Who Is Rita Montesi & Is She Seeking Vengeance?

The last leg of the Wilson Dam Road widening project in Muscle Shoals/Tuscumbia has hit another snag. Rita Montesi has refused to sell her property for the 43K offered her by the state. She was reportedly also unhappy with the 115K appraisal by the last Colbert County panel to value her lot--a lot that is losing access via Wilson Dam Road. The property may still be accessed via Sheridan Avenue. Montesi has hired attorneys Vincent McAllister and Steve Baccus to represent her in her quest for more money...or is it a vendetta against Colbert County?

The Cordova, Tennessee, resident owns several parcels of land in Colbert County, with the Wilson Dam parcel being appraised for tax purposes at slightly over 59K. The monetary value of the land does not take into consideration any income earned therefrom. In other words, if Rita Montesi had sold a portion of the land for the original offer of just over forty thousand dollars, she may have lost more in future years from lack of rental income. So...how about 115K; would she lose more in rental income if she received the latter amount? Now it becomes doubtful. Why pay attorneys to fight the state and Colbert County?

Rita Montesi is the sister of Noah Monroe Tidwell, a man convicted in Colbert County in 2005 of sexually abusing his two daughters. After the guilty verdict was handed down, Montesi held a news conference in which she accused Tidwell's attorney Tim Case of offering ineffective counsel and claimed that Colbert County did not provide a fair trial for her brother, wrongfully convicting him of crimes for which he was sentenced to life in prison. Tidwell is currently suing Colbert County, costing the taxpayers money and flaunting his deviant behavior.

Many say those who have held up and still are holding up the Wilson Dam Road widening project are responsible for any deaths which occur on this narrow stretch of road. That premise is debatable, but the condition of the narrow highway certainly does nothing to prevent such accidents.

If Rita Montesi is putting the kibosh on the Wilson Dam Road widening project out of revenge for the conviction of a sexual pervert who used his own daughters to gratify his sick cravings, the citizens of Colbert County need to know about it. The hearing on the most recent offer will be held Wednesday; we hope Montesi will agree to sell at that time.



Shoalanda