life
and you watch god honor us and bless us
for us being a good servant to him
god bless you i pray that the lord would
allow you to be impressed
to support this that russell county will
be a pro-life
county god bless you
paul herndon
hey i thank you for your time
i've wrote down some notes and i'm kind
of scattered i don't have anything
pre-planned for saving i i agree with
what everybody else is saying they've
not said anything that i disagree with
and as i look at y'all i'm and by the
way i'm from swords creek
i live in clarksville
mr eaton's
there's my board member here but uh
yeah
i look at you all guys i don't see any
young people
i mean y'all might just find young
different than i do but you've all
you've all probably got
uh children and grandchildren and
whatever and if you do i've got a i've
got a two-year-old granddaughter and
it's i love her so much it's probably
not healthy
i mean i i just can't describe it you
know i love my voice and i raise them
but now this grand baby is so special to
me
and
my son my daughter-in-law they chose not
to abort her i wouldn't have known that
joel
and i'll stand here and tell you if they
had
it would have been my decision
but it would have been wrong and uh
but now
in in the bible
i'm a born-again christian thank god
and
that's the most important thing in my
life
but in matthew i like how matthew
described
uh
in in the book of matthew and it's other
places in the bible
uh
they described murray when she's
pregnant she was with child
she was with child so
you know 50 years ago
we had some wicked people ruling and
nobody stood up like we are now and took
enough time and cared enough to say wait
a minute this is wrong that's a lie
you know and we had enough wiki people
in in position to pair the rule the
bible says when the wicked rule the
people mourn when the righteous rule
people rejoice
uh so it's you know we're we're going to
get we're going to get this thing to
vote i believe if it gets on the agenda
and i'm hoping each one of y'all i feel
like each one of y'all vote how we how
we are speaking and what we want you to
do
but you know it's important to stand and
say what we want to say and how we say
it but
at what age
is it a child i like the bible
description she was with child that's
what the bible said
when at conception i think she's with
child so
at what age do we quit calling their
babies and their grandbabies a child
they're a child when they're conceived
and their child we look at them one day
and say wow they're young adults they're
they're kids
so you know these things consider
and this is in y'all's power to do when
this happens and if other people are
going to kill babies and they are and
they and they want to stand up and say
that's right we all know it's wrong we
all know strong
but i hope this is something all of us
agree on
and uh it's never okay to take a child's
life
and they talk about you know it's a
woman's right and whatever
i just disagree with that if if you get
pregnant for whatever reason what about
the child's life so i'm just asking
y'all when the time comes
that you will sort this out i don't
think it'll be a problem here in our
county i really don't
but uh you need to hear what we how we
feel and just we're just here to support
you all
and i appreciate your time
thank you thank you mr harrington
[Music]
thank you guys for hearing us all
i really appreciate it and i appreciate
y'all for moving into this room as well
i wanted to speak today in favor of the
pro-life sanctuary
while it is true we currently have no
abortion clinics in russell county i am
not naive enough to think they won't
weasel their way into our community much
like the suboxone clinics have
the closest abortion clinic was located
in bristol tennessee and has since moved
its operations to bristol virginia
given that tennessee has the fortitude
to not be a haven for such immorality
these states that border us that will
halt or severely limit their abortions
will force abortion clinics to look for
other places to make their money and
that's what it is guys it's money
and they will eventually get the idea
that southwest virginia with its easy
drive time from bordering states will be
a wonderful location for such places we
cannot let this happen
i am sure before this is over you all
will be bombarded with arguments stating
that abortion is health care there's
nothing caring about abortion
they will say that abortion is necessary
for some women to lead full lives
instead of being forced to give birth
they will let you
they will tell you that rather than have
a child with special needs the mother
would be better off to get an abortion
it is unfathomable to me to tell
somebody they shouldn't have been born
for a simple convenience
what a sad way to look at life
i have heard so many times that single
mothers should abort their children that
their lives would be better off without
having a baby to care for
and this is simply not true
you see i am the product of 10 parents
and i thank god every day
that my parents chose life for me
in no way did the fact that i live
hurt my parents lives no
in fact it was the opposite
i'm confident that god has a plan for my
life and for everyone's life
we have to be willing to step up and
stand against evil and protect the most
vulnerable in our society i'm asking you
ladies and gentlemen of the board to
stand with us in this fight and make
roseville county a pro-life sanctuary
thank you all
[Applause]
steven musick
i was like the man there a minute ago
who said he didn't know what he was
signing well i knew what i was saying
well no i didn't because
uh i thought it was just everybody had
to sign so i signed my name and my
wife's name you probably saw it there so
anyway
uh
but i come to speak to everyone for just
a few moments about our children
and
you've heard all of us know that passage
in the scripture where jesus
wanted the little children to come to
him
so i just put on the top of this suffer
little children
respecting members of the russell county
board of supervisors my name's steven
music and i'm
in
chestnut ridge part of the county
respective members of the russell county
board of supervisors i come to speak to
you on behalf of those who cannot speak
for themselves
yes the unborn
the helpless
the unheard
the weak
such where every one of us here at one
point in time
but
thanks to god
every one of us had someone
speaking for us speaking on our behalf
before many and i ever knew we were
expecting children and when we found out
that each of our four were on the way
not not at all at one time
we began praying for them speaking on
their behalf
i remember one instance when manny was
having some problems with our third
pregnancy
we called our doctor and he had us come
in
we went in
we were 12 weeks alone
and there on the ultrasound we saw our
little charity
what did we see
she had the hiccups
12 weeks old
she had hiccups
now how many of us have had the hiccups
sometime or another we've all had the
hiccups that's a human thing isn't it
now
i think also what else was she doing
she was sucking her thumb
12 weeks old
about an inch and a half long
and she was there sucking her thumb i
don't want to embarrass anyone but the
matter of fact is if we didn't have a
pacifier
we had our thumb
but before i can speak for the little
ones i must speak briefly to three other
groups and i will speak briefly
the first group i want to speak to is
the parents
all over this room parents
in luke 18 that's one of the three
passages that talk about suffer the
little children who come unto me
here's what it says and they
brought unto him also
infants
that he would touch them
i want to back up for just a minute and
say who's the they
who are the they they had to be either
the mommy
or the daddy or both
you just don't give your baby to
somebody and say hey you go find jesus
and get him to touch him mr music
you're
i'm going to give you 30 more seconds
just 30 seconds okay
i'm sorry i better well then i believe
i want to get to the main point all
right main point here is this passage
that i'm talking about where it says
uh the infants
who use the word infants
so i looked it up because i wanted to
see who was he talking about how old
were they how old were they to be
well
in one passage matthew it says their
little children in another passage it
says mark they're young children but in
this passage it says infants so i looked
up the word infant
and the greek word for infant is
not only
infant
but unborn
the bible god says
that these little ones that are in the
womb
the unborn
are the same thing that he calls
infants
babies
little children
and so i'm asking you all on behalf of
our county to
support
making this a
pro-life
county
pro-life sanctuary and i thank god for
every person who's come tonight and
everyone who's spoken and everyone who
hasn't spoken god bless you thank you
thank you miss music
[Applause]
mini music do you want to follow that
all right
eddie hall
there's nothing i can add there's just
nothing i can add i just want
no i appreciate every one of his time
and
like i said there's just nothing i can
add and then we need to
make richmond know russell county's on
the map
we got a chance to be a leader
let's take it and run with it well we
got a chance we'll go other people said
other counties are going to watch what
we're doing well let's get richmond and
let's get the whole country watching
what russell county
is doing because we're doing it right
let's keep the ball rolling while we're
doing it the right way thanks for your
time thank you mr hall
[Applause]
tara no
good evening my name is tara knoll i'm
from the spring city area of cleveland
and i thank you for giving us a few
minutes a few minutes of your time um
just to hear from members of our
