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Griffin Daily News
Federal judge rules
in Hank Williams case
ATLANTA (UPI)-A federal
judge has ruled the widow of
country and western star Hank
Williams was the “lawful wife
of the deceased" in her $2.2
million suit which claimed a
movie biography of his life mis
represented their marriage.
Court records disclosed today
U. S. District Judge Newll Ed
enfield held Billie Jean Willi
ams, now Mrs. Kent Berlin,
was entitled to the “presump
tion” her marriage to Williams
was valid when he died Jan. 1,
1953.
However, attorneys for Met
ro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., Colum
bia Broadcasting Co., and Stor
er Broadcasting Co., whom
Mrs. Berlin had sued over the
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Thursday, June 10,1971
12
movie “Your Chating Heart,”
said they had filed a motion for
reconsideration of Edenfield’s
verdict.
Attorney Allen Lockerman al
so denied published reports that
a settlement of the suit, to be
contingent on the judge’s ruling,
was in the six figures. He said it
was in the “low five figures,”
but no settlement would be
made until the motion for
reconsideration was processed.
Mrs. Berlin had charged the
movie, billed as “the real life
story of Hank Williams,” delib
erately misrepresented her mar
ital status to Williams, that he
was married to someone else
at the time of his death and
that she was “held out to the
public as being lewd, improper
and unchaste conduct.”
The suit demanded $1 million
in punitive damages and SIOO,-
000 in actual damages both
from MGM and from the movie
and television interests. It con
tended CBS ran the film and
Storer Broadcasting carried it
over WAGA-TV here.
The legal issue revolved
around Mrs. Berlin’s marriage
to Harrison Holland Eshliman
in 1949. She was separated from
him five months later and on
Sept. 25, 1952, filed suit for di
vorce.
She was told by a judge there
was sufficient evidence to grant
a divorce and was married to
Williams Oct. 18,1952, by a jus
tice of the peace and went
through two more marriage cer
emonies before 14,000 Williams
fans in Minden, La., the next
day.
Her attorney obtained the fi
nal divorce papers Oct. 25 but
the judge advised the attorney
they should get married again
since the couple was not legal
ly married at that time.
They never did for some rea
son and a little over two
months later, Williams was
found dead in a car at Oak Hill,
W. Va.
Edenfield concluded “the
plaintiff (Billie Jean) went
through the second marriage in
good faith, that she is entitled
to the presumption, and that
her marriage to Williams was
valid.”
He said it was evident
throughout the tangled case that
Mrs. Berlin “appears to have
been trying to do the right
thing” and he couldn’t say she
“did not leave the courtroom
believing she was a free wom
an or that she knew of or un
derstood the fine legal distinc
tions and impediments implicit
in these legal proceedings.”
I
Dahlonega
teen drowns
GAINESVILLE,Ga.( UPI)—A
Dahlonega teen-ager who was
trying to learn to swim in Lake
Lanier drowned Wednesday
night.
The youth was identified as
Rottell Grunnels Jr., 17. Author
ities said he threw an innertube
into the lake and attempted to
swim to it. But wind blew the
tube further into the lake and
he went under before he could
reach it.
His body was recovered in
eight feet of water near the
shore.
Smog problem
in the South
ATHENS, Ga.
ern cities in low-lying areas are
likely to have a greater smog
problem associated with auto
mobile exhaust than similar
northern cities, a University of
Georgia chemist said Wednes
day.
Dr. Paul H. Story said the
critical factor is sunshine, which
he said acts as the catalyst
which allows the natural gas
ozone to react with car exhaust
to form smog.
The problem is worse in cities
like Chattanooga, Tenn., a city
built in a valley which traps
snog made from car wastes,
ozone, sunshine and warm tem
peratures.
Los Angles, said Story, is in
a similar predicament. He said
if the climate were not so warm,
the smog would not be as severe
as it is.
Story said his discovery of the
role of ozone and sunlight in
smog formation cleared up the
mystery over the origin of form
ic acid, one of the major poison
ous compounds of smog.
Georgia
News
Methodists
nix resolution
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.
(UPI) — South Georgia United
Methodists defeated a resolution
calling for troop withdrawals
from Vietnam Wednesday and
headed for a vote on whether
to merge with the all - black
Georgia Conference.
The withdrawal resolution, de
feated by a wide margin, was
proposed by Rev. James Wo
mack of Cordele, a 23-year-old
theology student at Emory Uni
versity in Atlanta.
Opposition apparently cen
tered on the time for with
drawal. The resolution called
for all American troops to be out
of South Vietnam by Dec. 31.
