Newspaper Page Text
GRIFFIN
Daily Since 1872
State intends to eliminate
‘social promotions’
ATLANTA (UPI) - The state Board
of Education has approved a plan
Mitch Gabriel, a mime artist, was one
of several performers in Griffin this
week to entertain school students.
(More pictures on page 12)
Auditor explains irregularities
By The Griffin Dally News
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in
checks made out to cover expenses of
the Commercial Bank & Trust Co. went
for anything but that, testimony in
interpleader proceedings revealed
yesterday.
Bank losses on the checks, including
interest, will total more than <400,000,
according to G. J. Bruner, an indepen
dent bank examiner.
His firm, Burke-Bruner Co. and
Associates was employed by the bank
after federal examiners discovered
more than $1.5-million in missing funds
during a routine audit in June, 1974.
Then bank president, C. T. Parker
committed suicide shortly after being
approached about the irregularities.
Numerous claims have been placed
against Parker’s estate and the
hearings are being conducted so that
recommendations can be made to a
federal court setting the order of each
claim.
Yesterday Mr. Bruner went over
every irregular check concerning bank
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Griffin, Ga., 30223, Friday Afternoon, December 12.1975
intended to eliminate “social
promotions” — the controversial
practice of promoting slow learners to
the next grade.
In a policy statement, the board
Thursday ordered the state education
department staff to develop statewide
objectives for each grade and tests to
measure student achievement.
The statement, written by Associate
Schools Superintendent Titus
Singletary at the direction of board
member Sam Griffin of Bainbridge,
was adopted in a 5-4 vote.
The resolution says a “cut-off score”
will be established as a “statewide
minimum level of achievement” for
each student before he can advance to
the next grade.
Griffin argued the “cut-off score” is
necessary to measure how much
students have learned.
“The purpose was to define the goal
and always measure against it,”
expenses. Os 14,000 examined, about 120
were found to be irregular. The first
apparently were written in 1966, he
said.
They ranged from a few dollars up to
thousands and were charged to such
items as advertising and publicity,
travel and entertainment, postage,
bank equipment, upkeep of bank
premises, insurance and premium
bonds and the like, Mr. Bruner said.
His testimony listing payment by
Parker to various people or firms does
not show any wrongdoing on their part.
It was brought out that even though
the bank furnished its president an
automobile and paid all expenses of its
upkeep, repairs and use, thousands of
dollars in expense checks were signed
by Parker for travel and entertain
ment.
Earlier testimony by Mrs. Belvey
Perry brought out that Parker very
seldom took a vacation or traveled,
except to banking meetings about twice
a year.
The bank also paid other normal
Griffin said. “We’re finally arriving at
a job description for education, and
teachers will know what we’re
expecting as the minimum level of
achievement.”
Board members Ernest Whaley of
DeKalb County, Asbury Stembridge of
Macon and Carolyn Huseman of Athens
said the “cut-off score” should not be
the only determining factor in a child’s
promotion.
“I’m opposed to having only one test
as the sole criterion for retaining or
promoting a child,” said Mrs.
Huseman.
The measure requires the education
department to develop a fourth-grade
reading test by next spring, with a
minimum “cut-off score” each fourth
grader will have to attain to carry on
normally to the fifth grade. Those
scoring below the cut-off point would be
assigned to a “probationary” fifth
grade status.
expenses of Parker’s, including dues to
social and civic clubs, Mr. Bruner
stated.
One expense check made out to the
American Business Club for S3OO dues
bought a cashier’s check which was
deposited directly to an account of Mr.
and Mrs. C. T. Parker’s, Bruner
reported.
A $2,000 check to the Griffin-Spalding
Chamber of Commerce went toward a
land purchase, he said.
According to the auditor, money
Parker diverted from bank expenses
checks were traced to numerous
people.
