This is one of the weeks that we look forward to from year to year. Our annual Christmas Parade is this Sunday at 2:30 PM and we are expecting both good participation and a large turnout of spectators.. This year we will also have the first attempt in bringing back "Christmas in the Park" to Indian Mountain State Park (this Saturday 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM and preceding our parade on Sunday). However as I have written at least twice previously, time and resources will greatly limit what can be done at the park this first year so folks should not expect too much. But at least it will be a start! And Park Director Jerome Cummins said that the park staff will begin with the project much earlier next year in the month of October. Hopefully during the upcoming year our local citizens and businesses will contribute lights and other required items such as extension cords, receptacles, etc. to that very worthwhile community activity.

Announced activities by the park staff for this first year include as many light displays as possible; music by choirs from local churches at Shelter # 1 as they perform Christmas favorites emphasizing the true meaning of Christmas; a live nativity scene at Shelter # 3; and the previously mentioned re-creation of the "W. F. Floyd Tavern" at Shelter # 2.. And very good news for the very little folks! Santa Claus will be in Jellico and spend the entire weekend with us although he is awfully, awfully busy at this time of year. He plans to be at Indian Mountain State Park on Saturday night -where I assume that he will pasture his reindeer overnight- and then ride in our Parade on Sunday before flying back to the North Pole. However it's not unthinkable that our temperatures might just make him want to stay here rather than returning to that frozen wasteland. I've always wondered why he picked that cold, cold place to live in the first place!

(One thing badly needed by Indian Mountain State Park is an organization of citizens into a support group known as "Friends of the Park". Most area parks now have a group of supporters bearing that designation that help the parks to operate and improve. Such a group could certainly be of great benefit to Indian Mountain State Park and could also help obtain what is needed for the park to really create an outstanding "Christmas in the Park" during future Christmas seasons. Anyone who would be willing to help in the formation a "Friends of Indian Mountain State Park" should contact Jerome at 784-7958. He and the staff badly need the volunteer help in order to make our state park an even more valuable asset for our entire area.)

It's going to be interesting to see just how the new arrangement for lining up our parade this Sunday is going to function. On paper it sure looks like a great improvement but like anything new, there will probably be glitches to be worked out. Things do have a way of smoothing out with experience and that should be the case with utilizing the new reorganized formation of the line of march for the first time this year. Having all traffic going in one direction will have to be better than having a single lane of traffic with vehicles traveling in opposite directions and often meeting in the middle - starting a traffic jam with the resulting tongue lashings from vehicle drivers on both ends - as we have had happen in the past more times than anyone cares to recall.

Everyone is reminded to enter High School Loop ONLY at the Crouches Creek Baptist Church/Rocky Top Arbys for placing units in the parade, dropping of participants who will walk or ride other units and exiting the area prior to the start of the column. Although no one will be allowed to enter High School Loop anywhere off Sunset Trail, vehicles especially school buses will be able to exit from the very short street leading from the high school and onto Sunset Trail.

(I have been trying to keep a close eye on the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday and as of the date these note were prepared (Monday, Dec. 8th) , the www.weather.com prediction for Saturday and Sunday was for some sun with clouds. Let's hope that forecast holds true!

I mentioned above how our Indian Mountain State Park needs the organization of a "Friends of the Park" for assistance with its goals for the future. And our local young people need similar support. Several area churches are now sponsoring very active youth organizations and activities that greatly need and deserve the help of our area citizens. And I will be more than happy to publicize any of those organizations and their activities in these notes if requested to do so!

Note: I was notified by Lisa Casey at Netlink 2000 that our local Youth for Christ (YFC) group now has an internet site and she asked that I publish the location. The Jellico YFC can be found at www.jellico.com/yfc with links to the national organization.

And the Jellico Community Hospital Foundation - in cooperation with Cumberland College - has another very worthy activity planned that is intended to raise funds to help expand and renovate the Jellico Community Hospital Emergency Room. Well known gospel singer Sandi Patty who has had several Christian songs on the charts and who appears on television including appearances with the Gaithers, will perform at the O. William Rollins Center on the Cumberland College Campus (next Tuesday, December 16th at 7:30 PM)..

Tickets for the event are being sold in Williamsburg, Corbin (two locations), Lafollette, Clinton, and Oak Ridge in addition to Jellico. Advanced tickets can be purchased locally by calling 424/784-1207. Seating is $ 35.00 per person. A "VIP" package is also available for $ 100.00 (exclusive reception with Patty, a special CD by Patty and preferred auditorium seating). None of us can ever know when we may suddenly require the emergency room services and I hope that we have very good local support for Ms. Patty's holiday concert and our hospital.

