Attorney-at-law and former Jellico City Judge Don Moses is regularly attending meetings of the Jellico City Council and he recently remarked that our present Council is one of the most qualified Councils that he can recall. And we are functioning well together.

Our current members certainly do not always agree on every issue that comes before us.. But we disagree without becoming disagreeable and we both attend and depart the meetings in a spirit of harmony. We are working together and that's the way the Council should operate if we are to improve Jellico.

Ever wish that you could be in more places than one at the same time? That is a common problem with me and that was never more true than Thursday night. I would like to be present at the meeting concerning the possibility of bringing wireless Internet service to Jellico; would like to be at the special call meeting of the beer board; and certainly need to attend the meeting of the Joint Economic and Community Development Board (JECDB) in Jacksboro since attendance at those meetings is a requirement for Mayors and/or City Administrators.. With all three scheduled for the same night and all three starting at virtually the same time, I had to choose the latter.. Failure to attend a certain number of the JECDB meetings can result in the loss of grant funds for a county or town.

These notes were prepared prior to Thursday and I of course do not know the results of either the public meeting concerning wireless Internet service or the meeting of the beer board. But the beer board was scheduled to discuss issuance of a license to a Mexican style restaurant, "El Charrito" to be located in Johnny Buckner's building. I have never eaten at an El Charrito restaurant but I understand they have one or more in Kentucky towns with a reputation for good food.. (I was told that they hope to be open by April 1st..)

Johnny Baird, owner of the old Coca-Cola Bottling Plant building told me recently that a new roof was in the process of being placed on that historic structure. I do not know what the next step will be in renovating that building but as I have written many times in the past, I sure hope that it can be restored to at least somewhat resemble its former self.

Who old enough to remember will ever forget standing on the sidewalk and peering through the large glass panels to watch those Cokes passing through the machinery as it filled and capped the bottles? Most of us would have given our eye teeth to have been able to come up with the nickel to purchase one of them but we had to settle for the free entertainment of watching them being bottled.. (We didn't have television so it didn't take too much to entertain us.)

The e-mail continues to come in to my office from folks located in a variety of places. Kevin Walden writes referring to last week's column and the Church of God, Mountain Assembly (CGMA) chair fund:
Thanks for putting the chair fund in your article. We have gotten a few responses already.

What would it take for us (CGMA) to be allowed to put an advertising sign placed on Walden property behind Douglas Oil to advertise our Centennial Celebration in August and New Headquarters Church?

The General Overseer would like to see you during his next visit. He'll be contacting you within the next week.

I was certainly glad to include the chair fund in my article and I am equally glad that folks are responding. As I wrote then, the CGMA has always made the Tabernacle available for community activities and no one knows that better than I do. During the years I was principal at the old Jellico High School building that was replaced by the present nice structure, I don't know what we would have done at graduation time without being allowed to utilize the Tabernacle for Commencement. And the same is true of our Jellico High School Homecomings and other activities held at that time.

Please bring or send a written request to the Jellico Planning Commission for consideration of your sign location for the Commission's consideration and forwarding to the City Council. I would personally anticipate no problem.

And I look forward to again talking with the General Overseer.

E-mail from James Ridenour:

Last Saturday Air-Evac, a medical helicopter based in Middlesboro, Ky., flew in to the Ball Field downtown and gave the Rescue Squad EMS, Fire Dept., and Police Dept. a LZ class

They also took all of the members up for a flight. While up in the air I took a few photos of Jellico.. I thought you might like to see them. I have them saved on a disk.. Just give me a call. 423/494-7659 and I will get up with you If you would like to see them.

I am glad you cleared up what that helicopter was doing. An awful lot of us in the downtown area that morning still have sore necks from watching it and trying to figure out exactly what was taking place. And I am glad you took those photos. Maybe we can frame some of them for display in the lobby of the municipal building and/or library.. (Some of our local media might want to publish them..)

