Newspaper Page Text
Weather Forecast
Cloudy
See Page 5
E good
VENIN VF
By Quimby Melton
Weekend Notes:
It’s doubtful if there has ever
been a week so filled with inter
esting news as the one just pass
ed. Any of several events would
furnish enough material for a
column by itself.
Three American astronauts not
onlv soared to the moon, but two
of them landed, walked on that
planet, left an American flag and
other tokens there, gathered up
some rocks and dirt, then took
off for the trio home, changing
from the “local” space shin to
the '“express", then sped home,
landing safe and sound almost
on the spot chosen for the ter
minal and almost at the exact
minute of the schedule.
Man was thankful, man was
awed, man was th’-illed, and
man looked to the future elated
and confident.
Meanwhile President Nixon,
who had flown to the Pacific to
witness the splashdown and who
greeted the astronauts and con
gratulated them, is continuing
h’s trip to several nations in the
Pacific. The President, you will
recall, did not get to shake the
hands of the three space explor
ers because they had been plac
ed in Quarantine so they could
he examined to make sure they
brought back no germs from the
moon. (World War One veterans
will remember the “delousing”
treatment th»v after
a tour in the front lines, especial
ly in sectors where the fighting
was from trench to trench and
the dugouts were lousy with
“cooties”)
Another bit of news that has
the nation talking. Senator Ed
ward M. Kennedy, was the dri
ver of an automobile that skidd
ed off a small bridge; landed
upside down in a tidal pool, that
resulted in the drowning death
of a young woman, Miss Mary
Jo Kopechne, who was his com
panion. Miss Kopechne was at
onetime a secretary to the Se
nator’s brother, Robert Kenne
dy.
The fact that the Senator did
not report the accident for sev
eral hours led to his being char
ged with leaving the scene of
an accident. Rumors flew thick
and fast. Few of them were
complimentary to the senator
and the young lady. The Sena
tor, accompanied by his wife,
attended the funeral, refused to
comment on the affair and said
he would make a statement la
ter. In this he told of the acci
dent and asked that the people
advise him whether he should re
sign as Massachusetts Senator,
saying however the final decis
ion was up to him. Replies have
been tremendous and continue
to flow into his office. Sunday
the Senator and his family at
tended mass at his church in Hy
annis Port, was greeted by a
crowd that loudly applauded him
as he entered the church and
urged him to continue in office.
—' ♦ —
The State Board of Educa
tion in a reply to a U. S. request
that it take responsibility for sc
hool desegregation, declared it
did not have the authority to for
ce local boards to act. Mean
while Governor Maddox continu
ed his campaign against dese
gregation charging in a speech
delivered at Statesboro the whole
move was a “Communist plot”
to ruin America.
The death of two Georgians
was reported throughout the na
tion. The Rev. A. D. King, only
brother of Dr. Martin Luther
King, was found drowned in a
swimming pool at his home in
Atlanta.
Marine Major Steve Pless of
Newnan, Medal of Honor winner
in Vietnam, was killed in a mo
torcycle accident in Pensacola.
Here at home the entire com
munity was “shook up” by the
eight day Crusade for Christ
conducted by Rev. Bob Harring
ton and his team. The evangelist
drew great crowds, “told it as
it is” and made a great impres
sion on all. Griffin will be a bet
ter city, Good Evening believes,
as the result of this Crusade.
Gunman Takes
$65 In Robbery
A young Negro gunman rob
bed a service station attendant
about 5 o’clock Sunday morning
of approximately $65 in change
and bills, police said.
Officers said J. E. Moore, at
tendant at the Spur Service Sta
tion at Tenth and Taylor streets,
was filling the drink box when a
Negro man In his early 20’s step
ped from behind the box. He had
a chrome-plated pistol in his
hand.
The Negro man demanded mo
ney and Moore gave him the
bills and change he had. The
man told Moore to walk away
GRIFFIN
DATTvI NEWS
Daily Since 1872
Escapee
Is Slain
In Upson
THOMASTON, Ga. (UPI) — A
fugitive from a mental hospital
in Florida, one of 13 who es
caped Sunday night, was shot
and killed early today after he
and two companions broke
through a roadblock.
