My sincere thanks for all of the spoken and e-mail well-wishes from locals and out-of-towners that I have received during the holidays - at the office of the mayor, at my office at Boston Elementary School and from all around. They are all greatly appreciated!
I hope that everyone had a good Christmas -and especially time spent with family and friends.
I enjoyed both of those although we couldn't have all of our family members together. And I received several nice gifts including a book that I could hardly wait to get started reading dealing with Tennessee history during the period of post Civil War reconstruction 1867-69 when the colorful firebrand Parson William G. Brownlow served as governor of our state. Brownlow who lived in Knoxville and who was extremely popular with folks from Campbell County and the then Smithburg (now Jellico), published a newspaper, The Knoxville Journal and Rebel Ventilator" that former Confederates hated and locals around here who had remained loyal to the Union just loved. (Although a circuit riding preacher, during the war, Brownlow once at Christmas wished for "peace on earth and good will toward all men ---- except for a few h___ born and h__ bent men (Confederates) presently living in Knoxville." He never minced words about his feelings!
Brownlow (as well as his son who was a Union Army Officer) was once so very popular with folks in this area that parents often named their sons for him and two that I can remember include Brownlow Monday at Morley and the very fine man and police officer Brownlow Branam that lived in Tannery Hollow. (Although very thinly populated at the time, we had men in this area to serve in Brownlow's son's unit and at least one or two veterans of that unit are buried in our Jellico cemetery. Others are probably interred in Hoot Owl Hollow and Elk Valley as well as in other surrounding area cemeteries.
I also received a baseball autographed by all-time great and hall-of-fame pitcher Jim Bunning who now serves as a United States Senator from Kentucky. As I wrote over a year ago, I was introduced to Senator and Mrs. Bunning by Whitley County Superintendent of Schools Lonnie Anderson prior to the last national election. When told that I was mayor of Jellico, their eyes lit up and he immediately developed a big smile. He stated that he and his family once had a long standing favorable relationship with Jellico and that they used to stop here every year on his way to spring training in Florida.
I of course invited the Senator back to Jellico anytime that he can find the opportunity and he stated that they would like to return some day if they ever have the chance. I'm not sure that he heard me but I also invited him to make a few pitches in one of our "old timers" baseball games just to see if through pure luck, somebody might be able to at least hit a foul ball off him.. (After hearing me talk of that meeting, a member of Jenny's family was able to obtain the autographed baseball for me.)
Now that we are set to enter the new year, 2006 will be an extremely important year in the history of our town. Our next city election is now only ten (10) months away (very early in November) when we will once again elect a mayor and city council. Since there is so little time left to the present mayor and council, we need to make this spring and summer a very productive one. Much remains to be done to completely restore our town to what we want it to be and we will have to give maximum effort if we are to reach that goal. But we can complete the job if everyone pitches in!
I especially hope that everyone will get involved this year with our annual "Clean-Up, Paint-Up, Fix-Up Week" (April 29th - May 6th) and will begin making plans now for that annual activity. We had really good participation by our citizens during the first two or three years of that civic activity and then the involvement began dropping off. We need to once again make the special period just that -a very special time when we get a lot accomplished..
And I can promise you that you are going to be surprised - no shocked - when you get your first look at the completely renovated Tabernacle on Florence Avenue. I visited the site during the holidays and I could not believe what is taking place. The auditorium will be completely reversed with the stage placed on the opposite site from where it is now. And it is going to be beautifully decorated once all work is completed..
There is extensive work being done to insure very good acoustics to include a new ceiling and elevated booths that will be more than suitable for both radio and television broadcasts and telecasts. And it appeared there will be provisions for special lighting effects.
The thing that really surprised me is the fact that the large auditorium is being connected to the building that was constructed by the U.S. government as a vocational school during the Great Depression. (It was later used as a garage by a strip mining firm and eventually as a large storage building by Imperial Cantrell before its purchase by the Mountain Assembly.) That facility is being beautifully bricked and will appear on the exterior to be one unit when combined with the Tabernacle. A breezeway on the interior will connect the two where Sunday School and meeting rooms can be placed along with a fellowship hall and rest room facilities.
