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Forecast Warm Map Page 9 Chief Pitts appointed public safety director The Griffin City Com missioners last night created the position of Public Safety Director and named Fire Chief il a i v . f J V\ . \ y| k'.\ / i . *. • - - . »£&!■ • IB ■ Chief Pitts. Page 12 . Chief Pitts is ‘humble’ “Good morning, Chief. How do you feel?” Griffin’s new Director of Public Safety Leonard Pitts smiled and replied, “Humble.” In an interview with the Griffin Daily News this mor ning, he said that when he assumes his new job Sept. 1, he will attempt to maintain the status quo for a while. “I don’t want anyone to get up tight about his job,” Chief Pitts said. He said he would be working closely with Chief Leo Black well of the Police Department in an effort to become oriented with the operations of the Police Department. The Public Safety Director designate will be spending 85 to 95 percent of his time with the Police Department when he takes over his new assignment. He said he wanted to learn the nuts and bolts operations so he would be familiar with the day to day operations. He made it clear that he would not neglect the Fire De partment during this orienta tion period with the Police De partment. 4® “Voting taxes to provide others’ needs is every bit as generous as making donations.” Leonard Pitts to fill it. The appointment is effective Sept. 1. The commissioners said they As to what sort of operational structure will emerge from the new position the City Com missioners have created, Chief Pitts said he couldn’t say at this point. Ultimately, he will be the top administrative officer for the Fire and Police Departments in his new role. Chief Pitts said some com munities already have gone to the plan of having the fire and police departments under a central director. He said some cities even have more under the director. But the city’s plan now is to have Fire and Police De partments under the Public Safety Director. Chief Pitts said he wanted to get a working knowledge of the day to day operation of the Police Department. “I want to ride with the detectives, I want to ride with the shift captains. I want to ride with the policemen on patrol,” Chief Pitts said. He said this first hand experi ence would help him to make an evaluation of personnel. Ultimately, the director designate said he would have to appoint some people in each of the two departments to be responsible directly to him for the day to day operations. What their titles will be is not known at this time, he said. They may be deputy directors or deputy administrators or deputy chiefs, he said. The titles are not important at the moment, Chief Pitts said. As he sees it, his main task before him immediately is pulling the two departments under one administrative umbrella and maintaining their separate identities. GRIFFIN Daily Since 1872 were creating the office, assuming favorable support of necessary home rule amend ment of the city charter. “This appointment is made to preserve uninterrupted leadership and direction, also continuity in the operation of the Police Department, following Mr. Leo Blackwell’s retirement as well as to preserve same qualities in the Fire Department,” the com missioners said. City Manager Roy Inman told the Griffin Daily News after the city commission meeting that Mr. Pitts would be spending up to 95 percent or more of his time with the Police Department after Sept. 1 to become familiar Court session ends; another may be called The special session of Spalding Superior Court ended late this morning because state’s witnesses for a scheduled case failed to show up. District Attorney Ben Miller said he could not justify holding the jurors any longer. He said that due to the large number of cases which remain on the docket, including at least three murder cases, another special session probably will be sch ceduled before the October term of court This morning several guilty pleas were entered and a jury found a man guilty of beating and stabbing his wife. Porter Furlow, Jr., 610 West Slaton street, admitted he beat and kicked his wife, Mrs. Mary Edith Furlow, but said she was drunk and when he went to hit her with his hand, she ducked and fell against a knife he was cleaning his fingernails with. The incident happened on Feb. 4. Furlow said that he and his wife separated on Dec. 23 after “she shot at me five times.” They were wrapping Christmas gifts for the children, he said, when he went into the restroom and his wife shot at him through the door. She took a peace warrant after that and they have been separeted ever since. Mrs. Furlow claimed she was visiting at Pearl Griggs home when her estranged husband came in and started beating her about the head. He stabbed her about the lip, ear, and head, then dragged her outside where he stomped and kicked her until she lost consciousness. She came to at the hospital emergency room. She said she had not said anything to him and did not have a weapon. District Attorney Ben Miller told the jurors that if they did not find him guilty, he may kill her yet. He said he could not figure out how a man could clean his fingernails, accidently City delays license hikes Griffin City Commissioners voted last night to delay final approval of business license increases. They plan to review the proposal they put on first reading at their previous meet ing. Six men representing the Merchants Committee of the Chamber of Commerce asked the commissioners to recon sider plans