Newspaper Page Text
E VENIN GOOD G
By Quimby Melton
Here’s another column hitting
the high spots of the week’s
news that some may want to clip
and mall to men and women in
the Armed Services.
Locally: Early Monday morn
ing many Griffinites saw a st
range green light and object in
the sky. Checking it was said to
have been a rocket test many
miles away.
Charles C. Goss, of Locust
Grove, celebrated his 103 birth
day with a party, cake and all,
at the Westbury Nursing Home
at Jenkinsburg. There were 103
lighted candles on the cake.
His wife, Frances, joined him
in the celebration.
Griffin funeral homes announ
ced they would continue ambu
lance service with a $5.00 fee
for local calls, and $15.00 for
trips to Atlanta.
Clifford Lee Taylor, corporal
with the Griffin Post Highway
Patrol, was elected president of
the Griffin Shrine Club, succeed
ing J. D. Gilmer, local grocery
man.
Richard Knight wrecked his
truck on highway 155 trying to a
void a deer crossing the road
in front of him. The deer was
not struck but Knight suffered
a broken arm.
Col. Claude Christopher, long
time solicitor of the City Court
of Griffin, who did not run f o r
reelection, fell at his home and
is in an Atlanta hospital for
treatment of torn ligaments.
The Griffin Post, State Patrol,
Sgt. W. E. Butler commander,
moved into its new barracks this
week. The old property will be
sold.
Dr. John Veneble, former Gr
iffinite, now head of the Georgia
Department of Health told Kl
wanis Club of improvements in
mental health treatments.
Sometimes it takes several
days, sometimes even months
to solve a crime and make an
arrest. But not this one in Grif
fin Friday night.
When the operator of a filling
station on Poplar street, after
waiting on a customer walked
back into the office he found a
man, who, holding a “swit
ch blade” knife ordered him to
open his safe, threatening him,
“if you don’t I’ll cut off your
head.” The manager complied
and the robber took $105 and
started out. The manager grab
bed a pistol he had and took a
shot at the fleeing man.
Officer Herman Parker, who
patrols that part of Taylor Street
heard the shot and saw the man
fleeing. He and another mao
“took out” after the thief. They
chased him on foot several
blocks, then a car driven by a
citizen with his wife as a pas
senger, saw the policeman chas
ing the robber, just as the rob
ber turned a comer, he stopped,
picked up the policeman and
continued the chase. A block la
ter they overtook the robber,
he was arrested, and taken to
the jail and locked up on a char
ge of armed robbery etc. The
citizen asked that his name not
be mentioned, but Assistant
Chief Bobby Joe Conner, Satur
day praised this citizen for help
ing the police capture the arm
ed robber.
The Griffin High Eagles ran
their winning streak to 16 strai
ght, their overall record Is 18-1,
their region record is 7-0 and
their record against Georgia te
ams Is 17-0 with three straight
victories this week.
Griffin beat Pike County 78-54,
last Saturday, dumped Jones
boro 46-33, Tuesday night and
came up with a 61-56 win Friday
night over a very strong team
from Forest Park.
— <■ —
State-wide the Georgia Gener
al Assembly went into its
second week with Governor
Maddox making certain nomi
nations for various officials, and
greeting "the people” in the
first “people’s day.” The high
point of the week as far as the
governor is concerned came with
the announcement that he would
pay a visit to President John
son at the White House early in
February, to urge that frozen
highway funds be restored to
Georgia. The federal government
has frozen some highway funds
throughout the nation in an eco
onomy move.
The General Assembly recess
ed Friday for three weeks so the
Appropriations committee could
study the proposed two year bud
get of a Billion and a Half Dol
lars.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
5-STAR WEEKEND EDITION
GRIFFIN
DAILY NEWS
Established 1871 Griffin, Ga., 30223, Sat. and Sun., Jan. 21 -22,1967 Vol. 96 No. 17
Masked Gunman
Takes $78 Here
A masked, armed robber took
$78 from Dixie Oil Company on
the North Expressway Friday
night.
