Newspaper Page Text
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E good
VENIN VT
By Quimby Melton
They’re working hard to get
Chautauqua back in the "big
time” by 1974, when that “edu
cational entertainment”, affair
will celebrate its 100th anniver
sary.
The one and only, the original
Chautauqua is held every sum
mer at Chautauqua, N.Y. a
beautiful place on the shores of
Lake Chautauqua close to the
border of Pennsylvania.
As a result of the early popu
larity of this, in 1874 “new fang
led thing”, hundreds of imita
tion Chautauquas were held
throughout the nation. Touring
Chautauquas would hit a town,
like Griffin for instance, and
with at least one “main attrac
tion”, such as a popular orator,
a famous band, such as Sousa’s,
would draw capacity audiences
to its tents.
The original Chautauqua was
started in the summer of 1874
by a Lewis Miller, Ohio business
man, and the Rev. John H. Vin
cent, a Methodist minister (la
ter to become a bishop.) The
original Chautauqua was some
thing like an old fashioned camp
meeting. The businessman and
the minister wanted to train
Sunday School teachers at a
summer “convention” that
would combine education with
recreation. The first Chautauqua
lasted for two weeks, but soon it
grew into a summer long pro
gram.
There were those who praised
the idea. After one of the found
ers became Bishop Vincent, he
described the gathering one that
“exaults education — the men
al, social, moral and religious
culture of a11...” Teddy Roose
velt gave his approval by say
ing "The Chautauqua is the
most American thing in Amer
ica.”
But H. L. Menken frequently
denounced it as the symbol of
everything bad in America.
— ■]> —
The one and original Chautau
qua organization is now under
“new management" which is
determined to restore the sum
mer resort to all its original gl
ory and popularity. The new
group will also stress the com
bination, education and recrea
tion. It is even planned to enlar
ge the original Chautauqua au
ditorium so that it can hold more
than 8,000 people.
— * —
No doubt there are those in
Griffin who will remember the
day when the Chautauqua was
looked forward to every sum
mer. Not only was the big event
welcomed as an educational be
nefit to the community, but it al
so was a big boom to business,
for there was no other Chautau
qua held anywhere near here
and hundreds of people came to
Griffin to attend the meetings.
Good Evening did not live in
Griffin at the time of the Chau
tauqua but he remembers well
those held in Americus, where
as a young man he was editor
of the Times-Recorder and at
tended every performance. We
remember such bands as that of
John Philip Sousa and the band
of Kriel, a sixty-piece brass band
that was brought to the U.S.A,
to play the Chautauqua circuit
Tom Watson spoke there once
as did William Jennings Bryan,
if our memory serves us cor
rectly •
The famous bands and the big
name speakers would be there
Just for one day, usually a mati
nee and a night performance,
and then move on to another
town. The rest of the week’s pro
gram was taken up with lesser
noted lecturers and entertain
ers. There was one time a mag
ician who was billed as one who
would “outdo Houdini”, and
strange to say he almost did.
Out of the Chautauqua grew a
more modern educational-enter
tainment program — called the
Lyceum. It’s interesting to note
f'-.t Russell Bridges, a native of
Ellaville, just 14 miles from
Americus, founded the Alcahest
Lyceum Bureau, that brought
many big time stars to southern
cities for many years. It may
have been that Bridges attended
the Chautauqua in Americus and
got his idea from them.
Good clean, interesting enter
tainment is something badly
needed today, what with the en
tertainment field seemingly in
terested only in getting the mo
ney by furnishing enterainment
that in its sensuality would ri
val the days when sex orgies ru
led the entertainment field in
Rome.
Let’s hope the one and original
Chautauqua is successful and
that will restore sanity in the
many entertainment fields.
School Board Seeks Funds For
Sweeping Consolidation Plan
' ■ ' •
(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo)
Little Hitchhiker
This parakeet hitched a ride on James Harrison’s truck this morning as Harrison
drove along Maple drive on his way to work. Harrison said he saw the tail of the
parakeet in the windshield. He drove to the Griffin Daily News where the picture
was made. The bird did not attempt to leave the top of the truck until efforts were
made to catch it. Then it flew away.
