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E GOOD
VENIN VJ
By Quimby Melton
Arizona, admitted to the
Union Feb. 14, 1912, William
Howard Taft being President at
die time, has had an interesting
history. For many years a terri
tory before it became a state
Arizona was looked upon by the
other 47 more “conservative”
states as a land of adventure,
where those who came there
could make a new start. When
Arizona was a territory there
was no such a word as
“Tourism”, because there were
no tourists. If one wanted to go
to Arizona one faced a long hot
ride by slow train. There were
few automobiles and certainly
no airplanes to take one there.
Still there were those, who for
one reason or another, saw fit to
become Arizonians. The terri
tory grew and once Arizona
became a state there was a
steady flow of new citizens.
Today “Tourism” plays a big
part in Arizona’s plans to at
tract people to visit that state.
Only last Saturday there was an
example of this and this was no
cut and dried example.
For, with a lot of pomp and
ceremony the State of Arizona
dedicated a bridge that spanned
part of the Colorado River.
Dedication of a new bridge is
usually more or less cut and
dried and does not result in
world wide publicity. But the
bridge dedicated last Saturday
was far from being new. It was
a very old bridge. In fact one
might say it was a rededication
of a bridge — the famous old
London Bridge that since 1831
crossed the Thames River in
“Jolly Old London.”
Why was the bridge moved?
London Bridge had become a
danger to the heavy traffic, both
the traffic that crossed it and
the heavy traffic that steamed
or sailed beneath it. The bridge
was of heavy granite and it had
begun to settle and to list
dangerously.
English authorities decided
that the bridge had to be tom
down and a new one built. “But
what disposition can we make of
the old bridge?” was asked.
Some how or other word got to
Arizona that “London Bridge is
falling down.” And the state of
Arizona got into the picture.
An Arizona promoter decided
the time had come “to take a
chance.” He then sold the
governor of Arizona on his plan.
“This may be a big gamble” he
probably told the governor. But
gambling has long been favored
in Arizona.
Saturday the old bridge was
opened across a span of the
Colorado River. There was a lot
of pomp and ceremony at the
rededication of this famous old
bridge.
The ceremony was staged at
Lake Havasu, Arizona.
The Lord Mayor of London —
Sir Peter M. Studd — headed a
large delegation from London.
Waring the age long costumes
of their offices they presented
quite a different picture from
that of the “reception” com
mittee make up of “gun-toting”
Arizona deputy sheriffs.
To carry out the “Jolly Old
England” tradition among
those on hand, wearing their
historic costumes, were court
jesters and “beef-eater”
guards, Bagpipes furnished the
background musical setting as
London’s Lord Mayor and Ari
zona’s Governor Jack Williams
met on the bridge and embrac
ed each other.
London’s Lord Mayor smiled
through his tears of regret at
losing an old historic landmark
and said he was pleased be
cause London Bridge had found
a new home. We venture the
guess the Promoter who first
thought of the idea smiled and
said to himself “Watch
‘Tourism’ be more and more
important to our great state.”
There’s a lesson in this
“Tourism” stunt pulled off by
Arizona; but let’s not start
dreaming of Georgia moving
the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon to Stone Mountain.
Supreme Court refuses to rule
on constitutionality of war
Holmes draws
life sentence
Nineteen-year-old Napoleon
Holmes of 732 East Solomon
street, was sentenced to life
imprisonment yesterday after
noon following his second guilty
plea to a murder charge in
Spalding Superior Court in the
Feb. 27 death of Roy Bryant,
Lowell Bleachery night watch
man.
Holmes was brought before
Judge Andrew Whalen Jr.
yesterday morning and pleaded
guilty the first time. The judge
went over his rights to a jury
trial, explained the guilty plea
and asked if Holmes understood
his rights to a trial. When the
judge asked if any bargains
were made or anything promis
ed him to prompt him to enter
the guilty plea, Holmes said
that he had been promised a life
sentence if he pleaded guilty.
Judge Whalen asked what
instrument he used with which
to hit Mr. Bryant and Holmes
answered he did not hit him
with anything, he was with
another boy who hit him.
He was taken from the court
room and returned shortly be
fore 2 o’clock to plead guilty a
second time.
This time when asked how the
deceased met his death, Holmes
stated he hit Mr. Bryant with
his fists and took some money
from his pockets. He said he did
not know how much.
Before passing sentence,
Judge Whalen said that the
State had recommended life im
prisonment and that Mr.
Ransom demanded
South Viet civilians
kidnap 12 U. S. Gl’s
DA NANG, Vietnam (UPI)-
Twelve U.S. Army truck
drivers were kidnaped and held
for ransom today by furious
South Vietnamese civilians, but
were released unharmed nearly
eight hours later.
The drivers and their six
trucks were seized after their
convoy allegedly ran into a
minibus in a funeral procession,
injuring eight mourners. The
drivers were released after
compensation was paid.
