Urgent Care Clinic in Lenoir City, TN

Nashville, Tenn. – The Tennessee Supreme Court held today in Robin M. McNabb v. Gregory H. Harrison, that Tennessee’s Constitution requires municipal judges to reside in the city where they will be assigned. Here, the candidate elected as Lenoir City Municipal Judge did not satisfy the constitutional residency requirement.

In 2022, Ms. Robin McNabb, Mr. Gregory Harrison, and a third candidate ran for Lenoir City Municipal Court judge. Mr. Harrison won the election, and the Loudon County Election Commission certified the results. Ms. McNabb challenged the results, arguing Mr. Harrison did not meet the residency requirement under the Tennessee Constitution.

Article VI, Section 4 of the Tennessee Constitution requires judges of “inferior courts” to be “elected by the qualified voters of the district or circuit to which they are to be assigned” and to “have been a resident . . . of the circuit or district one year.” Ms. McNabb and Mr. Harrison agreed that the Lenoir City Municipal Judge must satisfy this requirement but they disagreed on the meaning of the word “district.” Ms. McNabb argued that the judge must live within the city limits. Mr. Harrison argued that “district” means a larger territory; here, he argued that it meant the Ninth Judicial district, an area of several counties. Mr. Harrison conceded he did not reside within Lenoir City corporate limits in the year prior to the election.

The trial court found that “district” meant the Ninth Judicial District, so Mr. Harrison met the constitutional residency requirements. On appeal, the Court of Appeals agreed Mr. Harrison met the residency requirement but said “district” meant Loudon County. Ms. McNabb then appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court agreed that the Lenoir City Municipal Judge must comply with Article VI, Section 4, of the Tennessee Constitution. It then determined the original public meaning of the word “district” at the time the constitution was ratified by looking at dictionary definitions published around that time.

The Court declined to adopt Mr. Harrison’s expansive view of “district.” It found that the original public meaning of “district” referred to the geographic territory in which the judge had jurisdiction. Because the Lenoir City Municipal Court’s jurisdiction is limited to Lenoir City, the Court held, the Lenoir City Judge must reside in Lenoir City. Mr. Harrison did not reside within Lenoir City corporate limits in the year prior to the election, so he did not satisfy the constitutional requirement.

To read the Court’s opinion in Robin M. McNabb v. Gregory H. Harrison, authored by Justice Mary L. Wagner, go to the opinions section of TNCourts.gov.

Nashville, Tenn. – The Tennessee Supreme Court held today in Robin M. McNabb v. Gregory H. Harrison, that Tennessee’s Constitution requires municipal judges to reside in the city where they will be assigned. Here, the candidate elected as Lenoir City Municipal Judge did not satisfy the constitutional residency requirement.

In 2022, Ms. Robin McNabb, Mr. Gregory Harrison, and a third candidate ran for Lenoir City Municipal Court judge. Mr. Harrison won the election, and the Loudon County Election Commission certified the results. Ms. McNabb challenged the results, arguing Mr. Harrison did not meet the residency requirement under the Tennessee Constitution.

Article VI, Section 4 of the Tennessee Constitution requires judges of “inferior courts” to be “elected by the qualified voters of the district or circuit to which they are to be assigned” and to “have been a resident . . . of the circuit or district one year.” Ms. McNabb and Mr. Harrison agreed that the Lenoir City Municipal Judge must satisfy this requirement but they disagreed on the meaning of the word “district.” Ms. McNabb argued that the judge must live within the city limits. Mr. Harrison argued that “district” means a larger territory; here, he argued that it meant the Ninth Judicial district, an area of several counties. Mr. Harrison conceded he did not reside within Lenoir City corporate limits in the year prior to the election.

The trial court found that “district” meant the Ninth Judicial District, so Mr. Harrison met the constitutional residency requirements. On appeal, the Court of Appeals agreed Mr. Harrison met the residency requirement but said “district” meant Loudon County. Ms. McNabb then appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court agreed that the Lenoir City Municipal Judge must comply with Article VI, Section 4, of the Tennessee Constitution. It then determined the original public meaning of the word “district” at the time the constitution was ratified by looking at dictionary definitions published around that time.

The Court declined to adopt Mr. Harrison’s expansive view of “district.” It found that the original public meaning of “district” referred to the geographic territory in which the judge had jurisdiction. Because the Lenoir City Municipal Court’s jurisdiction is limited to Lenoir City, the Court held, the Lenoir City Judge must reside in Lenoir City. Mr. Harrison did not reside within Lenoir City corporate limits in the year prior to the election, so he did not satisfy the constitutional requirement.

To read the Court’s opinion in Robin M. McNabb v. Gregory H. Harrison, authored by Justice Mary L. Wagner, go to the opinions section of TNCourts.gov.

Riverside Coffee employs and teaches people with disabilities, now the board has been told they’re no longer qualified for funding that makes it possible.

LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WVLT) - Resting on the Knox and Loudon County line is a coffee shop that serves more than just coffee.

“We use the coffee shop to do their hands-on vocational training, so they’re learning customer service skills, money math, how to multi-task,” said Founder Engela Lee.

Lee is talking about the students, many of them with disabilities who train in the coffee shop and learn valuable skills in the classroom, all thanks to the coffee shop along US-70 outside Lenoir City.

“Unfortunately they blindsided us when they decided to faze out the funding,” added Lee in another breath.

The funding Lee is referring to is funding from the federal government that made the operation run.

$145,000, roughly, that helps pay for the program, and the teacher who some say is the best special education teacher they had ever seen.

“Without that funding there’s no way we can fund the teachers that are full time here,” said Board President Dylon Hibbard.

