Volume # 1, Edition # 8 Celebrating America's Birthday! July 4, 2001
As I announced last week, I had not planned to write an article for the next two or three weeks. But 1 did not expect anything like the response that 1 received concerning last week's edition. Nothing that I have ever written in all the past months that I have done this column bas ever brought about the number of comments that Edition # 7 evocked from our citizens. I origina11y printed 1,000 copies and kept 50 in reserve because I always have requests for additional copies. Whether it was the report of the city council meeting; my suggestions for a retirement plan for our city employees; asking for repairs to Douglas Lane; the story about Lois's chili; or a combination of all of the above; it was certainly in great demand.
I copied another 200 for distribution and several told me that they were making copies as well. There must have been a total of somewhere near 1,500 to 1,600 copies available for circulation - not including those who take it from the Internet. One lady at the Tennessee State Welcome Station told me last week that she takes it from the Net and leaves the written copies for those who do not have access. (I certainly appreciate all of the e-mail and especially the great note of encouragement from Harold Downey, a former member of our city council now living in Winterhaven, Florida). If only two-thirds of the articles were taken, that still means that a possible 1,000 people could have read them. And to top it all, I recently learned that two individuals are actually voluntarily delivering them to local residences.
Note: I received requests for copies of Lois Hall's recipe for chili in her own writing and I made several copies of that recipe as well. I even faxed one copy to Ohio.
Not a single person who talked to me, called me or responded to my column on the Internet forum (the last time I checked on June 27th) expressed approval of the way that the change from Stephanie Smith to Tom Barclay was effected. A somewhat irate individual who had never before discussed the position of CA with me asked the names of all councilmen who voted for the switch.
A military veteran stated that he had liked the job that David Cooper had performed and that all he had heard from the Council majority for months was that Cooper was doing a great job. Then in the words of that individual, everything changed over night and all at once, Cooper could do nothing right according to those same members of council. Also according to him, he now understands why. In his opinion, the office of City Administrator is being used totally for political and personal reasons. He said that he has now joined those who oppose continuing with the position of CA after the April election and plans to vote for those candidates who favor returning to the mayor/council form of government.
I have not talked personally with two other individuals who helped build public support for the present charter but I have been told that both have become very disillusioned with the developments over the past several months and indicate privately that we need to return to the old charter. (I have talked personally with others who were active in that drive and they have told me much the same thing.) Public opinion appears to be running so strongly against the present charter that even my idea of combining the position of mayor and CA is now rejected by about everyone who brings up the subject. Clearly our citizens want things back like they were three and one-half years ago. And I can sure go along with that. My only reason for suggesting the combining of the two positions was to insure that we have an elected administrative head subject to the will of our citizens.
I realize that there is still what would seem to be a small minority who do favor a city administrator. And I, and most citizens, hope Tom Barclay does a good job since he will obviously be placed in the position and paid a salary for doing the job until the April election. Anyone who cares anything about our town wants to see it advanced regardless of the type of city govermnent or the individuals placed in positions of leadership. And I can see how the position of city administrator could work in a lot of situations. But our situation is definitely not one of those. I realize now that our people will never accept the idea of our chief administrative officer being subject to the dictates of only four people. We just have too many who find that concept totally foreign to what we have always been taught as to how governments on any level should operate.
Almost everyone who talks with me now strongly echoes what I reported several weeks ago that a city employee had earlier said to me in confidence. "I would be perfectly happy to work for the city of Jellico until retirement and never again hear the words 'city administrator' spoken by anybody."
Just how much does it cost for legislative and administrative services to run our town? The mayor's salary is $ 3,000.00 yearly ($ 250.00 per month). Each of the six members of council receives $ 100.00 monthly for a total of $ 1,200 yearly. ($ 7.200 annually for entire council) Total yearly cost for seven elected offices including the positions of mayor and six councilmen is $ 10,200.00.
We currently pay a hefty amount for the administrative/day-to-day operation of our town. The city Administrator's present salary is $ 33,125.24 not counting benefits and travel pay. The city recorder's salary is $ 24,190.40 (before a possible .50 cents increase on the hour) and not counting benefits. And the assistant city recorders salary is $ 17,680.00 not counting benefits. Total salary for those three positions is $ 74,995.64 not counting benefits and the proposed .50 cents increase for the city recorder.
A position now exists for a maintenance man which is also assigned to the adminitrative office at a salary of $ 15,205.00. When that position is added the total is $ 90,200.64. (Combining all costs for both legislative/elected offices and administrative offices, the total figure is $ 100,400.64 not including benefits which will add several more thousands. And the above figures of course do not include the cost of equipment, materials, telephones, on-line services and numerous miiscellaneous expenditures. Top Heavy?
This article was written before the start of our Fourth of July activities. But our citizens look forward to them each year. One individual who apparently is well familiar with gospel music was amazed at some of the well-known groups scheduled to appear on our stage.
I am not sure who all is to be given credit for organizing, planning and scheduling the affair. Anything so involved generally requires the efforts of a lot of people and nobody knows that better than I do. But I do know that Marvin and Betty Douglas and the Cupp Family Singers were very involved and I want to thank them and anyone else who may have helped in any way with the very special event for our town!
The car show was very good and there were a lot of interesting vehicles to look over. It took some time. (I liked them all but I especially liked the all-period 1931 Model-A I used to ride in one just like it although in my own defense concerning my age - it was considered to be something of an antique even then).
