Several months ago I wrote in these notes that I had been working with Mr. Mitch Loomis and the East Tennessee Development District to obtain a grant with which to construct a "Gateway to Jellico" near the traffic signal at the corner of Fifth Street and Sunset Trail.. The gateway would be constructed of brick sitting on either side of Fifth Street with an appropriate welcoming message, year of our founding, etc. along with containers for flower and shrub arrangements. Very appealing colonial or similar lighting would be added.. (The idea was actually developed during a study done earlier by a contracted group and one that I thought was feasible and would help to attract tourists and other visitors and encourage them to continue driving to our downtown and other areas.. Too many times visitors turn their vehicles at the top of that hill and return to the Interstate without seeing most of Jellico, Indian Mountain State Park, etc..)

Once I indicated that I was working on such a project, Charles Cox, Jr. contacted me and offered to provide a possible site at the then Buddy's Barbeque location which could certainly be a great help. A small area would also need to be obtained on the opposite site of the street.

I received a call on Monday, August 7th inviting me to Nashville on Wednesday, August 9th for a presentation of the grant funds for the project by Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen .. That being only our second day of school after the opening of the 2006-2007 school year, I was unable to attend the presentation due to the demands of my job. However Councilman Bob Daniel traveled to the state capitol with Representative William Baird and accepted the grant from the Governor on behalf of the city of Jellico.. And I appreciate Bob's willingness to fill in for me at the presentation..

The grant is for ninety-six thousand dollars ($ 96,000.00) with a twenty percent (20%) match..

Hopefully we can meet part or all of that matching funds requirement with in-kind services..

(Mitch and I also discussed plans for additional work on our sidewalks and the possibility of applying for additional grant funds for that purpose. As I told Mitch, we need to make that one of our priorities among future projects.)

We have received word that progress is being made in our attempt to affect improvement in the property located at the corner of Fifth Street and Kentucky Street. There have been some problems involved with that property that have to be worked out before anything can be done. But if things go as the owners anticipate, we may well see some movement in that direction within the next few weeks.. Work on that property is certainly a major concern in our efforts to continue to improve the appearance of our downtown - especially due to its location..

Mr. Charles Kerns and his wife Sarah from West Alexander, Ohio told me recently that they read these columns every week and that during their visits to Jellico they can see the improvements that I report. And Charles said that he greatly enjoys my writing and really likes the fact that I publish them weekly as a means of communicating with our citizens.

In the past two or three years, I have been contacted by a former mayor of a town in northern Kentucky and a community leader of a town in Georgia. They and others have stated that they wish that what I do with these notes would be practiced by their present mayor - and a lady indicated that she had even gone so far as to show some copies of these notes taken from the Internet to the mayor there. And as I reported recently, the mayor of Williamsburg also says he likes the idea and is considering publishing and distributing similar notes in that town.

In that same light, Bob Grayson that many will remember from his days while growing up on Kentucky Hill, e-mailed from Zanesville, Ohio to say, "I enjoy reading your updates to the public. It allows me to know what is going on in my hometown.." (Bob said that he recently rented a two-room suite in a building in Zanesville and coincidentally it turned out to be owned by GASCO, a supplier of our natural gas.. He mentioned that he has become acquainted with some of the folks who work for that company and who are familiar to many of us here in Jellico. There's always a Jellico connection somewhere!)

Mr. Ron Campbell, Broadcast Information Officer for the Tennessee State Legislature in Nashville, e-mailed to say, "I really enjoy your Mayor's articles. You have to innovate to come up with all the stories you do…….." (Mr. Campbell added that he will be helping to host the National Conference of State Legislatures at the Opryland Hotel this coming week.)

And Mr. Wes Bowling, Director of Pupil Personnel for Whitley County Schools, stopped by my office last week on school matters. But while there, he said that he wanted to be sure to relay to me, the City Council and the citizens of Jellico a high compliment he had heard.. According to Wes, he and his wife were recently accompanied to the Jellico area by a family member who has been gone from this area for several years now. And Wes said that she was greatly impressed with -and highly complimentary of - the improvements she observed in the appearance of our town since her last visit. People do notice and we just need to make sure that we stay at the task.

