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T? Hi VENIN GOOD p Vj
By Qnlmbjr Meltoa
“I wouldn’t have the responsi
bility of being the President of
the United States, with all the
decisions he has to make and all
the criticism that is heaped on
his head,” one hears such com
ment frequently.
Then the party who is glad he
is not President usually adds
something like this, “But back
in the ‘good old days' it wasn’t
like it is now. The Presidents
were respected and honored and
there was little or no criticism
of him.”
How wrong could they be!
Today is the birth anniversary
of the first President of the Uni
ted States — George Washing
ton — who often has been called
“First in War, First in Peace
and First in the Hearts of H is
Countrymen.” In fact before
Washington was elected pre
sident he was such a hero there
were many who wanted to
make this nation a monarchy
and crown George Washington
King George First. Washington,
however refused to allow such
to be done. ,
Washington, during his first
term, guided the young nation
through its early problems, and
was re-elected for a second
time. The first President, early
in his second term, according to
a statement attributed to Tho
mas Jefferson “flew into one
those passions when he cannot
command himself, brought on by
the personal abuse which had
been bestowed on him.” So bit
ter had been the attacks on Pre
sident Washington that he is said
to have cried, that he has “re
pented only once that he had
retired at the end of his
term, and that has been every
minute since.” He also said
God, I would rather be in my
grave than in my present
tion. I would rather be on my
farm than be made emperor of
the world.” (And yet his enem
ies were charging that he was
plotting to become King George
First.) The first President “saw
in every move by his political
enemies attempts to insult him.”
So being President of the Uni
ted States has never been what
one might call a carefree, hap
py, enjoyable life.
So whep jne feels inclined to
criticise the President, espec
ially if one does not possess the
full information that is available
to the man in the White House,
let one sympathize with him ra
ther than bitterly criticise him.
Probably Lyndon B, Johnson,
at times when he lays awake at
night wondering what he should
do, would gladly swap places
with millions of other Americans
who can enjoy a simpler life and
who do not have to be on his
toes every minute of the day
and night.
Being President is no easy job
—and we for one are glad the
Presidental lightning never hit
this Georgia Cracker.
— * —
During our lifetime we have
known but one President who
seemed to thoroughly enjoy be
ing chief executive — William
Gamaliel Harding, a senator
from Ohio'before he was elect
ed president. He was a fine look
ing man and had been a good
senator. But he had been push
ed forward into the presidency,
easily defeating the Cox-Roose
velt ticket, largely on the Lea
gue of Nations issue, and the
men who elected him wanted
and in some instances got “their
pound of flesh.” Harding trust
ed too much those he thought
were his friends, and when he
woke up to the fact that “they
were playing him for a sucker”
it was too late. He died before
his term was out, disillusioned
as to the joys of being Presi
dent. There were rumors at the
time of his death that he “was
disposed of because he had made
up his mind to ‘clean house’ and
get rid of his ‘friends’ who had
made a sucker out of him."
Country Parson
i
“Tomorrow’s big prob
lems always will be made
up of little things which
could have been solved to
day.”
GRIFFIN
DAILY NEWi
Established 1871 Griffin, Go., 30223, Tuesday, February 22,1966 Vol. 95 No. 43
6 Killed In Fiery
Calif.
By FRANK SIS
United Press International
OCEANSIDE. Calif. (UPI) —
Gieyhound driver Thomas Har
bert of Los Angeles was driving
northbound on U.S. 101. Patchy
fOg obliterated the steep hills of
the Camp Pendleton Marine
base to his right and the
Pacific Ocean to his left At
times, even the sometimes
curving highway was visible for
only 200 feet.
When the bus was about 10
miles north of this city and
about 80 miles southeast of Los
Angeles, Harbert noticed sever
al cars had stopped by the side
of the road because of a
collision involving apparent
injuries. He stopped his bus and
started setting out flares along
the highway.
Then began an incredible
chain of events which left a
half dozen people dead, at least
that many seriously injured,
scores of motor vehicles
wrecked and caused a traffic
jam involving thousands of
automobiles.
The 13-mile stretch of four
lane divided highway is known
as “Slaughter Alley” because
of prior fatal accidents. Only
one emergency telephone is
located in the area.
