It’s been more than 100 days since the flood and Middle Tennesseans everywhere still feel the pain.
In Hendersonville, floodwaters damaged the bridge over Drake’s Creek on Stop 30 Road.
With the bridge out, residents are severely inconvenienced experiencing long drives and frequent traffic jams.
The city has put in a stop light at the only passable intersection to the Stop 30 community, but still residents are frustrated wondering when the bridge will be fixed.
Pictures from the city’s Web site show the bridge underwater and the subsequent damage.
Don Long is the city of Hendersonville mayoral assistant and tells Messed Up the city is very aware of the resident’s frustrations.
“This bridge was built in the 1940s,” Long tells me. “There was a lot of upstream damage underneath it. We had an engineer look at it and his recommendation was to close it to make sure it is safe, especially for school buses.”
Long says the city has been in contact with both FEMA and TDOT regarding what needs to be done, how much it might cost and who will ultimately pay for it.
“We have three options. We can replace a portion of the bridge, we can replace all of the bridge or we can widen the bridge and raise it,” Long explains.
He says FEMA is working with the city but obviously, in light of May’s flood, has a lot of projects to consider.
Long estimates that it could cost up to $800,000 to fix the bridge, which he says would be expanded to three lanes with a sidewalk and raised so it would not flood every time Drake’s Creek floods.
Residents meet with Messed Up and Long to express their concerns.
Tom Bruce has lived in the community for six years.
We stand in front of an old city vehicle that is being used as a barricade to keep traffic from crossing the bridge.
“Shopping is up there,” Bruce says pointing past the blockade, “restaurants and Joseph Bank clothing store and theaters and Walmart.”
Paula Johnson has similar concerns.
“We feel this bridge should be fixed or reopened. It’s hindering all these people. The city doesn’t realize what a burden this is,” he says.
Phillip Witherspoon has this to say: “The traffic back up and delays, the whole subdivision is one way in and one way out. There was a wreck up there the other day [and] it had everything tied up for hours.”
Sue Varboncoeur is concerned about emergency crews getting in and out.
So is Kaitlyn Haley.
“My grandma lives down the road and she had a stroke. My mom could get to her in three minutes, now it is more like 15 minutes and she might not make it.”
As fate would have it, while we are doing this story, a Sumner County ambulance races down Stop 30 Road to the bullet riddled Hendersonville vehicle blocking the bridge.
A female EMT hangs out the window and begins shouting for News 2 camera man Al Devine and I to move the vehicle.
It quickly becomes obvious that the crew has no ideas the city has blocked off the bridge.
“Hey, we got to get through,” the woman shouts. “What is on the other side of the truck?” she hollers.
The woman asks if the vehicle is mine, and I tell her no, it is the city of Hendersonville’s property.
“Are you kidding me?” I shout. “They didn’t tell you about this?”
“No,” she hollers as the ambulance races backward and does a three point turn to find its way to the location.
As it turns out the emergency was not life-threatening, but it does illustrate how a call on that side of the bridge can be delayed because the bridge is out, for possibly another year and a half.
“That is a problem,” I say bluntly to Mr. Long.
“Yes. 911 should be aware not to route them this way,” he says.
The director of Sumner County EMS tells Messed Up that the one crew was unaware of the bridge out, but all other crews have been reminded.
Our band, the Come Together Band, has been playing at a Mexican restaurant in Smyrna on Sunday evenings from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in preparation for a benefit for homeless kids which is on Aug. 28 at Limelight in downtown Nashville.
The last two Sundays, someone has been taking shots at us with a BB gun. The first week I was hit in the side. I thought it was a major bug sting. This week three of us were hit; two in the chest and one in the neck. It feels like a smart crack at the end of a whip.
My brother requested modification of his Wells Fargo mortgage in March of 2009. He has repeatedly been asked to send the same information literally dozens of times. Just today I was told his case is still “under review” with no indication of when a decision will be made.
To complicate the issue, Wells Fargo will not accept a partial payment, so with every passing month the amount due continues to grow. Can you help? We’ve had no success with any of the congressional offices we have contacted. Surely in 17 months someone could take the time to make a decision on this case and avoid yet another foreclosed property when the homeowner desires to retain his property. We are way beyond frustrated at this point!
If seatbelts were on school buses we would have less injuries and deaths. But if we continue to not put seatbelts on buses we never know how many lives that could be saved. Help me understand why we still don’t have seatbelt for the children that one day will be the leaders of tomorrow.
