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VENIN VT
By Quimby Melton
We are told Nero "fiddled
While Rome burned.”
UPI news report tells of Gov
ernor Claude Kirk, of Florida,
flying home from California,
where he has been on speaking
tour, vowing that he "will go on
a recruiting drive right now” if
necessary to provide teachers
with which to operate the public
schools of that state.
It’s interesting to note that
Governor Kirk did not return
from his California speaking tour
until three days after the long
time school crisis had erupt
ed and teachers left the sc
hools. Certainly the governor was
not ignorant of the facts that led
Up to the state wide resignation
Os teachers. This did not come
suddenly and unexpected like a
tornado; the trouble had been
brewing long enough for the tra
vel-loving chief executive of our
sister state to know of it. It cou
ld have been that had Gov. Kirk
remained in Florida he could
have been useful in solving the
problem. But, with his state fac
ing a crisis, the Governor cho
se to go to far off California to
make a speech or speeches.
Wonder if his honor the gov
ernor of Florida took along his
fiddle?
(Incidentally, news of the Flo
rida school teacher walkout co
mes to all UPI newspapers un
der the byline of Barbara Frye,
a former Griffin girl, who is
"top man” in the UPI head
uarters at Tallahassee, the state
capital.)
— + —
Then there is another gover
nor who may be tuning up his
fiddle — Governor George Rom
ney of Michigan.
The state of Michigan has
plenty of troubles, troubles whi
ch the governor of the state
should want to help solve. But
this is a presidential political
year and the former Motor exe
cutive seems to be dreaming of
spending four years in the White
House; so off he goes campaign
ing. He is spending as much, if
not more, time in New Hamp
shire and in Wisconsin than he
is in Michigan.
And there are others. For in
stance, we read every now and
then where Senator Bobby Ken
nedy has made a speech some
where, away from his post in
Washington or his home in New
York, in which he avows he will
not be a candidate in opposition
to the President at the Democra
tic convention, and then lamb
asts the administration for ev
erything it does.
Now who was this Nero, who
is so widely quoted as
playing the fiddle while Rome
burned? He was Nero Claud
ius Caesar Drusus Germanicus,
for 14 years Emperor of Rome.
He was both the step son and
adopted son of Emperor Clau
dius whom he succeeded.
His whole reign was one of li
centiousness, brutality, and cor
ruption. In order to please his
"girl friend” he had his moth
er put to death. Under the spell
of his mistress he murdered his
wife Octavia and married the
mistress.
A fire destroyed a great part
of Rome during his reign. It is
asserted by some writers that
the fire was started on Nero’s
orders, who then charged the
Christians with arson; this led
to wholesale persecution and
execution. It was during this
fire that it is said "Nero fiddled
while Rome burned.” Nero reig
ned as emperor from 54 to 68
A.D.
Nero seemed to take delight
In murdering women. After he
had married his mistress he
charged her with unfaithfulness
and killed her; then when his
step sister refused to marry him,
she too was disposed of. Finally
he married once again, married
a woman whose husband he had
killed.
History tells us that the philo
sopher Seneca, who had been
Nero's tutor; and the poet Lu
can, both committed suicide,
when Nero ordered them to do
so.
The Roman Senate declared
him an enemy of the empire,
and he wound It all up by killing
himself.
Yet all we know, without se
arching history about this man
who was Emperor of the Roman
Empire for 14 years, Is that he
"fiddled while Rome burned.”
Weather:
LOCAL WEATHER — Maxi
mum today 46, minimum today
17, maximum Wednesday 52,
minimum Wednesday 35. Total
snowfall one-half inch. Sunrise
Friday 7:17 a.m., sunset Friday
8:31 p.m.
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Tommy Eidson
Eidson Named
STAR Winner
Tommy Eidson, 17-year-o 1 d
Griffin High senior, will be the
Griffin-Spalding School System’s
STAR student this year.
He has picked Mrs. Taylor
Manley, Spalding Junior High
teacher, as his STAR teacher.
