Newspaper Page Text
E good
VENIN Vr
By Quimby Melton
Monday Good Evening receiv
ed a letter from the editor of the
"All American News”, official
publication of the 82nd — "All
American” Division, asking that
he, who reported to that division
the day it was organized in 1917
and remained with it until he
was discharged from the service
in 1919, write the editorial for
the Summer issue of the maga
zine.
The editor did not assign us a
subject, neither did he say how
long he wanted the editorial, but
believing that if one has some
thing worth while about which
to write it does not take many
words to get over one’s message.
So we decided to write the edi
torial with the heading — "The
Comma It a Small Punctuation
Mark — But!”
Following is the editorial for
the 82nd "All American” publi
cation.
To Pledge Allegiance to T h e
Flag is typical of American ga
therings and probably even more
so than the singing of the Natio
nal Anthem; for sometimes “My
Country’ Tis of Thee” is substi
tuted for the more difficult to
sing "Star Spangled Banner.”
The wording of the pledge var
ies little from the original pled
ge, first used in Boston, on Col
umbus Day, Oct. 12, 1892. That
is it differs only by the addition
of two words and the omission
of one punctuation mark.
The pledge became official
by an act of Congress passed
June 22, 1942. For 12 years it
was reported using the same
words as those in 1892, but in
June 14, 1954 Congress added the
words “under God” after "o n e
nation.” The bill as proposed
was correctly punctuated with a
ma (,) separating “one nation"
nation” and "under God.”
But there was one man in Con
gress who offered an amend
ment. The amendment was short
and simple calling for remov
ing the comma (,) from the
phrase “one nation, under God”-
His speech in favor of the am
endment was short and simple—
"l do not want anything, not
even a small comma, to separ
ate my nation and my God”. The
amendment passed unanimous
ly and today if the pledge is pro
perly given there is no pause in
the middle of that phrase.
The idea that our nation was
founded by people who were
God serving, God loving people,
and that despite efforts of many
to eliminate all reference as to
our national love for and depen
dance on God, this is still "one
nation under God.”
This should be reaffirmed
whenever and wherever those
who love America gather. Let’s
not let the arguments of the mis
guided cause us to abandon, even
to the slightest degree our trust
in Our God and our faith in Him.
Use of the phrase “one nation
under God” did not originate
with the Pledge of Allegiance. It
occurs in the Gettysburg Ad
dress, delivered by President
Lincoln, Nov. 19, 1863. President
Linooln called for Increased
devotion to the cause for which
those buried there gave their li
ves, that “this nation, under
God shall have a new birth of
freedom and that government of
the people, by the people, for
the people shall not vanish from
the earth.”
So may this veteran of World
War One say to his comrads
of the All American Division,
when you give The Pledge give
It proudly and leave the comma
out, don’t halt between one na
tion and under God; for nothing,
not even a small comma, shall
separate America from God.
Country Parson
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Bps
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"Little problems, like rough
roads, may keep you awake
and thus prevent massive
troubles.”
Copyright 1969, by Frank A. Clark
Explosion Feared;
Gas Barge Burns
QUINCY, 111. (UPI)-A barge
which had been carrying 847,000
gallons of gasoline burned
against a railroad bridge In the
Mississippi River today. Offi
cials hoped It would not explode
and destroy the $lO million
bridge.
Four men were missing—
presumed dead—-and dragging
operations were to begin today
eight miles upstream at La
Grange, Mo., from where two
barges had floated after a
pumping barge exploded while
they were being unloaded.
Four other men—tugboat
Capt. William R. Opitz, 37,
Memphis, Tenn., and three
crew members—were Injured
and taken to Quincy hospitals.
Optiz was the most severely
injured of the four with second
degree burns over his body.
Three other crew members
escaped injury.
However, two other crewmen,
the manager and assistant
manager of the Triangle Oil Co.
at La Grange were reported
missing.