Stops Auto Trailer
Harbert decided to cross the
highway to flag down a
southbound vehicle and dis
patch its driver to telephone
authorities. He stopped an
automobile transport trailer
loaded with seven cars.
California highway patrolmen
later said they discovered that
the trailer truck driver had left
the back of his vehicle
protruding 3 feet, 4 inches into
the right or outer lane when he
stopped.
To avoid hitting the trans
port, a southbound auto
changed lanes in front of a
Grand Exalted Ruler
Of Elks Sets Visit
R. Leonard Bush of Inglewood,
Cal., Grand Exalted Ruler of the
Benevolent and Protective Or
der of Elks, will attend the ses
sions of the Georgia Elks Asso
ciation in Griffin March 19—20.
Bill Ramsey, Exalted Ruler of
Griffin Elks Lodge, announced
today.
Grand Exalted Ruler Bush
and his wife will be honored at
a reception and dinner March 19.
They will arrive that aftenoon
escorted by Past Grand Exalted
Ruler Robert G. Puitt of Atlan
ta and Mrs. Pruitt. The nation
al head of the 1,400,000 member
fraternity will be principal spea
ker at a joint meeting of the
Elks and their wives March 20.
Mr. Bush has long been promi
nent in national and state E 1 k
activities. He - as finishing a
five-year term on the Board of
Grand Trustees, the last year as
chairman, when he was elected
to head the Order at its 101st
Grand Lodge Convention in Mia
mi Beach, Fla., last July.
He served as president of the
California Elks Association and
four years as head of the Asso
ciation’s physically handicapped
children program.
Mr. Bush recently retired from
management of a lumber com
pany when he disposed of his in
terest in it, but he is still active
Grif finite Friend Of Nimitz
Admiral Wrote He Planned
To Make Army His Career
The United States lost one of
its great military leaders and
war heroes Sunday when Fleet
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz died
at the age of 80.
It was a personal loss for L. C.
Connell of 118 West Chappell st
reet.
Mr. Connell, a retired private
investigator, came to know and
respect Adm. Nimitz during
World War Two while he worked
in the Pacific area as a civilian.
He met Adm. Nimitz several
times during and after the war.
Mr. Connell corresponded With
Adm. Nimitz at least a dozen
times.
"Most of the letters and cards
have been lost,” Mr. Connell
said today. However, Mr. Con
nell had a handwritten letter
from the admiral.
The letter, written on N e w
Year’s Day 1958, was in answer
to a letter that Mr. Connell wrote
tanker truck. The truck driver
swerved to his left and struck
the middle divider—cables at
tached to poles to prevent
headon collision. This caused
the gasoline tanker to halt
abruptly on the inside or left
lane. Now the two lanes were
blocked, setting the stage for a
series of fiery collisions.
A Chevrolet Oorvalr contain
ing a man and pregnant woman
wedged itself between the two
trucks. A 1955 Chevrolet and
huge grocery van joined the
mess and the gasoline tanker
exploded in flames.
Jaycees Ask
City-County
Building Study
The Griffin Jaycees adopted
a resolution Monday night call
ing on the city and county com
missioners to appoint five men
each to a committee to study
municipal building needs here.
The Jaycees said they would
seek to get the commissioners to
appoint the joint committee to
look into details that would be
involved in such buildings.
Mayor Louis Goldstein has
called for a city-county adminis
tration building to replace the
present city hall, courthouse and
jail buildings.
He made the suggestion in
speeches to civic clubs earlier in
the year.
The mayor also has called on
federal government authori
ties to build a new post office in
Griffin.
in connection with banking inter
ests.
Man Of Year
■
Due By Feb. 28
Bill Ramsey, president of the
Griffin Exchange Club, today re
minded Griffin and Spalding Co
unty citizens that they have un
til midnight Monday to get their
nominations in for Man of the
Year.
Nominations must be postmark
ed before that time to be eligible
for consideration.
They may be mailed to the
Chamber of Commerce office.
The nominations will be kept
in a safe sealed and will not be
opened until a committee of ci
vic leaders meets March 3 to se
lect a man of the year.
The committee will be made
up of representatives from civic
clubs and other community 01 -
ganizations invited to participate.
The man selected will be ho
nored at the March 15 meeting
of the Exchange Club.
