The veterans observance will be held this Thursday, November 11th (Veterans Day) at the downtown Veterans Memorial. I have been informed by Major (retired) Ellis G. Owens, Senior Army Instructor of the Jellico High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), that he will have a color guard and flag squad available at the monument at 1100 hours (11:00 AM) on that date. He is also coordinating with Mrs. Leann Mozingo for the inclusion of the local chapter of boy scouts to help conduct the observance. All organizations including the local girl scout troop are invited to attend as is the general public.
All area veterans that can are especially asked to be present for the short ceremony.
There is no way that I, or any individual, can possibly know the names of all veterans living in this area. But some that I recall and some that I have been able to obtrain from other veterans include: J.H. Williamson, Clifford Douglas, Raymond Petrey, David Davis, Garland Newell, Allen Douglas, Pat McClary, James Edward Branam, E.L. Cooper, David Begluitti, John Trammel, Ted Tye, Kenneth Stephens, John Lewis, Lawrence Hall, Harry Timmins, Ralph Kellogg, George Ivey, Jr., Sam Centers, Alvin Evans, Dante Renner, Dutch Renner, Ray Maiden, Bill Kellogg, Charles Vermillion, Emil Walden, Fred Kahre, Lenwood Lay, Jim Dykes, Charles Bills, Herman Heath, Jim Dobson, Joe Overton, Jim Timmins, Robert Gilburth, Gary Leach, Jack Cuel, Ned Smiddy, J.L. Collins, Robert Loudin, Raymond Creekmore, Arnold Musick, Charles Allen, Curt Weaver, Roy Leach, Carl E. Baird, John Leach, Carl W. Baird, Rick Ridenour, Rev. Ellis Hoskins, James Webb, Ralph Church, Marshal Irwin, Jerry Neal, James Ed Douglas, Jim Ford, J.L. Davis, Albert Kimberlin, Kenneth Ivey, Gene Prewitt, Rev. Gene Miller, Rev. Paul Hollars, Howard Elliott, Willard Sexton, James Arnold, Truitt Barton, Arvil Johnson, Frank Zecchini, Francis Payne, Larry Stephens, Ed Leach, Joe Cuel, Butch Lindsay, Jim Cummins, J.C. Baird, Bill Hyslope, Otis Stephens, Gary Douglas, James Johnson, Curt Siler, Alvis Adkins, Brooks Dowdy, Bill Payne, Homer Kidd, Michelle Kellogg, Hubert Kidd, Larry Muse, Robert M. Slagle, Sam Walden, Ted Barrineau, Bobby Martin, Jerry Bowlin, Steve Casey, Barney Bates, David Wikerson, Jerry Hollars, Danny Hughes, Tony Warman, Dennis Lawson, Robert Pass, Sterling Smith, Vernon Sinclair.
The above list is only a small percentage of our surviving veterans and I wish that I knew and could personally recall the names of everyone. But since that is not possible, I will continue to list their names in future columns as long as names are brought to my attention.
And I want to express my personal appreciation for the service of every individual, male and female, who has ever served in the Armed Forces of the United States. And that certainly includes all of those who have had "Taps" played for the final time. Our veterans have kept our nation free for all these many years and we owe them a debt that we can never adequately repay.
People do notice!!! The autumn decorations for the stage in Veterans Park were barely in place when people began giving them favorable comments.
Ronnie Dabney and I had just placed the announcement of the short Veterans Day ceremony on the community bulletin board when an automobile passed and someone (presumably a veteran) yelled, "Thanks for remembering the veterans"!!!
Every positive thing that we do to the downtown - no matter how small - does draw attention!!!
The Jellico Ministerial Association will conduct a community wide Thanksgiving service at the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The date is Sunday, November 21st but I failed to obtain the time.
The Jellico Tourism Commission in conjunction with the Jellico Ministerial Association, will sponsor the downtown Christmas lighting on Saturday, November 27th at 5:30 PM.