Being sought were Glen
Naples, La Grange, manager of
the Triangle Refinery; his
assistant, Albert Frleden, also
of La Grange; and two
crewmen, Chief Engineer W. C.
Mitchell of Memphis, who
joined the tug about a week ago
and Erin Jean of Memphis, a
deckhand.
The blast was seen and heard
for miles. The barge sank, and
flames spread to a second gas
barge, a grain barge and a
grain elevator. A floating dock
which carried the pumps used
to unload the barges sank.
Then the burning barge and
the third gas barge broke loose,
drifted into the river and began
floating downstream toward
Quincy, eight miles south.
' ‘Although the one barge
burned furiously and explosions
belched huge columns of flame
and smoke from its cargo, the
flames did not spread to the
other barge. And although both
barges lodged against the
Kidnap Victim
Freed After
Ransom Paid
BALTIMORE (UPI) —A kid
naped 22-year-old girl from
Waterloo, lowa, was released
here today after her father paid
SIO,OOO ransom.
Ann Katherine Jenkins, part
time social worker here and a
student at the University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,
was reunited with her father at
7 a.m. EDT. The kidnapers,
who have not been captured
had promised to release the girl
at 8 p.m Monday.
The father, Thomas R.
Jenkins, flew in from Waterloo,
where he is president of a
savings and loan association on
Monday with the ransom
money He was contacted by
the kidnapers after they took
his daughter from her apart
ment late Saturday night. The
payoff was made on a
Baltimore street corner Mon
day night.
The FBI cooperated in the
Investigation but honored the
father’s request to stay out of
the case until his daugher was
safe. An FBI spokesman said
the kidnapers used professional
tactics. They consisted of one
woman and one or possibly two
men, an agent said.
Griffin Pilot Rescues
Nuns From Danger Zone
DJAYAPURA, West Irian —
Three Dutch nuns, stationed in
Enarotall, West Irian, owe
their lives to a pilot from Grif
fin, Ga. The pilot is John Chea
tham, son of Mr. and Mrs. J.
M. (Mac) Cheatham. He is a pi
lot with the Dutch Franciscan
order of the Catholic Church
which has missionary headquar
ters at Enarotall in the heart
of the jungle part of West Irian.
Priests, lay missionaries, and
nuns staff the headquarters.
Many forays on towns and set
tlements by bands of prlmative
tribesmen became so serious
that Indonesian paratroopers
were sent in to restore order.
GRIFFIN
DAILY # NEWS
Daily Since 1872
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Railroad bridge at Quincy,
crews were able later to
separate the two and tow away
the barge which did not burn.
The barge continued burning
and exploding, lighting the
night sky and giving Quincy’s
45,000 residents a fiery show.
However, it was not felt the
blaze constituted a threat to the
town—the river is about a mile
wide at that point and the
barge was closer to the
Missouri side.
Transplant
Did Not
Restore Sight
By PRESTON F. KIRK
HOUSTON (UPl)—John Mad
den spent three weeks with his
eyelids stitched shut, waiting to
learn whether an operation
would restore his sight.
His wife said Monday it had
not.
Madden, 55, a Conroe, Tex.,
photo shop owner, received a
new right eye three weeks ago
in what was announced as the
first total eye transplant. He
quietly checked out of Metho
dist Hospital Monday and
returned home.
Perfect Movement
"There is no sight but the eye
has perfect movement and he
has feeling in it,” Mrs. Madden
said from the couple’s home
about 40 miles north of
Houston.
"I don’t know what they
expected," she said. "They tell
us that being able to transplant
an eye and have movement in
it is really something.”
Neither Dr. Conrad D. Moore,
■who performed the surgery, nor
Methodist Hospital officials
would comment on the success
of the operation. Madden left
the hospital secretly Monday
morning.
“He was discharged to his
home and he will be seen on an
outpatient basis,” an official
hospital statement said.
The Houston Opthalmologlcal
Society issued a statement
three days after the surgery,
accusing Moore of giving
thousands of blind persons a
false sense of hope with claims
of a total eye transplant.
