Newspaper Page Text
Jj T? GOOD
VEND* \jr
By Qtnmbjr Mdtoa
Tuesday, Governor Sanders,
In his State of the State address
to the General Assembly, called
for understanding and coopera
tion by urban and rural com
munities. Working together cit
ies and rural communities can
help each other and can build a
better and more prosperous Ge
orgia.
Thursday, Griffin Mayor Lewis
Goldstein, speaking to the Rot
ary Club of Griffin, also called
for cooperation between city and
county and went Into details as
to what the two governments,
Griffin and Spalding County,
should undertake as joint pro
jects.
His speech, reported in full in
Thursday’s paper, as the lead
story, for his ideas are well
worth studying, includes among
other suggestions building a
city-county building to house
both governments, a joint jail, a
county courthouse, etc.
The mayor is correct in say
ing that the present courthouse,
city hail and county jail are out
moded, are expensive to keep
up, and are too inadequate for
a growing city and county. He
suggests that the old buildings
be sold and a modem building,
in which both city and county
activities would be operated, be
built.
Then he told the Rotarlans
that he would favor a bond Issue
for the project: and suggested
that Spalding County be “land
lord” of the building, with Grif
fin renting quarters the city
would need. He estimated that
such rentals would In time pay
off the bonds and their interest.
Mayor Goldstein’s ideas are
well worth studying: for Griffin
and Spalding County will con
tinue to grow, and as they grow,
♦he city and county governments
must gemSfil keep pace « they are to
be of service. - '
The new building, to replace
at least three present county
and city buildings, looks like a
pretty good way to growing “start keep
ing up” with the com
munity.
No one wants Griffin and Spal
ding to stand still — for once a
community starts this It’s not
long before that city and county
start to dry up.
There were other things Ma
yor Goldstein suggested that
are well worth considering. If
you have not thrown your
Thursday paper away suggest
you read that story once again.
Many people have called Good
Evening to tell him that they bad
gotten letters from local men in
Viet Nam thanking them for
Christmas cards, and letters,
and packages sent them by in
dividuals and organizations
here. Good Evening has gotten
eeveral such “thank you” let
ters; today he got one from a
sergeant with the 1st Cavalry.
Part of this letter Is well worth
passing on to our readers.
“It’s certainly nice to know
that folks back home are inter
ested in and concerned for you.
There seemed to have been a
trend among some to bum your
draft card and forget the boys
in Viet Nam. I don’t like being
here, but if being here will help
prevent this war from coming
to America and preserve free
dom for Americans, I’ll gladly
Btay here for the duration.”
Now that’s a statement from
a young man. a very young
man, who daily is exposed to the
dangers of war, not a statement
of some old timer, lika Good
Evening, whose chances of be
ing called back into the Army
are nil.
We’re glad that America has
millions more young folk who,
like this Griffin sergeant, are
willing to play their part that
“Americans remain free.”
Country Parson
iH
i
“It may take forever to
win men’s minds by per*
suasion—but that’s quick*
er than you can do it by
force.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
5-STAR WEEKEND EDITION
*
GRIFFIN
DAILY NEWS
Established 1871 Griffin, Ga., 30223, Sat. and Sun., Jan. 15-16, 1966 Vol. 95 No. 12
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MARCH OF DIMES AIRLIFT
(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo).
If Robert Jackson (r) rides in an airplane here Sunday during the special March
of Danes project, he’ll have to pay $3.42 for the trip. Weather permitting, the
Griffin - Spalding Airport here is cooperating with the March of Dimes by offer*
mg to ride people over the city for a penny for every pound they weigh. Mr. Jack*
son weighs in at 342. He is shown here with Jackie Simpson, polio victim herself
who is joining in boostmg the project. It will begin at 1 p. m. Sunday and con*
tinue through the afternoon. *
Army T akes Over
In Nigeria
LONDON (UPI) —The army
seized power today in the
African nation fit Nigeria and
toppled prime minister Sir
Abubakara Taf»wa Balewa in
bloodless coup, iffcwas reported.
Officials in Washington con
firmed that junior grade
Holiday Mail
Set Record Here
The Griffin post office handled
nearly two million pieces of mail
during the four-week Christmas
rush Postmaster John Hammond
reported today. The exact num
ber of pieces of mail was 1,920,
000.
