May 26, 2006    
JELLICO NEWS / MAYOR'S COLUMN

We are constantly reminded of the popular belief that you can't go anywhere without meeting someone from Jellico and I was informed that the Commander of the United States Air Force Air Guard 172 Fighter Squadron based in Michigan, found that out last year just a few days after our Fall Fest. While participating in an air show or some similar activity in that state, the Commander was approached by a man who informed him that he had seen Lt. Col. Scott Cuel and his companion airman when they did their fly over Jellico, Tennessee during our Fest.

That event was the highlight of the Fest and drew a very large crowd. But having talked to a lot of folks since that time, the crowd would probably have been much larger if everyone had understood what was to take place. One lady told me that she was able to see the two planes as they circled around Jellico after having passed over the stage and on their way back to repeat the fly over as they left.. But she said that she "could have kicked herself" for not being in Veterans Park and missing the planes as they passed over the crowd in the park. She said that if we are able to arrange for a repeat, that it will take something major to keep her away..

I met with Colonel Scott's parents during the recent Wooldridge reunion and asked them to talk with him and tell him how much our folks enjoyed the flyover and to request a repeat performance at this year's Fest scheduled for Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th.. At the time of the writing of these notes I had not contacted them as a follow up-but I certainly intend to do so. A lot of factors are involved in arranging for the flight including the unit's training schedule, the always possibility of call-up to active duty, etc.. But hopefully with enough advance time in making our request, a repeat performance can be arranged.

As I wrote last year following the Fest, I have never met Colonel Cuel but I feel like I know him very well since his outstanding record is enough to create such feelings. A graduate of the Air Force Academy and a highly decorated veteran of the war in Iraq, he is the type individual that instills pride in all patriotic Americans. We need to have some type occasion and honor him for his service and as I also wrote at that time, we need to declare him an "honorary citizen" of our small town. After all, small towns make up the heart and soul of America.

(Veterans Day on Saturday, November 11th would be a good time to recognize and honor him if he could work it out in his schedule to be here at that time.)

I was informed by Tourism Director Jake Bennett that Gary "Boo" Leach and the Veterans Honor Guard will conduct a special ceremony at the Veterans Monument this Saturday, May 27th. 10:00 AM.. (Flags will be placed on area graves of deceased veterans this weekend as well.)

The group that sponsors the free wrestling matches (non-city sponsored) in Veterans Park have announced their first wrestling exhibition of the summer for Saturday evening, June 3rd..

I want to remind everyone of some of the summer activities that are on the Tourism Commission's Calendar for this summer:

Note:: The Church of God, Mountain Assembly will have its 100th Annual Assembly during the week of August 7th - August 11th and special commemorative activities are expected for this very special Assembly. (The Church of God with headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee has scheduled its annual "Autumn Gathering" for October 9th - 14th and immediately following our Fall Fest.. Although not City of Jellico sponsored functions, the Tourism Commission always stands ready to provide assistance to those and all positive activities that bring visitors to Jellico..

A county official recounted a conversation at the Campbell County Court House recently concerning the activities that are now taking place in Jellico. That is encouraging and once again serves to remind us that people do notice. And we are working to increase the activities.

The Tourism Commission has scheduled our special "Downtown Day/Night" for Saturday, August 26th that will run until 10:00 PM that evening.. Jake has already arranged for an "antique tractor and engine show" for that date. Those types of shows are becoming popular all over the country and some locals have expressed their intention to display during the show. Out of town exhibitors are expected.. We hope to have music on the stage and concessions will be available.

All downtown area businesses are asked to participate as they did when we had our first "downtown night" eight years ago. We had a nice crowd that evening and some businesses reported doing a good business.. We have more to offer now than we did then and folks can purchase a variety of items, do their grocery shopping, get a haircut, and just simply socialize as we once did. We hope that everyone including our business owners/operators will put that event down on their personal calendars and will make plans to stay open until 10:00 PM that night.. As I often write, things will never again be the same as they once were in Jellico but we can certainly create new interests in our downtown and again draw folks back to the area.

