(Webmasters note: I put the May 14 column up late. You can find that one in the archives for 2003).

The Union Bank celebration was a very nice affair and Allen McClary did a great job with the weather. Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day for the "luau" although it had rained almost every day leading up to the weekend.. ( Allen may need to start advising Jake Bennett on scheduling of activities to coincide with the weather..)

In all seriousness, eighty-five (85) years is a long time for any business to exist and well worth a commemorative activity. (As I wrote earlier, Bill's Barbershop is our oldest continuous operating business starting sometime in the late 1890's or very early 1900's - although is has changed hands on more than one occasion. And someone reminded me that Rocky Slover carries on a business started by his father many years ago as well.)

According to Pat McClary, the original founders of the Union Bank were probably Z.D. Baird, Doctor Heffernon and possibly others. But Pat's father, Jake, went to work there in the early 1930's and his name eventually became synonymous with that bank. For many years when a person thought of the Union Bank they thought of Jake McClary. And vice versa.

And speaking of a business that started in Jellico that has become one of our nation's largest, is the H.T. Hackney Company that originally opened in a very large brick building running from South Main Street down to a siding along the railroad tracks. (Now the site of our Jellico Rescue Squad Building.) According to last Sunday's Knoxville News-Sentinel, that company that many years ago moved from Jellico to Knoxville, now has outlets in twenty-six (26) states and recently bought out a similar distributor in Michigan

Although there were some reports of "rudeness" on the part of a few of those working the Carnival, most folks who talked with me were complimentary of that show and want it to return again next year. (I am sure that the conditions under which the carnival operated would have made a lot of folks more than a little grumpy. They actually used five-gallon buckets to dip and remove water from among the rides. They really believed in the old adage, "The show must go on!" And it went on in spite of the mud.

I talked with the owner/operator on Saturday afternoon and he stated that the times when the Carnival could operate did allow him to make payroll and he was satisfied. And he was very complimentary of our folks who endured the terrible conditions and still seemed to have fun.

He says that it is his intention to return to Jellico and let's hope that we have a lot better weather the next time they are here. And more advance notice will help as well (although that was not possible this year.)

If I correctly understand the plans, what Wayne Barton is doing with the restoration of his building (laundry mat) on North Main Street will be something quite different for our downtown. A "balcony" will sit back on a section of the first floor rather than extending out over the sidewalk. An awning can be placed just below the offset with the pole erected on the outside edge of the sidewalk. (If I am correct in my thinking, the balcony should make a great place to review a parade, watch the entertainment and fireworks displays, or just relax.! I wonder why no one has thought of that before.)

And John Leach says that he has ordered an awning and should finish up the work on his building within a couple or three weeks.

My work schedule over the past few days has not allowed me much time to talk with downtown business owners concerning any plans and/or progress that they are making. But summer will soon be here and hopefully dryer weather will allow us all get back on task.

In the meantime it is finally time for the City Council to make some decisions as to what is going to be done concerning property owners that simply refuse to take any corrective action on their building(s). And the Council was expected to discuss that very topic at Thursday night's regular meeting for the month of May.

Rodney Minton, Board President for the Jellico Life Saving and Rescue Squad, Inc., has asked me to announce that the Jellico Rescue Squad will receive a Neighborhood Heroes Grant. The grant is given annually by Wal-Mart, Inc. and the Jacksboro Wal-Mart Store has chosen Jellico as it's recipient for this year. The amount of the grant is $ 1,200.00 and will be used to purchase some special jump suits worn during extrications done by the squad. According to Rodney, "Members of the squad would like to thank Renea Solo and the associates at the Jacksboro Wal-Mart for this grant". (Walmart stores located in both Jacksboro and Williamsburg regularly make grants and donations to many of our non-profit agencies and projects and we certainly appreciate their help.) Rodney also hopes to announce receipt of a much larger grant from another source within the next few days

Brian Osborn, a member of the Jellico High School student council, has informed me that the group could not get everything together for this weekend's "Spring Sensation" and that they have had to cancel that activity planned for Veterans Park. With the problems that we have experienced with the weather affecting our planned activities, we can certainly understand their situation. But hopefully they will again plan to get involved sometime in the future.