During the same four weeks in
1964 the total was 1,730,000, an
increase of 190,000. Postal re
ceipts also showed a six percent
gain.
An interesting thing about the
Christmas mail was the fact that
fewer Christmas Cards were sent
this year than in years before.
But other mail and packages
more than offset this decrease.
The nearly two million pieces
of mail handled during the four
weeks does not tell the entire
story for there are four other
post offices in Spalding County,
Sunny Side, Pomona, Experi
ment and Orchard Hill.
Candy Mossier Trial
By CHARLES E. TAYLOR
United Press International
MIAMI (UPI) — Before she
married a millionaire Candy
Mossier did chores ran a Geor
gia farm, won a five-year bat
tle against paralytic polio, and
ran a modeling school.
As the wife of financial en
trepeneur Jacques Mossier,
she was his business associate
as well as a social queen. She
sat with him as a director of
one of his five banks.
She also found time to write
a song, "Love Me.”
In her own words, “the most
awful moment of my whole
life" came in the fifth hour of
June 30, 1964, when she walked
through her husband’s apart
ment and found him dead on
the dog’s mattress.
What may be the worst of
the ordeal Is still ahead for
Candace Weatherby Johnson
Mossier, blonde, vivacious and
starting to show her wrinkles.
On Monday she goes before
officers in Nigeria’s military
command swept Balewa from
power and put him under house
arrest in Lagos. A State
Department spokesman said
there were no reports of
fighting in Lagos, but “some
assassinations may have taken
place in the provinces.”
British Prime Minister Ha
rold Wilson directed that he be
immediately informed of all
developments in the country, a
member of the British Com
monwealth which he left only
three days ago.
Tornado Alert
In S. Georgia
ATLANTA (UPI) — The At
lanta Weather Bureau today is
sued a tornado watch for por
tions of southern Georgia, nor
thern Florida and extreme
southeast Alabama.
The tornado watch was effec
tive until 11 a.m. EST, the bu
reau said.
It said a few severe thunder
storms with hail and damaging
winds also were forecast.
According to the Weather Bu
reau, the tornado watch area
included the section along and
50 miles either side of a line
from 60 miles north of Panama
City, Fla., to 30 miles north of
Brunswick, Ga.
Circuit Judge George E. Schulz
to stand trial, accused as a
murderess.
Nephew Also Charged
She will not be alone. Beside
her will be Melvin Lane Pow
ers, at 23 a man roughly half
her age, with dyed black hair
he likes to wear long and
pocked skin. He Is big, dark
and sullen, seemingly the tem
peramental direct opposite of
Candy. He is her nephew, the
son of her sister.
The state says it was Powers
who bashed and stabbed the
life out of 69-year-old Mossier,
“because of his violent love of
Candace and his passionate
hate of Mossier, because Moss
ier was interfering with his re
lationhip with his aunt, Can
dace.”
Candy and Powers are equal
ly charged in a grand jury in
.dictment with first degree mur
der, killing “by premediated
design.” The accusation is that
Candy helped plan it.
Unconfirmed reports here
said Nigerian Foreign Minister
Jaja Wachuku also was placed
under house arrest.
In Paris, reliable reports
from West Africa said the
army had seized power in
Lagos and arrested Balewa.
The reports said the army
attacked to “save the unity of
the country and prevent a
further deterioration of the
political situation.”
The reported coup was the
third military takeover in
Africa since the new year. The
military seized power in the
French-speaking Central Afri
can Republic Jan. 1 and in
Upper Volta Jan. 3.
Freight Cars With
Coal Are Derailed
COLUMBUS, Ga. (UPI) —
Three cars loaded with coal de
railed just as a Central of
Georgia freight was pulling out
of town Friday when one car
jumped the tracks.
A power line was knocked
down but there was little dam
age and no injuries.
MAJORTTY RULE
W O L V E R HAMPTON, En
gland (UPI) —The local council
is dropping number 13 from
street addresses because of
complaints from superstitious
residents.
Both defendants have pleaded
Innocent.
Judge Schulz expects the trial
to last six to eight weeks.
In the attention being given
It, the trial may rank with the
Cleveland trial of Dr. Samuel
Sheppard and the Los Angeles
trials in 1959-61 of Carole Tre
goff and Dr. Bernard Finch. In
both the doctors’ wives were
the victims, and in both there
were convictions.