Our next activity is the "Downtown Day/Night" on Saturday, August 26th.. If all goes well, in addition to the "tractor/engine show", we will have food and music available. And Derrick Brown told me that there is a possibility that he can have one of those nine (9) extremely high tech emergency vehicles (the unit stationed in Louisville, Kentucky) here that day. If so, that should certainly be interesting and educational for folks of all ages..

What's in a name? Sometimes everything! When the local papers announced that James Smith had picked up a petition to run for our City Council, questions began to fly as to his identity and at first no one seemed to have any idea.

But it turns out that James Smith is JAMES MICHAEL SMITH who is known to most of us simply as Mike. Mike used his first name when signing for the petition and that threw most of us since we did not even know that his name is James.

Mike is a native of the mountains of eastern Kentucky and an extremely community minded individual who upon locating here, has fallen in love with Jellico - after first falling in love with and marrying the former Amy Douglas. The Smiths reside on Branam Hill and have young children. They say that they want their children to grow up in a small town atmosphere like Jellico and although he has had opportunities for advancement in other areas, he has always chosen to remain here.

His management positions with Walmart have enabled him to help our town in numerous ways - ranging from obtaining funds for our Jellico non-profit organizations down through the years including our Rescue Squad, the Learning Center, our downtown renovation and revitalization project and other civic organizations and contributing to various other causes..

Mike has experience in our city government and has been a very valuable member of our Jellico Planning Commission for some time now.. He says that the improvements that he has seen in our town in the past few years has convinced him that Jellico is moving forward and he wants to help make additional contributions toward the continuation of that progress. He has assured me that he will be a candidate for Council to help in that respect and that's what public service is - or should be - all about.

And as previously reported, we are going to have some excellent candidates for City Council in the November election and newcomer MIKE SMITH is certainly a good one to be added to the list - in addition to the incumbents who have personally informed me that they will seek reelection including ELSIE CRAWFORD, BOB DANIEL, JOHN DAVENPORT, JIM DOBSON, and ALVIN EVANS. Another newcomer MIKE JOHNSON also stated to me very early that he will seek a seat on the Council.. There reportedly are others who have not told me of their intentions but the above group alone is a very impressive list of candidates..

Several of the crowd in attendance at Mr. Clyde Brown's 90th birthday party at the Community Center suggested to me that I should mention that activity in these notes in honor of Mr. Brown and I am certainly glad to do so. I remember Mr. Brown going all the way back to the days when he managed the old ESSO oil and gasoline distribution center in a brick building located near our baseball fields that was torn down several years ago.

There was always a large crowd of us boys playing ball at the park every summer day and just by sheer coincidence, there was a large tomato patch right behind that building ever summer.. Now mind you I am not admitting anything after all these years. But I do recall that those were some of the best tomatoes I have ever eaten.. (We took the attitude of Mark Twain's characters when they got into a fellow's watermelon patch, "they're not being used right now anyway!)

We were strongly convinced that Mr. Hugh Vaughn and later Mr. Brown always planted enough tomatoes to be sure that all of us boys had them available to us. They both had kind hearts and neither ever said a word to us concerning the tomatoes that had a tendency to disappear just as they were fully ripened.. (One of our gang always seemed to even to be able to come up with a salt shaker at the appropriate time -by sheer coincidence I am sure!)

Mr. Brown is a wonderful man and here's wishing him many, many more birthdays..

Some of the ladies attending "Weight Watchers" in our Community Conference Room (Tramell Building) recently thanked me again for the publicity that I have very willingly provided for them. And they also asked me to relay their appreciation to Jake Bennett and the city of Jellico for all of the help in getting established.. They say that they have had a very good response to date and that the cooperation and support that they have received is appreciated..

I have been informed that the Jellico High School football schedule that I published last week was incorrect. We do play our first three games on the road (Oakdale this Friday, August 18th followed by trips to Williamsburg, and Hampton) but the first home game is with Sunbright which means we will only have to wait until September 8th for that home opener.

(If I keep making so many errors in writing these articles, I may finally reach the point where Jenny will insist upon proof reading even my grocery list before I leave the house on my way to the store..)

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