This is an annual project spon
sored by the Exchange Club.
the admiral, suggesting that
he (Adm. Nimitz) write an auto
biography about his career.
Adm. Nimitz said in his letter
to Mr. Connell that he apprecia
ted the suggestion.
He continued:
“I am leaving to my four
children the task of writin„ my
biography as a joint project —
and they not only have the abil
ity — but all the information
they need.
“I have, however, prepared a
very brief sketch of how I hap
pened to join the Navy.”
Adm. Nimitz enclosed a copy
of the sketch.
The admiral wrote:
“Fifty-seven years ago in the
small town of Kerrville, Texas,
a 15-year-old boy worked fever
ishly with his algebra, geogra
phy, history, geometry, and
grammar, fired with the deter
mination to win an appointment
Griffin Eagles Go After 1
Region Crown Tonight
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1,000 Cong Die
Troops of the 1st Cavalry 2nd Brigade were flown into the mountains southwest
of Bong Son by helicopter to begin a cleanup operation following the very suc
cessful Operation Eagle’s Claw. A U. S. military spokesman in Saigon announced
that more than 1,000 Communists were killed in the clean up of the Bong Son
area.
Viet Cong
In Point Blank Fight
By MICHAEL T. MALLOY
United Press Intersational
SAIGON (UPI) —U.S. 1st
Infantry Division troops search
ing for an estimated two
regiments of Viet Cong Just
north of Saigon ran into an
ambush in dense underbrush
strewn with booby traps today
and engaged a main Viet Cong
force in fierce, point-blank
fighting.
The attack came shortly
after the troopers uncovered an
underground Viet Cong hospital
and headquarters. Two slightly
built GI’s slithered into the tiny
opening leading to the network
of underground tunnels and
fought it out with Communist
guards.
The “Big Red One” troopers
moved out Monday on Opera
tion Mastiff to clear the
guerrilla forces out of the
jungles and rubber plantations
about 30 miles northwest of
Saigon. Intelligence reports had
indicated a sizeable force
operating there.
They encountered little opposi
tion until late today when the
main force opened fire on
elements leading the sweep.
As the Americans tried to
pull back and call in artillery
fire, the guerrillas touched off
mines.
Take VC Stronghold
To the north, near Bong Son
as a cadet at the U. S. Military
Academy at West Point."
Cong. James L. Slaydon of Te
xas later notified the young boy
that he didn’t have an appoint
ment to the military academy
but had a vacancy for the Na
val Academy.
Adm. Nimitz said in the sket
ch: “I must admit I had never
heard of the Naval Academy."
He continued:
“Although I set my sights on
an Army career, circumstances,
over which I had no control, di
verted me to the Navy. I am
glad it turned out that way. The
Navy has been my life, and it
will continue to be my life as
long as life is left in me.”
In the letter to Mr. Connell,
Adm. Nimitz said:
”1 must, in honesty, inform you
that the hero of Midway was
Adm. R. A. Spruance, while I
acted as head coach, calling
signals from the sidelines.”
on the South China Sea coast,
U.S. 1st Air Cavalry troops
overran a Communist strong
hold and found 38 dead
guerrillas. The “Air Horsemen”
had been trying for four days
to take the stronghold, situated
in a series of heavily jungled
hills dubbed the “Little Iron
Triangle.” Each time they had
been beaten off by fanatic Viet
Cong who launched screaming
attacks and laid down heavy
automatic weapons fire.
But when they stormed the
defenses today, following a B52
bombing raid, they found only
bodies. Artilery had pounded
Youth Shoots Fixe
Civil Rights Pickets
By ALVIN BENN
United Press International
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (UPI)
— A white youth, angered
because his car was blocked by
civil rights pickets, shot five
Negroes at a supermarket
Monday night and then drove to
police headquarters and surren
dered, police said. None of the
Negroes was seriously wound
ed.
Police said the youth, identi
fied as Emory Warren McGow
en, 23, would be charged with
assault with intent to murder
and assault with a deadly
weapon.
McGowen was lodged in city
Jail. A blonde riding with him
at the time of the shooting was
questioned by police and sent
home.
Police Maintain Order
A crowd of about 100 Negroes
gathered outside the Liberty
Supermarket after the shooting,
but squads of shotgun-armed
police maintained order.
