Newspaper Page Text
State computer
called bargain
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WASHINGTON—Susan Ford rocks in a rocking chair at a “No Greater Love” rocking chair
marathon to raise money for the children of the servicemen missing in action in Vietnam at
Georgetown University. (UPI) ,_
Avalanche kills
mountain hiker
STEVENSON, Wash. (UPI)
— Spring avalanches rumbled
down two mountains during the
weekend, killing one hiker and
trapping five others in the
snow.
Fifty rescuers tried Sunday to
reach the five mountaineers
lost on the north slope of Mt.
St. Helens but were forced back
by 70-mile-an-hour winds,
whiteouts and frigid tem
peratures. It was not known if
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Tent city on Guam
TENT CITY, Guam—Aerial view shows part of the Tent
City where more than 20,000 Vietnamese refugees are
GRIFFIN
the hikers were dead or alive.
Rescue teams were ordered
to make another effort today if
the weather lets up.
“It’s uncertain that we’ll get
the kind of weather we need,”
a spokesman of the Skamania
County sheriff’s office said.
The five missing climbers, all
students at the University of
Puget Sound, were identified as
Karen Moniot and Nina En
gebertson, both of Tacoma,
Wash.; Erick Spurell of Den
ver, Colo.; Dick Pfesser of
Federal Way, Wash.; and Phil
Burdick of Eatonville, Wash.
The students were in a 29-
member mountaineering class
which was struck by the
avalanche after pitching tents
Saturday night at the 6,500-foot
level of the volcanic peak. The
other 24 hikers made it back
safely.
living after fleeing from South Vietnam. (UPI)
ATLANTA (UPI) - Departs
ment of Administrative Ser
vices (DOAS) Commissioner
Ernie O’Neal says the massive,
much-maligned state computer
system is a bargain for
taxpayers, despite a $19.6
million pricetag for 1976.
“We’ve got a real success
story in data processing,” says
O’Neal, who came under fire
during the General Assembly
session for what Senate Appro
priations Chairman Paul Broun
termed “astronomical cost
overruns.”
Initially, $14.8 million was
budgeted for computer services
in the fiscal 1975 budget, but
the legislature had to approve
an additional $2.2 million in the
supplemental 1975 budget to
cover expenses.
O’Neal defended die comput
er system in a recent interview
and gave these reasons for a $6
million jump in computer costs
between 1973 to the $19.6
million approyed by the legisla
ture fiscal 1976, which begins
Julyl.
—The expansion and develop
ment of the Georgia Crime
Information Center (GCIC).
O’Neal said the GCIC had about
50 terminals in 1972, compared
to 250 terminals now. He said
the GCIC now handles 850,000
requests for information per
month now, compared to about
200,000 a year ago.
“The law enforcement com
munity has come to depend on
it and use it, and although
volume is up four times, the
cost has only doubled and that’s
the payoff,” O’Neal said.
— Computerization of the
Revenue Department’s process
ing of state income tax returns
and refund checks.
—Computerization of files and
records on all Georgia licensed
drivers under the Department
of Public Safety, which eventu
ally will make registration
information on any Georgia
driver accessible to law en
forcement officials.
—Expanded computer use by
the Department of Transporta
tion on calculating the best
routes to build roads.
—Development of the Person
nel Accounting and Control
System (PACS), a centralized
payroll system for state em
ployes, which now serves 26,000
employes.
Broun said he will appoint an
appropriations subcommittee in
the next month to investigate
problems with the computer
system and hopefully find ways
to save the state “hundreds of
thousands of dollars.” O’Neal
said he asked for and “wel
comes” the legislative inquiry.
Prior to former Gov. Jimmy
Carter’s state government reor
ganization in 1972, 21 separate
computer systems were scat
tered through the largest state
agencies, each requiring ' its
own staff, equipment and
supplies.
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SAN FRANCISCO—Mushrooms of flame and smoke erupt
from old fire station here during filming of the opening
sequence of a movie called “The Killer Elite,” directed by
Sam Peckinpah, the movie stars James Caan and to about
international power structures with a potential for evil.
State toll
By United Press International
At least 13 persons died in
accidents across Georgia this
weekend, including four persons
who died when the brakes gave
out on a surplus Army truck
turned fire vehicle carrying 38
adults and kids on a joy ride
through a small community
near Woodbury.
The accidental death toll
compiled by United Press
International, which began at 6
p.m. - Friday and ended at
midnight Sunday, included nine
traffic fatalities, three drown
ings and one accidental shoo
ting.
