Griffin daily news. (Griffin, Ga.) 1924-current, September 19, 1974, Image 1

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Griffin daily news., September 19, 1974, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextForecast Warm Map Page 5 Jim Hedderman had known for five weeks he would face the moment. Still, it wasn’t easy. “I felt like I was going to the electric chair the next mor ning,” he recalls. That was on the night of January 26 when he lay in his bed at St. Joseph Hospital in Atlanta. The next morning he would have open heart surgery. Hedderman, 125 Tilney avenue, Griffin, had all sorts of fears. A young visitor came to his room. Hedderman quickly learned that the young man had had open heart surgery just seven days before and soon would be going home. They talked. The young man told him about some of the things he had feared before his surgery and how much of his worry had been needless. When the young man left, Hedderman felt better about the ordeal he faced. The visitor had bolstered his courage. . . . and given him K \W Dr. John Duckett (L), head of Urology, Dr. Louise Schnaufer (C), Staff General Surgeon and Dr. C. Everett Koop (R), Surgeon-In-Chief complete a relatively rare operation to separate Siamese twins. (UPI) Doctors separate Siamese twins By ELLEN SLOTT PHILADELPHIA (UPI) — For the first time since their birth 13 months ago, Siamese twins Clara and Alta Rodriguez will be able to sit up at the same time. The twins, who were joined at the middle and lowo- trunk in a sitting position facing one another, were separated Wednesday at Children’s Hospital here in a rare operation. Dr. C. Everett Koop, the hospital’s surgeon-in-chief and head of the operating team, termed the prognosis for the babies as “excellent.” The Siamese twins, of the Dominican Republic, were separated after 4 % hours of surgery, but additional surgery carried into the late afternoon. They have two hearts and four kidneys linked to each other’s bladders and shared an intestinal tract and rectum. Their blood supplies criss-crossed into each other. The team of 23 doctors and nurses gave the existing intestinal tract and rectum to Caldwell draws no fault guides ATLANTA (UPI)-State In surance Commissioner Johnnie Caldwell said Wednesday he will approve a set of regulations by Oct. 1 to guide state insurance agents in preparing for the new no-fault automobile insurance law. Caldwell told a public hearing ‘lt was like going to the electric chair’ at the Capitol he wants to set the regulations in order to give agents time to add no-fault pro visions in order to give agents time to add no-fault provisions to current policies and to give the state time to notify the pub lic about the new law, which goes into effect March. 1 IJZVIEV Vol. 102 No. 222 hope. A little later another man came into his room. He, too, had had open heart surgery. It was 14 days ago. Now the man was getting ready to go home and face a new life. The threat of a massive heart attack for him had been removed with the surgery. Hedderman and the man talked. As they did, Hedderman’s fears seemed to vanish. The next day, he faced the three-hour operation with little or no fear. The two visitors the night before had helped him more than he could say. Now Hedderman is doing the visiting with people who face open heart surgery. He is active in an organization known as Mended Hearts. It meets monthly in Atlanta. It’s sort of like Alcoholics Anomymous (AA), Hedderman mused. “We all have faced the same fear and know what it is. This makes it possible to help other Clara. Dr. Koop said he feared a colostomy would have to be performed on Alta to push the colon through the the abdomen. However, Dr. Koop, noting that the operation went better than expected, said there was enough colon to enable him to make an artificial rectum and put it in the normal place. He was also able to insert it through a mass of muscle so the baby could have some control over her bowel functions. According to Dr. Koop, who successfully performed a similar operation 18 years ago, because the twins were connected in the pelvic region, their pelvises were in the shape of a “C” instead of the normal “O”. “They will have problems learning to walk,” he said. “If they had been only three months old, we could have brought the pelvic girdles together easier. But they’ve developed too much bone.” The babies will be kept in respirators at least for today and are expected to heal in two to three weeks. The no-fault law, passed by the last general assembly ses sion, makes it mandatory for all motor vehicle owners to car ry liability insurance. The new law will require mo torists to purchase liability in surance with bodily insurance minimums of SIO,OOO per person Griffin, Ga., 30223, Thursday Afternoon, September 19,1974 Visitors calmed his fears a /jfl ■■ vX. a » a k ■1 kw Hedderman: Mended Heart Nudist man said he never intended to come to Lamar The president of an Atlanta nudist club said his organization never had any intention of settling in Lamar County in the first place, they were “just doing a feasibility study” on locating a site south of Atlanta. Francis A. Gilmore, president of the Tropicana Nudist Country Club on West Wieuca road in Sandy Springs, laughingly said he has never even been in Lamar County, other than to drive through on his way to Macon. Gilmore stirred up quite a stir among Lamar County citizens several weeks ago by stating that his club was locating a country club on some land Henry Chamber raps group intimidation The Henry County Chamber of Commerce Board of Direc tors this week said it opposed the intimidation of govern mental leaders by groups of citizens. The Weekly-Advertiser, published in McDonough, said the chamber evidently had the “Save Henry County Com mittee” in mind when it made the statement. The committee appeared before the Henry County Board of Commissioners last week and demanded a vote. The Chamber Board of Direc tors said in a prepared state ment that it agreed that each citizen is entitled to their opinion and “we