The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth,
an official of Dr. Martin Luther
King’s Southern Christian Lead
ership Conference (SCLC),
talked to the milling Negroes
through a bullhorn. He said the
incident would be protested.
“It’s wrong for white folks to
shoot down Negro folks just for
marching,” said Shuttlesworth.
“We’re going to march tonight
and we’ll keep on marching."
There was no demonstration
Monday night but Shuttlesworth
said a march would form today
at the supermarket, located in
a Negro neighborhood but
patronized by customers of
both races.
Three Hospitalized
Three of the five Negroes
the heavily fortified area for
four days.
Stone Quarry
Planed Here
Dixie Lime and Stone Co. to
day was issued a permit to con
struct a $5,000 building to ope
rate a stone quarry here. It will
be located on the south side of
County Line road between U. S.
19 and Carver road.
Spokesmen said today that the
concern hopes to produce stone
here to be used in construction
of several highway projects in
this area.
shot were admitted to Universi
ty Hospital with pistol wounds.
They were Alberta Tate, 56,
Willie Andrews, 32, and William
James Maxwell, 32. Two
others, Douglas Murray, 15,
and Simon Armstrong, 70, were
treated in the hospital emergen
cy room and released.
Man Shot In
Shoulder At
Truck Stop
A Spalding County truck stop
operator today swore out a war
rant against a Forest Park man
charging him with assault with
intent to murder, following a
shooting at the establishment
on the North Expressway early
this morning.
Sheriff’s Deputies Gray Pin
son and Jack Taylor investiga
ted the incident.
Johnny Knowles, operator of
the truck stop, was shot in the
shoulder with what he believes
was a 25 automatic pistol. He
was taken to the Griffin-Spald
ing Hospital, treated and dis
missed
Knowles said he chased Page
in a truck after the shooting but
lost him. Deputies said that six
bullet holes were found in the
vehicle.
Knowles told officers the
shooting followed an argument.
The incident occurred about
1:15 this morning ar.d sheriff’s
officials were called to the tru
uck stop about 3 a.m.
Officials said they would try
to locate Page in Forest Park
today.
Beat Briarcliff
64-62 In Semis
By ROGER DIX
Those “little old country boys
with the black shoes” made be
lievers out of doubters Monday
night when they beat the Barons
from Briarcliff 64-62 to win a
berth in the State AAA Tourna
ment and advance to the finals
of the 4-AAA playoff.
The Griffin Eagles, dubbed the
“Country boys with the black
shoes” by Briarcliff, left Alex
ander Memorial Coliseum, with
a standing ovation from several
thousand fans ringing in their
ears.
For all practical purposes, the
two points might as well been a
hundred. They did exactly what
a hundred would have done, as
sured the Eagles a berth in the
State Tournament, put them in
the finals of the 4-AAA Tourna
ment and reduced Briarcliff to
consolation status.
Even though Griffin went into
the crucial match with a 28-3 re
cord, many “experts”, especial
ly those from the DeKalb County
area, didn’t believe the Eagles
belonged in the same tournament
with the Barons. Some even
openly stated Griffin got its fine
record by playing weak teams.
Before the game was over the
Eagles had convinced all doubt
ers they were a fine team, that
they not only belonged in a Tri
ple-A tournament, but deserved
serious consideration as a title
contender.
Griffin’s victory over the fine
Briarcliff team, which is led by
ex-Griffinlte Ronald Welch,
didn’t come easy.
It took a driving lay-up by gu
ard Frank Hinson with five se
conds left for the Eagles to write
the final score in the tourna
ment records.
It was Hinson’s field goal that
finally beat the Barons. But it
was some terrific play by Rich
ard Turner, Larry Webb, Randy
Waller, Tommy Lynch and Hin
son, wno met and overcame ev
ery challenge thrown at them.
Richard Turner was the toast
of the tournament in the first
half.
“Dude”, as he is known, hit
eight out of nine field goal at
tempts in the first half. He miss
ed only two or three during the
entire game.
Turner stunned the Barons by
pumping in 17 points in the first
half.
Turner’s mastery of the bas
ket in the first quarter kept Grif
fin ahead the entire first quar
ter, except for two brief mo
ments when Briarcliff tied the
score.
