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VENIN VF
By Quimby Melton
How many of the 15,230 peo
ple who are registered to vote in
the primaries being held today
will actually go to the polls and
cast their votes? That is a ques
tion many were asking this mor
ning and throughout the day.
State officials have estimated
a 50 percent vote state-wide.
If this holds true in Spalding
County that means 7,615 ballots
will be cast. But, of course, there
will be some who are sick or dis
abled and cannot go to the polls,
who have not received and vot
ed absentee ballots, which will
reduce the number.
If 60 percent of the registered
voters cast their ballots it will
mean a little more than 9,000.
Good Evening personally che
cked two of the largest voting
precincts this morning three
hours after the polls had open
ed. There had been an estima
ted 200 votes in each. (We did
not interrupt the election mana
gers for an official total of t h e
number of ballots that had been
handed out, they were too busy,
A second check just before
noon of these and several other
polls found those holding the
primaries estimating the total
might go as high as 65 percent.
There always is a pickup
in the tempo of voting at
the noon hour, when people are
on their way to or returning
from lunch; and an even larger
increase during the three hour
period, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.
m. after industries, offices, and
stores close.
So we are still hopeful that
we’ll hit the 60 percent or even
better turnout.
— * —
A nationally known commen
tator, who certainly has access
to more polls and sampling of
what the American people are
thinking and how they may act,
has said that only 50 percent of
the younger generation, those
between 21 and 24 years old,
“will take the time to vote in the
November election."
No doubt he limited this group
that “would not take time to
vote” to those who have reach
ed voting age since the 1964 el
ection. (In most of the states
21 is the minimum voting age;
here in Georgia it is 18.)
We do not agree with this esti
mate, for we believe the young
"first time voters” are as inter
ested, if not more interested, in
elections as any other age gr
oup.
The same comment on the No
vember election said about 75-
Milllon would vote; 39-Million of
these would be .women. Pointing
out that this represents a 3-Mil
lion margin in favor of the wo
men he adds this comment “a
few will ask their husbands for
advice.”
— * —
Proper proof reading and cor
rection is one of the hazards of
publishing newspapers, maga
zines, even books. Somehow or
other errors manage to creep in.
Sometimes they are amusing,
sometimes they can prove em
barrassing.
Monday Good Evening carried
a quote from Alexander Pope.
It is one of our favorite quotes.
It should have read:
Vice is a monster of so frightful
a mein,
As to be hated needs but to be
seen;
But seen too ‘oft, familiar with
her face,
We first endure, then pity, then
embrace.
After the paper was printed it
was discovered the third line
read "But seen too, soft, famili
ar with her face.”
(We hope the gremlin that cau
sed the first mistake will not
creep in again today.)
— ♦ —
One of the best and most res
pected newspaper men who ever
lived died last night in Orlando,
Florida. He was W. F. Caldwell,
age 82, who before he retired se
veral years ago, was southern
manager for the Associated Pr
ess with headquarters in Atlan
ta.
Good Evening knew Mr. Cald
well well and admired him as a
skilled, reliable newsman, and as
as a gentleman. He was more
than just a gentleman, he was a
Christian gentleman, who lived
up to the highest ethics of his
profession and to the teachings
of The Master.
Our profession needs more
men like Mr. W. F. Caldwell.
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(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo)
Paw Power
Jack Cantrell of Griffin found three kittens near Ft.
Mountain in North Georgia last weekend. All of
them have unusual feet. Two of the kittens have eight
claws on their front feet. Another has only four claws
on a back foot. The kittens are normal in all other
respects. Two of them have so many claws it appears
they are growing an extra paw. The kittens apparent
ly are seven to eight weeks old. Cantrell plans to keep
them.
Atlanta Trucks
Not Blocked
By HENRY P. LEIFERMAN
ATLANTA (UPD—The Rev.
Ralph David Abernathy, who
had threatened to block garbage
trucks with his body today,
failed to appear in the picket
line this morning.
Ten garbage trucks passed
without incident through picket
lines at a city garage where
Abernathy and other Southern
Christian Leadership Confer
ence leaders were arrested
Tuesday for sitting down in
front of trucks.
Albert Sampson, a field or
ganizer for SCLC, explained Ab
ernathy’s absence by saying the
civil rights leader was “making
the rounds” at other city gar
ages and picket lines.
About 55 Negro pickets shook
their fists as the truck drivers
passed through the lines. They
shouted, “Wait until tomorrow.
We’ll fill those jails.”
There were no incidents.
