Up next in 10
Paula talk with David Dotson from Dollywood about the fires in Tennessee and how the parks have reopened. David discusses the work Dolly Parton is going for relief using the My People fund. You can give to the My People fund at https://dollywoodfoundation.org/
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0:01
y'all I'm on the phone with David uh
0:03
president of the Dollywood
0:05
Association and
0:08
um he has been kind enough to to take
0:11
our phone call uh because you know I
0:14
have a restaurant up there poine family
0:16
kitchen and then I've got a retail store
0:20
in
0:21
Gatlinburg uh and I was up there David
0:25
like
0:28
Saturday it um before the fires really
0:32
broke out good and I remember I was in
0:36
the car and I looked them on top of the
0:38
mountain it looked like a house on fire
0:40
maybe a two-story house on fire up there
0:43
and I thought well gosh that's strange
0:46
looking but uh Dollywood did not get any
0:50
fire
0:51
correct that's correct Dollywood did not
0:54
or the dreamm resort or obviously Dixie
0:57
Stamp peder Lumberjack they got the fire
1:00
came very very close but thanks to some
1:02
real heroic efforts uh they were able to
1:04
scop the fire on the perimeter of
1:06
Dollywood that's great it's basically
1:09
pigeon forg more at the South End that
1:11
was in some imminent danger around the
1:13
spur but everything around the island
1:15
and Points North were fine and never
1:17
really in uh under any kind of
1:20
threat but uh say the the final fires
1:23
are almost out
1:25
correct yeah throughout the county uh
1:28
they are um the the large fire in the
1:31
National Park is still not fully
1:34
contained um I think I heard this
1:36
morning it's only about 30 to 40%
1:39
contained and they felt like it may be
1:40
as long as two weeks before it was fully
1:43
contained but I think they're feeling um
1:47
you know with all the rain we've had and
1:49
the efforts that are being made but but
1:51
they're not out of the wood yet so to
1:52
speak but certainly it's a much better
1:54
situation than it was a week ago and
1:56
what about the arson are they leaning
1:59
towards ARS
2:00
[Music]
2:01
the superintendent of the park and the
2:03
various press conferences has only gone
2:06
uh so far as to say that it was human
2:09
caused um they they have a federal
2:12
investigation team still working to
2:14
determine what exactly that means if it
2:17
was arson or could have been an accident
2:19
um as you know it's been extremely dry
2:22
here for months and
2:24
so it wouldn't take much to get this
2:27
going and then on Monday evening when
2:29
all those winds whipped up it just made
2:32
it was The Perfect Storm I mean there
2:33
was there was almost no escape from the
2:35
fact that something was gonna happen but
2:38
I don't think anybody realized something
2:40
of this was GNA happen right because I
2:42
left that Sunday morning and the winds
2:45
came in the next day on
2:48
Monday um well tell me what does the
2:51
tourist look like there is
2:54
it are people well for G Gallenberg yeah
2:58
they are in Pigeon for GE Gatlinburg
3:00
city is still closed uh they're hoping
3:03
to reopen the downtown on
3:05
Wednesday um and get the the main
3:08
Corridor in Gatlinburg was not harmed um
3:12
so you know they're there will be able
3:13
to get back into business but and how
3:16
about Dollywood has Dollywood open yeah
3:20
Dollywood opened this past Friday and
3:22
over the weekend and um business was
3:25
good um so that was very very good and I
3:29
think that you know still people
3:30
obviously coming to Pigeon Forge I think
3:34
there's been a clearly a lull right for
3:36
these last few days but I think all that
3:39
will change and and I think the message
3:41
we want to give to the world is that
3:43
we're recovering and we want tourists to
3:45
come and there's a lot here to enjoy and
3:48
uh your restaurant and the island and
3:50
Dollywood and they're all in business
3:53
and we if they come they're helping
3:56
they're helping us in a most direct way
3:57
come and visiting us okay that's Wonder
3:59
Wonder f David uh because that was the
4:02
main question I wanted to ask you is it
4:04
best to stay away or to come and support
4:07
any way you can so we got our answer you
4:10
want uh the tourist to to keep coming
4:13
and and be supportive in any way that
4:16
they
4:17
can um absolutely well I saw Dolly on TV
4:22
the other day and you know I've never
4:26
met in person I have received a a
4:28
personal note from her when we opened
4:31
the restaurant almost 2 years ago now
4:34
and I heard what she was doing for the
4:37
for the people that live there and she
4:41
must be an extremely kind extraordinary
4:45
woman I'd say that uh it's easy to say
4:49
that DOL is one of the most
4:50
extraordinary people that have walked
4:52
this Earth on all kinds of ways uh of
4:55
course I am prejudiced because I know
4:57
her quite well and certainly working for
4:58
her for all these these years but uh you
5:01
know last Wednesday so a mere 48 hours
5:04
after the fire we all sat down to say
5:06
what are we going to do and she said I
5:08
know what we're going to do and uh we