They included cashier’s checks to
John H. Goddard for the purchase of 10
shares of Commercial Bank & Trust Co.
stock; to Gerald Bilbro for architect
fees concerning alterations at the Bank
of Hampton and the telephone building
at Hill and Oak streets, owned by
Parker and Mrs. Leila Bell; the pur
chase of a lot from Eugene Maddox on
Kennedy drive; 55.58 acres of land from
John H. Maddox in the name of Carolyn
Coach Cavan to retire
Reprinted from
The Thomaston Times
The dean of prep football coaches in
Georgia is stepping down after 38
years.
Coach Jim Cavan announced his
retirement on Thursday morning in the
office of Supt. Harold Maguire with
Principal Kenneth J. Moore and
members of the same media in at
tendance.
“I talked with Mr. Maguire about
retirement a couple of months ago,”
Coach Cavan said. “A man has to make
up his mind when to get out and I have
decided to retire June 1, 1976,” the
Rebels head man for the past 22 years
said.
Coach Cavan said “Certainly I hate to
leave. Lee is a great part of my life and
I wish nothing but the very best for the
school, the students and the people of
this community. Everyone has been
just great to me and my family since we
moved here from Griffin in 1953."
“I wish Lee all the success in the
world,” Coach Cavan said.
Coach Max Dowis of Griffin High, one
of Coach Cavan’s very close friends,
said this morning that he hated to see
the dean of Georgia coaches retire.
“He will be missed on the sidelines.
Coach Cavan is one of the great coaches
in Georgia. He did a tremendous job of
building a football program at R. E.
Lee. It’s almost a tradition for him to be
on the sidelines when Griffin plays Lee.
He’s one of the most dedicated coaches
I’ve ever known, a real professional at
his job,” Coach Dowis said.
Vol. 103 No. 294
The board also asked the education
department to develop a test for
second-grade mathematics skills for
future use, followed by a reading test
for third graders.
The board acknowledged “the
uniqueness of individuals,” and said it
is not out to hold back those “with
disabilities or limitations.
“Rather, the board intends to exert
every effort to assure that students
achieve in basic skills in accordance
with their abilities, and that children
are not allowed to advance to levels of
educational opportunity beyond their
ability to function effectively because
of limitations in basic skills,” said the
policy.
The board set the spring of 1977 as the
target date for implementing the policy
statewide, and said it will ask the 1976
General Assembly “for sufficient
flexibility in the use of any remedial
funds” to accomplish that goal.
Parker; and the purchase of 100 shares
of stock in Spalding Insurance and
Realty Co., according to testimony.
Other ways, brought out by the
auditor, in which Parker used bank
expense money included:
A sl,Oll deposit to the account of Carl
E. Pruett for a city commission race
contribution; the purchase of an in
terest in 459 acres of land from Mrs.
Minnie d’Antignac; payment of a loan
of Jim and Dorothy Dye’s at the Bank of
Hampton; payment of premiums on
Parker’s personal life insurance
policies (He had two of SIOO,OOO each);
the purchase of two tractors from
Piedmont Equipment Co. for Parker’s
own use; and checks to Smalley and
Cogburn law firm for legal expenses
connected with organizing and obtain
ing a charter for Lamar State Bank in
Barnesville.
According to Mr. Bruner, the Lamar
State Bank was chartered by C. T.
Parker and others and the Commercial
(Continued on page two)
Supt. Maguire announced Thursday
morning that Coach Cavan had in
formed him that he planned to retire at
the end of this school year. “Coach
Cavan has done an outstanding job at
R. E. Lee as athletic director, head
football coach, head girls basketball
coach and teacher since 1953,” Supt.
Maguire said.
On behalf of the Thomaston Board of
Education, Supt. Maguire expressed
appreciation to Coach Cavan for his
contributions to the athletic and
educational programs in Thomaston
and Upson County as a member of the
staff at R. E. Lee.
Coach Cavan started his coaching
career in Gainesville, moved to Rome
and then entered the Navy during
World War H. After returning home
from the Navy Coach Cavan became
head of the Griffin Football program
for seven years before moving to
Thomaston in 1953 to take over the reins
of the Lee athletic program.
