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Bob Traxler speaks at his
victory party after defeating
Republican candidate James
M. Sparling Jr. (UPI)
Demo wins
in upset
SAGINAW, Mich. (UPI) - J.
Bob Traxler scored the first
Democratic victory in Mi
chigan’s Eighth congressional
district since the depression
Tuesday night in a special
election that he called a
referendum on Watergate.
“We’re going to go to
Washington with a message
throw the rascals out,” Traxler
told about 3,000 campaign
workers who greeted him
Tuesday night by chanting “Im-
Peach-Ment, Im-Peach-Ment.”
“If I was a Republican,”
Traxler said, “I would not want
the Nixon Albatross around my
neck in November.”
Final unofficial figures in the
seven-county • district gave
Traxler 59,918 votes to 56,898
for James M. Sparling Jr.
The election caught national
attention when Nixon stepped in
last week by making a
whirlwind barnstorming visit to
the area to boost Sparling’s
candidacy.
There was no immediate
comment from the White House
to the Democratic victory.
Traxler, 42, a state legislator
since 1962, led from the
moment the vote counting
began and piled up a huge
margin in his home county of
Bay.
Sparling, making his first
political race, captured the
counties he toured with Nixon
but his margins of victory there
were too small to offset the
huge urban vote for Traxler.
The win was the fourth in
five special congressional elec
tions around the country this
year and the second Democrat
ic upset in Michigan.
Traxler hit Watergate hard
as an issue, and after the
President’s trip to the Bth
District he accused his GOP
opponent of depending on
Nixon.
“Make no mistake,” Traxler
said in an election eve speech,
“this is a referendum on
Richard Nixon.”
The voter turnout surprised
most officials and Nixon’s visit
was credited with shaking some
of the apathy in the rural
areas. Before the vote, officials
David Gambrell thinks the
new campaign disclosure law in
Georgia is a step in the right
direction but does not go far
enough.
He would have the law limit
the amount a candidate could
spend and limit the amount a
person can put up in his own
behalf.
The former U. S. senator was
in Griffin yesterday afternoon.
He had been to Tift College at
Forsyth to speak at an honors
day program.
Gambrell thinks high taxes
Some yards look like rice paddies
Griffin City Commissioners
will start a campaign for
property owners to clear dit
ches and creek beds which run
through or adjoin their
property.
The subject was brought up at
the commissioners’ planning
session yesterday when two
housewives from the area
around Morningside drive,
Placid road, and Grandview
came to complain about the
drainage problem in their
yards.
The women, whose homes
were built on low lying lots, said
their yards look like rice pad
dies after heavy rains, due to
Republican Candidate Janies
M. Sparling Jr. pauses during
his concession speech after
Democratic Candidate J. Bob
Traxler defeated him. (UPI)
predicted no more than 90,000
persons would vote.
Only once before this century
has a Democrat won in the Bth
District, located north of
Detroit on the shores of Lake
Huron.
The special election was
called after Rep. James Harvey
resigned earlier to take a
federal judgeship.
The Democratic victory was
the fourth in five special
Congressional elections this
year and was the last major
election before November.
Nixon personally intervened
in the election last week when
he toured along a 57-mile route
in the mostly rural seven
county area.
It was the first time since the
President won re-election in
1972 that he campaigned on
behalf of a Republican can
didate.
Sparling, 45, making his first
political race, said Nixon’s visit
did not have an impact on the
outcome of the election.
“I don’t think he (Nixon)
helped or hurt me,” Sparling
said in a news conference. “If
this campaign was lost, it was
lost by Jim Sparling,” he said.
Gambrell would limit campaign spending
and the need for property tax
relief will be much in the gover
nor’s race this year. He has
pitched his campaign for the
governor’s chair on property
tax relief, no nonsense crime
control, state wide kinder
gartens and better education
system, better job opportuni
ties, clean politics, aid to rural
communities, complete inter
state highways, and concern for
the aged.
Gambrell expects to be
talking about these and offering
solutions as the summer
DAI LY
Daily Since 1872
flooding of a nearby creek
which runs by their property. A
portion of their lawns cannot be
mowed, as in some parts the
water stands ankle deep and in
others, the mowers bog down in
the mire, they said.
They did not realize nor were
they told there would be any
problems when they purchased
the homes, they said, and as
they are not natives of the area
they were unfamiliar with such
problems.