I have received several anoying political calls. I advised one of the callers that I was on the no call list and they told me political calls are exempt. Now That’s Messed Up.
Polititions should not be able to pass laws that affect their voters and exempt themselves.
Daniel Rushton and Emily Lester are getting married on Saturday, October 9. The honeymoon was supposed to begin on Sunday, October 10.
The couple has been planning for months, including booking their flights and accommodations in the Bahamas.
Rushton tells Messed Up the couple paid American Airlines $760 up front for that Sunday flight. They also rented an exclusive beach bungalow for $1,400.
That was in June.
Then, in early August, the couple reportedly received a call from American Airlines telling them that the airline no longer flies to the island on Sundays.
According to Rushton, the American Airlines officials he is dealing with tell him to fly on Saturday, the day of his wedding, or fly on Tuesday, meaning he will miss two days of his honeymoon. Missing two days of his honeymoon also means he will lose those days on the bungalow he has pre-paid.
Frustrated, Rushton contacts Messed Up.
Below is the couple’s email:
Dear Andy,
I am writing you as I sit here with my lovely fiancée in tears thanks to American Airlines. About two months ago, Emily and I purchased tickets to the Bahamas for our upcoming honeymoon in October. We booked our tickets way in advance in an effort to get the best deal and while there were many carriers offering service to the Bahamas, AA had the best deal. Yesterday, Emily received a phone call from AA stating that they were very sorry but they no longer offer service to the Bahamas. Our options are a full refund of the cost of our tickets, or to change our flight to another day and or destination. Unfortunately, trusting that our reservations would be honored by AA, we also booked accommodations in the Bahamas which are only refundable in the event of severe weather (hurricane). So now here we are with an entire honeymoon paid for in the Bahamas and no way to get there.
The prices of tickets now are around $1,000 more than what we originally paid.
Emily and I have both made countless calls to the airlines. I suggested that if they could not honor our reservation that they book us a flight on another airline and pay whatever difference there may be. Each time we call we receive the same answer, “there’s nothing AA can do.” I understand that airlines quite often have to alter their flight schedules for any number of reasons, but in those events, should they not find another way to honor the reservation you’ve made? Otherwise, what good is a reservation? As of yet no one at AA has been able to give me a reason as to why they “no longer fly to the Bahamas on Sundays”. All I know is they have ruined our honeymoon, caused us both a huge amount of stress, and showed no remorse whatsoever. They have made no attempts to rectify the situation.
It’s obvious to me that AA cares very little about their customers and we are insignificant to them. I plan to take this story to anyone I can including the BBB. I’ve never felt so helpless, disappointed, and just downright angry. Any help you might offer in exposing AA for the spineless drivel that they are would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time,
Daniel. R. Rushton
Emily M. Lester
Messed Up got in touch with the PR machine at American Airlines. A former journalist turned Media Relations man named Tim Smith looked into the issue and here is his response to Messed Up:
Customers sent information and e-mail to us on August 7. We responded to them on August 8.
Per our Contract of Carriage, our schedules are not guaranteed (no airline does), but when we do make a schedule adjustment, we try to work with each customer to try and find an acceptable alternative. We do not typically reroute onto another airline because of a schedule change – no airline normally does that. If none of our options are acceptable, then we will offer the customers a refund.
In the case, we no longer offer every-day service to their original arrival airport. We offered to reroute them to an alternate airport in the Bahamas on their original same day; or change their date of departure so that they can still fly to the same arrival airport – both free of charge – no change fees. They elected to move their departure date from October 10 to October 12. In this case, the new fare was actually lower for their new flights, and we gave them a refund of the difference ($20 each).
We will also provide each of them with an eVoucher as a gesture of goodwill. I will check on the amount if I can.
Tim Smith
American Airlines
Media Relations
817-967-1577
As of 8/11/10, Daniel Rushton reports that American Airlines has offered the couple $300 to fly anywhere they want to go in the next year.
Rushton tells Messed Up that he was not satisfied with the options American Airlines offered, but out of all the possibilities, flying to the island they want to travel to on Tuesday, instead of Sunday is the best option.
After Messed Up got involved and he heard back from American Airlines, Rushton writes this:
Andy, just to bring you up to speed, I just received an e-mail from the airlines apologizing and offering two e-vouchers towards AA flights for $150 each. It would appear that they have finally taken the matter seriously. While it doesn’t’ change the fact that the whole experience has been miserable, at least they have made a gesture to compensate us and have acknowledged that what they did was wrong. I really appreciate your interest in our story.
