I mentioned last week that Tourism Director Jake Bennett has filed an application for an mini-grant hoping to bring the Barter Theatre of Abingdon, Virginia production of "Grace Moore: The Tennessee Nightingale" to our Jellico High School theatre. Following that article, Jake asked me to be sure and credit Roy Price for all of the preliminary work that has been involved in the negotiations with Barter up to this point. And we certainly do appreciate Roy's help. Roy has always gotten involved in a lot of community projects and his help has been invaluable in several that I can recall.

Our Jellico Utilities Board wrestled with the recently enacted increase in electric rates by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in an effort to soften the 7.4% increase to the greatest extent possible (as they have done numerous times in the past). But the lowest figure for a hike in rates that they could manage is 5.6% which is still lower than the 6.5% increase enacted by the Utilities Board of Lafollette following the TVA action. And I have heard that other towns in our area will also have a greater increase than ours. (The increases are expected to become effective October 1st..)

The Utilities Department is like the City of Jellico and many businesses and individuals all over this country in dealing with the fact that expenses are steadily increasing while income remains steady or decreases. But the raise was enacted by TVA and I greatly appreciate the Board's willingness to help lighten the burden on our users while still managing to pay their bills to TVA just as we must pay ours.

And speaking of the Utilities Department: I think that Utilities Director John Leach, Councilman Alvin Evans, Councilman Jim Dobson and myself were more amused than angered after reading an article in our local papers. It is true that we went out of our way to help a new business and I did don work clothes and help with the water problem on one or more occasions. We first thought that the problem had been created by a clogged sewer and later as a result of the rehabilitation of the sewer system -although that too was a federal and state mandated action. But I don't think any of us knew at the time what Leach reported to the papers: that the electricity for the building was actually being charged to another building; that the water was turned on without ever receiving an inspection or permit of any kind; that no bill was paid for water for six (6) months; that the floor was well below ground level with surface water naturally entering the structure; and that former owners/tenants of the building had reportedly experienced water problems - years before the sewer rehab project even started.

We tried to help a new business get started and it has come back to bite us. And counter suits may be filed against the plaintiff(s) who have brought the suit(s) against the city of Jellico. After realizing the true situation, it is the feelings of the Utilities and the city of Jellico that the problem is the sole responsibility of the plaintiff(s) and that by allowing the condition to continue, they are perpetuating a nuisance, damaging the city sidewalk, creating a potentially dangerous situation for pedestrians, etc..

We finally reluctantly adopted a budget utilizing contingency funds of $ 76,000 from our reserves. And there is no question that next year will be a crucial year for us financially. Under new state legislation, all municipalities, county governments, etc. are to begin adopting "Performance Budgets" which must be balanced without use of any other income such as fund balances ("rainy day funds"). It has always been very hard to balance our budget even with the possibility of the use of those funds and it is even going to be more difficult in the future. (We have seldom dipped into them to any great extent except mainly for emergency situations and other very desirable expenditures such as helping to keep the pool open in summer - even when they have been placed in the budget to be utilized if required.. And we have never yet had to fall below the recommended amount of funds to be held in reserve.).

The loss of revenue brought about by the slowing of the economy; the cut in state funds; and other factors have placed the Council between the proverbial "rock and hard place" and eventually our town will have to bite the bullet. And it may well be our next budget for 2004-2005. No one wants to raise property taxes (which have not been raised in several years and were actually reduced on one occasion), withhold employee raises and/or benefits, reduce the number of employees or cut services. But those may well be the only choices facing the Council next spring. We do not want to overly alarm anyone but everyone including our city employees need to be aware of the situation and possibilities.

The problems with our budget also emphasizes what I stated in my last issue. I favor annexation IF the amount of revenue brought in from any annexed areas will fully fund the services to be provided for those areas. We must continue to keep our town on a sound fiscal basis which is becoming more and more difficult each year without biting the bullet as mentioned above. We cannot take on additional expenditures. But the study presently being done concerning the plan of services hopefully will give us the estimated cost of the services as well as the projected income from the property taxes.

It's now officially autumn! And it's time for our second Fall Fest (October 3-4)! If anyone doubts the accuracy of either of those statements, just think how good a light jacket now feels in the late evenings and early mornings. We have had some very cool nights already.

Decorations are already going up and the first that I noticed was at Day Spring Family Health Center Someone there must have majored in diplomacy since they gave equal time to both Tennessee and Kentucky in their windows. (We need to get decorations up this week all over our town and areas.)

Jake and the Tourism Commission are working to line up entertainment for the Fest and I hope to publish a complete list of activities and entertainment in next week's article.

I have often written of the great amateur baseball (actually competitive with some professional leagues) that we once enjoyed in this area when all coal mining communities had teams that were the pride and joy of the citizens of those communities. But did you know that Jellico became so good that we almost won the United States National Amateur Baseball Championship in the early 1950s? That team came so close to winning it all! So very close!

