Update: On April 22, 2010, A representative from The Rogers Group admitted to an Oakland Hills resident that called on behalf of the stopthequarry movement the plot outlined in the satellite photo IS one of the two sites they are considering in the Todd County!

I was called from a neighbor a couple of days ago about a problem that might be arising that will affect all the homes off Exit 1 around the Trenton/Tylertown Roads.  She went to Kentucky yesterday to get a plat of where this Quarry will be built. It is shocking how close it is to our subdivisions on the North side of Interstate 24!

Below I have placed a copy of the plat, so you can see if it will affect your area.  We understand that this is being built right inside the KY line but they will be using Trenton and Tylertown Road to get to the Hemlock. Not to mention the blasted that will shake all of our homes!

Taken from the new site about this development, I have been given permission to quote what has been brought to the surface.

What we know:

The Rogers Group based in Nashville, TN has shown an interest in developing a rock quarry in the Todd County area.  They are to be the company interested in the tract of land in question (below). The Rogers Group hopes to acquire this quarry location in order to supply the Hemlock plant with the quarried limestone. (Tylertown Road would be the most direct route of delivery.)

Apparently, core samples have been taken and some surveying has been done in preparation for the development of a quarry.  However, on a positive note, no mining permit has been applied for with the state of Kentucky.

Kentucky does not have zoning restrictions – meaning there is no barrier between development and the state.  No planning commission, no re-zoning red tape.  Companies applying for a mining permit in the state of Kentucky DO have to submit a public notice to the most heavily circulated newspaper within a 50-mile radius of the intended mining site.  This is, of course, the Kentucky New Era based in Hopkinsville, would be the appropriate publication.

We need to show The Rogers Group they aren’t just going up against a small group of Tennessee homeowners and a handful of Kentucky farmers; they are going against a united front of more than 7 large Clarksville neighborhoods consisting of more than a thousand Tennessee homeowners willing to support those bordering their intended quarry!

We need to contact them RELENTLESSLY voicing our opposition to their potential quarry before it legally becomes our newest neighbor!

We need the support of Clarksville neighbors not affected to stand in the gap for the homeowners who can’t be here due to be deployed.  Will you help us take a stand?

Channel 4 News came to Clarksville and did a piece on this developing story.

Facts:

The Rogers Group out of Nashville is planning to start quarrying limestone to supply the Hemlock plant.

The land that is the subject is owned by Paul Cooper

Core samples and surveying have been done on the property

No new deeds have been filed in Todd County

No mining permit has been applied for in the state of Kentucky

The Rogers Group will have to notify the public via the New Kentucky Era for 30 days as part of the permit process

No notification has appeared in the paper as of yet

No zoning restrictions in Kentucky – NO planning commission

The Rogers Group has been trying to access limestone in Todd County for a few years now without much success

The Rogers Group moved a projected quarry site in Huntsville, AL due to public fallout

Woodstock residents and Kentucky farmers are not happy

Tylertown/Oakland Hills residents are just now finding out

Tennessee officials have no power in Kentucky, it’s up to our residents to make a change

The possible location of the quarry – Woodstock farms (right next to Woodstock subdivision)

The land consists of 500 +/- acres and crosses HWY 108

Rumor and Speculations:

Property has been sold to The Rogers Group

To view updated information about this developing story please visit STOP the Quarry!

If you know a resident that is deployed, stand in the gap for them! Please forward this to everyone you know to help us stop something that could hurt our economy and to educate others on what is going on right outside our back doors!

Stop the Quarry off Exit 1

Great information! Thea

Best Place to Raise Your Kids: Tennessee

Clarksville

Nearest city: Nashville
Population: 118,209
Median family income: $53,795
Runners-up: Hendersonville, Johnson City

Affordable, safe, and family-friendly

It’s time for BusinessWeek’s annual ranking of the best places to raise your kids.

As we did last year, we teamed up with OnBoard Informatics, a New York-based provider of real estate analysis, to select one town and two runners-up for each of the 50 states. The selections were limited to towns that have at least 45,000 residents and a median income of between $40,000 and $125,000. Vermont was given a pass on the population restrictions because none of its cities would otherwise have made the cut.

We used the same criteria to rank the towns, but we shifted the weights slightly to come up with what we consider better results. The data we used included school performance, number of schools, household expenditures, crime rates, air quality, job growth, family income, museums, parks, theaters, other amenities, and diversity.

Affordability, safety*, and school test scores were given the greatest weight.

Some communities made the list again this year, including Warner Robins, a military town in Georgia, and the Charlotte suburb of Rock Hill, S.C. But most of the towns we chose are new to the list. The Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, Ill., which won the nation’s overall best ranking this year, is just an hour south of last year’s winner, Mount Prospect, Ill.

Last year, readers reacted strongly to our list. Read this year’s picks. Let the online discussion begin.