Thanks again,
Daniel & Emily
P.S. We have friends in Jacksonville that we visit often, ($300) that’ll probably get us a trip to Jax and back.
Thanks again Andy!
Cool, we’ll be watching.
Happy pending nuptials from the MESSED UP department!
How many of you remember connecting to the Internet via a dial-up modem? It was not all that long ago. Remember how long it took? Remember the frustration of waiting for minutes to connect to the Internet only to lose your connection?
Now-a-days, most of us take high speed Internet for granted.
They don’t on Piney Road in Dickson.
Residents along the stretch of road call the area they live the “black hole.”
They don’t have Comcast or AT&T high speed Internet and even satellite fades and is inconsistent.
Myra Beard has a home-based Internet business selling nutritional beverages and the Internet is crucial to her success.
Beard operates out of her Piney Road house, set deep in the hills of Dickson.
“We are rural. It is extremely vital to our business, which is Internet0based. We don’t get high speed Internet. We get dial-up and it is very slow. We had satellite Internet but it too is very slow. We’re in a black hole where nothing works. It gets dark, the Internet gets afraid and nothing works. A storm rolls in and we get no service. It is extremely frustrating.”
So how does she operate her home-based Internet business?
Beard has to drive 15 to 20 minutes from her home into downtown Dickson to go to the Dunkin Donuts, which is WIFI capable.
It is there that Beard and other members of her community spend hours every week getting on the Internet to do business and routine communicating that most of us take for granted.
“I spend six hours a week here,” she tells Messed Up.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to do this at home?” I ask.
“You would think so,” she replies, “we are a home-based business.”
“Yeah, you’re not a donut shop-based business,” I respond.
Beard said the commercials she sees on TV promising fast Internet infuriate her.
She says she has called everyone she can think of about the issue.
“A man came out and said, ‘Sorry. In your lifetime you will never see high speed Internet’,” she said of what one Internet company technician told her.
Messed Up made a number of calls to Internet providers.
A spokesperson for Comcast said the company is always looking to increase its customer base, but too few people live in Beard’s neighborhood to justify providing the service from the nearest cable plant, which is two miles away.
Cathy Lewandowski, a spokeswoman for AT&T said, “We sincerely appreciate interest in AT&T DSL service for Myra Beard. Please note that our DSL service is not currently available at this Dickson residence and we regret to report that we have no immediate plans to deploy service in this area. Our deployment decisions are based on a number of factors, such as population density on an area, cost of equipment to provide the service, etc. We monitor these and other factors for any changes and modify our plans when appropriate.
Please note that satellite service is available at this address. Myra may call 1-866-798-4787 if she would like additional information about this satellite service.”
Beard says she has called every number, including the one referenced above, and so far no one has an answer for her.
Messed Up called the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, which indicated it doesn’t handle this type of issue.
Officials then directed us to an organization known as Connected Tennessee. Beard says an official with that agency is at least willing to investigate and reports many other complaints on this same issue.
Deanna Ward works for Connected Tennessee, a not-for-profit group that studies, maps and logs technology across Tennessee.
She tells me that Dickson is a problem county for many citizens around the I-40 corridor.
“We are very aware of the lack of broadband, especially in Dickson,” she said. “We have put together teams and we are sharing information with technology providers, but it has been an uphill battle.”
Ward encourages residents to visit their Web site, ConnectedTN.org, which has much more information on the issue and places you can find help.
If you’ve been to Waldron Road in LaVergne recently you know what confusion looks like.
TDOT and the city are expanding parts of the road from two to five lanes.
The $11 million project, between Murfreesboro Road and I-24, will eventually make Waldron more traffic friendly but for the next 15 months, many motorists and business will be seeing red, or in this case, orange.
One of several businesses in the labyrinth of orange is Wine and Spirits Unlimited, where the sign outside the store reads, “Worth the wait.”
Jeremy Sargent manages the store and told Messed Up the construction chaos is affecting the bottom line.
“I don’t understand why barrels are placed like they are and the work is much further down the road and this has been cordoned off for three weeks,” he said. “Why have a 50 foot bottle neck, instead of a 1,000 foot bottle neck all the way down the road.”
“What have you experienced?” I ask.
