Huge treehouse declared hazard and other news from the areas around Chattanooga

photo Multiple decks, staircases and balconies wrap around an oak tree in a tree house created by Horace Burgess in Crossville.

Huge treehouse declared hazard

CROSSVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Fire Marshal's office has declared a huge treehouse built by a Crossville minister to be an imminent safety hazard and ordered it to close.

The popular attraction was built by Horace Burgess of Crossville over 11 years as a ministry. He said about 1,000 people per week visited his 100-foot-tall Minister's Treehouse.

Burgess told The Knoxville News Sentinel that he received a certified letter last week ordering him to close the treehouse.

A copy of the letter released by the state Wednesday said the treehouse is 60 feet too tall, doesn't appear to have proper structural support, contains several falling hazards and lacks a fire safety plan.

It said the structure was so tall, local fire department equipment likely couldn't reach the top levels.


Man sentenced in cocaine case

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - An Elizabethton, Tenn., man who pleaded guilty in January to buying cocaine in Chattanooga and reselling it in the Elizabethton area was sentenced Wednesday to serve five years in federal prison, according to a news release.

Ronald E. Paris Jr., 24, had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base, or crack.

Paris had been stopped on Interstate 81 in Sullivan County in April 2011 by the Tennessee Highway Patrol with 126.3 grams of cocaine base in his rental car, the news release states.


Commissioners reject pay cut

LOUDON, Tenn. - Loudon County Commission members have voted 7-2 against cutting their pay.

According to The Knoxville News Sentinel, the vote Tuesday night came several months after the commission's budget committee first recommended that the commission cut members' pay in half. The proposed reduction from about $8,000 annually to about $4,000 annually was based on a comparison of what other counties pay members of their governing bodies.

County resident Richard Truitt said Loudon commissioners, who manage a roughly $60 million budget, make more than Metro Nashville-Davidson County Council members, who manage a budget of $600 million.

"No one should have the ability to set their own salary," Truitt said.

The commission salaries are figured at 10 percent of the mayor's salary.

Commissioner Don Miller seconded Commissioner Sharon Yarborough's motion to reduce pay by half, but he amended it to add about $800, making the figure about $4,800 per year. Miller said he figured his hours on commission matters and found $4,000 annually was less than minimum wage.

A call for discussion was met with silence, and the other seven members of the board present voted it down.

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