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VENIN VT
By Quimby Melton
It took the Griffin and Spald
ing County law enforcement of
ficers, plus the GBI and the
FBI, less than three days to cat
ch up with five suspects who
had been charged with robbing
a church congregation and rap
ing two girls who were at the
service.
The young men, leaving Grif
fin, went to Chicago, then to Ok
lahoma, where they are charged
with stealing a car, and on to
Texas; every move they made,
after leaving Griffin, was fol
lowed; finally the exact route of
the five was known and they
were stopped and taken into cus
tody by Texas authorities.
The team made up of local,
state and national law enforce
ment officers is to be congratu
lated on the efficiency and speed
with which they apprehended
the five young men charged with
this revolting crime.
— + —
First thing you know Good
Evening will be called a ‘"gad
about”!
For he is now planning anoth
er trip, in addition to the one to
Europe in June. This time he
plans to fly to Springfield, capi
tal of the great state of Illinois.
The occasion? Good Evening
has been fortunate enough to
receive an invitation to attend
The First Annual Illinois Stu
dent Leadership Prayer Break
fast to be held there on May 13.
The invitation came from Gov
ernor Otto Kerner, byway of
the Illinois Student Leadership
Committee. (Bill ,Hollberg, son
of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Holl
berg, a student at Wheaton Col
lege, is a member of the com
mittee. »
We are looking forward to at
tending this prayer breakfast
which will be attended by stu
dent leaders from more than 30
Illinois colleges.
The Student Leadership Pray
er Breakfast is a collegiate coun
terpart of the Presidential Pray
er Breakfast inaugurated 15 ye
ars ago by the United States Se
nate and House of Representa
tives Christian Leadership gr
oups. As a time for Christian
fellowship and dedication of the
individual and our nation to God,
such breakfasts bring to Amer
ica an opportunity to discuss
and discover collectively the
foundation stones of our nation’s
life. In most of the fifty states
Prayer Breakfasts are being
sponsored by governors, but this
Student Leader one, will be the
third such. Prior to this one on
May 13, such Student Leader
ship Breakfasts have been held
in Maryland and Missouri.
Good Evening is looking for
ward to attending this Prayer
Breakfast and expects to receive
a lot of inspiration from the pro
gram that has been arranged.
He steadfastly believes that a
great majority of our youth are
clean and decent and want to
live lives such as The Master
would have them lead.
— + —
This is the time of the year
when many are planning vaca
tions and trips to places of inter
est. May we suggest? One will
do well to “See Georgia first!”
Right here, near at home, one
should make it a point to vis
it Indian Springs, The Little
White House at Warm Springs,
Stone Mountain, just to mention
a few close by spots worth visit
ing.
And if one wants to fish, to
hunt, to swim, how about Jekyll
Island? Lake Sinclair? High
Falls? Lake Lanier? Many of
the lakes in North Georgia?
And if one wants to visit a tro
pical paradise, how about the
Okefenokee Swamp?
And don’t overlook Callaway
Gardens.
Should one have visited all
these spots and does not care to
return we suggest a trip to
Washington and Madison, where
the finest type of anti-bellum
architecture is still to be found.
One also will be interested in
Milledgeville, an early capital
of the state, where the gover
nor’s mansion still stands. The
old capitol building has been
destroyed by fire.
No doubt in this partial list of
suggested visits, we have over
looked many places of interest,
for there is not a spot in Geor
gia but has its own places where
happy vacations may be spent.
Just some suggestions. Os cour
se where one goes is one’s busi
ness, but don’t ‘‘Sell Georgia
Short” as a vacationing land.
Trail Ends At Texas Crossroads
For Five Suspects In Robbery
Didn’t Kill
Hardy Says
By DON PHILLIPS
United Press International
REIDSVILLE, Ga. (UPI) —
John R. (Fat) Hardy, the 360-
pound Atlanta bootlegger whose
moonshine whisky killed 38 per
sons in 1951, stepped into free
dom today, a bitter and unre
morseful man.
“I didn’t kill anybody,” he
said. “I was guilty of nothing
but selling whisky.”