*For all slides, relative safety was measured by the “total crime risk,” an index of the combined risks of rape, murder, assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, and vehicle theft. Crime scores were based on demographic and geographic analyses of crime over seven years. School performance was based on state reading and math test scores and came from Great Schools. Zoo data came from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and museum, theater, park, and recreation information came from InfoUSA. Air quality information came from the Environmental Protection Agency, household expenditures and diversity data were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, and job growth data came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Source: OnBoard Informatics

Courtesy By Prashant Gopal

Best Places to Raise Your Kids | Clarksville, TN

Note: This is intended to provide an overview only – for specific information or individual concerns, please contact your lawyer, accountant and/or financial advisor. Information courtesy of http://www.realtor.organd ://www.whitehouse.gov and Coldwell Banker.

The federal income tax credit for homebuyers has been extended and expanded to now include homeowners who wish to “move on” after 5 years of living in their current property, as well as first-time homebuyers.

• First-time homebuyers, or those who have not owned in the last three years, can receive up to an $8,000 tax credit
• Homeowners who have lived in a current home consecutively for 5 of the past 8 years can receive up to a $6,500 tax credit
• There may be no future extensions, so all qualified homebuyers are urged to act and have a written, binding contract by April 30, 2010 (close by June 30, 2010)
• Income limits are now $125,000 for singles, $225,000 for married couples with a $20,000 phase-out of the credit for both.

According to The National Association of Realtors News Release, dated 11/5/09, an estimated $22 billion has already been added to the general economy resulting from the bill and approximately 2 million people will utilize the tax credit in 2009.

The following chart provides more information:

Tax Credit for Homebuyers

Happy New Year!  It is time for a Market Update.  Any time that you come to this part of our blog and would like to see an update, please call, text, email or app us and I will get it off to you within 24 hours!

For the year 2008, closed residential sales:

• October – 247 homes
• November – 212 homes
• December – 234 homes

For the year 2009, closed residential sales:

• October – 340 homes
• November – 277 homes
• December – 233 homes

Right now we have 1564 homes on the market for sale. Inventory is down from 1917 in May of 2009.  Some of our Military are getting ready to PCS and we have the months of June and July, which are some of our bigger months for sales, coming. Now is the time to start getting your home prepared for those Spring moves! If you would like to know how your subdivision or area is doing, please contact me and I would be happy to share the market with you.

Market Update 2010 | Clarksville, TN

Find us on iTunes and download to your iPhone or iPod Touch FREE. Search Clarksville and pick Last Train To Clarksville!

It’s almost that time of the year, the last day! I cannot believe how fast the year came and went. Can you? In the spirit of doing what is best for our business…we are always looking to improve for us and for those we service, we have joined the office of Coldwell Banker Conroy, Marable and Holleman at the St. B branch. It is across the street from Mulligan’s and in the same strip as Lasaters Coffee shop. Behind us is the new location of Anchor Mortgage with Amanda Dusenberry as the CEO! (Love working with her and watching the best rates come in for my clients.)

When making the journey with Avalar, we were approached by Tony Romero and were promised so much but then things happened and he left after a month of our move to the company. We adapted and did the best we could for our Team Agnew by staying put and working hard to overcome any setbacks with his leaving.   2009 was the best year for Team Agnew because of how we do business and our marketing. We were told by so many agents who thought us moving to Avalar was the worse thing for our business because it wasn’t a well known Real Estate company like Keller Williams, Crye-Leike, ReMax, Prudential among many but it turned out to be the biggest year we have ever had in Real Estate in a slow market. It proved to us that it really isn’t the name of the company but how the agent markets his/her business and treats their clients. Over $5 million in sales, Art and I are ranked, combined in Clarksville’s sea of Realtors, number 46 out of 700+.  That is a big accomplishment for us in a 4.7 year career.

2009 was the first year the March of Dimes event, Best of Clarksville, had the category of Real Estate Agent. I was thrilled that so many of you voted for me and placed me in the top 5 of Clarksville! I didn’t make number 1 but I was honored to be among the other top 4 and share my business with so many of the community.

In the coming year, 2010, I plan on revising our business mold in the areas that needed work from this year and making it better. I have already started with putting our Team Agnew on iTunes. We are available to be downloaded, FREE, onto your iPhone or iPod Touch!  We plan on making it much easier and enjoyable for our Sellers who list with us and for our Buyers who are relocating. We don’t want to share too much here in this venue but if you are a Seller or Buyer interested in interviewing us for our services, please email or you can text, call or app us! (To find us on the iPhone, search “Clarksville” you will see, Last Train To Clarksville logo and our app is named “Clarksville”.)

In January you will find us in Real Estate Digest magazine everywhere in Clarksville.  This magazine is a free publication of all homes that are advertised by Realtors that decide to use Real Estate Digest. If you would like to search homes now that are on an up to date site, please go to our website or search to the left of this blog.

