On April 1, 2010 I travelled to the site of the new school at Paulette. As I arrived a beautiful day was beginning to dawn on the project site. I was greeted by Rouse Construction employee Johnnie Beeler. He intoduced himself to me as the Superintendent of the project for Rouse. Mr Beeler gave me the tour of the project explaining how and where they would start.

The project will begin by leveling the site. I am told it will begin at the lower end and work northward. In the middle of the plot is a large hill which appears to be almost a mound. Mr Beeler was really optimistic about the timeline and weather. He did say that you really never know what is below the ground until you get there, although core drilling had proven this to be good land. I asked him what happened should they hit a large rock. Mr Beeler pointed to the largest dozer I had ever seen and proclaimed that it weighed in at 150,000 pounds. I looked at the ripper on the Dresser machine and it was about two feet bigger than me. Without a doubt it would be a formidable rock that this hulk can't move. Having lived in Union County my entire life I know our area has many Beelers and asked if he were related to them. It seems the man running the building of our new school is a local! His family hailed from the Roger's Hollow section of Sharp's Chapel. He himself lives off of Tazewell Pike. He began discussing people he knew and was related to with my father who was with me. Mr Beeler is a Baptist Pastor and has preached at several of our local churches. In fact, he pastored Hickory Valley Baptist for several years. There is no doubt in my mind after speaking with Johnnie that the project is in good hands with him as Supervisor. That adds to my belief that Rouse Construction is a top notch company. Currently finishing work on a major project in Oak Ridge, they are also involved in several projects for the University of Tennessee. It has been my belief that a good building depends on a good footer. If the footer is bad no matter how well you build a building it will be sub par. Rouse Construction will therefore do it's own footer work making certain that the most important part of the project is at it's best. Please enjoy these first photos of what I believe will be a project Union County can be proud of. The photo above shows all that remains of the old Hurst house.

Photo above shows a back view of the remains of the old building recently used for auctions. Photo above shows the remains of the old ouse behind the hill. Locals knew this as the "underground" house. The photo above is a front view of the old auction building. To the right you can see some of the timber that came off the site. In the far left of the phot is a small glimpse of the rear of the Dresser dozer. As you can see it's hood rises above the roof line of the old building.