I wrote last week that the long range forecast was for temperatures around 50 degrees with a mixture of sun and clouds for Saturday and Sunday and that I hoped that the forecast would hold true. It goes without saying that it most definitely did not hold true! A slow cold rain began on Saturday evening just about the time the Christmas in the Park opened and continued off and on through most of Sunday. (Can you believe the beautiful Friday and Monday that were sandwiched around those two days? But we have to take whatever weather the Lord sends and be thankful for it!)

I was thoroughly surprised - and I think most folks were surprised - at how much the Indian Mountain State Park staff had been able to accomplish in such a short time and with such limited resources. There were far more Christmas lights than any of us expected and the activities were outstanding. What's more, the number of vehicles that came through the park had to be greater than anticipated. And there were interesting things for folks to see and do.

The lights and the manger scene caught the eye immediately upon entering the park. And of course I just had to stop at the re-creation of the "W.F. Floyd Tavern", imbibe some of the beverages being served at the "bar" and swap stories with several who could well remember W.F. and his tavern that were both "colorful" to say the least. And flush with all that hot chocolate, I joined in with the blue grass band in a few verses of one of the all-time great Appalachian songs, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". Fortunately at the time these notes were written, Park Director Jerome Cummins - like Jake Bennett after the Grace Moore production - had received no complaints (no official complaints anyway) concerning my singing. Or at least he hasn't passed any complaints on to me as yet.

The choir from the Church of God, Mountain Assembly sure sounded good with the Christmas carols at another pavilion. I left W. F.'s place too late to hear most of their singing but I did catch two or three songs. And upon request, they sang my all-time Christmas favorite, "Oh Beautiful Star of Bethlehem" - a song that to me sums up the true meaning of Christmas better than any other. (Another church was to sing but the bug got them as it did the young people's group that had planned to do the live nativity scene.)

Santa was there and made Luther Baird's now well known rolling log cabin his headquarters. Vehicles loaded with kids were stopping long enough to talk with Santa and give him extensive lists of what they want for Christmas. (From what I heard, some mommies and daddies had better be digging deep into their wallets!)

Several folks sponsored lights and displays dedicated to departed loved ones including one very patriotic display. And Jerome asked me to thank those folks and everyone who donated or helped in anyway with the very successful renewal of Christmas in the Park.

Considering all of the adverse developments, we had a very good Christmas parade. I knew that we were going to experience reduced participation and spectators when we had so many reports of high absenteeism rates at local schools last week due to illness in addition to the updated weather forecast. And Sunday morning reportedly saw greatly decreased attendance at several local churches due to the combination of the bug and the weather.

Had we enjoyed beautiful weather such as we have had in many past years, we would quite possibly have had the largest parade yet. The interest shown prior to Saturday indicated as much. But Shriners from the Somerset, Kentucky area cancelled their plans to have units here due to a significant snowfall in that location although a very few individual Shriners from that lodge did attend as spectators. The Shriners in Knoxville had to cancel most of their entries due to illness to the participants and a weather forecast that had indicated that we could expect snow in Jellico. And they apparently were afraid of the interstate while crossing the mountain. Units from various schools including the band at Campbell County High School could not show due to those same reasons - nor could several expected church units and other units as well.

The same was true of spectators. One lady said that she could not remember having ever before missed a parade along with members of her family. But they just felt too badly to attend this year. Numerous folks reported that they missed because they were either too ill or were afraid that they would become ill due to the cold and dampness.

Jake never seriously considered canceling the parade - believing in the old adage that "the show must go on" although things looked pretty gloomy at times with all of the early cancellations. And the show did go on in spite of the weather, the bug and the greatly reduced number of participants and spectators. Several went to the trouble to tell us that they greatly enjoyed the event and one lady even made it a point immediately afterward to tell us what a fine parade that she thought it was.

Ironically the person who seemed to be the least adversely affected by the whole thing was our grand marshal, Robin Wilhoit of channel 10. She genuinely seemed to enjoy every minute of the parade and said that it was typical Christmas time weather where she grew up in North Carolina. Although she lived near one of the large cities in that state, her hometown was small like Jellico and she kept commenting on how much it reminded her of home.. She truly was a very nice person and it was an honor to have her with us for our parade.

