"LET'S GIVE THANKS!"

It's Thanksgiving and we all have an awful lot of blessings for which to be thankful! And one of the greatest blessings God has bestowed upon us is the privilege of living in this wonderful country! Now that we have all of the television networks daily bringing us news and developments from all around the world, we get a chance to see first hand some of the terrible conditions in which a good percentage of the world's population must live and survive. Many, many of them live under oppression and fear in addition to wretched poverty.

And as a local minister stated the other day, another one of God's greatest gifts is that of good health. We don't often truly appreciate the enjoyment of good health until we begin to lose it - then we will pay virtually any price in an attempt to regain it.

For those two blessings and for the countless others that we receive daily, we give thanks. And as were the Pilgrims united in their belief in God on that first Thanksgiving so many years ago, we are still ONE NATION UNDER GOD! No court ruling can alter that!

The Christmas season will officially open with the lighting ceremony in Veterans Park at 5:30 PM this Wednesday, November 27th. And the Tourism Commission says that it will have those big pots of hot chocolate ready. (Also those little marsh mellows to put on top.) Cups will be available but you can bring your own mug. (I probably will.) It just somehow tastes better from a mug!

The ceremony will not run that long and those who want to make evening prayer services at their church can attend the lighting ceremony and still get there on time. And the lighting will be a good activity for families - especially children. We can all remember events and activities that occurred when we were children that didn't seem to be that much of a big deal with adults. But we have remembered them for the rest of our lives. (As I wrote earlier, I will never forget the Fourth of July celebration during World War II when my dad set me on his shoulders so that I could get a good view of the fireworks going off right over our main traffic light.)

It's finally time for the annual border war! The Vols and 'Cats square off this Saturday and its important in the Jellico area because we have so many local fans for both teams. In other words, this one is for bragging rights! And if Kentucky wins, we may have to pass a city ordinance to keep fans of the Wildcats from flying a big blue flag right in the middle of town.

It's a great rivalry and a lot of fun! And as has been pointed out many times in the past, the game will not decide the fate of the world. (Somebody jokingly said that its much more important than that!) But if the Vols lose, I will probably have crow for supper that evening. Jenny is a Kentucky fan!

And it's parade time. Jake Bennett plans to attend Sunday's Elk Valley Parade and to invite units to enter our parade. (Jake seems to be about everywhere. He has attended activities at local churches and organizations; attended community festivals and activities throughout the area to obtain ideas for Jellico; regularly gone to Indian Mountain State Park, met the campers and invited them to stop by the tourism office to learn more about the Jellico area; and he has even mentioned attempting to establish some system at the Tennessee State Welcome Station to attract tourists stopping there to come on into Jellico. All of that in addition to helping in planning and working the events sponsored by the Tourism Commission. He is spending far more hours on the job than those for which he is paid.)

Everything Jake is doing is greatly appreciated but I hope that he doesn't work to the point of burnout. However those who know him declare that that will never happen and he is sure not showing any signs of it yet.

As has been stated several times in these notes, the Tourism Commission wants the greatest turn out possible for this year's parade - both as participants and spectators. Everyone is asked to remind their church, school, organization, club, agency, etc. of the parade date and time. (Sunday, December 8th at 2:30 PM. Start lining-up sometime around 1:00 PM at Jellico High School and in the general vicinity of the school.) There is no advertisement that is more effective than word of mouth and everyone is requested to spread the news about the parade and to invite both participants and spectators.

What a difference an election can make! At this time last year, I actually dreaded attending a meeting of the city council due to all of the opposition seemingly to anything positive that I proposed. But now I even look forward to the meeting because I believe that members of the council are basing their decisions upon what they believe is in the best interest of our town - even if those decisions go against my personal position. And they are working in a spirit of cooperation with each other.

Last Thursday night's council meeting was a great example. Councilman Jeff Brown strongly supported allowing the "Youth For Christ" group to occupy the city's building next to the Municipal Building and made a motion to that effect. Councilmen Clarence Gene Beck and Jim Dobson made it clear that they are not in any way in opposition to YFC, but that the city has thousands of dollars invested in police cars and equipment utilized by the other city departments sitting in the weather - not including such items as Christmas lighting and other city property. And they insist that the subject building would be an ideal place for storing those cars and equipment when not in use. Beck made a motion that the city utilize the building for that purpose.

Following close of the regular meeting, an executive session was conducted and some other facts dealing with the situation were discussed. During that session, the city attorney explained some aspects that must be given serious considered before any final decision can be made in the matter. Like most issues that arise, there are always complicating factors. (And there may be another option open to the group that is worth exploring.)

But the great thing about the entire discussion and council action (both motions failed) was the fact that everything done and said was based upon personal conviciton rather than politics. It's a pleasure to work in such an environment. The job of a member of council can be stressful, the recipient of constant requests, complaints, criticisms and any other number of adjectives. But of course they are well compensated for their time and work - making a princely salary of one-hundred dollars ($100.00) per month (minus cuts of course). But I am glad that we still have good people willing to do the job in spite of all the criticism that they receive for not instantly solving multitudes of problems.

I have been contacted by folks from "both sides of the mountain" discussing the current situation in the school system and the vacancy in the position of Director of Schools (Superintendent of Schools).

As I recently told a Campbell County Commissioner from the Lafollette area who asked for my ideas concerning the position, the implementation of President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program has made it imperative that far greater accountability be instituted in most states, systems, schools and classrooms. And to meet the requirements of the federal program, a lot of the procedures instituted by the state of Kentucky and the Whitley County School System several years ago would be beneficial in Tennessee and Campbell County including: development of a comprehensive master plan for improvement in every school with periodic updates; much more meaningful professional development activities for staff; greater focus upon language arts and mathematics; identification of core content (what is to be taught at every grade level); development of exit criteria (to determine if the knowledge has been acquired by the student prior to promotion to the next grade level); writing portfolios for every child beginning in the primary grades and continuing through to graduation; a thorough testing program utilizing national norms and comparing results produced by students, teachers, schools and systems; annual reports by all schools to the local board of education outlining progress being made; and numerous other instructional strategies proven to be very successful.

Lack of funding, socio-economic background of students, poor home life and all of the reasons formerly given for poor student achievement are no longer acceptable under the federal legislation. The right to a quality education is fundamental and both educators and schools are now going to be held accountable for educating every child on the roll no matter the circumstances.

Although I have had strong encouragement to apply for the position of Director of Schools and although I once briefly considered submitting an appliciation, I do not plan to do so. I am presently working in a position where I am supported by the superintendent and his staff, the board of education, the teaching staff and the community. I have a great student body with which to work and we are making real progress at our school as evidenced by our latest outstanding test scores. It gives me great satisfaction to see children growing in their educational process and at this late stage of my carrer as a teacher and principal, there can be no greater reward.

We have designated April as "Clean-up, Paint-up and Fix-up Month" in Jellico in an effort to get something done about some of our buildings in the downtown area, and a local businessman has agreed to furnish ten gallons of paint per month for the purpose of painting fronts of buildings starting in April. (If anyone does not think that our citizens are not angry and disgusted with the way that some building owners have let their structures just sit and deteriorate, I will be glad to refer them to some that have talked to me. And what they have had to say can't be printed in these notes!!!)