We, Art and I, as Team Agnew, would like to wish you a safe and Happy New Year.  To all of our Clients, thank you for allowing us to serve you in your Real Estate investments. Be looking for a package around the first week of January to help you with your taxes!

You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to name a few. I also would be remiss not to mention Diaries of a Fruitcake!

Recap 2009 and looking toward 2010!

Has anyone heard of the broker express? It allows you to view your MLS through charts and to see how the realtors in your area are doing? I can't seem to find it.

We are so excited to introduce our iPhone AND iPod Touch application that can be downloaded on iTunes! You can go to your iTunes store and search Clarksville. This application is named Clarksville underneath and inside is our logo Last Train To Clarksville! When downloaded to your iPhone or iPod Touch, the app will be “Clarksville”.

It is a FREE application and will allow you to email me or call me at the tap of a button, if you are using the iPhone. No need to dial numbers or searching through your contacts. If you are out searching Clarksville or surrounding areas and find a home that you would like more information on, click on your iPhone app and tap “Call Thea Agnew” and I will help you with any information you are looking for.

If you have the iPod Touch then the call feature will not be there, since you can’t call anyone. At the touch of your finger, also those with the iPhone, you can view our blog, search the multiple listing service, try different mortgage scenarios and (if on iPhone) be able to call Anchor Mortgage’s Amanda Dusenberry for more loan advice!

We are honored to be the FIRST Realtor’s in Clarksville to bring the Real Estate of Clarksville to you in the form of an Application from iTunes! Call, text, email or app to reach us today for your Real Estate needs!

Every once in a while we find ourselves crossing the path of the dream that we had as a child.  If anyone watches "Gary Unmarried" he is living a life of working as a Painter and a damn good one. But his dream was to always be a radio sports guy. When he had the opportunity arise to do it, he realized he wouldn't be able to if he wanted to support his family but his ex-wife saw his sacrifice all the past years to provide a good home and pay and said, "Go for it, we will make it work here."

Like many of you, I didn't grow up thinking that I wanted to be a Realtor. I thought that was on the same level as a lawyer or doctor. Never did I think I would be helping clients sell or buy their homes. But here I am with a really wonderful job for almost 5 years and meeting such wonderful Realtors along the way.  Now I have an opportunity to live my dream, singing.  I have had the opportunity before but I chose to stay home and raise my family and wait until they were older to possibly reach for the stars again. Waiting made me older and miss cut off ages like, American Idol.

My time has come now.  I have been in Alexandria, VA for the past week rehearsing with choreography and vocal training with a production called Operation Rising Star.  This production was made by some of the producers of American Idol for the military. It was known as Military Idol but they changed the name about 3 years ago.  I am already getting contacts from people in Germany who saw me audition on their tv to get them ready for this show.  I was picked out of 35 installations to be in the top 12 to compete. I am representing Ft. Campbell, KY.

As a fellow Realtor, I know that Active Rain has a lot of members and there is no other Realtor in this competition.  Can you take the time on Sunday the 15th of this month to get online and go to www.oprisingstar.com and click on VOTE? Put in your vote for me to help move me to the top 6. Help your fellow Realtor?

I will be singing the song, "Just a Dream" by Carrie Underwood to honor the fallen soldiers and their family members. My time has come now and 50% is up to the public.  Will you help me?

November 8^th is coming around the corner very quickly. That is the day I fly out to Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. I feel, as I'm all snug in my chair, the urge to write everyone to let you know that I sincerely need your help to be successful in this journey of mine.

Here I sit, a Military Spouse and mother to three teenagers. Many can relate.  Anyone who is a military spouse knows that when it comes to dreams, the military comes first unless your dream fits the Military life style.  Many of you dream to be a teacher, a nurse, a Realtor, a banker, a pharmacist, etc… and with those dreams you can be a teacher where ever your spouse is stationed, you can be a nurse, a Realtor, a banker,a pharmacist. But there is one dream that has been hard for me to reach. There was a time that I was close to making it but in order to make it, I would have had to leave my family. It would have been a hardship on my husband and our three small children.  A husband who is in an elite unit that needed him.  Children who love their mommy and could have had emotional scars from me having to go away.  Me, it would have been hard to be separated from my husband and children and knowing that someone else was raising them while my husband was at work. I made the right choice to put my singing on the back burner, to be the wife and support my husband needed and to be the mommy that our children deserved and what I was committed to by having them.  In doing so, I found ways to still sing, even though my dream was out of reach.

I was in a local band called Def, Dumb and Blonde (I was the blonde) and we sang all over Enterprise and Ft. Rucker, Alabama. I mostly harmonized with the two guys on either side of me. I did a few country songs but all together, it was a learning experience for me to help shape my performing in front of people. As I look back, I laugh. A friend of mine who has been there since I started putting my dream into action, which was when my children were in school, said that I would just stand there and tap my leg with my hand or my tambourine. I didn’t move, I didn’t know how to entertain.  I’m sure there is video out there showing what a fright I was.