Assistant Police Chief Bobby
Joe Conner said a man with a
stocking over his face came to
the door of the station carrying
a five-gallon can.
The man held his hand in his
right pocket and pointed what
appeared to be a pistol at opera
tor James Spratling of 709 Lane
street, Conner said.
He said the barrel of the pis
tol was sticking out of the man’s
pocket.
He took money from the cash
drawer, Spratling’s billfold and
Spratling’s change pouch, Con
ner said.
The robber fled the station on
foot.
Asst. Chief Conner said the
Police Department received a
call about the robbery from Dan
ny Hobbs of 347 North 13th st
reet, who told them he had stop
ped at the station to purchase
gas. Spratlin told Hobbs to call
Lunchroom
Money Asked
In Amendment
ATLANTA (UPI)—Legislation
is in the General Assembly to
give financial relief to school
lunchrooms in many counties.
A bill was introduced in the
Senate Friday which sponsors
said would provide a shortcut
to financial aid. The House
passed a proposed constitutional
amendment to allow state funds
to be used for lunchroom pro
grams. This would have to be
approved by the people in ref
erendum.
The Senate method attaches
the proposal to the appropria
tions bill and would be effec
tive when the 1967 fiscal year
begins in July.
Atty. Gen. Arthur Bolton has
ruled that state funds could not
be used for lunch programs—
just for educational purposes.
Sens. Stanley Smith of Per
ry, Paul Broun of Athens and
Battle Hall of Rome introduced
the “short-cut” bill. Hall said it
would mean no new taxes, no
extra expense and legal use of
state money.
Gov. Lester Maddox has pro
posed $4.88 million in state
funds for lunch programs.
Blaze Destroys
Bowling Alley
At Warner Robins
WARNER ROBINS, Ga.
(UPI) — Officials probed the
ruins today of a bowling alley
In this city’s largest shopping
center In an effort to determine
the cause of a fire that did an
estimated half - million dollars
damage and injured seven fire
men.
The blaze In the Robins Lanes
Friday afternoon destroyed the
bowling alley and heavily dam
aged an adjacent men’s store
and vacant store.
Fire Chief E. W. Woods said
five firemen were treated for
smoke inhalation and two suf
fered cuts in battling the stub
born fire. Firemen Fred Burn
ett was admitted to Houston
County Hospital and the others
were treated and released.
William Welsse, one of the
bowling alley’s owners, said the
fire destroyed $350,000 worth of
equipment alone.
The fire erupted about 2:15
p.m. Friday and forced evacu
ation of several nearby stores.
It was finally brought under
control about 4:30 p.m., but
was still smouldering late Into
the evening.
SAFE FEAR
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (UPI) —
From now on prospective
women jurors here will be
interviewed on Saturday morn
ings instead of Thursday nights.
Although the courthouse is
only two blocks from the
central police station it seems
many of the women are afraid
to walk in the courthouse area
at night.
the police and tell them he had
been robbed.
The robber was wearing the
stocking over his head and a
dark jacket, police were told.
si® n i:
Hi Wi
V '
;
| . .
i ;
\ - I
V’ III
/ 1
■ i V,
/
f '■'] * I 1
W A
:V : :
<• i:
: :
(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo)
Information , Please
Materials are arriving for the construction of Southern Bell Telephone Company’s
Information Center on the second floor of the telephone complex on South Hill
street. Griffin manager W. F. (Bill) Myers and operator Mrs. Dale Kent look at
a stack of tile to be used in the center. It will handle information calls for Griffin
and some of the metropolitan Atlanta area. The center, when completed, will add
about 100 operators to the Griffin force. Applicants already are being interviewed.
Game-Fish Battle
Delayed 3 Weeks
ALANTA (UPI) The
showdown battle between Gov.
Lester Maddox and the Georgia
Game and Fish Commission
will have to wait until Feb. 13
to reach a head unless some
compromise is made before
then.
