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- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 17 Feb 2004.
Donald R. "Chief" Manis obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 26 May 2004.
Operation of Sugarland Horseback Riding Stables in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is expected to remain with the Don Manis family and to reopen sometime this year, according to Park officials.
Joel Ossoff, concessions management specialist for the Park, said Monday that upon the Feb. 17 death of Don Manis, the contract for the concession passed into the hands of three heirs, including his daughter Donna Manis of Knoxville.
Since Manis' death, the National Park Service has been working with the family's attorney, Douglas Dunn of Morrison, Tyree & Dunn of Knoxville. Dunn could not be reached Monday for comment.
While family members have not expressed an interest in being onsite for the day-to-day operations of the riding stables, Ossoff said they have "assured us someone with the right experience would be in charge of management."
Aside from choosing managers who are acceptable to the Park and setting an opening date, fulfillment of the Manis family's contract requires they build a barn to house 48 horses and provide adequate storage for tack, hay and feed.
The original park service contract with Don Manis had set a minimum of $100,000 to be spent on the barn. To keep costs down, the park service had come up with a design for two barns to hold 24 horses each prior to Manis' death.
Ossoff said Manis had proposed an alternate plan for something similar to the design proposed by the park service but Manis' heirs have not yet provided their final barn plans to the park service.
Preparation of the site for the barns has nearly been completed but Ossoff said, "While it would be nice to have the barns up before opening, they're not essential for operating. Our hope is that they will be able to open sooner rather than later - perhaps before the barns are constructed.
"The Park is eager to have this concession open for business; it's a popular facility," he added.
Temporary barns used last year could be erected again for use until new barns are constructed.
cgrimm@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 4 Feb 2005.
Smoky Mountains National Park opens April 1 for the 2005 season.
Two new barns to house the stable's 48 horses will soon begin going up, but currently the Park's maintenance crews are working on preparing the site for the barn foundations and other work to improve drainage on the entire site.
Each of the barns will measure 38 feet by 140 feet, according to Joel Ossoff, concessions management specialist for the National Park Service (NPS). The larger barns will not increase the number of horses, according to Ossoff, but are being built to meet new Park standards and better accommodate the 48 horses used in the operation.
"These buildings will replace the temporary facilities being used the past two seasons," said Ossoff, adding that the two permanent barns are being constructed by the concessioner but will become the property of the NPS.
"The design process used provides functional, good-looking, long-lasting facilities to safely and humanely accommodate the horses," he continued. "The main thing is that the stalls will be larger than the old barn that had been there."
To provide a solid, well-drained foundation for the new barns, Park crews are removing an elevated area at the back of the lot to improve drainage around the foundations of the new barns, building ditches to collect surface water, placing culverts to capture surface water and carry it away from the area, and placing gravel around the foundations. Workers are also installing a small septic tank and seepage area to handle water from the horse wash racks.
Following the February 2004 death of Don R. Manis, who had successfully bid the concession contract in late 2002, management of the stables was taken over by a corporation composed of Manis' family members.
The corporation, Sugarlands Horseback Riding Inc., is managed by a board of directors, with Manis' daughter Donna Manis as president, Manis' brother Bill Manis as vice president, and Manis' sister Katherine King as secretary.
Hired by the board to manage the riding concession were Jim McMillan, general manager, and Rick Flohe, who serves as the operations manager.
As with all riding concessions in the Park, rates at Sugarlands are $20 per hour, and trips ranging from one hour to four hours are available.
- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 14 Jun 2007.
Donald Wayne Manis obituary
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