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VENIN VT
By Quimby Melton
Every now and then when
some loyal Georgian is
bragging on our state (and we
certainly have a lot about which
we can brag) some “Smart
Alec” chimes in with something
like this, “Have you forgotten
that some of the early settlers
of Georgia came here directly
from the prisons of England?”
And they ask this question in a
way that would lead one to
believe those were murderers
<r had been found guilty of some
other major crime. They refuse
to admit General Oglethorpe’s
first settlers included only those
who were slow to pay their
debts.
Britain had a law that a man
who fell behind in paying his
debts would be thrown into
prison until his family or some
friend paid them for him.
General Oglethorpe was
among other Englishmen who
sought to have the practice
changed so that a debtor would
be shown more mercy.
Oglethorpe wanted to prove that
some men if “given a chance”
would pay their debts and would
make good citizens. So he
selected some men who he
believed would do so and
brought them to Georgia. These
were not men convicted of
murder or any other major
crime.
Not only did Oglethrope in his
day seek to have this law
changed but the English
novelist, Charles Dickens, later
spearheaded a campaign that
sought the same changes.
Modern day tourists to
England are shown the type of
jails that were used back in the
“debtor in prison” days. Good
Evening has seen them, jails
like the notorious Old Fleet and
Newgate. In those, prisoners by
the thousands lived in filthy
jails where they slept on straw
covered stone floors.
The British have always been
known as a people reluctant to
make changes. Operating on the
idea “what was good for my
grandfathers is good enough for
today” they cling to things that
are almost as antiquated as
going into battle armed only
with clubs.
We, like others, had thought
the “put the rascal who doesn’t
pay his debts in prison”
practice had ended long ago.
But seemingly this is not true.
Finally the British govern
ment decided the time had
come for some reforms in its
laws governing its courts and
prisons. (Just as Georgia has
recently decided). A committee
investigated, reported back to
Parliament and made some
suggestions. Among these was
the recommendation that
people no longer be sent to jail
for not paying their debts.
Parliament acted and made
some changes. One was that
“people who incur commerical
debts — not keeping up with
installment plan payments”
will no longer face im
prisonment.
But there are still many kinds
of debt payments that must be
met or one faces a term in jail.
As this layman understands the
law on debt payment in
Georgia, one can only be jailed
if he is found guilty of at
tempting to defraud.
Incidentally, we imagine that
there are many Georgians who
are rated excellent credit risks,
whose ancestors were included
among those men brought to
Georgia from British jails.
“Smart Alec” critics of
Georgians might be interested
in what’s happened in England.
Weather
A warnF
ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY
90, low today 08, high yesterday
90, low yesterday 69. Sunrise
tomorrow 7:02, sunset
tomorrow 8:23.
. , / Ls -M'
.->■ ~ 'Jr.-? ■’
SPACE CENTER, HOUSTON—ApoIIo 15 astronaut James R. Irwin salutes American Flag in
photo taken on the moon Aug. 4 and released by NASA. At right is lunar rover. Center is lunar
module Flacon. Hadley Delta is in background about three miles away. St. George crater is
behind lunar rover. (UPI)
New college
for Atlanta
possible
ATLANTA (UPI)-A new
four-year college for the Atlan
ta area is a possibility for the
future, Chancellor George L.
Simpson of the State University
System said Monday.
Simpson told Gov. Jimmy
Carter and state budget experts
a liberal institution to help ease
the burden on Georgia State
University was under consider
ation.
He also said a law school
and a master’s degree program
in public administration at
Georgia State were in tentative
plans for expansion but said it
was hoped enrollment could be
held at about 20,000, at least
until rapid transit is operating
in Atlanta.
The issue of salaries for fac
ulty members in the University
System also came up and Car
ter promised a five per cent
pay increase in the 1972-73 fis
cal year provided the State
Board of Regents reduced ex
penses five per cent.
Carter suggested the work
load could be increased five per
cent, particularly for graduate
school instructors who have
lighter teaching loads.
Spalding had 11
traffic deaths
Griffin-Spalding County
citizens and those passing
through had 1,269 motor
vehicular accidents in which
there were 385 injuries in 1970
according to the Annual Report
of the Georgia Department of
Public Safety.
Os the 1,802 people killed in
the state, Spalding’s count is at
eleven. This is the same as the
1969 Spalding count.
The state of Georgia had
118,742 accidents reported
during 1970, wherein 33,866
people were injured. There
were 216,387 drivers involved in
the total number of accidents.
Driving under the influence or
drinking was a contributing
factor. Spalding County agents
caught 124 persons in the city
and county last year under the
influence of alcohol.
