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VENIN VF
By Quimby Melton
Attention Gold Star Mothers
Griffin VFW is planning a spe
cial Memorial service for your
sons, husbands, fathers, broth
ers and other loved ones who
have given their lives for this
nation of ours.
And all of you have a special
Invitation to attend. The service
will be held in the Chapel at the
First United Methodist Church
Sunday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock.
State VFW officers will cooper
ate with the local post in t h e
program.
And while the Gold Star Mo
thers will be special honored gu
ests, Good Evening, a member
of the VFW, believes every Gold
Star Father will also be welco
med. He is proud to be a Gold
Star Father himself.
— + —
The Memorial service Sunday
honoring Gold Star Mothers,
will mark the beginning of a pro
ject to erect a monument to the
Veterans of the Korean and the
Vietnam Wars. This will be pla
ced in a prominent spot in Me
morial Park where monuments
to Confederate Soldiers, World
War One and World War Two
Veterans are. General Chairman
Marvin Jenkins of the Memorial
Committee says the monument
that is planned will be as im
pressive as the one erected to
World War Two Veterans an d
that several sketches are being
studied by the committee. It is
estimated the monument will
cost somewhere in the neighbor
hood of $6,000. Once the design
of the monument is chosen
and the campaign gets under
way the money should be raised
within a week. For Griffin and
Spalding have not forgotten and
will not forget the service of the
men and women in Korea and
Vietnam.
The parks commission has ap
proved placing the monument in
Memorial Park.
Come on Griffin Get ready to
kick in with a contribution.
Meanwhile details of the Me
morial Service Sunday are being
worked out. This will be held in
the Chapel of the First Metho
dist Church at 2:00 o’clock Sun
day afternoon and the Gold Star
Mothers will be special gue’ts.
Commander Brown of the VFW
post, which is sponsoring the
service, sa’d that any Gold Star
Mother who had no way to at
tend the service should call 228-
8384 and arrangements for
transportation would be m cJ a.
Speaking of veterans ana of
wars; President Nixon, who is a
veteran of World War Two and
who is visiting nations in the
area where Uncle Sam is now
involved in fighting a war, and
Mrs. Nixon are in Thailand
where last night they were ro
yally entertained at a state ban
quet.
The President and Mrs. Nix
on were royally entertained at a
banquet last night. (See picture
on page 10, received in our of
fice early this morning over Uni
ted Press International Unifax)
During the course of the even
ing President Nixon assured
Thailand that it can depend on
its ally the United States again
st threats from abroad or sub
version from within.
Commitments between nations
are, just as in the case between
individuals, a two party affair.
It’s fine for the President to say
we will live up to our commit
ments, but it might be a wise
thing for the other party to the
commitment recognize that it
too must also do so.
Who said the president would
not visit Vietnam on this trip?
Official announcement came
today that he and Mrs. Nixon
will fly to Saigon Wednesday.
The President “will visit the
troops” and Mrs. Nixon the hos
pitals.
Those who said he would by
pass Vietnam were way off tar
get. They let their imagination
run away with them, or they de
liberately put out such rumors
to embarrass him in the conduct
of the war and efforts to reach
a peaceful settlement.
The Country Parson
~ j W
"Your dog is fun to talk to
because when he cocks his ear
as if to listen, you know he
isn't merely thinking up what
to say next "
DAILY
Daily Since 1872
Mariner 6 Takes
Pictures Os Mars
By JACK V. FOX
PASADENA, Calif. (UPD—
Tiny Mariner 6 took pictures of
Mars 58 million miles from
earth today in a new American
epic which a geneticist said’
could lead to the greatest
breakthrough yet on the origin
of human life.
The 850-pound unmanned
spaceship recorded and stored
television images of the planet
every 37 minutes as it neared
Mars after a flight lasting more
than five months.
If Mariner 6 obeys the
command of the Caltech Jet
Propulsion Laboratory on sche
dule, the pictures were to be
transmitted to earth starting at
6:35 p.m. PDT this evening
and flashed on home TV
screens.
Dr. Norman Horowitz, Cal
tech biology professor and chief
of the JPL Bioscience Section
for the space probe, was super
cautious as to whether man will
learn this year if Mars even
has the environment to make
some form of life possible.
Carry Instruments
Mariner 6 and its twin
spacecraft, Mariner 7, flying
toward Mars five days behind
it, carry not only cameras but
instruments to measure Mars’
temperature from its equator to
its polar cap, the density and
content of its atmosphere and
the all-important presence or
absence of water in liquid form.