community
i had to add this a few minutes ago so
bear with me please um 17 years ago
god blessed me and my husband with a
beautiful son
his name was josh and he was born with a
neural tube defect called spina bifida
um
after josh was born i found out that
doctors encourage abortion for those
with this diagnosis
especially early on in pregnancy
because they do not see any type of
quality of life
no matter what i would have chosen life
for him
i did choose life for him
and god chose life for him
but unfortunately josh passed away 10
years ago
um
god blessed us with his beautiful soul
for at least seven years and i'm so
thankful for that
jeremiah 1 5
says before i form thee in the belly i
knew thee
and before thou camest forth out of the
womb i sanctified thee
and now they ordain thee a prophet unto
the nations
he set us apart
he declared us holy
our god knows us
and he has a perfect plan for each of us
he is perfect in everything and he makes
no mistakes
we need to protect all life
from the point of conception forward
period
i ask that you please make a stand for
our county
and make russell county a pro-life
sanctuary
be a voice
allow us to be a voice for these
precious souls
and give them that sanctified
holy set apart life
a chance to make a difference in this
world
thank you
[Applause]
roy castle
thank you for allowing me to speak
you're doing a thankless job
but i do appreciate what you do
uh
my request is
if you get somebody to check the
subdivision
road at kingland heights and i'll
appreciate all you could do
thank you so much
thank you mr castle
kingland heights mr lester
doro martin
i'm not speaking
about abortion although i hope i really
hope you do
vote this to be a pro-life sanctuary
especially my daughter was a
micropreemie
they could have let her go but we didn't
we're blessed now i'm
i'm here today
to speak for um backfest southwest
virginia we're going to have it again
this year september 24th um
can i approach and get everybody
yes please
we'll pay we'll pass it out while you
talk
oh my
there's a lot of stuff
all right we will have um bedfest
southwest virginia at um the russell
county fairgrounds again this year on
september 24th it's going to be a
one-day event this year
this event is
supporting the stop soldier suicide
organization
if anybody has
paid attention we have
tried to
raise awareness for it actually our
um
t-shirt this year
carries the name of austin dardy he was
a graduate from lebanon high school
2013 he joined the navy
he got into a little bit of trouble
nothing terrible
but
because
his chain of command did not
extend the hand to help
did not recognize
the mental status the mental health he
was in
this 24 year old boy back then
having a
two-year-old child at home
decided it was best for him to end his
life
he was an active duty member he should
not have ever should not have ever come
to this
one of my good friends
david hoenecker you all know him he
lives in the row he lived in roses
subdivision
he was at the other
end of the spectrum he is a veteran
he's
got very badly injured
while he was in the service
never really recovered always had mental
problems
nobody was able to help him
he ended up
shooting himself
in his recliner
that's
two
two separate instances completely
different stories
and we just cannot
keep letting this happen this is why
we're having breakfast this one this is
why we want to help stop soldier suicide
stop soldier suicide is an
organization they will reach out
if people call
it doesn't matter the um
[Music]
the way you you separated from the
service whether you have an honorable
discharge a dishonorable discharge or
anything in between that will help no
matter what
um
that's the pretense the uh we're going
to have a 5k 12k rack again this year
we're gonna have a wonderful
opening ceremony
um
with military honors and everything we
want to have a motorcycle ride we have a
car show we have a
live music we have a worship service we
have a lot of things for children to
play we have the um
the state parks come and do
presentations we have the state police
come do presentations with the k-9 we
have the tazewell county canines come
the army national guard is bringing
paddle cars and inflatables so there's
the army recruiters are bringing
all kinds of things it's a free event
unless you
join in one of the tournaments we will
have a nerf gun battle
for kids small and tall it's
for everybody
um we want to invite everybody our motto
is bridge the gap
because
i think a lot of our community does not
know how to
interact with somebody
who has
mental issues especially if they were
prior service just like our
alzheimer's
group you know it's it's hard we need to
learn we need to learn how to reach out
this is why we're doing it it is for
everybody everybody is invited to come
on the 24th
toronto
i know and we have and i was
except last year i didn't ask for
anything this year we're doing it a
little bigger and i was going to ask
the board if you would be able to
support us
a little bit
financially
and leave that with us
with you and you can discuss it and
have maybe until next until next um
meeting thank you we appreciate what
you're doing all right thank you so much
for your time
[Applause]
oh by the way dora before you leave if
you'd like to do a presentation for us
next month
could you do that would you like to do
that i'll give you more time
good mr lester
agenda number one
phillip mclaughlin
hello board my name is phillip
mclaughlin i think i'm in stevens
district live here in lebanon virginia
know most of you all probably personally
you know i've thought what could i come
up here and say
that's not been said
probably not much
but
you know me and my wife i'm so thankful
i do have one son he's 20.
he means much to means everything to me
other than above my lord and savior
jesus christ
but they've been on they've been one
person but i know i've never
came to this earth
he didn't deserve to die
and no unborn child
deserves to die
or give up their life
but i know a man
that freely
they didn't take his life he freely laid
it down
so each and every one of you all sitting
in here today
could have an opportunity to have life
and have it more abundantly
and someday maybe make heaven our home
if
you have your sins under the blood
my wife
after my son was born a few years later
she was pregnant again and we lost that
child
probably five years later she was
pregnant again we lost that child
that was just god's plan
i'm thankful for the son that i do the
one i do have
i appreciate him and there's many people
i know that sitting behind me tonight
that probably don't have any children
that would love to have children
and it's so sad to see that you know
people that is just willingly want to
throw a life away
and i i prayed today and i said lord if
you'd have me speak or you would want me
to speak what would you want me to say
and maybe what scripture
would come that you'd put on my mind and
seem like sitting here tonight
nothing come to my mind until in here
tonight and you know a lot of times
people will say
uh i know it's not been mentioned you
know before he was ever in the womb and
things of that nature different
scripture but the one that jumped out at
me that
it was in the luke 1 and salutation when
mary was talking and elizabeth
and when it said you know they people
says that the child they don't know
anything
they don't have any feelings things of
that nature and i read this scripture i
would have probably read the whole
chapter but for time's sake
i'll just read chapter luke 1 and 41 and
said it came to pass that when elizabeth
heard the salutation of mary
the babe leaked in her womb
and elizabeth was filled with the holy
ghost
so right there is plain and simple
one only other thing i'm going to say i
thought when i said what can i say
different
than any person that's been up here so
far because they've been already a bunch
of people stole my thunder
uh as i'm going to address
and i'm thankful that we had two i was
like man i think the one done left
before i got up here i think there's one
still here maybe more i don't know
but i'm going to address the media
that's here tonight and say i pray when
we go home and we watch this on our tvs
and whether it be tonight or tomorrow
because most people that stood up here
has stood
probably for this
i pray when we watch this on tv that you
run more than a 15 second clip about it
and give it no attention i pray that you
give it a long segment in your news
cast when you broadcast this if you go
back to your stations and broadcast this
i pray that you will give this some
some good
coverage
and and don't just give us a short
little clip because we will be watching
you too we support you
uh by buying cable and subscribing to tv
every day so uh
i pray that you will run this
uh and give us good air time and i i've
got faith in this board
that you're gonna support this i don't i
feel i feel confident in that and
we're here to support you all
and i'm thankful for you as i'm thankful
for the resolution that has been written
and hopefully that we can see that be
passed next month thank you all for your
time thank you
[Applause]
don zamboni zamponi
i butchered that every time pastor don
i'm sorry
i'm doctor donnar zampona the pastor at
green valley baptist church i am in mr
breeding's
district
and
every time i have come to address the
board every meeting begins by invoking
the name of god
and then we turn and we pledge
allegiance to one nation under god
if we're going to invoke the name of god
then we ought to be a people who live by
the word of god because this is the word
of god
and we do not have to guess as to god's
will in this day in which we're living
after 49 years the supreme court righted