They complained an un
cleared vacant lot nearby is
filled with “rats as big as cats
and poisonous water moc
casins” which are dangerous to
Thousands on hand
for center ‘openings’
Thousands of shoppers
poured into stores at the
Spalding Square and Northgate
shopping centers this morning
as two stores held grand
openings.
Eckerd Drugs opened a store
at Northgate while Rose’s
opened one at Spalding Square.
Kent State families
have another chance
WASHINGTON (UPI) - The
Supreme Court ruled today that
families of students killed or
injured in the 1970 Kent State
University shootings have
another chance to press federal
damage suits against Ohio
officials and National Guard
smen.
The court, in an 8-0 ruling,
reinstated two test law suits in
U.S. District Court in Cleve
land.
Lower courts had dismissed
the suits on grounds that Ohio
itself was the real defendant.
The 11th Amendment of the
Constitution bans suits by
individuals against states.
The high court’s opinion was
written by Chief Justice Warren
E. Burger.
Burger said the 11th Amend
ment does not in some
circumstances bar an action for
damages against a state official
charged with depriving some
one of a federal right under
color of state law.
Town fights back
LINCOLN, Neb. (UPI) - The
people of Orchard, Neb.,
population 467, didn’t like the
“Dear John” letter that the
John Deere Co. sent to its
Orchard franchise. So they’ve
started a fight to keep the 35-
year-old business alive.
Franchise owner Wayne Hol
liday received a letter from the
huge farm implement firm last
year, informing him that his
oratory gets hot and heavy.
Gambrell pointed out he was
supporting campaign ac
countability legislation in the
senate long before the Water
gate scandal broke. He said this
has only reinforced his belief
there is a need for controls.
Asked what kind of limit he
would put on campaign spen
ding in the governor’s race, he
suggested $250,000 up to the first
primary.
Some would say that this
would not be enough money to
get their message across,
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga„ 30223, Wednesday, April 17, 1974
Drainage worries city commissioners
the small children playing in the
neighborhood.
The families affected con
sulted a professional engineer
who told them he thought the
city never should have issued
building permits for the lots in
the first place, they continued.
One of the women said she
feels sorry for the persons who
will build on lots being cleared
and filled in at Placid and
Grandview drive.
The commissioners all
wanted to help with the
problem, but as Chairman
Louis Goldstein put it, the city
cannot take over the respon
sibility of keeping up and clear-
Both places were swamped
with people as the doors opened
at 9 a.m. for business.
They were the first two major
businesses to open at the two
new shopping centers.
Spalding Square is opposite
the Griffin-Spalding Airport.
Northgate is on the North
The complainants had in
voked the Civil Rights Act of
1871.
Four persons were killed and
nine were wounded when Ohio
guardsmen opened fire on
students and others conducting
a demonstration on the Kent
State campus against the
administraion’s action sending
U.S. ground forces into Cam
bodia.
Mistrial
in Pike
tax trial
A mistrial was declared today
in the Pike County tax case.
Judge Andrew Whalen, Jr.
was presiding.
Pike County Commissioners
contended that the state had set
property values too high in the
county and carried their case to
court.
They didn ’t like ‘Dear John ’ from John Deere
franchise with the firm would
terminate Oct. 31,1974.
Holliday did $300,000 worth of
business with the firm last
year.
He recalled the days in 1939
when Deere representatives
had camped on his grandfa
ther’s doorstep, anxious to sign
up a dealership in the tiny
northeast Nebraska community.
“They were very much inter-
Gambrell said. But he said if all
had the same limit, it would be
fair and they all would have
pretty much the same chance at
reaching voters.
Asked if he thought laws
requiring the reporting con
tributions could ever be 100 per
cent effective, Gambrell said it
might be difficult. He said he
could see a situation in which a
candidate had appeared before
a large audience and many
handed him personal cash
contributions. It might be
difficult for him to remember
NEWS
ing private property He said
the commissioners get similar
complaints from all sections of
Griffin and if they once start,
several crews would be kept
busy all the time and the cost to
the Griffin taxpayers would be
“tens and tens of thousands of
dollars.”
Commissioner Preston Bunn
said he thinks the commission
ers ought to go out and look at
the problem and see what the
city can or cannot do, then tell
the property owners why if
nothing can be done.
He questioned if the city could
refuse to issue building permits
for low lying lots.