Os the 973 traffic arrests in the
county, 957 were Georgia
residents.
Statewide, 15,347 accidents
were caused by speeding.
Speeding cases in Spalding
County figured in 347.
There were 1,434 case con-
GRIFFIN
DAI LY N EWS
Daily Since 1872
Wreck victims
in 2nd accident
Three persons were injured
during a heavy fog in a headon
collision’ this morning on the,
Walker’s Mill road. Two of the
victims were involved in a
second collision on their way to
the Griffin-Spalding County
Hospital.
Trooper Larry Shivers of the
Griffin State Patrol Post said
that a station wagon driven by
Joe B. Parker, 35, of Route Two,
Box 245, collided headon on the
crest of a hill with a car driven
by Annie Mae Hixson, 25, of
Walker’s Mill road. The ac
cident happened about five
miles east of Griffin on a dirt
section of Walker’s Mill road
before 7 a.m.
Parker was brought ot the
hospital with face, chest, leg
and hip injuries. Miss Hixson
suffered a fractured hip and
lacerations of the chin. Her
brother, Grady Hixson, a
passenger in her car, suffered
multiple lacerations about the
free, eye and hand. He was
treated in the emergency room
and transferred to an Atlanta
hospital for plastic surgery.
Hixson is an orderly in the
operating room at the Griffin-
Spalding Hospital and was on
his way to work when the ac
cident occurred.
victions with fines of 870,241), a
little over S4O a case. This
amount of fines includes cost
and bond forfeits.
There were 1,111 bond for
feitures.
There were 125 cases not
convicted in the county while
101 were nol prossed.
Other facts in the report in
cluded :
—15.3 percent of the drivers
involved in fatal accidents in
1970 in Georgia were teenagers.
—There were 83,524 accidents
which occurred in the day-light
hours and 91,614 happened when
the surface of the road was dry.
—21,524 accidents occurred
on Friday with a record of 17,185
accidents caused by drivers
running off the road.
—There were 18.8 persons
injured to each person killed.
—There were 7.38 pedestrians
injured to each one killed.
—230 pedestrians were killed,
and 1,698 were injured last year.
—74,5 per cent of the drivers
reported in accidents in Georgia
in 1970 were within 25 miles of
their home when the accident
occurred.
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Tuesday, August 10, 1971
Officers said Moses Hixson,
1 18, also of Walker’s Mill road,
• was traveling behind his sister’s
car. After the collision he put
her and his brother into his car
to take them to the hospital.
Lt. Ray Ward and Officer
Hugh McLaurin of the Griffin
Police Department said Moses
Hixson ran a red light at Eighth
and Poplar streets and collided
with an auto driven by
Raymond Head, 52, of 915 East
Wall street. One of the cars spun
into a utility pole, knocking it
down.
Thomas White, 42, of North
Hill street, a passenger in the
Head car, was carried to the
hospital with shoulder injuries.
An ambulance was called to
take Grady and Annie May
Hixson to the hospital.
Betty J. Combs, 25, of 819
Scales street, was treated in the
emergency room of the Griffin-
Spalding Hospital yesterday
afternoon for injuries to her
nose. She was driving a car
which was involved in a rear
end collision with an auto driven
by Marline Miller, 40, of 806
Scales street.
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rTii■ i * 9
■
‘ls
ATLANTA—A policeman directs traffic underneath an
overpass after an engine and at least 40 freight cars derailed
here early yesterday afternoon. The train was traveling at an
Shopping center
request pulled
City Commissioners today
received a request to hold in
abeyance a petition for rezoning
that would have made way for a
shopping center in the Crescent
school area.
Mitchell Elrod requested the
petition be held ir. abeyance “in
view of unanticipated ob
jections being voiced by
residents of the area.”
A hearing on the rezoning
request had been scheduled for
US dollar under
siege in Europe
Alarm
chases
burglars
A burglar alarm at the Moose
Club apparently foiled a safe
cracking attempt this morning,
Spalding Sheriff’s investigators
said.
The break-in occurred around
5 a.m. Deputies Robert Aaron
and Milt Holmes answered a
call to the lodge and found two
acetylene gas tanks and torch
equipment along with a
crowbar.
Richard Cantrell, in
vestogator, said the would-be
safecrackers cut through the
fence around the pool area then
broke a glass tiding door in the
rear of the building. They en
tered then opened another door
apparently to use as an escape
route, Cantrell said.
He said they attempted to
pry open a lounge door, setting
off the alarm. Cantrell said
traces of blood were found .on
another door apparently used
when the alarm went off.
