COUNTY ENDING ITS HELIPORT PACT WITH DRUG DEALER

Knox County has moved to terminate its agreement with a convicted drug
trafficker whose company provided a now-controversial base for the six
helicopters of the Sheriff's Department. On Friday Knox County Executive
Tommy Schumpert sent Scott S. Walker a letter informing him that the county
is ending its contract with Walker Aviation Services LLC.

The "Landing Fee Agreement" signed in September had been paying Walker
Aviation $2,700 a month for use of its Mascot Road field for one year.

In his letter, however, Schumpert said that Walker Aviation claimed the
airstrip was "state certified" when it was not.

"That means the contract was never (valid) from the beginning," said County
Law Director Mike Moyers.

Walker, responding by e-mail to a request for comment, said he wants to
work out "an amiable" resolution to the situation.

The situation referred to arose early this month when it came to light
through the efforts of Knoxville lawyer Herbert S. Moncier that the county
had a contract with a convicted drug trafficker.

Sheriff Tim Hutchison said in a Jan. 4 interview that he did not know
Walker had pleaded guilty in federal court to drug charges.

Walker, 38, of Gatlinburg, was caught last year in Louisiana with a plane
load of marijuana intended for Sevier County. He faces sentencing in
federal court next month.

During the Jan. 4 interview, Hutchison said his department was trying to
confirm the conviction - for which the plea is sealed - and would break the
contract depending on its findings.

But Schumpert's Friday letter indicates the Sheriff's Department sent
Walker a termination notice on Dec. 6, 2001 - something Hutchison did not
mention Jan. 4.

Hutchison said Monday his office ended the contract in December because the
department could not get its vehicles and equipment in and out of the
facility. Despite the termination notice, the county still paid Walker
$2,700 on Dec. 28, 2001, for landing fees for the month of January.

That notice, which the county law department said it wasn't aware of, was
apparently based on a clause in the contract that allows the parties to
basically void the last 60 days of the contract.

"It's a misreading of the law," Moyers said Monday.

Moyers said the clause only applies to the final two months, not the middle
of the contract.

"The sheriff apparently sent that on his own," Moyers said.

Moyers indicated Friday's termination letter, based on the lack of a state
license, would stick.

But Walker said in an e-mail Monday that the county "was aware of the
situation" with the state license and used the strip for four months anyway.

"Because it no longer suits them does not mean they do not have to honor
the contract," he said. "We wish to seek an amiable solution to this
without any hard feelings."

Walker also indicated in his e-mail that the county law department put the
license language in the contract.

In the e-mail Walker also apologizes to Hutchison and says he "meant no
harm to him or his campaign." He says the contract was simply a "business
transaction, and my conviction should have no bearing at all." When asked,
Moyers said the county would negotiate with Walker and "try to find an
equitable way to terminate this contract."