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LOS ANGELES—“Miniskirt Judge” Noel Cannon (in ’«7
photo) is under suspension from the bench. Bringing her
chihuahua and a mechanical canary to court, jailing
defense lawyers and threatening to perform “a .38 caliber
vasectomy” on a policeman were too much for a group of
her peers. (UPI)
‘Miniskirt judge ’
under suspension
LOS ANGELES (UPI) -
•Miniskirt Judge” Noel Cannon
is under suspension from the
bench. Bringing her chihuahua
and a mechanical canary to
court, jailing defense lawyers
and threatening to perform “a
.38-caliber vasectomy” on a
policeman were too much for a
group of her peers.
The State Commission on
Judicial Qualifications lodged
25 charges of misconduct
against her Monday with the
state Supreme Court. It asked
she be removed as a Municipal
Court judge, an action which
disqualified her from sitting in
judgment on any case.
One of the charges is that the
curly haired, 48-year-old blonde
hears cases with her chihuahua
on her lap, while a mechanical
canary trills and chirps from
her chambers behind them.
Another charge involves an
alleged threat to perform the
",38-caliber vasectomy” on
motorcycle officer Richard
Fagin, whom she called a
“male chauvinist,” on Nov. 30,
1972.
Fagin said he rebuked a
woman —who turned out to be
House defeats
option tax
ATLANTTA (UPI) - The
Georgia House, by a 89-75 vote,
Monday defeated a bill that
would have give cities and
counties an option to impose a
one per cent sales tax with
voter approval.
The bill was proposed,
through Gov. George Busbee’s
administration floor leader,
Rep. Roy Lambert, as one way
to give property tax relief this
year.
The bill would have required
cities levying the tax to roll
back property taxes equal to
the amount collected under the
sales tax for one year, .and
counties would have been
required to roll back property
taxes in unincorporated areas
as long as the tax was in effect.
The vote was two short of the
needed constitutional majority
and Lambert said he would
move for reconsideration of the
bill when the House reconvenes
Friday after a three-day recess
to perfect next year’s budget.
Opponents of the bill argued
it was a “regressive” tax that
would put an unbearable
burden on the poor, the elderly
and those on fixed incomes.
Rep. Randolph Karrh, D-
Swainsboro, an opponent of the
bill, said, “From the standpoint
of fairness, this bill is bad.
From the standpoint of being
presented as tax relief, this bill
is cruel.”
Another opponent of the bill,
Rep. Bobby Hill, D-Savannah,
said a sales tax is “the most
regressive kind of legislation”
and would “rob the poor to pay
for the shenanigans of the
rich.”
“This is not a tax rollback,”
Hill said, “it’s rolling on you in
disguise.”
the judge —for repeatedly
sounding her auto horn at the
car in front in traffic. He said
the other driver was obeying
the law by waiting for a
pedestrian.
“She told me she would honk
her horn any time she damn
well pleased,” Fagin told a
hearing by the judicial commis
sion.
The commission’s charges
included 15 counts of willful
misconduct in office and 10 of
conduct prejudicial to the
administration of justice.
Although suspended from the
bench, she remains in office
and continues to draw her
salary. She has 30 days to
contest the commission’s
recommendation to the su
preme court.
Judge Cannon, on the bench
12 years, has been criticized in
the past by other judges for her
thigh-high miniskirts —a con
troversy that left her with the
“miniskirt judge” nickname.
She also has received criti
cism for painting her chambers
pink and for recommending
women carry hatpins or der
ringer pistols to ward off
rapists.
During the last session both a
local option sales tax bill and a
one per cent local option
income tax bill passed the
General Assembly but former
Gov. Jimmy Carter vetoed the
sales tax measure. The two
measures are tied together by
law, and one cannot be
operative without the other. If
the sales tax measure had
passed both houses and become
law, local governments would
have had the option of choosing
one tax or the other. The tax
would have been levied in
either the city or county, but
not both, and the county would
have had the first option to levy
the tax.
Lambert told the House when
explaining the bill, which is
strongly supported by the
Georgia Municipal Association,
“This is tax relief, and it is
true home rule.”
Legislators arguing for the
bill said it would provide vitally
needed revenues for cities and
counties by allowing them to
expand their tax bases, since
their income now is primarily
derived from property taxes.
Rep. Bob Howard, D-Mariet
ta, said local governments were
going “to have to live within
their means” rather than
raising taxes.
“This is the wrong time and
the wrong place to put a tax
increase on anybody,” Howard
said.