5:10
want you want my her fund which she's
5:13
calling the my people fund to provide
5:16
$1,000 a month for six months to every
5:18
family who lost their home whether
5:21
they're rental or owner in the fire so
5:23
we are busy this week uh getting those
5:26
distribution plans together and then
5:29
next week on December 15th we'll start
5:31
that process so that we will put cash in
5:34
people's hands so they can then choose
5:36
for themselves what they need to to
5:39
restore their their life back back to
5:41
well that's wonderful well please tell
5:44
her that I sent my love to her and I
5:47
think she's
5:50
um a great example for women
5:54
everywhere her her kindness and the big
5:58
heart that she has
6:00
and uh we'll keep y'all in our prayers
6:03
and um in spite of everything I want to
6:07
wish y'all a Merry Christmas
6:09
David thank you very much Paul I really
6:11
appreciate it and hope you have a merry
6:13
Christmas too and thank you for taking
6:15
some time to help get the word out about
6:17
what's happened and what is being done
6:19
about it and to promote the fact that
6:21
we're we're ready for tourists to come
6:23
and visit and to help and enjoy
6:25
themselves as well so thank you very
6:27
much well that is just great is is there
6:30
anything that um that anybody that other
6:34
people can do David to to help
6:37
out there is in terms of the the fund
6:40
that we've created to provide this
6:42
assistance to people it's called the my
6:44
people fund and you can go to Dollywood
6:48
foundation.org to donate to that fund
6:51
100% of the donations will go to support
6:54
the families that have lost their homes
6:57
you know in the in the fire um that
7:00
certainly is a is a great place to start
7:02
and then secondly to share that website
7:05
and to share that opportunity for giving
7:08
to their own orbit of influence of
7:10
people they know uh to get the word out
7:12
I'm really happy to say that the online
7:14
donations have already surpassed a
7:16
million dollars wow we know we know that
7:19
there's going to be uh the need is such
7:22
that we're going to need much more than
7:24
that so we're still actively fundraising
7:26
to deliver on this $1,000 per month
7:29
commitment but certainly those are two
7:31
really important ways to help and then
7:33
as we've discussed the last if you if
7:36
you uh would like to come visit the area
7:38
and would like to spend some of your
7:40
vacation and holiday time here please do
7:43
well thank you David and I hope y'all
7:45
have a blessed day up there and thank
7:47
you for all the smiles that y'all bring
7:50
to everybody that enters Dollywood my
7:54
grandchildren loved
7:57
it well good that made my day
7:59
they got me on to come back they got me
8:02
on some crazy rides up
8:05
there yeah there's plenty of crazy rides
8:07
so I think I've retired from the ride
8:09
riding career myself but but we we we
8:13
hope they come back real soon oh well
8:16
they they will and I thank you
8:20
David okay thank you Paul pleasure
8:22
talking to you byebye
8:27
byebye so the conversation that y'all
8:29
just overheard with uh was with a man
8:32
named David that has been with Dolly
8:36
Parton for years in years and he is the
8:39
president of
8:41
Dollywood and
8:43
um they were able to keep the fire from
8:46
coming into Dollywood thank goodness
8:49
Gatlinburg the main drag there uh was
8:54
unharmed and the island where pading
8:57
family kitchen is located
8:59
was unharmed as well so uh David told us
9:04
about the fund that you could go to if
9:06
you wanted to to donate money and of
9:09
course
9:10
Dolly uh being the kind of woman that I
9:13
heard that she is uh she's donating ,000
9:17
a month to every family up there that
9:19
lost their their home in the fire
9:22
whether you rented or whether you owned
9:25
um so just keep them in your thoughts
9:28
and prayers and check out
9:31
um the fund that you can donate to and
9:37
um I know knowing the people up there
9:40
like I do they'll do everything to to
9:44
get everything right again and don't
9:46
forget David said please y'all please
9:50
keep coming um and supporting all the
9:55
all the businesses up there uh because
9:58
this this has definitely been a big
10:01
Interruption so Dollywood is ready for
10:03
vistors I know the
10:05
island uh at Pigeon forages is counting
10:09
on y'all to be there as well and we
10:12
appreciate everything that y'all have
10:14
done so have a great day y'all and
10:18
thanks for
10:19
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11:16
3300 hi this is Dolly Parton with Smokey
11:20
now we had a beautiful fall this year in
11:22
the Smoky Mountains but this extended
11:24
drought has resulted in high Wildfire
11:27
danger as dry as it is please help
11:29
firefighters avoid wildfires hold off on
11:32
burning leaves tie up chains on trailers
11:35
to avoid sparks don't par vehicles on
11:38
dry grass why even a cozy campfire can
11:40
spark a wildfire why don't you help
11:43
firefighters keep the Smokey beautiful
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right Smokey yes
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