The only negative concerning the entire affair came from an exhibitor who pointed out that owners had spent thousands and thousands of dollars on their cars only to have to park and show them in front of the stage in mud and gravels. I reminded him that Jimmy Dobson and I were able to get the funds to black top that area in the spring of 2000 when we received the money from the surplus property sale. We were able to get the hard surfacing approved because not all members of the Council were present for that meeting. However at a later meeting when all members were present, the council majority rescinded that approval and voted to buy a new backhoe. (He instantly recalled that action by the Council.) And a complete record of the backhoe incident can be found at http://www.jellico.com/jellico/jellico.htm by clicking on "Archives of the Mayor's Column". Or it can be taken from back copies of the Jellico Advance Sentinel .
Failure to blacktop that area along with the tearing out of the bridges in Veterans Park Annex killed my plans (at least for the present) for the beautiful backdrop that I had envisioned for our downtown. And those two actions also greatly delayed my plans for a fanners' market for fresh produce that would be so welcome at this the time of the year when vegetables from local gardens are just becoming available in large quantities. My original plans were to develop a well-supplied market in a beautiful setting.
I have been asked to write more articles concerning Jellico's history and surprisingly, a lot of those request oome from our young citizens. one historical event that even I am not old enough to remember, was related to me many times when I was a child and I have since read some accounts. It is one that occurred shortly after the close of World War I and one that I would dearly have loved to have witnessed.
Although extensive aerial combat bad taken place during that war, many people in our area bad never yet seen an airplane and some did not even believe that man could actually fly. (The Wright brothers had gone airborne under power for the first time only a short fifteen years earlier.)
Commerical radio stations had not yet made their appearance and not all of our area population had regular access to newspapers. So claims of machines flying around in the air were met with amusement and skepticism by a lot of folks. Many of the veteran pilots from WW I were available in 1919 for air shows, stunt flying and all types of entertainment. And someone in Jellico must have gotten the idea to invite one to fly oown from Louisville, Kentucky and give most of our people their very first look at a genuine flying machine. (I believe the pilot was still on active duty in the U.S. Army at Fort Knox).
A large field was located for a landing zone (now the large pond from which we obtain our drinking water) and preparations were mQ for the event. The news quickly spread for miles around and people came in to Jellico by a variety of means -the most popular being by trains that ran into surrounding communities. (Automobiles were here but very, very scarce and most could not afford them until after Henry Ford's assembly line in Detroit that had begun in 1914, had turned out five million "Model-T's". The "Tin Lizzies" as they were popularly known, were sold at a price that the average working man could afford.)
But a lot of people in Whitley and some other counties to our north, had apparently not gotten word of the plane's coming, or they simply did not know what to expect. The pilot flew from Louisville and probably first to Lexington. He may have made other stops along the way before finally coming into Jellico. As he flew along a route approximating that of our present day Interstate-75, he created great interest and maybe even panic. The plane was likely a two seater bi-plane with engines and straight out exhaust pipes that roared so loudly that they could be heard for miles.
According to reports, some may have sought shelter but it is untrue that revivals broke out in any communities - although for some, it must have seemed that the end of time had come. From all accounts, it was truly an impressive sight to those living near the Kentucky side of town when the plane came through the gap just below Ray's superior Market. The plane turned right and eventually landed safely in the designated area to the cheers and applause from the large Crowd that had gathered. But the applause was barely audible above the roar of the plane's engine.
That appearance of a "flying contraption" in Jellico sparked great interest in flying in this area and other such events were scheduled - even "pay for rides" that took a single passenger on a route that circled the oowntown area. Eventually that interest grew to the point that "The Jellico Aero-Club" was formed, a plane purcahased although I do not know if it was city or privately owned, and a hangar constructed. That entire area became known as "the airplane field" (and I still catch myself using that designation when telling someone where we get our public drinking water supply.)
And one of Jellico's true distinctions occurred circa 1940 when the Jellico post office received the very first airmail delivery in the history of the state of Tennessee. That's right! Not Memphis; not Knoxville; not Chattanooga; not the tri-cities area; not even the state capitol at Nashville! But Jellico was first for the entire state. A historical proclamation authenticating that fact and a photo of the arrlval of that delivery by pilot Harry Britton Brown can be seen hanging on the wall at Rocky Top/ Arbys. (Courtesy of Joe Brown).
This oountry's entry into World War II on December 8, 1941 Soon led to the demise of the Jellico Aero-Club and the hangar was torn down. (I have always been told that the unique siding from the hangar was removed and placed on the house on Indian Mountain Road where I lived for several years.)
Following WW ll, the entire "airplane field" was strip mined, creating the large coal pits that we now use for our water supply and the recreational lake at Indian Mountain State Park.
At least one past attempt (about twenty-five years ago) to create a second airstrip in Jellico (Oswego area) failed due to Federal Aeronautical Administration concerns about the prevailing wind currents in the area. (The FAA had not yet been thought of when the Jellico Aero-Club had its fonnation.).
Just like in many other developments, it seems that we are always located in the middle but somehow left out. Jacksboro to our south has an airstrip and a new airstrip is being created in Whitley County to our North. But sadly, Jellico that started it all will probably never have another!!!
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Mail any comments or suggestions, etc. to:
John Clifton
P.O. Box 533
Jellico, TN 37762
E-mail: jclifton@whitley.kl2.ky.us
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