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COLUMBUS, Ga.—-Columbus optometrist Donald L. Gold (1) works in his office here
Monday. Gold has indirectly come under criticism from Gov. George Busbee for what
Busbee called “extraordinary fees” charged by “a small number of optometrists.” Gold
defended his 7,078 claims for 1974 and his payment of $125,348.47 for treating them by saying
that his staff has only been “guilty of hard work.”
Busbee stops medicaid
funds to optometrists
ATLANTA (UPI) — Georgia
optometrists will only be able
to earn Medicaid fees from the
federal government under a
direct order from Gov. George
Busbee Monday which cuts off
state Medicaid funds to op
tometrists.
Busbee cut off all but
federally mandated payments
to Georgia optometrists, citing
“extraordinary” expenditures
during the current fiscal year
averaging $200,000 per week or
$2.5 million yearly.
It was the second such action
Busbee has taken in 10 days
against a professional medical
group in the state. On Feb. 13,
Busbee ordered that fees paid
to dentists under the Medicaid
plan be limited only to what the
federal government requires.
Dr. Christie says his
program was above board
Dr. Dudley Christie of Griffin
today said that all of his
professional dealings involving
Medicaid’s optometric program
had been above board.
He was listed as having
received $43,785 in Medicaid
payments last year.
Gov. George Busbee released
the figures at the state capitol.
He ordered an investigation into
the state’s program.
Gov. Busbee said Atty. Gen.
Arthur Bolton would take part
in the investigation of the op
tometric Medicaid program.
Dr. Christie said this morning
in Griffin that he had tried to
give the best possible service to
patients in the Medicaid
program.
He said about half or more of
the amount he received went for
laboratory charges and other
overhead.
Gov. Busbee’s report listed
Dr. Donald L. Gold as receiving
$125,348.47 and Dr. Robert L.
Wright, $70,688. Both are from
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“It’s tough to watch a good
idea lose-because its backers
idea lose because its backers
are less eloquent than its
opponents.”
Busbee wrote to Jack Watson,
chairman of the Board of
Human Resources, saying he
was asking the chairmen of the
House and Senate Appropria
tions committees to direct their
Medicaid subcommittees to
study the situation.
He said he was acting with
the full support of the Georgia
Optometric Association, which
has requested an investigation.
The governor released a
chart outlining fees paid to
Georgia optometrists, one of
whom was paid $125,348 in
Medicaid money and another
who drew $70,688.
Busbee also revealed that one
case involving a Georgia
optometrist has been turned
over to Fulton County District
Attorney Lewis Slaton.
Columbus.
Others listed as receiving
more than $30,000 were Dr. J.
Alphonso Dandy of Savannah,
$64,967.50; Dr. George F. Sin
dersine of Sylvania, $47,891.62;
Georgia to get
$235-million
in EPA funds
ATLANTA (UPI) - The
Environmental Protection
Agency is making $235 million
in federal funds available to
Georgia for construction of
waste and sewage treatment
plants.
The sum is about $32 million
more than asked by Gov.
George Busbee last week when
he protested Georgia was
getting “shafted" in the alloca
tion of formerly impounded
funds.
The money is part of $lB
billion authorized by Congress
but impounded by former
President Nixon. The U. S.
Supreme Court ruled that the
President had no authority to
make the impoundment.
The EPA had originally
planned to make sll7 million
available to Georgia but Busbee
claimed the state should have
gotten $202 million under a
formula drawn up by Congress.
The money is being allocated
GRIFFIN
Vol. 103 No. 47
The incident, Busbee said,
involves a “team effort” to
examine elderly patients in a
nursing home without authori
zation of their physicians, an
action prohibited by regula
tions.
Under Busbee’s executive
order, payments to optometrists
will be limited to examinations
and treatment for children in
welfare families. This is re
quired by the federal govern
ment.
Georgia’s Medicaid program,
designed to help poor people
pay for proper medical care, is
running a deficit this year, and
the Board of Human Resources
has asked the General Assem
bly for increased appropriations
to pay for it.