Camp Meeting Opens
Sunday At Mt. Zion
The 133rd session of Mt. Zion
Methodist Camp Meeting will
open Sunday and will continue
through Sunday, Aug. 27.
Dr. Thomas A. Carruth of Wil
more, Ky., will be the evange
list. The Rev. Don Harp of Car
rollton will be the song leader
and youth worker.
Services will be held Monday
through Saturday at 11 a.m. and
8 p.m. Sunday services will be
held at 11 am.., 3 p.m. and 8
Deputy, Agents
Check Leads
In Robbery
Spalding County Deputy Sher
iff Franklin Pitts and GBI Ag
ents continued checking leads
in the daylight robbery of bet
ween SB,OOO and SIO,OOO from the
Bill Morris home on Swint road
at Orchard Hill Sunday.
Deputy Pitts made a trip to
Macon to check out possible
leads in the robbery Monday.
Three white men entered the
Morris home, held Mrs. Morris,
her granddaughter and a neigh
bor’s child hostage while taking
money from a home safe.
The robbers tied the three with
baling wire and fled in a 1960
blue Pontiac.
Pitts is being aided in his in
vestigation of the robbery by
GBI agents and detectives of
the Griffin Police Department.
Country Parson
fill
“Often when you find
something worth doing, you
also find folks trying to keep
you from doing it.”
DAILY
Daily Since 1872
p.m.
Bible time for children will
be held each morning at 9:45.
Recreation has been planned by
the Rev. Harp and Mrs. Carl
Thomas, pianist, for the after
noons from 2 to 5.
Dr. Carruth, a Methodist min
ister, is a member of the Miss
issippi Conference. He is direc
tor of the department of Prayer
and Spiritual Life at Asbury
Theological Seminary in Wil
more, Ky. He is an accredited
teacher of prayer.
Dr. Carruth has worked from
Tokyo to Moscow and has prea
ched from Seattle, Wash., to Mi
ami, Fla., and from Southern
California to Northern Maine.
The hotel will be operated by
the WSCS of the Pomona Me
thodist Church. Reservations
may be made by calling Mrs.
Myrtle Griffin, 227-7357 or the
campground hotel after Satur
day, 228-8930.
Meals will be served in the
hotel cafeteria by the WSCS. Re
servations should be made in ad-
Fake Checks
Passed Here
Over Weekend
Griffin Police today attemp
ted to find the source of a batch
of counterfeit checks passed
here during the weekend. They
appeared to be authentic Cromp
ton-Highland Mills payroll check
but were good copies investiga
tors said.
Some 25 to 30 of the fake che
cks already have turned up and
more may be in circulation, po
lice said.
They said the checks ranged
from $45 to $97 each. They were
copied and printed on an offset
press, police said.
An alert bank bookkeeper no
ticed one of the checks did not
match others she was filing for
Crompton-Highland. Police were
called and it was determined
that the checks were not authen
tic.
Any business establishment
with any of the checks have been
asked to contact the police de
partment.
The checks were believed to
have been put into circulation
Saturday afternoon after the
banks closed, police said.
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Tuesday, August 15, 1967
vance through the hotel for
meals.
The Rev. Eugene Walton, pas
tor of the Mt. Zion-Pomona
Charge, will be the host pastor.
The Rev. James Moore, Griffin
District Superintendent, will be
the host superintendent.
Many Griffin and Spalding re
sidents are expected to spend
the week in “tents” at the camp
ground. Others will spend the
week at the hotel.
Joe Akin Named
President Os
Georgia Moose
Joe Akin, past governor of the
Griffin Moose Lodge, was elec
ted president of the Georgia
Moose Association at the 17th
annual convention held in Atlan
ta this weekend. Roger Bevil
was elected secretary-treasurer
and Royce gangster was install
ed as third district president of
the Georgia Moose Association.