The burglars left behind the
gas tanks and crowbar.
Vol. 99 No. 188
tonight at the regular City
Commission hearing at City
Hall beginning at 7:30.
A petition campaign against
the center has been in progress
more than week.
Mr. Elrod is a native of
Griffin. He operates a
marketing consulting firm in
Atlanta.
“Such a project as the one
proposed requires substantial
expenditure, in this case over a
By HARRY HOBBS
LONDON (UPI) -The U.S.
dollar remained under siege on
money markets today, with
gold prices at a two-year high
and the dollar at low levels in
Europe. In the Far East, gold
hit a 15-year peak on the Hong
Kong market.
Dealers called markets hectic
and highly nervous and said
price movements were erratic
for gold and currencies. The
dollar improved slightly on the
Frankfurt market, for example,
over Monday’s 22-year low.
Dealers blamed distrust of
the U.S. dollar for straining the
global money system, as well
as publicity for the weekend
report of a congressional
subcommittee which discussed
dollar devaluation. These deve-
Ifli
Usually if a friend tips you
off to what your critics are
saying, he’s a little bit on their
side.”
estimated 40-50 miles per hour when the accident occurred.
There were no fatalities and the extent of reported injuries is
not known. (UPI)
million and a half dollars. To
expend such sums without the
support of the residents who
would patronize such a shop
ping center would be unwise.
Too, we must evaluate the
willingness of local citizens to
support the community’s
growth and progress through
new and desirable facilities that
will make significant con
tributions of tax dollars and in
■ lopments followed a long run of
depressing U.S. economic news
and fears that declining U.S.
gold stocks might prompt a
gold policy switch.
The nervousness reached the
Hong Kong gold market where
gold reached $40.50 an ounce, a
15-year high.
In Zurich, the Swiss National
Bank and the country’s top
banks met today to discuss
additional steps to halt the rush
of dollars into Switzerland. The
Swiss moves followed similar
French currency controls last
Wednesday, designed to insu
late France from international
speculation. The French action
first triggered the present
School tax
totals 21.9
The Griffin-Spalding Board of
Education set its new tax rate at
20 mills last night. This is an
increase of one mill over last
year.
The school bond tax rate will
be the same as last year which
is 1.9 mills. The bond payments
are on issues of 1943, 1949, and
1962.
The board had indicated
earlier this year it would hike
the school tax operating millage
Inside Tip
Ga. News
See Page 3
the creation of new jobs and
new businesses for the city,”
Mr. Elrod wrote the com
missioners.
“After we have had time to
study these factors, and discuss
our plans more fully with in
terested persons, we will ap
preciate the right to re-petition
for another hearing if it seems
appropriate to do so,” he
concluded.
currency turmoil.
The price of gold in London
and Zurich fell a bit today but
dealers said it was making wild
price swings and was still at
two-year highs.
In Frankfurt, the dollar
staged a slight recovery, but
was still at a two-year low. The
Monday low represented a 7.8
per cent devaluation of the
dollar in relation to the mark.
Any devaluation of the dollar,
if it did come, would not
necessarily change prices of
American-produced goods in the
United States but would affect
U.S. tourists abroad, who would
get less foreign currency for
their dollars.
a mill, most of which would go
for increasing teacher salaries.
The 20 mills for school
operations means that tax
payers will pay S2O for every
SI,OOO of taxable property they
have assessed against them.
It means they will pay $1.90 of
every SI,OOO of taxable property
for bond treatment.
In other board action a
special program was initiated
for the Adult Education
Learning Center whereby
unwed mothers may continue
their education. Students
enrolled in the courses will
attend on a quarter basis in
order to complete the
requirements for high school
graduation. Counselors from
Griffin High and Spalding
Junior High are to work
cooperatively with the students
and the staff at the center.
The program will begin Aug.
27. Interested students may
contact the Learning Center at
239 West Taylor street.
Increases in labor costs will
make it necessary to increase
elementary school lunch prices
from 30 cents to 35 cents. In
Junior High School the increase
will be from 35 cents to 40 cents.
High school prices will remain
at 40 cents.
Students will be allowed to sit
with their parents in the football
stadium at student rates
beginning this football season.
Season football tickets will be
on sale Aug. 12-17. Adult tickets
will be $7.50 nd student tickets,
$3.75.
Open house will be held in all
schools in the system on
Wednesday, Aug. 25, from 1:00
to 6:00 p.m. Parents, students
and the general public are in
vited to visit the schools.
All students will report to
school for their first day Friday,
Aug. 27. Teachers will report for
pre-planning activities Monday
Aug. 23.