We have had little official city business to conduct since the March monthly meeting of the City Council. However we did have a representative from DBMC Rentals to appear before last Thursday's meeting of the Planning Commission to inform us that a proposed sale of some property located on Branam Hill has a potential new buyer. Tennessee State Planner Matthew Lambert was given a copy of the involved plat and agreed to study it and report back to the Commission at our regular meeting in May. A special call meeting will be conducted should one be requested prior to that time, although the representative did not expect one will be needed..
Lambert also reviewed a site plan and recommended issuance of a building permit to Jellico Community Hospital for construction of its proposed new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) facility. That is a badly needed addition to JCH that will further increase its already numerous available services that recently saw it receive national recognition.
Lambert, Commission Chairman John Davenport, Building Inspector Nelson Kidd and I discussed the two present vacancies on the Commission due to expired terms. I informed them that I plan to appoint Mike Smith to one of those vacancies during our upcoming April meeting of the City Council. And we were in agreement that if at all possible, that an individual knowledgeable with construction practices, rules and regulations needs to be appointed as well. We presently do not have anyone on the Commission with expertise in the field and someone with experience in building would be a valuable addition. Hopefully I will have a second individual in mind by the April meeting but will allow the position to remain vacant until the May meeting if I have not yet made a decision on that appointment.
We had our annual inspection last week by the federally funded and state operated Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA). Homeland Security Director George Deuel took the inspector to all of our facilities, equipment, etc.. As in all inspections, we had some deficiencies but overall, we received an outstanding evaluation.
And according to both Deuel and City Recorder Linda Meadors, the inspector was glowing in his praise of the improvements that he sees taking place in Jellico from one year to the next. As I wrote a few articles ago, anytime we can have visitors for whatever reason to return to other areas and speak highly of our town, it can do nothing to hurt us but probably helps us.
I have talked to several downtown business places requesting that they place American Flags on the fronts of their buildings (or possibly on the metal awning where that type of awning is located). Several have committed to do so and here's hoping that all businesses will follow suite.
Saturday's community health walk at Indian Mountain State Park may have been the most successful one yet. I had to leave that event after completing a couple of laps but according to sponsor Alla Faye Rutherford, 114 had already registered at that time. (The activity coincided with the annual "Litter Pick Up Day" for folks in the Boston area and surrounding communities which precluded some of them from entering the walk who would normally have joined in.)
The spring flowers and flowering shrubs and trees are really starting to come out now. I often mention the Bradford Pears and Dogwoods that we have here and I appreciate Jerome and Deborah Smith who have placed "bloom explosion" around the Dogwoods on North Main and South Main Streets. Hopefully that will increase the size and color of their blooms.
But have you noticed the number of Redbuds that were in full bloom at the time these notes were written? Some on Fifth Street - among several locations - were really beautiful and made Jenny and I envious. We have planted Redbuds on several occasions and although we have tried to purchase good planting stock and applied various chemicals that supposedly promote root production and growth, none of them have survived. But last year someone at school gave her a rather pitiful looking sprout that appeared to me to have been dug up somewhere out of the wilds (although it really wasn't). Expecting nothing from it - and at her unrelenting insistence - I reluctantly "stuck" it in the ground with absolutely no extra care. Of course it's thriving!
Remember that we will have the Extreme East Rock Crawling competition here next weekend. (April 21,22 and 23).. Several business owners in past years have stated that publicizing such events gives them time to prepare for additional customers when they might otherwise have remained unaware Certainly the UROC competition has brought increased business to Jellico and our area and hopefully that will again be the case next weekend.
(I mentioned the compliments above that we received from the TOSHA inspector and it is good for us who live here to also speak well of our town and our people when we are talking with visitors. As I walk through Indian Mountain State Park I attempt to introduce my self and speak with as many visitors as possible including the "rock crawlers". I always thank them for coming, express my wishes for a good stay while they are here and invite them to return every future opportunity that they may have. Tourism Director Jake Bennett makes regular trips to the park for that same purpose. Who knows what a little friendliness along with positive comments about or town and our people can do, and I hope that all of our citizens will go out of their way to make our visitors to UROC and all other events, vacations, reunions, etc. feel extremely welcome.)
As I mentioned last week, I love to read the e-mail that comes in to my office and I sometimes report some that are of special interest. One that I recently received from Colorado, requested information relating to Jellico's early history and the reason for the writer's interest:
"My name is _______, live in Cripple Creek, Colorado, bought and old Jellico bottle from an antique store. Was just wondering if you could supply me with some info on how old it could be, and some history of the bottling company that issued it. It has "Jellicola" and Tenn on the bottle. Any info would be helpful. Thanks!"
