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Christmas parade tonight at 6:30
Forecast
Cold
Map Page 6
Griffin, Spalding
digests factored
Factoring of Griffin and
Spalding County tax digests by
high tights J
By United Press International
Federal tax funds
WASHINGTON (UPI) — House leaders have agreed to
compromise with the Senate on legislation to finance
presidential elections with federal tax funds.
If the Senate goes along, the plan would be attached to a
bill raising the ceiling on the public debt from $465 billion
to $475.7 billion, which must be passed before midnight
Friday.
7 Democrats to vote no
WASHINGTON (UPI) — At least seven of 21 Democrats
on the House Judiciary Committee plan to vote against the
nomination of Rep. Gerald R. Ford for vice president, UPI
has learned. The 17 GOP members on the 38-member
panel are all behind him, guaranteeing approval of the
nomination. The Senate approved it Tuesday.
New truce talks
Israel and Egypt called a new round of truce talks
today. Government officials in Cairo reported new hopes a
troop withdrawal deadlock would be broken.
Arab heads of state concluded a three-day summit
meeting in Algiers with an official warning to Israel that
there can be no peace until it withdraws from all occupied
Arab lands.
U.S. accused of violation
SAIGON (UPI) — North Vietnam accused the United
States of violating the Paris peace accords by sending spy
planes into its airspace. Military sources in Saigon
reported that Communist troops shelled a government
base near the former imperial capital of Hue with more
than 700 rockets and mortar rounds in seven hours.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman refused to confirm or deny
the charge that a U.S. reconnaissance jet flew over
central Nghe An province of North Vietnam twice
Wednesday.
Spacecraft nears Jupiter
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (UPI) — The Pioneer 10
spacecraft voyaged to the deadly magnetic field of Jupiter
today, two minutes ahead of schedule. The first
spacecraft to fly out beyond Mars, it is designed to seek
answers to questions including how the solar system was
bom.
Skylab to make photos
HOUSTON (UPI) — Space officials said the Skylab as
tronauts will be assigned to photograph the western
United States from orbit today.
Leftist guerrillas killed Swint
BUENOS AIRES (UPI) —
Members of a leftist guerrilla
group acknowledged today that
they killed American business
executive John A. Swint, 56.
They said they were forced to
kill him when he resisted their
attempt to kidnap him.
Another kidnap victim was
released and left Argentina.
Swissair Latin American Direc
tor Kurt Schmid, who was
kidnaped Oct. 22, is “safe and
outside the country,” the Swiss
airline announced today.
the State Revenue Department
sent tax people here back to
The spokesman did not say if
a ransom had been paid and
would not answer questions.
Schmid, 43, of Lucerne, was
kidnaped as he left his
suburban home north of Buenos
Aires for work. The following
day an American, David B.
Wilkie, director of Amoco
Argentina Oil, was kidnaped
from the same area. Wilkie was
released Nov. 12.
It was not immediately
known what group was respon
sible for the Schmid abduction.
GRIFFIN
Daily Since 1872
their calculators.
But their shuffling of figures
won’t change the amount of
money the city and county
governments expect to get from
taxes this year.
One official here ventured to
guess that tax bills of in
dividuals would be about the
same as they were last year.
Some might get a little break
after everything is figured.
The digest was factored by
1.05 which means assessments
were increased about five
percent in the county, explained
Assessor Al Hill.
He noted the city took the
option of not factoring its digest
last year but under state law
was required to do so this year.
Hill estimated the factoring
would up city assessments
about 34 percent, since the city
didn’t factor last year.
The county did as required by
law and that is why the county’s
increase was less this year.
The factoring changed the
total Spalding tax rate from
31.04 mills to 29.58 mills.
Although factoring reduced
the tax rate, the county will still
receive the same amount of
money because assessments
went up when the Revenue
Department brought them in
line with current market value.
Roy Inman, Griffin city
manager, said the city would
have to take another look at its
tax structure in the light of the
factoring.
The City Commissioners set an
8 mill rate earlier this year but
— & —
Toy roundup
slated here
Parkwood Cinema will join
the Marine Corp’s Toys For
Tots drive here Saturday and
Sunday. Griffinites may see
Santa when the Marines escort
him to the movie at 1 p.m. on
both days and see a movie at 2
p.m. if they will contribute a
workable toy.
The movie will be “Pied Piper
of Hamlet”.
Est
“The best thing to leave your
children is a world as good as
your folks left to you.”
The American killed last
week was a Ford Motor Co.
executive ambushed in Cor
doba, an industrial city 420
miles northwest of Buenos
Aires.