Dr. James E. Tillman of Ameri
cus, $39,634; Dr. David W.
Dudovitz of Duluth, $35,579.58;
Dr. Harry Schreibman of
Atlanta, $32,928, and Dr. James
E. Strom of Albany, $31,739.
to the states on the basis of
population and need.
Hijackers
release
hostages
MANILA (UPI) — Two men
armed with a grenade, a pistol
and a rifle seized from an air
marshal hijacked a Philippine
airliner today but released all
their hostages in batches in
return for an airport meeting
with Defense Secretary John
Ponce Enrile to discuss their
demands.
One of the hijackers demand
ed earlier that the pilot—later
release with the rest of the
crew—fly him and some of the
hostages to the Middle East in
the old twin-engine DC3. He
also asked that the government
pardon him for past crimes,
appoint him a federal narcotics
agent and give his wife a job in
a bank.
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Tuesday Afternoon, February 25,1975
Rep. Flynt
on study
mission
Rep. Jack Flynt of Griffin
today was flying to Southeast
Asia on a fact finding mission on
President Ford’s emergency
request for $522-million in aid
for South Vietnam and Cam
bodia.
The Ford administration was
reported to have encouraged
the trip in hopes of bolstering its
position in congress for the
money. '
Flynt said in Washington that
he headed the fact finding
delegation because he was the
senior Democrat in the group.
Flynt said the trip did not
originate with the White House.
He said Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger had thought
such a trip would be desirable
and talked with President Ford
about it.
How long Rep. Flynt will be
gone and who went with him
were not known by his office in
Griffin this morning.
A spokesman for Flynt in his
Griffin office today said he left
early this morning from
Washington.
Decline
in interest
rates seen
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Ffed
eral Reserve Chairman Arthur
F. Burns predicted today a
faster expansion of the money
supply in coming months—and
resulting lower interest rates
and increased credit availabili
ty.
Burns told the Senate Bank
ing Committee an increase in
available money already
achieved through the Fed’s
operations has produced a
dramatic decline in short-term
interest rates and prepared
financial conditions for a
recovery from the recession.
The money supply is the
amount of currency in circula
tion and money in checking
accounts. When it expands,
interest rates generally decline
and loans for business and
home buyers are more obtaina
ble.
“Forces have now been set in
motion that will, I believe, soon
result in a quicker pace of
monetary and credit expan
sion,” Burns said. “Actually,
that process may already be
underway....
“The Federal Reserve in
tends to encourage expansion in
supplies of money and credit
needed to mitigate recessionary
forces and encourage early
recovery in economic activity.”
But Burns warned, “We have
not thrown caution to the wind
... the menace of inflation is by
no means behind us.”
Burns objected to a proposed
Senate resolution that would
direct the Fed to “take
appropriate action in the first
half of 1975 to increase the
money supply at a rate
substantially higher than in
recent experience.”
He said such legislation (
would deny the Fed operational ,
flexibility and raise questions .
whether the board’s “tradition- '
al insulation from political
pressure will continue, whether
resistance to inflation may not
further diminish and whether
the dollar will remain a
respected currency around the
world.”
Committee
holds
open meet
ATLANTA (UPI) — A joint
conference committee, meeting
in open session for the first
time in Georgia legislative
history, went to work today to
thrash out the $6 million
difference between House and
Senate versions of the supple
mental budget for this fiscal
year.
The House refused to accept
the Senate’s s4l million figure
to help cover extra spending for
the year ending June 30 and the
Senate turned down the House
budget of $35 million, neces
sitating the conference commit
tee.
Griffin Tech students
to rebuild police center
Students from Griffin Vo-
Tech, under the supervision of
the Kiwanis Club, will rebuild
the Police Community Center
on Pimento avenue which was
extensively damaged by fire
several weeks ago.
The students in carpentry,
masonry and plumbing classes
Tornado
damage
$128,800
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (UPI)
— Civil Defense officials said
Monday the tornado which
struck the Andy Mountain
subdivision Sunday did an
estimated $128,800 in property
damages, destroying two
homes, damaging 12 others and
injuring livestock.