The civilians had demanded a
ransom of 2.5 millicm piasters,
or about $9,000. They settled for
200,000 (Masters or about $726
plus 170 cases of salad oil and
NEWSPAPERS
irowing with America
Westward the Nation —
The press crossed the
Appalachians with the
founding of the
Pittsburgh Gazette (1786).
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
WEEK, Oct. 10-16.
GRIFFIN
DAILY NEWS
Daily Since 1872
Bryant’s widow and son,
Charles Bryant, were agreeable
to the sentence and that he
would accept the state’s re
commendation. Mrs. Bryant
and her son were in the court
room and said they were agree
able to the sentence.
Mr. Bryant’s body was found
on the floor of the Bleachery
around 1 a.m. Feb. 27. His
wallet containing a large sum of
money was missing. An autopsy
revealed that death was
probably from a blow or blows
on the back of the head.
Holmes was arrested and
charged with murder, but
escaped from the county jail on
Mar. 2. He was taken into
custody again in Los Angeles
the latter part of May and was
returned to Griffin to await
trial.
He was represented by Attor
neys Tom Lewis, Bill Johnson
and Sammy Murray.
When Holmes was brought to
the Courthouse yesterday, he
was placed in the cell next to the
courtroom with others awaiting
trial.
Officials said he and another
prisoner, Danny Simpson of
Quilley street, who had been
charged with a theft from Shan
non’s Grocery Store, got into an
argument. They said Holmes
accused Simpson of breaking
his radio. They said Holmes hit
Simpson on the right ear and
deputies had to pull the two
apart. Simpson was taken to
another room.
150 cases of soybean mixture.
Provincial authorities provid
ed the salad oil and soybean
mixture. American military
authorities apparently paid the
ransom. In the past they have
made cash compensation to the
families of Vietnamese killed or
injured by U.S. drivers.
The civilians, mostly disabled
veterans, seized the 12 drivers
and their six vehicles nine
miles south of Da Nang. The
mourners were in a funeral
cortege of a veterans’ leader
shot Sunday.
Armed with carbines, .45
caliber pistols and Ml 6 rifles,
the veterans piled out of six
other minibuses in a funeral
cortege nine miles south of
here, shot out the tires of the
six U.S. trucks leading a
convoy and surrounded the
vehicles.
The drivers and helpers of
the six Army trucks were
captured and the veterans,
manning electric bullhorns,
demanded that U.S. authorities
pay them $9,000 ransom for the
trucks and soldiers.
The $9,000 was equivalent of
2.5 million piasters, a mon
umental sum to a Vietnamese
veteran.
The incident was touched off
when the front truck of a
convoy of 10-20 semitrailer
trucks rammed the rear
minibus in the cortege.
Eight mourners were injured,
three seriously, in the accident
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1971
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MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Kenneth Ford, 14, sits up in bed and munches a doughnut after he began
recovering from paralysis and “terrible pain” in a severe reaction to antirabies shots. He was
bitten by a rabid kitten last month. With him is his mother, Mrs. Leo Ford. (UPI)
which apparently aroused the
anger of the veterans, who also
were in the funeral procession.
The military sources said
none of the servicemen, from
the Americal Division, was
injured. Officers went to the
scene and offered the veterans
about $l,lOO compensation for
the injuries suffered by the
Vietnamese on the minibus.
The cortege was enroute to
Quang Tin Province from
Danang when the accident
occurred.
Sources said the funeral was
for anti-government veteran
leader Nguyen Ngoc Tan, who
was shot and killed Sunday in
the Danang central market
place by pro-government veter
ans.
The Tan funeral had proceed
ed quietly with about 150
persons attending early morn
ing ceremonies in the Danang
central marketplace.
Sources said after the ac
cident the veterans used barbed
wire to enclose the six trucks.
The rest of the convoy
managed to escape.
Weather
ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY
78, low today 49, high yesterday
75, low yesterday 39. Sunrise
tomorrow 7:43, sunset
tomorrow 7:04.
Blast
victims
buried
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. (UPI)
—Funeral services were to be
held late today for five mem
bers of one family who died
Monday when an explosion lev
eled their home.
Meanwhile, the state fire
marshal’s office planned to go
over the debris at the scene of
the tragedy, about six miles
south of here, in hopes of deter
mining the cause of the blast.
The services for Richard Har
ris, 41, a chemical plant em
ploye and part-time minister;
his wife, Josephine, 39; and
three of their five children,
Inez, 14, Terry, 13, and Betty
Jean, 11, were scheduled for 3
p.m. at Bethany Baptist Church
in the nearby Emerson com
munity.
Patsy Harris, 17, and her
brother, Ronnie, 16, both sur
vived although Patsy required
hospitalization for burns.
A spokesman for the fire
marshal’s office said the chil
dren would be questioned as
soon as possible in an effort to
determine exactly what hap
pened.
Vol. 99 NO. 242
I'M? ]/ /
“The Lord gave us a day of
rest — we stretched it to two
and are going for three.”
School attendance
increases here
Average daily attendance has
shown a steady increase this
year, Supt. D. B. Christie told
the Griffin-Spalding school
board last night at its October
meeting.