“The procedure was not
based on sufficient experience
or knowledge," the medical
group said, "The toUl eye
transplant is doomed to fail
ure.”
Partial Transplant
Th enext day Moore reversed
himself and said he did not
transplant a complete eye into
Madden. Instead, he said, he
transplanted only part of it.
“We are very pleased and
believe Dr. Moore did the very
best he could,” Mrs. Madden
said.
Madden’s eyes were stitched
shut after the April 22
operation to avoid infection.
After the bandages were
removed, he was "real tired
but feels good.” his wife said.
Madden suffered from a
condition in which fluid clouded
his corneas, preventing vision.
His right eye was destroyed
April 14 by excessive bleeding
during a routine corneal
transplant. Doctors said a
successful cornea transplant in
the future could give him sight
in his left eye.
"Right now, he just wants to
get some rest,” Mrs. Madden
said.
Madden was given the gray
green right eye of O. B.
Hickman, 55, of Houston, who
died April 21 of a brain tumor.
The coming of paratroopers
has resulted in more th i 30,000
native tribesmen leaving towns
and villages and forming guerril
la organizations that are staging
hit and run attacks on towns and
Villages.
A chief target has been the
town of Enarotall and nearby
villages. It is at Enarotall that
the Dutch Franciscan order
has its missionary headquarters.
The Griffin pilot, flying regu
lar missions in the east for the
Dutch Franciscan order, flew to
the endangered missionary cen
ter and brought the three nuns
to safety. It is probable unless
the situation improves in West
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Tuesday, May 13, 1969
Nixon Seeks To Induct
19-Year-Olds First
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(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo)
Promoted To Major
Travis Israel (c), who has been commander of the Salvation Army in Griffin for
almost six years, has been promoted to major. Maj. Israel has 17 years of service
with the Salvation Army. He and his wife were congratulated on the promotion
by Frank Jolly, chairman of the Salvation Army Advisory Board. 4
Bolden Is Arrested;
Teachers Suspended
ZEBULON, Ga. — Willie Bol
den, Southern Christian Lea
dership Conference (SCLC) field
worker, was arrested and 23 Ne
gro teachers suspended th 1 s
morning in racially troubled
Pike County.
Some 300 Negro students, who
have been boycotting Pike
Consolidated High at Concord
rode busses to school this morn
ing but left after some of them
were reportedly told by Bolden
that they did not have to attend
school.
Tobacco Can
With S3OO In It
Taken From Home
A Griffin Negro man has been
charged with taking a tobacco
can containing S3OO from a Ne
gro woman’s home, according
to the Spalding County Sheriff’s
Department.
Walter McCrary of 1504 North
HUI street, Griffin, was freed
from Spalding County Jail on
SI,OOO bond.
He was charged with taking
the money In a warrant taken by
Estella Mathis of 221 Riley cir
cle.
She said that the money had
been stuffed Into the tobacco
can and that McCrary took the
can from her home.
Irian, that many others station
ed at Enarotall will be evacua
ted and John Cheatham will
make more rescue flights there.
Cheatham, who will be 29 In
November, in addition to being
an experienced pilot, speaks
Malaysian well enough to com
municate with the natives in
most parts of the Irian area.
Cheatham has specialized in the
study of languages and today is
considered one of the best lingu
ists of his generation. In addition
to English, he is fluent in Span
ish, French, Portugese, Dutch,
German, Italian and Japanese.
Bolden was arrested and
charged with disturbing the con
duct of a public school while In
session. He was jailed at Zebu
lon.
The Negro teachers were sus
pended by Supt. Harold Daniel
for refusing to teach school
while lawmen were present. All
but two of the teachers walked
out.
After Bolden was arrested, the
Negro students and some adults
marched on predominately white
Pike County High School in Ze
bulon.
They were blocked at ever y
entrance by helmeted State
Troopers.