The awards will be made
Wednesday at the Kiwanis Club.
Eidson is the son of Mr. and
Mrs. Jesse Eidson, 204 Hillan
dale drive, Griffin. Mr. Eidson
has been associated with Atlan
ta Gas Light Co., here for sever
al years and served with the
company in other cities.
Griffin's STAR plans to enter
Georgia Tech next fall where he
will study aerospace and math.
He will room with a football
teammate, Danny Clark, also of
Griffin.
Born in Thomaston, Ga.
Eidson with his family lived at
Macon and Sandersville, Ga., be
fore coming here in 1958.
At Griffin High where he has
made an outstanding academic
as well as athletic record, he is
active in several campus organ
izations.
Eidson is in the Kle Club
sponsored by the Elks Lodge,
in the G-Club at Griffin High
and the Beta Club. He previous
ly was active in the Y-Club or
ganization and is a former Fr
ench Club member.
Eidson was an outstanding
member of the Griffin High var
sity football team last season.
He was a center and lineback
er and earned two varsity let
ters in football.
Eidson is a member of the
First Methodist Church where
he and his family are active
members.
He picked Mrs. Manley as
his STAR teacher, saying that
she was one among many who
had helped him acieve the STAR
award.
She taught him Algebra I in
the eighth grade at Spalding Ju
nior High and World History in
the ninth grade at the same sc
hool.
Eidson won the STAR honor
because he made the highest gr
ade on college board examina
tions at Griffin High.
The STAR teacher-student pro
gram is sponsored locally by the
Chamber of Commerce in con
junction with the State Cham
ber of Commerce which handles
the state event.
Eidson will represent the sys
tem here in district competition.
A state winner will be picked
from district winners.
Eidson and members of his
family along with Mrs. Manley
will be guests of honor at the
Kiwanis Club next Wednesday.
The awards have been present
ed at Kiwanis meetings since
they first began years ago.
Warren Scoville Is chairman
of the Chamber of Commerce
Education Committee. He and
other officials will take part in
the presentation.
Mrs. Manley is the wife of Tay
lor Manley, former chairman of
the Griffin-Spalding Board of
Education and longtime board
member.
DAILY # NEWS
Daily Since 1872
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Mrs. Taylor Manley
‘Cowboy’ Forces
Jet To Havana
By CHARLES E. TAYLOR
MIAMI (UPI)—A shabbily
dressed "cowboy” claiming he
faced the electric chair, com
mandeered a Chicago-to-Mlami
jetliner carrying 109 persons
Wednesday and forced it to land
in Cuba. The airliner returned
tp the United States after a
three-hour delay in Havana.
The hijacker, identified by a
Delta Air Lines spokesman as
"S. Wilson,” who boarded Flight
843 In Tampa, was escorted off
the big DCB in Havana by two
soldiers armed with machine
guns. That was the last the
Americans saw of him. It was
not known whether he asked for
political asylum.
The man, wearing a eowboy
hat, a cowboy shirt, blue jeans
and sneakers, burst into the
cockpit of the airliner 15
minutes after it took off from
Tampa and pressed a gun into
the temple of a stewardess.
"He said, ‘We’re going to
Cuba,” said Mrs. Joy Bleil of
Chicago, the stewardess. “He
said he didn’t care who he
killed or shot up. He said, ‘l'm
facing an electric chair sen
tence anyway and I have
nothing to lose,’” Mrs. Bleil
said.
Gifts, Then Home
Cuban authorities released the
airliner after providing the crew
and passengers with lemonade,
coffee and cigarettes and
passing out pictures of Cuban
Premier Fidel Castro and slain
guerrilla leader Ernesto (Che)
Guevara.
"It was great,” exclaimed
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Thursday, February 22, 1968
Marines Hoist US Flag
On Hue Watch Tower
Signals End Near
For Diehard Reds
By EUGENE V. RISHER
SAIGON (UPI)—U.S. Marines
fighting foot by bloodsoaked
foot today captured a Viet Cong
watch tower on the southeastern
corner of Hue’s old Imperial
City and ran up the American
flag in a signal that the end was
near for the diehard Communist
defenders.