Dog Only Witness
Tie only known witness to
the slaying of graying, good
looking Jacques Mossier, be
sides the killer, was his boxer
dog, Rocky.
Other tenants of the apart
ment house on the suburban is
land of Key Biscayen heard
Rocky’s barking and a scream
from the $170-a - month apart
ment Mossier rented. They
placed the time about 3 a.m.
June 30. The woman who man
aged the apartment reported
seeing a shadowy figure come
Bond Supporters
To Keep Up Drive
/ w*
First Baptist
Eyes March 20
For Dedication
The First Baptist Church hop
es to begin using its new sanctu
ary for worship the first Sunday
in March.
Tentative plans call for dedi
cation services to be held Mar
ch 20.
The church was delayed about
three months in moving into the
new sanctuary by a fire last
fall. The blaze damaged an ad
ministrative section joining the
new sanctuary with present edu
cational buildings.
51 Killed In
Plane Crash
CARTAGENA, Colombia
(UPI) —A Colombian airliner
plunged into the shark-infested
Caribbean Sea Friday night
five minutes after taking off
from this northwestern seaport,
probably killing 51 of the 59
persons aboard.
Launches from the naval
base here criss-crossed the
crash area for hours in a
search for survivors directed
by U.S. and Colombian planes,
overcast skies and rough seas
forced an overnight suspension
of the search at 1 a.m. **>■
The four-engined, propeller
driven DC4 sank almost imme
diately after crashing into the
sea, and many of its passen
gers are believed to have been
trapped in the cabin.
The first survivors to tell
their stories spoke of suddenly
finding themselves in the
water, indicating that they
were thrown clear when the
plane crashed.
Rainfall Over
Two Inches Here
More than two inches of rain
fell in the Griffin area during
the last 24-hour reporting per
iod, according to Horace West
brooks, weather observer.
Light rain fell most of the day
Friday and continued through
out the night and early today.
The forecast for the area said
the rain would end late t h is af
ternoon.
Sunday’s outlook is for cloudy
and warmer weather.
Weather:
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN
AREA — Rain ending late this
afternoon. Sunday partly cloudy
and warmer.
LOCAL WEATHER — High
today 48, low today 37, high Fri
day 48, low Friday 41, rainfall
over two inches; sunrise Sunday
7:39, sunset Sunday 5:55.
from the direction of the Moss
ier rooms and drive away
quickly in a light colored car.
It was not until after 4 a.m.,
however, that the crime was
discovered, by Candace, her
daughter Rita by a previous
marriage, and three of her fos
ter children. They said at one
of several pre-trial hearings
they had gone out about 1:30
a.m. to mail bills for which
they had written checks assem
bly-line fashion earlier in the
evening — while Mossier teased,
“You’ll break me.”
Candace developed a mi
graine headache and they
stopped at a hospital ip Miami
to get medicine. It was not un
usual, Rita testified, for the,
children to be up so late. June
wa s to be a month of family
vacationing before the kids
were sent off to school in Swit
zerland.
.Body Discovered
Rita was the first to find
Mossier. His body was face-
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(Jim & Joe’s Photo).
Rita Waller is shown being crowned “Homecoming
Queen” of Pike County High by Peggy McCullough,
last year’s queen. The ceremony was held in the
Pike County High gym Friday night.
Bedgood Opposed
To School Measures
ATLANTA (UPI)—Rep. Ran
dall Bedgood is trying to per
suade Gov. Carl Sanders to
abandon two new measures of
his education improvement pro
gram because they would prove
too costly to taxpayers.
Bedgood, considered a possi
ble candidate for lieutenant
governor, said that because of
a recent Supreme Court de
cision he does not believe the
measures are needed. They
would bring far more revenue
than first intended.
Both of the Sanders’ pro
posals are for constitutional
amendments, one to allow rais
ing the school tax rate above
down on the rubber pallet
where the dog usually slept,
wrapped in an orange blanket.
There were 39 stab wounds,
and the skull was smashed.
The blanket had been pierced
only three times, leading police
to believe the killer wrapped up
the victim and then plunged his
weapon into the body again. No
weapon has been found.
This is what the state says it
has against Candy and Powers:
—Fingerprints, a palm print
and eyewitnesses to put Powers
in Miami at the time of the kill
ing, in the Mossier apartment
the afternoon before the mil
lionaire was killed, in a bar at
the end of the causeway to Key
Biscayne that night asking for
an empty, king-size soft drink
bottle, and then on a plane
back to Houston when he had
come a few hours after the
slaying.
