My sincere thanks to all who helped to plan and conduct the Veterans appreciation ceremony and reception that was held last Sunday at the Veterans Memorial.. Tourism Director Jake Bennett, the Tourism Commission and especially Jill Boles did the organization and actual work. And I greatly appreciate their efforts.

And I especially want to thank the Jellico High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) for their participation. Every time I see those students immaculate in their uniforms and representing the principles of duty, honor, country upon which our military is founded, it makes me very proud. I was the principal of Jellico High School for many years and originally began the drive to secure a JROTC program for our school. And it was a very long process in dealing with Fort Knox, Kentucky to complete all of the red tape that was required as well as having to overcome some local opposition. However everything was finally worked out and the JROTC was approved and has since become a very important part of our high school's curriculum.

Cadet Battalion Commander Thomas Collins did a great job in emphasizing the debt that we owe to all veterans. And upon behalf of all of our citizens, I want to thank Cadet Commander Thomas, the Student Battalion Corps and the JROTC staff for taking time out from their weekend to participate in the program. There were many other places they could have been but they voluntarily participated in our appreciation ceremony for veterans.

We had veterans in attendance representing most of our armed service including the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. (I don't recall any indicating that they had served in the Coast Guard or Merchant Marines). Included among the audience were veterans of World

War II, Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, and a former Prisoner of War. Although it is impossible to adequately ever repay them, we certainly do appreciate their service and the service and sacrifices of all veterans - living and deceased.

The musical presentation depicting the life of our most famous citizen, Grace Moore, will be presented this Saturday night in the Jellico High School Auditorium/Theatre. (7:00 PM) The State Theatre of Virginia (Barter Theatre of Abingdon) and Grace Moore Scholarship winner Nancy Arnold will have a repertoire of over twenty songs covering a wide range of composers and tastes. Included will be six or seven classical renditions from the works of Giacomo Puccini, Gustave Charpentier, Georges Bizet and others. (Moore was always partial to the compositions of Puccini since it was his opera LA BOHEME in which she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York that received a record number of curtain calls.)

But there will also be popular songs from Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and even some Appalachian favorites such as "Rock of Ages" and the traditional spiritual, "Steal Away to Jesus".

No program pertaining to the life of Grace Moore would be complete without the song that she did in her award winning movie, "One Night of Love". In that film that brought grand opera to the moving picture screen, she sang "Ciribiribin" accompanied by the all male choral group at the Metropolitan. "Ciribiribin" became instantly popular and was said by some to have been a personal favorite of then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Anywhere she went throughout this country and Europe following release of that film, she was requested to sing it over and over again. And on more than one occasion, she had to decline the numerous requests for "Ciribiribin" so that she could complete the rest of her concert. She toured our military bases overseas during World War II and sang it repeatedly for the troops and reportedly never refused one of their requests. And true to the Grace Moore tradition, Arnold will conclude Saturday night's performance with "Ciribiribin".

There will be a twenty minutes intermission during the performance and the high school will provide a limited concessions of soft drinks and coffee.

Reserved tickets are being sold through this Friday and then all other admissions will be available at the doors on Saturday. ($ 10.00 per person). But there really is no bad seating in the auditorium/theatre and the seats are very comfortable. (Jake plans to have Jellico High School students serving as usherettes to help folks find their seats.)

I have previously mentioned our planned activities to kick of the Christmas season. And it was great news when new Indian Mountain State Park Director Jerome Cummins stated that he hoped in future years to reinstate the "Christmas in the Park" that many have called "the most beautiful thing in the history of our town".

I deeply regretted having had to abandon that activity with its 130,000 to 140,000 Christmas lights that projected a beautiful mirror image in the lake. Some have asked me if I will be willing to help once again with that project that I originated and headed for three years along with Molly Creekmore and Betty Sowders during its first year and Cathy Vann during its second and third years. And if requested, I will certainly be glad to advise those attempting to reinstate "Christmas in the Park" based upon the experience that I gained during those three years.

