It's UROC time and the rock crawlers will be here in force this weekend. The Sunday, April 16th edition of the Knoxville-News Sentinel had the following article by reporter Lisette Kaczka concerning rock crawling in Jellico:
The United Rockcrawling and Off Road Challenge (UROC), the sanctioning and promotional body for professional rockcrawling, is bringing it's extreme, four wheel-drive motor sport to Tennessee.
The ProNational Series-the largest and most prestigious of the sport's series (like the Nextel Cup Series is to NASCAR)- will hit Jellico's course of walls, crevasses and side hills April 29-30.
"Jellico is one of those stops we look forward to all year. The fans love the sport, the community hospitality cannot be beat anywhere in the world, and Jellico represents one of the
few natural courses that we compete on", said UROC president and CEO Ranch Pratt.
Tickets for the Jellico event are $ 10.00 for ages 11 and older. Children 10 and under will be
admitted free. Buy-one-get-one-free coupons will be available at are retailers or by contacting
UROC at its Web site www.uroc.com...
It was good to read President and CEO Pratt's comments concerning the hospitality shown by our area folks. I often quote the old Tennessee state tourism slogan, "Be nice to our visitors because they are very nice to us!" As Tourism Director Jake Bennett continuously points out, tourist and visitors contribute greatly to our local economy.. With UROC now conducting the series in such places as the Indianapolis Dome where up to 100,000 folks can be seated, it's easy to see why Jake pushes UROC and similar events so strongly for our area..
And Jake makes regular trips to Indian Mountain State Park to talk with campers and welcome them to Jellico. As I walk through the park, I also try to stop, meet and talk with as many of them as possible. And we have numerous other opportunities to make them feel welcome.
Ronnie Buck was telling me last week of some out-of-state visitors who recently came into his store, engaged in very pleasant conversation and gathered information concerning local sites and activities of interest. They planned a rather lengthy stay here with intent to visit several of those sites and activities that he described to them. We need a lot more of that!
A Common Ground Coffee Shop located on Broad Street will be open both Friday and Saturday until about 9:00 PM for benefit of our UROC and other visitors. Local artist Brent Foley will be playing both nights.
The new Mexican Restaurant, El Charrito, just off the Interstate interchange will be open too with its side choice of Mexican cuisine.
And of course our regular eating establishments are gearing up for the expected large influx of folks as well.. Nobody should have to go around hungry this weekend!
And everybody is again reminded that we will start our now annual "Clean-up, Paint-up, Fix-up Week" this Saturday as well - that will run through Saturday, May 6th..
Hopefully we will have individuals, families, schools, churches, organizations, etc. involved in the improvement activities. (The large First Baptist Church youth group plans to do a complete spring cleaning of that church and grounds. That's a great idea and here's hoping that our entire community gets similarly involved.)< P> Although we badly needed all of the recent rain, let's hope that our next few days are right and sunny.. That is why we rescheduled our annual week from April since we often experienced cold and rain during that month.. May is usually has more sunshine and warmer temperatures and that has a way of making folks want to work outside after a long winter.
According to Vice Mayor Alvin Evans, the work on our sidewalk/walking trail from Veterans Park to the baseball parks should begin very soon and possibly as soon as two weeks.. There's a lot of us anxiously looking forward to seeing that project once it is completed.. And if Orin Buck still intends to follow through on an idea he has for the old Creekmore Grocery/Bills Dollar Store on North Main Street, it should really double our pleasure and double our fun this summer.
The mayor/council and city officials were treated to a special reception at the Municipal Building by the Campbell County Chamber of Commerce prior to last Thursday night's regular monthly meeting. Representing the Chamber from Jellico was Allen McClary. And Betty Snodderly, Jerry Sharp and Keebler Williams came over from the Lafollette/Jacksboro/Caryville area for the special event. It was a very nice gesture on their part and we sincerely appreciate their thoughtfulness. (Not to mention the great food!)
During the meeting the Council again discussed some very deteriorated structures located within our city limits. And it is hoped that corrective action will soon be taken by those property owners. We have eliminated some similar problems and others are being improved. But we need to stay at the job until all are corrected. We are definitely making progress in that respect and as one of my school's student's parents commented to me recently "Jellico looks the best right now that I can ever recall." That sure sounded good to me but it can look a whole lot better yet!
