Newspaper Page Text
J / 5
0. /
THE RED AND BLACK
WEATHER
Tilt* forecast calls for cold
and damp Heather, with a
Harming trend later this
neek. I.ohs should be in
the 30'*. nith highs near
no.
VOLUME HO. NUMBER 89
Georgia's only collegiate daily newspaper
THE l NIYEHSITY OK GEORGIA. ATHENS. t.EORt.lA 30602
Tt ESDAY. MAR( II 26. 1974
Rape investigation
called inadequate
912-2736981 -
Hospital demolished
This shell of a building, which is being town down, was once
the home of St. Mary’s Hospital Located on Milledge. it was
built by two Athens physicians in 1918 Two wings were added
in the 1940’s. St. Mary's vacated the building in 1966 and
moved to its present site on Baxter. The old hospital remained
vacant the last eight years and will soon be only a memory.
BY DAM
Ferry boat endangered
By MIC HELLE GREEN'
Feature editor
David Evans, the University’s resident
Civil War buff, has learned that the ferry
boat he discovered in the Chattahoochee
River near LaGrange last October was
not used during the Civil War
Evans, a journalism student minoring
in history, came upon the ferry wreckage
while trying to retrace the lines of battle
where Union Gen. E M. McCook s forces
fought Confederate Gen. Joe Wheeler’s
troops.
Evans was floating downstream meas
uring the depth of the river when he
discovered the boat, which he took to be
the ferry used by McCook's men when
they crossed the river in an effort to
outrun Wheeler.
John Philpot, whose father Henry was
a slave on a plantation near the ferry
landing, gave Evans some clues as to the
origin of the wreckage. He told Evans
what the Confederate ferry boat looked
like and how it operated. Philpot said
that if the ferry which sank in the
Chatttahoochee had metal sides, it would
be one which was built at the turn of the
century rather than before the Civil War.
SINCE TIIE ferry boat he discovered
did have metal sides. Evans believes it is
the one built around 1908 Will Sledge,
who lived near l^aGrange then, also told
Evans that he remembered the ferry
boat being built, and that metal sides had
been ordered for the boat
Even though Evans knows that the
ferry isn't the one used in 1864, he's still
interested in preserving it because, he
said. “It's built on the same pattern as
the one used during the Civil War." He is
still after Georgia Senator Sam Nunn and
the LaGrange Historical Society and the
Army Corps of Engineers, trying to get
them to prevent the area from being
flooded when the West Point Reservoir is
completed
Philpot Ferry, the area where the
wreckage is located, is one of the sites on
the Chattahoochee that will be covered
by over 25 feet of water. The landscape is
being planned by the Army Corps of
Engineers in preparation for the new
reservoir and bulldozers have already
destroyed tombstones in a 150-year-old
cemetery near the ferry wreckage.
EVANS SAID, "The corps representa
tive in Savannah promised me that they
wouldn't use the bulldozers on that spot,
but when I got down there they had
graded it over and had gone up to the
riverbank and cut down all the trees. The
corps took down the grappling hook that I
had used to mark the ferry and in the
process of pulling those trees out of the
river, they snagged part of the ferry boat
and broke it off. throwing it up on the
river bank "
Not only did the corps damage the
partially-sunken remains of the ferry
boat, but according to Evans they bull
dozed through a nearby cemetery which
is "on a hill at least 100 feet above where
the water will be."
Evans enlisted the help of Georgia's
State Archaeologist. Louis Larson. Jr.
His assistant, Tom Eubanks, visited the
site of the wreckage to determine if
preservation of the boat was warranted
Evans and Eubanks waded out to see the
cemetery and the ferry wreckage, and
Eubanks was impressed by the extent of
the damage to the cemetery, where trees
had been razed and crypts were bull
dozed open. They took pictures to
document the damage
Eubanks said that the chances of
having Philpot s ferry declared an histor
ic site are "reasonably good " If the site
were put on the National Register of
Historic Places, the Corps of Engineers
would be required to stop its bulldozing
there.
However, in order to do this, the U S.
Department of the Interior must examine
the pictures taken by Eubanks and
consider his reports This process could
take some time
Fortunately for Evans, the Corps of
Engineers will not be able to flood the
area this month, as they had planned
The earthen dam nearby is cracked, and
the flooding must be delayed until it is
repaired, so Evans' efforts to preserve
the ferry boat may succeed.
By TIM Me BRAVER
Complaints have been raised against
the Athens City Police concerning the
recent rapes and rape attempts in
Athens.
