CELINA, Tenn. (WTVF) — For Carol Abney and her Clay County neighbors, a recent purchase by out-of-state investors on the Celina town square has them preparing for a possible battle with people they consider to be political extremists.
"We are welcoming to a point, but we are not going to let people come here and completely take over our government and tell us how we live,” Abney told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
Clay County, which is located on the Tennessee-Kentucky line about two hours northeast of Nashville, is the latest area to be targeted by the developers who are behind efforts to establish a far-right Christian nationalist community in neighboring Jackson County.
There, the developers have bought up hundreds of acres of land that they hope to turn into homes for people who think like they think.
So far, in Clay County, they've bought a 3,600-square-foot storefront building that formerly served as an antique store, paying almost $250,000 with no apparent plans for the space.
For Abney, a rare Democrat in a county of less than 8,000 people, and Republicans Don and Vilinda Downs, there are plenty of reasons to be suspicious.
Sitting down with the trio, NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "Some people will say they just bought up a little storefront. What's the big deal?"
Don Downs quickly responded, “It's what comes after – that's the big deal."
Alarm focuses on podcasters' statements
Part of the alarm focuses on the far-right podcasters selected as ambassadors for the Christian nationalist project.
Those podcasters were the focus of NewsChannel 5’s initial reports.
As Andrew Isker and C.Jay Engel see it, the only people who have a legitimate right to a homeland here in the United States are so-called Heritage Americans, like the white people depicted in Norman Rockwell art from the past.
They celebrate images of whites-only diners in the 1950s, with Engel proclaiming that "the 1960s ruined everything."
The pair have given a platform for antisemitic figures of the far right, with Isker arguing that Jews should be treated as second-class citizens in a country that “belongs to Jesus.”
"One of them said that, you know, people call me racist – and I’m paraphrasing – people call me racist, but they underestimate how much I hate college educated white women's impact on society,” Abney recalled.
She added, “Which is kind of wild to me because we have several women-owned businesses in this town – several women-owned businesses."
"This, to me, isn't about politics,” Vilinda Downs said. “It is about this community preserving what it stands for — and it doesn't stand for hate groups."
Developer: 'They don't speak for my company'
One of the developers, Josh Abbotoy, recently appeared before the Celina board of aldermen, asking for recommendations about what they should do with the building.
Abbotoy — who is associated with two companies involved in the project, New Founding and Ridgerunner — also tried to distance himself from the podcasters who were initially described as his company's partners and who work out of the same office space as his company's offices.
“I think a lot of the stuff down in Jackson County was about a couple of my customers, you know, people who aren't connected to my company, but bought land from me,” Abbotoy said.
“They don't speak for my company. You know, I have various disagreements with them on things."
Yet, Abbotoy, who appeared on an election night podcast with Isker and Engel, has refused to repudiate anything the podcasters have said.
The developer himself has declared that “America is going to need a Protestant Franco," which is a reference to the Catholic dictator who ruled Spain beginning in 1939.
And Abbotoy's developer business partner, Nate Fischer, has called for pursuing "alternatives to democracy."
Neither Abbotoy nor Fischer have ever responded to any of NewsChannel 5’s questions, except to occasionally hurl insults by text or through social media.
" I think they're just willing to tell anybody whatever they need to say and smooth it over to try to get people to trust them so they can get power,” Abney said.
Resident: 'I have a really bad feeling'
What bothers the locals we spoke with is not so much the notion of people moving in from out of state; that is already happening.
It is the fear that these developers might have a plan up their sleeves to eventually take control.
"I have a really bad feeling that these people are going to step in here, they are going to take over our local city government probably first, and then they'll do what they can to take over the county,” Don Downs said.
NewsChannel 5 noted, "But they say they are not here to change things."
"And then they say in the next sentence to take the power away from everybody and roll up the ladder so that nobody else can take their power,” Abney responded.
Back at City Hall, Abbotoy was asked by one alderman about the fear that “you move into a town and get into offices and start taking the town over."
"We've never done that, and we don't plan to," Abbotoy insisted.
But, as NewsChannel 5 Investigates has previously revealed, on their podcasts, Abbotoy and his partners tell a different story.
Abbotoy himself said, “It's more attainable to get into civic and cultural leadership in a small town. It's more attainable to change the local market to make your presence felt.”
Nate Fischer expressed similar notions.
“Our goal is something where we actually have the concentration where we can control the town – or, in this case of the people there, it's already values aligned,” he said.
New Founding partner Santiago Pliego argued that a sudden influx of outsiders could make a significant difference in a small community in “mere months.”
Pliego described such efforts as being “where you plant the flag, and you say ‘I'm here in this city. We're going to shape this for good. Who wants to join?’"
"For them to think that they can come into this community and take over in a few months,” Abney scoffed. “I mean, people live here for years and don't get to be one of our community members. That's just who we are."
Don Downs agreed.
"It's just wrong of them to even attempt it, number one, wrong if we don't stand up and protect what we love here."
