We and a few other towns may be the victims of our own success concerning our annual Christmas Parade. For years our parade has been widely acclaimed as have two or three others in this area. But many towns did not hold one until recently. Now it seems that every town has a parade about this time of the year and it presents a problem for us in attracting out-of-town units to our Jellico parade since there are so many conflicts in scheduling.

That was the problem this year when the Shriners that have always participated in our parade and who have been so popular here, reportedly had to decide which parade they would go to on Sunday, December 12th. I understand that they may have sent units to Morristown and possibly other towns. (As I reported in my last notes, some Shriners were here and stated that they have been to numerous parades and that our Jellico Parade is the best anywhere in their estimation. They emphasized that they plan to be here every year regardless of the situation. And as I wrote in those notes, we greatly appreciate them.)

But Jellico may have to take steps to counter what is currently happening and to breathe new life into the parade. It has been suggested several times that the present Mayor/Council or the Mayor/Council elected in November may want to look at having our parade at night - most likely Saturday night. It's true that the temperatures will probably be colder then (although this year the temperatures reportedly were about the same well into the evening following our parade). But it's supposed to be cold for Christmas time activities anyway - just adds something to them.

They would also need to work up a system of portable lighting that could be erected each year along with the Christmas lighting and also removed after the first of the year. (And it might add to the Fourth of July and Fall Fest activities as well.) We discussed the idea during our Thursday night meeting of the City Council and no one in attendance at the meeting thought that would be a problem. Of course there would need to be consultation with our Utilities Department some time in advance concerning whatever special lighting that might be required.

Possibly having the parade at night at least on a one-time trial basis is something that the Mayor/Council and Tourism Commission may want to give serious consideration. No problems would be insurmountable if given enough time and effort to work them out.

During our December meeting of the City Council, Councilman Dwight Osborn reported back to the Council on several possible solutions or combinations of solutions that may be effective in alleviating our problems with an ever increasing number of pigeons - especially in the downtown. Much of the literature passed to members included a long list of diseases that can be carried by pigeons and cited the fact that they may actually carry more such diseases than even rats - which astounded some of us who already knew that they can be a serious health threat in addition to creating a nuisance in the areas where they roost.

The Council voted to authorize Osborn to determine those solutions that he feels will be most appropriate, to purchase them and to utilize them.

The property at the corner of Fifth Street and Kentucky Street is becoming more and more of a concern to members of the Council and pigeons have been roosting in that vacant structure in large numbers. Once one of Jellico's most beautiful homes (And to see the evidence of that one only needs to look at a photo hanging in the Harp Funeral Home that was made a number of years ago), it has now deteriorated into an eye sore that really sticks out when vehicles first enter our downtown area. A recent inspection by Building Inspector Nelson Kidd cited it as an unsafe area due to numerous potentially hazardous conditions and building code violations.

City Attorney Jeff Hall is to inform the property owners by letter that the Council expects corrective action to begin within thirty days of receipt of the letter or face legal action if necessary to require such corrective action.

We also received a report from our Police Chief Tony Day and our animal control personnel Wayne Honeycutt and Leroy Ruiz that a total of twenty-five (25) dogs and two (2) cats had already been collected and taken to the Animal Control Center at the time of the meeting. All receive good care to include veterinary services and every effort is made to find them suitable homes. And at least two or three of them were adopted out almost immediately.

The original estimate of the number running loose in Jellico and very nearby areas was two hundred (200) dogs - not to mention any number of homeless cats. It remains to be seen if that number is collected but some feel that we will eventually reach that figure of collected animals - if not more.

Councilman Osborn who serves as Commissioner of Sanitation said that he is taking a close look at an earlier proposal to the Council for us to transport our garbage to the Campbell County Collection Center. According to Osborn, there are some positives and negatives to switching from the landfill located in Kentucky and he wants to study the situation carefully before making a recommendation to the entire Council. He also said that he is very interested in expanding our own recycling capabilities to include several items that have never previously been recycled to any real extent. He is optimistic that such a program can be successful in Jellico in reducing the amount of garbage transported to the landfill and possibly even pay for itself.