In 23 years as head football coach the
Rebels won five region crowns and in
1961 his Lee team fought their way into
the state championship against mighty
Valdosta at Matthews Field with over
10,000 fans viewing the spectacle.
Valdosta came on strong to defeat the
Rebels, 34-13, after Lee came within
one point of the Wildcats, 14-13, in the
third period.
Coach Cavan’s 18th season at Lee in
1970 proved to be his very best as the
Rebels glided through an undefeated
season with ten straight wins and Lee’s
first win over LaGrange, 14-7.
The rebel gridders won region
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■ High Flyer ’ ‘
School isn’t all work and no fun. Darrell Wood, a fifth
grade student at East Griffin Elementary, relaxes by
flying high in a swing.
Moynihan
‘Theater of the absorb’
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (UPI) —
U.S. Ambassador Daniel Patrick
Moynihan called the U.N. General
Assembly “a theater of the absurd,”
and says he is beginning to feel that
“increasing contempt” for the world
body is “increasingly deserved.”
Moynihan, a frequent critic of the
United Nations, made the remarks
Thursday night in a speech opposing a
report by the U.N. Decolonization
Committee.
The report charged the United States
maintained Virgin Island bases as a
threat against Caribbean and Latin
American countries.
It also charged the United States
supplied “massive” military aid to
football crowns in 1961, 1965, 1966, 1967
and 1970. His Lady Rebels won the
coveted state championship in 1963 and
1968.
Coach Cavan was inducted into the
State of Georgia Hall of Fame in 1961
after his Rebels were runner-ups to
Valdosta for the state football crown.
He was named “Coach of the Year” in
Georgia in 1961. Twice he coached All-
Star football teams in 1948 and 1962.
Fossil remains
found in state
SWAINSBORO, Ga. (UPI) - The
fossil remains of one or mere large
vertebrates believed to date back 30 to
45 million years were uncovered last
week by two Jefferson County residents
excavating land for a reservoir in
southeast Georgia.
The fossils, found by Charles E.
Smith of Wadley and T.C. Harris, have
been turned over to Emanuel County
Junior College temporarily for study.
ECJC geology professor Dr. Hulon
Madeley and biologist Dr. Willie Gunn
say it probably will take several weeks
to complete a scientific analysis of the
fossils and make a definite
determination of the age of the
vertebrates.
The men estimated their age to be
about 30 to 45 million years.
Madeley said rocks surrounding the
fossils indicate that a sea bottom once
existed in the area now known as the
Moxley community, near where the
fossils were unearthed.
South Africa and Rhodesia’s white
minority regime through the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization.
"These are lies...lies,” Moynihan
said in an emotion-choked voice.
Despite his objections, the assembly
approved the report by a vote of 108-3
with 15 abstentions. Nicaragua and
Israel joined the United States in
opposition.
“The General Assembly has become
a theater of the absurd,” Moynihan
said. “We pretend seriousness to an
audience that realizes that it is all
pretense.
“I begin to feel that the world’s
increasing contempt is increasingly
deserved.”
Weather
ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY 69, low
today 33, high yesterday 63, low
yesterday 42, high tomorrow near 70,
low tonight in low 40s.
Patty’s letter
gets no bids
NEW YORK (UPI) — A letter written
by Patricia Hearst failed to get any bids
Thursday at an auction held by the
Charles Hamilton Galleries.
However, a letter by Lynnette
Fromme, convicted of attempting to
assassinate President Ford earlier this
year and a member of the Manson
Family, was sold for $75 and two of
Charles Manson’s letters were sold for
$165.
“Apparently Patty Hearst is,
autographically speaking, persona non
grata,” said Charles Hamilton,
president of the gallery sponsoring the
auction.
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......
“There aren’t many troubles
in the world more alarming
than an empty stomach.”