As a budget-cutting measure, 14 state parks across Tennessee, including four parks in East Tennessee, will lock their gates and shut down indefinitely at sunset today.
"Nobody really believed it was going to happen," said Duane Wyrick, manager for more than 20 years of Frozen Head State Park near Wartburg.
"I've always told my rangers the park will be kept open because the people won't stand for them to be closed," said Wyrick, who is losing his job and his home at Frozen Head today.
"It's about like a death in the family," said Norris Dam State Park Manager Fred Talley, who was busy Thursday signing separation notices for 21 employees who are losing their jobs.
"I flew combat in Vietnam, and this is far worse. It's a big shock to the system. Working at a park is more than a job. It's a lifestyle."
"It's hard to understand how it got this far," Talley said of the state's ongoing budget crisis that's blamed for the shutdowns.
He said Norris Dam State Park hosted 860,000 visitors last year, and those visits generated an estimated $1.26 million in sales tax revenue. "Any way you look at it, that's a good investment," Talley said.
Also closing in the area: Big Ridge State Park in Union County and Indi-----End Of Story-----an Mountain State Park in Campbell County. Panther Creek State Park in Hamblen County closed Sept. 4.
Talley said at 4:30 p.m. today, rangers will roll orange-and-white barrel barricades in front of the entrances to the 7,000-acre park, which straddles Norris Dam, "and then we'll walk away."
At Frozen Head State Park, where rangers had projected record attendance of 300,000 visitors this year, there will be a community-wide picnic from 4 to 6 this afternoon before the main gate is padlocked, Wyrick said.
In the meantime, parks employees Thursday were conducting inventories, winterizing cabins and canceling reservations for camping or use of facilities like the historic Tea Room building at Norris Dam State Park.
A small crew of what Wyrick described as "roving rangers" will patrol the closed parks. One ranger would continue to live inside the 13,000-acre Frozen Head State Park while it's closed. "He's been told that if anybody comes in, he is to escort them back out," Wyrick said.
"We are providing security for all parks that have been closed," said Pam Olsen, with the state's Department of Environment and Conservation.
The cost of those patrols was factored into the state's overall savings by closing the parks, she said. The state is projecting it will save $3.5 million with the shutdowns.
A part of Norris Dam State Park, the Lenoir Museum on U.S. Highway 441 near the base of Norris Dam, will remain open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, Talley said.
The nearby Rice Grist Mill, which was built in 1798, will be closed, he said.
The only people allowed inside Norris Dam State Park after this afternoon will be crews finishing up work on a new $1.8 million swimming pool on the Lake City side of the park. "They should be putting water into it within the next two weeks," Talley said.
TVA spokesman Gil Francis said the closing of Norris Dam State Park will not affect the estimated 28,000 acres of TVA land surrounding the park.
Current recreational activities allowed on TVA land can continue, and "TVA police officers will continue patrols as a matter of practice," he said.
Also unaffected: U.S. 441, which bisects part of Norris Dam State Park on its Lake City side.
Anderson County commissioners earlier this month authorized County Attorney David Clark to mount a last-ditch legal effort to thwart the shutdown.
Clark on Thursday said he was still researching which court would be the appropriate place to file a complaint for injunctive relief. He said a lawsuit could be filed today or Monday.
Also under consideration is a legal action against Gov. Don Sundquist, said Dan Orange, president of Friends of Frozen Head State Park.
The group, along with other Friends organizations at state parks that are closing, are considering action, Orange said.
There's one ironic coincidence in today's padlocking, Wyrick said. The state 30 years ago today approved the Tennessee Natural Areas Program. He said about half of the state parks closing today are designated as part of that program.
Copyright 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
November 30, 2001