I replied to that particular e-mail that I know that we had several soft drink bottling companies operating here during the early days of our town. Two of those with which I am familiar are the "Cherocola Bottling Works" (that I believe was located on Dairy Avenue that runs along side of Indian Mountain State Park) that may have been the bottler of "Jellicola", and the Coca-Cola Bottling Works that was located on South Main Street for many years.
I would suspect that Gail Garrett probably knows the definite answer to the gentlemen's quest for information and might even have a similar bottle in her possession. (I have the inquirer's address that I will give to anyone who might have additional information and wishes to reply.)
I received an e-mail from Plano, Texas that dealt with another subject but it reminded me that we were contacted several years ago by a senior citizen lady who I believe stated that she lived in Plano. Her father was the pilot that brought the first airplane to Jellico in 1919 and created such excitement here and throughout our entire area. There of course was no landing strip at that time and few if any had ever before even seen an airplane. The old Jellico Dairy and Creamery fields (now Indian Mountain State Park) were quickly cleared of the dairy cows and the pilot (I seem to recall that his name was Taylor) landed the plane there after flying it down from Fort Knox, Kentucky. But upon landing, the propeller struck a fence and was broken.
The lady from Plano stated that she still had the broken propeller that had been kept for all these years by her father until his death and by her in recent years.. If she or any descendents read this column, I would request them to contact us. That would be a great relic from our town's history that we would love to have and to preserve for present and future generations.
And a previously mentioned e-mail stated that the coal mining community of Dalais, Kentucky (I think I have the correct spelling) later became Red Ash or Proctor. I am not sure of the accuracy of that statement since Donny Bailey has done quite a bit of research into that and has quite a few artifacts including script and mine car loading tags issued by the coal company that started that community. According to Bailey, those artifact came from the deep hollow off Black Oak Road adjoining the Vermillion property. My grandparents lived in Proctor, my mother was born there and my grandfather was killed in the mines there but I never heard any mention of Dalais from them. But it's a subject of interest to those of us who love our local history.
Note: If you contact me by e-mail or in any other way, please indicate if you mind my using your name and address. I cannot respond to anything like all of the contacts that I get but some are of a nature that I think our local folks would like to read and I like to publish them.
And talk about getting back to our roots. A lot of our former communities - that were once based upon the coal industry in those days when coal was truly "king" in this area - are now having annual reunions that bring folks back together that live in all parts of the country. Such big reunions are held for Pruden, Eagen and numerous others.
And a big reunion is scheduled this month for all present and former residents and their families of the Woolridge Community. The "Ole' Time Woolridge Homecoming" will be held at Indian Mountain State Park on April 30th starting at 12:00 noon with lunch served at 1:00 PM. Those attending are asked to bring a covered dish and beverages (no alcohol). If you play an instrument, bring it along. There will be singing and an old-fashioned dinner. (I may pretend to be from Woolridge at meal time.) B sure to bring a camera to capture all of the fun.
Although the announcement is already on the Jellico Netlink Website, I promised Lucille (Brooks) Hicks and Shirley (Brooks) Miller that I would include the reunion in these notes along with telephone numbers. Lucille can be reached at 423/784-8908 and Shirley at 784-6330. Barbara Thompson McNealy 784-7826 and Bonnie Thompson Kenyon 630/960-9344 or 630/248-4228 are other contacts.
I well recall the Woolridge Community from my boyhood days. I cannot personally remember ever seeing Mr. (Colonel?) Woolridge, but I do remember the long time bookkeeper for the Woolridge Coal Company, a Mr. Brickey (I never knew either of their first names.) And I remember when Woolridge was called "ghost town" by many because it had an abandoned "front street" that strongly resembled many of the old western ghost towns following closing of area mines that surrounded them. What a tourist attraction it would be today if still there!
And true or not, a lot of old timers told me down through the years that former baseball great and Hall of Fame member, Judy Johnson -although from one of the upper Atlantic states - began his professional baseball career playing for the Woolridge Coal Company. And other old timers always insisted that the legendary "Goose" Tatum of Harlem Globetrotter fame may have lived there as a young boy. Although very difficult to confirm, both accounts may well be accurate. since mine owner Woolridge reportedly had no prejudices and paid Afro-Americans full wages.
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