The Daybreaker: Car theft suspect apprehended after manhunt
Plus: As rails-to-trails proposal garners more attention, controversy remains
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 need to subscribe, or if you subscribed prior to April 2025 and would like to update your preferences to receive any of our additional newsletters, please click the link below.
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Car theft suspect apprehended following manhunt in the Cherry Fork community
HUNTSVILLE | A local man who was subject of a Friday manhunt in the Cherry Fork community south of Oneida was captured Saturday morning.
According to Scott County Sheriff Brian Keeton, the suspect, Jerry Stevens, was apprehended by Oneida Police Department without incident early Saturday morning.
Stevens, 32, of Strunk, Ky., was wanted in connection with what Keeton termed a “two-week-long carjacking spree” that stretched from Scott County to Jefferson County and Cocke County. Authorities in multiple counties had warned during that time that Stevens should be considered armed and dangerous.
Locally, the search for Stevens was kept in the public eye after he allegedly stole a pickup truck and trailer from an Oneida man who shared photos of Stevens and another man on Facebook. The post was shared more than 500 times.
The truck and trailer were taken from a location on Verdun Road on April 19, and later spotted in Cocke County on April 20 and April 21. A truck was later found burned in Jefferson County, and the Oneida owner said in a Facebook post last week that he was awaiting verification that it was his truck.
Another Scott County vehicle — a Jeep Wrangler — was taken from a warehouse on Paint Rock Road near Oneida City Park on April 2. Its owner also shared photos on Facebook that were shared more than 500 times. There have been other recent vehicle thefts in Scott County, as well.
The search for Stevens ratcheted up on Friday, when he was spotted along Cherry Fork Road in Helenwood. Scott County Sheriff’s Department deputies engaged Stevens in a pursuit that ended with him fleeing on foot.
According to the Scott County Jail’s intake report, Stevens was charged with theft over $10,000 and vandalism. Keeton said Saturday morning that other charges are pending. Stevens was booked into the jail at 8:54 a.m. Saturday.
As rails-to-trails proposal gains more widespread attention, controversy remains
A proposal to transform the abandoned Tennessee Railroad into a recreational trail for bicyclists and hikers continues to stir debate, as the story moves from local to regional.
The idea — spearheaded by Oak Ridge-based Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning and championed by a local group based in Oneida — has pitted residents along the rail line against tourism promoters. It’s also split local government entities, with the Town of Oneida in favor of the plan while Scott County and the Town of Huntsville are both on the record in opposition to it.
The controversy was restoked last week when WBIR, a Knoxville affiliate of NBC Television, published a story entitled “Scott County is pursuing a plan to turn an old railroad line into a recreational, multi-use trail.”
WBIR interviewed Oneida Mayor Lori Phillips-Jones and Timber Rock Lodge owner Ralph Trieschmann — among others — for its story.
“There is a recreational component of it where families with young children can get out on these trails and enjoy nature,” Phillips-Jones told the TV station. “The health benefits are a lot because people have greater access to walking paths. There’s also a community aspect to preserve that great, rich history of our ancestors who worked on the railroads and mined coal in these areas.”
But the story’s approach drew the ire of some county officials and residents along the rail line. The headline was misleading; Scott County is not pursuing the rail-trail plan, and County Commission has passed a resolution stating its opposition.
After being contacted by Scott County Mayor Jerried Jeffers and some residents along the old railroad, WBIR ran a second story later in the week, entitled, “Scott County neighbors concerned about safety and policing from possible rail-to-trail transformation project.”
In the latter story, Jeffers reiterated his concern over policing the rail line.
“Best case scenario, you might have five people working the night shift for the entire county for the sheriff’s department,” he said. “What are you gonna do if somebody has an incident on somebody’s property that is 20 miles off the beaten path on some trail, and then how are you going to get there?”
The battle lines aren’t clearly drawn between residents along the railroad corridor and tourism promoters. One of those residents, Mike Keeton, lives in the Tunnel Hill area east of Oneida and previously told the Independent Herald that he prefers a walking and biking trail to a free-for-all ATV trail. He repeated that stance to WBIR in its initial story last week.
