We hear the quote so much that it has become almost a cliché. However it is much more than a trite expression and a very meaningful truism when we state that "the cost of freedom is not free". That fact is brought home to us every time that we read the paper or hear and watch the news from Iraq and Afghanistan. We continue to lose lives and suffer serious casualties in both as we attempt to remove those two countries from the control of terrorists and the threat that they pose to our own security. And it was sure impressed upon us last week when we learned that one of the soldiers killed

in the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter brought down by a rocket near the Iraqi town of Fallujah was from Campbell County. Sergeant Gregory Hicks of the Duff community and a former Wynn High School student, was killed in that tragedy leaving a widow and two teenage children. Sgt. Hicks was also a veteran of the Gulf War and nearing retirement eligibility with almost twenty years of service. Ironically and tragically he was on the helicopter being transported for medical treatment after earlier having been hit and badly injured by shrapnel.

I did not personally know Sgt. Hicks but I have talked with several locals who did and they all spoke very highly of him as a person, husband, father and soldier. And appreciative Campbell County folks and agencies including Sue Creekmore Thomas, reportedly spent an awful lot of time attempting to make things easier on his family by helping in arranging transportation to Texas for the funeral services and in other ways. I contacted Sgt. Hick's family in Duff and talked with his brother. On behalf of the citizens of Jellico I relayed our heart felt condolences and appreciation for his supreme sacrifice in defense of our liberty.

I often express the opinion that we have made "heroes" out of sports stars, entertainers, etc.. But the real heroes who work to make life better for all of us are seldom mentioned. Sgt. Hicks was a hero in the true sense of that word as are all those who risk their lives to keep us a free people. And with that fact in mind, the Jellico Veterans Memorial Committee will now consider adding the name of Sgt. Hicks to the roll of killed-in-action heroes on our Veterans Memorial.

It is not only in combat that servicemen and women face danger. Although all safety precautions that can reasonably be taken are rigidly enforced, some training exercises must be made very realistic to prepare troops for the rigors of combat. And accidents often occur that kill or maim. We had a young man from Tannery Hollow to be killed many years ago in a training drill utilizing live grenades. And of course most of us are familiar with the troop train wreck at High Cliff during World War II that killed and injured so many that has been classified as one of the worst non-combat, if not the worst non-combat, tragedy of that entire war -here or abroad.

Virtually all of those who serve or have served, in the active military and/or active reserves can recall accidents that took the lives of their fellow soldiers during training when combat skills were practiced. Planes and copters crash, artillery shells fall short or exceed their intended range, lightning strikes, weapons misfire, there are accidents during troop movements, and there are countless other mishaps that constantly occur.. And all of those killed and injured while serving honorably in the armed forces of our country are equally deserving of our honor and appreciation - regardless of the circumstance concerning their deaths.

In the past few years I have made it a practice to never come into close proximity of a service man or woman in uniform (or civilian clothing if I know that they are in the active military) without taking the time to just say "thank you" for their service. Some of us can remember the pre-Vietnam War and Vietnam War periods when we were not sure if we were appreciated or despised by many in this country. There was already a growing reluctance on the part of many to wear their uniforms off the base when I was discharged and I have heard that later some commanders even directed that uniforms not be worn off their military installations. Disgraceful!

I had an opportunity to talk this week with "Rarity Mountain" developer Mr. Mike Ross concerning progress on "Rarity Mountain" at the 155 mile marker on Interstate-75.. Progress is being made on that development although like all very large projects, details have to be dealt with as the work goes on. He feels very good about possible changes in the layout of the first golf course and he is very hopeful that those changes will satisfy some environmental concerns that I earlier mentioned in one of these columns.

It is his belief that actual sales of property can begin late this year or very early next year and one local businessman has already mentioned an idea that he has for attracting the future residents into Jellico and to his place of business. I discussed his plan with Mr. Ross and he very much liked his idea. Mr. Ross and I both agreed that it would be great if all of our local businesses come up with ways to promote Jellico and their individual places of business and it might be good to have meetings of our local merchants sometime in the future to work up some promotions. We need to support our existing businesses to the greatest extent possible and to encourage new businesses to open by that time. As I often write, there is a tremendous potential for additional shoppers if suitable offerings are available to the future residents of that development that will attract them into town.