a wrong that never should have been
while we are living right now under
perhaps one of them and this is my
opinion
while we are living right now under
perhaps one of the most despicable
wicked ungodly presidencies
congress
and senate in these united states god is
still a god of miracles and god's voice
is spoken and the supreme court has said
no to abortion because it is time to get
god back in america again it is time to
be a people who will stand up for god it
is time for christian soldiers and
that's what we must be we must be
soldiers of the cross and we must go out
and we must stand up for those who can't
speak for themselves but friends we must
stand up for our faith because one day
has already been said
every single one of these people and
every single one of y'all and we all
together in this there is a god in
heaven and to him who knows to do right
and we don't do it it is sin i don't
want to be a sinner to you
and so i hope and i pray for you and i
thank you for allowing us to speak
tonight
and i hope that we can pass a resolution
that says we are a pro-life county
because god's is a pro-life god and we
need to stand for what god says and
hallelujah to god and i'm so thankful
i'm a blood-bought saint of the living
god and i'm so thankful there's a heaven
and i'm so thankful my mama and daddy
gave me a life so that i could be here
tonight
did i tell you coming from western new
york
i never thought i'd be in southwest
virginia but hallelujah i'm here and i'm
glad i'm here so thank you
[Applause]
raymond short
very good mr short if you want to take
the microphone it's all yours for three
minutes
all right thank you very much
no pooling of minutes
james nunley
and uh james nunley live in lebanon area
district do appreciate the opportunity
uh stand before you tonight don't have
very much as so much has already been
said but
i begin thinking about proverbs chapter
6 verses 16 and 17 you find a list of
things that god hates
seven that are an abomination unto him
and listed in that you find the hands
that shed innocent blood
and it's very important for us
to realize that that is abortion period
you can't define it any other way it's
hands that shed innocent blood that's an
abomination unto god very important that
we understand we have an opportunity to
consider passing a resolution to make
russell county a pro-life sanctuary who
would ever think you have to to deem
something that
is beyond me but we are in that time but
please consider that to keep any part of
the abortion industry out of this county
to keep our county's most innocent lives
protected thank you for your time
wally kennedy
[Music]
good afternoon
i'm not much of a speaker but
i've got a few words i'd like to say
first of all i want to thank all of you
board members for your time and your
patience for being here tonight and
and second of all well i should say
first of all i want to thank god but i
want to thank god also
i'm from uh castlewood i've lived in
russ county my whole life
i'm from a family of 12
and i'm the youngest
so
i think my poor mother she died at the
age of 52 on christmas day
but i want to thank my mother and my
father for
not aborting me
that that means so much to me uh she
could easily done it but you know having
12 kids you know
i thank her for that
uh
there's not much more i can say except i
ask for your support and your vote
tonight
whenever you vote on this make russell
county a pro-life sanctuary
and i just want to thank everyone for
coming and thank you all again for your
time and your patience thank you very
much thank you wally
[Applause]
mr nate kaiser
thank you board for
letting me speak uh nathan kaiser from
green valley
um
you know our founding fathers 200 almost
250 years ago
thank god that they knew
who got the god of abraham was thank god
because they wrote in the declaration of
independence we hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are created
equal
and that they are endowed by their
creator
with certain unalienable rights
that among these are life
liberty and the pursuit of happiness
i think in this country
about 50 years ago they forgot that
the court forgot that
and i thank god that we have a court
today
that sought to right that wrong
but being pro-life doesn't just mean
pro-life but
or pro-life with
pro-life is
from it from conception there's no buts
there's no wiz
that's the end of the sins i'm pro-life
and if you believe in the lord jesus
christ
then you're pro-life
and if you
vote
you go to the polls and you vote
for
politicians that
vote for
abortion
that allow abortion that
uh
settle for
exceptions and exemptions
i'm sorry that's not pro-life
so this board has got uh
a choice to make
do we make russell county
an example
and make it a pro-life sanctuary
and i encourage every one of you to take
up this resolution i know you probably
got to make a public hearing next month
but i encourage you to do that tonight
to go ahead and face that public hearing
so that we can
bring all these people back plus another
500 more
and that we can make this county a
pro-life county sending a message to
governor younkin
sending the message to the legislators
supporting senator travis hackworth's
legislation he's going for produce next
year if every county
every county took up this resolution
and passed it
then you would see
a lot easier path for senator hackworth
come next year's legislative session
it's going to be an uphill battle even
governor younkins already wanting to
uh
he's starting from a compromised
position 15 weeks he says
that's that's not pro-life
that is not that's still death
life at conception
not
with exemption
there's no exemption
so
i uh i want to encourage you to do that
um
and uh
oh this is off topic but uh
if anybody's interested in learning more
about the 2020 election come out friday
night at 6 pm right here
all
[Applause]
now we're going to back up a little bit
angela carpenter
i'm angela carpenter i live at 1995 big
city creek road
i am the chamber of commerce director
for the county i own a business here in
the county
i serve on the fair board i serve as an
advisor for the tourism board
so i think it's pretty safe to say that
i care about our county
i care about our properties and our land
and um it's my understanding that last
meeting there was a vote made about some
property on big cedar creek
i'm not sure exactly what happened or
what was said i've only got some hearsay
and um some um
information about the land that's for
sale that's adjacent to my farm
carl you know where my farm is
orris you should know where my farm is
because you're my neighbor and you
should know where my farm is because i'm
in your district
so the property that's for sale i guess
somebody was trying to buy it for some
business you know i'm pro-business i
love business in our county
um but there's some
easement
issues and some right-of-way issues
in the subdivision
um in the cul-de-sac
um we did our due diligence when we
bought our farm property we had all the
stuff researched um it's my
understanding that someone made the
comment in the meeting before the vote
was made that that was a question
um i do have proof
that i have a right-of-way for that
crappy little bridges that was put
across the creek
um the house
is sitting on our right away it was sold
either
not having the proper
due diligence done to research the deeds
or under false
pretenses i'm not sure
um but we do have a right-of-way right
there and my understanding is it was
voted on last meeting to do a
adjustment
of
i'm not sure how it's listed but
adjustment there of where the property
lines are
and that it was supposed to be a legal
vote but um i did look up today because
i'm not really all versed on what
happened because i wasn't here at the
meeting and i haven't seen the minutes
but there is a law on the books it is
152-2264
that says the action shall not involve
the relic relocation or alteration of
streets alleys or easements for public
passage or other public areas no
easement or utility right away shall be
relocated or altered without the express
consent of all persons
holding any interest
period
i hold interest i hold a lot of interest
i'm adjacent right away nobody notified
me
i knew nothing about it till somebody
come and told me
so i don't know the what happened in the
meeting or what went down i will look
and i do have
a land attorney that did our research
for us several years ago
and i have an estate attorney because
our property is still in state so i
would like for them to contact you all
and see what's going on with that
property
gotta get my three minutes
i know y'all can't answer questions but
if y'all have any questions for me about
anything that you need to know for that
i'm willing to tell you what i know
visit the planning commission
is that
mr lester when's the planning commission
meeting next
oh mr christian you're on there
when's the planning commission meeting
next
third monday
meets where
in the regular
in the in the regular lobby of the board
room on the other end of this building
okay and when will the minutes be
available from the last meeting
it should be available now all right i
will check that out
thank you all so much
okay i've got one more hang on just a
second
reign owens
hmm
hi i'm rayne owens i'm 15. i live at
10729 roadblood highway in honaker i'm
from carl reyes district and our back
our building is in david eaton's
district i'm here today because i
volunteer at the old given school with
stars ministries my mom is amanda thomas
my mom amanda thomas is the leader of
our program we've worked since i've
worked since i was born
my papa ted blankenship started the
program in 1997. he used the name stars
because it he said in his eyes every
star every child is a star
no matter rich or poor the program
