Herman Heath reports that the name of Staff Sergeant Gregory Bryan Hicks killed a few weeks ago in Iraq, will soon be placed on our Veterans Memorial with the assistance of W.H. Williamson. The inscription will be added as soon as it has been prepared but Heath says that a special recognition ceremony will be planned for Memorial Day to honor Hicks and his family as well as recognizing any other veterans killed in action that have been added to the "belated memory" plaque since the original dedication of the monument.

Following our Council's recent extensive study and discussion of the current city budget and the possible shortfall that we may experience, I was very encouraged that our situation had improved dramatically. But during last Wednesday's meeting for the month of March, some figures presented by Councilman Dwight Osborn brought us back down to earth and according to him, our problem is not yet totally solved.

Budgets are simply projections based upon previous and expected revenues and expenditures. So it may be the end of June before we determine exactly what our financial status will be to close out the 2003-2004 fiscal year. In the meantime all we can do is hope that our revenue level remains high since we have about run out of options on where to reduce expenditures.

Tourism Director Jake Bennett says that the free wrestling match held in Veterans Park last year was so popular that there have been numerous requests to get the sponsors to do it again. And to satisfy those wresting hungry fans, another such "match" has been tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 1st by Extreme Independent Championship Wrestling (EICW).

The Tourism Commission and/or the city of Jellico are not involved in that activity in anyway but the City Council must grant permission for the match to take place in the park and insure that all city rules and regulations are followed by those in charge.. But unquestionably folks will come literally from every community around here to witness the spectacle. And hopefully they will do a little shopping, buy food, gas, etc. while they are here.

On a personal note: We recently lost a member of our household when our dog Susie was struck and badly injured by an unknown vehicle. She was taken to Veterinarian Mike Culver who had cared for her for her entire lifetime, and sadly he had to administer euthanasia. Found as an abandoned puppy in terrible condition, she was rescued and raised by Jenny's Aunt Hazel Bryant with some miraculous medical care by Mike. She lived in her doghouse in the back of Hazel's truck for a long period of time and became probably the best known dog in town since she accompanied Hazel on her daily paper route that included most of Jellico. You could always tell not only on which side of the street Hazel was delivering her newspapers, but the very house as well. Susie would always stand on the side of Hazel's pickup truck and glare directly at that house as if she were on point until Hazel moved to another residence or returned to the vehicle. No one other than Hazel could coax Susie into leaving the back of that truck!

Upon Hazel's illness that eventually led to her passing, we were able to get Susie out of the truck only with the assistance once again of Mike and his animal tranquilizers. And we adopted her as did virtually our entire neighborhood. Probably one of the best fed dogs of all time and always overweight contrary to Mike's advice to us for her good health, anytime that she didn't like what we were having she simply went to a neighbor's house, Rocky Top/Arbys, Hardees or wherever to locate the cuisine that best suited her taste at the time. There was never a lack of folks willing to pet and feed her and some neighbors and employees at those locations told me on numerous occasions down through the years that they looked forward to her visits to their homes and businesses - although they knew that she was there expecting a handout that she always got.

We used to get a real kick out of her every year in early summer when Mike completely sheared her very heavy winter coat. Appearing to be embarrassed, she would go under the house and stay there for two or three days, coming out only for food and water.

She recently took a trip to the Chicago, Illinois area when a motorist stopped and petted her. She apparently just climbed into the front seat of his vehicle and went home with him. As a member of a U.S. Naval Reserve unit in Florida, he made regular monthly trips to that state for training and brought her back home the next month after locating us through her tags and a telephone call to Mike's office. From what he related to us, she just wasn't cut out to be a Yankee dog and didn't like the cold and snow up there one bit. She was very glad to get back home and it goes without saying that we were equally glad to see her.

Although still active, she was in the advancing years and was beginning to lose her hearing and sight. We often considered restraining her from her travels around the neighborhood but we just never could bring ourselves to do it since she had freely roamed the area for so many years. And she apparently was struck only a few feet from our drive where I found her.

As a young boy I had a dog that was my constant companion whether at home, the baseball field or the swimming hole but I never expected to ever become that attached to a pet again. But it happened with Susie and although she was basically just a mutt with possibly a little Collie in her genes, she was an extremely intelligent and friendly mutt with good manners who genuinely loved people. She is missed by me and Jenny and a lot of her long time human as well as animal friends on our end of town.