'Small town, not small minds'
Still, these people who call Clay County home know that sometimes money can talk, especially in a community where some people are hurting.
"You can't blame people for wanting to provide for their families and live well,” she added.
“But at the same time, maybe if we educate everybody, then people will understand that in order for our community to stay the way it is, they need to not do business with these people."
That is why, regardless of what the developers end up doing with the building, these residents are trying to organize to send a message that this small town is not for “small minds.”
Local activists have begun having monthly community meetings, trying to educate people and discourage property owners from selling to them. There is also talk about encouraging local businesses to boycott the outsiders.
They have even discussed trying to put together a group of local investors who would step in and snatch up any property that these developers attempt to purchase.
"We're going to run them out eventually,” Don Downs said.
“They just don't realize how stubborn these people are up here. I've been here long enough to know that. We're not going to put up with much."
––––––––––––––––––––––
Do you have information that would help me with my investigation? Send me your tips: phil.williams@newschannel5.com
RELATED STORIES:
June 24, 2024: Data compiled by watchdog groups suggests that neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups have targeted the Volunteer State with racist flyers at an alarming rate in the past year, signaling a more brazen and calculated focus on the state. The statistics are alarming.
July 19, 2024: Standing on what is now the Diane Nash Plaza — named after the civil rights legend who came here to confront a Nashville mayor and a community's racism — I decided to confront the hate that has once again reared its ugly head. Click here to watch my exchange.
August 20, 2024: He warned me there would be consequences if I failed to comply with his demands to air a white-supremacist video. Then, nothing happened. And now that man faces his own consequences. Read more about Kai Liam Nix.
September 16, 2024: Millersville, Tennessee, is gaining national attention for an approach to governing that democracy advocates fear. Here, conspiracy theorists carry guns and badges, using their police powers to explore notions that are sometimes completely divorced from reality. You can find a series of stories here.
November 18, 2024: An exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation has discovered that those Christian nationalists have set their sights on a remote Middle Tennessee county, hoping to attract hundreds, even thousands, of like-minded people from across the country as part of efforts, in the words of one activist, to “radicalize Main Street.” Find the full story here.
November 25, 2024: As word spread across Jackson County, a gathering of friends quickly grew into an impromptu town hall. Some just came with questions — others, with deep concerns. Watch the full story.
December 2, 2024: The American Renaissance Conference — which calls Montgomery Bell State Park its "home away from home" — provides yet another example of the rise of hate and extremism in Tennessee. Watch what happened when Phil Williams went to this influential hate conference.
December 9, 2024: Podcaster C.Jay Engel thinks I’m part of a grand conspiracy, twisting his words and the views of his Christian nationalist partner Andrew Isker, apparently taking orders from what he calls "the American Regime." Here are the facts.
December 26, 2024: "Rarely in my nearly 40-year career as a journalist have I felt the target on my back as continuously and intensely as I have in the last 15 months." Read this personal reflection by Phil Williams.
January 17, 2025: It's an image that again shows hate rearing its ugly head in Middle Tennessee: a neo-Nazi standing in the lobby of Nashville’s Jewish Community Center while wearing a costume that mocks an Orthodox rabbi. See the neo-Nazis' videos and chats.
January 23, 2025: A manifesto left behind by the Antioch High School shooter reveals a 17-year-old young man who was sucked into the world of hate and never found his way out, says a veteran researcher who specializes in hate and political extremism.
January 27, 2025: For as long as he can remember, Gunner Joseph Fisher, 18, has thought about mass murder. Driven by a hatred of Jews, African Americans and Muslims, Fisher believed he was “bound to murder.”
March 3, 2025: From their participation in a conference in Middle Tennessee, to the compound being built in East Tennessee, Patriot Front has become a growing presence in Tennessee. Who are they? Phil Williams investigates.
March 6, 2025: Dramatic video obtained by NewsChannel 5 shows why a Canadian neo-Nazi now faces new charges for an assault back in July on the streets of Nashville. That video was captured by a group of neo-Nazis themselves.
April 14, 2025: A recent guest hosted by the Christian nationalist podcasters in Jackson County, Tennessee, highlights their willingness to flirt with ideas that critics call antisemitic and with characters who engage in Holocaust denial. Andrew Isker himself believes Jews should be treated as second-class citizens because, as he puts it, “this country belongs to Jesus.”
June 16, 2025: An armed man arrested during Nashville’s “No Kings” protest has a long history of fascination with Nazis and mass murderers, and he was already on the FBI's radar, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has learned.
July 21, 2025: He’s a Hitler-loving podcaster on a mission to convince young Christian men to hate – all in the name of God. He wants a right-wing Christian government that will deport Jews, immigrants and people of color. He does not rule out the possible need for genocide. Meet the Tennessee man.
July 28, 2025: For the politically connected investors behind the Christian nationalist project in Jackson County, Tennessee, our NewsChannel 5 investigation has now discovered, it’s about business, power and modeling what they describe as an alternative view of America.
Related videos, stories: