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Inside Tip Nixon See Page 11 Hospital optimistic on expansion plans L^ Z \ A wb K ft w £< x \ i {■ !■ v, • w i iJH Old foes all smiles WASHINGTON—Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey, D-Minn., presents President Nixon with a certificate and medal from the Capitol Historical Society. Humphrey, vice president of the society, made the presentation in the Oval office of the White House in appreciation of the President’s support of historical programs. (UPI) Denver Is Watergate good for us? By JACK OLSON JR. “Every country has the fovernment it deserves,’’ a rench diplomat once noted. Armed with this disconcerting maxim, we asked six barten ders here if they thought the Watergate scandal was a rea sonable product of American society. Bartenders maintain a self less vigil at the pulse of the nation, someone said. If Wat ergate was a predictable so cial aberration, certainly they would have sensed it. And if they did, where does it leave us? What lies ahead? Deepening distrust of govern ment? Os all our institutions? Or did the Waterbuggers inad vertently launch us into an era of revitalization? Unfortunately this survey might have been better spent on embalmers than barten ders. The only consensus: Figures misleading Sheriff says he needs more men to beef up patroling schedule Sheriff Dwayne Gilbert said that figures quoted at a County Commissioners meeting con cerning the number of deputies in his department are misleading. Commission Chairman Jack Moss had said county records show the Sheriff’s Department has seven cars, one van, and 15 deputies, not including the sheriff. Moss made the comment when Mrs. Pat Moore of Wilson street complained that there were not enough men in the Negotiating with builder Denver, Colorado (pop. 514,679), is the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco and is situated one mile above sea level in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Founded in 1858, it is today one of the country’s largest distri bution centers and a major tourist area. Watergate has been good for the liquor industry. Even habitual light drink ers, it seems, caught up in the fascinating tales of Magruder, Liddy and others, are sticking around for three and four shots, the bartenders say. Not that discussing Watergate is painful. Rather it seems to be fun. The Senate Watergate hear ing is provoking enough belly laughs (and during the gravest testimony) to make an enter tainer envious. This is the mood, according to barten ders. As the British are redis covering, everyone loves a scandal. Could Watergate be a balm we have yet to recognize? “That's conceivable,” says Conrad Mcßride, a University of Colorado political science professor. “I would hope we recognize that we are culpa ble. With Watergate, we may turn a corner." “We've been suspicious of our institutions far too long." Sheriff’s Department to answer calls quickly. She told of her daughter and a friend having to wait about an hour and a half one night for a sheriff’s car to come investigate the vandalism of the Moore family car. The auto broke down, she said, and while the two young people were walking to a house to telephone for help, vandals spotted the deserted car and damaged it extensively. Mrs. Moore said she thought they probably were planning to strip the vehicle. DAILY<NEWS Daily Since 1872 Griffin-Spalding Hospital officials are optimistic that something can be worked out with a contractor to get con struction started on an ex pansion program. Carl Ridley, administrator, said hospital officials and Ar chitect Gerald Bilbro worked with the Reddick Construction Company of Thomaston yester day on shaving costs so the program hopefully can be brought within the money avail able. The Reddick Company of Thomaston not long ago com pleted an expansion to the Georgia Power says money plight worse ATLANTA (UPI) — Georgia Power Co. has told the state Public Service Commission that proposed sll million emergency worsen” during testimony on a psopoed sll million emergency rate increase sought by the util ity. Former Gov. Carl Sanders, at torney for Georgia Power, told the PSC Wednesday that June earnings were almost $1 million under projections by the com pany. Edwin Hatch, president of Georgia Power, said if sufficient capitalis notraised, “the state’s future power supply, and there fore its economic future, will be in serious doubt.” says Harold Mendelsohn, chairman of mass communi cation at the University of Denver. "Maybe this will change our attitude.” Russell Shain, a University of Colorado journalism profes sor and public opinion expert, says he thinks Watergate has “unsettled” a segment of the electorate. Namely those who violated political allegiance last election to vote for Nixon. Unsettled people, he main tains, cause change. Still wondering if American society produced and deserved Watergate, we found some “unsettled" people of varied occupations. There was Glen Chambers, an elephant keeper at the Denver Zoo “I’m more suspicious of government now,” he says. “Parts of this have really dis gusted me. We ll have to bear down and improve