The Griffin Moose Lodge 1503
is bidding for the 1968 state con
vention.
Representing the Griffin Moose
Lodge at the convention was the
governor of the Griffin Lodge,
James T. Chappell. The Griffin
Chapter of the Women of the
Moose was in charge of instal
lation ceremonies due to the fact
that the Griffin ladies are the
top chapter in the state.
The following attended the
convention sessions from Grif
fin; Mr. and Mrs. Joe Akin,
Mr. and Mrs. Roger Bevil, Mr.
and Mrs. James T. Chappell,
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Crawford, Mr.
and Mrs. George Lewis, Mr. and
Mrs. Bill Price, Royce gangster,
Ben Saul, Ray Robison, Ben F.
Hoard Betty Taylor, Lee gta
pel, Mary Louttit, Virginia Batt
son, Lillie Dell Maddox, senior
regent of the Griffin Chapter,
and Lucille Estes, deputy grand
regent.
Representing the Supreme Lod
ge from Mooseheart, 111., was
Paul P. Smitz, director general
of the Loyal Order of Moose.
Governor Lester Maddox ad
dressed the convention at the
president’s banquet, held in ho
nor of the outgoing president of
the Georgia Moose, Luther Tur
ner of West Point, Ga.
NEWS
Girls, Boys High
Part Os Proposal
Tlie Griffin-Spalding Board of
Education voted Monday night
to ask for state funds to finance
one of the most sweeping conso
lidation programs in the history
of the system.
Under the proposal, the Grif
fin High campus would be con
verted into an all girls school for
grades seven through twelve.
The Spalding Junior High build
ings and Orrs school would be
converted into an all boys cam
pus for grades seven through
twelve.
Annie Shockley, Com Nim
mons and Kelsey school build
ings would be phased out as
classroom units. They have been
ruled substandard by the Geor
gia Department of Education.
Fairmont High would be con
verted into a vocational educa
tional center.
>1,100,000
The consolidation program
would cost up to $1,100,000. It
would be financed by state funds.
The proposal would take three
to five years to accomplish. It
would involve construction of
19 additional class units, proba
bly at Griffin High and Fourth
Ward, and construction of two
new schools at new locations
with 20 classroom units each.
Application for state funds for
the project was to be made to
day, the deadline for getting
funds fro such programs this
year.
Had the board not submitted
an application by today, it wou
ld have had to wait another year
before being eligible.
PROPOSAL
The plan was presented for
the first time to the public Mon
day night at a meeting called
for 6 p.m. in the Griffin High
auditorium.
Some 75 to 100 people attend
ed.
C. T. Parker, chairman of the
board of education, outlined the
proposal. All members of the
board were present and sat on
the front row. Some of them
helped to answer questions from
the audience about the plan.
Mr. Parker said the board had
had the idea of making separ
ate high schools for boys and
girls under study about two ye
ars.
HEW FIGURES
Under questioning, Chairman
Parker admitted that U.S. Heal
th, Education and Welfare De
partment requirements on dese
gregation figured in the propo
sal.
If the substandard buildings
were the only factor to be consi
dered, then they could be brou
ght up to standard but this is
only one factor, the chairman
said.
Asked what would be the con
sequences if the plan were not
approved, Mr. Parker said that
a local bond issue would be ne
cessary within two years to fin
ance it.
During the discussion, Mr.
Parker said that the Griffin-Sp
alding System has been given
three years by HEW to elimi
nate the dual school system and
completely integrate facilities.
CHOICE PLAN
He pointed out that the system
this year under the freedom of
choice plan had met HEW re
quirements on percentages of
desegregation in both student
and faculties. The system opera
ted under the freedom of choice
plan last year also.
George Gaissert, former Spal
ding representative and leader
of the Spalding Tax League, cri
ticized the board for not giving
more notice of the public hear
ing.
