We knew there'd be a hang-up

Published May 1, 2012 by J.R. Lind

They got the budget hammered out and sent to the governor, but not without one last piece of wrangling:

Reading from a Times Free Press article on the House floor, Democrats charged that $500,000 of that would go toward a new Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, Va., located literally across State Street from Bristol, Tenn.

Rep. Phillip Johnson, R-Pegram, sought to question the veracity of the article published last week in which Ramsey stated the money was going for that purpose.

According to a digital recording, Ramsey told reporters last Thursday the planned museum "is on the Virginia side -- barely. Literally on State Street. It's on State Street in Bristol. We'll put our money through the Arts Commission here as a grant to the city of Bristol and then they'll do their part."

State Street divides Bristol, Tenn., and Bristol, Va.

Finance Committee Chairman Charles Sargent, R-Franklin, initially sought to evade questions about the museum's location. Eventually, he implicitly acknowledged it was in Virginia but said "this will be tourism for the entire area. ... It will help Bristol, Tenn., as much if not more than Bristol, Va."

Politics

The proposed Birthplace of

Submitted by ElmerGantry@eas... on Tue, 2012-05-01 14:30.

The proposed Birthplace of Country Music Alliance Museum property itselt IS NOT located on the Bristol State Street (as it the current BCMA store front headquarters), but rather a couple of blocks away to the northeast and squarely inside of Virginia at the intersection of Cumberland Street and Moore Street - and majority of the public parking spaces and a large city park around the proposed museum property are also located on the Virginia side as well: