FEBRUARY 26, 2003 JELLICO NEWS/MAYOR'S COLUMN The local media covered last Thursday night's meeting of the City Council and I am sure that they will have in depth reports of that meeting. But one very important action taken during that meeting affecting the future of our town and surrounding areas, was the adoption of a resolution favoring initiation of the proposed annexation under Public Law 1101 to include development of the required "plan of services". The vote was 5-1 in favor of the resolution with Councilmen Clarence Gene Beck, Jeff Brown, Jim Dobson, John Davenport and Dwight Osborn voting in support. Councilman Alvin Evans cast the only dissenting vote.

Some who could be annexed now say that they will be agreeable to becoming a part of Jellico if they are assured of receiving public services within a reasonable amount of time. And the plan of services is designed to develop a timetable for providing those services to the proposed areas.

We have got to hand it to the groundhog because he was right on with his February 2nd prediction of six more months of bad weather that has recently include lots of rain. We did not incur extensive damages during the recent period of flooding but numerous culverts did require cleaning out, some large pot holes developed in our streets, the baseball field and facilities suffered some damage, and the Jellico Rescue Squad pumped out at least one flooded basement in the downtown.

We have now had almost every type of inclement weather imaginable since early last fall and it will sure be god to have some pretty spring weather when it finally does arrive on the scene. But we may have quite a bit more bad weather before winter is over. I often quote Yogi Berra "isms" and I believe that it was Yogi who first insisted that "the opera ain't over until the fat lady sings." And Mother Nature has not given her final aria as yet (a winter mix was predicted when these notes were being written.) So we will just have to hold on to our hats and pray for the best. But we sure need good weather for our special "Clean up, Paint up, Fix Month" in April.

We have begun sending out letters to property owners, schools, churches, organizations, clubs, scout troops, etc. asking for help in meeting our objective of cleaning, renovating and revitalizing our town this spring. We still have a month left to plan and get ready for April.

The firm of McCarty, Hopsaple, McCarty Architects & Interior Designers that has conducted studies of other towns and cities, was selected by the "Jellico Revitalization Task Force" (citizen committee) to carry out a study of Jellico that could possibly determine the future of our downtown. That firm has already been conducting interviews with local citizens to determine what they consider to be the needs of our downtown, the way that we want our downtown to look, any new businesses that we feel would be most likely to succeed in the downtown and any other relevant information. That type of data will be very important to the success of our efforts and it will also be important in establishing Jellico as "town" for the eventual residents of "Rarity Mountain" and bringing in those folks as potential shoppers.

I have personally pushed for downtown renovation and revitalization from the day that I was first sworn in as mayor - often virtually alone and sometimes in the face of some very strong opposition before it finally became the popular thing. But we now have a city council that supports that goal and we do seem to be finally coming together as a total community - just when we have a great opportunity to "finally bring our town back". And we sure don't want to waste that opportunity! If we all make a determined effort, we can effect significant improvements in Jellico during the upcoming spring and summer seasons. But as I keep emphasizing, it will take us all to get the job done!

Our volunteer firemen have really gotten a workout during the past few months. Fortunately most of the fire alarms have seen little or no damage and there may have even been a false alarm or two mixed in there somewhere. But they have fought some major fires and they never know what possible threats to their safety that they will face when the alarm sounds. They must consider every alarm as presenting potential danger and be prepared to meet whatever situation exists upon their arrival at the scene.

I am sure glad that we have folks willing to serve our town as members of the volunteer fire department and the same is true of our Jellico Rescue Squad. Both organizations provide very valuable services to the public and I simply cannot say enough good things about them.

Now that we have had a very nice and well publicized "open house" and reception that provided an opportunity to visit the "Jellico Mountain Wedding Chapel", and now that music has been provided on weekends, our next major event on the Tourism Calendar will be the "Southern 4-Wheel Drive Association Mountain Ride" during the weekend of March 15th. And it is predicted that this will be the largest rally that that group has held here to date. Trail Keeper officials insist that we will have 200 Jeeps in Jellico that weekend. Some may camp but others are expected to stay at local motels - and of course they will be eating at local restaurants, buying gasoline locally and possibly purchasing camping and other supplies from local grocery stores, general stores, etc..

And I want to remind everyone that the Trail Keepers are very interested in - and highly complimentary of - our goal of renovating and revitalizing our downtown and they have committed to help with our efforts during the month of April. We can use more visitors like that! And EROCC participants will also be here April 25-27 and maybe they will offer their assistance in April too. We will gladly accept all of the help that we can get.

(Officers of the Jellico High School Student Council appeared at our council meeting and requested and received permission to sponsor an activity in the downtown during the month of May. They stated that they want to help in our efforts to improve the downtown area and that is great news. We especially need for our young people to get involved.)

Last week I asked for the names of Jellico and Jellico area folks presently serving on active duty in our Armed Forces (regular and activated reserve). Names that I have so far include Chief Petty Officer Charles E. York., who has recently been assigned to duty aboard the navy destroyer U.S.S. Gonzales and Airman Doug Dobson, U. S. Air Force who was recently stationed in California after having served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. His current assignment is Kuwait.

Please call and give the names of any regular and activated reserve personnel of whom you are aware to Linda Meadors, Jellico City Recorder (784-6351), and she will pass them to me for inclusion in this column. Include any other pertinent information such as branch of service, rank, present assignment, years of service, etc..

Finally from my soapbox once again: (I can't get the high school and college history teacher out of me no matter how hard I try.)

As I wrote last week, the country of France has certainly not endeared itself to the people of the United States in the past few weeks. They have virtually betrayed us with their support for Saddam Hussein in an effort to hide and protect their oil interests in Iraq. Moreover their ingratitude for all of the past help that they have received from Americans knows no bounds.

And resentment of the French attitude has resulted in a very strong backlash in this country. A lot of stores are beginning to boycott French wine, French water (they sold 65 million gallons of Evian brand bottled water in this country last year), French fromage (cheese) and various other products from that country that annually total thirty billion dollars in sales.

Although the French initially laughed at the idea of a boycott by Americans, it may already be working. The sale of fromage has dropped by fifteen percent (15%) and one large restaurant has changed the name of "French fries" to "Freedom fries". The U.S. Congress may even consider banning our participation in the famous Paris Air Show and stopping at least some French products from importation into this country.

And all of the jokes about France on the television network shows and in e-mails to network programs are brutal. France says it wants proof that Saddam Hussein is a threat and one late night television show host reminded everyone that in 1939 France also demanded proof of any threat from Adolf Hitler. They received that proof a year or so later when the Nazi Army marched the German flag through the streets of downtown Paris. According to one wag, the French were able to hold out against the Germans for three days before surrendering only because it happened to be raining.

To top that, another highly agitated individual (maybe a World War II veteran of the European Theatre) stated that France couldn't help us run Hussein out of Iraq if it wanted to. In fact he said that the French couldn't even help us run the Germans out of France during WWII.. But a more recent e-mailer insisted that we would certainly need the help of France if we should ever decide to surrender - since they are so experienced at throwing in the towel without even putting up any kind of a fight. And on and on they go!

Anybody for California wine, American cheese, Smokey Mountain Water and Freedom fries?