The Tennessee State Legislature is in session and several bills have been introduced that if approved, could affect municipalities in our state.. And a couple of them could have special relevance to Jellico if they are in fact signed into law.
We recently had extensive discussion on the future operation of our Jellico Utilities Department and House Bill 0808/Senate Bill 1672 certainly applies to that issue. The proposed bill would require a referendum be conducted before a municipally-owned utility can be sold or leased. (This is a bill that I certainly hope passes. We have had our present system in place since the 1930's and although it has certainly not been a perfect system as none are, overall it has served us well and we don't need to make changes for change sake. Our entire population needs to be involved in making decisions concerning any future changes that might be proposed.)
We of course have dealt with the question of future annexation(s) every since Tennessee Public Law 1101 went into effect. House Bill 0403/Senate Bill 1583 would require governing body of annexing municipality to develop plan of services for area to be annexed and requires mayor of the municipality to provide notice of annexation ordinance or referendum vote selecting annexation and copy of plan of services to the mayor in whose county property to be annexed is located. (We have already been complying with all of those requirements and we have worked very closely with the office of County Mayor Jerry Cross concerning Rarity Mountain.)
Another proposed bill (Senate Bill 588) would include the badly needed provision that any legislation increasing local government costs must be funded in the appropriations act.
And with "sunshine laws" not withstanding, advanced technology is now a fact of life and House Bill 664/Senate Bill 632 would authorize city officials to participate in meetings of their municipal governing body by electronic means (cell phones, etc..). That would be a change!
Following last week's article I was contacted by Mr. Eugene Siler III who was the gentleman from Williamsburg who made the very nice comments about the improvements he saw taking place in Jellico on a recent visit to our town. I did not name him in that article because I had not asked his permission to do so. But he called to say that he would not have minded at all my using his name since everything that he said was true and deserving of such favorable comments. As I stated then, that really sounded good coming from someone from outside our town and I greatly appreciate his taking the time to pass on those compliments. Nothing like a little encouragement!
As I also mentioned in that article, Mr. Siler is a relative of one of our best known citizens of past years, Mr. Tom Siler, who received such acclaim as a sports writer, newspaper sports editor author of sports books and President of the American Sports Writers Association. He is also the son of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Eugene Siler, Jr. and grandson of the late Congressman Eugene Siler, Sr. with whom I used to talk a little history on very, very rare occasions when the two of us happened to have the opportunities. (I well remember a lengthy discussion I once had over the telephone with the Congressman when I was principal at Jellico High concerning the role of Union General Frank Thomas, "The Rock of Chickamauga" during the Civil War battle for Chattanooga. Somebody overhearing us would have thought we were debating Kentucky versus Tennessee in a basketball or football game.)
But one of the things I remember most about the Congressman is the story related to me by Mrs. Barbara Frazier Tye that early in life, Siler and then equally young Jellico resident Mr. Ed Lee Frazier (Barbara's father and one of our outstanding Afro-American citizens and veterans) became good friends. And both promised to deliver the eulogy for the other depending upon which one went first. And true to his word, the Congressman many years later came to Jellico to say good by to his old friend and to give Mr. Frazier's eulogy. That's fulfilling a commitment!
As I often write, I get an awful lot of e-mail from readers of this column on the Internet and I appreciate everyone of them. But since I do not always have time to respond to them all, I sometimes cite them in these notes. And I recently received one from T. Fox who writes referring to my column concerning the pre-game ceremony at this year's Super Bowl and the fact that at least one Congressional Medal of Honor winner was among the honorees.
Mr. Fox writes: "Mr. Clifton, would you by chance know the names of the medal of honor winners who attended the super bowl, 2005? A class at the school where I work has written to several of them (and they in turn have written back), but the students are interested in knowing the names of the Congressional Medal of Honor winners who were at the Super Bowl. Thank you for your assistance."
I am very sorry to say that I do not know the names of those who were so appropriately recognized at that game. But I know that we do have some locals who are very familiar with information posted on the Internet concerning CMH winners - especially our Fire Chief John Perkins. (It was Chief Perkins who proved to me that we actually had a CMH double winner - the brother of General Custer of Little Big Horn fame.) If Perkins or anyone knows the answer to Mr. Fox's question, I would appreciate their forwarding it to him at GPD853@aol.com.
And thank you Mr. Fox and the students at your school for showing duly deserved appreciation for the tremendous sacrifices that the surviving and deceased CMH recipients - as well as all of our military heroes living and deceased -have made for the preservation of our liberty. It would be great to know that students at all schools are involved in such a commendable project.
