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Griffin Daily News
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YES, IT’S REAL—These dwellings and churches are not part of a science fiction movie set, but
are quite real, located about a day’s drive southeast of Ankara, Turkey. Situated in an area of
severe volcanic action centuries ago, this biblical region of Cappadocia is a favorite tourist
attraction.
Ankara’s big city pace
surprises many visitors
By JOHN PINKERMAN
Copley News Service
ANKARA — Take it easy
with the raki (a potent drink),
see the sights — and there are
plenty — get out of town to Cap
padocia for a view of spec
tacular ruins and you will enjoy
yourself in this tense city of
martial law.
The Turkish government has
come a long way in the last 15
years in developing tourism but
still has a long way to go before
it reaps the financial rewards
that it should.
However, even with "the
streets filled with soldiers
patrolling with automatic
weapons under the tight regime
that includes martial law, the
visitor can find much to do and
see sights he might not see
closer to home — although
there are more of them, in a
more vivid sense, as one
travels further south.
Flying in to Ankara, the
growth of the city can be seen,
if for no other reason, by the
thick cloud of smog hanging
over almost every area except
the solemn hill that holds the
tomb and memorial of
Mustaffa Kemal Ataturk,
founder of the Turkish Repub
lic, and the presidential palace
of President Cevdet Sunay.
Both are high enough to escape
both the smog and the acrid
smell of poor grade coal burn
in,? in many buildings.
things are not all bad here,
despite the common fear of a
coup, terrorist activity or re
volt as expressed by a Turk
editor, Nezihi Oktem, who said,
“Your Vice President Agnew
was here and there was lots of
talk about NATO (the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization)
and Russia. That’s not what I
worry about. I wonder each
night what will happen here in
the morning.”
Oktem perhaps was being
overdramatic because there
are quite a few tourists in the
city.
They are engaging in girl
watching, and some of the girls
rate close scrutiny, with every-
8
thing from tight-fitting dresses,
hot pants, deceptive veils and
the walk that inspires male ap
preciation of the opposite sex.
There is good food — shish and
other kabobs, some with yogurt
— and plenty of night life, the
penthouse Grill Room of the
Buyuk (Grand) Hotel offering
one of the more interesting eve
nings.
Hotels are reasonable & a
fine double room in the Buyuk
coming at about >lO, and food is
within reason. There is some
thing for everybody — busy
traffic and fast city life, or the
sight of peacefully grazing
sheep and cattle in the suburbs,
and jackasses (four-legged)
seem to be in abundance. There
aren’t many dogs — pets are
too expensive for most Turks —
but there are new factories all
over the place, and Pepsi Cola
and 7-Up bottling plants.
The smog comes mostly at
night, and this moved Vice
President Agnew to say, “It
looks worse than in Los Ange
les.” Cars park on the side
walks and the Turks are
prosperous enough to have
modern buses to replace the
antiques that moved about the
city until a few years ago.
There is a U.S. flavor here, too
— hippies, complete with long
hair and sleeping bags strung
over their shoulders.
But, there is delightful sight
seeing, with Ataturk’s hillside
tomb as the top attraction. The
pride of soldiers in being picked
for honor guard duty at the
mausoleum can be seen in their
eyes and every visiting digni
tary must lay a wreath at the
memorial, usually at sunset.
Finished in 1953, it is of the
purest classical style. The
Tower of liberty rises at the
right of an impressive stair
case, and the Tower of Inde
pendence is at the left. The
theme of the memorial is “Vic
tory and Peace” in recognition
of Ataturk’s leadership in the
revolution of the early ’2os. A
solemn quiet prevails through
out the memorial area.
There also is Ataturk Boule
vard and many other statues of
the hero throughout the city, in-
cluding one of granite and an
other outlined in neon lights
near the palace, visible from
most areas of Ankara at night.
The palace grounds also are
a place of beauty — an edifice
of marble with impressive gar
dens and woodlands — roses,
gladiolus, geraniums, cactus,
pines, white fir, begonias,
palms and many other flowers
this know-nothing on flora
could not identify.
If the strong scent of Turkish
men smoking Turkish
cigarettes becomes too much
for you, there are organized
tours (run by die government,
just as the best hotel and many
other enterprises are) to the
hinterlands. One, covering
seven days, takes the visitor to
several areas, including the
rock-carved cities in the
biblical region of Cappadocia,
an area of spectacular relics
from centuries ago and about a
day’s drive southeast of here.
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FISH STORY—Just because she’s confined to a wheel chair, that doesn’t mean that Dora Frantz
can’t enjoy her favorite hobby. Here she discusses one thatDH»TT getaway with husband Jim.
She lands marlins
from wheelchair
LOS ANGELES - Dora
Frantz knows people can do
anything they believe they can
do.
She is a deep-sea fisherman
who has brought in a 154-pound
marlin. She is a lawyer, ac
countant and co-owner of a
marine import business. She
has been a candidate for the
state Assembly.
Her legs have been paralyzed
since an automobile accident in
1935.
Her neck was broken in the
accident and she was not ex
pected to live. With sheer will
power she fought to hang onto
life. Recovery took painstaking
months of patience. She was
confined to the hospital for five
years.
Characteristically, she made
good use of her time there. She
studied accounting to sup
plement the bachelor’s degree
she had earned at Santa
Barbara State College and the
law degree she received from
the University of Southern
California shortly before the
accident.
Finally in 1941, her years in
the hospital behind her, she
opened an accounting office in
her parents’ home in nearby
Lennox. Word got around that
she was one of the best ac
countants and tax experts in
the area. She soon had a
thriving business.
Dora got around too. She was
never one to let a mere wheel
chair get in the way of her
business and social life. She
was politically active. In 1946,
she became a member of the
California State Republican
Central Committee.
In the fall of 1949 when she
married Jim Frantz, a marine
importer, it would have seemed
there were no more worlds for
her to conquer.
Jim had another idea. He
wanted to know if his new bride
would be interested in taking
up his hobby, sport fishing.
The idea of a little lady in a
wheel chair tackling fish that
weigh upwards to 160 pounds
seemed pretty farfetched but
then Dora had never let her
wheel chair get in her way
before.
When she fishes in Mexico
she must be lifted from a row
boat at sea into the fishing boat
which Dora says can get “very
interesting” when the weather
is rough. Os course, she is
unable to swim. “I never
worried about that,” she says.
“She has never had any fear
of the ocean,” Jim says.
With time and practice and
just fishing, she learned the
way fish react and how they
run and was able to take on the
big ones. To compensate for not
walking around the boat as the
fish makes its run after it’s
hooked, she learned to turn the
fish by moving the tip of her
rod.
“Most people follow their
fish,” she says, “I have to bring
the fish to me.”
After she mastered the
technique, she started looking
for her dream fish. To bring in
a marlin, that was her dream.
Her dream bothered Jim some.
He worried that she might get
hurt fighting the big fish.
It takes upwards of three
hours to pull in the 120-plus
pounds of fighting fish. But
Dora did it. She hooked a
marlin and sat there in her
wheel chair and held on until it
gave up.
After that she was as much a
marlin fisherman as anyone
who ever stepped on board a
deep-sea fishing boat. But it
wasn’t easy. During one fishing
trip she was almost pulled out
of the boat by a marlin. A
deckhand was able to grab her
wheel chair and pull her back
to safety. Her longest fight was
with a marlin that had the wire
leader caught around its tail.
None of these harrowing ex
periences dampened her en
thusiasm.
One incident did make a
difference, however. She was
out fishing with a group on a
charter boat and a man trying
to hold onto an albacore walked
right over her as he chased the
running fish.