The Leathernecks—reinforce
ments who arrived by helicopter
professional golfer Barbara
Romack when the plane landed
‘ In Miami Wednesday night. "I
! got more publicity out of this
’ than when I won the Women’s
1 open.”
3 It was, In terms of passengers
1 Involved, the biggest hijacking
1 in aviation history and the first
1 successful abduction of an
American jetliner since three
1 were forced to land in Cuba in
s 1961.
t The hijacker was one of 19
f first class passengers boarding
> the plane in Tampa.
- Takes Over Plane
» Minutes later, he followed
s Mrs. Bleil through the cockpit
r door.
"This fellow came up behind
r me with a gun...” she said. "He
5 pointed it at the right side of
• my head and said, "We’re going
> to Cuba.’”
1 Entering the cockpit, the
) gunman took off his hat,
grabbed the radio earphones
> from Capt. J. D. Gainey, of
1 Grassy Key, Fla., the pilot, and
> put them on his own head.
• “He had the gun aimed at all
1 of us,” said Gainey. “There was
- no thought of disarming him—
s he was much too wrought up.”
1 Gainey told his passengers
over the plane’s Intercom
system to, "keep calm, there’s
s a man aboard who wants to go
t to Havana."
, Most of the passengers
1 remained calm, but tense. A
1 little girl cried, a college coed
1 giggled.
) “Everyone was quite cool
about it,” said Ed Cushing of
1 Hollywood, Fla.
Wednesday—charged this final
150 yards through the suicidal
Viet Cong defenders on the
heels of bombing runs that
bathed their last enemy holdout
area in flaming napalm and the
smoke of 500 pound bombs.
“The echo of the bombs was
still ringing in this place when
they radioed back that they had
the tower,” a Marine spokes
man reported.
Costly Advance
The advance in this bloodiest
battle of the Vietnam war was
costly. The fighting at Hue also
added to last week’s record
figure of 543 Americans killed
in action—lß,239 since the Unit
ed States entered Vietnam. Com
munist losses for the week were
estimated at 36,000.
A Marine spokesman estimat
ed today that no more than 200
Viet Cong and North Vietna
mese troops remained alive in
the walled Imperial City that
once housed the Annamese
kings of long ago.
The Imperial City is a
fortress within a fortress.
Marines already had broken
into The Citadel and captured
its southeast corner, the lower
right hand square of which can
be likened to a gigantic tick
tack-toe layout. The Imperial
City is the lower center square
and the Marines captured the
corner watch tower today.
The outer wall of The Citadel
is on the Perfume River and
Marines today surged west
through the southeast corner
and captured the Nguyen Hoang
Bridge linking for the first time
the allied forces fighting on
both sides of the Perfume
River.
VC Flag Flies
UPI correspondent Richard V.
Oliver, in Hue with the Marines,
said the Viet Cong flag still flew
over the innermost redoubt.
According to allied spokes
men, more than 3,000 Commu
nists and 100 Marines have been
killed in Hue. U.S. spokesmen
today announced that the fight
for the northern city and
battling around Saigon killed a
record 543 Americans last week.
They also reported that 2,547
American servicemen were
wounded last week, 1,247 of
them needing hospital treat
ment. A total of 1,359 U.S.
servicemen were killed in the
past three weeks.
In other action, U.S. Army
troops battled Communist for
ces apparently moving against
Saigon again.
U.S. Marine jets for the first
time bombed Hanoi Radio,
getting President Johnson’s
permission to hit the main
North Vietnamese broadcasting
station Wednesday.
At Hue, 400 miles north of
Saigon, Oliver reported the
North Vietnamese fought de
sperately to hold the Marines
behind the wall in which the
guerrillas had dug sniper holes.
He said streams of fire cut
into the charging Marines. The
Communists also downed a light
two-man observation plane spot
ting for the U.S. jets that
bombed the Communists and
splashed napalm over their
positions.