As predicted, the flu outbreak this year seemed to hit all at once and closed down a lot of school systems and even some businesses for a short time.. But even then - and although it would be hard to convince some who had all of the symptoms and who were so miserable for a few days- the strain was not as bad as originally feared.
Several months ago during one of our usual flu seasons, I cited the fact that we have had several very, very serious outbreaks of flu during this century. Few of us who experienced the "Hong Kong Flu" in 1968 will every forget it. And the "Asian Flu" of 1957 certainly was no picnic either for those unfortunate to suffer through that terrible malady.
But very, very few folks are still around who remember the "Great Influenza" epidemic of 1918-'19.. That particular flu virus at that time was estimated to have killed 20,000,000 people world wide (now thought to be closer to 40,000,000 with at least 600,000 deaths in the U.S.). That strain apparently spread into Europe just as World War I was coming to a conclusion and was brought to the United States by soldiers returning home from that conflict. And it was very unusual in that it was more often fatal to strong, healthy young people and less life threatening to children and the elderly. Soldiers were very likely to succumb to the disease and so many died in camps that some reportedly had to be closed to stop its spread. Explanations that I have read hold that the immune system of the strong and healthy fought the virus to the point that great amounts of fluid were produced which collected in the lungs and literally "drowned" its victims.
So many were sick in some of our large cities that there was no one available to bury the dead and I have read accounts where bodies had to be stacked out in the open until such time as enough recovering citizens were available to carry out that task. And something close to that must have been what took place in our area for I can remember both my mother and my grandmother giving accounts of the number of sick and dying in the Jellico area. Some grave markers in our area do seem to denote a number of deaths during that time, but the greater number were probably buried so hastily that many graves were never marked.
Most businesses in Jellico closed for a period of two to three weeks and even services such as utilities provided by the then Jellico Electric Company's plant and the Jellico Telephone Company were unavailable since not enough workers were available to man the furnaces, generators, pumps, switchboards, etc. Numerous houses displayed court ordered "Quarantined Due to Influenza" signs and Jellico must have temporarily strongly resembled a ghost town. Only the very brave ventured out and they wore scarves or towels over their mouths and noses. And anyone who happened to be from a family with a known flu victim (some families had all members ill at the same time) was ostracized and avoided at all costs.
That especially deadly strain has apparently never resurfaced since 1919... But In the earlier article I published, I mentioned that the question of whether we will ever have another such terribly deadly flu has been answered as, "not if but when". And from all accounts, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is presently very concerned about an outbreak of avian (bird) flu in Asia that has so far mainly affected birds, chickens, ducks, etc - but has taken the lives of a number of people. And the mortality rate is something like 8 of 9 identified patients.
According to a spokesperson for the CDC, science is alerting us that we have a great deal to be concerned about and just in case, the agency is getting ready for a possible pandemic next year. The mobility of today greatly increases the threat of spreading all kinds of diseases that year's ago would have been pretty much confined to an affected area. A special flu team organized last year, according to reports by Fox News Network, continues to monitor the spread of the avian flu and to analyze the strains as they appear. The reports also say that the CDC is plugged into an international communications and monitoring system that, it is hoped, will give an early warning of the emergence of any deadly new strain of the flu virus. And attempts are hastily being made to develop a vaccine that will offer some protection.
Let's pray their efforts are successful if such a deadly flu strain ever again appears in the U.S.!
Although the possibility of snow was in the forecast when these notes were being written over the weekend, spring's 'a coming and our usual outdoor activities are about ready to begin. In fact the Southern Four-Wheel Drive Association is getting an early start this year and will be here this weekend for their annual trail ride and organizational meeting. (Arriving on Friday, March 4th.).
The big community entertainment held a couple of Saturday nights ago has received such favorable comments that folks are asking when the next one is scheduled. I am not positive of the exact date but as I understand it, there will be one each month and the next one will be on a Friday. And I am sure that the next date will be placed on our Community Bulletin Board at the Tramell Building by the Department of Tourism well in advance and announced by sponsors Radio Station WJJT, the Christian Journal-Leader and of course Larry Meadors and Bill Rigney..
May is not that far away and everybody is reminded of our special week starting Saturday, May 7th. It's time to start planning! And I again want to request all downtown businesses to erect American flags like some have already done and to have them in place by Memorial Day.
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