The Commission's annual Christmas parade is scheduled for Sunday, December 12th starting at 2:30 PM.
Now that we expect to have $ 75,000.00 in additional money from the surplus property sale, I would recommend that $50,000.00 of that money be designated for street and road repairs with $15,000.00 going to blacktop Veterans Park Annex (Tract I) for more parking, $9,000.00 for construction of the badly needed rest rooms for that area and $1,000.00 for the decorative fence that will separate Tract II and allow for the establishment of the Citizens Market/Farmers Market. (The $1,000.00 could also be applied to the cost of the rest rooms if a donor supplies the funds for the fence).
I have been asked the status of several projects and I want to update everyone on their present situation:
I have also asked our Campbell County Road Commissioner to assist us with the potentially dangerous open ditch on Sunset Trail. The Road Department is to survey the situation and to possibly provide us help with that situation.
And the Council recently voted to contract some repairs to three streets.
Miners Monument - I earlier contacted a representative from the Tennessee Valley Authority concerning the possibility of receiving community development funds from that agency. One of the requirements for those funds would involve having some electrically supplied portion of the monument.
I have talked with a nationally known manufacturer of clocks and he has priced a beautiful electric clock on a twelve foot base (pole) for $8,600.00 (thirty day price quote) that would add greatly to the appearance of the park or where ever it is placed. A brick base would be constructed near the clock that hopefully would support figurines of coal miners in their work clothes. There would also be small spaces to add the names of former coal miners and those who worked in the coal industry. (We would probably need to sell the small plaques in order to raise part of the required funds for the monument). But everthing is still only speculative as to what we can do toward erecting such a monument.
Mrs. Wilma Cox, like myself, is greatly interested in such a memorial since many of her relatives were coal miners or worked in coal just as almost everyone did during the period that coal was king in this area. Mrs. Cox has been helping to develop ideas for the design and I appreciate her help.
We always have a problem about this time every year with the leaves from the Sycamore trees in Veterans Park blowing onto the North Main Street sidewalk. The trees have grown so big and with such very large leaves that keeping the leaves off the street and sidewalk requires some businesses to sweep every day and the Street Department to clean as often as their schedule allows.
We did remove some of the smaller Sycamores last fall and replaced them with Bradford Pears donated by Pat Lynch Parrott. And the Utilities Department used their "bucket" trucks to trim back the larger trees. We had to leave some in place to provide shade for our Fourth of July activities.
But the small Oak trees should eventually grow large enough to allow us to remove most of the Sycamores and replace them with other types of shade trees.
In the meantime, one merchant has thanked me for having the large trees trimmed last fall and fully endorsed the idea of eventually replacing the Sycamores with other types of trees.
Last week when listing the sponsors of "Saturday Nights in the Park" I inadvertently left off Charles Marples Towing Service. Charles was one of the biggest boosters for that activity and I regret omitting his contribution. But it certainly is appreciated.
If others were left off and will inform me, I will certainly be glad to recognize and thank them also.
Sometimes I think I am a little ahead in some areas. Several years ago while Principal of Jellico High, I became concerned that we had lost some of our former pride in our school and our community. So I scheduled a "Pride Week" with a separate activity for every day of the school week and culminating in class floats for the Friday night football game. Don Moses, Jakie Bennett and others video taped some of the activities for our local cable TV channel.
I happened to pick up a Corbin Times-Tribune the other day and read that Congressman Hal Rogers had become concerned that a lot of pride had been lost within his district when it came to taking care of the environment, etc. And to help correct the problem, he declared a "Pride Week". And many of the activities scheduled for the schools within his district were very much like those I had at Jellico High School.
And I continue to emphasize that we badly need to renovate our entire downtown and revitalize that area. And by restoring our downtown, we are only joining a nation wide trend.
