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By Quimby Melton *
Noticed a story that tells of an
American soldier — Army Spec.
4 Paniel Fernandez, sacrificing
his life to save th^- lives of four
of his buddies. This soldier fell
on a Viet Cong grenade which
had been thrown into his squad.
Fernandez smothered the gre
nade as it exploded, keeping the
metal fragments from wounding
the others. T -nandez has been
recommended by his division for
the medal of honor. He deserves
It for “no greater love hath a
man than he lay down his life
for a friend.”
This story recalls to mind a
similiar heroic action during
World War One. Tt concerns a
Captain Kirk Newell, one-time
Auburn quarterback who was on
every sports writers “All South
ern” footb. T team when he was
a senior at Auburn. Captain Ne
well was overseas with the 325th
Inf., of the 82nd Division. This
was the same division that had
among it-; 40,000 men Sgt. York
who was declared the greatest
hero of the American Expedition
Force. And -without detracting
one bit from Sgt. York, may this
old* ner say in his opinion Kirk
Newell was as great a hero as
York.
— + —
1 Kirk Newell had been appoint
ed grenade instructor for the
325th Infantry. The outfit was
back in a rest section and many
replacements had been sent to
take the place of men who had
been killed, wounded, or evacua
ted because of illness. The short
while we were in rest camp
Capt. Newell spent a lot of time
instructing replacements on how
to handle g^-nades. A trench,
^copied ed in the after fighting those that were us
area, had been
dug. It had all the winding fea
ture of an actual battle trench.
One day Newell had a squad
of replacements in the trench
teaching them how to pull the
pin of the grenade, count four
and then lob it out of the trench.
A ,S er ^ acticin K wifo some dum
py grenades live grenades were
used. Everything went just fine
until one of the men pulled the
pin, froze and the live grenade
dropped on the floor of the tren
ch. Captain Newell could have
stepped back into a safety zone,
but this would have left the oth
er men in the squad to get the
full force of the exploding gren
ade. But Newell fell on the gren
ade, Just as though it had been
a football fumble, during a game
between Auburn and Alabama.
The grenade exploded; hundreds
of sharp splinters of metal pene
trated his stomach — but n o t
another man was hurt.
i Actual fighting days for Capt.
Newell were over and he was
given several decorations and
after a long fight to live in hos
pitals in France he was return
ed to America. The last we heard
of Kirk Newell was that he was
in a government hospital in Tus
caloosa. He was crippled for life
and there was no chance for his
ever being physically fit ag
ain. A friend who had visited
Kirk Newell in the hospital
said “he still has that smile and
desire to help others."
We suggest to someone, who is
In a position to have it done, that
study of Kirk Newell’s Army re
cord in World War One should
entitle him to the greatest honor
his country can bestow on him
—the Congressional Medal of Ho
nor.
Speaking of Kirk Newel and
the 325th reminds this old-timer
of other famous Dixie athletics
who were in the outfit. One of
them was Capt. “Skut” Allen,
one of the greatest tackles Au
burn has ever had. Also we re
member Capt. Jake Taylor, an
all-Southem fullback from the
University of Alabama.
The last we heard of Tackle
Skut Allen he was in the veter
ans hospital in Tuscaloosa minus
a leg, shot away during the Ar
gonne fighting. The last we he
ard of Jake Taylor, he was lead
ing criminal lawyer in Birming
ham and had been badly crip
pled in an automobile wreck, la
ter dying from the injuries.
Weather:
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN
AREA — Mostly cloudy and
rather cold. Raining continuing
through tonight and Thursday
probably mixed with some light
snow tonight and early
day.
LOCAL WEATHER — Maxi
mum today 48, minimum today
33, maximum Tuesday 58,
imum Tuesday 35. Snowfall this
morning .01 of an inch.
Thursday 7.12 a.m., sunset
ursday 6:30 p.m.
GRIFFIN
DAILY NEWS
Established 1871
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(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo).
Griffin Student Wins
Dr. Guy Woodruff, (1) chairman of the district American Legion Oratorical con
test, congratulates Carl Presley, Griffin High student who won the district event
in Zebulon at Pike County High School. He competed against students from
Thomaston, Zebulon, Bamesville, Senoia and Macon. The Area One eleminations
will be held in Griffin at the school Auditorium March 1.
MP Slain At
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AUGUSTA, Ga. (UPI) — A
military policeman guarding the
main entrance to nearby Ft.