E-mail from Robert Brown, Atlanta, Georgia in reference to last week's column and what I wrote about Saint Patrick's Day:

Dear Mayor, I must share this story with you. Several years (ago) the Mayor of Conyers, Georgia decided that his town should have a St. Patrick's Day Parade. So he (by himself) left his cup of coffee on the counter at the in-town drug store and walked down the middle of Main Street, waving and greeting everyone he saw wishing them the Luck of the Irish! The Atlanta news groups picked up on it from the local paper and billed it as the smallest St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Now it is the fastest growing St. Patrick's Day Parade.

So put on your green, put a police car out in front of you and have a parade today (Friday, March 17th)! Make it the First Annual. We need leaders like you that make things happen and we need events to look forward to and celebrate……………………………………..

I appreciate your compliment Robert but I couldn't follow through on your suggestion since I had to work that day. (And sadly none of our local drugstores now serve coffee or have a soda fountain like we used to enjoy in the old days so I couldn't do that either..) Actually I would be afraid that if I did perform such an act, that the policeman rather than leading me, would take me into custody. But you are right! Folks have to be willing to put forth some weird sounding ideas sometimes to get results. And that Mayor sounds like he has the courage to do whatever is necessary in his town.

In a separate E-mail pertaining to that column, Brown writes:

Why not include the Clean Up -Fix Up Week during the Jellico High School Reunion Weekend so everyone can have a part in the fun? …………………..I know that coming to our hometown to paint, repair and clean-up would give us ownership in the City of Jellico and a tangible connection to our home. The Gem City of the Mountains. Something to think about.

Any idea is worth consideration but the Homecoming often comes late in the Fall with sometimes very cool temperatures; many are here for only a day; there are numerous reunions and other activities occupying the short time available to alumni members that spend the weekend and some organizational work would need to be done to pull it off. But you are completely correct. All suggestions to improve our town should be given careful thought.

And an E-mail from an old Jellico resident and friend, Joe Ben Williams, Goshen, Ohio that I have not seen in many years:

Johnny 47 years is a long time, but I finally got around to writing you. Was great to see all the things you have done for our little town. I guess I can still call it our little town, although has been quite a while since I was there. We were having a reunion of sorts in the Park. But they shut it down so we moved to Cove Lake.

The main reason for writing was a couple of people pointed to your column about Lois's chili. Her niece is my Dr. and she said she and her mom tried it. So did Robert Reeves and Carol Todd. All said they did not get the taste they remember from the original. I told them the missing ingredient is Lois would come in at 4:00 in the AM and fire up the old wood stove with good hickory and oak furnished by yours truly. And it would simmer on the wood stove until perfection was reached. Also it was made from pure ground beef from Petrey's Meats up the street. This is the missing secret and it can no longer be duplicated. She is gone and I'm too old to chop wood. Ha!

Don't see any of the old guys anymore so if you do, tell them hi. And thanks for your efforts years ago in getting a new high school and for all you have done for the home town..

Great to hear from you Joe Ben and thanks for the compliment. It's good to learn the secret of Lois's chili. (But don't forget that sherry she apparently slipped in the pot that none of us knew about.)

I rarely see any of the old gang either and especially including our "lower Yellow Row/Frog Level" crowd... But when we do get together, someone invariably brings up your name. So come and see us at JHS Homecoming 2006..

And you might want to consider moving your reunion back to Indian Mountain State Park. It is now open and under the management of Jerome Cummins. He is doing a great job in making improvements... (Be sure to call the next time you are in town.)

By the way, there seems to be a lot of Jellico folks in the "land of Goshen" (Ohio) who read these articles. And I certainly appreciate their interest.

Jerome Cummins contacted me concerning my last article as well. He said that there has been quite a bit of kite flying in the Park this month although I had not seen any. And he said that although I wrote that there is no Charley Brown kite eating tree there, one has "grabbed" three or four nice kites and "devoured" them.. Oh well! Kite flying wouldn't be as much fun if youngsters didn't have to work at avoiding those vicious monsters.

Jerome also says that he is trying to work out an Easter egg hunt to coincide with Alla Faye Rutherford's Health Walk on Saturday, April 15th.. If the two can be held that same day, it should bring an awful lot of folks to the Park and provide a lot of fun for all age groups.

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