He said it was set at a time
when not many people could at
tend. Mr. Gaissert said the peo
ple should have been given more
notice ahead of time so they
could become familiar with the
proposal.
He also disagreed with the
consolidation program being
backed by the state. Mr. Gais
sert said it was another means
to taking away more and more
local control.
DISAGREE
“I disagree with the consoli
dation program on the state le
vel and I disagree with this
Vol. 95 No. 191
meeting,” he said. Several peo
ple applauded his statement.
Chairman Parker said that the
proposal was the result of a sur
vey made by State Department
of Education officials. He said
the proposal was not completed
until last Thursday.
When one man in the audience
tried to pin down the board on
a specific requirement of HEW,
Chairman Parker replied, “We
don’t know from day to day
what we are required to do.”
He said that this year, one
HEW official had proposed that
one entire class from Fairmont
be transported to the Griffin
High campus and one entire
class from Griffin High be trans
ported to the Fairmont campus
daily to satisfy desegregation
guidelines.
“We were able to talk them
out of this by showing them
that it was impractical and sim
ply would not work” chairman
Parker said.
TOO FAST
“One of our big arguments
with HEW is that we are being
asked to rearrange things too
fast,” Chairman Parker said.
During the discussion, Mr.
Parker pointed out that the state
funds would handle only the con
solidation proposal.
He said that the local citizens
still would be responsible for
providing additional classroom
units as the result of natural
growth of population.
Although the school population
leveled off somewhat during the
last couple of years, Mr. Par
ker said that a new growth cy
cle was expected.
He said that one of the largest
first grade enrollments was
expected this fall.
GROWTH
This is another indication of
continued growth of Griffin and
Spalding County, he said.
Asked what would happen
when the county reached the
point of needing a third high
school, Mr. Parker replied,
“That’s a good question.”
He said he didn’t know the
answer but he supposed the bo
ard would struggle with that one
like it is struggling with present
problems.
Several people in the audience
suggested that a “straw vote”
referendum should be taken so
the people of Griffin and Spald
ing County could have an oppor
tunity to express themselves on
the plan.
REFERENDUM
One man wanted the results
of such a referendum to be bind
ing on the Board of Education.
A few people suggested that
a “straw vote” be taken of those
attending the meeting on how
they felt about the plan. This
was not done.
The discussion lasted one hour
and 25 minutes.
At 7:25 the hearing was ad
journed.
The board members went to
the administrative offices and
held the regular monthly meet
ing.
Ex-Spalding Official
Asks For Board Recall
A former Spalding County of
ficial criticized the board’s ac
tion and proposer that “if at all
possible a recall election be
held to remove the entire pre
sent school board and elect a
ne one that will represent the
thinking of the people of Spald
ing County.”
George Gaissert, former Spal
ding County Commissioner and
former legislator, said, “I want
it thoroughly understood these
are my personal views.” (See
page 3 for the statement.)
School Board Chairman C. T.
Parker had no immediate com
ment.
KEPT CHECK
MIAMI (UPD—Mrs. Peggy
Just got a $9,999,999 check on
her birthday Tuesday, but she'll
never be able to cash it.
Mrs. Just, who was expecting
S4B from the County Welfare
Board, advised it of the outsize
“gift.” The board invalidated
the big check, but let Mrs. Just
keep it as a souvenir.
Board Uanaimous
In Asking Plan
The Griffin-Spalding Board of
Education held a 30-minute clo
sed door session Monday night
before taking a vote on the pro
posed consolidation plan.
The action came at the con
clusion of the board meeting.
After running through an ag
enda of routine business, the
board excused newsmen and
only board members and the
County Attorney Jim Owen re
mained for the executive ses-1
sion.
When it was over, the doors
were opened again. A Griffin
Daily News writer was the only
newsman to stay around for the
vote. Others had left when the
executive session was called.
Chairman C. T. Parker asked
if the board wanted to take any
action on the consolidation pro
posal that had been discus; ' at
an earlier public hearing.