defend the right of everyone to be heard on a controversial issue such as a proposed garbage dump or a proposed airport.” The statement continued: “When a group of citizens and $20,000 per accident and property damage coverage of at least $5,000. In addition, they wili be required to carry basic no-fault insurance with bodily injury benefits of at least $5,000. Collision and comprehensive insurance will not be affected by the new law. GRIFFIN NEWS there. Lamar residents never were able to determine just where the land was. This morning Gilmore said the land is north of Atlanta near Gainesville. He said newspapers there wrote a nice story about his nudist club and it is accepted by the residents. They plan to build a resort type country club there in a year or so, he added. A group of Lamar ministers, headed by the Rev. Loran G. Berck of the Lamar United Methodist Circuit had protested the club’s locating in Lamar County. They talked with Gilmore and he promised if after reading his literature on resort to the tactic of using intimidation to force the com missioners to vote in the group’s favor, then the chamber feels that it is time to stop and look at ourselves and ask the question, Is this the American way?; Is this the kind of freedom many of our ancestors gave their lives for?” ■* — 2 nN Gary Dwayne Tidwell, 20, of Route Three, Box 118-B, was killed late yesterday afternoon when his 1968 model auto wrecked on Pinehill road near the West Poplar street intersection. Police said Tidwell was driving south on Pinehill at around 100 miles per hour and ran the stop sign at the intersection. His car jumped 45 feet over West Daily Since 1872 people facing the operation in a way no one else can,” Hedder man said. He recalled when the two visitors had come to his room, he was reassured by the fact that he was looking at two people who had come out of the operation and were headed for good health. A person who has had the surgery can help another facing it even more than a doctor sometimes, Hedderman said. Since he became active in Mended Hearts, he has made calls on people facing open heart surgery. Talking it over with them helped the patient very much, Hedderman believes. Mended Hearts is a growing organization because more and more people are having open heart surgery, Hedderman continued. He’s glad that his experience with open heart surgery can be put to good use and he is able to help people facing the opera tion. Hedderman returned to work nudism, they (the ministers) still objected and would make a public statement to that effect, the club would not locate in Lamar County. This morning the ministers stated for publications their objections. They said they had studied the literature and while they do not doubt the sincerity of so called nudist adherents and respect their right of belief in moral and social behavior, they are convinced that establishing such an organization in their community would have a detrimental and negative in fluence in the lives of the adults, youth and children. The board said it was not saying that the proposed airport of the City of Atlanta should come to Henry County. “It is doubtful that a con sensus could be reached on the subject by members of the chamber and this article is in no way an attempt to convince the citizens of Henry County that Man killed in wreck last spring after his recovery period. He walks a lot now. Five miles a day. Along the way on Maple drive he meets others who are walking under doctor’s orders or because they have decided for themselves it’s a healthy exercise. Hedderman was a walker even before his surgery. He rides to and from Atlanta every day on a bus. Even before his surgery, ne made it a practice to get off at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta and go to mass in the chapel there every day. Then he walked to his office in the Veterans Administration. When chest pains he had became more severe, he asked one of the nurses at the hospital what she thought. She thought he should see a doctor right away. The subsequent examination led to his open heart surgery. And, as Hedderman puts it, to a new life. The Tropicana Nudist Country Club has around 350 members and applicants, Gilmore said. They range in age from 18 to 65 with more women members than men. Gilmore said they primarily are interested in attracting family groups with young children. The children are not listed as members. Dues range from SSO to $275, depending upon the family’s size. Gilmore stressed his organization is not a sex club. “We are clean people who think the body is God’s creation. . . Believe it or not, nudists enjoy wearing clothes,” he the airport would be a good thing. “The main point that must be made is this: “No group of citizens, whether large or small, has the right to use intimidation and coercion to make their point of view prevail,” the board said. Poplar, hit an embankment twice and flipped over on fts top. It traveled 167 yards in all from first point of impact, police said. Tidwell was thrown 30 feet from the vehicle. He was carried to the Griffin-Spalding Hospital emergency room where he died, at 5:45 p.m., about an hour and 40 minutes following the accident eA Prize-Winning Newspaper 1974 Better Newspaper Contests continued. When asked “What do the club members do?”, Gilmore responded, “We enjoy social nudism”. He said they meet at private homes and resorts. The Atlanta club is about six years old. It soon will become affiliated with a national nudist organization, he said. When the resort is opened in North Georgia, the press and a few selected persons may visit. Otherwise, the place won’t be open to visitors, “as we don’t want to offend anybody and we don’t want to be offended,” he said. “I wish we could learn to correct conditions before they become alarming — some pretty poor choices are made when we’re afraid.” ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY 80, low today 61, high yesterday, 82, low yesterday 59, high tomorrow in mid 80s, low tonight in low 60s. Sunrise tomorrow 7:22, sunset tomorrow 7:35.