started with one family and now we work
with the red cross to provide for fire
and flood victims we help with multiple
other organizations in the county
we help anyone who needs clothes food
christmas toys or
clothes for kids
we help people with funeral costs and
try to take a lesson from miriam in the
bible by keeping things as private as
possible because helping people is not
about getting recognized it's about
serving god and helping people
we try and do
anything that you can think of
that you need help on
and i'm here to ask y'all if you could
donate to the back to school bash i'm
hosting in honor of my papaw i'm trying
to raise money to take 20 kids back to
school shopping
we will have vendors food trucks people
coming to do free haircuts for kids
live music and i'll be handing out
hygiene products
we're also looking for donations of
those
two
we're looking for volunteers if any of
you want to come volunteer or if y'all
have anyone that would want to come
please let them know but if you have any
questions let me know i want you all to
remember like in job 213 it says rend
your heart and not your garments
and turn unto the lord your god for he
is gracious and merciful
slow to anger
and of kindness and repenteth him of the
evil this verse shows kindness and love
that we all need to remember i'm not
asking y'all to do it for me i'm asking
you to do it for the commute for your
community and the kids in it and for god
thank you
that brings us to the end of the public
comment that i have anybody's name on
here if someone still feels like that
their voice needs to be heard you're
welcome to come up
and speak at this time
had anybody else i got a hand in the
back come on
give me your name and address
steve wallace
green valley virginia
lebanon district steve i tell you i've
heard some
uh
comments tonight
that makes me proud
to be from southwest virginia
you have miss puckett
her associate
that come in and offer free of charge
to train people
to help us
with alzheimer's so we had a young lady
sits back here in the back i can't
remember her name
come
in
and helps our veterans return
regardless
of how this is charged
we've had
several people
to speak up
that's belong to churches pastors
and i'm so proud to be
a member
of
this county
and i know you all are proud of them too
i know you are you have to be
you can't represent the type of people
that's in here
and not be proud of
there's one thing i heard tonight
of all that's been said
that really bothers me
60 million
children have been appointed
60 million
who have been aborted during that maybe
one of the greatest presidents that this
nation has ever seen has been avoided
one of the greatest doctors
that's ever been on face to earth may
have been born
could have helped us could have solved
cancer lot of things could have been
done
this county can be the start of
something
that this nation needs
right now
we need it it's not a it's not a want to
it's something we need
stop this abortion now let the next
great president be born in russell
county
let the next great doctor
be born in russell county
you can vote to do that
and we're here to back you
we're here we're here to do that
all right one more time i'd like for
everybody that's for
sanctuary city stand up
[Applause]
please
[Applause]
please vote on this tonight if you can
make make us proud
as much as we're proud of you i hope you
know we were proud to i hope you all are
proud of us also thank you
[Laughter]
yes give us your name and your address
please
it's wanda burke we live at 64 uh park
avenue we're part of steve breeding's
district
um definitely
want to agree with the pro-life
sanctuary definitely needed but i want
to tell you
everybody says
you know they can't sneak in here
and i will tell you this is the fight
that we have here in the town of lebanon
suboxone clinics people we've got eight
of them in this town limits you know how
they got here
they came in and filled out a business
application
not one of them said that that's what
they do not one
so how easily can a clinic come in here
and say well we're just coming in
because we're gonna it's women's health
and it'll fly through because
hey we've got another business
that's not what this is about
and i'm just here to say and randy will
my husband will tell you the same thing
we are in this fight in the town of
lebanon
we'll be out to see the board after this
for county we do not need this stuff in
this county
there was a lady out here this week or
last week pulled out a mcdonald's dead
stopped in the middle of the road with
her head down
had no idea where she was
that's what we're bringing in here
so i'm just going to tell you i know
from his part and my part we're not
going to stop with the fight
in the town we're coming to the county
next because we don't need this
and we just want you all to know we are
definitely pro-life sanctuary and we
stand behind it we appreciate you your
vote
thank you
[Applause]
my name is christy perkins i'm from
source creek
microphone say it again i'm sorry
christy perkins from swords creek didn't
plan on this but when the lord tells you
to do something you got to do it and my
heart's just beating out of my chest
right now but when i hear all this stuff
about the babies and the woman who had
the baby with with issues i think back
23 years ago when my son who's sitting
back there
23 years old now when i was 12 weeks
pregnant with him they done an
ultrasound and my husband was just
talking about it he was running in place
you could see them little legs just a
running and flipping
that's alive people that's alive that i
mean nothing dead is going to run like
that and they say that it's not live
until it's about whatever but you know
what
i talked to my children from the day i
found out that i was pregnant with them
they was alive
and we have to stand up for them because
i could have aborted them but then i
wouldn't have either three of my kids or
my two grandbabies but you know we have
to we have to protect them and as i was
sitting back there and the lord said
just go just go say what's on your heart
and my heart
is these kids and my heart is these
parents who cannot have kids who would
love to have a little baby to take care
of and i have a niece right now who
would give anything to have a child and
she can't
but then as sandy knows you work in in
this system it's so expensive to adopt a
baby and to get help with that you know
they need to instead of aborting they
need to put these finances and this
stuff to help kids get homes and put
them in a home and there's so much that
we could do
if we would just take our money that we
we put through unnecessary and illegal
stuff
put it towards these babies that people
want to abort and give them a home that
will love them and raise them as johnny
said
somebody who didn't have a kid or maybe
had kids but let them take somebody who
don't have them or can't have them or
wants them give them to them don't abort
them and that's all i want to say
and my name is wayne hubbard i'm from
the swords creek area and uh
i'd like to add to uh
i am also a sitting board member of the
church coalition and i'd like to just
let y'all know that uh meeting before
last delegate morefield's wife met with
us at our coalition meeting and shared
some information
uh on getting kids homes and and these
kids that are in in dire situations into
stressful situations
and uh i took that back to our church
and a couple in our church has already
contacted her and started paperwork to
adopt one of these children
these things we can do folks
that is so much better than aborting a
child and shed an innocent blood uh this
couple their godly their godly folks
they attend church regularly and i'm i'm
proud to say that i took that
information to church and they picked it
up and said i want to do this
there's folks all over this county would
do that
but we do need to make
make it more available to folks people
who can't have children who want
children they're willing to take these
children and i understand a lot of times
that we have that we have situations
where kids are born and and it's tough i
i do understand that but there's folks
if we can make this information more
available like she did with us and we
took it to our church let's get it out
there help us do that y'all have the
power to do it and help us make this a
pro-life sanctuary county with your
pro-life vote i i've got confidence that
that you are going to make that vote i
ask you to make it tonight i don't know
why you couldn't but if you can't then
certainly we want you want you to make
that vote in the future and one last
thing is i thank god
for this county and for all those that
have come up and spoke
and let their faith be shown and it's
going to be shown on on tv and and i
just think it's wonderful what a county
we have and i'm like the the gentleman a
few few folks before me i'm just proud
of those folks i'm proud that they're my
neighbors and my friends and they're my
church companions pastors and deacons
and i love them each and every one and i
love these unborn children
i don't know them but god does
please make that vote
one last thing
60 million children aborted over 50
years tells me
that they're using abortion as a
frivolous way
of birth control and that's all that it
is
uh
not necessary thank y'all thank you
[Applause]
my name is sue hubbard i'm from sewage
creek uh i'm not a speaker
i um i do have four girls that i'm very
proud of and i thank the lord for they
work for the lord
i also have one that that didn't make it
i had a miscarriage
and
it didn't get a chance to live
but it's in my heart and my heart broke
the day that i lost it
i i weeped and i mourned
for for weeks over and and i still do
when i my mind goes to it
