I was recently contacted by a representative of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), one of the animal protection agencies in this country, asking about our recent problem with our newly instituted animal control program. I explained to that individual what had happened in complete detail to include the fact that our badly needed animal control program had just begun and that we had anticipated having problems until we gain experience in that field - although we certainly did not anticipate exactly what happened. I also informed the caller of action planned by the Council to hopefully prevent any such problems from developing in the future. The caller seemed to be more than satisfied with our response to the problem.
Following that I received a letter from the Humane Society of the United States, citing the Channel 6 news story concerning the reported substandard housing of animals in a concession stand near the Jellico City Hall and the subsequent suspension of animal control services in Jellico that had come to the attention of the Southeast Regional Office of the HSUS.. In her letter to me, Mindy Gilbert, State Coordinator, HSUS, stated:
"I am sure that you realize that the negative publicity surrounding the Channel 6 story and the loss of animal control services portray Jellico in an unfavorable light."
But Ms. Gilbert also writes,
"In preparation for writing this letter, I did some research and was charmed by the Jellico website. I read some of the articles that you have written and the love you have for your home is evident in all you write. I also live in a small town (in Alabama) and the references to the activities at Veterans Park and the Old Fashioned Fall Festival remind me so much of my home town. We are always promoting the growth of our area and I can see that you have done the same, apparently with success given the 1200 home resort planned for Pine Mountain." And contained within the letter is the following which sounds almost exactly what we used as justification for joining the Campbell County Animal Control Program and why we are once again restarting our participation:
"We believe that stray animals should be taken to shelters and given the chance to be reclaimed by their owners or adopted into caring homes. If not adoptable, they should have the right to a humane and painless end, which we feel is preferable to the hard lives and slow, painful demise these unfortunate cats and dogs face on the streets. Stray companion animals suffer from starvation, disease, poisoning, abuse, traffic injuries, attacks from wildlife, and severe weather. Moreover, if animal care and control is lacking or substandard, communities face a far greater risk of injury and illness from animal bites and zoonotic disease..
" ..Just as police and fire protection resources are essential elements of any city government, many communities nationwide understand that animal care and control resources are equally vital to a community's safety. Jurisdictions are also realizing huge liability problems that are faced when they do not provide their citizens with protection from animal-related public health and safety issues."
My sincere thanks to Ms. Gilbert for her letter and her very kind words praising my column. And her further offer of assistance to us if we need and desire such assistance, is greatly appreciated... As always, when folks have the time and exert the effort to thoroughly investigate an incident, the facts are often at least somewhat different than those initially presented.. And as the old saying goes, "It's an ill wind indeed that blows no one any good" and thankfully, positive results can often come from negative occurrences. It appears that is what has happened in our case and we hope to have a very good program of animal control operating in the future.
As I often write, I will never be able to understand the number of people who tell me that they read this column - either in print or on the Internet. I was recently contacted by Mr. Bill Atkinson who is a free lance writer doing a story for a national organization for utilities, "The American Public Power Association" (APPA) located in Washington, DC..
Mr. Atkinson read one of my earlier columns on the Internet and apparently became very interested in what I had to say concerning nepotism in small towns. (It was my contention that with only very small populations from which to hire qualified personnel, small towns should not be held under the same nepotism rules and regulations that govern larger municipalities since such restrictions limit the available employment pool even further -that plus the fact that our city and utilities departments combined make up one of town and our area's largest employers.. Those employees are eliminated as potential hiring since they are already holding public jobs. And making even their relatives ineligible for employment, adds to the problem of finding qualified personnel. (It is my opinion that after careful screening of qualifications, we should hire the most qualified individuals available regardless of their family connections. And certainly my opinion is not based upon personal considerations since neither I nor Jenny have any family members whatsoever employed by either the city or the utilities department.)
Mr. Atkinson is planning on including my remarks in a story for the APPA's publication that goes to utilities in cities and towns all across America - from those the size of New York City to towns even smaller than Jellico... He called me on Wednesday, January 25th and did a telephone interview to gather further information as to how we operate in Jellico, including the administration of our town as well as our utilities department.. As I understand it, the article will be included in that organization's national publication within the next two or three months.