Hardy, now 58, told a hand
ful of newsmen gathered out
side the white walls of Reids
ville state prison that news
media whipped up sentiment
against him and caused him to
receive a far too severe sen
tence. He said at most he
should have been convicted
only of manslaughter.
Hardy was convicted of mur
der and sentenced to life in
prison in Fulton County in 1952.
City in Panic
In 1951 the city was thrown
Growers Will
Get Help In
Peach Losses
WASHINGTON (UPl)—Farm
ers who lost portions of their
peach crops during recent sub
freezing weather will get help
in replanting their orchards
from the U. S. Department of
Agriculture.
The agency announced the au
thorization of emergency loans
Wednesday. The announcement
was made through the offices
of Sens. Ernest F. Rollings, D-
S. C., and Strom Thurmond, R-
S. C.
The freezing weather devas
tated up to sls million of the
state’s S2O million peach crop.
The hardest hit areas were in
the Piedmont and Sandhills
areas, including Spartanburg,
Greenville, Laurens, York and
Chesterfield counties.
The emergency loans were
authorized for growers in
Aiken, Cherokee, Chesterfield,
Edgefield, Greenville, Laurens,
Lexington, Richland, Saluda,
Spartanburg and York counties.
Weather:
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN
AREA — Further clearing and
colder with winds diminishing
by night. Tonight and Friday
fair and mild.
LOCAL WEATHER — High
today 65, low today 53, high
Wednesday 72, low Wednesday
50, rainfall Wednesday .52 of an
inch; sunrise Friday 5:58, sun
set Friday 7:18.
Commercial Bank Plans
Triple-Deck Parking
Country Parson
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“Great men are those who
have been right when all
around them folks were
wrong.”
DAILY #NEWS
Daily Since 1872
into near panic as ambulance
after ambulance carried vic
tims of the poison moonshine
to hospitals. The dead num
bered 38 but many others were
permanently injured.
The sale of legal whisky
soared in the months following
the poison moonshine tragedy.
During his trial Hardy admit
ted he prepared the mixture of
methyl alcohol and well water
with a broomstick but insisted
he did not know it was deadly
when he sold it.
After his release today he
would not even admit his moon
shine had been poisonous.
“It passed through several
hands after I sold it,” he said.
Hardy had tried eight times
unsuccessfully for a parole be
fore the State Board of Pardon
and Parole granted him one on
Monday.
Publicity Bl a med
In granting the parole, the
board blamed adverse public
opinion and newspaper publici
ty for Hardy’s murder sen
tence.
Three friends, Mrs. C. L.
Jones, D. C. Allen and Ben
jamin Nash, all of Atlanta, met
Hardy at the prison. There
were no relatives present.
Hardy, wearing a size 58
brown suit and a white shirt,
squeezed into a 1965 brown
Ford with the friends. His ex
pression was blank and he
wheezed from time to time
from asthma.
Asked his feelings after 15
years behind bars, Hardy said,
“It would be hard to say. I’m
happy.”
His immediate plans were in
definite.
“What can I do? Get out, get
a job, earn a living,” he said.
Four US Planes
Downed In
Viet Fighting
By EUGENE V. RISHER
United Press International
SAIGON (UPI) —Communist
shot down four U.S. jets which
were raiding the Hanoi-Hai
phong area for the third
straight day, American spokes
men said today. It raised to 13
the number of American
bombers lost since the major
air assault on North Vietnam’s
cradle of war began April 19.
The Wednesday loss of
American fighter-bombers was
the largest for any day of the
year. The war record is eight
U.S. aircraft downed last Dec.
2.
C. T. Parker president of
Commercial Bank & Trust Com
pany, announced today, plans by
the bank to erect a triple deck
parking garage over the existing
bank parking lot.
This multi-level parking facil
ity will provide 212 spaces and
will have in-and-out access from
East Solomon and Bank streets.
In addition, tentative plans call
for a third drive-in lane to be
added leading from Hill street
to the four drive-in teller win
dows to provide faster as well
as a more even flow of traffic
to these windows.