Weather permitting, Angie Heatwole, Bill Rigney, Ron Dabney, Larry Meadows and possibly Billy Elliott will be back on stage in Veterans Park this Saturday, May 17th starting at 7:00 PM.

There have been a lot of inquiries as to when that summer outdoor activity would restart and hopefully it can resume this weekend.

Weddings at our Jellico Mountain Wedding Chapel now total thirty-three (33) since its opening! And two (2) more are scheduled for this weekend!

The Trail Keepers will be back in town for a mountain ride next weekend, May 23rd-May 25th..

I have no idea as to the identity of "Miss Jellico" who has begun the web pages under that name on www.jellico.com/jellico/jellico.htm. But whoever she is, she has really created some interest and variety with that site link. About everyone who now accesses "Miss Jellico" is talking about it. And I notice that a "guest book" has been added and that all of the comments that have been placed so far (at least at the time these notes were prepared) have been highly favorable.

Aside to Suzanne Black, "California, USA" located at

Melissa Blankenship of Daytona, Florida was in town recently and contacted me concerning her great-grandfather M. G. Hardin (also grandfather of George Deuel.) Old-timers will remember that Mr. and Mrs. Hardin had a large white house sitting on a hill above Fifth Street where Jellico Housing Authority units are now located. (The street still bears the Hardin name.)

Mr. Hardin ran a true "old-time country store" on North Main Street in the building currently occupied by Ideal Florists. It had all types of gardening materials, fresh fruits and vegetables in summer and even sold home-canned goods during the winter months.

Mr. Hardin served as the secretary for the First Baptist Church Sunday School for something like fifty (50) years and I have been told that he was very rarely if ever absent. And he always kept a detailed account of each Sunday's happenings including everything from the weather to any births and deaths during the preceding week to who had been ill and of course the number present in each Sunday School class, subject of the lesson, amount of the offering, etc., etc.. I have never personally seen any of his records but I have been told that they would make a historian proud - their accounts are so detailed and interesting in their content.

Ms. Blankenship took this column's Internet site location and plans to call it up in the future.

As the above notes indicate, the continuously increasing and wide-spread circulation of these articles never ceases to amaze me. But although it is now readily available on the Internet, an awful lot of folks still mail them to out-of-town relatives and friends. .James Edward Branam stopped me the other day to get some copies as I was distributing them. He said that he continues to mail them weekly to former Jellicoan Billy Ridenour, retired federal administrative law judge and present Mayor of Sweetwater, Tenn who still loves Jellico and closely follows events here.

Ruth Arnold informed me that Jimmy Hall in Cleveland, Tennessee reads them regularly and really liked what I wrote concerning his mother's chili. And Ruth let him know of the Internet coverage. (Jimmy is the son of Lois Hall who for years kept us all addicted to that chili. As I have stated several times in the past, it was the best chili on the planet and some of us are still suffering withdrawal symptoms. I have eaten chili advertised as "authentic Mexican" and many other kinds of chili in this country and outside of this country and there is absolutely no comparison. My mouth starts watering just writing about it!)

And I get numerous calls, e-mails and faxes from all over concerning what I write. And one that I received last week from Nancy Todd Overall in Louisville, Kentucky taky@peoplepc.com who says that she has recently begun taking this column from the Internet, really brought back some fond memories of her father, Banner Todd and brother of Jim Todd. In our boyhood days when playing baseball at the park, swimming in the creek, picking blackberries in Proctor Hollow, fishing the ponds and going to the western movies on Saturdays occupied our entire summers, it seemed that Banner was always around the ballpark when he wasn't working. And he didn't care one bit to load two or three car loads of us into his 1949 Chevrolet and with some of the lucky ones hanging out the windows where they could actually breathe, take us to Pruden, Eagen, Morley or any other baseball crazed mining camp or community to play.

And the article that I wrote recently about my daughter Kasee's first teaching experience at Ashland University in Ohio struck a cord with Richard Donley. I had no idea that anyone living in Jellico had attended that institution of higher learning but Richard informed me that Ashland is his alma mater. (Just another verification that there is almost always a Jellico connection of some kind if you look hard enough for it. But I didn't even have to look for that one!) JOHN CLIFTON, Mayor, City of Jellico