https://patch.com/tennessee/johnson-city/trumps-now-east-tennessee-landowners-why
ROGERSVILLE, TN -- The Trump Organization, along with the President, First Lady, the president's son Donald Trump Jr. and his wife, are the owners of a relatively low-value and undeveloped piece of land in northeast Tennessee, apparently given away by a local businessman.
But why would the president and his real-estate company want land in a secluded part of East Tennessee? Suspicion abounds in the county that this may, in fact, be a ploy by Henard to secure a water line to his subdivision.
"Mr. Henard insists that he put in a waterline in 1977 and it was the district's responsibility to maintain, even though there were no customers," Lakeview Utility District superintendent Tim Carwile told the Kingsport Times-News. "I told Mr. Henard that what he put in was not compatible or capable of being served by the district in 1977, and is not compatible or capable of being served by the district today."
"I ran across him back in the summer and he mentioned that 'I have talked to someone who will force you to serve my properties'. I told him that nobody exists who can force me to put water to his system with what he installed. I guess he figures that the President can."
For his part, Henard said he thought it would be nice for somebody of the president's "caliber" to own land in Hawkins County and that it's not a marketing ploy to sell lots in the subdivision. Though the land was subdivided 40 years ago, Henard still owns half of the lots himself. Henard insists that his long-running dispute with the utility district is "the last thing on his mind."
"After I put it in, the district and the state approved it, and they (Lakeview) took it over. I've asked him to fix that leak several times and he says it doesn't meet specifications, but I disagree with him. We can still sell lots and put wells in," he told the Times-News.
The property is valued at $7,800 and has a $49 annual property tax bill. Henard said he has no idea what the Trumps plan to do with the land.
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A property owner in Hawkins County, Tennessee claims the president and his family's corporation are the proud new owners of a subdivision parcel he recently transferred to the Trumps.
Philip Henard and his wife, Karen, have the paperwork to show the $10 transaction took place Friday — a quitclaim deed USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee also obtained from the Hawkins County assessor — but the Trump family apparently denies the news is true.
"We love Tennessee and it’s [sic] incredible people, but this is not true," Donald Trump Jr. tweeted Tuesday afternoon, along with a link to a story from a Las Vegas television station claiming the Trump family now owned land in the rural Tennessee county.
Deed shows Trump Organization acquired land in East Tennessee
by: Sarah Denson
Posted: Dec 11, 2017 / 11:07 PM CST / Updated: Dec 11, 2017 / 11:07 PM CST
ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) – A representative of President Donald Trump has signed a deed making the Trump family landowners in Hawkins County.
According to a deed sent to WJHL from the office of Judy Kirkpatrick, the deed was signed in August and finalized this past Friday.
The landowners, Philip and Karen Henard, sold the property to the Trump Organization, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Donald Trump, Jr. and Vanessa Trump.
The property was sold on lot No. 40 of Grandview Estates in Rogersville.
No word right now what that property will be used for.
TRUMP LAND DEED VOIDED: Chancery Court sets aside controversial Hawkins land transaction filed in First Familys' name
By Bill Jones & Tommy Campbell The Rogersville Review Jan 31, 2019
ROGERSVILLE — A Hawkins County judge has approved a consent order setting aside and declaring void a controversial quitclaim deed that had conveyed to the Trump Organization, President Donald Trump and members of his family, a plot of land in Hawkins County, thereby resolving an, as of yet, fully unexplained transaction that raised the ire of one of the nation’s most prolific businessmen, Chief Executive and First Family.
The order approved Jan. 17, 2019, by Third Judicial District Chancellor Douglas Jenkins, establishes that neither the Trump Organization nor President Donald J. Trump; his wife, Melania Trump; his son, Donald Trump, Jr.; or Trump, Jr.’s wife, Vanessa Trump, own Lot 40 of Grandview Estates in Hawkins County’s Second Civil District.
According to email correspondence from the Trump Organization to this newspaper at the time the transaction was first announced, neither Donald Trump, his company, nor any of his family members had any knowledge that such a deed was being filed in their name in Hawkins County, Tennessee.
The Chancery Court order lists the Trumps as petitioners and Phillip Henard and his wife, Karen Henard, as respondents. The Henards and their attorney, Larry Boyd, signed the consent order as did Lang Wiseman, an attorney who represented the Trump Organization.
Quitclaim Deed declared void
“It specifically appearing that there was no actual consideration paid or accepted in connection with the transfer; there was no delivery or acceptance of the parcel (actual, constructive or otherwise), nor did the petitioners take any action to ratify the transfer after the fact; and that the transfer and quitclaim deed was the result of inadvertence, mistake or otherwise, and that both petitioners and respondents by and through their counsel expressly consent to the entry of this order declaring the quitclaim deed void and thereby setting it aside as having no legal effect or consequence,” the chancellor’s order says.
The order also notes that by signing the order, the respondents (the Henards) “consent to the entry of this order and to accept the return of the parcel (of land)”.
“It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed that the aforementioned quitclaim deed is hereby set aside and voided and shall hereafter be given no further legal effect,” the chancellor’s order states.
Case background
A news release issued by Phillip Henard to this newspaper in December, 2017, indicated that the Grandview Estates property had been conveyed to the Trumps.
A spokesman for the Trump Organization subsequently told the Review that neither the company nor any Trump family member had anything to do with the matter.
The emailed news release from Henard on Dec. 8, 2017, stated that “Hawkins County gained new property owners ... President Donald Trump and family.”
Henard said that a representative of the Trump Organization, whom he identified as Mark Helton (and later corrected the name to Mark Trent), made the trip to Rogersville to record the deed.
The property, the news release said, was Lot #40 in the Grandview (Estates) Subdivision. It was later learned that the transaction is recorded in the Register of Deeds Office in Book 1256, Pages 802-803.
Henard said in the email that it was a pleasure to work with the Trumps.
“During this entire process, communication was not as hard as I thought it might be,” he said. “Everything went smoothly. It will be very interesting to see what their plans are.”
Henard said in the email that he and his wife, Karen, welcome President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Donald Trump, Jr. and wife, Vanessa, and the Trump Organization to Hawkins County.
The Review obtained a copy of the executed quitclaim deed which was prepared by the local law firm of Boyd and Boyd, and dated August 18, 2017, which lists the Trump Organization and family members by name. That deed was filed at the Hawkins Co. Courthouse. A photo of Henard, Trent, and Register of Deeds Judy Kirkpatrick holding the filed document accompanied Henard’s email.
However, when the Review contacted the Trump Organization to ask what future plans the company and/or the family might possibly have for the local real estate parcel, the following one-sentence email reply was received from the company’s press department:”Neither The Trump Organization nor any individual Trump family member has anything to do with this.”