Country Parson
“Unwilling to accept the
demands of the Christian
gospel, men have diluted it
to suit their taste.”
Vol. 96 No. 45
Mayor Hints Solution
Near To Jail Need
City officials have in the
works a proposal they hope will i
answer the need for new jail fa- .
duties, according to Mayor Kim- 1
sey Stewart. :
He said he was not at liberty ■
to disclose details of the propo- 1
sal but hoped they could be re- 1
vealed soon.
The mayor agreed with sever
al grand juries that conditions
at the present city hall jail are 1
"deplorable”. He said he thinks 1
the solution will be forthcoming 1
soon and at a minimum cost. 1
Mayor Stewart told of the pro- ,
posal in an offhand remark dur- ,
ing his “state of the city” report
to the Kiwanis Club Wednes
day.
DEPLORABLE
With tongue in cheek, Mayor i
Stewart said he wishes the re
cent grand jury had not used
the word “deplorable” to descr- i
ibe city streets.
He said the city is well aware
of the conditions of the city st
reets and is making every effort :
to make repairs. He said the >
Public Works Department is sp- :
ending all the time and money it
has at its disposal in an effort
to make repairs.
Man Killed
In Wreck
Near Hampton
A Griffin Negro man was kill
ed and a White Griffinite was
injured in a traffic accident a
mile west of Hampton on U. S.
41 Wednesday afternoon.
Dallas Gaston, 56, of 318 Wash
ington street, Griffin, suffered a
broken neck and was dead on
arrival at the Griffin-Spalding
County Hospital.
Barney E. Cunard, 58, of 1357
Oakdale drive, Griffin, suffer
ed lacerations to his face. He
was treated at the hospital and
dismissed.
Gaston, a carpenter, and Cu
nard, an embalmer for a local
funeral home, were drivers of
the cars Involved. Damage was
estimated at SBOO.
The fatality was the eighth of
the year In the five county area
as compared to 11 for the same
period last year. The area in
cludes Spalding, Henry, Butts,
Lamar and Monroe Counties.
Three people were treated at
the Upson County Hospital in
Thomaston for injuries suffered
in an accident five miles west
of Barnesville on Georgia 36 in
Lamar County.
Linda Flournoy, 20, of Wash
ington Park, Barnesville, suf
fered a fractured skull In the
mishap. She was driver of the
car Involved.
Laverne Smith, 18, of Wash
ington Park, and Rena Smith,
one, of Washington Park, suffer
ed lacerations and bruises.
Damage was estimated at $75.
Mrs. Wallace
In Hospital
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (UPI)
—Alabama Gov. Lurleen Wal
lace, who has been fighting
recurrent cancer, was rushed to
a hospital in an ambulance
before dawn today.
A hospital spokesman said she
was admitted to St. Margaret’s
Hospital for "examination" and
would not comment further.
Ed Ewing, her spokesman,
said “I don’t want to go into it
(the sudden hospitalization) any
more than we have. We don’t
want to be misleading."
The nation’s only lady gover-
The Griffin city commissioner
criticized the Georgia General
Assembly for not providing cit
ies with additional sources of
revenue at the current session.
He said he thought it was a poor
excuse for them to say they wou
ld not raise taxes “because this
is an election year.”
ELECTION
If the need is there this year,
as it is , he said, he thought that
answers should be sought now,
regardless of the fact that this
is an election year.
Mayor Stewart said Georgia
cities had hoped to get a half of
a one cent state sales tax in
crease. He said that Gov. Lester
Maddox did not hesitate to pro
mise help for the cities when he
was campaiging for the gover
norship.
But since his election, the go
vernor has been hesitating qu
ite a bit, Mayor Stewart said
with a smile.
MONEY
The mayor said he had no hes
itancy to inform the people of
city about the need for more
money, noting that this is an el
ection year for him — should he
decide to rim again.