At a rally of the strikers
Tuesday night Abernathy called
on about 500 persons to join the
picket lines today and said, “If
you don’t show up we’ll know
who the Uncle Toms are.”
He also threatened nighttime
Country Parson
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“Quarrels grow out of
ignorance and bias — men
with the same facts and the
same prejudices don’t fight.”
DAILY NEWS
Daily Since 1872 Griffin, Ga., 30223, Wednesday, September 11, 1968 Vol. 95 No. 217
marches Into White suburbs,
“jail-ins” and “civil disobedi
ence” to back up demands by
the city garbage workers, most
of them Negroes, for higher pay
scales.
Abernathy, successor to Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., as
president of the Southern Chris
tian Leadership Conference, and
72 other demonstrators were ar
rested Tuesday while trying to
block the trucks leaving a sani
tation department garage.
“We’ve got to stop those gar
bage trucks,” he said. “We’re
in it now, and we’re in it to
the real finish.”
As in Memphis, Tenn., last
March, the SCLC committed it
self to support of the garbage
workers, disrupting its plans for
voter registration campaigns.
A Fulton County Superior
Court order Tuesday forbid Ab
ernathy and officials of the Am
erican Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employes
from encouraging the strike.
Morton Shapiro, spokesman
for the union, also shrugged off
the court order, saying, “Injunc
tions don’t collect garbage.”
Negotiations between Shapiro
and Mayor Ivan Allen dead
locked Tuesday but were ex
pected to resume today. The
strikers seek higher wages and
a shorter period of time to
reach the top of their pay scales
through seniority.
Allen termed the union de
mand “impossible” and said
the city could not legally grant
major pay raises until January.
Abernathy and most of the
other demonstrators arrested
Monday were released under $25
bond. Hearings on charges of
blocking public driveways were
scheduled in two weeks.
GEOGRAPHIC CENTER
The geographical center of the
United States including Alaska
and Hawaii, is in Butte Coun
ty, 8.D., 17 miles west of Castle
Rock and 14 miles east of the
junction of the borders of South
Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
GRIFFIN
Pike Tension Eases;
Principal Is Hired
School Board Bas
Meet Till Midnight
Harold Daniel, superintendent
of Pike County Schools, announ
ced this afternoon thakMrs. Ed
na Miller of 514 Washington st
reet, Griffin, had been named
acting principal of East Pike
Elementary School.
Mrs. Miller has accepted the
position and Mr. Daniel said he
was hopeful that the situation
that brought on the boycott had
been resolved.
“I am optimistic,” Mr. Daniel
said following a two and a half
hour meeting with a group of
Pike County citizens.
“We haven’t planned any more
meetings. I believe the citizens,
who met with us, will make a re
port to their people and I hope,
a satisfactory agreement ha s
been reached,” the superinten
dent said.
Mr. Daniel said that an offic
ial of the State Department of
Education estimated East Pike
Elementary School was losing
S6OO a day in state funds every
day the boycott continues.
Hiring of a White woman as
principal there to replace a Ne
gro principal who had resigned
triggered the school boycott.
Mrs. W. W. Elder, the W h i t e
principal, resigned Saturday in
the controversy.
The school board announced
its decision at noon today to a
group representing the parents
who had organized the school
boycott last week. They met at
the Pike Courthouse in Zebulon.
Some 15 Negroes leading the
boycott met with Supt. Harold
Daniel and board attorney Rich
ard Bridges Tuesday afternoon
The strike presented no “criti
cal” health hazard to the city
at present, Allen said. Howev
er, a noticeable odor permeat
ed the downtown business dis
trict and some residential areas
without garbage service since
before Labor Day.
The city is distributing one
million, 30 - gallon plastic bags
at its 34 fire stations. Residents
were urged to take their bags
of trash to city incinerators or
land fills, where picket lines
greeted them, or to special bins
at all Atlanta public schools.
The strikers, most of them
Negroes, want a minimum hour
ly wage of $2.50. Present wages
range from $1.66 an hour for
beginning trash collectors to
$2.05 for drivers.
The city offered wages rang
ing from $2.33 to $2.87 an hour
beginning Jan. 1.
Shrine Parade
Here Saturday
The annual Shriners parade
will be held in Griffin Saturday.
The parade will begin at 10:30
a.m. from the East Solomon
street shopping center and wind
through downtown streets.
The parade will feature cl
owns, trick cars and scooters al
ong with Shrine bands and some
new parade features the Shrin
ers are trying out.
More than 500 Shriners from
Atlanta and other Georgia cities
are expected to be here for the
annual event.
