Trumps Now East Tennessee Landowners, But Why?

ROGERSVILLE, TN -- The Trump Organization, along with the President, First Lady, the president's son Donald Trump Jr. and his wife, are the owners of a relatively low-value and undeveloped piece of land in northeast Tennessee, apparently given away by a local businessman.

The Hawkins County Register of Deeds in Rogersville - a town along the Holston River about 65 miles northeast of Knoxville and one of the state's oldest cities - reported, with some glee, that Philip Henard, a third-generation local business owner, filed a deed transferring a small parcel in the Grandview Estates subdivision to the Trump Organization. The quitclaim deed listed the actual price of the sale as $0 and though some media reports are making some hay about language in the deed saying the transfer was made for "$10 and other good and valuable consideration," that is standard boilerplate language in Tennessee deeds and offers no information about the actual price. The first page of the deed makes it clear the actual price is $0.

But why would the president and his real-estate company want land in a secluded part of East Tennessee? Suspicion abounds in the county that this may, in fact, be a ploy by Henard to secure a water line to his subdivision.

"Mr. Henard insists that he put in a waterline in 1977 and it was the district's responsibility to maintain, even though there were no customers," Lakeview Utility District superintendent Tim Carwile told the Kingsport Times-News. "I told Mr. Henard that what he put in was not compatible or capable of being served by the district in 1977, and is not compatible or capable of being served by the district today."

"I ran across him back in the summer and he mentioned that 'I have talked to someone who will force you to serve my properties'. I told him that nobody exists who can force me to put water to his system with what he installed. I guess he figures that the President can."

For his part, Henard said he thought it would be nice for somebody of the president's "caliber" to own land in Hawkins County and that it's not a marketing ploy to sell lots in the subdivision. Though the land was subdivided 40 years ago, Henard still owns half of the lots himself. Henard insists that his long-running dispute with the utility district is "the last thing on his mind."

"After I put it in, the district and the state approved it, and they (Lakeview) took it over. I've asked him to fix that leak several times and he says it doesn't meet specifications, but I disagree with him. We can still sell lots and put wells in," he told the Times-News.

The property is valued at $7,800 and has a $49 annual property tax bill. Henard said he has no idea what the Trumps plan to do with the land.

New York Police Department protective barricades to regulate pedestrian traffic in front of Trump Tower, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)