I did a gig with a Major in the Army who played the guitar and would sing for Christmas functions for the Military Spouses club in Germany. I was very active in P.W.O.C. (Protestant Women of the Chapel) and would sing for them during our worship time.  

Every three months a group would get in a van and travel umpteen hours from Clarksville to Parris Island, S.C. where I helped lead worship for our Marines while they went through basic training. Knowing that more than one of the thousands there might not be alive this time next year was pulling at my heart.  We would get letters from the parents of these soldiers telling us how much it meant to their boy or girl that we came and did that for them.  That is when I realized that I wanted to sing for our military. I told my husband to let the unit know I would love to sing the National Anthem any time they needed someone. I didn’t accept any payment; I just wanted to touch people with my voice. To sing the National Anthem was the height of my singing. To be known as the “Anthem Girl” was such a high honor for me.

When I heard about Operation Rising Star it was a year ago, 2008.  A Night Stalker in my husband’s unit was going for his dream and the unit put it out to go and support him in the competition. I went as many nights as he was up there until he couldn’t go anymore. At this time I was in a competition my friends told me to try out for, the Beaver Idol.  I never thought about trying out for any competition.  While he was doing Operation Rising Star, I was doing Beaver Idol for the local country radio station here. The first time ever that I heard myself on radio, I had my children around me and we danced.  “Listen to Momma on the radio!” What a dream come true.  After not making the Beaver Idol title, I thought, what else can I do?  Here I am getting older by the minute and Nashville is more than likely out due to my age.  Then it started sinking in after every time I would sing the “National Anthem” someone would come up and ask me, when I was going to try out for American Idol? Why don’t you try out for Nashville Star? So, I started getting online and looking for competitions. Nashville Star is no longer doing their thing, at least this year. American Idol? I am over the age limit. Then Operation Rising Star popped up.  Why not try out? It's Military Idol!

So, I went down to the Sportsman Lodge and took my number, eleven.  I didn’t get all dressed up. I wanted the judges to hear my voice and not let my clothes or hair or jewelry be louder.  I sang “Strawberry Wine”.  Half way through, one of the judges stopped me and asked if there was another song I was on the fence with singing? As a matter of fact there was but I chose strawberry wine. I told them I was thinking about another song, “I Just Call You Mine” by Martina McBride.  They said, “Let’s hear it”. When I got to the high notes of the chorus, they all threw their hands in the air like they were on a roller coaster ride and started yelling, “That is what we were looking for.” “Why didn’t you do that as your first song?” So I made the top 12 of the local competition.

Wow. I was in a competition where I would have to choose my song for the theme and stand in front of everyone and sing. I was going for it.  Giving it my all because let’s face it, the clock is ticking away and it’s almost midnight.  I had the support of my husband, my children (which my girls helped me with my song selections) and my friends. My husband’s unit came out to support also.  I performed my heart out.  Enjoying it, it became very, very addictive.  I wanted more!

I got through every week.  I wouldn’t have made it to first place if it wasn’t for the votes of my fans! It was so stressful knowing that if I didn’t have enough people there to vote, I was out. I walked away representing Ft. Campbell to audition for the Army World Wide Competition.  We did my audition dvd and we had to send in the final song I sang in the competition for the judges to vote on. There were 12 judges who looked at all 35 installations winners and narrowed it down to 12 singers.  I found out October 21^st, my 20^th year wedding anniversary, that I was one of the 12!  My husband woke me up and told me to get dress and follow him.  I thought he was getting ready to give me a wedding anniversary gift. He told me to sit down and brought the computer over and wham..there I was, in the top 12! Such a wonderful man. He had been checking all morning while I was sleeping! He was just as nervous and excited as I was but then, I was the one still sleeping. :) 

Then it was time to let the fans and public know that in order for me to move to the top, I would need the support of my Military Installation and my hometown, Clarksville to vote for me.  I’ve given my life and support to our Military and I know that I am not known by many, just another Military Spouse but I am a Military Spouse that needs your help in votes. You can do this in the comfort of your own home. Just like American Idol.

As I said at the beginning, I leave for Virginia on the 8^th of this month. I am putting all my fans email address’ in a file so that when I am done singing, I will email you from my phone and let you know that you have a two hour window to vote for me from where ever you are.

Please send me your email if you would like to be on the list. The more fans I have voting, the closer I am to my dream. I will do a “test” on the 7^th, so if you don’t get it, you know to check your junk file.

What is the prize for this competition? An all expense paid trip to Los Angeles, CA to record a demo in DMI Firehouse recording studios and so many more possibilities…. Help me make it, join my fan club list, free, today.