Horowitz told UPI he would
not hazard a guess at the
greatest odds whether there is
life on Mars but that the
eventual knowledge “could be
the greatest breakthrough in
the history of genetics,” he
said.
Horowitz rejected suggestions
that the United States pull back
on its space expenditures and
efforts and turn its treasure
and energy to public housing
and solution of problems on
earth.
“That is like taring down
the Cathedral of Chartres and
using its stones for public
housing,” he said. “Os course
we must have programs for our
people but we can have both
and I can’t think of anything
more worthwh'le than the study
of the o“ : ein of human life.”
Vice President Spiro Agnew
will visit the JPL Control
Center in Pasadena this even
irg to vi’w the transmission of
the first pictures.
Agnew has been foremost in
urging the United States to
m<>ke a nat’onal commitment to
put men on Mars by the end of
the century.
241 Million Miles
Mariner 6 is scheduled to
reach “near encounter” of 2,000
miles from Mars at 10:15 p.m.
PDT Wednesday after a flight
of 241 million miles in 156 days.
It was launched from Cape
Kennedv on Feb. 24.
Mariner 7 will approach to
within 2,000 miles at 10 p.m.
PDT Monday Aug. 4 after a
voyage of 197 million miles in
130 days. After their bypass,
the two windmill-shaped craft
will go into orbit around the
sun.
Mariner 6 was obeying
commands transmitted from
Funeral Today
For Mr. Mason
Mr. John Porter Mason of 716
East College street, died at noon
Monday at the Griffin-Spalding
County Hospital.
Mr. Mason, a well-known Grif
fin businessman, was associat
ed with H. V. Kell Co. for the
past 58 years. He was chairman
of the board of directors for
Kell Co. for many years. At the
time of his death he was vice
president of the First Federal
Savings and Loan Association
and a member of the board of
directors of the First National
Bank of Griffin.
Mr. Mason was a life deacon
of the First Baptist Church
where he was a member. He was
a member of the Merldan Sun
Lodge No. 26 of Masons, a
charter member of the Griffin
Rotary Club and a member of
the Griffin Elks Lodge. He was
a veteran of World War One and
a member of the American Le
gion Post 15.
Mr. Mason is survived by his
wife, Mrs. Kittle Buchanan Ma
son; a daughter, Mrs. James
Spencer Strong of Griffin; and a
brother, W. R. Mason of Chatta
nooga, Tenn.
Funeral services were con
ducted this afternoon at 4:30
o’clock from the First Baptist
Church. The Rev. Bruce Mor
gan officiated and burial was in
Oak Hill cemetery. Deacons of
the First Baptist Church and
members of the Griffin Rotary
Club served as honorary escort.
Pittman Rawls Funeral Home
was in charge of arrangements
the Goldstone Space Communi
cations Station in the Mojave
Desert right on the button.
Mice Colony
To Be Exposed
To Lunar Rock
By AL ROSSITER Jr.
UPI Space Writer
SPACE CENTER, Houston
(UPD—The evidence is mount
ing that the moon’s great
desert seas were created by
lava spewed from a molten
interior and later covered with
rock dust and glass beads that
probably fell like rain drops.
On the basis of preliminary
findings from the Apollo 11
lunar expedition, Dr. Harold C.
Urey, Nobel Prize-winning che
mist, said he was reconsidering
his idea of 20 years that the
moon was a cold, dead body.
Scientists today turned to the
start of a series of tests to try
to help resolve one other
nagging question about the
moon—whether it harbors life.
Doctors working in the same
Lunar Receiving Laboratory
building where Apollo 11
astronauts Neil A. Armstrong,
Michael Collins and Edwin E.
Aldrin are living in quarantine
prepared to expose lunar
material to a colony of germ
free mice to see if they will be
infected by any moon orga
nisms.
Report In Detail
The astronauts, scheduled to
be released from their life of
isolation Aug. 11, were spending
their time in quarantime
reporting in detail on their
flight, relaxing with an occa
sional ping pong game and
watching television.
One telecast they watched
Monday night was a 90-minute
news briefing by 10 scientists
reporting on the initial examin
ation of mbre than two dozen
rocks and two plugs of moon
dirt brought back by Armstrong
and Aldrin from the Sea of
Tranquility.
Dr. Eugene A. Shoemaker, a
lunar geologist from the
California Institute of Technolo
gy, said he was convinced the
astronauts’ landing site and all
the other seas on the moon
were formed by great lava
outpourings.
"“The evidence is overwhelm
ing that the maria (seas) are
built up by lava flows,”
Shoemaker said. He said
Apollo’s rock samples contained
gas bubbles like those found on
the tops of lava and some
evidence of explosive volcanic
eruptions.