For many years the Kellogg Cereal producers sponsored a national amateur baseball tournament in Battle Creek, Michigan (that company's corporate headquarters). And the Pruden Coal Company for several years maintained a team that sometimes qualified for that tournament. The Eagen Coal Company also was producing outstanding teams at that time along with Pruden. And Jellico had some very outstanding individual players as well.

When the coal industry virtually collapsed and the big deep mines were closed, Jellico and those two communities from the Clearfork area combined teams under the name of the Jellico Clearcos - that also combined the community names. And the Clearcos made up a very powerful team that had players of vast experience and immense talent.

Jack "Bus" Wilson, Victor Carroll (for whom our Wilson-Carroll Field is named) along with Harold Moon, Cal Mayes, Banner Todd and others (all deceased) put together a group that was equal to any amateur team in the entire country - and they proved that statement immediately after arriving in Battle Creek. In fact they knocked off the defending United States National Amateur Champion, New York City's Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, in their fourth game and had a 3-1 record at that time including a win over Chicago. The only Clearcos loss in the first four games was to San German, Oriente, champions of Cuba, by a score of 3-2 and everyone knows how well the Cubans can play baseball. (Just a very few years ago a Cuban team beat the Baltimore Orioles. One can only imagine how good the champion team of all of Cuba really was.)

By the fifth game, Jellico had turned the entire world of American amateur baseball upside down. And as a Michigan newspaper in a complete state of shock (after becoming so accustomed to the New York Citys, the Chicagos, the Miamis, etc. dominating the tournament) reported concerning the "giant killing" Clearcos from such a small mountain town, "Jellico is cool, calm and determined. They are oozing confidence. And why not? Six-five over Chicago, 3-2 over New York, 3-2 over Tennessee state champion Chattanooga and only a 3-2 loss to Cuba has given the miners a right to say they know how to play ball when the chips are down". (Jellico played in a league of Kentucky teams and won the right to compete in the national championship series as the state champions of Kentucky rather than Tennessee.)

The tournament was double elimination and in the second round if my memory serves me right, the Clearcos were matched against the New York State Champions (New York City and New York State were allowed separate entries due to their populations). And New Yorkers were probably glad to see the last of Jellico because the Clearcos disposed of New York Hall Drug in similar fashion. However the earlier loss to the Cubans came back to haunt them when they lost to a very strong home standing Battle Creek team with the backing of the Kellogg Company that always had its prestige on the line in the tournament. Jellico had exhausted its pitching staff by that game which proved to be their undoing. That semi-finals loss eliminated them but left Jellico tied for third place in the field of the finest amateur baseball teams in America.

Three things probably deprived Jellico of the United States National Amateur Baseball Championship that year: (1) Several unemployed players had to leave our area prior to the start of the season since the mine closings had put them out of work. (2) The team lost the player in mid-season that many considered the best on the squad. Carl Lee Rufner (late brother of Jellico city librarian Dorothy Potter) was forced to leave the team in mid-season (I believe for a job opportunity in another area) and that was a tremendous loss. I often recount the fact that Rufner was the best shortstop I personally have ever seen outside the major leagues - and he compared to some playing in the majors. Although not a big man, he had a tremendous arm and could go deep in the hole at shortstop to field ground balls. And he could really sting the ball at the plate. He had the complete package including the bat, the glove and the arm. And (3) the fact that teams from foreign countries had recently been declared eligible for the tournament field that opened the door for the Cuban champions..

We had a potential national amateur baseball dynasty in the making in the 1950's. But it had to be broken up because so many hundreds of folks - not just baseball players - suddenly out of work when the mines closed, said goodbye to our area and sought other means and areas of employment. Carroll initially managed the team before turning his managerial duties over to another former great Pruden player, Mayes, when he too left town to find employment. Carroll was truly a great hitter and he once made a statement to some of us young boys that only one other baseball player ever made of whom I am aware -all time great and hall-of-fame member Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox. Carroll said that in his youth he could actually see the ball leave his bat when he made contact. Williams, probably the greatest hitter the game has ever known reportedly made that very same statement several years later.

Some members of that team who left Jellico only to return in later years and who are still around of whom I am aware, include Carlos "Carbide" Warman, another smooth fielding short stop and third baseman; Tony Zecchini who was a very good hitter and who had a special talent for reaching base and advancing base runners with an uncanny ability to place bunts just about anywhere he chose (In fact he was the best bunter that I have ever seen on any level); and scorekeeper L. B. Powers who also did press releases.

All of those guys, living and deceased, sure gave a bunch of young boys around Jellico at that time a summer to be remembered - and especially me. I served as bat boy for a couple of their games when the regular bat boy was unable to be there. It provided an excitement that I have never forgotten and never will! With our proud history of amateur baseball, its sad that our high school team now provides our only baseball!