Scott man charged in elk poaching case
Plus: Waste Connections provides update on Volunteer Regional Landfill, free Thanksgiving dinners offered
Good Monday morning! Welcome to a brand new week. This is The Daybreaker, the first of several newsletters that will be published this week by the Independent Herald. The Daybreaker (Monday) and The Weekender (Thursday evening) are our two news-first newsletters. We publish several other newsletters throughout the week, as well as our regular E-Edition on Thursday and our Varsity E-Edition on Sunday (during sports season). If you’d like to adjust your subscription to include (or exclude) this or any of our other newsletters, please do so here. If you need to subscribe, it’s as simple as entering your email address:
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Huntsville man charged in elk poaching case
HUNTSVILLE | A lengthy investigation by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has resulted in grand jury indictments being returned against a Scott County man in connection with the illegal killing of an elk on the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area.
According to TWRA Region IV Public Information Officer Matthew Cameron, a grand jury returned an indictment against Shawn Lee Hutson, 46, of Huntsville, charging him with a variety of violations, including: illegal taking or possession of elk, possession of alcohol on a WMA, mitigated criminal littering, failure to retrieve, tagging violation, illegal baiting, operating an OHV off-trail on a WMA, and walleye creel limit violation.
The elk was killed in the Red Ash area of the North Cumberland WMA, which is located within the Royal Blue Unit in Campbell County. TWRA was notified of the dead elk on Feb. 22, 2025, after its carcass was discovered. North Cumberland WMA wildlife manager Darrell England was the first on scene to investigate, and was assisted by wildlife officers Spencer Wilson and Brenden Marlow.
According to Cameron, multiple parts of the elk had been removed from the scene.
TWRA offered no additional information about how they were able to zero in on Hutson as their suspect. However, a search warrant was served at his Huntsville home, which led to some of the additional charges.
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Waste Connections provides update on Volunteer Regional Landfill
ONEIDA | Waste Connections has provided a status update on Volunteer Regional Landfill at Bear Creek, which has come under renewed scrutiny amid unrelated efforts to build a second landfill nearby.
In a letter to Oneida Mayor Lori Phillips-Jones dated Nov. 17 and provided to representatives of the coalition of local governments in Scott and McCreary counties that are opposing the second landfill, Waste Connections Region Engineer Nelson Breeden provided a current status report.
In his report, Breeden stated that Volunteer Regional is currently permitted for 86.6 acres of landfill space, of which 70.5 acres have been constructed. As of February 2025, the landfill has collected 7.4 million cubic yards of waste materials, and has a remaining permitted disposal capacity of 7.7 million cubic yards — meaning it has filled roughly half its space in the 25 years since it opened. Breeden said that based on current operating levels, “this remaining permitted tonnage will provide for a current permitted operating life until 2048.”
That is roughly in line with a a 2020 survey from the TN Dept. of Environment & Conservation stating that Volunteer Regional had 24 years and seven months of life remaining as of that time.
However, Breeden also pointed out in his report that Waste Connections owns 800 acres of property at the Bear Creek site, of which 250 acres are currently used for landfill and site operations. “The significant additional property area at the facility will provide for on-going safe and environmentally responsible waste disposal for eastern Tennessee for the extended future,” he said.
Volunteer Regional was originally permitted by the state as Roberta Sanitary Landfill in the 1990s, following a legal battle between Scott County and local business owner Johnny King, and was later sold to Knoxville-based Waste Connections. King, who passed away in 2013, eventually applied for and received a permit for a second landfill on the Bear Creek property he owned. That permit, for 24 acres, was issued in 2010 and is the subject of the current ongoing battle being waged between Chattanooga-area landfill developer Knox Horner and local government and citizen groups. Horner and his investors are seeking to purchase approximately 700 acres of land that is a part of Roberta Phase II and includes the second permit that was issued in 2010.
That effort, which came to light in the spring, has given rise to multiple citizen groups in Scott County, as well as a coalition of local governments that includes Scott and McCreary counties, along with the municipalities of Oneida, Huntsville and Winfield, all seeking to stop the second landfill and an associated rail transfer station. Two of those groups, the government coalition and Cumberland Clear, have attorneys on retainer who are actively attempting to stop the second landfill. Horner’s group is attempting to have the landfill permit re-certified, which would allow construction of the second landfill to proceed. That can only happen after wetland mitigation issues — known as ARAP — are addressed. Horner’s attorneys earlier this month submitted proposals to address the ARAP concerns to TDEC.
In a late October letter to TDEC, Lisa Helton — the Nashville attorney representing the local government coalition — asked that the 24-acre permit issued in 2010 not be re-certified, alleging violations of the Jackson Law in the original permitting process. Jackson Law is a 1989 state statute giving local governments more say-so in the permitting process of privately-owned landfills. It was used unsuccessfully by Scott County in its early 1990s bid to stop what is now Volunteer Regional Landfill.
Last week, Horner’s attorneys responded to the the coalition’s letter with their own letter to TDEC, stating that the legal statutes for re-certifying landfill permits are clearly written and that there is no reason for the original permit to be revoked or not be re-certified.
Separate from the battle over the proposed second landfill, which seems almost certainly destined to be decided in court, Waste Connections has applied for a modified leachate evaporator at Volunteer Regional Landfill that would increase the capability of leachate treatment there. That application was the primary subject of a well-attended public meeting hosted by TDEC at Oneida High School earlier this month.