Expressway at Mclntosh road.
Both stores plan special
activities throughout the
remainder of the week to mark
their grand openings.
Other stores already have
signed leases for spaces in the
two centers and many expect to
have grand openings soon.
WARMER (□) I /
Weather
ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY
70, low today 43, high yesterday
71, low yesterday 44, high
tomorrow in low 70’s, low
tonight in low 40’s. Sunrise
tomorrow 7:10, sunset
tomorrow 8:05.
Ul||_
“Peace can exist only where
justice has.”
ested in a dealership in
Orchard then,” he said.
“But they don’t seem to want
us anymore.” He said the
company cited a trend toward
bigger business as the only
reason for the cancellation.
“The people who are really
up in arms about this are the
local farmers,” Holliday said,
adding that State Sen. Ernest
A. Chambers of Omaha has
and record every $lO gift,
Gambrell said.
He said he would make every
effort to see that every penny
given to his campaign is
properly recorded and repor
ted.
Gambrell said he was
disclosing political financing
long before it was required.
He said he would be pointing
out this summer that some of
the so called tax relief plans
offered by other candidates
benefit a few large wealthy
business organizations far more
Vol. 102 No. 92
A discussion brought out that
such an ordinance might
correct the situation for the
future and would make a few
property owners unhappy, but
would benefit more people who
would buy new homes.
Commissioner R. L.
“Skeeter” Norsworthy said he
had had a complaint just this
week from a resident of the Sun
Valley-Hanover drive area that
property there was washing into
the creek, more than ever since
digging began at the new
library site on Memorial drive.
The man said he has lost some
eight to 10 feet of his back yard,
Norsworthy added.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The names’s Barney. And those fellows back there are taking part
in a Euphonium-Tuba Workshop at the University of Tennessee under Prof. James Self.
Now, if it wasn’t for the honor of the thing, and the fact that a dog has to stick with his
master, this is one flopeared basset hound likely would be home in bed. And Prof. Self
would be on his own with them horns. (UPI)
joined them in writing protest
letters to the firm.
Chambers wrote in a letter to
John Deere Board Chairman
William A. Hewitt and Ellwood
F. Curtis, company president;
“People who give loyalty and
devote years of their lives in
creating success and a good
name for John Deere are
than they do the average
citizen.
“I’ll be pointing this out and I
hope the media will be reporting
it,” Gambrell said.
He expects to be campaigning
by car and airplane a good deal
this summer.
Asked about using a bus
similar to the one he used when
he was a senator and went on
listening tours, Gambrell said
he probably wouldn’t use one.
He said campaigning
sometimes will require him to
He commented that growth
increases problems and since
paving the large area at Cook’s
Department Store, more sur
face water drains into the creek
which also backs residential
lots on Brook circle where other
drainage problems have been
reported.
The water will increase when
more land is covered by the new
library and telephone building,
he added.
Commissioner Raymond
Head suggested the city appeal
to each property owner to clear
his own property, as that would
go a long way in solving the
problem.
deserving of something better
from John Deere than a ‘Dear
John’ letter.... Execution of this
threat (to cancel) would be an
act of corporate irresponsibility
whose ominous implications
will send shock waves of
concern rippling through this
agricultural state.
“When communities like Or
chard become embittered and
appear in several cities in one
day and he could not make them
all unless he used a plane.
He said he liked campaigning
and thought it was a good thing
that candidates are required to
get out and meet the people to
find out what’s on their minds.
Gambrell said his family
including his wife, Luck, and
children, would all be joining
him on the campaign trail this
summer.
They all volunteered, he
smiled.
Inside Tip
Patricia
See Page 9
City Manager Roy Inman said
the city cannot correct its
forefathers’ mistakes. He
suggested the city improve the
routes for the drainage chan
nels and pay for it by assessing
property owners just as they
are assessed for paving and
sewer lines. He explained the
ideal solution would be for the
city to obtain rights of ways on
both sides of the routes in which
sewer and water lines could be
laid and the ditches kept
cleared by the city.
The entire board felt strongly
that something should be done
and decided to start the cam
paign to have residents clear
their own property.
disenchanted with big business
and are victimized by those so
called ‘good business decisions’
which are bad social policy, it
is but a half step to government
restriction of business
prerogatives.
“There comes a time when a
corporation is wise to consider
things other than mere profit.”
he said.
David Gambrell