On March 3 and 13 two attempted rapes
occurred but they were both listed as
robberies by the City police
The March 13 victim complained that
there has been an insufficient investiga
tion by City police of the assault.
ACCORDING TO Conoly Hester of the
Athens Banner-Herald, the victim said
that the complaint sheet the police gave
to her to sign had no information on it
concerning the attempted rape, but only
the description of the suspect.
Admitting that the police arrived
quickly and searched the area, the victim
was critical of the way they conducted
their further investigation Hester said
The victim said that the police did not
come out to question her about the
attempted rape until her husband called
the next day and complained to the
police.
This incident along with the one on
March 3 was listed as a robbery The
March 3 attempt was also listed under
miscellaneous on the police report at the
Athens police station.
Chief of Police Tom McGahee said that
the reason for listing the crimes as
robberies was that they were not sure
that the crimes included anything else
LOCAL PRESSURE has been on the
City police because of the rapes occurring
within Athens during the past year. The
Sunset-Holman Avenue area where the
majority of rapes and rape attempts
occurred earlier this year, had been quiet
since January Some citizens feel that the
most recent actions of the police were
attempts to keep the public feeling safer
than they actually were
According to McGahee. "We are con
ducting a continuous investigation of the
rapes and rape attempts ." McGahee also
said that the size of his force is too small
for the Athens area
IN A SEPARATE, incident, a Jackson
County man has been arrested for the
rape of a. University coed by the
University Police
Stanley Woods. 21. of a Jefferson Rd
address was arrested on March 13 and
charged with the rape* which occurred on
March 5 in the Visual Arts parking lot
Chief Bill Dean of University Police
said that the suspect is presently being
held at the Clarke County Jail without
bond According to a Sheriff's Dept
spokesman, this is due to Georgia law
which prevents bond being set for a rape
suspect except by the Superior Court
Judge
Dean refused to release further infor
mation concerning the rape suspect
because he said it might influence the
case in court
Dean also said that the Campus Police
had not received any other calls concern
ing rapes or a rape attempts.
COMMENTING ON the rapes and rape
attempts. Bert Smith of the Rape Crisis
Line said. "Rape has increased quite a
bit in Clarke County in the last five
years We are now hearing about those
that used to go unreported
County agrees
to use old rotes
By DEE GIBSON
City editor
The Clarke County Committee of
Concerned Taxpayers iCCT) may win
one of its battles against the existing
method of determining property taxes if
the State Revenue Department approves
a proposed tax digest
I^ast week, the Clarke County Commis
sioners and Tax Commissioner Homer
Hale agreed to set taxes according to
1972 land values instead of developing a
new millage rate The proposal is
expected to appear before the state in
early April
The decision came after a recommen
dation by Revenue Commissioner John
Blackmon that such a method would aid
approving a tax digest, thereby allowing
local school and county authorities to
meet a December tax collection deadline
ORDINARILY. THE school board and
the county commission develop a millage
rate and then submit it to the state for
approval State law requires that all
property be assessed at 40 per cent of the
true market value. If the proposed
millage meets the 40 per cent, the state
will approve it. If not. the digest will be
factored and local taxing bodies must
adjust the millage rate accordingly.
Clarke County property will now be
taxed on an equal percentage basis to
achieve the overall 40 per cent assess
ment Authorities have estimated that all
property will be taxed an increase of 18
per cent above the 1972 value
THE TAX digest has been the source of
recent controversy among area residents
who claim that property values were
estimated too high
The controversy arose over a property
value update developed by the Clarke
County Board of Tax Assessors CCT
primarily objected to the use of potential
property value in determining the rate.
For example, land located directly across
from a shopping center would be taxed at
a different rate than the same amount of
land located in a suburb on the basis that
that land could be developed
The CCT followed the complaints by
initiating a court suit asking that updated
appraisals be stopped because of certain
inequities. Instead, the CCT proposed
that the county utilize the 1972 land
values as a base
Court hearing set
for streakers' case
Here we go again ?
This trailer was the victim of a pre-dawn storm that struck Athens last Thursday
Sixty mile per hour winds threw trailers around, knocked down tree limbs and left
the city without power for about 40 minutes. For complete details, see story on
page 3.
Effies padlocked
by Sheriff Huff
The case of the 13 alleged streakers
arrested on March 9 for public indecency
will come before Magistrates Court on
April 11. according to Bill Dean, assistant
division head of the University’s Depart
ment of Public Safety
This court appearance will constitute a
committal hearing "to decide whether
there’s enough evidence for a trial." said
Steve Patrick, president of the Student
Government Association
The alleged streakers will meet Wed
nesday to determine strategy and defense
in the impending hearing. Patrick added
The SGA and Students for Campus
Community Development <SCCD> are
co-sponsoring the establishment of a
defense fund for the alleged streakers.
