The favorable national and international publicity that Jellico and UROC have received just continues to grab media attention. Tourism Director Jake Bennett is going to post copies of both the articles in the New-York Times newspaper and Newsweek magazine in the Tourism Office in case folks that have missed them may want to come in and read what has been written in those publications. (Would you believe that an individual living in Santa Anna, California mailed Jake a copy of the New-York Times story to insure that we have a copy. And a public official in another state called to congratulate us for "putting Jellico on the map".)
Some of the information indicates future coverage by the ESPN television network. And the CBS television network's "Sixty Minutes" has even mentioned the possibility of a story for that program.
The Community Church/Good Soil Ministries/World Servants will have another one of those very popular "community picnics" in Veterans Park again this Thursday evening, July 29th. The first two have really been well received and have drawn good crowds to Veterans Park.
Revitalizing our downtown area is just as important as renovating the area and Jake is constantly searching for interesting events to bring folks into Jellico. And he has really come up with some free entertainment for the weekend of July 30th and July 31st. Recording artist Eddie Barber of Frankfort, Kentucky (currently with the 20th rated song in the Nashville Star ratings) will appear on the stage in Veterans Park on Friday, July 30th along with his group the "Kentucky Bred" starting at 7:00 PM
The following evening, Saturday, July 31st will feature a big time gospel group from Dalton, Georgia, "God's Army" also starting at 7:00 PM
Those are two awfully good groups and we sure appreciate their willingness to come to Jellico free of charge to entertain our folks. The word is spreading concerning our stage and the entertainment that is presented there. I emphasized that would happen when I asked W.H. Bowlin several years ago to have the stage constructed. And I certainly appreciate the fact that W.H. followed through on my request because the stage has really been the center of a lot of activity and enjoyment for a lot of folks. "Build it and they will come!"
(If you want to hear some good ole time gospel pickin' and a' singin' during the week, just stop by the Conference Room in the Tramell Building on Monday evenings.)
I had a lot of response to an earlier article pertaining to the painting of the sidewalk level of the old "Bill's Dollar Store" in the downtown by the First Baptist Church and how much brighter that area looks now. One of our city employees told me following that project that our town already looks much better right now that it has looked during his forty (40) or so years of memory.
An old friend of mine back in Jellico for the first time in years echoed basically that same compliment. And one of my former students who has remained in Jellico following his graduation several years ago, made a point to come to me, thank me for what is taking place and encouraged me to keep up with the improvements.
But I was really encouraged when Indian Mountain State Park Manager Jerome Cummins stopped me to inform me of the comments of recent visitors to the park who insisted that he relay their comments on to me for further passing to our citizens. According to Cummins, some tourists camped in the park and apparently planned to spend only a single evening. However upon learning of our Fourth of July Celebration activities, they decided to remain here during the holiday weekend. They were shocked at what took place and termed our entertainment and fireworks display almost unbelievably outstanding for a small town like ours. And like the couple I wrote about from Indianapolis, Indiana, they too will now be returning to Jellico every Fourth of July. (Let's hope that the trend of bringing folks from out of town back to Jellico on a regular yearly basis continues to grow.)
But the thing that struck those tourists the most was all of the paper plates, soft drinks cans, napkins, etc. being issued and then discarded in Veterans Park by that huge crowd. They apparently went back to Indian Mountain State Park that night speculating on just how terrible the mess would be and that they expected to see the following morning. However they told Jerome they could not believe their eyes that Sunday morning when they went through our downtown on their way to a fast food restaurant for breakfast. The entire area was totally clean thanks to the efforts of Leroy Ruiz and others.
Never doubt that folks notice such things!
Two different citizens have mentioned something to me that I had not even thought about. Those two individuals commented on the positive effects of the lighting for the new full service center at the state line. According to them, the lights have certainly brightened up an area of our town at night that has typically been very dark.
(And the lights on posts to be placed in front of the old laundry mat building across the street that is currently being renovated for the offices of the Christian-Journal newspaper, will resemble those in front of the Tramell Building. They too will add a lot to the lighting of that area as well as greatly improving the appearance of that structure.)
I mentioned football last week and an awful lot of us are looking forward to the start of that sport. Since then I had a chance to talk with Danny "Dino" Oakes of the Jellico High coaching staff concerning our current Blue Devil squad and their prospects for this season.
Dino says that our biggest problem will be the fact that we start off by facing two very strong opponents in Scott High and Williamsburg and before our team has had the opportunity to jell. We will have most if not all of our linemen returning from last year and a promising quarterback prospect has moved to Jellico and is expected to make a strong bid to start at that position.
All in all the prospects are good for some wins this season and nearly as importantly, the coaches expect the team to improve with each game and that is what coaches are looking for.
On behalf of the Jellico City Council, city employees and an awful lot of our citizens, I want to publicly thank James Ed Branam for speaking out against the constant negative material being circulated by an individual in our town. And I further want to thank all of our citizens who have stopped and/or called James Ed to thank him for his action. I hope that even more will contact him and express their appreciation!
During a time when we are working so hard to renovate, revitalize and otherwise improve our town, we certainly do not need to constantly emphasize the negative. When someone does, it detracts from all of us and it is good when a citizen like James Ed who has served Jellico and Campbell County in so many public service positions down through the years, speaks out against such negativity that benefits no one and further diminishes the author of such material.
E-mail me at: mayor@jellico.tn.us
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