the situa tion.” Ambulance dispatcher Lin- Deputies in the one car on , duty that night were busy an swering other complaints and took a while to get to the Moore auto. Sheriff Gilbert explained that of the 15 men, there are only eight men available to patrol the entire county during the 24- hour day. The other seven are three jailers, three radio men and office workers, and an investigator. Gilbert said that by time the (Continued on Page 2) Griffin, Ga., 30223, Thursday, July 12, 1973 Upson County Hospital. The firm has a good reputation for hospital construction. Reddick submitted a low base bid of $3,023,000 last month. Ridley said the prognosis is that an agreement can be worked out with Reddick so that the firm can build the additions. The original proposal called for the addition of 66 beds plus some emergency room and possible day clinic facilities. Mr. Ridley said hospital of ficials probably will be able to cut out some desirable features of the expansion program and can come within the money The testimony came during the completion of cross exami nation by the commission and attorneys representing the Atlanta Labor Council which has opposed the hike. At one point during the ses sion, Commissioner Bobby Paf ford charged that many letters opposing the increase were “ob viously...not coming voluntari ly.” He questioned whether “there’s been some deal worked out.” Georgia Power is seeking the sll million immediately to help finance a bond issue this fall. It is also seeking a permanent SB6 million rate hike which the PSC will take up later. / THE \ MOOD OF ( da Ray thinks the federal government “has made us out to be dummies, and we re not. Now we re proving it. People are getting tired of the gov ernment being so holy." Denver jailer Dusty Frank says: “We’ve lost the integri ty we used to have. I’m sure this country has been hurt overseas. But we ll bounce back probably pretty quick.” There wasn't a Watergate reveler among them. They spoke with forceful optimism and a sprinkling of humor. No malaise was apparent. “Babe," a Denver go-go dancer (“That’s my dancing name”) was apologetic in answering our questions. “I know so little about Wat ergate,” she said. “I work nights and sleep most of the day. But it’s serious, isn’t it? It may be good for us.” She may have captured the mood of people here. (NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.) J ■ “If prices keep rising, folks will learn to get along without some of their necessities.” GRIFFIN available. A capital accumulation of some $2-million plus state funds of some $912,000 is what the Hospital Authority has been counting on for the addition. Carl Richardson, discussing the project several months ago in a civic club speech, said that the addition would not mean a tax increase to the people of Griffin and Spalding County. Hospital Authority members present when the bids were opened last month were depressed when they learned the lowest base bids were much higher than they had figured they would be. Mr. Ridley thinks that the authority and the contract should be able to come to terms within two weeks or so. He said that the authority and the contractor could negotiate an extension of time to keep the bid outstanding, even after the deadline, if necessary. Contractors were bound to keep their bids open 35 days after they were opened but this could be extended through negotiations, Mr. Ridley ex plained. The deadline didn’t seem to be of particular concern to those talking with the Thomaston company. Dollar dives again LONDON (UPI) - The dollar took a sudden nose dive on world money markets today, reversing steady gains made over the previous three days. The unpredictable currency tumbled .89 per cent in value in Amsterdam and slipped back in Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt and Tokyo. It held steady in London and gained slightly in Hong Kong. On the big London bullion market, the price of gold jumped as the dollar sank—the usual pattern. The metal went up $1.75 to $120.50 an ounce from Wednesday’s closing price of $118.75. Gold gained $1.50 an ounce in Zurich. Dealers said the dollar was dropping because there was no solid evidence government cen tral banks were intervening to prop it up. “The Americans are trying to talk the dollar up rather than pull it up,” said a bank official in Paris. “There is no confirmation the Americans are doing anything,” said another French banker. “We still have no indication any central bank has interv ened to support the dollar,” said a U.S. bank representative in Frankfurt. This conflicted with word from some experts who said Wednesday it ap peared government bankers were prepared to come to the aid of the ailing currency. The dollar tumbled today to 4.08-4.09 francs in Paris, down from 4.17 at Wednesday’s close. In Switzerland it sank to 2.85 Swiss francs, down from 2.89. Against the all-important West German mark the Ameri can currency lost a fraction at the market opening, priced at 2.3875 marks compared to Wednesday’s 2.4050 close. Rates were little changed in London and see-sawed on Asian markets. The dollar dipped slightly in Tokyo, selling at 264.40 yens compared with Wednesday’s 265 quotation. In Hong Kong, the dollar went up to just over 4.99 Hong Kong dollars. Vol. 101 NO. 164 KT > _ Rr > - " w uIH Iu h ‘-i’Bli/ ./ U» M i HU' « J 1 j Mr I H • ITTTw It i ill i h. wi h ’ I ‘® J® « 4 V f '• ? WSHI ■R|r i h f « 111 it . nFTh HWF 1 g.