Some More Conservative
Some of the other geologists
sitting on the news conference
panel were more conservative
in their initial public judgments
and Dr. P. R. Bell, head of the
lob. said “I think it depends on
who's being overwhelmed by
tlie evidence."
The scientists agreed that one
of the most surprising finds so
far was the discovery of a
great amount of tiny glass
spheres in the layer of sand
and silt-sized rock debris
covering the Sea of Tranquilli
ty.
Dr. Clifford Frondel, a
mineralogist from Harvard
University, reported that a
microscopic examination
showed that the minute beads
varied in color from brown to
yellow to clear and he said,
‘‘They are remarkably lustrous
and interesting.”
He said they apparently were
formed when meteoroids
plowed into the moon’s crust,
vaporizing rock and creating
sillcous gases which condensed
and rained back onto the
surface In the form of globules
of glass.
Significance Not Clear
“The significance of this
material is not yet clear, and
we do not know how general it
is on the surface of the moon,”
Frondel said.
He said some of the minerals
identified on the moon dust are
common to earth—like feldspar,
pyroxene and olivine.
Scientists also reported that
the first results of a chemical
analysis of the lunar material
showed that it had a relatively
large amount of titanium. This
finding agreed with a chemical
analysis made by Surveyor
robot spacecraft that landed on
the moon.
The object of the entire
scientific Investigation resulting
from the Apollo 11 mission and
later landings is to get a better
understanding of the origin and
evolution of the moon.
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Tuesday, July 29, 1969
INSIDE
Sports. Pages 2, 3.
Editorials. Page 4.
Local News. Page 5.
Society. Page 6.
Comics. Page 7.
Want Ads. Page 8.
Kennedy. Page 9.
Moon Rocks. Page 10.
Hanoi. Page 10.
Local Weather
LOCAL WEATHER — Esti
mated high today 88. low today
66, high yesterday 90, low yes
terady 70. Sunrise tomorrow
6:49, sunset tomorrow 8:40.
—I ■|
n . TWIII
m v' a
\\. . V€< /w|
(Griffin Daily News Staff Photo)
Home Again
Sharon Dionne Curry, six-year-old daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Johnny Curry,
has returned to her home after having open heart surgery at Emory University
Hospital two weeks ago. A plastic valve was inserted in her heart by a team of
physicians. Sharon holds tight to her stuffed turtle named “Pokey.” The stuffed
turtle was given a name tag and “blood test” —and has a bandaid on his front
leg. Sharon took the stuffed animal to the hospital with her and into surgery.
She is recovering at her home, 1803 Ridge street.
Mansfield Threatens
To Kill Tax Surcharge
By MIKE FEINSILBER
WASHINGTON (UPI) — Sen
ate Democratic Leader Mike
Mansfield says that if Republi
cans don’t accept his plan for a
short extension coupled with
tax reform, the income tax
surcharge will be dead "at 12
o’clock midnight, Thursday
next.”
Almost everybody’s paycheck
Auto Theft
Ring Smashed
In Commerce
COMMERCE, Ga. (UPI) —
The State Auto Theft Squad an
nounced Monday it had arrest
ed eight persons in connection
with a two- state automobile
theft ring based in Commerce,
which gained a reputation six
years ago as the car theft capi
tal of Georgia.
Lt. W. B. Blackwell said
two other persons were being
sought, one of them Danny La
mar Allen, 25, of Commerce.
Blackwell said Allen was ar
rested in connection with auto
theft operations several years
ago but that charge was not
pressed.
A multimillion dollar automo
bile theft ring was smashed
here six years ago. Allen’s fath
er, A. D. Allen Jr., was a ring
leader of the 1963 operation, au
thorities said.
A. L. Melton, a detective as
signed to the squad, said the
eight were charged with steal
ing six vehicles In Georgia and
South Carolina. He said the
cars were stripped In Jackson
County, the bodies burned and
then taken to a press machine
in a nearby town.
Melton said those charged
were Willie R. Booth, Billy
Ginn, Bobby Thurston Ginn,
Bobby Black, Barbara Hopper,
Douglas O. Allen and Jewel
Davis, all of Commerce; and
Jesse Vaughn Howlngton, alias
Dickie, of Jefferson.
Warrants were issued for
Danny Allen and Bradley Hugh
Glenn Dalton, both of Com
merce.
NEWS
President Nixon
Will Visit Saigon
would be a bit larger in very
quick order. And, Mansfield
says, Senate Democrats will be
more reluctant than ever to
resurrect the tax, once expired.
