June 12, 2013. Turtle Island Preserve plans to open for camps on June 14 for the first time since it closed to the public last fall after receiving building and health code violations from the Watauga County Planning & Inspections and Appalachian District Health Department.
BY JESSE WOOD
June 5, 2013. Eustace Conway of Turtle Island Preserve emailed a letter to supporters about a House Bill, which has support from State Rep. Jonathan Jordan and State Sen. Dan Soucek, that is moving through the General Assembly.
BY JESSE WOOD
May 2, 2013. Eustace Conway’s second-degree trespassing charge was dismissed on April 30 for insufficient evident after the case was continued multiple times. Conway was arrested in December when Margaret Palms, whose property connects to Conway’s Turtle Island Preserve in Triplett, charged Conway for “unlawfully and willfully” entering Palm’s land.
BY JESSE WOOD
April 23, 2013. Supporters of Eustace Conway and Turtle Island Preserve held a demonstration rally near the Watauga County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon.
The demonstration was organized by ASU Young Americans for Liberty and is part of a larger 24-hour stand-in at Sanford Mall on the campus of ASU to bring awareness to Turtle Island Preserve’s closure due to violating building and health inspections. The stand-in started at 9 a.m. this morning. At about 2 p.m., the group marched downtown to protest in front of the local health department and the Watauga County Planning & Inspections offices.
As the group stood at the stoop adjacent to the courthouse, Conway talked to his supporters, many of which were holding signs, for example, that said, “Loss of Property Rights = Tyranny,”No Victim, No Crime,” “Free Turtle Island,” and “Your Property, Your Discretion.”
BY JESSE WOOD
April 22, 2013. Not since The Last American Man was published has Eustace Conway received so much press as of late, and it’s likely he’s received even more publicity for building and health code violations at Turtle Island Preserve than he ever achieved from his biography, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2002.
BY JESSE WOOD
April 15, 2013. Students from Appalachian State University will host a 24-hour stand in on Appalachian’s Sanford Mall beginning at 9 a.m. on April 23 to stand in solidary with Eustace Conway and Turtle Island Preserve. Appalachian students and community members supportive of Turtle Island plan to bring grievances to local government officials.
March 1, 2013. Last week, staff from the N.C. Department of Insurance Engineering & Codes Division drove up the mountain to meet with members of the Watauga County Planning and Inspections and Appalachian District Health Department to discuss the closure of Turtle Island Preserve.
BY JESSE WOOD
Dec. 13, 2012. Eustace Conway of Turtle Island was arrested yesterday afternoon after being served a warrant for second-degree trespassing on a neighbors land in the Triplett community of Watauga County.
BY JESSE WOOD
Dec. 11, 2012. Eustace Conway of Turtle Island Preserve spoke before the N.C. Building Code Council on Monday morning hoping to appeal building code violations that were issued by the department of Watauga County Planning and Inspections.
BY JESSE WOOD
Dec. 7, 2012. Eustace Conway is perplexed, astounded and outraged at the recent events leading to the closure of Turtle Island Preserve, a 1,000-acre primitive refuge offering educational camps and internships, which he founded 26 years ago in the Triplett community of Watauga County.
“I am so shocked and hurt and so amazed at what I would call a human rights violation,” Conway said. “It basically started out as a witch hunt and hasn’t changed too much since then.”
BY JESSE WOOD
Photo by Jesse Wood
Nov. 26, 2012. After Turtle Island Preserve was forced to close in October due to building-code violations from the Watauga County Planning and Inspections Department and Appalachian District Health Department, Turtle Island Preserve released the following two letters seeking assistance from supporters.