That’s when the General As
sembly reconvenes and whne
action probably -will be taken
on a controversial proposal to
strip the commission of its pow
ers in retaliation for its refusal
to acceed to Maddox' wishes
and name former Rep. George
Bagby of Dallas as wildlife di
rector.
Reps. Kent Dickinson and
Brad Dorminy had introduced
a bill to strip the commission
of its powers and reduce it to
the status of an advisory board.
But they agreed, at the request
of the new administration, to
delay further action until Feb.
13.
The General Assembly re
cessed Friday for three weeks
to give committees time to
study pending legislation and
specially to give the appropria
tions committees time to study
the proposed $1.66 billion bud
get.
Wants Professional
The Game and Fish Commis
sion has insisted it wants a
professional wildlife expert land
not a politician as its director.
Maddox forces appeared confi
dent Friday they can convince
the commission to change its
mind and accept Bagby.
But the Maddox lieutenants
made it clear that if they fail
to get commission approval for
Bagby, the administration will
throw its support behind the
Dickinson-Dorminy bill.
In a counter move, Reps.
Harry Morgan of Hartwell and
Norman Doster of Rochelle Fri
day introduced a proposed con
stitutional amendment which
would make the director of the
Game and Fish Commission an
elective post. This would throw
the post squarely into the politi
cal arena, but would remove it
from control by the governor.
Before recessing Friday, the
legislature passed a watered
down “face your accuser” bill
and one allowing R. H. Burson
to succeed Col. Lowell Conner
Citizens Help Policeman
Chase Down Rob Suspect
as Public Safety Director.
Raised Age
To get Burson, who is 56, in,
the legislature had to raise the
maximum age for the post from
55 to 60. The bill passed earlier
by the Senate, cleared the
House 113-15 without debate.
Burson Is currently director of
corrections. Former Albany
Mayor Asa Kelley Jr. will get
the job and Conners, a long
time career state police officer,
will wind up a deputy director
of corrections, Kelley’s assist
ant.
The Senate amended the
House version of the "face your
accuser” bill and passed it 28-5.
The measure would strip public
officials of their right to ques
tion witnesses during grand
jury invsetigations of official
misconduct.
The Senate amendment would
allow the public officials to at
tend the hearings and make a
formal statement.
Work on the budget begins
Monday. House Appropriations
Committee Chairman James H.
(Sloppy) Floyd announced Fri
day his committee will meet
then to hear a report from
Budget Director Wilson B.
Wilkes.
Country Parson
k
r
“There are too many im
portant matters to decide
without giving yourself a
choice about whether to be
honest.”
Briefs Due In
Suit Against
Auto Tax Law
PERRY, Ga. (UP!) The
Georgia Automobile Dealers As
sociation and the state have
until Monday after next to file
d state law requiring dealers to
pay taxes on their Jan. 1 In
ventories.
Attorneys for the association
appeared before Superior
Court Judge C. Cloud Morgan
here. Friday and argued that
written briefs on a challenge to
the law violates both the state
and U. S. constitutions. Similar
arguments were presented
Thursday at Dublin.
The dealers charge that the
law does not apply equally to
all businesses and therefore
violates five portions of the
state constitution and the equal
protection clause of the U. S.
Constitution.
A move is now underway in
the, General Assembly to repeal
the law.
Industry-Trade
Appointment
Battle Brews
ATLANTA (UPI) — Another
battle is brewing between Gov.
Lestex Maddox and a state com
mission appointed by his pre
decessors.
The latest group at odds with
the new governor is the Board
of Industry and Trade. The
board met with Maddox Friday
and got into a disagreement
over a new director for the or
ganization.
Chairman Peter S. Knox said
the board favors retaining pre
sent director James Nutter but
that Maddox told the board In
a prviate meeting he had some
one else in mind for the Job,
Knox would not say who Mad
dox wants.
Knox said the board would
make its decision in a week to
10 days ‘after gathering more
information.”