and
it makes me very angry when somebody
tells me well i don't understand why you
weep because it wasn't a baby it was it
was a life and it took a piece of my
heart with it when it when it didn't
make it and
and
i just hope you all vote and and i hope
the people see who stood for the who
stood for the unborn and who stood and
and
for life and who didn't stand if you
can't stand up for a life it's a shame i
i would be ashamed to even hold my head
up and and look out
to sit in my seat and not stand up for
an unborn child and to sit here and just
ignore what's going on and ignore the
people that's talking and clean your
fingernails or or or write down your
whatever you're wanting to to write
that's more important
to you but there's nothing more
important than an unborn child than a
child and i i just thank the lord for
having an opportunity to speak
and and i thank the lord for having all
these people with us and and
i hope you all have a conscience and you
will you will vote what's right and do
what's right for for us for russell
county we love god and we love life and
and we hope you vote
thank you
[Applause]
i wasn't going to speak but i can't
not speak now anecdotally i'll tell you
what happened my wife and i faced
abortion
name and address please oh yeah that's
right gordon golob
1145
east main street mcdonald's annex
right across the street
and nighttime it's awfully noisy folks
come by any time but
in any event i'm a retired attorney and
when i was at law school my wife was six
months pregnant she came down to visit
me from
seattle area to salem oregon extremely
progressive area
she went into labor
six months
she went into the hospital
and we didn't know it at the time but a
doctor by the name of all things chuck
norris
uh
was an abortion doctor
anyhow she gave birth
chuck norris handed the baby and the
afterbirth to
the nurse a very loving nurse by the way
and said dispose of this
he's now 220 pounds 52 years old never
missed a deep heartbeat or a breath
and
you know that six months is a long ways
down there but they would have bought
that baby
thank you
thank you sir
[Applause]
my name is paul day 460 tunnel drive and
on acre and i thought i could keep my
mouth shut tonight but
i had an experience about three weeks
ago we had a funeral
for a four day old infant baby
that was
one pound
15 ounces when it was born
when it passed it was about one pound
seven ounces
struggled for its life for four days
and you
would think this is a wonderful
opportunity to talk negative about these
type things
but god is god
we are forgetting tonight that we're
trying to promote the right thing the
right christian thing with the right
scriptures
but it doesn't make any difference god
is still god
he said i am
and it will be my way all through the
cove with all the things we have when
things go bad us christians come up and
say god's in control
well i got to tell you tonight god's in
control regardless
and that little baby
barely five months old
god has a plan
and you don't mess with god's plan
yes it was god's plan that baby didn't
make it
i don't understand that i talked to job
he found out who god was
so many people in his word found out
that he was in control that he was god
and we will never understand his ways
or what he thinks but he's in control
and we're here to do his will
and i think it would be the greatest
christian thing in the world because god
plans nine months in that womb
he's in control whatever happens when it
comes out he's in control of what
happens while it's in that womb
he's made that a a person an individual
from conception
it will always be that way and if it's
got some problems if it's challenged
mentally physically emotionally god is
still in control
and he expects us to take care of each
other and to depend on him and trust him
and his word and he will come through
every time
and i think it's the greatest thing we
could do as christians to finally stand
up
and make some laws and regulations and
we like to go by rules so much
that the liberals like to go by rules
real well we need to make some rules
finally
that says that we are for what god is
for we're going to stand up for what god
does but more than all he is the i am he
is he is the beginning and he is the end
and it doesn't really make any
difference
we just need to do what's right
i thank you for your time and i thank
you for making the right decision
thank you mr jay
anybody else
my name is tim whited i'm from the cedar
bluff belfast area
pastor outreach temple of holland
virginia
and i just do i just want to call to
record i guess that when we stood if i'm
not mistaken that i did see five of the
board
stand
for pro-life
and i will say this it is a shame uh for
those that did not stand uh so five are
in favor and five do stand for pro-life
uh there's no reason that we cannot get
this done uh so let's do the right thing
for such a time as this i feel like the
lord god has put you in the position
that you are in
uh it's easy to look back behind me and
see everybody here i would think uh is
for pro-life uh we will be given an
account whether it's in this life
uh whether by way of an election or it's
in uh standing in the judgment with our
god uh we will give an account so five
stood two did not uh let's do what's
right this should be an easy seven to
zero vote this should be an easy thing
choose life choose god do what's right
set a standard uh show folks that we
believe in life
it's one thing to say that we believe in
god and then if we don't do the right
thing
we don't believe in god if we don't do
the right thing so let's do what's right
let's stand up let's make the vote let's
get this done amen thanks for your time
[Applause]
kirby meadows from hong kong virginia uh
not uh sitting there thinking about this
talking about these abortions
the bible says thou shalt not kill
we have laws in our county in our state
if i come to your house and kill
somebody i'm charged with murder
if you take a life no matter how young
it is it's murder
that life begins at conception you kill
that baby that's murder
and if you vote tonight to not do this
or whenever you vote
and you let it go and let those come in
here and do it you're an accessory to
murder you're given the freedom to come
in
tonight unless you want your hands and
blood on your hands you need to vote i
think you can vote tonight with the
people backing you like they are i think
you should vote
but you know what
if you don't vote
to make our county a pro-life sanctuary
the thing we had here is second
amendment deal with all the laws if
you're going to let this stuff in
rampant do with all the laws if you're
going to let people kill babies let me
go out here and kill somebody walk away
from never have time support you should
be able to but you know what that's not
in our hands god gives life if we don't
obey that life and do what god gives up
he give us life he give me life he'd
give me walking privileges because i
could have been in the wheelchair doctor
told me years ago it could be do you
know why i'm still walking today you
know what he'd give me life he'd give
you life every one of you and tonight
this people works in the school system
they see these kids in our account
if they can't stand for those kids lives
and kids are coming up to be part of our
world in the future i think it's a shame
but you know what tonight you have a
right to do so you're there but people
that voted for you like myself and
others put you there to make the right
decisions if you don't make the right
decisions you can't be voted out and if
you don't have backbone tonight to stand
up and do what you think is right what
the bible tells you right i think you
should retire from your position and go
home
that's exactly i feel
thank you
[Applause]
all right one more time anybody else
my name is ethan gross i reside in
hawaii virginia i'm like some of the
others i won't go speak but i thought
about my little uh
girl and i also thought about the one
that i got on the way
i was out i was driving down the road
and my wife looked at me and she said
ethan honey she said i believe i felt my
baby just kicked
and i said you know i said that's god
right there
and i said and you know it's it's wrong
that we're living in a world today
that i go out here and i say that i'm
gonna shoot somebody in this room as
brother kirby said or somebody's gonna
shoot me and we're charged with some
murder but then you go out and kill a
baby and we're living in a world today
that's okay i tell you what it's not
okay in god's eyes and i tell you the
world that we're living in today i'm can
i tell you the day and now where we're
living in you know bride is right and
wrong it's still wrong and we and that
and i agree with this pro-life because
because babies can't speak for
themselves and we must speak for them so
please make this a pro-life
sanctuary here in russell county god
bless you
thank you
[Applause]
all hearts clear
and i'm going to close the public
comments
um
[Music]
would you prefer that air attorney do
that well
i will
well
first of all
first of all i want to
say i am
pro-life
and i'm
[Applause]
and
and i know i know all these board
members
value life
uh
but and i did draft a resolution i have
a resolution that i
will at some point in time the problem
with resolution is we can't vote on it
tonight because any kind of resolution
that we pass has to go through a public
hearing am i right katie
well no that that's ordinances that you
have to advertise um resolutions can be
passed but i mean i haven't had an
opportunity to look at it right yeah
and at any rate we we can
we can
we can do this
in in researching this i ran across this
thing called stages
of pregnancy
and
it just
dawned on me i mean it just opened my
eyes