City police said the three,
fleeing in a stolen car, hit a
building after running the road
block. One of the trio jumped
from the car and was shot and
killed when he tried to escape.
The other two were recap
tured.
Florida officials identified the
three escapers as Tyrone Lee
Brown, 32, serving time for
forgery; Willie R. Garrett, 25,
convicted of assault and at
tempted murder; and Charles
Funderburk, 19, who was in
prison on assault charges. All
are Negroes.
Chief of Police Roy Blount said
Officer Mickey Helms shot
Brown after the escaper failed
to heed orders to halt and fled
up a dark alley.
Blount said officers here had
been alerted to be on the look
out and about 3 a.m. one police
car spotted the three men. The
patrolman radioed for help and
soon two police cars were chas
ing the escapers through the
city.
They closed in on both sides,
Blount said, but Brown swerved
his vehicle from side to side,
crumpling fenders on the police
cars, only to crash into the wall
pf a service station
Florida authorities said the
three were part of a gang of 13
inmates who armed themselves
with homemade knives, over
powered guards in the hospital’s
maximum security criminal un
it and escaped about 9:45 p.m.
Sunday. I
Eight were recaptured within
an hour on the grounds of the
northwest Florida hospital facil
ity but the three who turned up j
here made their way to the |
Chattahoochee water works
where Bryon Hickey, 44, was
working alone.
They forced Hickey to drive I
them into Georgia in his auto- |
mobile.
“They tied him up and put
him out on a dirt road neat j
Leesburg, Ga., about 1:30 this <
morning,” a Florida officer .
said. “He got loose and walked ]
into the police station at Lees- (
burg. t
“They didn’t hurt him, but
they slapped him up the side of j
the head a couple of times.”
Georgia officers were alerted ]
by Hickey and set up a road- j
block, resulting in the shooting j
and recapture. i
Griffin Man
1
Escapes Central :
Fred C. Barrett, 24, of Griffin,
who was committed to Central ’
State Hospital at Milledgeville ’
earlier this month, escaped Fri- 1
day, police said.
Griffin officers said Barrett es
caped about noon from the men
tal institution. Officers here
were not notified of the escape
until late Saturday.
The officers immediately made
a check of the city in an effort 1
to locate Barrett. They were '
continuing their search today.
Barrett was taken into custody
earlier this month after police
received a complaint from a Gr
iffin physician. He was sent to
Atlanta for psychiatric tests.
He was committeed to t h e
state mental institution for tr
eatment.
When he was taken into
custody, officers confiscated se
veral guns at the Barrett home.
Most of the guns were return
ed to Barrett’s mother Friday.
None of the guns were illegal. A
sub-machine gun had been re
gistered.
Officers also found Nazi flags
and communications with Nazi 1
leaders in the United States in
the home. They were not in vio
lation of laws. 1
Dynamite also was found at 1
the home. It was confiscated. 1
from the station.
Moore walked east on Taylor
street toward downtown Griffin.
He turned around after a few
yards and the Negro man had
disappeared.
The drink box Moore was fill
ing was on the outside of t h e
service station building.
Moore told police the man was
wearing brown pants and a co
lored Tee shirt. He said he did
not remember what color the
shirt was. He said the man wei
ghted about 150 pounds and was
about five feet, 10 inches tall.
■
Jk a
¥
jr i
|| fl
(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo)
General Scott
... "Jailbird" sang in Griffin
Gen. Scott
Once Jailed
In Griffin
The only time Gen. Robert Lee
Scott Jr. was ever in jail was in
Griffin. He was a high school
student at Lanier in Macon, Ga.,
his home town, at the time. He
came here to attend a basketball
tournament.
Gen. Scott, famed World War
II pilot who wrote the book
"God Is My Co-Pilot,” recalled
his trips to Griffin Sunday after
noon during a visit here. He was
in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joe
White, West Poplar street, for a
visit. Th? two Georgians were
planning an elk hunting trip and
talking over a little insurance
business. White is vice president
of United American Family In
surance Company.
