(WBIR-Roane County) The Roane County Habitat for Humanity is deciding what to do with more than 70 acres of land, once owned by infamous brothers Rocky and Leon Houston.
Both are in jail, and the land is vacant off Dogtown Road in Ten Mile, but that could soon change when it is expected to fully change hands next month.
"It's two tracts, one on each side of the road," said Roane County Habitat for Humanity's Jim Smith. "They total up to 72 (acres). We got the land back in the summer."
The two plots, one owned by Leon Houston, the other by Rocky Houston and his family, were given to Leon's former attorney Jim Logan as a form of payment during their long-running legal woes.
Roane County Deputy Bill Jones and ride along Mike Brown were killed in a shootout with the Houstons in May 2006, but they were never convicted. They have served time for other crimes, though. Leon recently received the maximum 5-year sentence after threatening Logan.
"We chose to make certain that we made a contribution to the community of Roane County -- which was torn apart over the years as a result of activities attributable to the Houstons," said Logan.
The final paperwork should be completed by this month, and Habitat will then have the property outright. Next, it could wind up with more than one 'Habitat house' on the property.
"One of the problems in that particular area -- there's no public sewer. So it makes it hard to put in a subdivision," Smith said.
Either way -- it's a problem this organization wants to have. "In the long term, it'll help," Smith added.
For more information on Roane County's Habitat for Humanity, visit: http://www.roanehabitat.org.
