My sincere thanks to all of the veterans, their families and friends and our citizens for the numerous compliments that I have received concerning my article of June 6th. That article and the activities conducted here during the Memorial Day weekend was the topic of discussion in several places that I went for two or three days last week. It was even mentioned to me by some county officials at a function at the Campbell County Court House in mid-week.
But as I told everyone who spoke so favorably, I had the easy job of reporting what happened while an awful lot of folks did the hard work that made this year's Memorial Day weekend activities so successful. And I again want to thank everyone who contributed to that success!
One of our two expected "blockbuster weekends" is now upon us and we expect a very large crowd of locals as well as out-of-towners to be in Jellico on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (June 18th, 19th and 20th.) The UROC Championship will be held all three days with no usual technical inspection taking place in our Veterans Park on Friday afternoon. Instead the vehicles will begin arriving on Thursday. The competitors will then move to the White Oak course on Friday morning (June 18th) and begin the actual competition that will last three days and is expected to draw a record number of folks along with extensive media coverage.
This will be UROC Extreme East/Pro National Combined Event and Jake has had contacts from almost every western state including California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Oklahoma in addition to the usual participating states.
(Our Annual Classic Car Show will be held in Veterans on Saturday (June 19th) and the Tourism Commission hopes it will be our largest show yet. Early indications are that it will be!)
Of course our second big weekend will come with our annual Fourth of July celebration (Friday, July 2nd and Saturday, July 3rd) that never fails to draw tremendous crowds - especially on the night of the fireworks. (There was an error in my last article that stated that the fireworks display would follow the performance by the Knight family on Friday night. Actually the display will be held on Saturday night after the appearance of the "Boys Night Out"!)
As I often write, such activities as those cited above are helping to revitalize our downtown by bringing more and more folks to that area. And eventually that increased usage will lead to new businesses locating in the downtown. (I understand that we came so very close to having that long wished for restaurant to open there. But although we have been unsuccessful in that objective to date, businesses want to locate where there are potential patrons and eventually it will happen. And the project being developed on Rarity Mountain when opened will add to that potential number.)
Not only will there probably be an increased future demand for a clean restaurant with good food and service, but there are other businesses that could potentially do well. If you do not think there is a need for a dry cleaners and/or alterations shop, just drive to Williamsburg on a Saturday morning. Other businesses that could possibly do well in future years once Rarity Mountain is in place, include a movie theatre showing current films, a bowling alley and other recreational facilities such as a golf driving range, skating rink, etc. It is no coincidence that so many folks from out-of-town tell me that they see great potential for growth and development in Jellico such as the lady that I talked with in Williamsburg recently who had returned to this area from Florida and surveyed the entire area for possible investment. She quickly settled on Jellico as that place!
There has been an awful lot of information published in this column and in area media concerning the Rarity Mountain development. But I still get numerous questions as too what is taking place on the mountain with all of that construction going on. Most of the inquiries come from out of town although some locals still are not sure as to just exactly what is taking place.
The following e-mail from Brent Wylie who states that he lives "an hour and a half north of Toronto, Ontario Canada" is fairly typical of the out-of-town contacts concerning that subject. "I consider myself lucky enough to pass through your area once a week on my way to Alabama. I drive a tractor-trailer for a living and always take highway-75 through the Jellico area. I am not sure if I should be writing to you or not, but I figure you would be a good start if nothing else. There appears to be an overpass of some sort and a lot of other construction going on up there. The reason I am asking you is that every different trucker I meet seems to have a different story as to what is being constructed. I would truly appreciate accurate information about the future of this construction site. I look forward to hearing from you and want you to know that you have a great country and a wonderful state. Thank you for your time."
Thank you Brent for your e-mail and the compliments you included concerning the USA and Tenn. The same is true of Canada. The work that you observe on I-75 at the 155-mile marker, a development to be known as "Rarity Mountain", is planned there and what you presently see is the construction of an interchange to allow access to that development. It will be a very elaborate area when completed that is expected to include a convention style hotel with possibly a mall or similar commercial area; vacation style homes, single family residences; both a private and a public golf course; and many other amenities that should make it a very popular area once completed. (Be sure to pass the info on to your 'ole good buddies" in the 18-wheelers.)