because
he goes through how many days of what
happens with that feet the fetus during
so many days and the first thing it
jumped out
was 18 days from conception
the heart begins to beat with the baby's
own blood
18 days
and uh
it just you know
you know i've got eight grandchildren
one is a special needs child
and the youngest the oldest of 17 the
youngest is one month old last week my
younger son
and i think about that little babies
but i have drafted a resolution
and
i would prefer
that we
what i would like to do
is present that resolution to this board
let katie have an opportunity to look at
i think that we would all agree
that that's the proper procedure that we
need to go through and also
if you don't mind i'll take the floor a
little bit
i have reached out to senator hackworth
today
and uh
had a conversation
so um i want you to know
that i lost a baby
my youngest daughter
she lived to be 25
and that's been the hardest thing i've
ever done
and i did not intend to say this to you
but i want you to know
that 12 years ago
i stood by a graveside
and i bid that child goodbye
and i don't want anyone to ever go
through
what i have gone through
and i'm a pro-life woman
don't hear me
hear me
we're going to abide by the law
because we don't want to be on a
slippery slope
because you don't want this to come back
and bite you somewhere along the way
so you stand with us
and you help us to work on this
and i would not be opposed to having an
ordinance
for the county that we no longer
have we will not allow abortion clinics
here
[Applause]
we can do this
but i i want everyone to know
that we stand
with you we stand with the law
so there thank you steve for mentioning
this but we have to do the right thing
this is not an easy task
this is burdensome
and this is not exactly the way everyone
wants to see it because there are
different views here
so please remember that as we slide down
this slope
are you ready for what you might open up
all right
[Applause]
so we will allow
this board
to reason
and talk with the county
and talk with the attorney
and i would suggest that we strongly
look to our senator
and our governor
to see what the governor
and the senator and the legislature is
going to say i'm not a lawmaker i'm a
supervisor
you need to look up the meaning of
supervisor you need to look up the
meaning of legislator
and i don't care to tell you
that i'm just a measly little servant
i have no power
but i do have a voice and i thank you
for yours katie we'll turn that over to
you
um i'll be happy to look at any
resolution that you have steve and i i i
did kind of think about the possibility
of an ordinance i wouldn't need to look
at that that's that's definitely a
little bit more complicated when you're
when you come to local governments and
dylan's rule and things that are allowed
but i'll be happy to look into that i
think a good place to start is the
resolution and then if you can look for
further options that you might want to
um go forward with that's okay with the
board i have a copy for you and a copy
okay to look at
certainly by no means is it perfect
it's the best i can do
we've been working
i would definitely recommend looking in
the ordinance i i appreciate miss
wallace's viewpoint on that to not allow
things to come into our county
i mean we got to have some teeth
in in if that provides the teeth we need
i would appreciate anything you can do
to work with that sure
i'll i'll report back to the board what
uh what i can find um again that that
may take a little bit more in depth so i
think i think proceeding maybe forward
with the resolution first and working on
the ordinance and making sure and and
getting some feedback and looking at
some other
to make sure that it's something that
would not get invalidated by the courts
madam chair
i like to clear something up too
i didn't stand that time and i kind of
got called out for it but i want
everybody to know i'm absolutely
pro-life and when you all asked that
i didn't think you meant us too but i am
absolutely
just just
so we're not going to have a vote
because we're looking at things and i
appreciate you all standing with us
and giving us time
and working things out
so every how the virginia legislature
goes
so goes county
we won't we won't stand in the way but i
do i do want to look at
the possibility of doing an ordinance
and and that may be totally off the wall
but so is everything else we ask for
these days right
all right if you all would like to go
home and excuse yourselves we're not
trying to throw you out but i know
you've been sitting here and we're going
to take a small break
and then we're going to regroup
ourselves and conduct the business of
the county so you're welcome to stay
with us
oh
um
oh
uh
foreign
um
uh
um
uh
my
oh
um
that's what vikki and i was talking
about i'm taking you by your phone
i
everybody's on okay gosh you don't want
to be loud
you're welcome take a seat
thank you
[Music]
now that we have
gone through the citizens comment period
time
we've come to the constitutional
officers are there any of those folks
here
no ma'am
all right
county attorney reports and request
ms patton thank you madam chair the
first thing um under my reports um lonzo
has
just recently provided me with um a
draft of a ordinance for solar
generation facilities and i have not had
an opportunity to review this and i do
suspect that i'll probably make changes
to it it's a draft that he's pulled but
i would like the board i do believe i
can do that i would like the board to go
ahead and set a public hearing for that
ordinance and so that we could um
we we we're the first step in allowing
those facilities to be brought here and
they can give us some opportunities and
some revenue so i do think it is
something good for the board to consider
if you would um set a public hearing for
that
somebody requested this
yes mr brady i thought i could answer it
actually of course you all know that
russell county is a
uh solar designation county one number
two we have
putty into our residential our next step
is an ordinance that is supported by the
ida we're we're also looking at solar
power on some of the projects but we're
also looking at solar power if if
feasible on some of our public
facilities
so this is the next step one thing i
want to point out to you are you
implying that this would cover
residential structures as well
residential currently is already is
already in our building permits i mean
if i want to go out and put solar panels
on my house should i come down here and
get permits yes sir yes sure you do
it for the electrical it's it's the rest
of the upgrade it is is part of the
destination
and it is in to the building ordinance
so
it's in the building ordinance
it's part of the yes yes sir i'll be
reading the building
yes
i'm not sure you shouldn't exempt
residential
if you're just gonna you're gonna make
it more difficult to get
well a lot of people would look for
solar
one especially with rates
well one of some of the things that when
you start looking into the solar power
and i don't mean to go out way out in
the weeds on this but
uh it to have the building permit it
it's got the electrical it also has the
setbacks that way you're not impeding
upon your your your neighbor you're
putting up big blinder you know panels
and shine you know
different buffers so it kind of gives
something of
in in the building inspector is he's
really they're really good at this on
the insulation part too
that way they know how they're mounted
and they're not blowing down the hill or
not mounted upon some structure that
they're not feasible so there there is
some things here yeah it's in the
building
for me
but that's up to the discretion of the
board so
i don't does the board want me to look
at this ordinance first and report back
before you set a public hearing for its
approval i mean i'm fine either way i
don't know what kind of timeline
anybody's requested
whatever however the board wants to
proceed i just i have not had an
opportunity to review this
[Music]
i mean there's no real difference
between 110 220 from solar perspective i
want to put a solar panel on my
greenhouse right there's a little
hydraulic fuel
research yeah
that's going to get permitted right no
sir
it it wouldn't it it goes into it goes
into so many kilowatt hours because you
have to deal with av and the meters and
the base and the
rest well in all incidents you don't
have to hooks all right as a combination
that is correct
there's five there's houses
my son is
steph
off the ground off the
[Music]
okay so we're going to move on but um
we're going to look revisit this next
time is that okay mr breeding yeah okay
i'll review it and report back to the
board on and then of course any
questions that you all may have i'm
happy to answer in the interim
and the second um second item under me
is the givens lease and this is to the
star ministries and it's a one-year
lease that has to be renewed annually by
the board i've spoken with lonzo
he did not request any changes
and i'm not aware of any changes
requested by star ministry so the lease
is just here with the same terms and
conditions that you approved last year
for a renewal for your consideration
i'll make a motion to remove sick
okay we have a motion and a second do we
need some discussion is everybody okay
all right all in favor
any opposed
any abstentions motion carries thank you
and i'm just going to give a quick brief
update i don't have a lot of particulars
right at the second on the opioid
settlement
and we have um received
they are starting to distribute some of
those funds to localities lonzo has
signed up for the portal which is
required to receive those funds and
um jeff told me today that some
localities are already starting to get