Hibbard, like nearly everyone who is a part of the operation, was surprised by the federal government’s move.

The loss of funding comes as Riverside is told they no longer qualify for it, the process in which they work wasn’t good enough for the federal government.

“Like I said, I’m a man of faith and I’m most optimistic in my God and I know we’re going to find the funding,” said Hibbard.

Right now they think they have six months to a year until the money completely runs out.

“They could shut us off any day or they could allow them to complete the full two-year program,” said Lee. “We’re in a limbo at this point, we are of course, hoping that any of our current students or all of our current students will be funded until the end of their current program.”

In the meantime they’ve painted a wall inside to support sponsors from the local community buying ad space on the wall, believing that revenue source will allow the work done inside the coffee shop to continue.

“Step up, we need some corporate sponsors,” pleaded Lee.

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Riverside Coffee Shop teaches job, life and social skills to people with disabilities like Down syndrome. Now, the founder says it's not receiving state funding.

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LENOIR CITY, Tenn. — A Lenoir City coffee shop brews up more than a cup of joe. They support and inspire people with disabilities.

Now, state leaders have pulled funding, leaving its mission in jeopardy. The nonprofit’s owner said it depended on those dollars.

Riverside Coffee Shop: ABA Next Steps hires people with disabilities like autism and Down syndrome, and teaches them vocational, life and social skills. In the three years since it's been open, Riverside has taught nearly 30 students. They take classes and then practice their job skills while working in the shop.

“It has been absolutely amazing,” founder Angela Lee shared. “I have a 23-year-old son with Down syndrome and there just seems to be a lack of good programs here in East Tennessee.”

For the last three years, she’s been working with people like Marcos Gonzalez-Rivera.

“It's cool,” Gonzalez-Rivera said about the job. “I enjoy it.”

But now, Lee said they were “blindsided about a week and a half ago.”

“We were totally shocked,” Lee said about her reaction to finding out the Tennessee Department of Human Services would no longer be funding the program. “There was no warning…they have been funding us for 2.5 years and we are grateful for that, and they decided that we no longer fit within the parameters of their program. And we are not willing to change our program just to obtain these funds.”

Lee said it’s because of the life and social skills they teach like cooking, safe dating and interview techniques instead of just vocational skills. She also said it’s because of the program’s two-year length.

“There's a 95% unemployment rate with individuals with disabilities. So we'd like to change that, number one,” Lee said about the purpose behind the mission. “Also, the research shows that the more independent we can become as an adult, the better quality of life. So we're also hoping to improve quality of life.”

Lee said she can see that improvement in employees like Gonzalez-Rivera.

“His struggles were eye contact, greeting customers, so customer service is where we've had a huge focus with his training on,” Lee said, watching Gonzalez-Rivera behind the counter. “And he's…well, look at him, he's doing fantastic!”

Gonzalez-Rivera said making coffee is his favorite part of working in the shop.

“You get to learn skills to prep yourself for getting an actual job,” he shared. “Because it'll be harder for you to learn those skills in a job if you don't get practice.”

Lee said she was receiving $140,000 from the state to fund the program. She said it costs about $15,000 per student over two years.

“We had all of our eggs in one basket, meaning that the state funding was covering 100% of our students' tuition,” Lee said. “We should have never let ourselves get into that spot. So our plan moving forward is to find multiple funding sources so that if any one of them do decide to pull out or just stop, that it's not going to be devastating like this. So yeah, we're going to try to fix it.”

Lee said this decision came one week before her new cohort of students was supposed to begin.

“My high school student who got declined, his teacher called me and she said he was actually crying, which of course broke my heart,” Lee said.

She’s hoping to get sponsorships from local businesses and support from customers like Susan Manley to support the mission.

“This is a very niche market, but it's a very important market to make sure that all people are able to reach their potential,” Manley said.

Manley was a special education teacher and said she knows how important opportunities are.

“There's the great general populace that are served and then there are niche populations that aren't served as much,” Manley said. “Children can go to school with disabilities until they're 22 and then they're out there and have they learned the life skills and the job skills they need? And how can we get them to reach their potential whatever their potential is?”

Manley is on the board of the Good Neighbor Shop, which she said has been supporting Riverside for years. On Tuesday, Manley dropped off a check for the coffee shop.

“I think it's a great program and I think that they should definitely continue,” Manley said. “There aren't any other programs around like this, so if you get rid of it, you've really gotten rid of the only program and that's sad. Our community needs to take care of all its people.”

10News reached out to the Tennessee Department of Human Services and they provided the following statement below.

"Since 2022, Riverside Coffee has been a valued partner in providing our customers with community-based barista training, serving approximately 25 customers to date. In the 2024 state fiscal year, that training, provided on a fee-for-service basis, and based each customer’s Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE) totaled approximately $73,635.32.

Since May of 2024, we have been in discussions with Riverside Coffee regarding the continued purchase of training for our customers through our Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Program by becoming a registered Community Rehabilitation Provider (CRP). To become a CRP, they must complete and submit a CRP Services Questionnaire. This ensures they can deliver services that align with our service delivery model to assure qualified providers are compensated per service provided in support of competitive, integrated employment.

It was expressed to Riverside Coffee that as of January 8, 2025, we would no longer be able to purchase training services for new VR customers to attend their ABA Next Steps barista training program as currently funded. However, Riverside Coffee was advised that any current students or customers with their program on their VR IPE that haven’t began yet would be able to continue their training.

Riverside Coffee has been made aware that to become a registered CRP, the provider can reach out to our VR Provider Relations Team, whose information we have provided to them. We value our partners, including Riverside Coffee, and look forward to working with them as a community-based training partner once they apply for and become an approved CRP."