He reiterated that the city
llilner Woman Dies
In Train Accident
Mrs, Nellie Crowder Ewing,
51, of Milner, was killed this
morning at 9:30 when her car
was struck by a freight train at
Morgan’s Crossing north of Mil
ner in Lamar County.
State Patrol said she was pin
ned in the car and was dead on
arrival at the Griffin-Spalding
County Hospital.
Trooper William Shivers of the
Griffin Post investigated.
He said she apparently pulled
threats Didn’t
Stop Maddox
ROSSVILLE, Ga. (UPl)—Un
aware that his life had been
threatened twice in the past
two days, Gov. Lester Maddox
attended Flag-Day ceremonies
in his Tennessee border town
today and urged the United
States to use whatever military
force necessary to end the Viet
nam War.
Earlier today, a Chattanooga
television station reported it re
ceived “five or six” anonymous
calls Wednesday night threaten
ing the life of Georgia’s chief
executive. Georgia authorities
dismissed the calls as apparent
hoaxes, but said “necessary
precautions” would nonetheless
be taken.
It was also disclosed today '
by A. B. Wentz, special agent
in charge of the U.S. Secret
Service in Atlanta, that a man '
was arrested for threatening 1
the lives of President Johnson,
Vice President Hubert Humph- 1
rey and Maddox at an Atlanta
poolroom Wednesday. The '
man’s identity was not imme-’
diately available. I
nor and wife of presidential
candidate George Wallace has
been hospitalized several times
in the past year for cancer,
undergoing both surgery and
radiation treatment.
It was the first time in a year
she has been treated at a local
hospital. She has been under
going treatment at M. D.
Anderson Hospital in Houston.
She had surgery there last year
to remove a cancerous growth
and then had to begin returning
for radiation therapy of a pelvic
tumor.
r soon will have to call for a bond
1 issue needed Immediately. He
- said the bond issue probably
f would be for about a million
. and a quarter dollars.
r This is a small amount for a
- bond issue and the city might
s be able to pay it off through re
venue increases from natural
growth, he said.
, FIRE STATION
t Mayor Stewart said that the
, city intends to find some way to
j construct at least one neighbor
hood type fire station soon. He
i said that it is needed now becau
f se some sections of the city are
- too far away from a station. Fire
r insurance rates are going up if
• something is not done, he said.
» He said other stations would
- be needed in the future to serve
a growing city.
- Mayor Stewart said addition-
- al sewerage disposal facilities
i were needed badly now. This is
another of the projects the city
plans to finance through a bond
- issue, he said.
f He said that other projects
e were being studied by an engi-
- neering firm. The study must
e be completed before recommen
dations can be made, Mayor
/ Stewart said.
onto the tracks in front of the
train.
Mrs. Ewing was the daughter
of Mrs. M. M. Carter of Milner.
Among her survivors is a sis
ter, Mrs. William O. Patterson
of Griffin.
Funeral plans wiU be announ
ced by Haisten Funeral Home
of Griffin.
New Four Lane
Not Open Yet
The State Highway Depart
ment said today that the four
lane highway between Griffin
and Barnesville which is under
construction is closed to the tra
veling public.
The department asked that
signs and barricades on the new
stretch of highway be respected.
Fourth Snow
Brings 17 Low
A half inch of snow went in
to the record books today for
Griffin.
It was the fourth time during
the current winter that snow
has been recorded here but none
of them have been heavy, Weath
er Observer Horace Westbrooks
noted.
He said the 17 degree low
reading this morning was the
lowest of the current winter sea
son, too.
Long Court
Term Over
The longest term in recent Sp
alding Superior Court history
ended Wednesday.
Sherman Taylor was found gu
ilty of larceny from the house in
the final trial. He was sentenced
to three years in prison.
Johnny Fambrough, who
was Indicted in the same case,
pled guilty and drew a three
year sentence.
Billy Horne of Barnesville was
found guilty of an assault with
intent to murder charge and
sentenced to eight years in pri
son.
Horne was indicted in con
nection with the shooting of Jim
my Cook near Orchard HUL