I signed on to the United States Department of Defense's Internet Web Site, "Defend America" and placed our town on record as supporting our troops. The responses will be copied and furnished to our thousands of servicemen and women in the war zones. And although they may never previously have even heard of Jellico, they will now know how Jellicoans feel about them, that we support them to the maximum extent possible and how we are praying for their victory and safe return to the greatest homeland on earth! May God bless them all! And may God continue to bless America!

It's finally spring! Bo Buckner and the city crews have been setting out Dogwoods and Bradford Pears in the downtown area to replace those that have not survived the winters. And more will be planted as the spring season wears on. We simply can't have too many flowering trees and plants.

City employee Jerome (with his wife Deborah) has applied "bloom explosion" around the trees as well (after working hours and on his own time) as a contribution to our project to "Clean-up, Paint-up, Fix-up". The Bradford Pears are already in full bloom as are some flowers that have been planted by community groups. And hopefully we will soon see our Dogwood trees in beautiful full bloom.

I have already listed several property owners who have committed to make improvements to their buildings in April and/or this spring and summer. I have not talked with Steve Zecchini of "Zecchini Heat and Air" on North Main Street for some time. But he has removed part of the metal awning from in front of that building and appears to be in the process of prepping for renovations.

And Mr. Jerry Downs who owns the property at the corner of North Main Street and Second Street, has indicated that he is ready to get involved in our "Clean-up, Paint-up, Fix-up" activities - and that's great news. The more we can get to participate, so much the better. We want total community involvement and we will have to have it if we are to actually make an impact.

We have been talking with an individual from out of town who has expressed an interest in placing a small business in downtown Jellico. And he has already looked at some buildings as possible locations (especially the old Mary's Kitchen). It would sale products that are not available between Lafollette and Williamsburg - which means that there would be several thousand prospective patrons in the Jellico/northern Campbell County/southern Whitley County areas.

It would be a small business that should be popular with about everybody and it would have the potential to be of help in our drive toward revitalization of our downtown. And revitalization can help bring about renovation. Hopefully we can announce more definite details in the near future.

The Jellico Tourism Commission and the City Council at their last meetings strongly endorsed the "HEALTH AWARENESS WALK" at Indian Mountain State Park on April 12th (9:00 AM) and they have both offered their help to John Fawaz who will sponsor that activity. The walk has three objectives (health, social, and support for our April "Clean-up, Paint-up, Fix-up Month").

Here's hoping that our individual citizens, schools, churches, clubs, organizations, etc. will get involved and let's make the walk a total community activity.

And in conjunction with our efforts to improve the looks of our downtown, W. H. Bowlin has a great and inexpensive idea. He thinks we need a large (but not too large) American Flag flying atop our Public Library/Office of Tourism/Community Conference Room (Tramell Building). And he would like to see spotlights placed upon the flag so that we can fly it 24 hours a day when the weather permits.

We do need to show our patriotism, it is a public building, and the beautiful Stars and Stripes would certainly add color. I can't understand why we haven't placed one there already. I know that someone may have thought of the idea even before W.H. . We just haven't followed through. We definitely need a flag flying there - especially in times like these. And we need to get it up as soon as possible.

(Although we often refer to our flag as the "Star Spangled Banner", there is actually only one flag that can accurately be given that name. The flag that flew over Fort McHenry (Baltimore) during the War of 1812 and inspired Attorney Francis Scott Key to write the poem that was later set to music and eventually proclaimed as our National Anthem, is the Star Spangled Banner. It is worn and tattered and now almost 200 years old. But it is currently undergoing restoration at the cost of millions. And it is worth every penny required to save it. You just can't place a monetary value on some things.)

Tourism Director Jake Bennett says that there have already been 12 weddings in our Jellico Mountain Wedding Chapel as of March 21st and at that time, 4 more were scheduled for the future. Jake says that he will not be surprised if the chapel averages one wedding a day during the month of June. And as I have stated several times before, that facility is fast becoming everything that we thought that it would be - and then some. It can be a real asset in bringing folks into our town.

In relation to attracting folks to Jellico, our Tourism Commission is working very hard with that objective in mind and I want to thank Mrs. Jill Boles for agreeing to work with tourism. (We recently had a vacancy develop when Carolyn Leach resigned from the Commission.) Jill will be a great replacement and we look forward to working with her. In the meantime, here's hoping that she won't put any real pressure on her husband Larry to join her on the Commission. Well it might be okay if she threatens him just a little - because he would be another great addition.