Winks Get Drinks
SPRINGFIELD, 111. (UPI) —
The Illinois Senate passed a bill
Monday prohibiting women
from inducing men to buy them
drinks in taverns by winking or
crossing their legs.
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Thursday, April 27,1967
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40 - Year Shoes
William Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur C. Smith
of Griffin, wears a pair of high-top button shoes his
father wore 40 years ago in 1927. Mrs. Smith also has
other clothing of her husband that her son will wear.
Censure For
Dodd Asked
WASHINGTON (UPI) —The
Senate Ethics Committee unani
mously recommended today
that Sen. Thomas J. Dodd, D-
Conn., be censured for turning
campaign contributions to his
own use.
Chairman John C. Stennis
filed the censure resolution with
the Senate as it convened at
noon, along with the com
mittee’s report on its 14-month
investigation of the 59-year-old
The estimated cost of this ex
pansion program is $250,000 and
will bring the bank’s total invest
ment in its downtown main of
fice property to well over one
million dollars.
Mr. Parker stated that this
investment represents the con
fidence Commercial Bank & Tr
ust Company has in the vitality
and growth of downtown Griffin
and in the total community as
well.
He said it is also the hope of
Commercial Bank that this ad
ditional parking being made av
ailable in the heart of downtown
Griffin will further establish the
city as an area trading center
and that promotional activities
of local merchants will be en
hanced.
Gerald L. Bilbro is the Archi
tect and the job contract has
been awarded to Spalding Con
crete Company. Work will begin
early in May.
(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo)
senator.
The committee resolution said
that Dodd “deserves the cen
sure of the Senate; and he is so
censured for his conduct, which
is contrary to accepted morals,
derogates from the public trust
expected of a senator and tends
to bring the Senate into
dishonor and disrepute.”
It was the first time that the
Senate had been asked to
censure one of its members
since the late Sen. Joseph
McCarthy was punished in 1954.
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Architect’s sketch of triple-deck parking facility.
Vol. 95 No. 98
Spalding Seeks
Their Return
Details of a run from the law
that began at a rural Spalding
County Church Sunday night and
ended at a roadblock in Texas
Wednesday afternoon began to
fall into place today.
The capture of five youths
wanted in connection with the
robbery of Pleasant Grove Me-
Sheriff Gilbert left early
this afternoon for Clinton,
Okla, to check over the car
the youths abandoned there.
thodist Church and the alleged
rape of two hostages ended a
nationwide lookout for them.
Spalding County Sheriff Dway
ne Gilbert who had coordinated
the search from his office in the
jail here announced their cap
ture at a quickly called news
conference Wednesday afternoon
shortly after 4 o’clock.
Taken into custody were: Ro
bert Lindsey Smith, 20, Winfred
Johnny Parham, 19, William La
mar Clontz, 18, Joseph Floyd An
thony, 18, and Jackie Wayne
Martin, 17. All had been char
ged with the robbery of the
church and the alleged rape of
two girls, 18, taken as hostages.
Also captured with the five
were Travis Ray James an d
Douglas W. Clontz. All the boys
had either live in the Griffin
area or had at one time.
UNFOLDED
In Griffin Wednesday the story
unfolded like this:
At about 3:10 the phone on the
desk of Sheriff Gilbert at his of
fice in the jail rang. It was one
of hundreds of such calls he had
received since he started the
investigation.
This time it was an FBI agent
from Atlanta.
“This is just between you and
me and the state of Texas,” the
agent said.
“But I think we have the boys
in Texas.”
That was the first word that
Sheriff Gilbert had received of
their capture.
The FBI agent who had been
coordinating communic a t i o n s
with federal agents from his At
lanta office said that troopers in
Texas had radioed a garbled
message from a roadblock that
they had picked up the boys.
POOR
Radio communications bet
ween the roadblock and the Te
xas network were poor. The law
men who had set up the block
for the youths said they would
drive to the nearest town, Van
Horn, and telephone a report.
The town was some 60 miles
from the roadblock.
Agents and troopers, acting
on information that the fugitiv
es might be headed in that dir
ection, had set up a roadblock
at Highway 54 and U. S. 62. It
was here at the crossroads in
the desert-like county that the
trail tor the youths ended.