The showing last year of movies on the side of the Family Dollar Store by the Mountain Ash Baptist Church for viewing by folks gathered in Veterans Park got me to thinking. The Bucks are renovating the old building on North Main Street directly across from the area of that Dollar Store that once housed the Gay Theatre. And since we are planning a "Downtown Day" on Saturday, August 26th that will run until well into the evening, why not have a showing of an old time western "shoot 'em up" movie in that building on a Saturday night like in the old days - Gene Autry or Roy Rogers or Hopalong Cassidy or my favorite, Johnny Mack Brown, etc. who once filled the silver screen there every Saturday night down through the years to the great delight of an awful lot of kids. I wrote about those days in an earlier article and was surprised to learn how many folks are still around who can remember those good ole days at the Gay eating popcorn and watching our cowboy heroes. (As a small kid there was no doubt in my mind that Brown had grown up in Texas and spent his entire life rounding up cattle and outlaws alike. I was shocked to later learn that he had been an All-American running back at the University of Alabama and had been signed to a movie contract after appearing in the Rose Bowl.)

I discussed the idea with the Bucks and they are interested. We could have limited seating inside the building and spectators could view it though the large windows if they chose to do so.. That would be just one of several activities that we can have to draw folks downtown that night when we can celebrate the complete or near complete restoration of our downtown.. Hopefully Orin Buck will have his idea in place under the canopy at the old Creekmore's Grocery/Bill's Dollar Store by that time - which should make it a popular area as well.

Two badly deteriorated former residences are currently been cleared, work is being done on others and we have been assured that one of our worst problems will be addressed as soon as some legal matters are settled. The Jellico Fire Department plans to wash down the stage in Veterans Park and the Tourism Commission will repaint it. (Volunteers are needed to assist with the painting. . The date is yet to be scheduled but will be prior to the Classic Car Show on June 17th.. Contact Jake at the Tourism Office 784-3275 if you are willing to help..)

The Rescue Squad is also considering painting the caboose they utilize as a concession stand. As I have consistently pointed out, getting involved in improving our town can be contagious.

For the first time in three years, my personal schedule allowed me to attend both Baccalaureate and Commencement exercises this year for the Jellico High School class of 2006.. I greatly enjoyed the Baccalaureate service and the Commencement program.

One thing that interested me was the number of graduates in the class this year. There were seventy-seven (77) which in recent years to the best of my recollection, was at least a little larger than usual class. During the years that I was JHS principal we usually averaged about that number. (My own class so many years ago had 65 graduates.) It's remarkable how the number that graduate each year remains basically steady year after year!

Congratulations to CHRISTINA CHITWOOD, daughter of Tommy and Irene Chitwood and a fourth grader at Jellico Elementary School.. Christian won this year's Campbell County Wide Science Fair for the grades 3 & 4 division. An outstanding accomplishment for her and J.E.S..

And congratulations also to the JES 4-H Club team of fourth graders that finished second in the East Tennessee Regional academic competition at the University of Tennessee. It is my understanding that they made quite an impression upon University and other officials since they were in their very first year of participation and competing against larger schools with a tradition of several years of competitive experience. Yet they won six (6) of their seven (7) matches...

In Tennessee it's never too early in the year to discuss football and I recently had an opportunity to talk with Coach Danny "Dino" Oakes concerning our prospects this fall in that sport.. He is cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season due to the experience factor which is somewhat higher than in some previous years. And he feels that the current weight program that his players are going through will greatly increase their strength which is certainly a necessity for success in football this day and age..

I have not seen the schedule for this year but the Blue Devils typically face some tough competition and as a small school, a lack of depth sometimes determines the wins and losses for our team when injuries begin to multiply during a long and hard campaign. He and his staff will not have a large number to work with again this year and currently count on having about twenty-five (25) or so on the 2006 squad.

But as I wrote upon his initially being named to the position of head coach, nobody will work any harder at getting the job done than Dino and his current staff..

. I humorously recalled one day with him last summer when I stopped by his office after I had been requested to place an add in the football program.. He was so engrossed in looking at video of the opening opponent and not wanting to disrupt what he was doing, I was there for what seemed like and eternity before he even noticed me. That's true dedication to the task!






JOHN CLIFTON, Mayor, City of Jellico

E-mail me at: mayor@jellico.tn.us

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