My sincere thanks to Rev. John Richardson, Rev. Ginger Richardson, Rev. Ozell Bunch and Rev. Doug Yaryan for their help and support with our 9/11 observance. (John, Ozell and Doug are all military veterans.) We had a pleasant evening, a good turnout and a meaningful program. And we - like the rest of our country - remembered the victims of that terrible act of terrorism and prayed for the future security of our nation. Rev. Ginger Richardson's closing recitation of the beautiful and oft quoted prayer by St. Francis of Assisi was the perfect ending for such an activity.

The passing of Johnny Cash reminded Jellico folks of his once popular song, "I've Been Everywhere" in which he listed all of the places where he had visited. And he seemed to place a little added emphasis on "Jellico" as he recounted them (although he probably never was in Jellico). But another country music super star of an earlier era, Grand Ole Opry regular Hank Snow, who also had a big hit singing "I've Been Everywhere", included Jellico in his earlier version. (Snow once had an appearance here that drew a crowd that until today remains our all-time record. Our entire baseball park could barely hold all of the audience.)

Fall Fest is now only a little over two weeks away. And we can expect to see some autumn decorations going up shortly. It's time to get in the spirit and start getting the decorations in place! (Oct 3-4).

Some who read my recent article "What I LIke About Jellico", are kidding me that it was written as a campaign speech for reelection as mayor. NOT!!! As I stated then, I originally wrote it because I was asked by the Lafollette Press to do so and because other mayors and administrators in other Campbell County towns had agreed to write similar articles concerning their towns. I certainly did not want Jellico to be left out! But I meant what I said in that article. There are many, many advantages to living in the Jellico area and most of us would not want to live anywhere else (most of the time anyway)!

The Council and I will wind up our first "year" in office sometime around November 4th. And it will be a long year - actually 19 months long. We were elected in April but our next city election will be held in November which stretches out our four years term to slightly over four and one-half years. And as I have stated before, the Council and I intend to continue to work to leave our town in the best condition that we possibly can when our terms are completed. We are making visible progress and we plan to do more!

I have absolutely no plans or desires to ever run for a public office again although experience has taught me to never say never. But my mind would have to do a 180 degrees turn for me to ever again be a candidate for any office. I greatly appreciate all of the support that I have had in both my election and reelection but two terms are plenty for me and it will be time to give someone else the opportunity to serve.

As those who regularly travel Hill Street know, work is in progress (if not already completed) to correct the very major problem brought about by virtually the entire hill side moving due to water logged and unstable soil beneath the surfacing. We expected it to be an expensive undertaking and as it turned out, it is going to be even more expensive than we had anticipated. Once the excavation of the soil began, it was evident that much more had to be removed than expected to in order to ever fully stabilize the area. But it must be completely corrected or the situation will continue to reoccur and even grow worse during extremely rainy periods in the future. All of the unstable soil must be removed.

I want to thank Councilman Alvin Evans for staying on top of that situation and working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to obtain funds for correcting the problem. It was a project beyond the scope of our city's ability to correct and the help from FEMA was crucial.

We also met in special call session, reviewed and accepted bids for some resurfacing of Hospital Road, Sunset Trail from the traffic signal on Fifth Street to Hospital Road and Douglas Lane. Those projects along with some additional work that we hope to accomplish at the corner of Hospital Road and Sunset Trail will pretty much exhaust our street funds for this fiscal year. But we will begin setting new priorities for our next budget and accomplish as much next year as we possibly can. And the same is true in future years until we do improve the condition of several of our streets.

The traffic signal on South Main Street/Florence Avenue is worn out and will not function properly. And a continuous flashing caution yellow light for that intersection is all that is available to the Police Department at the present time. Purchasing repair parts along with the labor involved have been determined to be more expensive than a new signal so a replacement light has been ordered and is expected to be received any day now (if not already). It will be put up just as soon as it arrives!

It is a potentially dangerous situation and drivers will need to exercise extra caution in that area until the necessary corrective action can be completed!

The work has resumed on our downtown. Some more painting has been done on the Zecchini building and John Leach has done additional painting on his building. More metal utility poles have been painted - and even including the arms for lights on the wooden poles. And I want to be sure to thank the employees of the utility department for the job that they are doing in repainting all of those badly tarnished items. Additionally Mike Ross has told me that he will again have some type of appropriate display placed in his building on South Main Street as he did last year for our Fall Fest to improve the appearance of the front of that building until actual renovation is done. And the last time I talked with a representative of Day Spring Family Health Center, they were still awaiting the receipt and placement of the fabric awnings on that South Main Street building.