The conference ofßooministers
and laymen is expected to act
on the merger proposal, which
has already been defeated twice,
before the session ends.
Themerger resolution will call
on Bishop John Owen Smith to
name a committee to prepare
a merger plan to be submitted
to the South Georgia Conference
before the 86 - nation General
Conference meets in Atlanta
next April.
Corn blight
worst in years
ATHENS, Ga. (UPI) - Geor
gia’s corn crop, despite no signs
yet of blight in the fields is
shaping up to be the worst in
recent years, the Georgia Crop
Reporting Service said Wednes
day.
The reporting service said
traces of the Southern com
blight, which ravaged the na
tion’s corn production last year,
have been found on volunteer
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Savannah eyed
corn in Bacon County and on
“T” Cytoplasm indicator plants
at the Coastal Plains Experi
ment Station at Tifton.
Dry weather is not helping
any of the crops, especially
early acreage of corn which is
now nearing the critical stage
o/l tasseling and silking.
Planting and replanting of
most crops other than soybeans
and sorghums was reported com
pleted, the service said, with the
cotton crop reported improving
and rating “fair.”
The tobacco crop was reported
in worse condition than a week
ago, with the dry spell plus
warming temperatures making
irrigation facilities necessary
where they are available.
Suit filed
to block road
ATLANTA (UPI)-A group of
North Atlanta homeowners filed
suit Wednesday in federal court
to block construction of Inter
state 485 through their neigh
borhood.
Named as defendants in the
suit, brought by the Morning
side - Lenox Park Association
Inc., were U. S. Transportation
Secretary John Volpe and State
Highway Director Bert Lance.
During the four years of con
struction, the suit alleged, the
neighborhood of homes in the
$20,000 to $60,000 range would be
“ripped apart, subject to con
stant pounding, blasting, fumes,
felling debris, noise, odors and
dust.”
The association charged the
highway officials with violating
the 1969 Natural Environmental
Policy Act, which requires a de
tailed statement when highways
financed with federal funds sig
nificantly affect ecology, and
the 1966 Transportation Act, bar
ring highway routes through
public parks if there are altern
ative routes.
By ED ROGERS
WASHINGTON (UPI)-Army
Secretary Stanley Resor said
Wednesday that Savannah is an
ideal location for the Hunter-
Steward military complex but
said its continued full use will
depend on troop levels maintain
ed by the “post-war Army.”
Resor made the statement
while conferring at the Penta
gon with a delegation of 25 resi
dents of the Savannah area who
came to pledge the city’s civil
ian support of the vast military
bases in South Georgia.
As operations are cut back for
post war years, Resor said,
prospective civilian support
would be important in deciding
where remaining active units
would be located.
He said the Hunter - Stewart
area was one of the few in the
country “where an Army man
feels proud of wearing his uni
form.”
Nevertheless, Resor said, con
tinued utilization of all the Hun
ter-Stewart facilities would be
threatened if the Army reduces
its strength below 13 1-3 divi
sions.
Otherwise, it would be consid
ered “an outstanding possibility
for utilization by the post war
Army.”
Making presentations at the
meeting, which was arranged
by Rep. Elliott Hagan and at
tended by Sen. Herman Tal
madge, were Savannah Mayor
John P. Rousakis and former
state Rep. Charles Jones, now
dty attorney for Hinesville.
Rousakis pledged the seaport
city’s support of the military
bases while Jcmes made a pres
entation on the military benefits
of keeping the complex in the
Savannah area.
Together, he said, they offer
a unique combination of maneu
ver space, facilities to support
ground tactical units, and avia
tion facilities.
Closing the bases, Jones said,
would mean a loss of more than
SIOO million worth of facilities,
and to prepare the bases for be
ing placed in a caretaker status
would cost mere than $4 mil
lion.
Tte Georgia delegation in
cluded mayors and other of
ficials from Claxton, Glennville,
Hinesville, Jesup, Odum and
Savannah.
The delegation later attended
a White House conference and
a luncheon at which Chairman
F. Edward Hebert, D-La., of the
House Armed Services Commit
tee told them:
“As long as I am chairman
of tiie Armed Services and they
keep Elliott Hagan up here on
the committee, you needn’t wor
ry about the Hunter - Stewart
complex.”
The group at the lunch was
joined by Sen. David Gambrell,
D-Ga., and Rep. Williamson S.
Stuckey, D-Ga.
Earlier at the White House,
though they did not speak with
President Nixon, the Georgians
met with Maj. Gen. Alex M.
Haig Jr., national security af
fairs aide, and Clark Mac Greg
or, congressional liaison aide.
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