those now it's not a settlement of all
claims it's not a settlement with all
the defendants in the opioid lawsuit so
there should hopefully be more funds
coming but this is a partial settlement
of those claims and you should be
receiving that money very shortly
[Music]
um
on number four
number four was pure salmon correct
yes
um
you should have a resolution
and that i drafted i believe it was in
june it's a tax incentive resolution
when this project first started um the
facility was going to be located
entirely in haswell
county and they had offered this company
certain tax incentives
based upon it being located in their
county and after some negotiation with
um the company we have
that the company is agreeable to accept
a reduced tax incentive of 1.5 million
dollars in
a re re
repayment of their taxes over
over three years
and i have made this
resolution contingent upon tazewell
county and buchanan county passing it
because we do have a revenue sharing
agreement so tax revenue collected from
this project will be shared and pursuant
to that agreement between the three
counties so in my opinion any action
on our behalf would require their
approval too since it's their money as
well and it's my understanding that both
tazewell and buchanan were including it
on their agendas this week as well
i'll make a motion we approve second
okay i have a motion and a second
further discussion
hearing none i'll call for the vote all
in favor
any opposed
any extensions
motion carries
the last item i have for the board um
and i apologize where i was um sick last
week i didn't have time to work on it
and get it to the board but um it's a
lease agreement um
with b williams resources
um
between us and i'll give you the terms
of the lease that i've already spoken to
um the attorney
about um just so you know what you're
approving what i'm what i'll be asking
the board is to approve this lease
subject to my final approval and the
approval of um b williams resources
llc's council um the terms of the lease
um this is for the dank steam steam
building the term the basic terms of the
lease would be
i think one dollar in rent per year for
40 years
um we would be doing
improvements to the property and doing
general maintenance but the improvements
are subject to receiving grant funding
if for any reason the lease is going to
call if the grant funding is not
received then the lease would terminate
and no one would have any obligations to
the other but it would be for 40 years
and one requirement that
is being asked for
is
that the building would be named the
bernie williams resource center
and also all real estate taxes would
either be abated or refunded during the
term of the lease since we would be
occupying the lease and then just for
the board's comfort i've used
pretty much verbatim
other provisions and in another lease
that we've recently adopted but those
are the
the main terms and normally i would
prefer to present this to you finalize
in my draft form to get you to approve
it but i know time is of the essence on
this and so if the board is comfortable
approving this lease with the terms i've
just um stated and just to approve it
subject to my final approval and
approval of his counsel i'll make that
motion
okay we have a motion by mr eaton i need
a second
have a second by mr brady thank you both
i appreciate that uh any discussion on
this
and and i i want to have a discussion
just one minute
so uh give me mr lester
on this uh you know i i don't want to
take anything off the tax rolls so
how so remind me how this is working
again because i i wasn't exactly sure
how i thought it should go because i
i mean i'm public so i want i know it's
a dollar but
how are we
so you consider that it's going to be
grant funded yes ma'am we're not out of
any money that is correct but we're
taking a building and
repurposing repurposing it yes yes for
business
and workforce development training
workforce development training yeah
maybe but the potential uh
new facility for the workforce
development board
it'll be almost equivalent to
the one stop that's in ridgeland
okay i just want everybody to be clear
that
what we're doing here
all right i have a motion and a second
and i've
created some discussion all in favor
any opposed
motion carries thank you very much
thank you madam chair that's all i have
next we're going to move on to the
county administrator reports and request
mr lester thank you madam chair
uh first on the count of ministry
reports is the uh of course as i
mentioned during glass board meeting the
virginia association and county 2022
annual conference in richmond
uh this is on november the 13th through
the 15th and it will be
an opportunity for
locust legislators as we discussed here
tonight to be able to present to
our
local but only the state also so this
this is the annual vaca
annual conference
for the legislators but in addition to
the russell county administrative
request number two
of course we have stepped out as you all
have said quite a few times tonight rosa
county has taken the lead we baco is
coming here to us this month so the
virginia association of counties will
hold their regional meeting here out
district 12 and 13
which is over 13 canada's will be here
on august 23rd to listen to these issues
that we discussed tonight and more
and
there will be in this exact room that
you're sitting in so we we are hosting
13 counties here
on august the 23rd
2022 and local legislators will be here
but all 13 counties from withhold down
will be in the conference center so
um
next on the county administrator uh
reports is of course
uh
we go from the association is
the feni disposal site proposed location
i just want to give the board an update
we've been working on them
it is very difficult to find a disposal
site we have looked at over nine
proposed sites because
when we deal with the disposals we also
have to have work in conjunction with
the department of environmental quality
and department transportation to ensure
that the entrances are there there's no
in streams there's no encroachments etc
etc
right now we are looking at a couple of
sites and we should have soon the propos
the
the previous
um penny disposal site that was located
in penny
uh
we had written at least the board of
supervisors had approved it and the
owner
of the property decided that he no
longer wanted a disposal site there so
at the last moment
he changed his mind he has a right to
he's a property owner but that put us in
the county as a vine to be able to find
a piece of property in the new location
so i asked the citizens of finney to be
patient with us while we go through this
process we have to do it it's a state
requirement we have to do you know our
due diligence
and we hope to get it back on the line
uh next is the on the account
administrator reports is the
three rivers destination center this is
a report that
again
on the threes on the three rivers
destination center on the vbaf grant
this is the final assessment for
approval for the environmental impact
and analysis down at the uh three rivers
destination center this is the
approval from the uh
department uh
hang on a second
i'm gonna go right here
let me enlarge this
the virginia economic development
partnership with the state virginia this
is their
compliance says thank you for
for the final work forward to brussels
county the bbap 165 grant
we have
we have completed the full submission on
it
um
again this was a fifty thousand dollar
grant to evaluate the proposed location
for the three rivers destination center
that has been closed out
next on the county administrator is the
request
on the county ministry request
is
the
i need a board approval for the school
reversion funds of 574
758 dollars and 18 cents to be moved
back to the russell county general funds
i'll make that motion
okay we have a motion i need to take all
that money we can get it
we have a second by mr breeding uh any
discussion
oh for the vote all in favor
any opposed
motion carries
a little bit of money we argued about
last year during the budget we got it
back plus four or five times over since
yes sir
next is of course uh on the county
mystery request is
when we was talking about billing
inspectors we had
15 candidates that put in for the bill
inspector position we interviewed five
of them
i am asking for uh
authorization to hire the russell county
bill inspector mickey ray is retiring
and i we need one in as soon as possible
so i'd like to have a motion for the
ross county bill inspector position
okay i have a motion from ms dye for um
the hiring of the building inspector i
need a second
second
i got a second
um any discussion yes ma'am uh
i really hate to lose mickey uh mickey
has really been
a real asset to russell county i mean he
he does a great job he gets along good
with people
i'm just a little concerned of why you
can't retire i have a suspicion that
we might be overloading these
departments a little bit with work and
you know sometimes that
forces people the good ones to leave i'm
hoping that ain't the case but i would i
you know i
i'd like to be able to keep them around
to be honest with you i know we're
looking to hire somebody but
it's hard to replace these people
in this county
once they you know have done such a
wonderful job
i don't know if you can replace some of
them but
uh
you know i'll go with the board's
pleasure but i'm hoping that we can
replace him with someone that'll do as
good a job
sir
is mickey going to stay long enough to
do
mentoring training
well right now
yes
we're looking at november
september
it's not bad
yeah i will echo that mickey's being a
good guy yeah
he's that he works well so
i feel like he'll
he'll step up and help us out
yes okay so i have a motion a second