In that same light, the series of Financial Workshops (Financial Strategies for Retirement) that I mentioned in my last article will be taught in six one (1) hour classes starting May 1st. John Fawaz along with guest speakers Steve Morgan, Certified Public Accountant, and Tom Barclay, Attorney at Law, will conduct the classes in our Community Conference Room. Topics will include "Budgeting", "Insurance", "Retirement", "Taxation", "Estate Planning", "College Funding" and "Investments".

(I understand that the workshops will be limited to twenty individuals per session so it might be a good idea to check with one of those fellows to reserve a spot. As I stated in my last article, this will be a valuable service and will be absolutely free of charge to our citizens.)

And another activity is scheduled for the downtown area that may be of interest to those who would like to learn quilting. Mrs. Margaret Bowlin who hosts the quilting exhibition during our Fall Fests, will be starting quilting classes in the Community Conference Room on Saturday, April 26th (Hours will be 12:00 Noon until 4:00 PM). The classes will be also be offered free of charge. Those who are interested should be sure to give Mrs. Bowlin a call at 786-4030.

We appreciate Mrs. Bowlin offering to instruct the free classes and that is still another activity to help attract people downtown and a contribution toward our goal of revitalizing the area.

While the 4-wheelers were in town, some of them that apparently were camping at Indian Mountain State Park, inquired as to the name of our creek that runs through the area. (Officially named Elk Creek but was called Indian Creek by some long ago generations.) Some of our visitors wondered why we do not have signs to identify it - much as creeks and rivers are identified that run underneath bridges along most roads and highways. That was a good question! And I also got to thinking that probably many of our local young people do not know the name of that creek or our nearby river (Clearfork River).

I mentioned the lack of identifying signs to Street Commissioner Clarence Gene Beck and he agreed to place some "Elk Creek" signs on either side of the bridges on Indian Mountain Road and London Avenue. That creek is part of our heritage and reminds us of the wild animals including Elk, Bear and Buffalo that once lived here in great numbers.

Mike Smith who lives on Branam Hill and is one of our most civic minded citizens, called the other day to say that he was bringing a check for $ 1,500.00 as a donation to our Jellico Police Department for the purchase of some badly needed equipment. (He also stopped by Boston Elementary with a check to the Adult Learning Center for $ 1,000.00 to be applied to our adult literacy program.)

Mike manages the Walmart Super Center in Williamsburg and he has always been great to help our area schools, Jellico Rescue Squad, Learning Center, Police Department and any number of worthy projects and organizations. And the same was true when he was with Walmart in Lafollette. We are fortunate to have Mike and his family to continue to live in Jellico. I know that his schedule is somewhat like mine and that he stays very, very busy. But he is the type that we need involved in our city governance and I have been encouraging him for several years now to run for the City Council. And I am going to continue to encourage him to do so in future elections.

Mike is originally from the coal mining community of Cawood, Kentucky (near Harlan) and he knows first hand just what can happen to a small community when it loses its main source of employment and community support.

I read with great interest a story by Larry Fleming in a recent edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Fleming was writing on the problems that cities and towns - and particularly Knoxville - have with waste water -especially when heavy rains force overflows from sewer systems. According to the writer, Knoxville Utilities Board experienced 280 such overflows last year while Nashville had 575.

Our problem in Jellico with surface water entering the sewer system represents only one town among thousands of towns and cities that are faced with such situations. And there are squabbles and lawsuits being brought in all areas. But Fleming stated the "squabbles and lawsuits are a disservice to the community........... Nobody wins these kinds of disputes. But there is one loser - our community." That was his personal opinion but I am sure that it is the opinion of a lot of other folks as well.

We were told several years ago by the Environmental Protection Agency that we were to cease and desist from polluting Elk Creek - or pay some enormous amounts in fines and/or penalties for non-compliance. Our town faced up to its problem although it required some painful incremental raises in our sewage fees. But we apparently are now satisfying the environmental protection and health laws.

(Several towns and cities in our state can attest to the fact that the fines would have been levied and collected including Nashville that was required to pay over $ 500,000.00 for not carrying out some environmental directives that were necessary to stop the continuous pollution of the Cumberland River.)

That was some compliment Councilman Dwight Osborn paid me during our last meeting! Osborn - along with Councilmen Jim Dobson, John Davenport and possibly another - were in attendance when the firm held its first public forum and outlined some ideas developed for the revitalization of our town.

Osborn complimented the committee on those ideas but then half humorously added something to the effect, "But we are spending $ 50,000.00 for a study to come up with some of the very same ideas that Mayor Clifton has been recommending for the past five years - and he's not even charged us a dime." JOHN CLIFTON, Mayor, City of Jellico
http://www.jellico.com/jellico/jellico.htm w/link to "Mayor"