We had a tremendous amount of support from the park staff, the Jellico utilities department, area churches, organizations such as the Jellico High JROTC, businesses and volunteers. And to successfully carry out such a huge project is impossible without such support.

The beat goes on with our goal of renovating our downtown! The new fabric awning added by the Day Spring Family Health Center sure adds a lot to that building and it really stands out to traffic coming down North Main Street from the direction of the Post Office. I understand that a nice logo for Dayspring is to be added to the awning in the very near future. I greatly appreciate the cooperation of that firm in helping us to obtain our goal of improving the looks of our downtown area.

And Steve Zecchini has really done some power washing on the front of his building, Zecchini Heat and Air, that actually changed its color several times as the layers of paint were peeling off. Hopefully he can complete the preliminary work in the near future and finish the painting of that structure.

I talked last week with Mike Siwinski, editor of the "Christian Journal" concerning his progress on his newly purchased building located on the Kentucky line and he said that he had to do a lot more work to the interior of that building than he had originally anticipated.. But he emphasized that he still hopes to complete the interior work within the next two to three weeks and then get started on the exterior. He has some very interesting improvements planned for the front of that structure including the previously mentioned awning and lamp posts.

The city of Jellico also plans to plant more dogwoods and Bradford pears this spring. As someone stated recently, they are so pretty when they bloom out in the spring that we simply cannot get too many of them. (The present trees along the sidewalk are now getting large enough to do some trimming of the lower branches this winter. But we want to be sure not to damage the trees or to adversely affect their shape.)

Regardless of how hard we try to get a few property owners to help us, some simply are either slow, reluctant or downright opposed to taking any action. And it those owners that are going to force the Council to take legal action although it hopes to avoid that final step.

In related developments: At our last meeting of the Planning Commission, John Davenport presented the Commission with a preliminary site plan for the new Town and Country Bank to be located on Fifth Street.

And John O'Hara addressed the Commission with a request to renovate the residence at the corner of Fifth Street and Kentucky Street and to convert it into a "bed and breakfast" facility.. O'Hara stated that the property had been used commercially on at least two previous occasions -

once serving as the site of the famous "Sager Inn" that played a big part in our town's early history. He also emphasized that the present house had also been used at one time as a funeral home. And he is correct in both counts.

But Chairman Sam Sharp informed O'Hara that the Commission could not act upon his request until it learned of all regulations dealing with health and security that would be required for the proposed usage. Both the Commission and O'Hara agreed to do some research prior to the next meeting to determine all applicable health regulations required by the Department of Health and to also learn what fire prevention and escape measures would be required.

The representative from the State Planning Office pointed out that any property located in areas zoned for residential use automatically falls into that classification when it is no longer being used for another purpose. It was also emphasized that a special waiver of the designation by the Zoning Appeals Board would be required for the property to again be used commercially. And before any request for waiver could be given final approval, a public hearing must be announced and conducted.

I have not talked with developer Mike Ross in several days now. But if earth being moved is a sign of progress, then things are moving along pretty good on the interchange off Interstate -75 that is crucial to the development of "Rarity Mountain". If my memory serves me right, sales will begin this spring on marketing the properties that are to be developed.

Several business places have told me recently that if I am short copies of this article, to just leave them one or two copies and they will use their own copy machines to reproduce enough copies for their employees and customers. And the Jellico Community Hospital recently ran off one week's issue for me which was a great help at that time.

I certainly appreciate all of the assistance that I am receiving in getting out these notes - in addition to the "Christian Journal" newspaper that has begun regularly printing these columns. And of course Interstate 2000 faithfully places it on the Internet for the benefit of out-of-town and out-of-state readers.

(Although I have been writing these notes for several years now, I am still surprised by the number of folks who go out of their way to tell me that they read it. I recently had a lady in Williamsburg with few ties to Jellico, to tell me that she reads it every week and once even came to Jellico to find a copy when she missed it through other outlets. And Siwinski tells me that folks read it in Lafollette. Hopefully it does provide something of interest and serves the intended purpose of keeping folks informed of what is taking place in our town and our area.)