Indian Mountain State Park will have its second "Haunted Trail and Hayrides" this Thursday, October 27th starting at 7:30 PM.. Admission will be $ 1.00..

That activity was extremely successful last year and drew somewhere around 700 participants. There were so many wanting to take the hayride that a second truck will be added this year and possibly a trailer or two. From all accounts it was great fun for both children and adults.

Jerome Cummins and the park staff have been very active in scheduling activities at the park just as we have been very active in the city of Jellico. The more positive activities that we can have whether as a town, under state sponsorship or private initiative - the better for all concerned.

And on the subject of Indian Mountain State Park and the things being done there, have you entered or left the park through the back entrance that has had the road widened and blacktopped? Campers and visitors can now come and go through that entrance with the registration office conveniently located among the camper pads.

And Cummins and the staff are in the process of constructing a new walking trail with a very nice bridge that as I understand it, will connect the trail around Ballard Lake to the frontage property along Dairy Avenue. I like to walk the trail around that body of water and had it not been so rainy and muddy of late, I would have already tried out the new section of that trail presently under construction. More improvements are planned.

On that same note, have you checked out the work being accomplished on the Tabernacle on Florence Avenue? The exterior of that building is fast being transformed into a beautiful structure that will house a large and equally beautiful interior. Once the work is completed and the totally renovated building opened for services, it is going to be a great addition and source of pride for our town and our area. And with such a wonderful facility available, hopefully the Mountain Assembly Headquarters and annual Assembly in Jellico are assured for years to come.

The Community Pig Roast scheduled for Saturday, November 5th has been cancelled due to the sponsor's fear of cold and possibly wet weather which would greatly reduce participation. They say they will work toward having another similar activity - but hopefully be able to arrange to have it in an indoor facility with the Community Conference Room as a possibility.

The Veterans Day Ceremony scheduled for Friday, November 11th at 1600 hours (4:00 PM) has been organized and a very nice printed program prepared by Herman Heath for that activity. The name of SSgt Barton Siler will be added to the Veterans Monument Plaque joining the earlier addition of SFC Gregory B. Hicks, another local soldier who too was killed in Iraq.

Congressman Lincoln Davis will be the keynote speaker and other dignitaries are expected. And it is great news that the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, our East Tennessee area unit, is now starting to arrive back in the USA from its assignment to Iraq - and where it suffered severe losses of personnel. It would be great if those men and women complete debriefing and processing and are released in time to attend our ceremony if they choose to do so. They will certainly be most welcome as will all active and reserve forces - and of course all veterans.

First Sgt (Retired) Robert "Bob" Andreas has been our Campbell County Veterans Service Officer for several years. And during those years he has helped countless veterans and their families. Now that he is "re-retiring" area veterans want to honor him by recognizing him during the Veterans Day Ceremony and by also by placing a book in the Community Conference Room to be there all day where folks can stop by, sign their names and leave notes of appreciation..

I sure hope that folks will take the time and make the effort to stop by the Conference Room in the Tramell Building and express their thanks to Bob Andreas for a job very, very well done..

The time changes this weekend when we "fall back" one hour and I hate it when daylight savings time comes to an end each fall. I for one prefer to get up early and to enjoy a longer day. And I understand that we may have an additional month of DST next year although I have not seen that in writing anywhere. But I sure hope its true.

The time change never takes me less than a week to get adjusted and usually longer. And its depressing to think that every day will be shorter until we reach December 22nd when old man winter officially takes over. But the bright spot about that December 22nd date is the fact that we will have our shortest day of the year and starting on December 23rd, each day will grow a little longer. I guess we can take some comfort in that fact.

Can you believe that it is now only a month until Thanksgiving and only two months until Christmas.. I have always heard that the older we get, the faster the days fly by. And boy is that a truism - and others of our age and those our seniors agree with us on that point.

Following the Thanksgiving feast, we always light our downtown Christmas tree and street lighting. And I understand that the city crews and utilities workers are already working on getting the lights in tip top shape and preparing to place them on utility poles. They always have our lighting in great condition and we hear constant compliments every year on how beautiful our town is decorated for the season. I have had countless out-of-town folks in past years to tell me that they come to Jellico just to look at our lights.

I hope that all of our downtown businesses and residences will make it a point to really go all out this year to decorate their establishments and homes in good taste. With many of our country's arch liberals now attempting to completely eliminate Christmas as a Christian holiday, we all need to show our love for that hallowed observance all over this country. And although we are a very small town, we can still do our part and make a statement as to how we stand on that issue. What would life be like in Jellico without Christmas? And no! It is not a Winter Fest!

Raised in a very poor but loving home, Christmas never meant as much to me as it did some children because our parents simply could not afford to buy all of the toys and gifts that many families could. But we greatly appreciated what we did receive and it was a time when we went to church and were taught about the birth of Jesus Christ and why we celebrate the Christmas season. And as I wrote about this time last year -that was -is-and will always be - what Christmas is all about!

I know that we have to protect our environment and that open air burning adds to air pollution. But I sure remember and miss the smell of burning leaves all over town that we used to have every year about this time. Some burning leaves gave off an "aroma" that I loved to smell. I can remember some big trees along South Main Street and Fifth Street that really shed great amounts of leaves every year and required some virtual bonfires. A big maple tree sat on John Howe's front lawn (later the Bethany Hospital and eventually Harp Funeral Home). We attended school at Jellico Elementary School right across the street at the corner of South Main and Logan Streets where we could smell those leaves burning in the street at the edge of the sidewalk and it was actually a pleasant aroma that never bothered any of us away back then that I can recall.

If I remember correctly, maple and apple tree leaves had the best smells but none of them were unpleasant. When most residents were all burning leaves at the same time, it sometimes appeared that our entire town was on fire and we had a mixture of smells in all of that smoke.

We were too young to realize that folks with asthma, emphysema and other respiratory problems were adversely affected by the burning. And it is well that we don't do that anymore.

But that still doesn't keep some of us from missing that time in our town's history. We can't turn back the clock but if we could there are some other things that I would dearly love to do one more time: go swimming in Elk Creek; jump into the tube shaped fire escape on the third floor (library) of the old high school on Florence Avenue, slide down to the ground (and hope that Principal P.M. Broughton wasn't waiting there with his paddle); play baseball barefooted as we always did because we liked it that way and because we didn't want to wear out our "Sunday School" shoes; pick blackberries in Proctor Hollow; deliver the newspaper on Branam Hill where all of the customers looked after me as if I was their own son; climb to the top of Indian Mountain on Friday nights to see that amazing new invention called television operating on a portable generator; ride my bicycle sitting backward on the handlebars; eat a Lois Hall chili bun; watch a Saturday cowboy movie; experience the thrill of a new cap pistol for Christmas; and thank my parents for somehow coming up with the money to buy it for me.

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