we've had discussion
may i say one other thing the this
candidate is a virginia he is an
engineer from virginia tech he is a
russell county citizen so he's got 12
years experience so
i you know
he's young he's
he's educated so hopefully mickey and we
can work this out and get this work
forward but we do need to you know move
forward
but ask for a motion for approval of the
russell county bill inspector position
to be offered you've got a motion in a
second all in
favor any opposed
motion carries thank you thank you madam
chair
next is ross county library board of
trustees the employee internal alignment
this is one of the things that ms kelly
has come before the board to talk about
and now and she's had
the great success of getting the
additional funding for her employees
that have been provided by the virginia
library board is that raquel yes yes
that's the
uh they got the additional funding for
what we call internal alignment these
people that were there long term for
like 20 years you know where they've
been moving up the 11 to 12 they finally
got the state funding to be able to pull
down
that was paid for by the state library
board so i need approval for the
positions that are listed on the russell
county library board of trustees and
employee internal alignment position
[Music]
so
everything's ready yes ma'am
well i'll make that motion for you
okay i have a motion from miss die i
need a second
so
i have a second discussion
hearing none i'm gonna call for the vote
all in favor
any opposed
i'd like to abstain since my wife was
chairman
i have an abstention any more extensions
hearing none motion carries thank you
thank you madam chair
next on the county ministry request is
the possibility of uh
moving forward with the the swords creek
old school facility there
and and if mr eden i don't want to put
him on the spot but i'd like to him to
talk to what his vision is in that
community well i would i'd like to thank
our board and thank the county
administrator for working with me
closely on this uh
we was able to remove a blighted
building there that
couldn't be saved but the other building
in question
is something i've talked to our chair
lady about about helping me
find some additional funding and grant
monies for
a complete revitalization of that
property
that building has a lot of history
i think now with the movement of the
other one
we will have additional parking and
i know everybody up in that area don't
have a park and that's one thing i'm i'm
kind of working toward is a park kind of
structured area and a community center
to where communities can gather in this
building and have dinners it actually
has an adequate kitchen is that not
right
yes sir yeah
and uh
so i you know i don't think it's gonna
cost that much uh but i do i think it
will be a staple for the area
uh to have a place where people can meet
they can have reunions or
showers or something like that so
my motion is tonight is to move forward
with this project and to apply for
additional funding based on
ms wallace's agreed to help me contact
those
right people
with a plan with a plan
i understand if your building comes up
right
okay yeah
but i that that's my motion to move
forward uh to be able to do a
restoration project on this
uh property
uh i don't think it's gonna cost all
that we can
release a little bit of that
i don't know we'll use all that free
money four lines over
so we have a motion and a second
to move forward
with a planning
for the swords creek uh old school
facility
correct yes
the
this is where they used to have the
head start people incorporated had head
start and people inc also used to have
refrigerators and freezers where they
stored their uh community food but since
they renovated the old psa building
they've moved everything back in that
big storage room that has the garage
door to make it easier for
people inc
i know this is
this both those buildings little
and one of the things that mr eden asked
me to do we'll do a walk through with
our our inspectors and take a look at it
and have a punch list and we'll present
that back to the board thank you yes sir
all right all in favor
any opposed
any abstentions motion carries
next on the account administrator
request is
um of course russell kenney
planning commission plat
this is applied by gregory and and
audrey tiller
uh this is the vision of their own
property that's just a separation within
their own plan so i asked for approval
for the russell county planning
commission
okay i need a motion to approve the plan
presented it's on your table tonight all
right i'll make that motion all right i
have emotional neighbors i need a second
i have a second uh any discussion
hearing none um
i'll call for the vote all in favor
any opposed
any abstentions
motion carries
thank you ma'am chair
that concludes the county ministry of
reports and requests
okay and at this time before we adjourn
um the meeting i will
ask if
anybody has any reminders or any
comments about their districts i will
not accept any motions
[Music]
mr lovelace
uh no man
miss don no thank you
mr breeding no man
street i'd like to give some money to
the beck fest and start ministry
well out of my discretionary thing
could i
can i do that i don't think we have
discretionary fund this time around do
we
i've got some legs
not anymore mister
[Laughter]
oh
y'all can't know me if you don't spend
it mr ray spin it up
[Applause]
well
it's like this the board is the uh
the veterans will be doing another
presentation in september i've already
gotten them on the agenda plan so y'all
can y'all can make a decision
but carl will speak
all right mr christian
well i've been confirmed about
this
probably been sold
because back taxes
and
the first thing come to me it was a
concerned
neighbor
and this particular
property has a house on the nether and
his wife is living in the house i
understand
they're going to become homeless they
didn't pay their taxes
during the time of which they could
but now it's going up for auction and
they're not allowed to
to
pay their taxes to my understanding
are we going to proceed and not have an
exception of the rule to put these
people out of the home and
call them become homeless when we're
letting all these foreigners coming here
trying to provide housing for them
i guess that's something we need to take
before the treasure and uh yes sir
yes thank you that's
that was something brought to my
attention and
got me somewhat concerned every
circumstance is a little different and
yeah the uh county treasurer will be
able to help you with that or
i said i'm sorry each circumstances is
different that it deals with and the
county treasurer will be able to help
the this family with that
we
i don't want to speak for the county
treasurer so
yes
yeah i probably more likely if they had
been to the point that they could not
pay the taxes it was putting in the
hands of people that would often
you off
yes
and there's no recourse to get out of
that they need to contact the county
treasurer's officer yes i'll i'll try to
contact him tomorrow yes sir
okay
um mr ray uh yes
i've had a lot of complaints and calls
of uh people talking about the trash
up in fenia you know we don't have a
site right now and i know we're working
on that
there also is people calling me about
their throwing trash over the hills uh
they're putting out stuff on the side of
the road stoves and chairs and i just
hope the you know citizens benny would
uh please work with us and
give us time to find another place and
i'm also getting a lot of calls on
closing these uh man sites down on
wednesdays
a lot of people you know took their
trash off
maybe something i'll
bring up next month also
that's all i have to say
okay
thank you mr ray
and the chair has no discussion tonight
um so
mr lester yes ma'am did we set the
public hearing for the proposed
uh pro-life sanctuary slash ordinance
for
the next board meeting did we we have
not done that okay thank you
so what do we need to do just make a
motion to do that
spreading i'll make a motion
i just go ahead
should we just wait i think there's no
reason why we couldn't do a resolution
then followed by
[Music]
i was just thinking if y'all want to go
to right straight to the ordinance you
know position
then
okay so let's get something in place i
think the resolution
that ordinance would supersede the
residents
right the ordinance would be a law yes
if it was inactive so and the only thing
that i was looking at from this is some
of the ones that we had looked at and
that's what the court could consider is
looking at the pro-life sanctuary slash
uh restricted abortion clinics so that
there's
two ways to approach this so
and with one ordinance
i just do the resolution first
okay that's a divorce discretion
just make sure the resolutions
yes sir
okay well i i personally am
not real happy with that but um i'm just
one voice so um we will move forward
with that but i will also ask you to
make sure that you touch base
with senator hackworth
i realize that we have something in
front of us
but i also know that the people want to
do it by law they want to be legal about
this
and um we don't want to set any
presidents that that
we can't uphold
and um
sometimes resolutions are
not worth the paper they're written on
and i'll just say that
so i'm just going to give you a little
more t all right
i'll look at the resolution if i have
any legal concerns i'll advise the board
and if i have suggested changes and
obviously the board is free to look at
the resolution if there's other matters
that aren't included that they would
like to include that i'd be happy to
look at that language as well i'll reach
out to our senators
i'll let you know
all right all hearts are clear and i
adjourn this meeting thank you for
coming