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I love to report on progress being made to improve the appearance of our downtown as well as the openings of new businesses. And Jellico Video is another business that has done a face lift on its North Main Street front. That improvement is evident. But there is also a remarkable change taking place at the rear of the building on Broad Street.
That business plans to open a second floor that will have a womens' gymnasium/workout center, an arcade for the kids and a deli. Eventually the building's rear parking lot will also be greatly improved, allowing for entrances from both the front and rear of that structure.
Improvements to any building increases the value of all buildings and money spent upon restoration is a good investment. As I have stated repeatedly over the past four years, we are slowly but surely bringing our downtown back to where we think it should be. Somewhere in my possession I have some photos of our downtown made shortly before I took office. I am thinking of having some made now for a "before" and "after" photo exhibit. But I will leave that until the task is completed.
Sometimes something very different happens in our area that "shakes up" the place and that happened one night last week with the brilliant display of northern lights (aurora borealis). Their appearance sparked an awful lot of telephone calls to police departments and radio and television stations throughout our area. They were especially bright in the Boston area and appeared to some to be "right over Boston Elementary School" which certainly increased conversations on telephones and scanners.
Northern lights occur 60 to 620 miles above the earth when electrically charged particles from the sun reach the earth's magnetic field and strike atoms and molecules in the atmosphere - thereby creating some spectacular displays of lights not to mention scaring the dickens out of a lot of folks. The lights are usually green but may be red or purple (but Tennessee Vol fans insist that those last week were orange). Actually
most reports that I heard stated that they were the typical green.
According to a report in one of last week's editions of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the closing of some Tennessee state parks that have had federal funding could lead to sanctions against our state in the way of
loss of grants and other funding. Nine of the state parks of the fourteen that are scheduled to close were included in that number. But our Indian Mountain State Park was not listed in the nine. I am almost sure that formation of our park from abandoned strip mines did involve federal funds although I am not entirely certain of that fact. We sure need to check to see if that is true. (But with the present attitude of our governor and his staff, I am not convinced that anything can help - including pressure from the federal government to withhold funding.)
The article also stated that Representative William Baird was taking petitions bearing 15,000 signatures
to Nashville requesting the state to keep Norris Dam State Park open. (Our petitions are still out.)
Rep. Baird was quoted as stating that he did not believe that a special session of the state legislature would be called to discuss the financial crisis which further diminished our hopes for keeping our park open. (Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh keeps advocating such a special meeting but so far to no avail.) The only note of encouragement that I could detect in the entire article cited a state official saying something to the effect that he was sure that the parks would remain closed "at least through the winter".
The governor and his staff need to refer to their own handbook that begins with the statement, "Our parks belong to the people!" Then they badly need to start practicing what they preach!!!
Hats off to Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe for immediately expressing his opposition to the recent suggestion that the office of the President of the University of Tennessee be moved to Nashville. He is right in calling the proposed change a ridiculous proposal. Why not move the office of the governor of Tennessee to the city of Memphis or Mountain City. That would make more sense!
A few weeks ago, the second grade classes at Boston Elementary School visited our Jellico Water Filtration Plant and it was both an interesting and an educational experience for the students. In fact
teachers and students discussed the trip so much with the rest of the school that all remaining classes made the same tour of that facility last week.
The B.E.S. staff asked me to relay their thanks to Woody Swafford, Jackie Owens and Marty Marsee for the tours and orientation sessions they were given. We are fortunate in the city of Jellico to have such a modern and well equipped facility as well as trained personnel to operate it. The process of converting lake water into safe drinking water is not a simple process and it has become an even more vital service in wake of potential external threats to water supplies no matter how small that threat may be.
I often get comments concerning some of the historical events and persons that I write about. And one long time resident told me recently that he enjoys reading them because they bring back memories of things that he has long forgotten.