to raise the fees at an administrative session yesterday. The merchants suggested that all of the citizens of Griffin be called on to share in the Griffin, Ga., 30223, Wednesday, July 11, 1973 with its operations. Pitts, 47, has 24 years of service with the Griffin Fire Department. Chief Blackwell told the Griffin Daily News this morning that his plans at the moment are indefinite. Accumulation of sick leave and vacation time would make him eligible to retire as early as Oct. 3 if he chose, he said. He will reach the age of 62, Feb. 3 and retirement would be mandatory for him at that time if he continues to be classified in a hazardous position. Chief Blackwell said that several options are open to him at the moment and he has not decided what he will do. cut his wife, and beat her up at the same time. Defense Attorney Bill Johnson told the jurors not to forget that she was still his wife. A man has a right to talk with his wife, he added, and “I ex pect if you went to a party and found your wife drinking, you’d be mad too.” It took the jury a few minutes to find him guilty. They set his sentence at one year and recom mended misdemeanor punish ment. Judge Andrew Whalen, Jr. said that ordinarily he would accept the misdemeanor recommendation, but due to Furlow’s long record, he could not. He said Furlow presently is on parole and had been con victed of three separate burglaries and of stealing two cars. He said the one year sentence could begin when his other sentences end. Four persons entered guilty pleas and were sentenced this morning. Harry Gray, 19, 440 Spring street, pleaded guilty to selling some 13 to 14 ounces of marijuana for $195 to an un dercover narcotics agent in front of the Tasty Pizza on West Taylor street in March. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Lee Early Colvin, 45, of East Slaton street, who shot and killed Henry Watkins on April 28 was given 10 years when he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Donald Dunn, 26, 427 North 15th street, pleaded guilty to assaulting Leon Hambrick with a deadly weapon last year and was sentenced to two years to be served on probation, provided he pay a S3OO fine. Willie Raymond Williams, 21, 1340 Boyd row, was sentenced to one year. He pleaded guilty to robbing Mike Brown by in timidation on April 2 in the parking lot of the Waffle House. rising cost of city government, if that be the case, they said. Felton Rainwater, chairman of the Merchants Committee, appeared with businessmen Jim Mankin, Herbert Bolton, Charles Jones, David High tower, and Carl Clark. Gene Hayes was a member of the committee appointed to represent the merchants before the commissioners could not attend the session. The merchants presented a petition signed by 29 people asking the city to reconsider the license fee hikes. 1 Idl Al 11 Wk I ' *vWU. vWB wJw IP J ’A Sir £****• f 3 Mi vz AA ■Kwr W'rF V W • wJS v jmL HfIEZ f 1 I h>, w Mil V, WzJf if • pRHHL ■ '< ‘ -y\ /M CHICAGO—The Williams triplets, Judy (1) and Susan (c) and Laura are all smiles after all three underwent double hernia operations at Walther Memorial hospital. The girls upset the odds 12-years ago when they were born with hernias as 85 of every 100 newborn with a hernia are Miracle baby survives tub A 13-month-old boy, who hospital attendants call “Miracle Baby” was expected to be dismissed from the Griffin-Spalding Hospital today. The child, Brian Cannon, son of Mr. and Mrs. Raiford Cannon of 405 Springview drive, came near drowning in the bathtub at his home. His mother gave this account: Early Friday afternoon, she put Brian and his two-year-old brother, Lee, in the tub to play. There was a small amount of water in the tub and she walked outside to talk with another woman. A little while later, Lee came running out calling, “Mommie ... Bubba ...” They ran in to check and found the tub filled to the brim and the child floating on his back with his eyes open and his head under the water. The Cannon’s have no phone, so the women rushed the un conscious baby to the hospital. All the way, Mrs. Cannon said she kept giving mouth to mouth resuscitation and pressing the baby’s stomach letting “a lot of water out of his mouth.” When they reached the emergency room, hospital attendants called a special code over the intercom which is a signal to all available doctors and nurses throughout the hospital that there is a critically ill patient in the emergency room. The baby’s heart had stopped and a cardio pulmonary The petition suggested that the burden of the tax increase be paid by all of the citizens in the city rather than a small seg ment of the business commun ity. The merchants suggested three courses of action open to the city commissioners. They were: —Equalize garbage fees throughout the city so that busi nesses would be accessed ac cording to the amount of trash they ask the city forces to handle for them. (City Commissioners indicat- Vol. 101 No. 163 City doubles garbage fees City Commissioners last night put on final reading an or dinance increasing from $1 to $2 the residential garbage fee, effective Oct. 1. The commissioners also accepted the only bid it received to remodel the city hall building so the Police Department head- Triplets face surgery resuscitation machine was brought in. Mrs. Cannon said the baby stayed in the emergency room for about an hour and a half before doctors told her they thought he would make it. She said the doctors said it was a miracle the baby was alive. Last night