And the weather didn't stop members of the Tourism Commission and others who worked right on - frozen hands and feet not withstanding. They continuously voluntarily labor in all kinds of activities with no other reward other than the personal feeling that they have contributed something to our community. And I can't thank them enough for all that they do. Director Jake Bennett works very hard at the job of conducting such events and I am sure that he is the first to acknowledge the contributions of the members of the commission, the rescue squad, our police department, our city employees and crews, our utilities department and lots and lots of other citizen volunteers.. We simply could not have community events without such help. And Jake also thanked all of our participants and spectators who braved such conditions.

The Christmas season reminds me of the recent passing of a local veteran who was a hero in the true sense of the word. Rev. Paul Hollars of the Fairview Community who was known and loved by about everybody, lived through the famous Battle of the Bulge including the Battle of Bastogne, the small town in Belgium that will go down in history as one of the most heroic stands ever made by an American armed forces unit. It was just about this time of the year in 1944 when Europe was enduring through the worst winter on record that the German army made a massive counter attack against allied forces in the area of Belgium known as the Ardennes or the Bulge. Rev Hollar's unit happened to be in the small town of Bastogne when it was suddenly completly surrounded by overwhelming German forces. But the American troops stubbornly held out day after day in the bitter cold while all of the time running out of food and ammunition since the terrible weather prevented any airdrops. Finally the German commander offered to accept their surrender without further bloodshed but the American commanding general sent back the most famous reply of all time to his German counterpart. The message simply read: "Nuts!" The unit stubbornly refused to surrender and was finally relieved sometime around Christmas.

Rev. Hollars never wanted recognition during his lifetime and seldom discussed his experiences. But on occasion he did talk about Bastogne to me. And he told me several times that he suffered day after day in snow above his knees and often with no place to get in out of that terrible, terrible cold and with little chance for survival. As many troops suffered frost bite as were injured or killed by enemy fire. It was truly a miracle that any of them survived the ordeal!

We have many others of that "finest generation" in our area and they all need to be recognized and thanked before it is too late. Between 1,000 and 1,500 World War II (and Korean War) veterans pass away every day in this country - the men and women that literally saved western civilization and kept us a free people.

The following correspondence from Rodney Minton, Board President, Jellico Rescue Squad is quoted: "Dear Mayor Clifton: I am faxing you this letter to let you know the latest news concerning the Rescue Squad. On 11-28-03 we received our grant money from the Rural Development USDA. The amount was $ 26,200.00. This was used to buy a new vehicle that will carry the equipment used in auto extrication. On 12-10-03 we received confirmation that the squad will receive a grant from FEMA, the amount will be $ 72,000.00. This money will be used to purchase a tanker truck used to transport water to areas we serve where hydrant access is limited. When we receive grants such as these two we are required to come up with a certain percentage for our match. We would not have been able to do this had it not been for our loyal supporters in this community who continue to give donations. We are very thankful to these people. We are proud of, and will continue to serve, this community with the best R. S. that we can. Thank you, Rodney Minton Board President. Please place this in your column to let every one know how the squad is doing. It is the donation dollars that make these things possible."

I am always glad to run such good news announcements in these articles and I certainly appreciate all of the contributions made to our community by the rescue squad. Squad members voluntarily devote and awful lot of their time in order to be ready when emergencies do arise. And as mentioned above, they work and participate in a great number of civic activities. They are most deserving of our continued support - financially and otherwise.

I am sure glad that Rodney mentioned the fact that the squad takes pride in our community. As I emphasize over and over, it is going to take demonstrated community pride by everyone if we are to ever succeed in bringing Jellico back to where it once was - and where it can be again if we all work together.

I love to read church bulletin boards and I have seen several over the holidays that I have liked. But my favorite for this time of the year is the one at the Church of God, Mountain Assembly on South Main Street: "Wise men followed a star! Now they follow the Son!"