20 mills if need be to meet
legal school support obligations,
and the other to raise the maxi
mum bonding capacity from 7
per cent of the total tax digest
to 10 per cent.
These measures were pro
posed for the sake of counties
where assessment valuations of
taxable property were drastical
ly lower than actual market
value.
Since the measures were first
planned, .the Supreme Court has
ruled in effect that all taxable
property must be assessed on
a uniform rate across the state,
eliminating wide discrepancies
—from 5 per cent to 40 or more
per cent of actual market value.
Uniform Rate
The state revenue department
has chosen 40 per cent as the
uniform rate and will base this
not on the valuation made by
local assessors but on estimates
made by the state auditor.
Bedgood said the application
of Sanders’ two amendments
under these circumstances
would be drastic. He has cited
many examples to show why,
Including the following:
In Fulton, with a local assess
ment valuation in 1964 of $27.2
million, the auditor’s valuation
for 1966 will be $150 million.
These apply to the county
school system, not the property
of the entire county.
A tax boost to 20 mills in
1964 would boost the total taxes
collected for schools by $544,029.
But under the court ruling the
boost, If made this year, would
be $3 million.
In Chattahoochee County, with
the lowest total school property
tax digest for schools in the
state, the 1964 total was $739,-
107. A 20 mill levy would have
boosted the tax to $13,782.
Two Troopers
Injured In
Capitol Scuffle
By AL KUETTNER
United Press International
ATLANTA (UPI) — Support
ers of Negro Rep.-elect Julian
Bond, barred from the Georgia
legislature because of his veiws
on Viet Nam, were scheduled
to hold another demonstration
today at the state Capitol.
About 100 placard - waving
demonstrators tried to push
their way past state troopers
following an orderly two-hour
demonstration Friday. Officers
stopped them from entering the
Capitol building but two troop
ers were injured slightly in the
scuffle.
Another group of about 150
demonstrators managed to get
into city hall singing “You can
do it Julian Bond, you can do
it.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
led the mass march to the
Capitol and told the crowd
there was no Justification for
the legislature’s action denying
Bond his seat in the House.
One of King’s aides, Rev. Ralph
Abernathy, who also spoke,
threatened to “fill the House
chamber” with demonstrators if
Bond is not seated.
Troopers Hurt
Col. Lowell Conner, head of
the State Patrol, said a ser
geant was slammed in the face
by a woman’s purse and anoth
er trooper was Injured in the
hand in a brief skirmish that
took place as marchers tried to
force their way into the Capi
tol. No arrests were made.
Conner said his troopers
would be fully prepared “from
now on.” He said troopers
would be armed with billy clubs
and would wear hard hats at
future demonstrations.
The head of the State Patrol
also said his headquarters re
ceived a bomb threat Friday.
He said the caller told his of
fice the bomb was in the Capi
tol building but be did not be
lieve it because the building
was under heavy guard all day.
Court Action
Meanwhile, on the legal front,
U. S. District Judge Lewis R.
Morgan ordered the defendants
in the Bond case to show why
the Negro should not be seat
ed in the Georgia House. Lewis
ordered the five legislators who
filed motions calling for Bond’s
ouster from the House to ap
pear in court “at an early
date” before a three-judge pan
el.
It was an unusual ruling since
federal courts, with the excep
tion of reapportionmem, do not
interfere with the operation of
state legislatures.
Morgan also ordered the
plaintiffs—Bond, Dr. King and
Mr. and Mrs Arel Keyes—to
appear. Mrs. Keyes and King
are registered voters in Bond’s
136th district and joined in the
court action.
Griffin Man
Suffers Wound
Coon Hunting
Lee Roy Goodman, 24-year-old
Griffin man, suffered a pistol
wound in a coon hunting accident
Friday night near Jackson in
Butts County.
He underwent surgery at the
Griffin-Spalding County Hospital
early this morning. Mr. Good
man first was taken to the Sylvan
Grove Hospital at Jackson then
transferred to the Griffin-Spald
ing Hospital.
His condition was listed as fair
this morning.
His mother said that he, Robert
Scott and Chandellar Pitts, also
of Griffin were hunting together
when the accident occurred
Mr. Goodman is employed by
a refrigerating firm In Atlanta.