What Stacey hopes to be one day?

He purchased them himself unless you can find information that specifically states he was the owner for the past months/years.

My checking online shows that he was, at one point, licensed in real estate in AZ.

Just a thought. Not downplaying your suggestion in the least. I'm also digging on this end.

Hey, Byronic Whatever --

Just caught your act on the KNS comment section. You're quite the hero, eh?
:

i, KNS.
I did a little legwork for you.

This story posted today:
(link...)...

You might want to do a quick KGIS search for:
945 LEDGERWOOD AVE.

I know that the entirety of this thread is busy with individuals talking about things that are only remotely related to this story -- or talking about the fallibility of the AP -- but you may want to take a look and investigate this aspect of the story. Considering this is a Knoxville-centric story, it seems likely to pick up steam in the next few days.

Cheers.

Rose's residential address, which the article says is also the registered address for Specialty Group, appears to be 12678 Amberset Drive in Knoxville, zip 37922.

This is in Concord/Farragut, isn't it?

Rose also serves as registered agent for the new business and uses this same address in that capacity.

See the Business Entity Detail per the Secretary of State's website here.

Lawyer, has a Kingston Pike office.

Lawyer, has a Kingston Pike office.

Then Stacey might want to find another mentor. He could never get through law school...

So is Rose's office at 8712 Kingston Pike? The county Prop Assessor's site lists three properties in Rose's name (tho I can't guess what other props he might hold in other names), namely the Ledgerwood prop, the Amberset prop, and the Kingston Pike prop.

I had imagined that the Kingston Pike prop was residential, too, since this real estate site describes it as a 2000 sq ft single family home built in 1959? Maybe Rose converted it into his office, tho?

JD from Wake Forest.

That link says he was "admitted" in 1976, but "admitted" to what? To Wake Forest? To the TN Bar?

Trying to use that year as a clue, it sounds like he's probably 60 years old, or maybe a bit older???

That would be the year he was admitted to the TN bar. The date of his acceptance to law school isn't relevant to anything...

Actually, it's looking like he was first admitted to the NC bar in '76 and to the TN bar later, in '89 (with a few stops in between), per Lawyers.com.

Ho hum. Let's poke around a bit more tomorrow, shall we?

I'm going to check w/some lawyer friends.

So basically, money owed to they city for taxes and penalties is instead going to finance some right-wing nut's campaign? Nice.

I looked at Open Secretes and didn't see anything for William S. Rose. There was a small donation to some Republican campaign in 2009 from a W. S. Rose who gave a Nashville address and listed his occupation as attorney and his employer as a St. Louis law firm.

William S. Rose, Jr. is listed as an attorney for John L. Turley re. a claim against a debtor who was filing bankruptcy in 2005.

WILLIAM SEHON ROSE, JR., ESQ.
8712 Kingston Pike
Knoxville, Tennessee 37923
Attorney for John L. Turley

(link...)

(Sent by a reader)

I understand the homemakers progrm is needed when properties are abandoned or have cloudy tiltle or the owners can't afford to fix them up. This doesn't appear to be the case here.

Rose could have sold the house during the bubble, he could demolish the house for about what the lot is worth. I don't see where we, the taxpayers, need to subsidize this guy.

Do you feel that this house (if restored) contributes greatly to the fabric of the neighborhood, metulj? How about an empty lot?

Sounds like it would be a lot cheaper for the city to demolish it if there is no hope for rebuilding. Why reward a millionaire? Maybe one of the neighbors would buy it for an extra lot at a tax sale.

Or, if Chad Tindell is sucessful in his goal to clear the titles on tax sale properties it can be the site of a new house. Ledgerwood is an attractive street.

Washington Post:

Two watchdog groups last week asked the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department to investigate the donations [TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS] from the two Tennessee companies. The groups, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center, say the arrangement could violate federal laws that prohibit attempting to hide the true source of a political contribution by giving it under another name.

It's interesting the way the news article states: "Four blighted properties are going before Knoxville City Council on Tuesday for purchase by the community development department to be then sold to a responsible owner." It would be necessary for someone to check with the City's community development department to see the title work to know who actually received the money from the sale. Then, once the city's Com. Dev. Dept acquired title, did they take bids to resell it, as some state laws might require (in Texas at least, where I used to practice law), or did they sell directly to a developer chosen ahead of time? Were any of the lots located near an ongoing development which needed the use of government power (eminent domain, etc.) to secure title to complete the land acquisition for the project?

One other question about William S. Rose, Jr. Is he the same person who was a U.S. Attorney during the George H. W. Bush administration, who was replaced by Shirley D. Peterson in 1989? "Los Angeles Times - Mar 23, 1989
Shirley Peterson Named by Bush to Head Tax Unit...Peterson has been litigating tax matters since 1969 and has served in several capacities on the American Bar Assn. She would succeed William S. Rose Jr...."

The legal description of one property states that it is:
BEING the same property conveyed to The William S. Rose and Ann P. Rose Joint Living Trust, William S. Rose, Jr., Trustee, by Quit Claim Deed from Ann W. Rose, dated May 26, 2004, and recorded as Instrument No. 200406280118830, in the Register’s Office for Knox County, Tennessee; and
BEING the same property conveyed to The William S. Rose and Ann P. Rose Joint Living Trust, William S. Rose, Jr., Trustee, by Quit Claim Deed from Wendy W. Rose, dated June 16, 2004, and recorded as Instrument No. 200406280118831, in the Register’s Office for Knox County, Tennessee.
This can be found in a document at this link:
(link...)

Original License Date: 4/19/1999
Expiration Date: 4/30/2005

(link...)

The attorney who worked in the tax division of the Dept. of Justice was appointed during the Reagan administration and still lives in South Carolina--most likely a different person from the one in Knoxville, TN:
(link...)
The President today announced his intention to nominate William S. Rose, Jr., to be an Assistant Attorney General (Tax Division), Department of Justice. He would succeed Roger Milton Olsen.

Since 1981 Mr. Rose has been an attorney with the McNair law firm in Hilton Head Island, SC. Prior to this he was with the firm of Frost and Jacobs, 1977-1981. From 1973 to 1976, Mr. Rose was an attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel, Tax Court Litigation Division, Internal Revenue Service.

Mr. Rose graduated from the University of the South (B.A., 1970), the University of South Carolina Law School (J.D., 1973), and Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M., 1976). He was born March 9, 1948, in Columbia, SC. Mr. Rose is married, has three children, and resides in Hilton Head, SC.

Mother Jones:

(link...)

Gag me with a spoon.