Sheriff Gilbert spent some 50
anxious minutes waiting from
the lawmen to reach Van Horn
and telephone authorites.
Finally shortly before 4 o’clo
ck, the Spalding jail telephone
rang again. This time it as the
Atlanta FBI office with confir
mation that the suspects had
been captured.
DIDN’T RESIST
Texas Department of Public
Safety troopers and FBI Agents
said the youths did not resist.
They found a 30-30 rifle in the
stolen car they were driving. No
one tried to use the rifle, law
men related.
Texas authorities transferred
the prisoners to El Paso where
they were in custody today wait
ing for the legal machinery to
be set in motion that probably
will send them back to Spalding
County.
Sheriff Gilbert said the seven
youths were riding in a 1963 Bel
Air Chevrolet that had been sto
len in Clinton, Okla.
The five original suspects ap
parently left Griffin Sunday ni
ght after the church robbery in
a car owned by Parham. They
supposedly headed for Chicago
where they picked up James and
Douglas Clontz, brother of Wil
liam Lamar Clontz.
Sheriff Gilbert said the youths
didn’t stay in Chicago long.
They knew, he said, that the fe
deral agents were after them
then.
BRUSH
Their first brush with the law
came at Clinton Tuesday night
where the seven apparently tr
ied to break into a soft drink
machine at a filling station.
Policeman saw them and cha
sed them down a dark alley. The
youths ran on to a parked auto
mobile a woman had left with
the motor running. Her pocket
book with about S9O was left on
the seat.
The fugitivies jumped in the
car and fled the Clinton police.
They left Parham’s car in Clin
ton during the attempted burg
lary.
This brush with the law in
Clinton helped the FBI dragnet
close a little tighter on them.
Acting on information they had
been able to piece together, the
FBI and Texas authorities set
up the roadblock which led to
the capture.
RETURN
Sheriff Gilbert today put into
motion the legal machinery to
get five of the seven youths re
turned to Spalding County where
they may face trial for armed
robbery and rape, both capital
cases in Georgia.
Sheriff Gilbert said his office
would have no charges to place
(Continued on Page Five.)
Rep. Melton
Appointed To
Funds Group
ATLANTA (UPI) — House
Speaker George L. Smith
Wednesday appointed four
House members to a special
committee to oversee transfer
of funds within departments
when the General Assembly is
not in session.
Ten of the 20 man committee
are appointed by the governor
and the remainder by the
speaker and the lieutenant gov
ernor.
The committee was set up to
place the power of fund trans
fers in the hands of someone
other than the governor. The
four House members appointed
by Smith are Reps. James H.
(Sloppy) Floyd of Trion, Col
quitt Odom of Albany, Quimby
Melton of Griffin and George
Busbee of Albany.
Smith also appointed mem
bers of the House interim com
mittee that will hold statewide
hearings on Georgia’s election
laws. Appointed to the commit
tee were Reps. Roy McCracken
of Avera, chairman, Harry
Mixon of Ocilla, Joe C. Under
wood of Mount Vernon, Roy
Lambert of Madison and Wil.
liam Wiggins of Carrollton.
The committee will be con
cerned with the possible chang
es in election laws and propos
als to prevent future guberna
torial elections from being
thrown into the General Assem-)
bly.
Damage Suits
Filed Here
For $225,000
Two damage suits totaling
$225,000 have been filed in Spal
ding County against a Griffin
man and his son.
Hie suits, filed by Mrs. Ruby
Lee Patterson and Gordon E.
Patterson of DeKalb County,
charge Calvin Spencer Hoard
and Morris C. Hoard, Jr., both
of Griffin with negligence in re
ference to a traffic accident on
July 24, 1965.
A suit for $ 50,000 in damages
was filed by Mrs. Patterson. An
other for $75,000 was filed by
Patterson.
Mr. and Mrs. Patterson char
ge they were injured in an ac
cident at High Falls road and
Old McDonough east of Griffin.
The suits charge Calvin Spen
cer Hoard with driving a pickup
truck with insufficient brakes
and Morris C. Hoard, Jr. with
permitting his son to drive the
truck.