County Enters Into 10-Year Lease With Air Evac; Griffey Honors Connie McSwain

By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.—Henry County Commissioners Monday night heard the good news from County Mayor Brent Greer and Airport Manager Don Davenport that Air Evac plans to expand its regional presence and is entering into a 10-year lease for a hangar at the Henry County Airport.
At a busy meeting, Greer told commissioners, “This is a great thing for our community and I applaud Don for all the hard work he’s put into this.” It will mean two full helicopter crews in the community and more maintenance personnel, which will mean more jobs.
The lease agreement, which was approved by the commissioners, is for $42,000 per year and the hangar in which Air Evac will be operating was the former home of the Skykits Corp., an airplane manufacturing business which folded earlier this year.
Greer said, “This is a positive for our community. This will return all the money to the county that was extended into the building. It’s sad they (Skykits) was not successful, but it’s a good opportunity for Air Evac.”
The hangar is a 21,600 square foot building which is located on the airport groups. Air Evac already has headquarters at the Airport and Greer said, “They’ve been good a great corporate citizen for our community.”
Both Air Evac and Vanderbilt LifeFlight have headquarters at the airport.
State Rep. Bruce Griffey, R-Paris, presented a State Resolution honoring the late County Commissioner Connie McSwain, who died earlier this year. In addition to being a long-time County Commissioner, McSwain was the Director of the W.G. Rhea Public Library, worked at the Paris Special Schools District and served on numerous local boards. Griffey presented the resolution to Sam Barth, who was a special friend of McSwain’s.
Griffey also reported to the commission that the judicial redistricting plan for West Tennessee appears to be a dead issue at this point, following a committee meeting today in Nashville at which he, Henry Co. Bar Association President Andy Clark and 24^th District Public Defender Tas Gardner attended. Griffey said many public comments opposing the plan were directed at the committee, which voted 8-3 to recommend to the State Legislature that there be no redistricting in West Tennessee.
Photo: State Rep. Bruce Griffey, right, presents resolution honoring Connie McSwain to her special friend, Sam Barth. (Shannon McFarlin photo).