Gordon was shot in the mouth
and killed late Tuesday night
by two men also suspected of
holding up a nightspot, police
said.
Two suspects, identified as
construction workers, were cap
tured by Augusta policemen
who said they confessed both
the holdup and the murder.
They were identified as Ray
mond de Jong, 22, of Augusta
and Clyde Madison Strickland,
of near Old Fort, N. C.
The name of the slain MP
was not immediately released
by army authorities, pending
notification of kin.
Sheriff Paul Grant of Aiken
County, S. C., said the men
held up a nightspot called th e
Crow’s Nest about nine miles
north of Augusta. The robbers
forced eight persons to lie on
the floor and fled with a small
amount of money.
An hour later, the military
policeman on duty at Ft. Gord
on’s Gate 1 was shot in the
mouth and killed.
Authorities flashed a descrip
tion of the suspect’s car and
De Jong and Strickland were
stopped in Augusta shortly after
midnight, about an hour after
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Wrecks On
Smouldering died wreckage marks the scene where six
in the latest traffic catastrophe on a stretch of
U.S. Highway 101 south of Los Angeles dubbed
“slaughter alley” for its grim record of fatal acci-
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Wednesday, February 23, 1966
the murder of the MP.
Following several hours of
questioning, police said the men
confessed both incidents but of
fered no reason for the slaying.
Both men have been charged
with murder. Police said the
suspects were employed by a
contractor doing construction
work at Ft. Gordon.
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“Look for perfection in
others — but don’t expect
it.”
dents. More than 100 automobiles were involved
and three tanker trucks exploded, spewing flaming
fuel over the site of the chain-reaction collisions.
City, County Okay
Study Committee
Much Equipment
Ordered For
Vo-Tech School
Equipment orders totaling
$339,315.87 have been placed for
I the new Vocational Technical Sc
hool building which is expected
to open this fall.
This was revealed Tuesday af
ternoon at a meeting of the ad
visory committee on business
education, one phase of the Vo
Tech program.
Edwin Langford, director of
the school, said that the state
had approved $434,064.18 for eq
uipment for the school. He said
purchase orders for equipment
for the heating and air condition
phase and the textile science
phase of the program still
must be ordered.
Work on the new building is
on schedule, Mr. Langford said.
He said he hopes it will be ready
for occupancy by the first of
July.
Mr. Langford said that the fir
st semester of work in the build
ing is scheduled to begin this
fall.
Classes in the Vo-Tech pro
gram are being taught tempor
arily in several improvised class
rooms in the community.
The new Vo-Tech building is
being constructed near the Spal-
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Operation Mop Up
1st Cavalry Division troops leap from a helicopter to join the mop-up operation
in South Viet Nam’s “little iron triangle” south of Bong Son. U. S. forces overran
the Viet Cong stronghold area after it had been pounded by bombers and four
days of artillery fire.
Snow, Sleet
Pelt Griffin
A mixture of snow and sleet
fell in Griffin this morning and
some patches collected across
the community.
The weather forecast for this
area said that the snow and sleet
would continue tonight and Th
ursday.
The forecast warned of pos
sible hazardous driving condi
tions.
Snow began to pelt down on
the Griffin community about 9
o’clock this morning. Later it
turned to a mixture of sleet and
snow.
Weather Observer Horace
Westbrooks estimated snowfall
at one hundredths of an inch.
See Eagles
In Action.
Pages 6, 8.
Vol. 95 No. 44
ding Junior High building com
plex.
Plenty Of Tags
Available Now
In Spalding
Ordinary George Imes. Jr.,
said today that he has a good
supply of “D” tags now and the
shortage is over.
He invited people with cars
needing this class of auto tag to
come by and pick up theirs be
fore the rush develops.
The office ran out of D tags a
few weeks ago but now it has
plenty.
Mr. Imes urged all Griffin and
Spalding residents to get their
tags before the March 31 dead
line. He expects a rush to deve
lop during the last few days be
fore the deadline.
People can avoid this by get
ting their tags now, Mr. Imes
said.
6 Women Die In
Fireworks Plant
DUNBAR, Pa. (UPI) —An
explosion ripped a fireworks
plant at the Keystone Manufac
turing Co. here today, killing
six women and injuring 10
other workers.
The injured—eight women
and two men—were taken to
nearby Connellsville State Hos
pital. The extent of their
injuries was not known immedi
ately.
