Volume # 1, Edition # 2 January 23, 2002
And the next major piece of news has dealt with the qualifying of candidates for mayor and members of council. I understand that I will have Fuzz Baker as an opponent. Candidates for city council are Clarence Gene Beck, Tonya Brookman, Jeff Brown, John Davenport, Jim Dobson, Lisa Elliott, Alvin Evans, James Harmon, Johnny Ivey, Carolyn Leach, Charles Leach, Dwight Osborne, Sterling Smith, Sue Timmins, Charles Violet.. (All qualifying candidates for both offices have until noon on Thursday, January 24th to withdraw their names before they are officially placed on the ballot.)
Once the final ballot is made up, we (candidates) will all have to face the question of what to do about the office of city administrator. Without question that will be the main issue in this election. (But I also intend to make the restarting of the progress that we had made until it was stopped two years ago a key issue in this campaign as well. In fact my slogan will be, "Restart the Progress"!
I have made my personal position known on numerous occasions. I originally favored giving the office of CA a try and if it did not meet our needs, to return to our long-time mayor/council form of government. We gave it a try and to me, it was soon obvious that such an arrangement was not suitable for our small town, clearly was not accepted by our people and was an unnecessary expense upon our taxpayers. Since I came to that conclusion, I have made several motions before the council throughout the past two years proposing that we return to our old charter and to once again have a mayor and council running our city.
It would have been very easy to have made the return at any time simply by four votes of the council in favor. But without fail, there were always four votes against my motions and we retained the CA position. And everyone is well aware of the controversy that has ensued! But we are fast approaching April 6th when the decision will no longer be in the hands of those four councilmen (only one is running for reelection). Our entire citizenry will have the last say and we must all accept and endorse that decision regardless of our personal feelings. The future of our town depends upon us all coming together after the election - whether we do or do not return to the mayor/council form of government and whether or not we do or do not eliminate the office of CA. But again! The important thing is for our people to make the decision!
It will only be a very few days now until we know who will be running for mayor and members of council in the upcoming city election scheduled for early April. Those desiring to be candidates for office must submit their petitions to the Campbell County Election Commission no later than 12:00 noon this Thursday, January 17, 2002. They will then have until noon, Thursday, January 24th to withdraw from the race before having their names placed on the official ballot.
As I continue to emphasize, our downtown is coming back slowly but surely! Most of us can certainly remember when the old Union Bank on North Main Street was one of the busiest places in town. But since the Union was moved to its present location, that old site can almost be considered the symbol of what has happened to our downtown. It seems very strange to never see anyone entering or leaving that building.
But like the words of a popular song of the 1960's, "The Times They Are A-changing". I talked with Mrs. Donna Ridenour, Office Manager for "Air Affiliates, Inc." and a certified respiratory therapist with 26 year experience, who has been working on the interior of the first floor of the former bank. She has established a home medical equipment and supply outlet there that is already open for business. All types of equipment needed for home medical care are available including oxygen. (Mrs. Ridenour says that most insurances will be accepted and that arrangements can be worked out for those who need home medical equipment and supplies but who do not have insurance or who do not have sufficient coverage. Telephone numbers 784-0987 and 784-0988).
Dr. Sedaq Ahmed and PAC Randell Stinson are also planning to open offices in the adjacent space. They hope to be in those offices by February 1st although that is not a firm date. (There are rumors that the second floor could also be occupied soon but Mrs. Ridenour could not confirm those rumors. I hope that they are true because the more professional services and businesses in our downtown the better. Businesses are even benefited by other similar businesses that attract folks to the area.)
With only a half dozen or so exceptions, all buildings in the downtown area will soon be occupied once again. And we are already seeing more people in the downtown during business hours and hopefully the number will continue to increase. And the opening of the businesses in the old bank as well as the new fitness/video store should certainly help. It is only a matter of time now until we should have enough potential patrons to support a downtown restaurant and I am hopeful that Mr. Russell Edwards or some other enterprising individual will start one. In my mind's eye, I can see a nice restaurant in Mr. Edward's building (old Nappi's/Meldie's/Mary's Kitchen) after restoration with a second story balcony out over the sidewalk for those who would like to eat out in the open.