Weather
ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY
42, low today 24, high yesterday
45, low yesterday 18, high
tomorrow in upper 40s, low
tonight near 30. Sunrise
tomorrow 8:05, sunset
tomorrow 7:34.
Ford has ‘surprise’ for congress
By HELEN THOMAS
UPI White House Reporter
WASHINGTON (UPI) -
President Ford, who reportedly
has decided to suspend part of
his controversial fees on oil
imports, told a group of
freshmen Democratic congress
men today he would have a
“surprise” for Congress before
the day was out.
White House sources indicat
ed Ford was referring to his
decision to suspend part of the
import fee at the same time he
County wants
area cleaned
Spalding County Commiss
ioners today decided to work
through the Health Department
in getting an area on die North
Expressway cleaned.
It is near Birdie road and was
the place where a number of old
houses were moved from the
Atlanta Airport area for possi
ble resale.
Commissioner Reid Childers
said he thought it was time for
forceful action in getting the
land cleaned.
He said it was unsightly and
pointed out that many visitors
see it when entering and leaving
the community.
Jim Owen, county attorney,
suggested the commissioners
contact the health board for
action.
Commissioner P. W. Hamil
who is on the health board said
he would bring the matter up
when the health board meets.
Owen said he thought it might
be better to work through that
board rather than, trying to
approach the problem through
zoning regulations.
Frank Stanley who said he
operates a radio communica
tions sales and service business
on Mclntosh road said he would
like to review with the county
what he could offer in service to
equipment as well as sales. He
said he would like an oppor
tunity to submit a quotation the
next time the county needs
some radios for county vehicles.
Stanley said he had discussed
his service and products with
the sheriff’s department and
public works camps supervisors
and they indicated his products
were satisfactory.
He said he had asked to see
the radio service contract the
county has now but was told it
couldn’t be found.
Stanley said he thought the
present contract could be
canceled on 30-days notice,
should the commissioners
decide to use his firm’s service.
He said he thought he could
save the county some money.
The commissioners indicated
they would be willing to review
Treasure hunters
make dream find
By MICHAEL GOLDMAN
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (UPI)
— It may have come from the
ship La Nuestra de Atoche
which sank in 1622, or from
another Spanish galleon. What?
ever, it became a treasure
hunter’s dream that today is
multimillion dollar reality for a
group of divers —and the state
of Florida.
The state and the diving
team, headed by salvage firm
chief Mel Fisher, are splitting
up an estimated $6 million in
gold and silver bars, coins,
jewelry, gold chains and
armaments found in the wreck
age near Key West, Fla-
Fisher said there is more
where that came from.
“We all dreamed as children
of finding an old shipwreck,”
said Secretary of State Bruce
Smathers, who was among
those viewing the heavily
guarded treasure. “This treas
ure is a . realization of
everyone’s dream.”
The state will keep 25 per
cent of the treasure, and the
GRIFFIN
DAI E WS
Vol. 103 No. 53
vetoes a congressionally passed
measure that would suspend all
of it.
“Ford said there will be a
surprise later this afternoon,”
said Rep. Timothy E. Wirth, D-
Colo., who attended a breakfast
which the President held for
the 70 freshmen.
Sources said that Ford,
seeking an early compromise
with the Democrats in Congress
on an energy program, plans
voluntarily to suspend for 60
days the $1 a barrel fee
the present service agreement
as well as having Stanley offer
bids on new equipment.
Charles Rucks, a Spalding
citizen, discussed the dispute
between the city and county
commissioners over recreation
funding.
He asked some questions and
the commissioners discussed
their viewpoint for more than 30
minutes.
The commissioners said in
summary they thought too
much money was being spent
and that the budget could be
cut.
Rucks said he thought the
county would have to spend
more for recreation if it follow
ed through with plans to build
parks in the county and go into a
separate recreation program.
Childers said that he felt the
parks would be necessary,
regardless of whether recrea
tion was a city-county joint
program or not.
Childers said the growth of
population in the county would
mean additional county parks
would be needed.
Rucks said he had not heard
this point made before.
Childers said that sometimes
“we don’t get the (news)
coverage we would like.”
Rucks said it seemed from his
conversation with the commiss
ioners that the dispute all
centered in $9,500 which the
county cut its share of the
budget for the last six months of
the year.
Childers told Rucks that the
county didn’t want to get out of
the joint program but was told
to get out when the county
wanted to have a say and at
tempted to cut spending.
Chairman Sandy Morgan said
he didn’t know of any budget
that couldn’t be cut.
