EDITION OF AUGUST 1, 2003 JELLICO NEWS/MAYOR'S COLUMN A great big "welcome home" this weekend to Doug Dobson and Therman Baird. Doug was formerly stationed at the Bagrum Air Base, Afghanistan where the area sky was often lit up at night with small arms fire, artillery rounds and rocket attacks.

Therman serves in the highly decorated Third Infantry Division that usually ends up in the thick of things. And that was certainly true of that division's service in Iraq. Many local folks will recall Thermen's photo in Time Magazine that was taken through night vision goggles as he and his fellow soldiers were involved in combat operations. As the sign on our community bulletin board states, we are proud of them and all veterans. And we are certainly grateful for their service to our country.

Kudos to Master Firefighter Joe Paul Smith, who was pictured in the Saturday, July 26th edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel rescuing a small five (5) years old boy from the top of a forty-five (45) foot tall tree in that city. According to the newspaper story, the youngster who liked to climb, reached a point where the limbs were too small to sustain his weight and presented a possible life threatening fall for such a small child. Joe Paul climbed a very long ladder and pulled the boy to safety - much to the relief of his mother and possibly other bystanders that may have gathered to witness the drama.

And "congratulations" to Danny Douglas who has just recently been promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major (E-9) in the United States Army Reserve. As all veterans know, that is the highest enlisted rank possible and only a very few ever attain that status. We are proud of Danny's accomplishment and it is great to hear of all our local folks attaining success - no matter in what field they may have chosen to enter. As I often write, Jellico area folks can do all kinds of positive things when they set their minds to it!

And more congratulations may be in order for Bill Allen. Bill had a small stand-in roll in the currently very popular movie, "Seabiscuit" - although the cutting room always eliminates many, many filmed sequences. But everyone has been holding their breaths to see if any scenes were left in with Bill recognizable to local audiences.. (The movie was filmed mostly in Lexington, Kentucky with some footage taken in other areas.)

But regardless of whether or not all of his scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, Bill has acting ability as anyone who has ever seen him in plays at Jellico High, Cumberland College and other locations can attest.

After my article last week dealing with painting of the metal awnings, some stated that they would prefer the same silver color that is being applied to the utility poles for use on the awnings. And that would be just fine whatever color we use. It can't help but continue to brighten and improve the looks of our downtown just as painting of the poles by the Utilities Department personnel has certainly made a welcome difference.

And what an improvement Wayne Barton has made to the laundry mat - just as he promised that he would. As Herman Heath remarked to me the other day as we stood and looked at both that building and the buildings redone by Johnny Baird on South Main Street, "What a beautiful town we would have if all of our buildings looked like those". But we agreed that anything done to the buildings makes them look much better and we just have to keep "hammering" on the need for renovation until they are all completed.

(I received more good news this week when Day Spring Family Health Center informed me that they will place fabric awnings on their building to support us in our renovation project.)

I have been asked what happens after we have our town once again looking the way that it needs to look. And I always reply that we can then begin contacting more prospective businesses for our downtown and asking them to come and take a long look at Jellico - and with the confidence that they will find it both appealing and with potential for successful operation of a business. With a newly renovated downtown and the development of Rarity Mountain located only five (5) miles away, it would be hard to understand why any prospective businesses would not then find our town and area an attractive place in which to locate.

And yes! We have continued attempting to attract industry to Jellico. In fact some members of Council are constantly searching for prospective employers who might consider moving here. And as I mentioned at least once before, they have even been successful on one or two occasions in getting representatives to come to Jellico to look us over. But no prospects or negotiations will ever be revealed until it is a certainty that they will become a reality. Members of Council emphasize that we do not want to raise hopes and expectations that might never materialize.

We are in competition with literally hundreds and even thousands of towns, cities and areas all across this country that are looking to attract business and industry and it is extremely important that we put our best foot forward. Hopefully what we are doing now to our downtown will help us in that respect. I have always rejected the argument that we should first attempt to attract industry and business and that the downtown will take care of itself. That just will not happen!

(As I reported previously, if anyone wants to see what can be done to a deteriorated downtown area, just take a drive down Gay Street in Knoxville. The transformation is truly amazing!)