Additionally Radio Station WJJT will have its new studio on one end of that building and can broadcast activities live from there with no extra preparations. It is going to be some facility!
I continue to be contacted for information concerning Rarity Mountain and I try to stay updated on what is taking place there to be able to furnish the requested information when I can.. The prepared illustrations/architectural drawings are certainly impressive and it is sure going to be interesting to see the progress being made on that development during the upcoming year and during future years.
With spring and summer not all that far away, we really have something to look forward to in the newly renovated Tabernacle and its approximate seating capacity for something like 1200-1500 folks along with the accelerated development of Rarity Mountain - as well as some projected developments in our downtown area. But for the time being, we have to deal with old man winter that has so far been very kind to us with the exception of a few very cold nights. Merle Haggard's hit song states something to the effect that, "If we make it through December everything is going to be alright I know!". But that song not withstanding, if we have significant snowfall around here, we generally have it during the months of January and February. And let's not forget the colder temperatures and greater utilization of utilities that result in increased heating bills during those months.
(Christmas was wet this year rather than white, but our surrounding mountain tops did look like a winter wonder land on the morning of December 26th . The snow only extended down the mountain for a short distance and fell in a line that looked to be almost straight with accumulation above the line and with virtually no trace below the line.)
The last time Councilman Alvin Evans who serves as Street Commissioner made a report to the Council, he and the street department personnel felt that we are in good shape as to the availability of snow removal equipment and salt supplies. But let's just hope that we don't need too much of either.
(December 22nd was the first "official" day of winter when we experienced the shortest day of the year for daylight hours. Now at least we have the prospects of every day growing a little longer from now until June 21st when we enjoy the longest day of the year.. But the date I always look forward to is April 2nd when Daylight Savings Time (DST) begins and when we enjoy an extra hour of daylight - although I don't think too many of us like having to get up an hour earlier. But unfortunately we can't have it both ways.)
Last article I wrote about the efforts that the Council is making to deal with the ever increasing number of pigeons that we have in the downtown. But surprisingly more and more folks are telling me that they have them in areas extending well outside of the downtown area. The pigeons do present a potentially serious health hazard and a problem that must be solved.
As I reported in that article, Councilman Dwight Osborn has been researching the problem and he has been authorized to follow through on any solutions that are humane and acceptable under all applicable regulations. Hopefully we will soon see an improvement in that situation just as our newly instituted animal control policy already appears to be on its way toward decreasing the number of stray dogs and cats that have long been evident all over town. We still see them but their number has obviously been reduced. Unfortunately we have had folks in the past who brought animals to the downtown and just put them out.. But if we ever catch anyone in that act, we will take whatever legal action against the offending individual(s) that is available to us. It will do little good for us to catch and care for stray animals if folks continue to set them out.
(On that same subject, the number of birds that we used to see in all of the trees near our interstate interchange during the winter seems to have decreased in recent years - although some still roost there at night. According to someone at one of our recent meetings of the Council, the huge flock that we once had here every year has possibly moved further north to the vicinity of the Corbin exchange since a tremendous number can be seen there. I don't know if that is true or not but if so, those folks up there are certainly more than welcome to them.)
Sometimes I wonder just who all - and what all - reads and/or hears about these articles. A couple or so days after I wrote last week about the problem of the also ever increasing number of Canadian geese at Indian Mountain State Park, I encountered a cantankerous goose on the walking trail that stood his ground in the center of the trail and wasn't about to move over for me.. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, I smartly decided to go around him and to avoid a confrontation.. (I wonder-----Nah! He couldn't have!)
Sometimes the lack of knowledge by some folks is hard to understand... A lady reportedly called in to the mayor's office during the holidays complaining about a sign posted in her small town that read something to the effect "Jesus is the reason for the season".. Her main complaint concerning the sign was that she didn't think that it should have included the name"Jesus" in its holiday greeting..
Then she thanked the personal on the other end of the line for listening to her complaint and signed off by wishing that person a very Merry Christmas. Wonder if she actually didn't know that they are One and the Same? HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A GREAT 2006 TO EVERYONE!
E-mail me at: mayor@jellico.tn.us
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