The Pike County Board of Ed
ucation tried to break the sc
hool boycott by appointing 10 as
sistant truant officers. The of
ficers were assigned to ride sc
hool buses on their routine
rounds this morning.
The truant officers told
parents that the students would
be protected if they returned.
Daniel and Bolden agreed to
day that there didn’t appear to
be an Immediate end to the Ne
gro boycott.
“It looks like an Impasse to
me,” Supt. Daniel said yester
day. "The Board of Education
is firm in its decision not to re
new the contract of Principal D.
F. Glover.”
Japanese Urged
To Refuse
‘Control’
TOKYO (UPD—The Japanese
government is being urged by
textile interests here to refuse
any U. S. demand for voluntary
control on the export of Japa
nese textile goods to the United
States.
The opposition was voiced
amid reports that U. S. Com
merce Secretary Maurice Stans
is expected to ask Japan to im
pose voluntary restraints on
textile exports to the U. S. He
arrived here Saturday for talks
with government leaders on
trade between the U. S. and Ja
pan.
Vol. 96 No. 112
"It appears to be a stale
mate," Bolden said late last
night. "The board and Mr. Dan
iel think they can wear us down.
However, we’re not playing. We
mean business. It looks like a
long hot summer.”
Bolden said the boycott would
continue indefinitely.
More mass meetings, march
es and demonstrations are plan
ned this week.
Mclntosh Unit
Is Seeking
Staff Planner
The Mclntosh Trail Area Plan
ning and Development Commis
sion Is looking for a staff plan
ning director. The executive
committee of the commission
has been authorized to find such
a director and offer up to $15,000
annually as a salary.
The commission has asked
each county participating in the
organization pay 20 cents per
person, based on the 1960 cen
sus, into the organization to help
finance it.
Homer Davis, assistant city
manager of Griffin, said Griffin
and Spalding County’s share
would be $7,080.80. He said the
city and county commissioners
would have to work out how this
amount would be shared bet
ween them. Davis is on the exe
cutive committee.
The Spalding population in 1960
was listed at 35,404, the figure
on which the assessment for this
community was based.
The five counties participat
ing in the commission are Spal
ding, Henry, Fayette, Lamar
and Butts. Total population In
these five based on 1960 census
reports was 80,438.
An estimated $15_,000 will be
raised from this, based on 20
cents per person, a commission
spokesman said.
The 15,000 to be put up by the
five-county group will enable it
to get another $30,000 from state
sources, giving the gtoup an in
itial $45,000 with which to begin
operation.
Thomas Lane, a county ad
ministrator for Spalding, repre
sents the county in the organiza
tion.
Revised Draft Plan
Going To Congress
WASHINGTON (UPI) —Pres
ident Nixon has decided to ask
Congress to revise the draft
Six Race
Horses Die
In Fire
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (UPI)—
A flash fire raced through a
stable at Garden State race
track early today, burning it to
the ground as grooms and
handlers worked to get 60
thoroughbred race horses to
safety.
Police and firemen, who
brought the fire under control
in less than an hour, said six
horses died and four persons—
two firemen and two track
workers—were slightly Injured.
Stable B, the oldest of a
dozen stables at the track, was
completely destroyed. Stable C,
which had 40 horses inside, was
slightly damaged.
All the dead horses were in
Stable B. which was 250 feet by
40 feet.
One of the dead thorough
breds was "old Woman,” which
Monday won a $7,500 claiming
race. She was owned by Kenny
Noe, Sr.
The two track workers
injured were knocked down
when they attempted to keep
horses from re-entering the
burning stable from which they
had evacuated. They were
identified as Samuel Kirk, 58, a
track security guard, and
Theodore Craig, 59, an assistant
trainer from Baltimore.
While all seven fire compa
nies from Cherry Hill and
firemen from five surrounding
areas fought the general alarm
blaze, the track workers tried
to lead the horses to the track
area. But many of the
frightened animals broke loose
and roamed the fenced-in track
area for hours afterwards until
handlers were able to catch
them and bed them down in
different areas away from the
burned stable.