- 811 b hi> i ** lb I h F fc . - h Hl!" •HBBi Bird in court fight HUTCHINSON, Kansas—A parrott was the subject of a custody battle in magistrate court here. Plaintiff, Helen Erickson maintained that the bird, given as a gift, failed to return home after a routine release for exercise. Defendent Terry Crossman, pictured below, maintained that the bird was sold to him. Custody was awarded to Erickson. (UPI) Social Security benefits are going up in mid 1974 WASHINGTON (UPI) cial Security benefits for almost 30 million Americans will increase by more than 5 per cent beginning in June, 1974. President Nixon signed the compromise legislation author izing the benefits increase Wednesday. The measure would also increase to $12,600 the maximum wage base on which Social Security taxes are imposed on wage-earners. “The critical feature of this bill ... is an increase in Social Security benefits of more than 5 Food costs expected to go even higher WASHINGTON (UPI) - Today’s record food prices are really “deceptively low,” and consumers will be shocked when the food industry finally passes on the increases it has been absorbing during the temporary price freeze, a leading industry executive has warned Congress. C. W. Cook, chairman of General Foods Corp., in a wire sent to all members of Congress July 3 and made public Wednesday, warned the lawmakers not to be misled by rosy hopes growing out of Agriculture Department reports this week that farm production may set new records this year. Cook said that because of past and present control sys tems, current retail food prices are based on raw farm product prices far below the actual current cost of raw products. “When sharp commodity price increases are reflected at retail, as ultimately they must be, the resultant rise in food costs is certain to shock consumers ... Even excellent crop prospects this year will not be sufficient to curb this spiral significantly,” Cook war ned. “...We believe the consum- per cent next year in order to meet the rising costs of living,” Nixon said in a written statement issued by the White House. White House officials estimat ed that the benefits increase would range between 5.6 and 5.8 per cent, with the first checks to be paid in July of next year. The legislation also provides: —The amount of money an individual may earn without a reduction in Social Security ing public should be made aware of this distasteful pros pect now because we fear many consumers expect food prices to hold steady or possibly decline once new crop estimates are in.” President Nixon met for two hours with his Cabinet Wednes day on plans for a Phase IV anti-inflation program to follow the temporary freeze. A spokes man said the new plan will be announced “relatively soon,” although no final decisions have yet been made on it. Agriculture Department offi cials said they expected some further increase in food prices after ceilings are relaxed, but the potential big harvest of grains and soybeans would ease the situation by spurring increases in livestock and poultry production beginning in the fall. Weather ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY 88, low today 69, high yesterday 86, low yesterday 69, high tomorrow in mid 80s, low tonight in mid 60s. Forecast Warm Map Page 6 benefits would increase from $2,100 to s2,4oo—effective next Jan. 1. —lncreased welfare benefits for more than six million aged, blind and disabled recipients. The increases, also intended to compensate for advances in the cost of living, lift the monthly payments from $l3O to $l4O for an individual and from $195 to $2lO for a couple, starting next July. —States must supplement federal welfare benefits to make sure no recipient receives a benefit cut when welfare programs shift from state to* federal operation at the end of this year. The Social Security increase was attached to an amendment on a minor bill passed by Congress in the closing hours before it began its July 4th recess. The measure was a compro mise which the administration agreed to accept after threaten ing to veto a more generous version. Nixon objected to one section of the new bill postponing until Nov. 1 the effective date of regulations, adopted by the Department of Health, Educa tion and Welfare (HEW), to limit the social services which states may provide under programs requiring a federal reimbursement. “As the Congress knows, neither I nor my predecessors have been able to accept such a ‘coming into agreement’ be cause it infringes on the essential responsibility of the President and the executive branch, and on the separation of powers doctrine,” Nixon said. In separate action Wednes day, Nixon signed legislation extending temporary increases in railroad retirement benefits from June 30 until the end of this year. This measure also permits men with 30 years of railroad employment to retire at age 60 with full pension.