Patrick said
SCCD will set up tables around campus
to solicit $1 memberships and contribu
tions to the defense fund, he said.
Money collected by the SCCD will be
used not only for the streaking case.
Patrick said, but also for the plaintiffs in
the case challenging freshmen residency
requirements and in future court cases
involving students.
The individuals arrested for public
indecency “were simply doing what other
people were doing by the hundreds,"
Patrick said “These individuals were
made scapegoats," he added
Ed Kassinger. director of public safety,
promised the SGA that students would
not be arrested. Patrick charged
However. Kassinger replied that "no
SGA person was told that, and I refer
Steve Patrick to previous news releases ”
Two Elm Street houses, popularly
known as "Effie s." were padlocked by
Clarke County Sheriff II T <Tommy)
Huff last week following a hearing in
Clarke County Superior Court
A third house is expected to be
padlocked pending Judge James Barrow 's
signature on appropriate papers
The occupants of the houses, located at
157. 165 and 175 Elm. are the objects of
three civil suits issued earlier in the
mon'h by District Attorney Harry-
Gordon
TIIE SUITS charge the residents with
using the houses for the purpose of
"assignation, lewdness and prostitution"
and ask that the contents of the houses be
sold by the court
The suits included sworn statements by
local police officers that they knew of the
houses' alleged operations, and state
ments by Athens Mayor Julius Bishop
and Chief of Police Tom McGahee.
testifying to their knowledge "of the
nuisance exist mg" at the buildings named
in the suits
The first suit names Georgia L
Bentley, owner of the 157 Elm House,
along with occupants Gloria I^nge.
Randi Davis. Terri Davis and Brigitte
Curtis Mary Alice Shealy. owner ot the
165 Elm house. Frances Carel and Gail
Brammer. owners of 175 Elm. and 30
"John Doe residents and users of the
houses" are named as defendants by the
other two suits .
Barrow granted temporary injunctions
against the houses and ordered Huff to
padlock and inventory each house’s
contents and evict any occupants Both
houses were empty when Huff arrived
One had been cleared of its furnishings
The 165 Elm house was furnished but
locked After entrance was gained to the
residence it was inventoried
A business license with an expiration
date of Dec 31. 1974. was posted in the
living room It carried a classification of
Real Estate Rentals. Class Four" and
cost $21 77
The attorney for Gail Brammer. owner
of 165 Elm. requested a trial by jury to
determine if the house is a nuisance
The other two house owners have not
made such requests If any of the houses
are abated as nuisances, the civil
complaints request that the "furniture
and fixtures be sold
A hearing is sch«xluled for April 5 to
determine whether other action a nnst
the occupants should be taken
Capsule news
Franklin House saved
The Athens-Clarke County Heritage Foundation has announced that the $75,000
necessary to purchase the historic Franklin House from its local owners and save
it from demolition has been raised and is in the bank The sale will be closed on
March 30 and the foundation has "several options" regarding future use of the
structure, according to a spokesman for the foundation
Huff requests increase
Clarke County Sheriff H T i Tommy > Huff announced plans last week to request
a funding increase from the Clarke County Commission. If approved, the increase
could provide $75,000 more than last year’s budget
The request stems from the recent surge in robberies, burglaries and other
crimes in the area. Huff said He is expected to ask for 25 more deputies and
officers (presently there are 25» and the reduction of working hours for sworn
deputies from 48 to 40 hours
Huff plans to submit the request to the commission for deliberation by next
Monday
Registration certificate pick-up
Students who have not received their certificate of registration may pick up their
certificates at the Coliseum this week from 10 a m to 4 p m.
PE sites announced
Women's riflery. archery, noncoed bowling and tennis classes will meet for their
first class at the women's physical education building Women’s golf and coed
bowling classes will meet at their regular activity centers
Lance here Thursday
Bert Lance, a candidate for governor of Georgia, will be in Athens Thursday and
will speak at Demostheman Hall at 7:30 p m The speech is open to all students and
is sponsored by the Demosthenian Society.
R&B staffers wanted
The Red and Black will hold a meeting Sunday at 8 p m for anyone interested in
working 1 mi jin aspret ot thr newspaper The meeting will t*- in 1 k) Journalism