Mr. Ross and I also again discussed the fact that we are going to need to meet later this spring or early summer along with Utilities Director John Leach and possibly others to go over some concerns that he has - as well as some concerns that have been expressed by the city of Jellico.

We are very fortunate in Jellico to have one of the top Rescue Squads of any town anywhere in our area. A well trained and equipped rescue squad prepared to meet emergencies is a real asset and we definitely have such a squad. Living in a small town like Jellico, most of the emergencies that we face are from accidents, weather and other similar situations. And our rescue squad is always there when such phenomena occur.

The likelihood of any type of terrorism activity in our remote area is very, very minimal. But there is enough possibility that something of that nature could happen even in very small towns

that all cities and towns have been included in the nation/state wide plan for homeland security. (George Deuel is director of our homeland security planning.) The Rescue Squad will of course figure greatly in such planning as will all of our emergency services. Rodney Minton, an official with the board of directors of our Jellico Rescue Squad, has asked me to again thank all of our area citizens who have been so good to help the squad during its fund raising activities. All of those donated funds go directly toward constantly improving the squad's capabilities and Rodney emphasizes that the organization could not have reached the level of proficiency that it now displays without such help. I certainly hope that our area citizens will continue to donate to such a worthy organization.

Basketball is a funny game to try to figure out! Our Tennessee Vols this year have defeated Georgia at home by over 20 points, lost by 38 points at Florida and then turned right around and beat a very good Vanderbilt team at Thompson-Boling Arena by 10 points. We have a very young team without a senior but we see things happen like that all of the time.

The recent passing of our former Jellico High School basketball coach David Chitwood brought back a lot of memories to me and to many of his players. One of the best basketball players to ever wear the blue and white, Chitwood was also an outstanding coach that led our team through what many of us refer to as "the golden age" of Jellico High School basketball. During his years at the helm, we hosted both the district and regional tournaments, made a trip during the Christmas vacation to the Cincinnati area and squared off against powerful teams including Covington Holy Cross and Boone County - taking both right down to the wire. During that period we made our only appearance in the Tennessee State Basketball Tournament throughout the long history our school - losing a heart breaker to Chattanooga Central High School on that school's home floor only after our best player, Johnny Baird, suffered an injury.

And as Rev. Roger Webb recently reminded us, we had far more than our fair share of victories including a tremendous fifteen game winning streak during one season when we were not supposed to be nearly as good as we turned out to be. It was truly a great coaching performance on Chitwood's part. And one game that sticks out in my mind is a contest with the old Huntsville High School (now a part of Scott High) when we lost at home on a shot taken just as the horn sounded to end the game. Every single second in that game seemed to have been emotion packed and you could virtually feel the tension in the air.

We had to play Huntsville High again later on that season on its home court and Chitwood worried constantly how to both defend and attack them in preparation for the second encounter. Expecting another extremely close contest, we went into the game somewhat intimidated. But at half time we were leading something like 47-13 and ended up winning by nearly 50 points. It seemed at times that we could not miss while on the other end of the court someone appeared to have placed a lid on the basket.

However the very reverse situation occurred to us in a later season when we defeated state champion runner-up Powell Valley High on the Lincoln Memorial University floor - only to later lose to the Indians by an even greater margin than we had defeated Huntsville.

As I stated above, basketball is a funny game to try to figure out.

There are six football "seasons" in Tennessee: (1) fall games, (2) bowl game, (3) winter workouts, (4) recruiting season, (5) spring practice and (6) summer conditioning. Right now we are in the recruiting season which determines our success two, three and four years from now.

Following football recruiting in recent years has become so popular that Sports South Network has a very popular televised program, "Countdown to (football) Signing Date"; there are numerous magazines devoted entirely to football recruiting; and even the Internet is filled with information on football recruiting for a fee. It just seems ridiculous to me that so much attention is paid to where some 17 and 18 years old high school kids will go to college to play football. (I would write more but I need to get on Internet to see if the Vols have any new commitments.)

I have reached the point where my work schedule has become so busy right now that I am having less and less time available to me in which to write these articles, get them printed and then distributed all over town. My job has to come first so I am going to have to temporarily cut back on the frequency of issues that I distribute. However I will continue to write them as often as possible and e-mail them to both the Christian Journal for publication in that paper and to Netlink for placement on Internet site www.jellico.com/jellico/jellico.htm with link to "Mayor's Column". Once my schedule eases up some, I will resume regular distribution.