Man Arrested
Minutes After
Station Robbery
A Negro man who robbed the
Tenneco Service Station in the
100 block of West Taylor street
Friday night was apprehended
minutes after the robbery.
Assistant Police Chief Bobby
Joe Conner said Robert Gard
ner, 23, of 720 English street,
Griffin, was arrested by officer
Herman Parker, and charged
with armed robbery of the sta
tion.
Conner said the robbery hap
pened like this:
Service station attendant Sam
H. Standard of Searcy avenus,
Griffin, and a customer enter
ed the station. Standard had been
pumping gas. A man was in the
station and grabbed Standard
when he opened the cash draw
er.
The man grabbed Standard and
pulled a switch-blade knife. He
held the knife to Standard’s
throat and said, “I’ll cut your
head off if you bother me.”
The man took $105 from the
drawer while holding the knife
on Standard and the customer.
After taking the money, the
man fled on foot. Standard fired
a shot at him as he ran along
West Taylor street.
Officer Parker and another
person (unidentified by Asst.
Chief Conner) heard the shot and
saw Gardner running. Officer
Parker began chasing the man,
who fell and rolled over a couple
of time at the comer of Meri
A couple in a car saw Parker
chasing the man and picked the
policeman up in their car at
Poplar and Eighth streets.
Gardner turned at the intersec
tion and ran west on Poplar st
reet to Ninth. At Ninth he turn
ed south to West College. He had
just made a turn west on West
College when he was arrested
by Officer Parker.
Asst. Chief Conner said the
man might not have been appre
hended so quickly if it had not
been for the assistance given Of
ficer Parker by local citizens.
They were not identified. He
praised the local citizens for not
turning their heads on aiding a
local law enforcement officer.
“We are proud that the citi
zens of Griffin do not turn their
head on law enforcement offi
cers as they do in many other
cities,” Conner said. He said
the Police Department appre
ciates the aid given them by five
local citizens and an out-of-state
man.
Gardner is being held at city
jail on charges of armed rob
bery.
Cong Battalion Routed
In Outskirts Of Saigon
By BRYCE MILLER
United Press International
SAIGON (UPI—Bugle-blow
ing South Vietnamese paratroo
pers and their U.S. advisers
routed a Viet Cong battalion on
the outskirts of Saigon and
killed 114 Communists In
bloody, close-quarters fighting,
government spokesmen said
today.
The fighting—the heaviest of
the war so close to the South
Vietnamese capital—may have
stymied a major Communist
offensive against Saigon’s su
burban Tan Son Nhut Airbase—
the most important U.S.
Vietnamese military installation
in Vietnam.
Off the coast of North
Vietnam, U.S. destroyers ex
changed fire with a pair of
Communist shore batteries Fri
day while U.S. pilots streaked
down the. danger-packed ‘MIG
Alley” to strike key North
Vietnamese rail links with Red
China for the fifth straight day.
Melton, Brown
Talk College
With Gov. Maddox
Reps. Quimby Melton, Jr. and
Clayton Brown, of Spalding Co
unty this week talked with Gov.
Lester Maddox about this com
munity’s efforts to get a college
here.
The two Spalding lawmakers
talked with the governor about
the matter in his office.
Gov. Maddox asked the loca
tion of the nearest college to Gr
iffin. The, Spalding representa
tives told him that Georgia
State in Atlanta was the closest.
The governor asked about the
college at LaGrange. Reps. Mel
ton and Brown told him that this
was a private college and was
quite a distance from Griffin.
Gov. Maddox told the Spalding
legislators that it was obvious
that the Griffin area would have
to have a college and it was just
a question of time.
Resolution
Backs Forces
In Vietnam
Reps. Clayton Brown and
Quimby Melton, Jr., of Spalding
County submitted a resolution in
the Georgia House this week sup
porting this country’s armed
forces fighting in Vietnam.
It was adopted.