In his calm, clipped manner,
he stood before the Senate
chamber Monday and once
again offered his compromise—
a five-month extension of the 10
per cent tax so that it will
expire Nov. 30, just about the
time the Senate is considering
tax reform.
At that time, he made clear,
it is his intention to nv'ke a
further extension of the tax
hinge on presidential and
Republcian support for tax
reforms.
President Nixon and most
Republicans want a full year’s
extension of the surtax, at the
10 per cent rate to Jan. 1 and
then at 5 per cent to June 30,
on the grounds it is vital to
curb inflation.
The tax expired June 30 but
Congress, anticipating an exten
sion, rushed through a bill to
allow employers to continue
withholding taxes at the surtax
rate until the end of this month
—“l2 o’clock midnight, Thurs
day next,” as Mansfield put it.
A bill for a further 15-day
extension became trapped in
parliamentary maneuvering In
the House Monday. Today,
another attempt was to be
made to pass it. That would
require a two-thirds vote.
But even if it passes the
House, Mansfield refused to
give Sen. Everett M. Dirksen,
the Republican leader, the
assurances Dirksen sought that
it will be sped to a vote in the
Senate.
Mansfield won a commitment
from Senate Finance Chairman
Russell B. Long, D-La., to
ready a tax reform bill by Oct.
31.
The House Ways and Means
Committee Monday neared
final, formal approval of a
reform measure which, sources
said, would be ready for House
action next Wednesday.
Vol. 96 No. 177
Hints Os Scandal,
Foul Play Shakes
Dahlonega Officials
DAHLONEGA, Ga. (UPI) —
Hints of scandal and foul play
ripped through the officialdom
of this small north Georgia
town Monday when the Stats
Fire Marshal’s office issued
warrants for arson against
three officeholders and three
others.
John Neil Porter—the town's
water superintendent —a city
councilman and chief of the
volunteer fire department—was
charged with two counts of ar
son, as was his assistant water
superintendent Howard Green.
City Clerk and Treasurer Vir
ginia Bruce was charged with
one count of arson.
Warrants were al=o issued for
William Anderson Proctor and
Charles Duncan, both ex-police
men on the local force, and
Larry Rex Skinner, a former
student at North Georgia Col
lege and now in the U.S. Army
at Ft. Gordon, Ga.
A spat of fires baffled author
ities earlier in the year. Arson
was suspected in the firing of
two private homes, part of the
elementary school building and
the city hall. The damage to
city hall was estimated at about
SB,OOO.
All six will be questioned in
connection with these fires, said
Compt. Gen. James Bentley,
who also serves as Fire Com
missioner.
Bentley added that Skinner,
Duncan and Proctor signed con
fessions in connection with the
fires.
"According to the statements,
at least one burning was done
for apparent spite to stop ’un
desirable’ Indi vidu a 1 s from
moving in,” Bentley explained.
The fire commissioner said
his investigators could find no
Plans To Visit
U. S. Troops
By MERRIMAN SMITH
UPI W n ite House Reporter
BANGKOK (UPD — White
House sources said today
President and Mrs. Nixon will
fly to Saigon Wednesday.
The sources said Nixon would
go there to “visit the troops"
and that Mrs. Nixon would
spend her time visiting military
hospitals in the South Vietna
mese capital.
There had been speculation
on such visits since Nixon set
out on his seven-nation tour of
Asia and Communist Romania,
but the White House has
refused to comment for securi
ty reasons.
Today, White House spokes
man Ronald Ziegler would not
confirm or deny the reports,
saying only, “I don’t have any
information at all to give you.”
But other sources on the
President’s staff said they
would leave here Wednesday,
probably before noon, (1 a.m.
EDT) aboard Nixon’s plane, Air
Force One. He had kept his
Wednesday schedule free for
such a trip, as had Mrs. Nixon.
Nixon conferred today with
Thai Prime Minister Thanom
Kittikachorn and Foreign Minis
ter Thanat Khoman and then
with U.S. Far Eastern envoys,
including Ellsworth Bunker,
ambassador to Saigon.
Khoman said Nixon told them
the United States would begin
the gradual withdrawal of the
47,000 American troops in
Thailand as the war in Vietnam
tapers off.
Siagon dispatches said Gen.
Creighton W. Abrams, chief of
U.S. forces in Vietnam, flew
here today to talk with Nixon
and discuss the possibility of
withdrawing more troops from
Vietnam. A Saigon visit would
give Nixnn opportunity to
discuss this further with
President Ntniven Van Thieu.