Leachate, sometimes called “garbage juice,” is the contaminated runoff that occurs as garbage decomposes in a landfill and rainwater passes through it. By law, landfill operators are required to collect the leachate and prevent it from leaching into the soil or nearby streams. There are various methods of disposing of leachate, and much of Volunteer Regional’s leachate has traditionally been pumped to the Oneida Wastewater Treatment Plant, where it is treated in the same way as sewage from local homes and businesses. However, through its evaporators, Volunteer Regional is seeking to treat the leachate on-site through an evaporative process. Local residents have expressed concerns about the potential air pollution from the leachate evaporation process. TDEC has not yet acted on Waste Connections’ application, but is expected to rule before the end of the year.
Separately, leachate treatment has been one of many talking points associated with the plans to build a second landfill at Bear Creek. In December 2025, Horner approached the Town of Oneida to discuss the possibility of his landfill’s leachate being treated at the town’s sewer plant. The town has since said that the plant cannot handle additional leachate, and Horner said at a government coalition meeting in July that he has contracted with a Knoxville-based environmental waste engineering firm to treat the leachate from his landfill.
There is no timeline for TDEC to act on re-certifying the Roberta Phase II permit, or on the application for a rail transfer station on Poplar Lane in Winfield.
Free dinners available on Thanksgiving
As Americans prepare for the biggest feast day of the year, several local businesses and organizations are prepared to offer free Thanksgiving dinners to Scott Countians who do not have anyone to prepare a meal or simply need someone to share it with.
In keeping with its tradition that dates back several years, RaeZack’s will be serving a hot, free Thanksgiving dinner at its restaurant, located on Scott Highway in Helenwood. The hours will be from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., and everyone is invited. The effort started several years ago by RaeZack’s owners Dan and Michelle King, and has grown into an annual event that serves several hundred people.
Separately, the Scott County Senior Citizens Center will be serving a free Thanksgiving dinner at its location on Main Street in Oneida.
The Week Ahead
⛅️ Weather: Today will be nice, with partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 60s. We’ll see rain tomorrow, but then beautiful weather for Thanksgiving, although it’ll be colder. Check out our daily Eye to the Sky updates on our Facebook page — published each morning at 7 a.m. on the dot — or always available at indherald.com.
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📅 Community Calendar
Monday: The Scott Appalachian Industries Senior Center in Huntsville will offer its walking program, puzzles and games, and massage chairs from 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. today and every weekday this week. Congregate meals are also available on-site at 12 p.m. each day, and are free to seniors ages 60 and over. You’re asked to call ahead, 423-663-9300. Additionally, Tai Chi will be offered today at 10 a.m.
Monday: Ridgeview Behavioral Health Services’ Mobile Health Clinic will be in the Walmart parking lot in Oneida from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., offering integrated primary care and behavioral health. No insurance is not a problem. Call (866) 599-0466 for more information.
Monday: The Scott County Senior Citizens Center (Main Street, Oneida) will serve lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. The cost is $7 for dine-in or carry-out. Phone: (423) 569-5972.
Monday: The Scott County Airport Authority will meet at the Scott County Airport in Oneida, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday: The Scott County Senior Citizens Center (Main Street, Oneida) will host exercise from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m.
Tuesday: The Scott Appalachian Industries Senior Center in Huntsville will offer Tai Chi at 11 a.m.
Tuesday: Pinnacle Resource Center’s food pantry (1513 Jeffers Road, Huntsville) will be open beginning at 10 a.m. There are no income guidelines; however, a photo ID and a piece of mail with a Scott County address are required.
Tuesday: Boy Scout Troop #333 will meet at the Oneida War Memorial Building on Alberta Street in Oneida beginning at 6 p.m.
Tuesday: In high school sports, Oneida will host Oakdale and Scott High will host Halls. Both games will tip off at 6:30 p.m., with the Rogers Group Pregame Report beginning at 6 p.m. on the IH Sports Network.
Tuesday: Wall Builders will meet from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. at Trinity Baptist Church (1611 Glass House Road, Helenwood) for those struggling with addiction or striving to keep off drugs. There will be preaching, teaching, food, fellowship and personal counseling.
Wednesday: The Scott County Senior Citizens Center (Main Street, Oneida) will serve lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. The cost is $7 for dine-in or carry-out.
Wednesday: The Scott Appalachian Industries Senior Center in Huntsville will offer a Fantasy of Trees day trip at 8 a.m. (must register).
The Community Calendar is presented by Citizens Gas Utility District. You may recognize a natural gas leak by a rotten egg like smell or by a hissing sound. If you know of or suspect a leak, leave the area and then call your gas supplier or 911.Visit citizensgastn.com.
Thank you for reading. Our next newsletter will be Echoes in Time tomorrow. If you’d like to update your subscription to add or subtract any of our newsletters, do so here. If you haven’t yet subscribed, it’s as simple as adding your email address!
◼️ Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
◼️ Tuesday: Echoes in Time (stories of our history)
◼️ Wednesday: Threads of Life (obituaries)
◼️ Thursday evening: The Weekender (news & the weekend)
◼️ Friday: Friday Features (beyond the news)
◼️ Sunday: Varsity (a weekly sports recap)