But if you want to actually look at some Jellico history rather than reading about it, just go to the corner of Fifth Street and Baker Street. When Jellico streets were first covered with hard surfacing, the covering consisted initially of very large stones that later were in turn covered with bricks. The bricks were manufactured mainly at the Pete Zecchini brick plant in what became known as Brick Plant Hollow. I can still recall when a good section of town had brick streets and we were thrilled when the state black topped them starting sometimes in the early and mid-1950's. We thought that was progress but now one has to wonder what the brick streets would mean to the appearance of our town not to mention their value as a tourist attraction.
Wear and tear by traffic upon the small hill starting up Baker Street just across the street from the First Volunteer Bank has gradually broken up the black topping and exposed a small area of the brick. Although only a very small section, it will give you an idea (or a great memory) of what virtually every main street in Jellico looked like dating as far back as ca 1914 in some sections of town.
And on the subject of Jellico history, a senior citizen lady who said that she had read and enjoyed my story about the first refrigeration that I had ever seen, told me that my family must have been "city folks"
because we had ice delivered to our house. She said that she grew up in an area without refrigerators and it would not have done them any good if they had had them because they didn't have any electricity to run them anyway. And she said that it wouldn't have done them anymore good to have had an "ice box" either because they would not have had any ice to put in it.
She reminded me that many folks had "root cellars" for potatoes, turnips, squash, etc. that were sometimes placed in areas cut out of dirt banks. They kept a cool temperature that generally remained fairly constant. And others had "spring houses" built around cool springs of water or running streams. The fresh milk and "home churned" butter (What would you give for some of that on a hot homemade
"cat head" biscuit?) were placed in those structures and usually kept very nicely until utilized by the family.
Should our country ever have to return to those days, one has to wonder if our younger generations could live that way. But the will to survive is so strong among the human race, and for that, I figure they could and would adjust to about anything.
One other historical note. Mrs. Emma Jane Smith Cummins recently gave me a $ 1.00 piece of scrip ("money" issued by companies to their employees that could only be spent in company stores) from the Falls Branch Oswego Coal Company dated 1898.. I have always heard of that coal company but
all traces of it had disappeared before I was old enough to remember. I consulted with Donny Bailey who is one several area resident collectors and he said that he has virtually a complete set of scrip issued by the
Falls Branch Coal Company (as well as many others).
I am glad that we have folks who are working to preserve some artifacts from that era of our town's rich history. They will increase in historical and monetary value as the years go by.
We often thank different groups and individuals for their contributions to our community and our entire area. And one group that certainly deserves our continued appreciation is our local boy scout troop. It seems that they are willing to participate in almost every community meeting or activity when requested to do so. Leann Mozingo and everyone that helps with the scouts are to be commended for their efforts. I will not attempt to name them all because I attended two or three of their functions and I was really impressed at the number of participants at those particular events.
But the service that the sponsors provide is one that will reap benefits for many years to come and one that is very personally rewarding to those who give of their own time to maintain such a fine organization.
I rubbed my eyes several times on Monday when I called up the weather forecast on the Internet and saw this weekends prediction for Lexington, Kentucky. I thought I was seeing things (and I am still very skeptical) when I read the forecast that calls for temperatures in the high 60's at game time. That's unheard of for a Tennessee football game in Lexington where the temperatures usually dip so low with a fifteen mile an hour wind that wearing all the clothes one owns doesn't keep a person warm. I have always said that Siberia can't be much colder than Commonwealth Stadium in mid to late November..
But I am not going to be caught off guard again. Several years ago there was a fairly warm day forecast and we all went dressed according to that prediction. Just before kickoff the temperature began dropping and we were all nearly half frozen before the game ended. I'm taking lots of clothes with me this time regardless of what they say.
However we sure can't complain about the early fall weather that we have had to this point. I have talked to several long time residents who tell me this has been the "best" early fall that they can ever recall.
And I have to agree. Our temperature last Sunday (November 11th) was in the 60's but when we dedicated the Veterans Memorial several years ago in early November - it was bitter cold with a little "hominy" snow.
JOHN CLIFTON, Mayor, City of Jellico
PO Box 533
E-mail: jclifton@whitley.kl2.ky.us
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