In case you haven't noticed, its been precipitating! Rainfall and snowfall during the month of February made it one of the wettest Februarys ever! I think it is safe to say that the drought has been broken and everybody that I talk with keeps hoping to soon see the sun on a consistent daily basis. We were so glad to see it one day last week that an announcement was made on the school intercom that "ole sol" had made an appearance - although it was short lived. But maybe the sun is saving itself for our special "Clean up, Paint up, Fix up Month" of April. Let's hope so!

I spoke a little too soon when I stated in these notes a few days ago that we had not suffered major damage as yet to our streets and roads due to the weather. But since that time, several additional areas have seen the surfaces developing cracks and pot holes. Much of it has come from the heavy rainfall eventually saturating the ground underneath and then eventually freezing. The effects of the water freezing and thawing in combination with salt and possibly other defrosting chemicals have really begun to take a toll.

And with the weather like it has been, there have been very limited opportunities for the street department personnel to take corrective action. They are going to really have their work cut out for them when spring weather finally does arrive.

My recent comments concerning the possibility of cuts in state funds to towns and cities is looking more and more prophetic. Recent word out of Nashville is that the governor is thinking that such cuts will definitely have to be made in order to help solve the financial condition in which our state finds itself. And a recent story in the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported that that city will plan on cuts when its new budget is prepared. We will certainly need to take that possibility into consideration when we start our budget workshops in the very near future.

But a lot of legislators are not happy with that possibility and point out - rightfully so - that cutting state funds to municipalities will actually be a tax increase. The money for cities and towns to fund services will have to be located somewhere else (or services cut and/or eliminated). And according to lawmakers, mayors and members of councils, the only way to raise that money locally will be through increases in property taxes. And that would not be anything like a solution for us because only a very small portion of our budget comes from property taxes. Although we all have a tendency to complain about our taxes, we actually have very low rates when compared to many other areas. And definitely we want to keep them low. And we don't want to see funds cut for state parks and certainly not our Indian Mountain State Park. So let's just hope that the governor and/or state legislature can figure out some other way to balance the budget. Regardless of what options they may or not have, they have really got their work cut out for them!

(As I wrote in that earlier article, even states with lotteries are having financial difficulty. Georgia that has been given as a great example of what can be done for education by utilizing lottery funds, is reportedly facing the threat of exhausting those funds within a few years.)

During the last meeting of the City Council, a copy of a 1992 Ordinance was read that restricted members of the Jellico Utilities Board to residents of the City of Jellico. However we have had a non-resident member on the board for a number of years due to the fact that we have so many customers that reside outside the city limits. The Tennessee Valley Authority has always recommended non-resident representation and if the law allowed (which it does not), the TVA would prefer that we also have a resident of nearby Whitley County, Kentucky on the board to represent consumers of electric power in that area.

Although no copy was produced during the meeting, another Ordinance was passed (1994) by the then sitting Council pertaining to membership on the Utilities Board. And that latest Ordinance, amending the 1992 act, only restricts membership to residents of Campbell County - thereby legally allowing non-incorporated Jellico areas to have representation. I believe that is only fair and I will continue to nominate a representative from the non-resident consumers to the five member board. One member now represents the Council, three residents represent the City of Jellico customers at large and one represents the non-resident customers. The non-resident customers pay utility service and have the right to want representation. We certainly would not want to incorporate areas and have the residents to pay taxes and yet deny them full representation in any city affairs. And the same argument can be made in the case for their representation on the Utilities Board since they pay for the services that they receive.

Mr. Perkins, manager of Taylor Manufacturing located in our industrial park, called me to comment on the article in last week's Lafollette Press concerning that last meeting of the City Council. A remark was made during the meeting that Taylor had (or possibly had) purchased the Shopping Mall in Williamsburg although it owes money to the city of Jellico. The remark was reported in the article by the Press. Mr. Perkins in his conversation with me insisted emphatically that Taylor Machine is in no way connected with that transaction. And he also stated his personal belief that the amount owed to the city by Taylor Manufacturing was over stated. He pointed out that Tayor, like a lot of other firms, has been through some tough times of late but that things are now looking much better. (Taylor has recently made payments to the city.)