“We have seen a significant drop off. People don’t want to come here because of the barrels, the way they are situated, they get lost,” he replied.
BJ Doughty at TDOT explains it this way.
“We don’t want a business to go out of business because of project,” she said. “We realize there is pain associated with a road way project and we know it is unpleasant, but if there are things we can do to ease problems we will do that.”
When asked why the road was blocked off in front of the liquor store even though workers are 1,000 feet away, Doughty replied, “We are tearing up a bridge and if we don’t funnel traffic well beforehand people might drive into a hole. There is a method to the madness regarding traffic control in work zones. This is part of keeping the motoring public safe and our workers safe.”
TDOT says the project should be done by Thanksgiving 2011.
As part of our four-part investigation into questionable roofing practices in Middle Tennessee, That Is Messed Up spoke to a roofer with an A+ record from the Better Business Bureau. We also spoke to a career insurance man and state senator for some feedback. Both men talk about the need for new regulations to protect citizens from peregrine contractors they call “storm chasers.”
Steve Morgan has run All Star Roofing since 1998. The 41-year-old has nine employees, five trucks and according to the BBB, an A+ rating.
Morgan contacted That Is Messed Up after our exclusive investigation into American Shingle, a roofing company based in Atlanta with a lot of customer complaints.
“We spend $90,000 a year in advertising. They go door to door. People don’t know if they are a legit company. That is why we are pushing for a new law, calling for roofing licenses in the state of Tennessee and you have to show, all your workman’s comp and insurance,” he said.
Morgan says the so-called “storm chasers”, without any ties to Middle Tennessee flock to this area every time there is a major weather vent.
“They come in like a herd of geese.”
Morgan says state certification will weed out a bunch of problems.
“Just like Florida. You get caught you get thrown in jail. That will put a scare in them. It will level out. I am bidding against companies with no workman’s comp or insurance no bonds. They just go door to door. Of course they can do it cheaper.”
Republican Senator Bill Ketron (13th District) owns an insurance business. Ketron says the time for roofing regulation is now and he’s pushing for state legislation.
“We will we have to require all contractors to have an identity through a business license or worker’s comp exemption to show a homeowner a certificate that they are eligible to conduct business in the state of Tennessee. That way, we, the state have the ability to find out what their social security number is and their fed id number is. Right now there is no tracking.”
Ketron and Morgan both hope that in the future, if a roofer comes to your door and tries to sell you a new roof, you will be able to ask to see that contractor’s Tennessee mandated license.
If the contractor can’t provide it, then you might want to think twice about giving that roofer your hard earned money.
Ketron says he plans to introduce the legislation soon, which could call for jail time for scam artists.
“What is the difference between stealing from Walmart and a homeowner? In this case it could be $5,000 to $12,000. Absolutely they could go to jail. Absolutely, and they need to go to jail. They don’t need to do business in this state.”
Just wanted everyone to know how wasteful lawrenceburg power is, they were
watering the grass and street today at noon when it was 95 degrees. I
complained about the waste and they laughed behind my back when I was
leaving.
by
It’s been more than 100 days since the flood and Middle Tennesseans everywhere still feel the pain.
Tom Bruce has lived in the community for six years.
“Hey, we got to get through,” the woman shouts. “What is on the other side of the truck?” she hollers.
Gavin Channell writes:
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Beard has to drive 15 to 20 minutes from her home into downtown Dickson to go to the Dunkin Donuts, which is WIFI capable.
Please note that satellite service is available at this address. Myra may call 1-866-798-4787 if she would like additional information about this satellite service.”
If you’ve been to Waldron Road in LaVergne recently you know what confusion looks like.
“I don’t understand why barrels are placed like they are and the work is much further down the road and this has been cordoned off for three weeks,” he said. “Why have a 50 foot bottle neck, instead of a 1,000 foot bottle neck all the way down the road.”
As part of our four-part investigation into questionable roofing practices in Middle Tennessee, That Is Messed Up spoke to a roofer with an A+ record from the Better Business Bureau. We also spoke to a career insurance man and state senator for some feedback. Both men talk about the need for new regulations to protect citizens from peregrine contractors they call “storm chasers.”
“We will we have to require all contractors to have an identity through a business license or worker’s comp exemption to show a homeowner a certificate that they are eligible to conduct business in the state of Tennessee. That way, we, the state have the ability to find out what their social security number is and their fed id number is. Right now there is no tracking.”