The Lexington Herald-Leader recently reported that community wide meetings are to be scheduled to get as many of that city's residents as possible interested in restoring historic downtown Lexington. And our local paper two weeks ago cited alumni honoree Dick Davenport's service on a committee to restore downtown Charleston, South Carolina. We are actually late in getting our project underway. But we are making progress and we will eventually succeed in restoring our downtown area.
I sometimes cite people who comment favorably on this column. But I had one weekly listener to my weekly radio program to tell me that I seldom discuss that program as to it's time, contents, etc. She suggested that I do so.
I certainly do appreciate everyone who tunes in on Thursdays at 1:05 PM. (WJJT 1540 AM). Most of the information discussed on the program is also found in this column although Tim Zecchini and I do share a laugh occassionally concerning some topic and I also respond to any questions that listeners have called into the station following a program or preceeding the broadcast.
And I greatly appreciate WJJT Radio for making the time available each week as a public service.
A lady who lives in Atlanta (Mrs. Don Spradlin) told me during homecoming that she was amazed at how many names I list in this column. Mrs. Douglas (I cannot recall her first name) from Ohio told me virtually the same thing in town the other day. And she asked me to continue to list all of the names that I possibly can. She says that she often sees a name that she had not thought of in some time and that it brings back memories of her days in the Jellico area and the people that she knew here away back then.
As I stated two weeks ago, I write this column to provide information and enjoyment to my local readers and my out-of-town readers and I will continue this column in it's present format as long as they want it that way.
I am sure that many members of the Jellico High alumni are unaware of the recent passing of Mr. Earl "Doc" Shoun, our long time Vocational Agriculture teacher at Jellico High School. I know that they, like me, will be very saddened to hear of the loss of one of the most well liked and respected teachers to ever serve on the J.H.S. staff.
I first met Mr. Shoun in 1950 when I enrolled in the seventh grade at the old J.H.S. building on Florence Avenue. Although I could not enroll in his classes since I was not yet in high school, I loved to hang out in his old Vocational Agriculture shop affectionately known to all students as "The Hen House". There were all kinds of interesting things in that old white frame building and a "pit" for pitching horse shoes was located in the front. Mr. Shoun was one of the best horse shoe pitchers on campus and it was a rare feat when anyone bested him and his partner no matter who the partner happened to be - even me.
I never did enroll for any of his classes in high school (after we moved to the Crouches Creek site) since I was interested in an academic area. But I always stayed close to Mr. Shoun and his popcorn machine at lunch time because he regularly gave me a free bag. (He knew that I seldom had the price). And he always invited me to his room during my study hall to participate in his parliamentary procedure classes.
Sometime during that time he developed the practice of "booking" which meant that students regularly not paying attention might look up and see some type of book flying his way. (Only boys studied Vocational Agriculture in those days). Educators today would frown upon such a practice but it was very effective at that time. And I have never talked with a former student who felt that it "psyched" them in any way. On the contrary, most recall the "bookings" as part of their fondest memories. And they all knew that Mr. Shoun really loved his profession and would do anything to help them when they needed help.
I was fortunate to serve as Principal at Jellico High School with Mr. Shoun (and at Jellico Elementary School with Mrs. Shoun). Mr. Shoun did not often say a lot but when the situation warranted, I would always look around to find him there beside me offering his support.
Mr. Earl Shoun and Mrs. Maureen Shoun (they always referred to each other as Mr. Shoun and Mrs. Shoun or as "Father Shoun" and "Mother Shoun") are unquestionably two of the finest people that I have ever been blessed to meet. Our town has lost a wonderful individual who never wanted anything but the best for his fellow man.
I will miss him greatly and I know that there are countless others who will miss him as well!!!
