"out front" is the mayor of pidgeon forge. paula deen and pidgeon forge, why? >> i think it fits.n add to our product mix to give something to our loyal visitors who come back here year in and year out and also to get in front of new people, we're excited about it. >> now your town is a tourist destination as you said, 10 million tourists a year. that's a big number. are you worried that this restaurant could bring negative attention as well? i'm sure a lot of her fans are coming but obviously she's now on the national stage as well for her use of the "n" word. >> right. it's a private development. those private folks obviously with the island, developers of the island and paula deen's folks, they got together and decided that they through the due diligence process thought they could make a business go of it in pidgeon forge. we are excited about it. we think she has a strong brand and think our visitors will love it. >> how would you describe the local opinion of paula deen? i know you're saying, look, it's investors putting this money in. do people see her as a victim, as someon

only about 1% of pidgeon forge is african-american.think that's part of why they chose that town? >> no, i don't think so. i don't think so at all because we host 10 million visitors every year and those visitors are from every walk of life. we take every make and model in pidgeon forge. we don't discriminate. our doors are open. we're a family destination and that's what we're going to focus on with any development that comes in. our doors are wide open to whoever to build memories with their families. >> mayor, thank you so much for taking the time. >> thank you. >>> in addition to that new restaurant, paula deen also addresses the scandal in an exclusive interview in this week's edition of "people" magazine. you can get that on news stands on friday. >>> still to come, arizona governor jan brewer is minutes away for making an announcement on a bill critics call anty gay. >>> chris christie is talking now about the scandal that's threatening to take down his career. and pope francis meets his mini me. ♪ aflac, aflac, aflac! ♪ [ both

you really put the cat amongst the pidgeons there, senator. >> yeah, well, it's a fact and you know,lieve that the employees here who are making this monumental decision need to be aware of that. i know you know the state has concerns about any kind of incentives in the event the company-- and i'm not part of that, that's a senate government, as you know. but they have concerned about the uaw. we've had experiences in our town and our state where we had the spring hill plant built by gm that's never really been successful, it starts, it stops. it starts, it stops. it hasn't had the kind of success that you would want if you're going to make an investment of state dollars. on the other hand, nissan right down the road just a couple of counties over has been incredibly successful. the chattanooga plant, i helped recruit as mayor, built the infrastructure and first person to call them, we did much of the deal around my dining room table in chattanooga and with volkswagen. so i'm personally invested in in. our community is hugely invested in this and we know that if the uaw is able it st