By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor
Over the last five months, small red signs have grown in number, appearing in resident’s lawns and nailed to trees, displaying in bold, red letters the phrase “No Convicted Felon Camp.” Soon, the controversy that began the large protest will be put to rest by a vote of the people on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
When Shelby County resident Leigh Hunt first found out that a transitional facility for formerly incarcerated persons was located directly next door to her own property in February 2024, she was terrified.
“It felt hopeless, and it felt terrifying,” Hunt said. “I felt like I had been punched in the gut when all of a sudden I realized that, for the last three years of living there, that my kids had camped outside (and there’s) no telling how many times at night that I’d been out there working in my garden by myself. Just all the times that I sent my youngest two kids out to get eggs from our chickens. Just how vulnerable we had been, not even knowing who was next door.”