I mentioned that idea to someone but they said that the exhaust fumes from the traffic would not allow that. However the fumes from vehicles have not closed the hundreds and hundreds of balcony and sidewalk restaurants known world wide that are located along very large streets with tremendous volumes of traffic in such cities as Paris, San Francisco, New Orleans, etc.. In fact there has been (and may still be) two or three along Knoxville's busy Cumberland Avenue. And as I always insist - we don't know how any idea will work until we try it! (Having a downtown restaurant as well as the true Jellico newspaper that is planned would be realization of two more of my original goals for restoring and revitalizing our town with a badly needed increased sense of community among our citizens - especially for our young people.)
The Old City in Knoxville is an example of what can be done to renovate and revitalize a downtown area. And according to an article in the News-Sentinel a few days ago, they have hit upon an ingenious idea to help draw larger crowds to that area. They are going to set up a stage in a large parking lot and have open air musical programs this summer.
Sound familiar? That was exactly what I had in mind four years ago when I asked Mr. W. H. Bowlin to construct us a stage in our downtown Veterans Park Annex parking lot. There's nothing wrong with our small town sometimes being a leader rather than a follower!
I have had numerous complaints concerning the fact that our local cable TV outlet realigned the channels available on the basic package to include the loss of ESPN - one of the most popular channels in our former lineup of the thirteen channels in the basic package.
I have made several attempts to contact both the Corbin and Somerset offices of Charter Communications, our local cable supplier, concerning the problem. But I either got a busy signal or have to leave a recording. I have not yet been able to talk to a real live person at either of those offices.
Mr. Marvin Douglas recently reminded me of a problem that we need to solve. For several years now we have been discussing the need for improved lighting on our Interstate entrance/exit. As I joked to the council at one meeting, we need flashlights when we check to see if those lights are actually burning. But in all seriousness, the lighting in that area is terrible and is both a safety factor and a detriment in attracting motorists off the Interstate. But my efforts (and the efforts of others), over the past several years have not been successful in getting corrective action from the state of Tennessee.
The state budget crunch has not helped and I don't know exactly what our city's obligation is in replacing and/or installing better lights, replacing burned out lights, etc.. But it's a problem upon which we need to place even greater focus in the future.
Boston and numerous surrounding communities lost one of our best known citizens recently with the passing of Mr. Cye Jones. Mr. Jones was known by about everybody in the entire area and he was considered to be something of an institution. The country store that he ran for so many years could have almost been called a community center since people consistently gathered there from all around. And it was known for everything from its great sandwiches to the wonderful conversation designed to solve many of the world's problems. The huge outpouring of condolences to his family and relatives from his countless friends evidenced the affection and high regard that so many held for Mr. Cye Jones. He will be greatly missed in our area.
Well known Mrs. Nora Douglas, widow of Spencer Douglas who was something of a Jellico legend himself, passed away recently too and was returned to Jellico for burial. Mrs. Douglas was 99 at her death.
Is nothing sacred? That was shocking news that Nashville radio station WSM, home of the "Grand Ole Opry" since 1925, was apparently ready to drop its country music format and go to other types of programming. Thank goodness the public outcry forced them to cancel those plans. (I don't know if schools still continue the practice but there was a time when Jellico High School and every local high school junior and/or senior class made a trip to WSM's Saturday night Opry.)
However public reaction to Nashville radio station WLAC's canceling of one of the most popular sports talk shows in the nation with Bob Bell, voice of the Vols pay per view TV, and Bill King did not convince that station to continue with that very popular program that reached almost the entire eastern half of the United States. That show had a lot of Jellico area listeners on cold winter nights and I was worried that Bob Teague, Skeez Housley and I would never recover from the shock when it was replaced by another non-sports talk show just like hundreds of others than can be found all across the radio dial at any time.
And speaking of country music. For many years there has been a blue grass song called "Man of Constant Sorrow". Although many blue-grass singers used it as a standard, to say that it was not at the top of the sales charts would be the understatement of the year. In fact, many who heard it had a way of sometimes strongly expressing their dislike for that number and to even poke fun. But the power of the movies on our culture is strong!
A popular movie was made that incorporated "Man of Constant Sorrow" into its musical score. Now it receives constant requests on radio stations all over the country and you can even hear the "hip hop" generation singing it in the malls. (Those of us who always liked it before that movie are reminded of another song, "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool"!)
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