I recently met with Indian Mountain State Park Manager Jerome Cummins who along with his staff, has accomplished so much during his relatively short tenure in that position. Several improvement projects are underway at the present time and he has even more impressive additions planned for the future including more picnic areas, walking trails, volleyball court(s), softball field(s), etc..

Our state park is a real source of pride and enjoyment for Jellico and our area communities and I hope that everyone will take the time to compliment and thank Jerome and all of those on the park staff for the efforts that they are making to improve the facilities and recreational opportunities that will soon be available to all of us. (And Jerome always credits his staff.)

I had not had an opportunity to access my e-mail for some time and when I finally did get that chance, I found some interesting notes from citizens -mainly from those who read this column around here as well as from other parts of the country.

I especially regret that I did not see earlier mail pertaining to the sign in Veterans Park and I am glad that Herman Heath, Chairman of the Jellico Veterans, was contacted concerning the matter.

Two or three different e-mails took me to task for the city's appropriation of funds to Indian Mountain State Park to get the swimming pool open for our kids. Each e-mail bore a different name but the writing appeared to be very similar and was possibly from the same person although I do not know that to be true.. And it sounded suspiciously like the individual who recently mailed me the unsigned note through regular mail accusing me of misstating the truth when I wrote that our city of Jellico property tax rate had not been raised in many years. But he or she has every right to agree or disagree on any action taken by the city and to express disagreement. I sure don't agree with his or her position concerning the pool but it doesn't bother me that citizens may have differing opinions on that or any other issue.

(Jerome has told me that now that the pool is open and functioning on a yearly basis, that he may not need to ask for any funding this year from the city of Jellico - and that is good since we are caught in such a budget crunch. But if things were to reach the point where the pool could not otherwise open this summer, I would favor helping the park out again. How better can we spend money other than providing recreational facilities and other opportunities for our kids?)

Someone utilizing the name "Little Acres" seemingly from out of town, detailed growing up in Jellico and getting permission from then railroad official L.M. Sharp (father of Helen Ruth Sharp) to pick up coal around the railroad yard and tracks for (her?) family's coal stove. And "Little Acres" mentioned several other things besides heating and cooking on coal stoves that reminded of the hard times from many years ago that a lot of us can still remember but sounds like a fairy story to today's generation that cannot imagine a time when everything was not available at a finger tip's touch.

Drena Estep Teague that a lot of folks will still remember, e-mailed to say, "Dear Mr. Mayor,
I have just recently found your column on the Internet and wished to express my gratitude for your writings. I was raised in Jellico and have fond memories of my life there. None of my family presently lives in Jellico so it is difficult for me to find out what is happening there. My family and I try to stop in Jellico whenever we are in Tennessee, but we don't always run into folks that we know to ask them about life in Jellico. I appreciate your column for filling in info.

Please know that there are hundreds of people here in Northwest Ohio who know about Jellico and often stop there when they travel. We fly our Tennessee flag every Saturday during football season and always catch the basketball games on TV when televised. When everyone else is wearing an Ohio State or Michigan shirt we have on our big orange Vols shirts. Anyway just wanted to take the time to thank you for your column."

Thank you Drena for the kind words. Keeping folks informed (and hopefully entertained) is entirely the reason I try to write these articles as often as I can (usually weekly).

I mentioned above our budget worries for this year and the criticism for helping out with the park pool. And while still on the subject of the city's finances, I was recently contacted by Mr. Richard Hill of the independent auditing firm of Mitchell, Emert and Hill, Knoxville, Tennessee that has been contracted to conduct the annual audit of our financial records. That firm recently completed the audit of our accounting and I was given a preliminary report that will be outlined in more detail by auditor Hill and his staff during our April meeting of the city council.

According to Hill, all city funds are properly accounted for but municipal bookkeeping is becoming so much more involved and time consuming that additional help is recommended for the city recorder. Some areas cited as needing improvement are our purchase order/invoice system, bank reconciliation practices, part time employees such as firemen need to be officially hired by .Council, maintenance of inventory lists, and property tax records closely monitored.

Unless my mind changes (as it often does), I will not be writing an article next week. That will be our spring break for the Whitley County School System and I am going to just lie around and do the very least that I possibly can (and try to avoid Jenny's "gofer" lists).