The commissioners put aside
a paving petition for Orchard
drive because of inadequate
signatures.
The commissioners approved
purchase of an IBM typewriter
for the office of Judge Andrew
Whalen, Jr. The price was $693.
Division of Archives and
History is doing the counting on
its behalf. Fisher and his team,
who began the project five
years ago, will keep the rest.
Robert Williams, chief of the
division, refused to place a
monetary value on the take.
But sources close to Fisher,
whose activities in the project
were investigated by the
Securities and Exchange Com
mission two years ago, esti
mate it at $6 million.
Fisher said one rare 1621 gold
coin alone will sell for $15,000 to
$25,000 on the collectors’
market.
Fisher and his associates said
the artifacts are from the La
Nuestra de Atoche, which
■sailed from Havana in 1622 and
went down in a hurricane in the
Marquesas Keys, west of Key
West.
Williams said archivists are
uncertain if the sunken cargo
came from the Atoche. He said
state historians are still investi
gating origins of the ship and
cargo.
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Tuesday Afternoon, March 4,1975
increase which he imposed last
Saturday on imported oil and
another $1 increase scheduled
for April 1.
At the same time, they said,
he will veto Congress’ bill to
suspend all of the increases for
90 days—including the first $1 a
barrel hike which Ford imposed
Feb. 1.
There were indications that
Ford also was trying to work
out an agreement with Senate
and House leaders to sustain
his veto in exchange for the
voluntary 60-day postponement.
A number of the freshmen
congressmen emerged from the
breakfast discussing what Rep.
Paul Simon of Illinois described
as the administration’s “real
eagerness to compromise” on
February tax collections
down nearlv $8 -million
ATLANTA (UPI) - State
Revenue Commissioner Nick
Chilivis said today that Febru
ary tax collections were down
seven per cent, or nearly $8
million from a year ago.
Chilivis, who called the drop
expected, said the state collect
ed $105.7 million last month,
compared to $113.6 million in
February 1974.
For the first seven months of
the current fiscal year, state
revenue totaled $968 million
compared to $921.6 million for
the same period in the last
fiscal year. The increase of
$46.3 million was a gross rate
of five per cent.
“The figures were not felt to
Tuggle joins
parole office
The Spalding County proba
tion office has a new probation
parole supervisor.
He is David Tuggle, who with
his wife and month-old daughter
moved to Griffin several days
ago.
Mr. Tuggle primarily will
handle cases which require
intensive supervision.
A native of Atlanta, he
graduated from Georgia Tech
in December with a BS degree
in behavioral management.
The Spalding County proba
tion office also handles cases
from Fayette County.
“It’s little things that create
joy —a delicate snowflake
rather than a big drift of them.”
“We believe material from
this site comes mostly from
Spanish ships of the 17th
century, which was the period
of the Atoche,” said Williams.
“Since historians depend on
exact documentation, we need
more evidence to come to a
conclusion.
“This area off the Keys is full
of ships of all kinds of ages. It’s
a place where accidents have
frequently occurred over a long
period of time. Ships from
World War II have also been
found there.”
Fisher said only three of 901
silver bars believed to be
aboard the Atoche have been
found. He formed an ocean
salvage company 12 years ago
and said most of the Atoche’s
cargo is still buried under
water.
Fisher was investigated by
the SEC after he began selling
stocks in his salvage company.
The federal regulatory panel
doubted aspects of Fisher’s
ventures and ordered him to
quit selling stock.
an energy conservation pro
gram.
“I beleive a compromise can
be reached,” said Rep. Carroll
Hubbard, D-Ky.
“He’s got no choice,” added
Gladys Spellman of Maryland,
who was. miffed by Ford’s
complaints that Congress is not
acting quickly enough. “We are
so far ahead of any Congress
he took part in.”
Ford earlier this year signed
an executive order imposing a
three stage, $3 a barrel fee on
imported oil—a measure he
hoped would raise the consum
er price and discourage con
sumption. But Congress
objected to the action.
He apparently hoped his
partial suspension would avoid
be alarming, inasmuch as this
decline had been anticipated
and February is expected to be
the weakest month in fiscal
year 1975,” said Chilivis.
“In summary, the overall
pattern fits general expecta
tions,” he said.
The big losers were individu
al and corporate income taxes
with individual income tax
collections down $5.5 million, or
17.3 per cent, and corporate
taxes down 35.1 per cent,
slumping by $1.6 million.