The resolution said in part
“. . . . This body wishes to ex
press its gratitude and apprecia
tion to the valiant military for
ces of the United States and its
allies for their deep and sincere
conviction of responsibility to
our country and freedom; mili
tary forces which possess the
seeds of greatness and which
give of themselves unswerver
ingly in the fight to protect our
freedoms and to keep our vast
legacies vibrant and intact.
“. . . . This body proclaims its
loyalty and support of the Ar
med forces of the United States
and its allies as they fight on the
seas, in the skies and in the
jungles of Vietnam in the cause
of freedom and peace.”
Weather:
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN
AREA — Fair to partly cloudy
and a little warmer today and
Sunday.
LOCAL WEATHER — Maxi
mum today 56, minimum today
32, maximum Friday 53, mini
mum Friday 30. Sunrise Sunday
7:41 a.m., sunset Sunday 6:03
p.m.
Neither of the destroyers—the
USS Benner and the USS
Stoddard —was hit in the duel
with Red shore batteries. A
Navy spokesman said the ships
knocked the Communist gun
emplacement out or action.
U.S. military spokesmen also
surface-to-air missile (SAM)
fired at an attacking U.S. plane
went out of control and
exploded in a populated area of
North Vietnam.
The accident—the kind that
American authorities say may
be responsible for the civilian
deaths Hanoi has blamed on
U.S. air raids—occurred 12
miles northeast of the industrial
city of Than Hoa in the
southern Panhandle of North
Vietnam.
In South Vietnam’s northern
provinces, American power
hammered the Communists by
land, sea and air. A U.S.
destroyer bombarded a suspect
ed Red troop concentration near
Quang Ngai while giant Amari-
Red Guards,
Peasant Arniy
Fights In China
By CHARLES R. SMITH
United Press International
HONG KONG (UPI)—Tens of
thousands of militant Red
Guards have moved into the
southeastern Chinese province
of Kiangsi to break up a
“peasant army” organized by
enemies of Party Chairman
Mao Tse-tung, news reports
here said today.
The Hong Kong newspaper
Truth Daily, quoting refugee
from the city of Nanchang,
capital of Kiangsi province, said
the huge anti-Mao force was in
control of the area and daring
Red Guards to try and oust it.
The report implied that
fighting had broken out in the
rebel province. It followed
reports by Peking Radio Friday
of similar peasant resistance in
Shanghai and a warning by
Defense Minister Lin Piao that
Red China’s current power
struggle was approaching “civil
war.”
The Hong Kong newspaper
said the anti-Mao army was
formed by a huge group of
dissident Red Guards called the
“August 1st Battle Corps.”' It
•was ordered by Peking to
disband when it was discovered
to be under the control of anti
Mao leaders.
Tens of thousands of fresh
Red Guards loyal to Mao moved
into the providence to take over
the territory occupied by the
corps, the newspaper said.
But the corps refused to
disband and began recruiting
local peasants from the country
side. The corps was said to
have built a large force with
effective fighting power of two
armies and was resisting Red
Guards everywhere.
The refuges told the newspa
per that a local radio station
had called on the people in
Kiangsi province to back Mao’s
cultural revolution and crush
the “reactionary” army.
The development came
against a background of grow
ing chaos in Red China’s raging
power upheaval and reports of
bitter clashes between pro-and
anti-Mao forces in Shanghai and
Canton.
can B52 bombers made three
raids. U.S. Marines also report
ed scattered firefights.
The South Vietnamese spokes
man said two battalions of
government paratroopers —
about 700 men—aided by air
and artillery strikes, tangled
with a smaller Communist force
“at extremely close range”
near the sprawling allied
airbase outside Saigon.
The spokesmen said the
Communist battalion—about 600
men—was part of a much
larger Viet Cong force massing
on the outskirts of Saigon. The
Viet Cong have made several
attacks against Tan Son Nhut in
the past.
The strikes by waves of U.S.
warplanes in North Vietnam’s
industrial heartland near Hanoi
were part of a continuing effort
to break the vital rail links with
Communist China and destroy
supply bases for the Communist
MIG fighters that patrol the
ikiH la that atm