Volume # 2, Edition # 4 February 6, 2002
I mentioned above our new waste water treatment facility that is currently under construction. It appears to be going up rapidly now and it also promises to be an appealing structure for one of such a nature. If you have not seen the project, just drive past the baseball field and the construction can be seen on your right (next to our present facility). Our new water purification plant also is a very appealing structure and the grounds have been landscaped and Bradford Pear trees planted. The young trees should be beautiful in the spring when they are large enough to bloom.
We are rapidly improving the enticements that we have available to business and industry. Few small towns of comparable size can match those two facilities above. We have two appealing school buildings although our elementary school is now in its 38th year and will require renovations more frequently. Our high school is still basically a new building and presents an impressive sight for first time viewers. We have a hospital that only recently underwent something like a $ 5,000,000.00 expansion and upgrading of equipment. Our nursing home also compares favorably with any located anywhere in our area. It is true that we are limited in recreational facilities but if we are successful in reopening our park, we can boast of a small "state/community" park of incomparable beauty with camping, picnicking, fishing, walking trails,etc.
And that always brings us back to our badly needed downtown renovation which must remain a priority! We have got to stay with it and I hope that whomever we elect in April will be very cognizant of that fact!
And in that same light - a problem that is being brought more and more before both the Planning Commission and the City Council involves complaints by citizens concerning property/buildings/lots, etc. that are deteriorating, becoming overgrown with weeds, vines, bushes, garbage, etc. - thereby creating both eye sores and sometimes health and fire hazards
Councilman Alvin Evans has worked on that problem as have other members of the Planning Commission. And Evans has also informed the members of Council of the city ordinance that deals with the requirement that property within the city be maintained in such condition as to not create a nuisance or unhealthy or unsafe situation.
As I understand the ordinance that has been on the books for many years, the City Council has the authority to inform a property owner that his/her property does indeed create a nuisance, eye sore or health and safety hazard. The owner then has a thirty (30) days period in which to start corrective action. If the action is not initiated within the specified period, the city then clearly has the legal right to have the required work performed on the property and to bill the owner for the work. (According to Evans that action has been taken in the past.)
The real question then arises as to how the decision is to be made to classify a piece of property under the above specified categories. The spirit of the ordinance is not to impose severe or expensive upkeep on anyone but to insure that our town is maintained in an acceptable manner. I assume that the proper channels would include the Planning Commission considering a complaint and then making recommendations to the council. That body would then be required to make the final decision in any such complaints presented by our citizens.
Since the first spring after I assumed the office of mayor, I have proclaimed a "Clean up, Paint up, and Fix up Week" in Jellico. And the state of Kentucky annually holds a "Commonwealth Clean up Week" which this year will be held during the week of March 23rd - March 30th. I had planned to schedule our special week this year to coincide with that event since we are so close to several Kentucky communities whose citizens really get involved in cleaning up their areas.
However that will be so close to our city election of April 6th that I have decided to proclaim our Jellico spring clean up period for the week of April 27th - May 4th. That will be after Easter but well prior to Memorial Day and hopefully the weather will be much warmer by that time.
We have scheduled two separate dates for the Mayor/City Council required hearing for Police Chief Ned Smiddy. But both have been canceled due to a lack of a quorum. Council members have been unable to attend because of conflicts with work, personal illness, illness in the family etc.. No new date had been set at the time these notes were written. (Citizens expressing an opinion to me have overwhelmingly stated their support for Smiddy. It will be interesting to see what action the council takes toward his "firing".)
"Ground Hog Day" was last Saturday and as always, there was considerable debate as to whether he did or did not see his shadow - which of course depends upon the area in which the groundhog lives. But we do have the "national" groundhog in Pennsylvania that supposedly is the expert that makes that decision for all of us - although I don't know that he has any more qualifications for long range weather predicting than do our local groundhogs. We've got a big one living near the small creek near our house that keeps our dog on her toes but I didn't have the opportunity to observe him on Saturday. (It seems to me that we once observed "Groundhog Day" sometime around February 14th but I can't be sure.)
But regardless of what the ground hog(s) did or did not see this year we, are fast approaching spring and I have already seen some Jonaquils well above ground - and I have even heard reports that some are already blooming although I have not personally seen any blooms. However I did see some small frogs hopping across the road on Friday morning, February 1st. That just happened to be a warm, rainy morning and I guess it tricked those young frogs into thinking that spring had already sprung. But they sure got fooled later that same day when the temperature dropped considerably.
All of that brings us to the fact that spring sports will soon be starting up and some of us look forward to Big Orange spring football practice on the Hill almost as much as we do the regular season. And of course we presently have Brad Sharp battling for a spot at fullback and we are all pulling for him.
The old saying holds that "In spring, a young man's fancy turns to love!" That may or may not be correct but in Jellico, "In spring, an older man's fancy turns to baseball"! Or more specifically the "Old Timer's Baseball Games" that have become so popular among several who played baseball back in the days when baseball was truly "the national pastime" and when baseball was certainly "king" in this area. Every community, mining camp, town, neighborhood, etc. had its own team and the pride involved led to some great rivalries and competition. Who old enough to have experienced them can ever forget those great games between Eagen and Pruden. We even went to those mining camps from Jellico to watch those games - especially double headers on Sunday. And there were usually several hundred people at the ball fields that can hardly be detected now with the human eye. In sports around here, those were truly the "good ole days". I wish that we still had the great amateur baseball of those bygone days.
But as I previously noted, we still have several of those former players who play a series of "old timer" baseball games every summer. And three or four of them have invited me to participate this year. I plan to do so IF - (1) I can find the time and IF, (2) I can convince myself that I can bend over far enough to field a ground ball if one happened to be hit directly at me. The latter is a bigger IF than the first.
However those who already participate in those games assure me that having fun is much more important than displaying a lot of skill. That's good because my former American Legion League baseball coach and later superintendent of Anderson County Schools, Paul Bostic, once complimented me by calling me a great natural switch hitter. He said that he couldn't tell any difference between my striking out batting right handed and my striking out batting left handed. Compliment???
I am writing about spring and the next thing to happen will probably be some kind of record snow fall!
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