Weather:
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN
AREA — Cool again tonight.
Fair and mild Thursday.
LOCAL WEATHER — Maxi
mum today 81, minimum today
55, maximum Tuesday 84, mini
mum Tuesday 63. Sunrise Th
ursday 7:21 a.m., sunset Th
ursday 7:50 p.m.
to discuss complaints about the
school.
On the courthouse lawn out
side under sunny skies, some
600 students, teachers and par
ents gathered to protest.
The 300 students at Pike Con
solidated High School, an all
Negro school at Concord, left
their classrooms Tuesday morn
ing and went to Zebulon to join
in the boycott.
Some 300 students at East Pike
Elementary and their parents
had started the boycott last week
Pike Sheriff J. Astor Riggins
called in additional lawmen as
the protesters gathered on the
courthouse lawn Tuesday after
noon. The crowd was orderly
and there were no disturbances.
State troopers from the Grif
fin and Thomaston units along
with GBI agents, Game and Fish
Rangers and other lawmen
kept watch on the courthouse
through the afternoon until the
crowd left.
An FBI agent from the LaGr
ange office came to Zebulon to
make a fact finding report.
Sheriff Riggins today had law
officers stationed at all seven
voting precincts in Pike Coun
ty. He said he wanted to assure
Pike citizens that law and order
would be maintained at voting
places during the elections to
day.
Meanwhile, picketing continued
at Besco Products, a large can
ning concern in Zebulon. A sign
in front of the plant said it was
closed because of the school boy
cott. Pickets carried signs say
ing they were on strike for un
ion recognition.
Supt. Daniel said reports that
Health, Education and Welfare
people were in on the controver
sy were incorrect.
He said the State Department
sent in an observer at the requ
est of Pike officials.
Dr. Horace Tate of Atlanta
who heads Georgia Negro teach
ers, talked with Supt. Daniel in
formally Tuesday afternoon af
ter the meeting of the boycott
leaders and school board repre
sentatives.
David S. Masdon, a candidate
for the office of sheriff of Pike
County, withdrew from the race
Tuesday night.
Mr. Masdon, owner of a gro
cery store, said this morning that
he withdrew “in the best inter
est of all the people of Pike Co
unty.”
Mr. Masdon’s withdrawal left
two candidates in the sheriff’s
race, incumbent J. Astor Rig
gins and W. A. “Bill” Oliver.
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Gunsmoke
Check
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(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo)
Ballot Day
Voter turns from a table after receiving her ballot at the Third Ward polling
place at the Rural Urban Center at the Spalding County Courthouse to cast her
vote in private. The turnout may be more than 60 percent today.
Troops Move In
Czechoslovakia
By JAMES O. JACKSON
PRAGUE (UPD—Czechoslo
vak Communist party sources
said today half of the 600,000
Warsaw Pact occupation troops
"are on the move in Czechoslo
vakia” but that they did not
know if the forces were leaving
the country.
Moscow laid down a stiff
series of demands on the
government of party leader
Alexander Dubcek as the price
of withdrawing the troops—
except for a force along the
West German border. This
included a return to total
Communist rule and an end to
the liberalization program.
The latest move to bow to
(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo)
Joe Manley (1), president of the Griffin Gunsmoke Club and Lamar Conner,
secretary, present a check for $502, to John Andrews, Fourth Ward principal, and
Mrs. Frances McCarley and Miss Lanette Graham, of the Spalding County Business
and Professional Women’s Club. The Gunsmoke club raised the money at their
annual gun show and contributed it to support a class for brain damaged children
at Fourth Ward. The Spalding BPW Club help? support the class each ypar.
these terms came Tuesday
when the hesitant Czechoslovaks
bound their economy irrevoca
bly to Russia for seven years.
Czechoslovaks were still trying
to decide whether to flee the
country before it is too late or
to see how severe the Commu
nist crackdown will be.
The Czechoslovak Communist
sources said the approximately
300,000 troops, most of them
Russians, may either be headed
for “second stage” withdrawal
positions along the western
borders, or they may be headed
for the Soviet Union, Poland or
East Germany.
A further possibility, they
said, is that they will move to
concentration points to bivouac
until the next stage of their
pullout from Czechoslovakia.
The secret terms of a Moscow
agreement reached shortly after
the invasion of Aug. 20-21 called
for a three-stage departure
from Czechoslovakia to be
completed possibly as early as
Oct. 28, the 50th anniversary of
the founding of the republic.
The first stage was a
withdrawal from cities and
towns to encampments around
the country. There has been
some evidence that the first
stage began several days ago.