In a letter to the newspaper
El Mundo, the Peronist Armed
Forces (FAP) expressed no
regret for the deaths of Swint
of Highland Park, Mich., and
two of his bodyguards.
Swint and the two men were
killed and a third bodyguard
seriously wounded in a ma-
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Thursday, November 29, 1973
Mr. Inman said this would be
subject to review.
The city manager said the
city still expects to come out
with about the same amount of
tax money.
Fire
toll
climbs
TOKYO (UPI) — Fire de
stroyed an eight-story depart
ment store in southern Japan
today, roaring through special
Yuletide decorations and en
gulfing hundreds of women
shoppers attracted by a yearly
Christmas sale.
Police in Kumamoto City, on
the southern island of Kyushu
550 miles southwest of Tokyo,
said more than 88 persons were
known dead in this worst
department store fire in Japa
nese history and that 78 others
were injured.
They said all of those killed
were found on the first three
floors. They expected the toll to
increase when rescue squads
are able to search through the
rubble of the upper floors and
the crowded seventh floor
restaurant.
Helicopters moving through
billowing smoke hovered over
the Taiyo (Great Ocean) and
plucked dozens of shoppers
from the roof. Others were
rescued by firemen atop huge
aerial ladders and some women
with babies strapped to their
back in the Japanese fashion
slid down ropes to safety.
The fire broke out on the
third floor around 1:20 p.m. at
height of the shopping rush and
quickly spread upward through
the halls, staircases and ven
tilator shafts, trapping those on
the upper floors and killing
many of them with deadly
fumes. It raged until 9 p.m.
when firemen using more than
50 pieces of equipment brought
it under control.
Cause of the fire was not
immediately known but authori
ties said the blaze was fed by
Christmas decorations and mer
chandise in the store that is
normally closed on Thursdays
but was open today for the
special sale. The fire did not
abate until everything in the
store was destroyed.
At least 50 persons fled to the
roof of the building where they
were lifted off by helicopters of
Japan’s Self Defense Forces
while viewers throughout Japan
watched the drama on national
television networks.
chinegun ambush.
The American was general
manager of Transax, a Ford
subsidiary that makes trans
missions and axles.
Swint was a native of Spald
ing County where he grew up.
The letter published in El
Mundo said: “Ford is one of
the biggest multinational corpo
rations responsible for the
plundering of our country since
1922, based on the super
exploitation of the workers.”
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FT. BENNING, Ga. — The first women to ever enter the
airborne jump training school at the Army’s Ft. Benning
began to practice landings and jumping from a mock-up
aircraft doorway. In photo at left Privates Rita Johnson
State completing
Molena bank case
The state was expected to
wind up its case against the
three Molena bank robbery
suspects today in Pike Superior
Court.
The evidence has been so
heavy against the trio that
courtroom spectators wondered
out loud just what their defense
would be.
District Attorney Ben Miller
has questioned 22 witnesses and
has presented 63 pieces of
evidence, an unprecedented
number in all cases he has
prosecuted.
As incriminating evidence
continues to pile up, the
defendants, Ambrey Dewitt
Allen Jr., Charles Waymon
Patrick, and Daniel Warren
remained calm and even smiled
occasionally while consulting
with their attorneys. They are
all from small Jackson County
towns.
The three are being tried for
several capital offenses which
could bring life sentences to
each. They are accused of
burglarizing the home of John
Barker, executive vice presi
dent of the Bank of Molena, on
the night of Oct. 22, kidnapping
Barker, his wife and toddler
son, robbing the Bank of Molena
and stealing the Barker
family’s late model station
wagon.
They also face additional
charges in Fayette County in
connection with an extensive
manhunt there following the
robbery.
More than SIB,OOO taken from
the bank has never been
recovered.
All of the defendants have
been identified by witnesses as
being connected in some way
with the bank robbery.
Tuesday Mr. and Mrs. Barker
said they recognized the voices
of both Allen and Warren as
belonging to two of the masked
robbers. Both also picked out
Warren in a Fayette County line
up by his nervous mannerisms,
they said.
Yesterday a Fayette County
witness pointed his finger at
Vol. 101 No. 282
Allen and Patrick as the two
men who took him hostage
during the search for the bank
robbers in that county.
Adell Pinson, a cement
finisher, testified that on Oct.
24, around 6:15 a.m., he stopped
by his aunt’s house in Fayette
County to use the phone, when
the front door banged open and
two men barged in. He said both
had masks over their faces and
were carrying guns.