Douglas County sheriff’s
deputies were posted as guards
around the town to prevent
looting.
There were no serious inju
ries in the twister, which struck
shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday in
the small community in north
west Douglas County, about
seven miles west of Douglas
ville off U.S. 78.
A spokesman for the Civil
Defense Office said the mone
tary damages included the
destroyed and damaged houses
and destruction to farm machi
nery and livestock.
Authorities said the toll could
have been much worse. The
storm’s path brushed less than
two miles west of a 286-unit
mobile home park and close to
a two-million-gallon water sup
ply tank.
1 The home of Mr. and Mrs.
Herman Fernandez was de
stroyed.
“It’s gone,” said a neighbor,
Mrs. Ray Mellon. “Part of the
inside of their house is
scattered over my front yard.”
Mr. and Mrs. Herschell
Kersey’s roof was ripped off by
the twister.
“There’s nothing up there but
open sky,” said Mrs. Mellon.
Kersey was home alone when
the tornado struck. He was hit
on the head by debris and
stunned when he tried to flee
the house, but he was not
seriously hurt.
Wayne Arrington, deputy dir
ector of the Douglas County
Civil Defense Office, said the
high winds uprooted trees which
fell on power lines, but service
was restored to the area late
Sunday night.
Nikolai Bulganin
is dead at 79
MOSCOW (UPI) — Nikolai
Bulganin, the courtly commis
sar upstaged by boisterous
Nikita Khruschev during
their two-man rule of the Soviet
Union, died in obscurity at the
age of 79, the Tass news agency
said today.
The official news agency said
the bearded Bulganin, former
chairman of the Soviet Council
of Ministers, died Monday after
“a serious protracted illness.”
Bulganin’s leonine white hair
and well -trimmed beard
became familiar to the world in
the 1950 s when he and
Khrushchev emerged as twin
leaders of the Soviet Union.
Khrushchev overshadowed
his partner from the moment
the pair assumed the helm of
the nation in 1955, following the
fall of Stalin’s successor, Georgi
Malenkov.
The rustic Khrushchev was
first secretary of the Commu
nist party and the dapper
Bulganin was premier during
their three years of tandem
rule.
Khrushchev, who played the
shoe-banging buffoon in public,
worked cunningly behind the
scenes to shoulder the aristo
cratic-looking Bulganin aside
Daily Since 1872
at Vo-Tech will do the work at
no cost to the city who will
furnish all building materials.
As there are both night and
day classes, work will be done
in two shifts.
The city commissioners have
received several bids from local
contractors. The lowest was
PSC tells Ga. Power
it must make refund
ATLANTA (UPI) - The
Public Service Commission
ruled unanimously Monday that
Georgia Power Co. acted
improperly in charging custom
ers more for fuel than it
actually is paying and must
make a refund.
The PSC “cease and desist”
order came in the final day of
Georgia Power’s presentation
of its case for a $305 million
permanent rate increase.
Hearings were suspended
until March 27 to allow rate
hike opponents to prepare their
direct testimony against the
rate hike.
The ruling came in response
to a controversial Georgia
Power bookkeeping practice
revealed last week.
Testimony during a hearing
showed that while the utility is
paying Cimarron Coal Co. —one
of its largest suppliers —at a
Unemployment payments
reach an all-time high
ATLANTA (UPI) - The state
Labor Department said Monday
it paid out more than $8.5
million in unemployment com
pensation last week, an all-time
high, and 9.3 per cent of the
state’s insured labor force was
out of work last week.
Georgia’s total civilian labor
force is 2.1 million, and about
75 per cent of them are insured.
Labor Department spokes
man Bill Robinson said the fact
that 9.3 of the insured work
force is jobless was an
indication that total unemploy
ment among both insured and
uninsured is at least 10.5 per
cent, possibly as high as 12 per
cent.
and emerge as the strong man
in the Soviet Union.
He abruptly banished Bulga
nin into obscurity in 1958.
Bulganin was seen chatting
with Khrushchev at a Kremlin
reception in 1964, but then
dropped out of sight. He had
not been mentioned in the
Soviet press in recent years.