The State Patrol said the fire
truck joy ride came during an
auction Saturday to raise funds
for a fire station in the rural
area.
The truck overturned while
rounding a curve, killing four
occupants and injuring 32
others, at least two of them
critically. The victims included
brothers Terry Wade Long, 10,
and Ted Ray Long; 9; Mark
Young, 7, son of Gary Young
who had acted as the auc
tioneer, and Mrs. Virginia
Elease Creamer, 52. All were
residents of the small Cove
community about 60 miles
southwest of Atlanta. Six other
members of the Long family
were injured.
The right rear brake cylinder
failed on the truck, according
to the State Patrol.
The three drowning victims
were identified as Charlene
Dillings, 10, and Cathy Reeves,
24, both of Fitzgerald, and
Lenton Shields, 19, of Decatur.
Authorities said the Dillings
girl fell off her horse into a
pond and drowned Saturday
along with the Reeves woman,
who had jumped into the pond
in an effort to save her.
Growing older
‘Older’ meant someone else to retiree
By Harold Blumenfeld
Is there really a Fountain of
Youth in Florida? Or what was
the magnet which drew me
there to join more than a
million other people over age 65
as a permanent resident?
Before I took my enforced
retirement after 40 years as a
news wire service editor in
New York City, I had little con
tact with people in my own age
bracket, generally referred to
as senior citizens. Growing old
or older may have been
something happening to other
people. But not to me.
Two years ago my wife and I
moved to South Florida and not
merely to check into sex orgies
at senior citizen communes. I
was attracted by the perpetual
ly wonderful climate where I
could live a more relaxed, but
still quite active life.
However, I found myself sur
rounded by a large congrega
tion of aging people, many of
them doing nothing to become
involved physically, mentally
and socially. By feeling sorry
for themselves and vegetating
they were growing older at a
rapid rate, rushing for the cor
onary intensive care unit or a
It was all for a movie
13
Shields drowned Friday night
while attempting to rescue an
8-year-old who swam to an
island in the center of a private
lake in DeKalb County. The 8-
year-old was rescued from the
island.
There were also these traffic
deaths:
—Richard William Obrecht, a
28-year-old student at the
University of Georgia, killed
when his motorcycle went out
of control and overturned on
Tallassee Road just west of
Athens Saturday.
—Michael Ralph Tuner, 31,
Gordon, killed when his vehicle
ran into a train nine miles
south of Milledgeville on
Georgia 243 Saturday night.
—Charles Ross Sewell, 12,
Plains, killed when his motor
cycle ran into the side of a car
just west of Plains on U.S. 280
Friday night.
—Marie Heard, 30, Smyrna,
killed Friday night after a car
pulled in front of her south
bound car on Georgia 92 south
of Douglasville. The Heard car
left the roadway and was
struck in the right side by a
northbound car.
—Tammie Lynn Reece, 16,
Canton, driver of a car that
slammed into a truck on county
road 301 east of Canton Sunday.
Three others were injured in
the crash.
Savannah police said Bur
dette Larry Whipple, 26, of
Savannah, died Saturday of an
accidental gunshot wound he
suffered Friday night while he
was attempting to demonstrate
to some friends in his car how
the game of Russian roulette is
played. Police said Whipple
apparently thought he had
emptied the chamber of his .38-
caliber pistol, but there was
one bullet left.
nursing home.
And more older persons are
flocking to Florida each year,
making Dade (which includes
Miami and Miami Beach) and
Broward counties in South
Florida the potential havens for
more people over 65 than any
other part of the United States.
Florida ranked 31st in state
population in 1930 but jumped to
9th in 1970, with an estimated
growth to 10.669,700 in 1985. And
more than two million will be
living in Dade and Broward
Counties, which occupy only 3,-
392 square miles of the state’s
total are of 54,136 square miles.
Demographic research figures
for 1970 show there were 985,690
people over age 65 in Florida of
a total population of 6,789,366, a
10-year increase of 77 per cent,
with the greatest numbers liv
ing in St. Petersburg and the
Greater Miami and Fort
Lauderdale-Hollywood areas. It
is estimated that today one
third of all residents in Dade
and Broward counties are over
65. It is also estimated that dur
ing the last five years 3,000 peo
ple a day moved into Dade and
Broward counties, most of
them over 65.
And despite economic con-
Page 3
■
— Griffin Daily News Monday, April 28,1975
. The fire station, located in a redevelopment project on the
Embarcadero, was to have collapsed, but charges placed
around the foundation of the building failed to topple the
structure. (UPI)
Dr. Lamb
Enlarged veins
are common
By Lawrence E. Lamb, M.D.
