Up close and
personal with
Mrs. Jenny
Bess Hibbett

The long-awaited and much-touted reverse L to allow safe passage for students and families going to Mt. Juliet High School is finished for all intents and purposes, but county commissioners have no date as to when they\u2019ll pay the City the reduced price tag of $650,000. They\u2019re not even discussing it until March,

Local elem.
school to hold
bene\ufb01t for MJ
child with

employees
denied
Christmas
gifts

She was the third \u2013 and\ufb01 rst female \u2013 mayor of Mt. Juliet, she\u2019s raised three boys and now has\ufb01 ve grandchildren, a\ufb01 fty-year marriage and a part-time gig at the local library, but for Mrs. Jenny Bess Hibbett it\u2019s the decades of children in her life that have kept her going and ful\ufb01 lled what she calls a spiritual calling.

\u201cIt\u2019s been my life,\u201d she said of teaching young children for around 50 years. \u201cLife changes, step by step things change, but I never felt like moving on: the children are, and have always been, my life and my reason.\u201dMrs.

is something of a local legend and mentor: she even has a Facebook page dedicated to

Hibbett knows thousands of people, attends more graduations, weddings,

anniversaries, and funerals than any other resident of Mt. Juliet,\u201d reads the Information section. \u201cShe was once the mayor... and still works at the Mt. Juliet Library and the Mt. Juliet Christian Academy. She is a great Christian and a wonderful example to us all with her tireless energy and desire to make a different in the lives of others.\u201d

of messages from people who Mrs. Hibbett has touched during her years in Mt. Juliet, where she believes residents should be \u201cvery

\u2022 Dental Implants (Single Tooth and Implant Retained Dentures)
\u2022 Painless Surgical Laser Procedures \u2022 Whitening \u2022 White Fillings
\u2022 Cosmetic Dentistry \u2022 Extractions \u2022 Dentures \u2022 Veneers \u2022 Same Day Crowns

Merry Christmas
from Vicky and
Daddy (Albert)

Enjoy Refreshments
& Holiday Cheer
with Us!

The City of Mt. Juliet
Planning Commission
will meet Thursday,
December 17, 2009
at 6:30 PM at the
Mt. Juliet City Hall
located at 2425 N.
Mt. Juliet Road, Mt.

following request will
be heard at this time:
Application submitted
by Robert A. Jones to
rezone property from
(R-1) Rural Residential
to (1-2) Industrial;
the property contains
approximately 10.00
acres and is located on
Old Lebanon Dirt Road
referenced by Wilson
County Tax map 77
Parcel 20.02. A copy
of this request is on \ufb01le
in the Wilson County
Planning Of\ufb01ce and
the City of Mt. Juliet
Planning Of\ufb01ce and is
available for inspection
during regular business
hours.

To the dismay of Mt. Juliet City employees, and despite the fact that the City is comfortable in its \u201cextremely conservative budget,\u201d it has increasing sales tax revenue, the City Commission this year voted itself health insurance, personal laptops and a salary increase last year, Mt. Juliet city commissioners voted down an ordinance that would provide $75 gift cards for its employees at Monday night\u2019s special called meeting.

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be a Grinch here, but some of my constituents, and I\u2019m sure yours, have lost their jobs or are taking pay cuts,\u201d District 3 Commissioner Ed Hagerty explained. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair to ask them to pay extra tax dollars for city employee bonuses. And (city employees) just got a 1 percent raise for cost of living even though the numbers show the cost of living went down. It doesn\u2019t seem fair or to send the right message.\u201d

Mt. Juliet Mayor Linda Elam \u201cseconds that emotion.\u201d

\u201cI can\u2019t justify people who are out of work paying for bonuses,\u201d she said.

1 Commissioner Ted Floyd, however, said he has \u201ca certain amount of dedication\u201d as a former City employee (he is a former Mt. Juliet Police chief).

\u201cIt\u2019s $75 a piece,\u201d he said, \u201cand it has already been appropriated in the budget.\u201d

2 Commissioner Will Sellers kicked in his 2 cents, saying that, as the original sponsor of the ordinance, he doesn\u2019t think \u201c$75 will break the

The total amount of the gift cards for all City employees

have cost $9,525, an amount already allotted in the budget. Earlier this year city commissioners voted to give themselves insurance and laptops to use to conduct a \u201cpaperless\u201d meeting, last year they doubled their own salaries, and earlier Elam attempted to give herself lifetime health care. During the same meeting Monday night,

commissioners approved by a 4-1 vote, with Sellers voting against, to spend $25,000 on\ufb01 reworks for the annual Fourth of