Tass reported Bulganin’s
death in a brief dispatch from
Moscow marked “urgent.” The
report said simply:
“Nikolai Bulganin, a former
chairman of the Soviet Council
of Ministers, died on Monday at
the age of 79, following a
serious protracted illness.”
Bulganin seemed more of a
bon vivant than a Bolshevik,
more of an aristocrat than than
a commissar. But he was far
from a buffoon.
On his way to the titular top
of the bureaucracy, he knocked
on doors at midnight as a
secret police agent and served
with brilliance as adminis
trator, engineer and political
commissar in the army.
What he lacked was the
drive, the cunning and the long
labors in the party vineyards
that provided Khrushchev with
his secure power base.
$31,496. Around $28,700 will be
paid to the city from the in
surance company.
The Vo-Tech students can
handle everything but electrical
work and they suggested that be
done by electricians’ classes
from the technical school in
Thomaston.
rate of SIO.BO per ton of coal, a
contract dispute led Georgia
Power to “book” the price at a
higher rate and pass the
difference on to customers
through the fuel adjustment
charge.
Georgia Power was listing
the price per ton at $20.80 from
November to January, and at
$16.50 from January through
the present.
The fuel adjustment charge
allows the utility to pass on
higher fuel costs by adjusting
customers’ bills.
A Georgia Power spokesman
said last week the practice has
cost consumers only four cents
per 1,000 kilowatt hours so far.
The spokesman said little has
been collected because there is
a three-month lag between
higher fuel costs and actual
application of the adjustment
clause.
But Commissioner Bobby
The $8,584,480 paid out in
unemployment benefits last
week compares to $7,008,257
paid out the week before, which
was the previous all-time high
for unemployment compensa
tion.
Already more than $45
million has been paid out this
year, compared to $8.9 million
for the corresponding period
last year, Robinson said.
He said more than $7.6
million was paid to 108,388
individuals still in the 26-week
period of regular unemploy
ment insurance, which is totally
financed by the state.
More than $789,000 was paid
to 9,593 individuals who have
exhausted their regular unem
ployment benefits and are now
drawing 13 weeks of extended
benefits, which are financed
half by the state and half by
the federal government, he
said.
More than SIIB,OOO was paid
to 27 individuals in federally
financed special unemployment
assistance, he said.
* w ' wOHlSii
Nikolai Bulganin
Inside Tip
Budget
See Page 9
The commissioners said they
would prefer local contractors
do all the work, but will accept
the Thomaston offer, provided
Griffinites are enrolled in those
classes.
Several homes have been
built in Griffin by the students
working with the Kiwanis Club.
Pafford has estimated the
bookkeeping method would
have added up to an additional
$lO million in electric bills over
a year’s time.
Georgia Power argued that
its contract with Cimarron, a
Kentucky-based firm, has been
ruled subject to arbitration, and
that the utility was collecting
additional funds as a hedge
against a possible future ruling
that it owes a lump sum to
Cimarron.
On the question of Georgia
Power’s $305 million rate
increase request, Pafford said,
if granted, it would mean retail
electric bills will rise 75 per
cent in a year.
The PSC had earlier this
month granted a Georgia Power
a S6O million temporary rate
increase. Pafford claimed that
the interim hikes had driven
retail electric bills up 60 per
cent.
The same week a year ago,
the state paid out more than
$1.2 million in unemployment
compensation benefits, but the
federally funded benefits were
not in existence at that time.
“Unemployment is still at a
crest,” Robinson said, although
Labor Commissioner Sam Cald
well “sees this as a bottoming
out phase.”
Robinson said the fact that
prime interest rates have
dropped could mean a slow
recovery in the housing and
construction industries.
“If the interest rates continue
to come down and credit is
loosened, you will begin to get
the purchasing power back to
the people,” he said.
Weather
ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY -
60, low today 35, high yesterday
48, low yesterday 38, high
tomorrow in upper 50s, low
tonight in low 30s. Sunrise
tomorrow 8:15, sunset
tomorrow 7:26.