The morning blast demo
lished a frame building, one of
six structures producing fire
works in this western Pennsyl
vania comm’’ ity of about 1,500
persons. Dunbar is about 38
miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
The force of the blast, felt as
far as three miles away,
damaged the five other struc
tures.
The dead and injured had
been working in the same
building. Officials said they
were mixing chemicals when
the explosion occurred.
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Killed
ARMY helicopter pilot
Capt. Albert M. Smith, Jr.,
27, son of United Press In
ternational’s White House
correspondent Merri man
Smith, was killed when his
craft hit a power line and
crashed about 10 miles
northeast of Saigon.
Merriman Smith, a native
Georgian and graduate of
the University of Georgia
where he studied journal
ism, has been senior White
House correspondent many
years. His by-line is fam
iliar to readers of the Grif
fin Daily News.
Pancake Sale
Set Saturday
The Griffin Kiwanis Club will
have its annual pancake day
Saturday.
Money raised will be used for
school luches for needy stu
dents.
All money paid for tickets will
go into the lunch program, ac
cording to the Kiwanis Club. The
club will pay for all expenses
involved in the project.
Members of the club will begin
serving pancakes at 6:30 a.m.
and continue throughout the day
through the evening meal.
They will be served at the Ru
ral-Urban Center at the Spald
ing County Ciurthouse.
Tickets are $1 for adults and
50 cents for children.
Members of the Kiwanis Club
have advance tickets on sale.
They may be purchased at the
door alsc
Will Name
10 People
To Do Job
Griffin and Spalding Commis
sioners agreed in a joint meet
ing Tuesday night to appoint a
committee of 10 people to study
building and other needs of this
growing community.
The commissioners got togeth
er in response to a resolution by
the Griffin Junior Chamber of
Commerce calling on them to
name the committee.
The Spalding County Commis
sioners met with the City Com
missioners at the city hall. It
was the regular meeting night
for the city board.
Brack Pound, president of the
Jaycees, read the resolution.
It asked for the city to appoint
five people and the county to ap
point five people to study the
possibility of a joint administra
tion building that would serve
the city and county.
Mayor Louis Goldstein has
suggested this in several speech
es this year. He suggested that
such a building cou’d replace the
present city hall, courthouse and
county jail.
The commissioners agreed to
sit together and draw up a 10
member committee.
David Elder, Chairma” of the
Spalding County Commission
ers, asked that the committee
also take a look at the overall
needs of the city and county.
This would include such things
as extension of water lines in the
county, the possible location of
a junior college here, the possi
bility of constructing a new lib
rary, and other services.
The city and county commis
sioners agreed that the commit
tee should take a look at a num
ber of needs for the community.
The commissioners plan to get
together soon and name the 10
member committee.
Chairman Elder of the County
Commissioners made it clear
that he did not go along 100 per
cent With all that was proposed
He said such new buildings
were desirable and would be as
sets to the community. But he
said that he did not feel there
was an immediate emergency
need for a new courthouse and
Jail.
These buildings are adequate
for the time being, Chairman El
der said.
He pointed out that he was
committed to work for extension
of water lines into county areas.
Such projects will increase the
county digest which will in turn
pay dividends and benefits in se
veral ways Mr. Elder added.
In other business handled at
the city commission meeting, the
Rev. C. Edward Davis, pastor of
the First Presbyterian Church,
asked the city to reconsider its
action on the Economic Oppor
tunity Act possibilities here.
The city voted not to appoint a
community action committee to
go into the program.
The Rev. Davis, one of the peo
ple to appear originally and ask
the city to consider such a com
mittee, asked the commissioners
to keep an ‘‘open mind” on the
matter.
The group that appeared origi
nally said it would like to have
a kindergarten program set up
under the “Head Start” phase of
the Economic Opportunity Act.
Consolidation of all regula
tions regarding the sale of beer
and wine in the city was approv
ed. The ordinances have been
amended a number of times.
The commissioners also put on
first reading an ordinance desig
ned to curb a teenage practice
known as ‘‘rolling a yard.” Tb*
ordinance would make it a ml
demeanor to mar the appear
ance of property, public or pri
vate, by throwing, placing or
otherwise putting paper, trash,
paint, signs, cans, bottles and
other such material on the pro
perty.
A number of Griffin homes re
cently have been victims of
‘‘lawn rolling.” This involves
among other things, the unroll
ing of toilet tissue on lawns.