You just can never tell! I met a resident of the area proposed for annexation the other day that I had not seen or talked with for a very lengthy period of time. The subject of annexation rose almost immediately and I expected to hear an argument against the expanding of our city limits. To my surprise, the exact opposite happened. I was given all of the advantages of being an incorporated part of Jellico and I was questioned as to what is taking us so long to bring annexation about. That individual badly wants city services - especially police protection.

I explained the process required for expansion as outlined in Public Law 110l and the fact that the process took a big step forward with the recent passage by the Council of a resolution calling for annexation. We still must develop the "Plan of Services", hold a public hearing, have a majority of the Council to vote in favor on first reading, conduct another public hearing, and then have a majority vote on second reading for an Ordinance of Annexation to become law.

And as I have pointed out on numerous occasions, the public hearings will be open to everyone but only property owners in the proposed areas will be allowed to give input into the discussions.

Our new "Jellico Mountain Wedding Chapel" continues to draw attention. Tourism Director Jake Bennett says that he was contacted by the host of one of the Knoxville afternoon television shows concerning our chapel. Kay Watson of Channel 10's very popular "Live at Five" learned of the opening of the facility and expressed an interest in doing a feature on the chapel. In fact she came to Jellico on Monday (March 3rd) and did a segment on that show. I am sure that the viewers of that program were just as impressed as were those who visited the chapel during the recent reception and open house. That was great coverage for our chapel and town to have a station with the range of Channel 10 to do a story from Jellico . It should have provided widespread publicity for us throughout East Tennessee, Southeastern Kentucky and possibly even into other nearby border states such as North Carolina and Virginia.

In addition to Channel 10, Jake has also talked with Maggie Depaux, Channel 6 and Fox Channel 43. She hopes to be in Jellico next week to do a similar story concerning the chapel but to also include our plans for renovating and revitalizing our town. (Another businessman has told me that he plans to add an awning and lighting in front of his building during the month of April.)

On a different note: The Tennessee-Kentucky basketball game at Rupp Arena was much more highly competitive than most fans expected that it would be. But that fine performance was followed by one of the worst defensive games that the Vols have played in a long time - leaving an awful lot of Vol fans disappointed and frustrated. LSU hit an unbelievable percentage of their shots but were wide open on many of them.

But things do look better for the future. Sophomores Brandon Crump and Elgrace Wilborn are good prospects. First year player Asamunu really has the potential to become something special once he gets comfortable on the floor. Another freshman, C.J. Watson who had such a great game against the Cats in Knoxville, was really affected by the Kentucky pressure in Lexington. But without question he is going to be a very fine point guard with more experience. Our promising freshman big man, Boomer Herndon, didn't get in the Kentucky game and played only a short time against LSU. But he too is going to be a force in the future after he gains weight and gets stronger. And soph Derrick Stribling and frosh John Winchester will add depth.

Combine those young players with redshirts Scooter McFagdon, the outstanding 6-6 scoring two-guard transfer from Memphis who reportedly fills it up against our first team and continuously draws raves from the practice railbirds, and 6-8 Jemere Hendrix, the Clemson transfer who appears to be one of the best offensive rebounders to hit the campus in a long time, things are beginning to look brighter for the future of Big Orange basketball. And all that does not take into consideration incoming Major Wingate, a high school scoring big man, or the Bradshaw kid - scrappy point guard out of Memphis who has led his high school team to a state championship and his AAU team to a national championship.

It's certainly not going to happen over night but Buzz Peterson appears to have our program on its way to a loftier ranking in college basketball. Getting us into any post-season tournament would be a step in that direction! And the team's Australian tour this summer should help too in building team chemistry among the newcomers.

But basketball is going to have to share attention now with football - NCAA or NIT tournaments not withstanding. Nothing takes the place of football in the hearts of Vol fans. Spring practice is starting and this will be one of the most important spring practices in several years. We have got to find some wide receivers that can stretch the field and then catch the ball, toughen up some of our offensive linemen and locate some defensive linemen who can fill the shoes of those that we have lost over a two years period. (Maybe the blue-chip recruits that we have coming in next fall can help.)

Once spring practice is completed, there will only be something like fifteen more weeks until the kickoff. Maybe the spring game in April will serve as a fix for all of us addicts who are experiencing withdrawal symptoms. (At least my step-grandson hopes so.)

And one good thing about spring practice, we will still be undefeated when it is over!

JOHN CLIFTON, Mayor, City of Jellico www.jellico.com/jellico/jelllico.htm w/link to "Mayor"