I do not want to fail to continue to push for downtown renovation in these articles although summer and fall are gone. Just because its winter doesn't mean that all work on our downtown needs to stop until spring. This is a good time to do interior work and I know that at least one or two locations are accomplishing that type of renovation at the present time. For that matter, it won't be that long until spring and this is also a good time for planning exterior work for when the warmer temperatures do return. And it's not too early to plan for our annual spring "Clean up, Fix up, Paint Up Week". Last year we scheduled that special week in April and it was just too cold to accomplish a lot outdoors. This year we will probably move it to May and hope for better weather with good warm temperatures that make folks want to get outside and to do things. There's just nothing like the return of that red, red robin, greening of the grass and the blooming of spring flowers to motivate us. (We do plan to replace any dead or damaged dogwood trees and Bradford Pears in late March and/or April and to do additional plantings. The earlier the better for their survival and growth.)

I have talked with sponsors and leaders of some of the above mentioned youth groups and I hope that they too will get involved (some already have been involved in the past) in our goal of bringing our town back. It would be great if they would coordinate their efforts toward the project. With the cooperation of property owners, there are structures that need minor repairs and painting; lots that need to be cleared; streets, roads and streams they need litter removal, etc.. Building a positive attitude among our young people that we can improve our situation can be one of the most important things that we do for it won't be very long until they will determine the future of Jellico. They need to develop a love and respect for our town prior to that day.

Federal and state grant money are a tremendous help and we badly need to obtain all that we can get where we can supply the required matching funds. But we also need to realize that we can do an awful lot on our own. As President Abraham Lincoln once put it, "You simply cannot help men by doing for them what they should be doing for themselves". Those words are as true today as they were when he spoke them!

As I talk anymore with a lot of our present citizens, former residents and visitors to Jellico, the subject often arises concerning the progress that we have made and are making to restore Jellico's appearance to something approaching what it was before the collapse of the coal industry in the 1950's.. For years following that catastrophic event, the buildings just continued to go down and the situation eventually seemed to many to be completely hopeless. But with a lot of effort and hard work we have now reached the point where we can finally begin to see light at the end of the tunnel. As I constantly emphasize, if we can get four or five of our worst buildings restored and a few downtown area lots cleared, we will have the worst behind us. We need to stay after those situations until property owners do make the badly needed improvements and we need to further emphasize that buildings require constant upkeep and maintenance. Improvements made now will not last indefinitely. Keeping our town in a presentable state requires pride on the part of our citizens demonstrated by constant attention and care.

Much as had been said and written about the "Rarity Mountain" development at the 155 mile marker on Interstate-75, I am surprised by the number of folks still asking me what in the world is going on up there. It just goes to show that you can never over publicize any project- even one of the projected magnitude of Rarity Mountain that I really thought was now common knowledge among all of our citizens. That project's first phase will involve an investment of one-hundred million dollars ($ 100,000,000.00) that I understand that amount is to be followed by additional phases and expenditures. And I know that some other investors have at least discussed the possible investment in businesses to be located on the other side of the interstate as well.

I certainly don't think many our folks realize yet just what a tremendous impact that the development can have upon our town. As I have stated on numerous occasions, Jellico will be "town" to those folks if we have things here to attract them. And those attractions need to have a local flavor such as a nice restaurant with an "old town" theme and with good food and service; such delicacies as the chicken and dumplings and blackberry jam and jelly as prepared and sold during our Fall Fest; those fried apple pies that drive us crazy when we smell them while walking through Veterans Park; the items of needle work such as crazy quilts; woodworking and other Appalachian crafts, and an almost unlimited variety of offerings. And the more folks come to view those types of items, the more likely they are to shop at our already existing and traditional stores and outlets. And in future years, there may be a demand for recreation facilities and supplies such as a movie theatre, sports clothing and equipment store, etc..

The potential is here now for growth and development greater than any that we have had since the 1950's.. I just hope that our citizens can see and appreciate what may lie ahead for Jellico in future years if we take advantage of the situation and lay the ground work now to fulfill that potential. An investment at the present time can pay big dividends in the future!

A lady laughingly told me last week - that without thinking - she had placed a black plastic garbage bag over a lawn lounge chair. Sure enough it went into the compacter on the garbage truck. But she said that she had to admire the sanitation crew for their determination to get it all!