While White was in Texas in
the insurance business, he met
the famous Georgian and the two
have become close friends.
"My nickname ‘jailbird’ which
appeared in the high school an
nual came from my visit to Grif
fin in 1924 for the GIAA basket
ball tournament,” chuckled the
trim, gray haired Georgian.
The Griffin High gym was on
the site where the school’s au
d’to’fum now stands. Scott and
some of his “confederates”
Wc.e in a prankish mood. They
were pulling some boards off
the gym.
“I got one of them, Dave,” a
Griffin policeman called out as
he grabbed Scott by the should
ers. He was the only student
caught. The rest fled.
Police took him to jail in the
city hall and put him in a cell.
He remembers seeing the rats
run across the floor and hearing
tournament cheers come
from the gym just a block away.
All of the policemen on duty
went back to the gym for the
tournament and left the jail un
guarded.
Scott remembers some of his
“confederates” came to the jail
and tried to spring him. They
found the going a little too much,
and finally gave up.
When the tournament was over
Scott remembers his principal,
the Griffin mayor, and some ot
her officials’ returning to the
jail.
They noticed some scratch.
marks on the jail cell lock and
asked if anyone had tampered
with it.
“No sir,” answered Scott. “I,
couldn’t give my fellow students ,
away.” ;
When he returned to Lanier ,
High, he was nicknamed "jail- j
bird” because of the Griffin In
cident. He had to explain It to -
U.S. officials when he was being ‘
checked for security clearance. ,
He recalled coming through,
here as a hobo many times.
He said every special agent with ,
the railroad come to know him,
because of his antics on freight,
trains.
Scott was earning his member-
Griffin, Georgia, 30223, Monday, July 28, 1969
ship in the “Hobo Club” at Ma
con. Members were required to
hobo 10,000 miles. He earned his
letter and wore it proudly.
He already had finished high
school when he decided on a mi
litary career and came back to
high school “to study seriously.”
His principal "threw back his
head and laughed” when Scott
told him he wanted to come
back.
“That laugh sent me through
West Point,” he said. “I was de
termined to show him I could do
it.”
He enlisted in the Army in Ge
orgia and through competitive
exams earned his West Point
appointment.
The World War II generation
remembers him for his book,
“God Is My Co-Pilot.” More
than seven million copies have
been sold. A motion picture
’ was made based on it.
In it, Gen. Scott told about his
’ experiences with the "Flying Tl
’ gers” under Gen. Claire Lee
Chennault’s command in China.
He has written 15 books a 11
together and may write anoth
,er on selling Insurance. “It
sounds dull but actually it is
, very exciting,” he said.
Gen. Scott makes more than
400 talks a year to civic clubs,
’ church groups, young people
’ and such around the country an
’ nually. His talk is on patriot
-1 ism. He went to Australia to lec
ture Just a few months ago.
Gen. Scott has made four
trips to Vietnam and spent 100
1 days in the field with U. S.
’ troops.
1 A critic of what he calls this
nation’s “no-win” policy in Viet
nam, he said his last book, “God
Is Still My Co-Pilot,” had to be
published privately first because
DOD (Department of Defense)
wouldn’t okay his criticisms of
former Defense Secretary Ro
bert McNamara and other ad
ministration officials.
He recalls that when his first
book was written, the old War
Department gave him trouble
with his manuscript.
They objected to his calling it
“The War Between The States,”
instead of the Civil War. He fi
nally had his way on that point,
however.
At the age of 61, he still is in
top physical condition and an
nually passes a physical exami
nation so he can fly jet fighters
that go more than 1,600 knots
per hour.
“I run a lot just because I
like to,” he said. When he takes
a prospective buyer in a real
estate deal to look over a lot, he
always runs.
Usually some guy with him
who is no more than 25 years
old, has to sit down and rest
when they reach the site.
Continue on page five
Claims Court
Vote Tomorrow
Polls Open 7-7
To Decide Issue
Griffin-Spalding voters will
go to the polls tomorrow to de
cide whether to establish a Sm
all Claims Court here.