Sales tax and motor fuel
revenue rose slightly with the
sales tax up $2.8 million, or 7.7
per cent, and the motor fuel tax
up .2 per cent, or $49,150,0ver
February last year.
The figures also may indicate
Georgians are switching from
liquor, down 14.5 percent or
more than $511,000, to beer
since the malt beverage tax
went up by an almost equal
TVA reports cost overruns
of nearly $1.2 billion
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Cost
overruns totaling nearly $1.2
billion on 12 major construction
projects has been reported by
the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The disclosure was made by
the General Accounting Office
and based on TVA’s own
estimates.
The agency’s Washington
representative, Larry Calver,
blamed the overruns on infla
tion and not bad management.
“The cost of new plant
constructions are currently
increasing at the cost of 25 per
cent plus a year,” he said.
“The studies have borne out
that this is going on all across
the country. They’re just going
SHr kJA
17/ ;
TALLAHASSEE, FIa.—(FROM FILES): Florida archaeologists Sonny Cockrell (left) and
Kurt Peterson examine an “astrolab” navigational instrument believed to have been at the
bottom of the sea for over 300 years. The “astrolab” along with other treasure such as the
silver bars at the left and the coins in the foreground may have been part of the cargo of the
“Atoche” a Spanish ship that sailed from Havana in 1622 and sank in a hurricane. The
treasurer was divided between the state and the Armada research company. (UPI)
Daily Since 1872
a showdown of votes in
Congress over whether to
override his veto and that the
compromise on the oil fee
would lead to a compromise
with Congress on a long-range
energy program.
Sources said the President
also has decided to delay his
plan to remove existing price
controls on domestic oil produc
tion April 1.
Press Secretary Ron Nessen
told newsmen Monday Ford
feels a Democratic energy
package proposed by Sen. John
Pastore of Rhode Island and
Rep. James Wright of Texas is
“too fluffy and lacking in
detail.” It would raise gasoline
taxes five cents and use the
money for energy research.
amount. The wine tax also
increased 3.8 per cent.
Carlisle says
latest rebate
plan not fair
Rep. John Carlisle thinks the
latest tax relief proposal is so
patently unconstitutional and
unfair that he thinks it is
ridiculous to be proposed.
He was critical of the plan to
give rebates to people through
counties based on average daily
attendance in public and
private schools.
Rep. Carlisle said the plan is
not uniform.
He said, for instance, a person
paying taxes on a $100,006 house
out of sight for a whole variety
of reasons, all related to the
inflationary spiral.
The TVA’s overrun percent?
age is 43 per cent, well below
the 75 per cent average for the
269 major federal projects
studied by the GAO.
The study said of the projects
studied there was a $57 billion
cost overrun on projects origi
nally estimated to cost $76
billion.
Overruns are the difference
between original estimates and
actual cost.
TVA’s two largest overruns
were for nuclear plants near
Chattanooga and in Northern
Alabama.
All indications are Ford
believes another Democratic
proposal, by Rep. Al Ullman,
chairman of the House Ways
and Means Committee, is more
nearly acceptable. It includes a
graduated tax on gasoline,
starting at 5 cents a gallon and
building to 40 cents by 1979. It
calls for gradually rising
import quotas to cut oil imports
by a million barrels a day over
two to three years.
The President invited Sen.
Frank Church, D-Idaho, chair
man of the committee investi
gating the Central Intelligence
Agency, and Sen. John Tower,
its ranking Republican, to meet
with him to discuss that
inquiry.
White House sources said
Ford has been apprehensive
there may be revelations of
CIA roles in political assassina
tions which could jeopardize its
activities and the prestige of
the country. They did not say
what assassinations they had in
mind.
would get a much larger share
of the rebate than a person
paying taxes on a SIO,OOO house.
The rich would get back the
most money, he said. Rep.
Carlisle said people with the
smaller income and house are
the ones who need relief — not
those with larger incomes.
He said utilities and corpora
tions would not share in the
rebate plan either, which he
thought would be unconstitu
tional.
The Sequoyah nuclear plant
near Chattanooga was budgeted
for $336 million in 1969. The
1974 estimate is $650 million.
Brown’s Ferry in Northern
Alabama was estimated to cost
$392 million in 1968. In 1973 the
estimate was $750 million.
The overruns are expected to
go even higher this year.
President Ford’s budget for
next fiscal year calls for an
estimate of $675 million for
Sequoyah and $Bl5 million for
Brown’s Ferry.
The agency’s original budget
estimate for the new nuclear
plant planned for Hartsville
was $1.5 billion. The Ford
budget calls for $2.5 billion.