When Briarcliff decided it was
time to stop Turner by putting
two men on him, Griffin’s bas
ketball genuis, Chris Jones, or,
dered his team to feed to Larry
Webb.
Webb responded by hitting
three straight field goals to
open the third period. This left
Briarcliff baffled but it didn’t
stop the Barons.
Briarcliff kept coming back.
With Turner and Webb draw
ing most of Briarcliff’s defense,
Randy Waller took over. Once
in the see-saw third period he
hit six straight points to bring
Griffin from a two point decifit
to a narrow lead.
By the time Briarcliff decid
ed to spend a little time guard
ing Waller, Tommy Lynch be
gan hitting the net. Lynch, who
made five points in Griffin’s
red-hot first quarter, made four
key points in the wild last quar
ter.
Hinson had scored only four in
the first three preiods but he
made it for it with some brilli
ant floor play and defense.
Briarcliff tied the score at 62-
62 with 10 seconds left.
Coach Jones called time and
mapped out Griffin’s strategy.
The strategy was to work the
ball to Turner proved he
wasn’t double-teamed. Briarcliff
was expecting the move. They
double-teamed Turner.
Hinson took the second alter
native.
Hinson took the ball out of
bounds. He threw in Webb. Webb
tossed it right back to Hinson.
Hinson saw Turner and Webb
covered.
He drove completely under
goal and layed up the
basket. Five seconds
left on the Big Dome clock
when the ball zipped the net.
Briarcliff didn’t have time to
get off another shot.
Basketball fans around the De
Kalb area called Griffin’s vic
tory an upset.
But Coach Jones and his spiri
ted band of Eagles never once
thought they would lose.
Coach Jones, who master
minded Griffin’s amazing vic
tory last Saturday over Druid
Hills decided to meet Briarcliff
at the Big Dome and “just
have an old fashion shoot-out.”
That was his strategy for Bri
arcliff.
“We didn’t think Briarcliff was
in as good physical condition as
we were. So we decided to shoot
it out with them.
“I can’t take credit for the vic
tory. The boys did it. They made
the baskets and played the defen
se that put us in the State Tour
nament. Boy, I’m happy”, Coach
Jones said this morning.
Coach Jones called Briarcliff
a fine team.
He was especially happy with
the tremendous game played by
Ronald Welch, who he still con
siders as one of “my boys.”
“The boys all like Ronald and
they wanted to play against him.
He played a fine ball game and
almost blocked the shot that won
for us,” Coach Jones said.
The Briarcliff coach had said
Welch was a better basketball
player than Larry Webb.
When asked about the state
ment this morning, Coach Jones
said: “We’ll, just let the records
speak for Webb."
The lead changed 23 times in
the crucial battle and the score
was tied 16 times.
However, Griffin had the ad
vantage most of the time, in
cluding the last few minutes
when time became a key factor.
Larry Webb put in a layup
with four minutes and three se
conds left in the fourth.
Griffin got the ball after a
Briarcliff shot was short. They
froze it from 3:20 to 1:57. Grif
fin lost the ball.
Briarcliff then did something
many fans haven’t figured out
yet. Although they trailed by
two points, the Barons held the
ball over a minute without tak
ing a shot.
Finally, with 10 seconds left,
the score was tied.
That set the stage for Hinson’s
game-ending goal.
Griffin returns to the Big
Dome tonight to play Southwest
DeKalb for the region cham
pionship. The game will start at
9 o’clock.
Concord Firemen
Extinguish
Blaze On Train
Concord’s Volunteer Fire De
partment was called into action
Monday afternoon when a train’s
crew was unable to extinguish
an electrical fire.
Volunteer Fire Chief A.P. Dunn
said seven men in the Volunteer
Fire Department answered the
call with the unit’s 500-gallon
pumper truck.
The engineer of the train asked
for aid when the crew was un
able to put the fire out with fire
extinguishers.
The train stopped at the east
city limits of the west Pike Co
unty town when the wiring blaz
ed. Dunn said the crewmen had
stopped the train in town and
worked on the wiring, but go:
only to the city limits.
Weathers
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN
AREA — Partly cloudy and little
change in temperature tonight
and Wednesday.
LOCAL WEATHER — High
today 56, low today 35, high Mon
day 58, low Monday 34, sunrise
Wednesday 7:13, sunset Wed
nesday 6:29.