Taylor Manley made the mo
tion that the application for state
funds be made. It was seconded
and all members voted in favor
of the proposal.
Following the executive ses
sion, the board also voted to au
thorize Asst. Supt. D. B. Chris-
Dr. Lipscomb
Named Director
Os Health Center
Dr. Tom Lipscomb who has
practiced medicine in Griffin
and Spalding County for several
years will become director of
the health department here in
September.
The district includes the coun
ties of Spalding, Clayton, Hen
ry Butts and Fayette.
Dr. Lipscomb will coordinate
the public health programs in
these counties.
He said the first few months
of his administration would be
devoted with becoming oriented
with the overall public health
program and some of its admin
istrative details.
Dr. Lipscomb is a native of
Atlanta
Patrick Still
Seriously 111
Supt. George Patrick, Jr. of
the Griffin-Spalding School Sys
tem remained seriously ill at
Emory University today. .
Mr. Patrick was taken to the
Atlanta hospital Saturday after
being stricken ill.
Griff ill - Spalding
School C alendar
August 28, 29, 30 — Pre-planning for teachers
August 31 — First day for students
September 4 — Labor Day Holiday
October 12 — District GTEA Meeting (GTEA Schools)
October 16 — District GEA Meeting (GEA Schools)
November 6 — End of Quarter — holiday for students
teachers work
November 23 & 24 — Thanksgiving holidays
December 20 — Last day before Christmas holidays
January 3 — Return to school
January 17 — End of Quarter—holiday for students,
teachers work
March 14 — End of Quarter—holiday for students,
teachers work
March 15 — GEA holiday (GEA schools)
April 5 - GTEA holiday (GTEA schools)
April 12 & 15 — Easter holidays
June 4 — Last day of school for students
June 5,6, 7, 10 — Post-planning for teachers
tie to sign papers and do some
other administrative work in the
absence of Supt, George Patrick
Jr. Mr. Patrick was striken ill
during the weekend and is in an
Atlanta hospital.
In other routine business hand
led by the board, Chairman Par
ker announced that tax digest
figures were expected to be rea
dy by the next board meeting in
September.
This will clear the way for set
ting a tax rate for schools.
Mr. Parker said that some in
dustrial growth was expected to
be reflected in the digest figur
es this year.
Gordon Futral, chairman of
the building committee, asked
for a routine transfer of title in
volving Atkinson school impro
vements. It was approved.
Taylor Manley, chairman of
the transportation committee,
asked Herman Nelson of the sc
hool administration to present
the list of low bidders on gas
and oil. They were for gasoline,
Sinclair; oil, American Oil Co.;
transmission lubrication, Pure
Oil; chasis lubrication, Pure
Oil; anti-freeze. Farmers Mut
ual Exchange and insurance,
Cotton States ($1,852.96).
The board approved the low
bidders.
Under instructional business,
D. B. Christie said an organiza
tional list by schools was neces
sary to satisfy state require
ments. This was approved.
Russell Smith of the lunchroom
committee said that all prepara
tions for the opening of school
lunch rooms had been comple
ted. He said it was the recom
mendation that Griffin High
lunches be increased to 40 cents
per day. This was the only in
crease suggested and was ap
proved by the board.
The board adopted a book
spelling out school policies for
the year after making a few
changes in those used last year.
Mr. Christie reported that the
faculty was complete for the
1967-68 school year with the ex
ception of two teachers and a
librarian.
The board accepted resigna
tions from Carol Diane Connal
ly at Griffin High and Rosa Bell
of Moore.
Elected to the faculty were:
Monica Hoover, Junior High;
Virginia C. Smith, Griffin High;
Barbara Jean Martin, Annie
Shockley; Joyce M. Wells, West
Griffin; Alphanette W. Greene
(Title One); Linda Nixon, West
Griffin; Willie P. Chisholm, Kel
sey; Sandra Thompson, Beaver
brook; Willie Jarmon, Atkin
son; and Sara Burks, East Grif
fin.