My recent articles on annexation led someone to ask me why I ever became so deeply involved in the annexation issue and what I stand to gain from it. And the answers to those two questions are very simple: (1) I became involved because as mayor, I was designated by the Tennessee State Legislature as the individual required to insure that the Urban Growth Plan was developed for Jellico or to cost our city opportunities to obtain any future grant funds for some badly needed projects - including the often cited sewer line extensions and numerous other possible grants. I certainly did not want the job of carrying out the planning required under Public Law 1101 - work which was non-compensated (without even gas mileage for required trips), time consuming, tiring and mostly unappreciated and resented. But on the other hand, I did not want to see Jellico lose so much potential grant money on my watch.

(2) I stand to gain not one penny - whether any or all of the areas eligible for annexation are actually incorporated or if not a single foot is added to the city of Jellico. I am not presently making my living within the city of Jellico or even within any of the areas identified for possible annexation. I do not work in any of the areas nor do I own or operate a business in any. I live in Jellico and try to serve Jellico as mayor. But I have absolutely no conflicts of interest nor do I have any ulterior motives of any kind! I simply want to see our town and our area grow!

As I have repeatedly stated, all of the work that I reluctantly had to perform under P.L. 1101 over a period of months and months slowly but surely convinced me that annextion could be good for both our town and any annexed areas - and particularly for future generations. And the annexation is inevitable whether it happens now or sometime within the next seventeen years that remain in the twenty years window established by the PL 1101 Jellico Urban Growth Plan. The sooner the annexation is enacted, the sooner the transition can be completed.

I strongly favor annexing any areas where the tax revenue can support the required services and I constantly make my opinion clear. But I will have no vote in the matter and the majority of the Council will have to make the final decision once the entire process required by PL 1101 is completed. The process was long, the work was hard and I am certainly glad that it is now coming to an end. My role is finished and it is now entirely out of my hands and up to the majority of members of the Council.

On a different note: Sometimes you see something that is so good that you just have to tell others about it And that is true of the recent production of "Always Patsy Cline" at the University of Tennessee's Clarence Brown Theatre based upon the life and music of Cline, one of the greatest of all country singers. Teresa Williams was brought home from New York to portray Cline and the sold out audiences every night including some Jellico folks, agreed that the production lived up to all of the advance build up that it had received. Williams's tremendous voice was comparable to the virtually incomparable voice of Cline. She sounded and even looked like the never-to-be-forgotten singer.

The hundreds in the audience laughed and enjoyed the great music throughout the production. And then the laughter turned to tears on the part of some when the play neared its end with the very tragic plane crash that took the life of a truly great entertainer.

(With all of his success as one of the greatest of all movie directors and producers, Clarence Brown never forgot his alma mater and continuously followed happenings back on campus during his entire career. After he became such a powerful figure in Hollywood and all of California, he one year virtually forced Rose Bowl officials to invite the Vols to that bowl in Pasedena - which they did. The beautiful theatre named in his honor and the productions presented there rival those on Broadway!)

And speaking of good theatre: As I have written several times in recent months, there seems to be renewed interest in Grace Moore - by far and away the most famous individual ever produced by our town. (That renewed interest is taking place in this country because folks in Canada and Europe have never forgotten her nor have Broadway, opera and movie fans everywhere. Recording companies have reportedly placed some of her songs on CD's, an Internet web site is dedicated to "keeping the legend alive" (www.gracemoore.com) that regularly brings responses from all over the world. And plays are being produced in two or three locations based upon her life story. Knox Central High (Ky) annually presents a play at Cumberland College; a writer in Nashville has been working toward that objective; and the internationally renown State Theatre of Virginia, the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia has been doing a produciton entitled "Grace Moore: The Tennessee Nightingale" featuring former Grace Moore Scholarship finalist Nancy Arnold. (Mary Costa, diva of the San Francisco Opera Company who visited Jellico a few years ago for the dedication of our Grace Moore memorial, was a past winner of that highly prized and competitve scholarship.) Moore's movies were regularly nominated for awards and she once finished runner-up for the Academy Award for her "One Night of Love" that brought grand opera to the screen. And I believe that Clarence Brown may have possibly directed some of her movies - as he did most great stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Tourism Director Jake Bennett is working with the Barter Theatre for Arnold to bring the play to the Jellico High School Theatre. He has filed an application with the Tennessee Arts Council for a mini-grant that would pay part of the expense required to bring her here for a performance with the rest to come from ticket sales. More details will be announced later if arrrangements can be completed!

The longest three years of a University of Florida football players life? (His freshman year!) And how many UF juniors does it take to change a light bulb? They can't! (That's a senior course!)