Such a court would handle
property suits of SI,OOO or less,
garnishments and similar civil
actions.
Voters will mark their ballots
for or against to indicate their
Bolton Report
Accuses Road
Engineer
By TOM GREENE
ATLANTA (UPI) — A State
Highway Department mainten
ance engineer in Pembroke has
for several years been conduct
ing a a private concrete busi
ness using highway employes on
state time, according to Atty.
Gen. Arthur Bolton.
Bolton, in a report to Gov.
Lester Maddox, said that Geor
gia taxpayers have been subsi
dizing the business run by
maintenance engineer John J.
Cowart “for the past several
years or more.”
Executive assistant highway
director Emory Parrish said
Cowart was fired on orders
of Highway Director Jim Gillis.
The report also said that em
ployes from the Pembroke
maintenance barn, which is un
der the jurisdiction of the High
way Department’s sth Division
in Jesup, have been used by
Cowart to do work on property
owned by Highway Department
engineer J. O. Bacon. Bacon is
employed in the department’s
Atlanta office.
Gov. Maddox asked Bolton to
make the investigation after re
ceiving reports of alleged irreg
ularities at the Pembroke barn.
Board Should Act
Bolton told Maddox that “the
practices and policies of the
Highway Department in the sth
Division demonstrated by this
very limited investigation leave
many unanswered questions.”
He made no recommendations,
saying “this is a matter which
rests with the constitutionally
created State Highway Board.”
The attorney general said
both Cowart and Bacon told
him and investigator William R.
Woodall that the highway em
ployes did work for them only
when they were on official
leave from thier state jobs. But,
Bolton said, that assertion “is
simply not borne out by the
factual evidence.”
“Indeed,” Bolton’s report
added, “quite the contrary ap
peared to be the rule. . . most
of the time Mr. Cowart used
state highway employes to work
in his private business they
were being carried as ‘on the
job’ on their records in the
State Highway Department.
"Obviously,” the attorney
general said, “that was a con
venient arrangement for Mr.
Cowart because as he stated,
he paid each employe (for the
outside work) according to what
he thought the employe was
worth and the employe always
agreed with Mr. Cowart (the
boss).”
Work for Bacon
The report said that Cowart,
using at least four state em
ployes on weekdays, in 1968 re
modeled a service station in
Pembroke owned by Bacon.
While Bacon and Cowart said
those employes were on leave
at the time, “the time during
which the employes worked was
so indefinite that we were un
able to reach any decision as
to whether or not all employes
were, in fact on annual leave.”
But Bacon did supply informa
tion “which indicated that some
of the employes were on annual
leave when the work was done
on his station.”
An employe also was used to
paint Bacon’s home in Pem
broke and to assist in painting
the Bryan County Courthouse,
according to the report. The
probe showed that a state em
ploye was used to cut the grass
at Bacon's home on at least one
day when he was not on leave.
Among other allegations in
the report are:
—That Cowart’s 19 - year -old
son, Thomas Cowart, is em
ployed at the barn and given
the free use of a state-owned
truck which he keeps at home
and drives to and from work.
Vol. 96 No. 176
choice on the question.
The referendum tomorrow
came as the result of several gr
and juries’ recommending that
such a court be set up here.
If approved, a grand jury or a
committee of between five and
nine members would have to no
minate a judge for the court.
Superior Court Judge Andrew
Whalen Jr., under terms of the
act, would then appoint the no
minee or call for another.
The judge would serve until
Nov. 1. By then another grand
jury could have nominated a
judge to serve a full four year
term on the court. In each
case, Judge Whalen must make
the final appointment.
Grand juries would make
nominations every four years
and the Superior Court judge
would make the appointment,
under terms of the act.
The act charges the judge of
the claims court to attempt to
settle disputes without a j u r y
trial. However, should trials be
necessary, six jurors would be
picked from a panel of 12 to try
each case.
The judge would serve with
court costs being his only pay.
Constables, baliffs and others
who might be needed by the Sm
all Claims Court also would be
paid on a fee basis.
The court would be required
to maintain a docket and would
be in session at the discretion
of its judge.