they put him in a tub of water at the hospital and he had a good time playing in the water, she said. He doesn’t like the taste of it though and refuses to drink any. Mrs. Cannon added they were lucky in another way, as the boys has turned on the hot water faucet. The electric water heater was not working at the time, otherwise the tub would have been filled with hot water. Weather ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY 90, low today 69, high yesterday 90, low yesterday 68, high tomorrow in upper 80s, low tonight near 70. Savings interest going up here Three local banks and one savings and loan association today announced plans to in crease interest rates on savings accounts under new federal regulations. In a joint statement the three local banks said they expect to make an announcement in a day or two about probable increases ed they already were planning to do this.) —Raise sewerage rates to meet rising costs of operation and expansion. —lncrease water rates to their previous levels and raise the millage tax rate in the city. The merchants referred to the 10 percent cut in water rates announced months ago by the city. The commissioners already had announced their intention of keeping the tax rate at eight mills. The commissioners pointed quarters can be transferred back to there. The bid was submitted by C. A. Kendrick and was for $16,161. The commissioners approved a number of purchase orders and expenditures at their meeting last night. They announced that an open males. Their doctor waited till they were this age before operating because it was safer. The trio, from suburban Streamwood, 111., will be sophomores at Oak Hill high school in the fall. (UPI) Spell out gripes, health board says The Spalding Health Board yesterdaj) asked construction contractors and people in the building business to be more specific as to their complaints in a petition. The board received the petition at the monthly meeting yesterday. It stated that Atty. John Carlisle had secured a ruling from the attorney generals office in Atlanta that some of the personnel in the Health Department were being em ployed illegally. The petition also complained about enforcement of some of the department’s regulations. Dr. George Walker, chairman of the board, said the petitioners needed to spell out their gripes and quarrels so they could be dealt with properly. P. W. Hamil, board member, said he thought that supervisory personnel in the department should attend board meetings so board members could be kept abreast with what was going on. Dr. Walker and Dr. Guy Woodroof, board member, concurred. They were the only in savings rates. Government regulatory agencies have approved in creases in interest rate ceilings and formal notice of these new ceilings have been received and are being studied by the banks. A spokesman for the banking industry here said the local rates will be competitive with out that tax bills this year would be higher, even if the rate is left at eight mills. The reason is that the city will have to operate under the factored tax digest just as the county was required to do last year. The commissioners an nounced a couple of weeks ago that they were making known their plans to adjust business license rates and increase other charges so that people would have time to respond to them. The commissioners did not indicate last night when they would make a final decision on business license fees. Inside Tip Food See Page 8 house would be held July 18 from 1 p.m. till 5 p.m. for the new city offices. They have been relocated in the remodeled building next to the city hall. The public will be invited to see the offices on that after noon. three board members at the meeting. Hamil questioned the paying of supplements to some Health Department employes. He said the County Commissioners had let the item slip by them in approving the health budget. He said the commissioners would withdraw approval if they could. The amount in volved is about $2,800. A department spokesman said the supplements were part of the agreement when the personnel were hired. He said the supplements have been in the budget for a number of years. The spokesman said that the supplement practice had been discontinued. The board was told that the State Department of Human Resources was making him an effort to secure an additional SB,OOO from state sources so the Mental Health program here would be able to maintain last year’s program. Without, the money, some personnel and services would have to be cut. banks in all other areas • Bill Ramsey, top executive officer of Griffin Federal Savings and Loan Association said: “As I interpret the new proposed rates on savings, Savings and Loan Associations are still given an edge over commercial banks on the maximum rates we can pay. We at Griffin Federal intend to impliment these higher per missive rates as soon as the so called monetary experts in Washington give us the green light. We expect the increases to be retroactive to July 1 and will advise all of our members if and what they need to do to receive the higher rates. “In the meantime, of course, this means that the interest on new home mortgages will go up to the 8.5 to the 8.75 percent range, reaching the levels of 1969.” Joe Cumming, head of First Federal Savings and Loan Association, was out of the city and could not be reached for a statement. A spokesman for the business said that it would have no state ment to make at the present but probably would later.