“I would love to have my land back, but I know the reality of it, and that’s why I’m with this group because the economic growth that could be is something that this county needs.”
Likewise, not all tourism promoters are on board with the idea.
At the end of the day, local opposition and support may mean little, as the proposal will ultimately be decided by entities outside Scott County. Federal legislation and a 1980s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court create a vehicle for abandoned railroads to be transformed into recreational trails, with the federal Surface Transportation Board serving as a mediator of sorts. And Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning has been joined in its fight to create the trail by Trust for Public Lands, a national organization with offices in San Francisco, Denver and Washington, D.C. that packs a lot of financial muscle.
The owner of the property is R.J. Corman, the Kentucky-based railroad company that purchased the old Tennessee line from National Coal Corporation in 2009 with a $3 million price tag affixed. The Surface Transportation Board recently approved a one-year extension for efforts to transform the railroad into a recreational trail, and Trust for Public Lands is negotiating with Corman for ownership of the railroad corridor.
Should the April 2026 deadline come and go without a resolution, Corman will essentially be free to do with the rail bed what it wishes. At that point, easements that were granted to the railroad company when the railroad was originally built in the 1890s and early 1900s would revert to the original deedholder — which is believed to involve only small portions of the rail grade. Property parcels owned fee-simple by Corman, which make up the bulk of the 41-mile route from Oneida to Devonia, could be sold in part or in whole by Corman, or donated.
Should it come to that, Jeffers is pushing for Corman to sell the property to adjoining landowners.
“Since they bought the easement from those folks, here’s an opportunity to purchase it back at a decent price, right?” he told WBIR.
Others, however, caution that Corman is unlikely to consider that option.
“The land rights were sold over 100 years ago. It’s not going back to the landowners,” Micah Keeton — Mike Keeton’s daughter — said in a Facebook comment in response to the WBIR story. “We looked for ways to get it back, and there aren’t any there. Please do your due diligence, like we did, in researching that. The other option is that the land is sold to the highest bidder if rails to trails isn’t enacted. If that happens, the uses for that land will be up to the new owners’ discretion, whether it be an ATV trail or a flea market.”
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The Week Ahead
☀️ Weather: We will remain under the influence of the upper level low that put a damper on weekend plans, as we see rain showers and temperatures that struggle to get out of the 50s today. It won’t rain all day and it won’t rain much, but the threat of rain will be persistent. We’ll get a break tomorrow, then we’ll be back in an unsettled pattern due to the influence of another slow-moving storm system for the rest of the week. Check out our daily Eye to the Sky updates on our Facebook page — published each morning at 7 a.m. on the dot.
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📅 Community Calendar
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: Scott County Commission will meet in work session at the Scott County Office Building in Huntsville, beginning at 5 p.m.
Monday: Postseason high school sports finds Oneida softball hosting Pigeon Forge (6 p.m.), Oneida soccer hosting Oliver Springs (6:30 p.m.), Scott High softball traveling to Clinton (6 p.m.) and Scott High soccer traveling to Anderson County (6:30 p.m.).
Tuesday: The Scott County Senior Citizens Center (Main Street, Oneida) will host exercise from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m.
Tuesday: 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: 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.
Thursday: The Gerry McDonald Mission House, located on Church Avenue, directly behind First United Methodist Church, is open from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. You are eligible to receive food once per month. For more information or requirements, call the church office at 569-8828.
Thursday: The Scott County Senior Citizens Center (Main Street, Oneida) will host exercise from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m.
Thursday: The Scott County Board of Education will meet in regular session at the Central Office in Huntsville, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
The Community Calendar is presented by Citizens Gas Utility District. Citizens Gas operates natural gas distribution pipelines in portions of Scott and Morgan counties. Visit citizensgastn.com.
ICYMI
Issue #28 of Varsity, the Sports Magazine of the Independent Herald, was published Sunday. It is available here.
Thank you for reading. Our next newsletters will be Echoes from the Past on Tuesday and Threads of Life on Wednesday. Want to update your subscription to add or subtract these newsletters? Do so here. Need to subscribe? Enter your email address below!
◼️ Monday morning: The Daybreaker (news & the week ahead)
◼️ Tuesday: Echoes from the Past (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)