During our October meeting of the Council, I appointed Sam Sharp and Stan Marlow to the Planning Commission. As I stated in an earlier column, serving on the Planning Commission is a noncompensated, thankless and often controversial task. But it is a very important task!!! I want to publicly thank Sam and Stan for agreeing to serve out the terms of Roy Price and George Hackler II, who have recently left the Commission. (In addition to Sharp and Marlow, the Committee now consists of Chairman Jerry Llewellyn, Secretary John Davenport, Joe Brown, Council Representative Alvin Evans and the Mayor (ex-officio)). The Commission meets the first Thursday of each month (5:00 PM) when there is sufficient business.
Final Note:
I ran for the office of Mayor on a platform strongly advocating a City Administrator. But in that platform I always emphasized that I was doing so because I felt that we need a full time person to be on the job everyday. I still do!!!
I also emphasized in my campaign that I was for giving the position of City Administrator a chance and that if it did not meet our needs, that I would be a strong advocate for returning to the Mayor/Council form of government.
We did give it a try. In my opinion it did not fulfill our needs for whatever reasons!!! And I now do favor going back to the old system with some modification!!!
Sometimes a person simply has to admit that something did not work to satisfaction and I have reached that point.
The question then arises as to what action we should take. I have made it plain on several occasions that I personally am no longer interested in the position of City Administrator under the present circumstances even if it is retained. And I have made it equally clear that I am not for going outside our area to bring in someone to do the job.
The previous Council (including myself) set the standards for the administrative position far too high. Our local people have not had time to complete the educational requirements that we established since we never had the position before. But our local people are very capable of acquiring the required skills. And by acquiring those skills, many would become equally capable of being the administrative head of our city government - whether it be a City Administrator or full time Mayor. We definitely do not need both for a small town of 2,447 people.
There is no real reason to require a four years degree in Public or Urban Administration. We need to immediately establish new minimum requirements and there definitely should be minimum requirements. The full time Mayor or Administrator needs to be computer literate but does not need to be a Computer Programmer or Technician; we do need someone familiar with budgets and the basics of bookkeeping but we do not have to have a Certified Public Accountant; a public relations expert is not required although the individual holding the position does need to be able to relate to our employees and our citizens; and the person needs to have some training and/or experience in supervising employees whether that experience has been attained in the military or in a civilian capacity. Classes in Grantsmanship would be helpful as would the ability to meet and talk with representatives of firms that we might be able to influence to relocate to our area. And he or she should certainly be able to keep our citizens informed of developments in our town. Most of those skills can be acquired in a variety of ways and not limited to attending technical and vocational schools as well as completing a college or universtiy curriculum.
So what is the answer? In my opinion we need to first establish more realistic qualifications that would make the salaried office of full time Mayor open and attractive to local people. Then we need to immediately pass an ordinance requesting the Tennessee State Legislature to enact another private act during the upcoming January session of the legislature that would return us to our original form of government with the Mayor's very small salary remaining the same for the rest of the present term.
The stipulation should be added that the Mayor's position becomes full time and salaried effective immediately following the city election of April, 2002. The salary should be that already established for a City Administrator. (The money appropriated for the City Administrator's salary for the next two years could be used to hire someone to work and train in the office of the City Recorder where we do badly need help. The remaining funds should be placed into an account to help establish a retirement plan for our city employees.) The Mayor's salaried position starting with the next term should attract qualified candidiates to run for the office in 2002 and in future years. We need to always look to the future.
The above is my opinion and only an opinion. But I do know that it is also the feeling of our citizens that have talked with me.
We now have $552,000.00 in reserve funds (and that after appropriating $100,000.00 for capital outlay purposes) and we are to add the $75,000.00 from the surplus property sale. We have recently successfully obtained several million dollars in grants and extremely low interest rate loans. There certainly has been no problem with the fiscal management as all audits have confirmed. And the physical progress being made is evident to everyone.
I know that we can probably locate many highly qualified candidates for the City Administrator's position by conducting a nation wide search through the internet. And the selected individual would in all probablility, do a good job. But hiring someone from the outside to me signifies that we assume that no one person in our 2,447 is capable of doing the job. I emphatically disagree with that assumption.
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