The Church of God, Mountain Assembly, will celebrate the 100th year anniversary of its founding during the dates August 7-11, 2006. CGMA churches in this country and in other countries are being made aware of that historic event and invited to Jellico to participate in commemoration observances. A very large crowd of out-of-town folks is a distinct possibility.

The Council received and approved a request from the church headquarters requesting city sanctioning of activities that are presently under consideration. Those that are being discussed as possibilities include a parade with floats, fireworks, flyers, media advertising, possibly a billboard or even sky writing, banners hung in the usual places across the four lane leading into town and 16" x 32" vertical banners on utility poles running from Buddy's Barbeque all the way to Florence Avenue and the beautifully renovated Tabernacle that will be ready then.

The Council unanimously granted approval of the request and we are all looking forward to August and whatever activities that are eventually planned for the commemoration.

The recent test of our Emergency Operation Center with a mock explosion at Jellico High School was very good training for all of us in the unlikely - but always possible - event of a real emergency. Some deficient areas including communications and the need for new and different alarms were identified and will be addressed in the future. We cannot ever be too prepared!

A lot of us have always known that we have it good in Jellico and apparently some natives of Canada have come to that same conclusion. Canadian geese that I am told usually migrate to areas south of us, have apparently decided that they like it just fine here and are making Indian Mountain State Park their winter home. And the very large number "wintering" in the Park actually seems to be growing. (Maybe they have sent "wish you were here" notes to their relatives and friends and they have decided to join them also.)

But some of us walking in the park the other day recalled the large number of young that were raised there last summer and wonder what it will be like if the same thing happens this summer, next summer, etc. It sure could be difficult to walk on the trails for obvious reasons.

As I wrote once before, if you like good pickin' and a' sangin' of country gospel, you would probably greatly enjoy the group of from 20 to 40 men and women that meet in the Community Conference Room every Monday night for that purpose. They have some very talented musicians who "fiddle" and pick banjoes, mandolins, guitars, etc. And some of them have very good singing voices. But the main thing is that they really enjoy themselves.

The public is welcome to stop in and I love to drop by when I have time - which is very, very infrequently due to the night activities that we have at school almost every Monday. But what those folks do is exactly what I had in mind when I continued to insist that a room large enough for community use be included in the plans that were originally drawn up for that building.

Will we have any snow this year? That's a question that a lot of folks are asking! It's for sure we haven't had a lot in the last two or three years and I can't say that is a bad thing. (And as I have written many times in the past, I sure don't like cold weather - a dislike brought on by a training exercise that I once had to endure in some bitter cold while in the military.)

But it just doesn't seem like we have had a winter if we don't have at least one snowfall of a few inches. And I would "druther" it come late Friday and be gone by Monday morning thereby causing the least possible inconvenience to folks working and going to school. (Deliver us from another blizzard like we suffered in 1993 that filled schools and churches and not counting those stranded motorists that couldn't be reached for a couple of days.) But we don't get our druthers when it comes to the weather.

We have had at least two and possibly three predictions from the meteorologists (weather men to us country folk) already this year of significant snowfall. And I have seen nary a snowflake of a size larger than the end of a pencil. And very few of even them.

But as a commentator on a local radio talk show commented the other day, we sit right between two areas of differing climactic conditions that make the weather man's job a very difficult one. In fact the host of the talk show stated that they are under such stress in trying to be right with their very difficult to make predictions that he wondered jokingly if any of them have yet resorted to taking Valium. Good question!

Bits and pieces:
(1) The ballet recital at Jellico High School was as cute as it could be and folks in attendance greatly enjoyed it. The ballet lessons and recital performance before a live audience helps to develop physical coordination as well as confidence in those very young students.

(2) If you haven't driven through Indian Mountain State Park at night I would recommend that you do so this week. They have some very nice Christmas lighting in place.

(3) Our bubble may burst at any time but how about our Vol basketball team's performances to date? (However our Oklahoma State game will probably be a bigger test than Texas.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

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