It was the first fire in the 20-
year history of the track.
Weather:
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN
AREA — Fair to partly cloudy
and mild tonight and tomorrow.
LOCAL WEATHER — Esti
mated high today 83, low today
54, high yesterday 80, low yes
terday 46; sunrise tomorrow
6:42, sunset tomorrow 8:31.
Cong Accuses U. S.
Os Stepping Up War
By GEORGE SIBERA
PARIS (UPI) —The Viet
Cong accused the United States
today on the first anniversary
of the opening of the Paris
talks of stepping up the war in
Vietnam to "unprecedented
levels.”
Viet Cong chief negotiator
Tran Buu Klem demanded that
the United States withdraw
from South Vietnam without
any reciprocal North Vietna
mese pullout.
"In South Vietnam the United
States is presently In the
process of intensifying Its war
of aggression to unprecedented
levels,”, Klem said. "American
senators themselves have ad
mitted it.”
While accusing the United
States, the Communists shelled
212 targets throughout South
Vietnam late Sunday and
J'- '.ay, t’.e most attacks since
the 1968 Tet offensive.
Klem urged the United States
to start talks on the Viet Cong’s
law to provide for Induction of
19-year-olds first, House Leader
Republican Gerald R. Ford said
today.
Ford said reform of the
Selected Service Act would be
contained In a message by the
President to Congress today.
Ford made the disclosure
following the weekly breakfast
meeting of GOP congressional
leaders with Nixon.
Ford said the revisions would
"remove some uncertainties
that hang over the heads” of
men in the draft-age bracket—
-19 to 26.
He said there will be
"random selection each year,”
which would result in one out of
six or one out of seven 19-year
olds being selected for the
draft.
The oldest, rather than the
youngest, are now normally
drafted first.
Ford said that 19-year-olds
who were picked under the
revised system still would get
the benefit of deferment if they
were in college.
Ford said uncertainty has
“created concern and apprehen
sion” among young men and
families.
"This is a step in the right
direction,” the GOP leader
said.
Ford said he felt “prospects
are good” for congressional
approval of the Nixon plan.
Train Wreck
Kills Engineer
KNOXVILLE (UPI) Two
L&N Railroad freight trains
slammed together at Knoxville
early today, killing the engineer
of one train, injuring two other
crewmen and setting off a spec
tacular diesel fuel fire.
Police said the collision oc
curred about 4:10 a.m. in West
Knoxville. Three hours later the
fire, fed by diesel fuel, contin
ued to burn out of control in
the twisted wreckage of freight
engines and cars.
Killed was W. R. Vick, about
53, of Chatsworth, Ga. Injured
were Burley Cooley, 24, and
W. F. Landreth of Etowah.
The Knoxville Rescue Squad
aided other workers at the
scene In recovering the body
which was removed from the
wreckage about two hours after
the collision.
Police said there was no dan
ger from the fire to peoople
living in the vicinity, where
houses were scattered sparsely
in the western edge of the city.
Officials fighting the blaze
were reported considering ask
ing help from McGhee Tyson
Airport for their heavy foam
fire equipment unless they
could bring the blaze under con
trol.
peace package which is sup
ported by North Vietnam. The
Viet Cong’s National Liberation
Front (NLF) presented it last
week.
"The NLF has always shown
its good will and adopted a
serious attitude in order to
allow the conference to achieve
speedy results,” he said.
Klem ruled out any direct
negotiations with the Saigon
regime and demanded a
provisional “peace” cabinet to
prepare new elections in South
Vietnam.
It was a year ago today that
preliminary talks aimed at
opening the way for the peace
negotiations now in progress
started at the former Hotel
Majestic.
Diplomatic observers said the
return to Vientiane of North
Vietnam’s ambassador may
mean the Communists are
willing to include Laos in a
Vietnam peace settlement as
U.S. negotiators have long
demanded.