The visit to Saigon also would
give him a chance to see for
himself how the war was
progressing. And it could give
him a chance to say goodbye to
evidence of race involved in the
burnings and "there was appar
ently very little money in
volved.”
“The whole thing sounds like
spite and just common rascali
ty,” Bentley summarized.
The warrants were Issued by
two of Bentley’s fire marshall.
—Kenny Davis of Atlanta and
his deputy W.H. M°ssengale —
and served by Lumpkin County
Sheriff Ralph Ridley.
Ridley told U.P.I. Porter,
Bruce and Green were served
warrants Monday and he ex
pected to serve the others with
in 24 hours.
Porter and Green were
charged with two counts of ar
son, and Bruce with one, said
the sheriff. They paid $5,00?
bond for each count and were
released, said Ridley.
Mrs. Jessie Garner, mayor of
the late 19th century gold-rush
boom town, told newsmen Mon
day "we had no idea what was
happening to us” when the fires
started breaking out.
Arson investigators were sent
in after an "anonymous letter”
to Gov. Lester Maddox was for
warded to Bentley’s offece about
the same time as Mrs. Garner
asked for state aid.
Mrs. Garner said she “fully
appreciated the hard and faith
ful work of the state fire mar
challs.” And when asked about
disciplinary action against the
implicated officeholders, she
said, “We are discussing what
proper action to take against
them."
Sheriff Ridley said the inves
tigation is co itlix'u .g, with the
help of the fire marshals and
the Georgia Bureau of Investi
gation.
Ridley said he expected more
arrests soon.
Inside Tip
Kennedy
Details Page 9
750 men of the U.S. 9th Infantry
Division who are leaving Bien
Hoa, 15 miles north of Saigon,
on Wednesday for home.
The departing 9th infantry
men will bring to more than
7,000 the number of Americans
withdrawn from Vietnam since
he announced on Midway Island
last month that 25,000 would be
withdrawn by the end of August
and more if the situation
warranted.
Gen. Creighton Abrams, the
U.S. military commander in
Vietnam, had been expected
here today but he did not
attend a meeting between
Nixon and his top diplomatic
representative in Southeast
Asia. The sources said his non
arrival was the final tipoff on
the Nixon visit.
Although Saigon has been hit
by rockets and mortars in the
past, there have been no
attacks in recent weeks nor
have there been any recent
attacks against Tan Son Nhut,
the big airbase on the fringes of
Saigon where Nixon would be
expected to land. Another base
that could handle Air Force
One is Bien Hoa, 13 miles north
of Tan Son Nhut.
There has been comparative
ly heavy fighting in the Saigon
area in the past few days. U.S.
combat soldiers, helicopter
gunships and artillery killed 70
guerrillas Monday in clashes
near the villages of Trang Bang
and Go Dau Ha, 28 and 35 miles
northwest of Saigon. This first
fighting in the area in 10 days
killed six Americans and
wounded 51.
The disclosure that Nixon
wanted to pull American troops
out of Thailand was made by
Thai Foreign Minister Thanat
Khoman.
Khoman answered newsmen’s
quest; is in writing after
the end of more than four
hours of meetings between
Nixon and his top national
security aide, Dr. Henry A.
Kissinger on one side, and
Thanat and Premier Thanom
Kittikachorn on the other.
It is Thailand’s problems with
guerrillas—and the possibility
of involving the United States
in the current low-level insur
gency—that has caused the
concern among both Thai and
American officials about the
status of U.S. troops that came
here originally to help fight the
Vietnam War.
The Americans, operating
from six airbases in Thailand,
have bombed North Vietnam
from here and carried out 852
strikes against Communist for
ces in South Vietnam. They
also have struck against
Communist forces in Laos in
what some call "the secret
war” there.
Thanat said he and Kittika
chom had assured Nixon that
Thailand was able to stand by
itself against the enemy withii}
the country, but that it would
require substantial amounts of
military equipment from the
United States to help it do so.
The foreign minister said
Nixon told the Thais the United
States was willing to provide
such equipment and moreover
was anxious to give this
country economic aid so that
the "people of Thailand might
live in peace and prosperity.
VFW Memorial
To Honor Dead
In Two Wars
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post
5448, has voted to place a me
morial in Griffin to all veterans
who lost their lives in the Kor
ean and Vietnam Wars.
The anticipated cost of the me
morial is approximately $5,000.
Contributions are being ac
cepted for the memorial. They
may be sent to Veterans of For
eign Wars Memorial Fund, 1205
West Poplar street, Griffin, Ga
30223.
Marvin Jenkins is chairman
of the Korea and Vietnam Me
mortal Committee.