Still on the subject of Rarity Mountain, I talked with Developer Mike Ross last week and he stated that he has been informed that the new interchange should probably be completed sometime next summer. And he says that he still tentatively plans to begin property sales by late this year or early next year. I emphasized to him that we are working to provide activities and opportunities for those who will eventually locate in Rarity Mountain and he says that he in turn hopes to be able to provide his help to Jellico in the near future.
Tennessee football is never too far from his mind and during the season we sometimes have a chance to talk at the football games along with his business associate Darrell Akins, the former Tennessee Department of Transportation official (whose seats also just happen to be close to mine in Thompson Boling Arena for the basketball games.) And like myself and thousands and thousands of other Big Orange fans, Ross says that he is getting awfully anxious for the kickoff to start the 2004 season. And Akins and I are ready for some round ball as well.
Wayne Barton says that he hopes to have his new business on North Main Street at the state line ready to open by the Fourth of July. He will have drive through service with three levels of unleaded gasoline, diesel, off road diesel, and kerosene available along with other items.
John Davenport reports that he expects the new bank building on Fifth Street to be ready for occupancy by at least the end of August. That bank has recently merged into the very successful First State Financial and will open the Jellico branch under that name. John has been named as Vice-President of the Williamsburg Region as well as Branch Manager for our bank in Jellico.
(Another new business will open in that location as soon as the present building is vacated by First State Financial. "Sterling Engineers" that is working with Mike Ross and Rarity Mountain, is expected to immediately place offices in that structure once First State Financial has moved next door to its new home.)
A lot of people are into genealogy this day and age and I get inquiries concerning that subject. And as I often state, the demands of my job do not allow me time to answer them all. But occasionally there is one that really grabs my attention as did a recent e-mail from Tammy Martin (physical address not listed but I believe that she lives in the Detroit, Michigan area). Tammy is the daughter of an old acquaintance of mine, Roosevelt Hubbard, who lived very close to our family when we were young boys in elementary school together. She says that she plans to come to Jellico and Jacksboro in early July and gather information pertaining to her family.
If we think that we have strong political feelings today about who should and should not be elected President of the United States, consider Roosevelt's parents (Riley and Edith Hubbard whom a few old-timers like myself may remember). When he was born, they gave him the last name of the beloved President, Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt. However when a second son soon followed, they just went ahead and named him Franklin Delano. Now that is loyalty to your party! (For the benefit of those who remember the Hubbards, Tammy stated that Franklin D. as he was known passed away last August in St. Louis, Missouri.)
The retirement of Campbell County Circuit Court Judge Conrad Troutman just once again points out that there seems to be a Jellico connection somewhere no matter what takes place. Judge Troutman's father, Conrad Sr., once a leading attorney in Campbell County who also served as an assistant attorney general, grew up on Kentucky Hill and attended Jellico High School where he was both an outstanding student and athlete. He later went on to captain the University of Tennessee basketball team (which reminds that Jellico High's Billy Harkness served as captain of General Robert Reese Neyland's first football team on The Hill and for several years served on Neyland's coaching staff and helped to build Tennessee into a national gridiron power.)
(The position of Circuit Court Judge is an elected position and there is expected to be several candidates for that office including Judge Troutman's son Reid Troutman.)
While discussing Jellico High's past athletes, I was asked recently if I knew where our school got its Blue Devil mascot and its blue and white colors. I do remember talking with our former Coach Charlie Lindsay when I was still in high school and he once related to me that as a young man that he had heard a conversation during the early days of the three-story high school located on Florence Avenue. As best I can recall and according to Mr. Lindsay, a staff member was apparently an alumnus or big fan of Duke University that was a football power at that time rather than basketball, when the mascot and colors were being selected. And apparently that individual won out over others in selecting the Blue Devil to represent JHS. And if you notice, the colors of Duke University and JHS are either exactly the same or very close.
(The old Jellico City High School located next to the first Baptist Church may have had two mascots at one time or the other before the school became part of the Campbell County School System. They were known as the Tigers at the time Grace Moore, who went on to later gain international fame on Broadway, at the Metropolitan Opera and various other opera houses around the world and in Hollywood, captained the girls basketball team at that school.)
JOHN CLIFTON, Mayor, City of Jellico
E-mail me at: mayor@jellico.tn.us
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