I talked this week with Mr. Jim Phillips of the Tennessee Department of Highways and he stated that the contract has been let for the repaving of US Highway 25-W (North Main) and U.S. 25-W/Tenn 297-W (Fifth Street and South Main Street) along with some work to be done also at Indian Mountain State Park. He could not give me a definite date when the work will start but the main thing is that it will be accomplished.

I was unable to contact Campbell County Road Commissioner Mike Leach at the time this article was being prepared to get a status report on our request for help with Hospital Road.)

The Church of God, Mountain Assembly, will open its 97th annual assembly on Monday (August 4th) at the Tabernacle. (Church sponsored parade through town on Wednesday 1:30 PM.)

As I mentioned in my welcoming address to that group last year, the CGMA has been a part of our town for most of our history. And it is something in which we can all take great pride! On behalf of the citizens of Jellico I want to welcome all of our visitors next week that will come from all over this country and from several foreign countries.

We have begun pushing our second "Fall Fest" (October 3 & 4) and it seems to be gaining interest. I have already had inquiries concerning that event as has Tourism Director Jake Bennett.

One addition this year that should add a lot to the event will be competition among business places for creative displays. We had some truly outstanding displays last year in keeping with the autumn theme and several mentioned that we should have had judging and awards for the best and most creative. (I would not have wanted to be a judge.)

All businesses are asked to begin planning now to decorate and be prepared for the judging a day or two prior to the start of the event. (Judges will be brought in from out of town. Trophies and/or plaques will be awarded to the best and most creative displays as decided by the judges.)

What's in a name? Or a title for that matter. In case you haven't already heard, the title for the Chief Executive Officer of every county in the state of Tennessee has been changed to "County Mayor" effective July 1st of this year. It took me years to quit calling the person occupying that office the "County Judge". And now that I usually do refer to him as the Chief Executive, they have changed to Mayor. Jerry Cross will just have to forgive me if I have trouble calling him by his correct title but I will get used to it eventually - and surely before my term expires. But it's going to take some getting used to. County Mayor???

Somebody quickly spotted my "country boy" background in my last article. In that issue I mentioned the fact that some of us attending the old Jellico High School on Florence Avenue often ate our dinners at Johnny Dobson's Grocery Store.

However I was reminded that we have three meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner with the latter meal coming in the evening. That's true this day and age in most circles but when I was growing up in Yellow Row/Frog Level we had breakfast, dinner and supper. Dinner came in the middle of the day and we had supper in the evening. Suppertime was the meal after which folks had finished the day's work and could sit down and really enjoy themselves with relaxed conversation and rehearsing of the day's events. Some changes are not always for the better and the virtual elimination of the family "suppertime" is one of those in my book.

Hang on everybody. We are getting closer and closer to kickoff and we will finally get some relief from football withdrawal symptoms. But a lot of folks seem to think that Fresno State will be some kind of pushover and they are wrong. If you saw them on television during the regular season last year and especially during their bowl game, you saw a very good football team. And the same is true of Marshal University. They will be two tough games before the trip to the Swamp for our SEC opener.

But most of the construction seems to be nearing completion around the campus and especially near the stadium and it should be easier to get to the games. However a lot of us Jellico folks will park a mile away and walk if necessary to get there (as will thousands of others).. There is just no atmosphere like game days at Neyland and anyone who has never experienced it has really missed something - even if they don't care one bit for football.

(I attended one of my step-grandson's early season practice sessions the other day at Whitley County High. He and the other linemen were going through some extremely physical blocking drills in 90+ degree heat and it reminded me of how much dedication is required to play football. I'll just remain in my seats in section "P" thank you!)

No one wants to take any disease lightly and that certainly is true of SARS that has recently been so deadly in several parts of the world. But some folks can see humor in about anything. I don't remember the exact words that columnist Sam Veneble used for the acronym SARS in a recent article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel in which he reported that many of us are in this area are suffering from a malady bearing that same designation. But if I remember correctly, he stated that around here, SARS is the abbreviation for Stubborn Aggravating Re-occurring Sinuses. Amen to that! JOHN CLIFTON, Mayor, City of Jellico