The ADA (average daily
attendance) for the first month
of school here reached 8,891,
Mr. Christie said. If this trend
continues, it will mean a gain of
teacher credits from the state
and consequently more state
money for the system here.
State funds are generally
allocated on ADA figures and
not enrollment figures. Total
enrollment in the system so far
is 9,904, Mr. Christie reported.
In other business handled at
the board meeting, the board
decided to ask the local legisla
tive delegation to the Genera]
Assembly to work out a revision
of electing school board mem
bers.
By CHARLOTTE MOULTON
WASHINGTON (UPI) -The
Supreme Court refused today
for the second time to rule on
the constitutionality of the
Vietnam War, never formally
“declared” by Congress.
The case was rejected on a 5-
2 vote by the seven-member
court, at its first business
session of the new term.
Justices William 0. Douglas
and William J. Brennan Jr.
voted to hear the case.
The court’s brief order left
standing a ruling last April 20,
by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in New York.
That count held that congres
sional approval of the war
could be inferred from passage
of the Tonkin Gulf resolution,
appropriation of billions of
dollars to carry on the conflict,
extension of the draft law and
specific conscription of man
power.
The government had urged
the court to dismiss the appeal
on the ground the issue was one
that only Congress and the
executive branch could resolve.
It was brought in federal
district court in New York by
the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) on behalf of two
servicemen.
The Justice Department told
the Supreme Court: “A Pres
ident violates the constitutional
powers of Congress in this area
at his peril—and Congress is
the best judge of whether there
has been a violation.”
The ACLU argued: “The
consequences of continued
silence by this court on
Vietnam can only be confusion,
unrest, and continued uncer
tainty about any future military
action. The nation requires a
final answer to these questions
which have so troubled and
perplexed our society.”
The lower court opinions
generally adopted the govern
ment’s arguments, generating
several statements by senators
that the meaning of their votes
on the Tonkin Gulf resolution
had been misinterpreted.
An amendment to that effect
proposed by Sen. Jacob K.
Javits, R-N.Y., to a defense
appropriation bill was with
drawn.
The Tonkin resolution was
approved by Congress with only
two dissenting votes in 1964
following reports of attacks on
American ships in the Tonkin
Gulf off Vietnam by North
Vietnamese torpedo boats.
The resolution was interpret
ed by President Lyndon B.
Johnson as giving him a free
The board noted that the
October Spalding Grand Jury
had recommended that the plan
be brought up to compliance
with the one-man one-vote prin
ciple from Supreme Court
rulings.
The board is inclined to go
along with the idea of having all
members of the board to be
elected cm an at-large basis with
city and county voters voting on
all candidates. Candidates
would qualify for posts instead
of from wards and county
districts as they have in the
past.
School officials noted that 60
percent of the county’s popula
tion is inside the city of Griffin,
yet the city has’ five board
members and the county five.
Under the one-man, one-vote
principle, this constitutes a
malapportioned school board,
officials reasoned.
Inside Tip
Pettit
See Page 3
hand to escalate the U.S. role
in Vietnam.
The ACLU said reliance on
“ impli ed ” cong ressi ona 1 author
ity “without a formal and
explicit act by Congress is a
violation of the entire constitu
tional scheme.”
The ACLU represented Salva
tore Orlando and Douglas
Kaplan who argued that their
orders to report for Vietnam
duty were unconstitutional.
Last term, the court refused
to consider a similar challenge
brought by the State of
Massachusetts where the legis
lature had banned the sending
of its draftees to Vietnam.
Massachusetts tried to bring
the case directly in the high
court without first going
through lower courts.
The high court started the
new term with two seats vacant
and because of this, it decided
previously to postpone action on
some of the most controversial
decisions it faces until it is up
to full strength. These include
legal challenges to the death
penalty.
President Nixon has not
indicated who will be nominat
ed for the court vacancies. The
Washington Post reported today
that a high administration
source said Sen. Robert C.
Byrd, D-W.Va., was not at the
top of the list of possible
nominees at the moment.
During the past weekend,
published reports listed Byrd as
one of the most likely Nixon
nominees.
P -
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. —
Former Florida Sen. George
Smathers (shown in 1968 photo)
received $435,000 worth of stock
in an aerospace firm for $20,000
shortly after he left the Senate,
Newsday said yesterday. The
newspaper said Smathers had
been instrumental in helping
the company, Aerodez Inc. of
Miami, obtain defense con
tracts. (UPI)
Supt. Christie told the board
that it is unlikely that the
system will get some $166,000 in
federal funds from the
Emergency School Assistance
program. The system had
applied for this amount under
the federal program but was in
a third-rated priority for con
sideration.
Mr. Christie said he had not
given up hope for the funds but
the outlook was not good.
The school board approved
the sale of the Mt. Zion School
building and some three acres
of land to R. J. Leverette who
was the low bidder. The sales
price was $8,115.
Board members were
reminded that the Sixth District
unit of the Georgia Association
of Educators would be held in
Griffin Oct. 18. This will be a
study holiday for the system
here.