All towns and cities have their political in-fighting. It's just a part of the democratic process where the majority rules. Although we probably don't have any more of it in Jellico (or even as much in Jellico) as a lot of towns, for some reason whatever happens here in that realm invariably gets widespread publicity.
For that reason I read with great interest a situation that occurred recently in Corbin, Kentucky. According to local papers and as I understand the situation, the Tourism Director fired the Economic Development Director which in turn led the Tourism Commission to fire the Tourism Director and hire the fired Economic Development Director as the Tourism Director.. But the fired Tourism Director is now in the Economic Development related Chamber of Commerce. Think things sometimes get confusing in Jellico?
A personal note to Nancy Todd Overall: I just received an e-mail from Nancy that was either re-transmitted or brought up from the computer memory bank from a long time ago due to a change in the system which allows me to access my e-mail at the mayor's office when I do not have opportunity to take it directly from that computer
Mayor, As you know your column is read by former Jellicoans all over the country. We love hearing about the latest happenings in our home town and take a lot of pride in the rejuvenation of the downtown area. We also like hear about notable people, such as the people you talked about in your last column. For those of us who've been gone a long time could you give us a clue as to who these people are ..Even if that's not possible we'll still read your column. Keep up the good work and thanks for all the effort going into making Jellico better.
A greatly belated thank you Nancy for the very complimentary e-mail and my apologies for not recognizing your married name. All those who utilize technology are very familiar with the multitude of electronic glitches that can occur and I guess this was just one of them. But I sure don't understand the fact that it just showed up in my mailbox after such a very long period of time. (The bad thing is Nancy that I can't recall if I received it when it was originally sent. Just blame that on the ravages of "father time" and what he is doing to my personal memory bank.)
Occasionally I hear from an old Jellico High School student, Josh Lay, who is in the field of entertainment in Portland, Oregon but who keeps up with what is going on in Jellico by reading these columns on the Internet. Josh has always referred to himself as "a very struggling and starving artist" but some recent successes may have him on the road to much bigger and better things. Now a published author, actor and stand up comedian in clubs throughout that city, he has recently been added as a character on Portland's most listened to radio program. And as I understand it, he writes material for the program. I am always glad to learn of the successes of my former JHS students and keep at it Josh! We may soon see you on television back here!
It's about time for that very important date that we all look forward to year after year to gain insight into our future weather. Ground Hog Day is only a very few days away when that critter will emerge from his hole to make his annual six-weeks forecast.
Chances are that he may not see his shadow this year if things don't change. A less accurate source, the Weather Channel's weather.com, at the time this article was being put together, predicted rain for Thursday, February 2nd. But what do those folks know? If they were always accurate, we wouldn't need the groundhogs to do the job for us anyway would we?
We all say over and over that we have never seen a fall and winter quiet like this one - although I did see one long range forecast that called for much colder weather in February. But if it soon doesn't snow, we are going to have some very, very disappointed school kids (and teachers) all over the place.. And as one of our very youngest pre-schoolers at Boston Elementary recently asked, "How do you make a snow man?" Good question!
Did you ever want to just kick yourself. I have a priority on purchasing two (2) Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament tickets each year and I debated on whether or not to take advantage of that priority this year. But since we have not made even a showing in most of the tournaments in recent years, I decided that it would be a poor investment. Boy was I wrong and how I wish now that I had ordered them before the deadline! Wonder what a pair will sell for on the streets come early March? It's for sure that I'll know better next year!
There was no way that I or anyone else could have expected Bruce Pearl to turn the team around as quickly as he has. We have probably had bigger wins than the Florida game but it's for sure we have never had any that provided that much excitement for an awful lot of us.
That crowd and the enthusiasm it generated was something that most of us had not seen since the glory days of Ernie and Bernie. In fact during the game, I was thinking how much Coach Bruce Pearl reminded me of Coach Ray Mears - although they certainly do not believe in the same style or tempo of play. But the results are the same - Mears won and Pearl is winning!
To top it off - and according to a recent report in the Knoxville News-Sentinel - our signees coming in next year performed like gang busters in their last high school games. Things sure look good for the future for us Vol basketball fans. Now let's get football back on track!
E-mail me at: mayor@jellico.tn.us
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