DEAR DR. LAMB - I’m 35.1
first noticed enlarged veins in
my left leg while pregnant with
my second child. They dis
appeared following the birth.
But now, a year later, they are
noticeable again.
What preventative steps can
be taken? Does diet and the
amount or lack of exercise in
fluence the veins? Can the
enlarging process be halted at
an early stage? What informa
tion is available on surgery?
DEAR READER - If you
stop and think about it you will
observe that dilated veins occur
in locations below the heart.
That is why we have varicose
veins, hemorrhoids and in men
varicocele of the testicles. You
don’t see dilated veins in the
head. The veins may dilate in ,
the hands when you hold your
hand down at your side, but
they collapse if you hold your
hand up in front of your face.
Try it and you’ll see.
The big factor in causing
veins too dilate is the pressure
inside the vein. This pressure is
increased by gravity. When you
stand up the column of blood
from your foot to your heart
represents a miniature water
tower, and the pressure in the
veins at the level of the ankle is
markedly increased. When you
lie down the column of blood is
literally turned on its side, and
the pressure inside the vein is
greatly decreased.
When the walls of the veins
are thin or not supported well
by surrounding structures it is
easier for them to dilate. Those
under the skin where you can
see them most easily have the
least external support and are
often the first affected.
Pregnancy increases
pressure on the large veins in the
lower abdomen. The pregnant
ditions which curtail tourist
traveling, older people are still
arriving every day to take up
permanent residence in high
and low rise condominium
apartment buildings, small, at
tached row houses referred to
as town houses by local builders
or in old buildings, hardly any
better than the tenement-type
homes they left behind in other
cities.
What brings them to Florida?
Daily sunshine and warm
weather, a more casual life and
a less expensive way to live
since condominium purchases
or rentals are frequently less
than in other cities. Also a
chance to live a few more years
than they would have in other
climates. Statistics show that
people live on an average two
years longer in Florida than
elsewhere.
But if Ponce de Leon dis
covered the Fountain of Youth
he didn’t find a money tree in
the. state’s lush natural vegeta
tion. Florida does not have an
income tax and other state and
municipal taxes are lower than
in other parts of the country.
But the economy, as it is for
people in other age brackets
and localities, is the number
uterus literally obstructs the
normal flow of venous blood
and is a form of a tourniquet on
the veins. The increased
pressure will often bring out
varicose veins for the first
time. If the veins are not too
stretched there is a chance that
after the pregnancy they will
still have enough elasticity to
return to near normal.
It follows that any constric
tion around the thigh or lower
abdomen that interferes with
the normal emptying of the
veins increases pressure and
contributes to varicose veins. I
am completely against any con
stricting device on the lower
abdomen (I do not mean
support-type stockings or gar
ments which may be helpful)
because of the undesirable
effects they have on veins.
Avoiding obesity, particular
ly abdominal obesity, does help,
because abdominal obesity is
another form of pressure.
Regular exercise to maintain
firm muscles provides some
support for the deep veins in
side the leg muscles and is im
portant.
Unfortunately it remains true
that once varicose veins have
occurred there is little you can
do to eliminate them, short of
surgery. To see if you need or
will benefit from surgery, you
need some special tests of your
veins. These tests also deter
mine which veins can be im
proved by surgery.
Send your questions to Dr.
Lamb, in care of this
newspaper, P.O. Box 1551,
Radio City Station, New York,
N.Y. 10019. For a copy of Dr.
Lamb’s report on cholesterol,
send 50 cents and a long self
addressed stamped envelope to
the same address and ask for
the “Cholesterol” booklet.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
one problem for the aging.
For the less affluent older
person it’s almost impossible to
earn extra money to augment
Social Security benefits, pen
sions or small return on in
vestments to keep up with the
ever-rising cost of living. The
biggest employer here is
government — state, county
and local governments — who
employ more than a half
million people. But it is dif
ficult, if not impossible, for
newly-arrived residents over 65
to find government jobs. And
for the lucky person who finds
employment with private in
dustry, he or she will quickly
learn that the average salary is
much lower than in New York
or other large cities.
But it’s still a great life for us
in the Sunshine State. That is if
we can adjust to a new life, dis
pel worries, take advantage of
the climate and become active
doing something more than just
sit and watch the coconuts fall
off the trees. And to accept the
fact that what we thought would
be a Land of Milk and Honey
may turn out to be only a Land
of Navel Oranges and aging
Bikini Navels.