UPDATE: Holston Valley protesters break down camp, transitioning to community meetings

After 257 days, they’re packing up in Kingsport.

“We will still be working together. We will still be researching. We will just not be doing them outside Holston Valley (Medical Center) any longer,” said Dani Cook, protestor organizer Dani Cook in a Facebook Live post.

Tents and signs protesting Ballad Health, their decisions to move select medical units from Kingsport to Johnson City Medical Center and the Certificate of Public Advantage were taken down as the group plans to transition to community meetings in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, according to Dani Cook.

She emphasized the move had nothing to do with a recent right of way ordinance passed by the Kingsport BMA for maintenance and safety reasons.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with the city of Kingsport because they can’t make us leave. …The judge already told the city of Kingsport that they cannot issue us any citations,” she said.

(Photo: Ballad Health)