I have heard several rumors that our monthly TV cable rate will increase within the next few weeks (our local cable channel- 3 earlier indicated that there would be no increase prior to this month).
I contacted the Regional Manager for Falcon Cable Company and he indicated that there probably will be an increase sometime around June 1, 1999 (Mr. Dave Hudson was scheduled to attend our regular City Council meeting last Thursday night but this column was written prior to that time).
Mr. Hudson stated that he is working to obtain the much requested "Sports South Network" but the additional (or substituted) channel will absolutely not result in any additional charge to the monthly bill. The raise will be the same whether or not Sports South becomes available to local subscribers.
Several times in past months I have mentioned that we are searching for grant money to preserve and renovate the old City Hall and to do badly needed work on the sidewalk on Coal Street that has become almost unusable.
Mr. Mitchell Loomis of the East Tennessee Development District (ETDD) has indicated that the prospects for a grant for the sidewalk look very promising. He also says that a grant may become available which could possibly be applied toward historic preservation, I.E. the old City Hall.
We have asked Mr. Loomis to push hard for both possible grants.
A question was recently raised during one of our City Council meetings concerning the use of the city owned baseball and softball fields. The city has traditionally prepared the facility for use by the high school teams and has borne most, if not all, of the expense involved.
The City Council made it very clear that members neither want nor expect any financial help from the school, the coaches and certainly not students, toward the cost of preparing and maintaining the field.
But the Campbell County Board of Education provides such facilities for other schools within the system and myself and members of Council feel that it is only fair that the board help support similar programs at Jellico High School.
A letter has been sent to the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education making our position clear on that issue and requesting funds for use at the field.
However regardless of the outcome of that request, we will continue to make the facility available and suitable for use by the high school teams and ask absolutely no financial help from the school. But our children are, and should be, top priority and we just want to see them treated fairly when public monies are distributed within the school system.
The Campbell County Commission is presently considering some actions that will affect the Jellico area if officially enacted.
One very popular proposal would double the size of the Campbell County Board of Education from five members to ten members. Commission members and many citizens of the county became very upset when only four members of the present Board of Education reappointed the Superintendent of Schools to an extended term of office beyond the years for which he was elected. Only James L. Davis voted against that unpopular move although estimates indicated that as many as 90 percent of voters of Campbell County were opposed to making any appointment prior to the year 2000 and following an election for the board.
Most people saw the appointment as an attempt by the four involved board members to protect family members and close political friends who are currently employed in the School System.
But such politics and personal interests have no place in anything as important as the School Systiem and the Commission is going to attempt to rectify that situation by expanding the number of members on the Board. Hopefully an expanded board would have individuals from the citizenry as a whole and include representatives without personal ties to the school system.
Commissioner Adrion Baird has indicated that he will propose a badly needed animal shelter that would serve all of Campbell County.
And some citizens also want the Commission to enact a leash law in conjunction with the creation of such a center. That idea apparently has strong local backing and I have received three or four calls in the last two or three months expressing support for such a county wide regulation.
Spring is fast approaching although the recent snow did not seem to point to that fact. However the flock of robins some of us spotted while walking at Indian Mountain State Park last week was a sure sign that spring is indeed just around the corner. So we need to begin with our plans for the special "Clean up, fix up, paint up week" scheduled for the first week in May.
Some community organizations have already pledged their participation and support but we need everyone to get involved. We hope that we have great involvement on the part of the schools, PTA , Ministerial Association, local churches, Community Health and Development Team, Jellico Hospital and area health clinics, businesses, residences, etc. We want to make this inaugural event a memorable one and one that will stimulate real interest in improving the appearance of our entire town and area. We also hope that it will become an annual event with a high priority.
Final Note:
It seems that everywhere I went last week, people were singing and humming Paul Simon's "Mrs. Robinson", the song that he and the Simon and Garfunkle duet made into an American classic:
The death of Joe DiMaggio brought back a lot of memories to those of us old enough to remember when he and Ted Williams were the idols of every boy hanging around the city ball park (and in ball parks all around this country and many parts of the world).
Even younger generations know about his record hitting streak of 56 consecutive games established in 1941. That feat has never been equalled and no one has ever even come close. It is a record that will probably never be broken.
But most local people do not know that possibly the oldest record in Major League Baseball is held by a former member of the Boston Redsox that had played in Jellico before starting in professional baseball.
Earl Webb began his career playing for the old Newcomb Furniture Factory that played many of it's games at the Jellico Field. After a short stay in the Minor Leagues, he joined the Red Sox and quickly became the slugging star of that team. He hit 66 doubles in one season during the 1930's- establishing the record. And that record still stands today although Willie Mays and several others have come close to reaching it during the span of 67 years.
An article in Sports Illustrated a few years ago indicated that Webb's record will be extremely difficult to break also. The article insinuated that Webb often hit the ball far enough for a triple but only ran hard enough to reach second base so that he could add to his record total.
Webb never received the national fame that Babe Ruth enjoyed because Ruth hit the ball over the wall for homeruns while Webb bounced it off the wall for doubles.
Many times as a boy I heard long-time baseball fans tell of seeing Webb, Earle Combs and Lawrence Douglas play.
Earle Combs is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and one of the greatest players of all time. He starred with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on those great yankee teams and actually hit for a higher season average than either Ruth or Gehrig.
Combs started his climb to the top of the baseball world by playing for the old Gatliff Coal Company that played many of it's games at the original Jellico Field (located in the bottom area just across the railroad tracks below the old City Hall near the W.H. Bowlin coal tipple).
Lawrence "Big Doug" Douglas grew up in Crouches Creek Hollow and was a great local amateur player before eventually turning professional and spending several years pitching for the first Baltimore Orioles Team (the Orioles left Baltimore and were gone for fifty years before retuning to that city).
And Judy Johnson, a superstar in the old Negro Major Leagues and also a member of the Hall of Fame, may have spent some time in Wooldridge in his very early years according to Harold Moon.
Unquestionably Jellico has produced many other great amateur and professional baseball players including Raymond Moore (who once stole home a record five times in a single season while playing for the Knoxville Smokies in the class AA Southern League); Matt Marion, Gatewood Turner, Ray Ellison, Harold Moon and a countless list too long to cite in this column.
We were once a center of great baseball and many of us who can still remember that era certainly miss the great games we used to attend all around this area.
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