Following the meeting and the action taken by the City Council in passing a proposed Tennessee legislative private act to prohibit anyone from holding elected office for the city of Jellico - while at the same time holding elected office with the state of Tennessee, Campbell County or some other governmental entity - I was asked that if I had known earlier of the pay and great benefits received by Campbell County commissioners - would I have run for the commissioner as well as running for reelection as mayor.
The answer to that question is a resounding NO! My feeling since I was first elected mayor over eight years ago has been, that although I love Campbell County and will work to see it prosper to the greatest extent possible, my first loyalty and commitment is to our town that chose me to represent them. To me, serving the county and Jellico at the same time would be a clear conflict of interest. There are times when the majority of Campbell County takes one viewpoint on an issue and those of us from Jellico have a totally different opinion on the same issue. And if I could not always place Jellico first - as the mayor is duty bound to do - then I would be unworthy to serve as its mayor. And if the job of mayor isn't that important, why have one?
A question raised during the meeting: If an individual can be elected to more than one position, is there any limit to the number of elected offices he or she can hold at one time? Two? Three? Four? More? The City Attorney says the proposed Tennessee private act if enacted into law, will now clearly limit Jellico officials to one elected office at a time!
In an earlier meeting of the Council, I discussed the fact that we do not have an adequate system to warn our citizens in case of a natural or man made disaster. And the rash of strong storms that we have been experiencing recently has brought that issue back to the forefront and it was discussed during our most recent meeting.
Our current siren is many years old, possibly could not operate over several minutes, and does not have the volume to carry out into the entire community as required. It badly needs replacing with some modern sirens or other warning devices.
I understand that our Emergency Management Director, George Deuel, is studying the situation and will make recommendations to the Council sometime in the near future.. Hopefully we will never need it even after it is acquired. But from my old boy scout days, the scout motto still remains in my mind that it always pays to "be prepared"!
The Campbell County Veterans Memorial Committee appeared before the Council and requested $ 5,000.00 from our city to help build a suitable memorial for our county's veterans (all veterans). The presentation was made by Mr. Poe Bostic, brother of the late Paul Bostic who once served as principal at Jellico Elementary school and was my American Legion baseball coach. He later was my boss when I taught at the old Norris High School where he was Superintendent of Anderson County Schools.
Poe made a great presentation and received a commitment from Council to provide the requested funds. And he and his fellow veterans left the meeting to loud applause from the audience in attendance in appreciation for their service to this country.
Our new Campbell County Veterans Service Officer, Jellico High School grad Kevin Walden, attended the meeting along with the veterans and stated that he is picking up his new job very quickly. He will be available in Jellico each Wednesday and will have his office at the Church of God, Mountain Assembly at 690 South Main Street. He can be reached at 562-3531 to arrange for appointments at that location. And he of course will maintain the office in the Lafollette area with that same telephone number. (A website is also available at www.campbellcountyvet.com ).
As I often point out, I get a lot of e-mail from readers located throughout the country and sometimes I print a few that I think might be of interest to my readers. One recently came in from Donna Homer in Emery, Utah:
Dear Mayor Clifton,
I am in hopes that you might help me or direct me to some help for a question about Jellico.... First can you tell me the county name now and when it was created and what the parent county was? Also can you tell me where I might find the earliest history of Jellico. Or a history of Jellico's settlers?
I understand that my great, great grandfather may have come from Jellico and am in hope of
discovering some Depew family connections in Jellico.. Any and all help would be appreciated.
I often get correspondence with requests from readers similar to yours Donna and for that reason I am reprinting it here. And for you and others who may also desire such information, go to www.jellico.com/jellico/jellico.htm and click on the numerous links there that may be of assistance to you, e.g. "History of Campbell County"; "History of Jellico"; "Campbell County Vital Records Office"; "Campbell County Genealogical Sources at the Tennessee Archives", etc.
(You might also might want to check out the "Unofficial Jellico Home Page" link and then call up the photo of "Dupuy's Popcorn Stand". Notice the spelling). Hopes this helps!
E-mail me at: mayor@jellico.tn.us
Visit the Archives of the Mayor's Column .
Visit the City of Jellico's Web Site at: www.jellico.tn.us