If the act is approved, the
court could be in operation with
in 30 days.
Ordinary George Imes, under
terms of the act, will conduct
the election. Ballots will be cast
at regular voting places in the
city and county.
The polls will be open from 7
a.m. till 7 p.m.
The Spalding County Registrars
office will be open during the
day to answer questions about
registration and handle any pro
blems that might come up on
voter lists.
Mk'--
n it JU
» Mi
rLI ■
(UPI TELEPHOTO)
New Model
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — “Whoa there” Wrumples
Nimbieskin, the hound, shows off his 1969 model
features as he takes Diana Baines of Neptune Beach
for a walk. Nimbieskin is equipped with a low slung
chassis, oversize wistful headlights, widetract paws,
airfoil stablizing ears, and a giant safety sensor up
front called a nose.
SPECIAL ELECTION
FOR APPROVAL OR REJECTION OF
THE ACT CREATING A SMALL
CLAIMS COURT OF SPALDING
COUNTY X
JULY 29, 1969 </
(All persons in favor of the Act
shall place a check mark (X) in the
square opposite “FOR”, and those
persons not in favor of the Act
shall place a chcMEMtO or cross mark (X) in the
square word “AGAINST”.
“““I FOR approval of the Act creating a Small
Claims Court of Spalding County.
“—I AGAINST approval of the Act creating a
Small Claims Court of Spalding County.
VFW Will Honor
Gold Star Mothers
Gold Star Mothers in Griffin
and Spalding County are invited
to attend a special Memorial
Service, conducted by the Veter
ans of Foreign Wars, Sunday af
ternoon, Aug. 3, at 2:00 p.m.
in the Chapel of the First Uni
ted Methodist Church.
VFW Post 5448 of Griffin will
be in charge of the Memorial
Service. The program will be al
ong lines prescribed by the Ge
orgia Department Veterans of
Foreign Wars. Ed Brown is com
mander of the Griffin post and
Mrs. Ann Fletcher president of
its Auxiliary.
Riley Milam, State VFW
Chaplain, will pray the Memor
ial Prayer and Hulette G o o d
man, past VFW Georgia Depart
ment Commander, will deliver
the Memorial address. This will
be the same speech he made two
years ago at the National V.F.W.
convention. Mrs. Dot Moore, Ga-
Inside Tip
Fear
Details Page 10
inesville, State VFW Auxiliary
musician, will have charge of
the music.
Commander Brown and Presi
dent Fletcher joined in invit
ing all Gold Star Mothers in this
community to attend the servic
es Sunday afternoon.
“The VFW will never forget
the sacrifice you Gold Star Mo
thers have made for your coun
try; and we would like to show
our appreciation.’’
Paving Project
Bid Received
An apparent low bid has been
received by the State Highway
Department for the grading and
paving of the Orchard Hill-Ro
ver road.
The low bid was submitted by
E. R. Snell, Contractor, Inc. of
Snellville, Ga. It was $228,474.49.
The low bid was $23,741.51 un
der the State Highway Depart
ment estimate of $252,216 for the
project.
The grading and paving will
begin at the Williamson road
and extend east to the Griffin-
Barnesville by-pass. The con
tract allows 300 calendar days
for completion.
Mr. Mason
Is Dead
Mr. J. Porter Mason, former
chairman of the board and se
cond vice president of H. V. Kell
Company and one of Griffin’s
leading citizens, died today at
the Griffin-Spaiding Hospital.
Funeral plans will be announ
ced by Pittman-Rawls Funeral
Home.
ENDS ROTC
WASHINGTON (UPI) —The
Air Force says it is going to
end its Reserve Office Training
Corps programs at Harvard
University and Dartmouth Col
lege on June 30, 1971.
Local Weather
LOCAL WEATHER “Esti
mated high today 89, low today
70, high yesterday 90, low yes
terday 72, sunrise tomorrow
6:49, sunset tomorrow 8:41.
The Country Parson
41
‘‘Some folks are very fond
of giving—and what they like
best about it is that it isn’t
compulsory ”
Copyright 1%9, by Frank A. Clark