They told him they wanted to
go to Douglasville and ordered
him to drive them there. As
soon as they left, Pinson’s
cousin, Mamie Stanley, drove
her car to a neighbor’s and
called for help. The men had cut
the telephone wires at her
house.
DOI Agent Charles McMichen
and Senior Agent Billy Darsey
(who lives in Sunny Side)
spotted Pinson’s auto some time
later at a service station where
he had stopped to buy gas. The
two lawmen placed Allen and
Patrick, who were seated in the
car and heavily armed, under
arrest.
McMichen testified that Allen
had his long black hair tied with
a blue cloth on top of his head,
which would make him appear
taller when wearing a mask,
and that a blue cloth was tied
around his neck. The cloth was
made of the same material as a
homemade mask worn by one of
the robbers and left at the
Barker residence.
Patrick also had a white
handkerchief tied around his
neck. Pinson had said Patrick
had used the handkerchief as a
mask.
The DOI agent stated that a
diamond ring belonging to John
Barker was in Alien’s pocket.
He also found some car keys.
McMichen said he learned
later that the keys fit a blue
Ford found parked near the
scene of the Barker station
wagon which had been aban
doned by the robbers on Ga. 85
in Fayette County.
Lawmen learned the blue
Ford was owned by Allen. They
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(1), and Joyce Kutsch receive tips from an instructor
before going to the mock trainer. Photo at right shows
Private Kutsch practicing a jump exit from the trainer.
(UPI)
searched the vehicle and found
seven ski masks of various
types and colors, gloves similar
to those used by the robbers, a
homemade mask tied with a
white cotton rope just like the
mask left by one of the bandits
in the Barker home, and of the
same material as the bands
around Allen’s neck and hair
when arrested, walkie-talkie
phamphlets (the robbers had
used two-way radios during the
nine-hour robbery), and lengths
of rope in the trunk which was
the same kind of rope used to tie
the Barkers and two Molena
bank employes.
A 13-year-old boy, Johnny
Trip of Oak street in Fayette
ville, testified he and a friend
were riding motorcycles in a
wooded area inside the Fayette
ville city limits and saw a man
running through the woods. The
man told them he had been deer
hunting and was running to his
truck. The boy said they did not
see a truck on the road. He told
his father about the man and the
father notified the sheriff’s
department.
The lad picked Daniel Warren
as the man out of a lineup in
Fayette County, but yesterday
in court said he could not be
positive he was the same man.
He said Warren had the same
build.
Two fingerprint experts,
Charles Campbell and Tony
Rainey, of the Georgia Crime
Information Center in Atlanta,
identified fingerprints they
lifted from a car stolen in
Fayette County during the man
hunt, as those of Daniel Warren.
The owner of the car, H. W.
Davis of Redwine road,
Fayetteville, stated that his 1964
Falcon was stolen the morning
of Oct. 24. He said that before he
went to bed on Oct. 23, he had
locked the auto and had taken a
pistol from its glove compart
ment.
About 2:10 a.m. the next
morning he received a call from
the sheriff’s office asking him to
see if the car had been stolen. It
had.
Inside Tip
Energy
See Page 13
The car was recovered that
night when it ran through a road
block in Fayetteville. City
police there said a white male
abandoned the auto and fled on
foot a short distance after
speeding past the road block.
During the questioning of
McMichen, Defense Attorney
Howard Wallace asked the DOI
agent to explain the method of
operation of the Molena bank
robbers.
Judge Andrew Whalen quick
ly interrupted and asked the
jury to leave the room.
He warned Wallace that he
was opening a line of question
ing that could bring up the past
records and characters of the
defendants and even though
“everybody knows of that, it
could cause grounds for a
mistrial.” Whalen added that he
did not want to open that door.
Wallace said he certainly did
not intend to open that door,
that he would change his line of
questioning. Warren’s attorney,
Jim Hutson of Athens, added he
did not want to open that door
either.
If anything, security was even
tighter today at the trial. The
DOI agents and troopers said
they are being extremely care
ful and alert during the closing
days.
All women entering the court
room are taken to a room and
searched and frisked by two
women agents. One of the
agents remarked that it is
surprising how many women
carry large rolls of money
hidden on their person. She said
she took a pistol away from one
spectator attending court. The
woman had explained that she
always carried a pistol in her
purse.
The men are patted down by
state troopers at the foot of the
steps on the first floor.
ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY
56, low today 33, high yesterday
65, low yesterday 57, high
tomorrow in 60s, low tonight in
mid 30s. Sunrise tomorrow 7:25,
sunset tomorrow 5:26.