Newspaper Page Text
Page 8
— Griffin Daily News Friday, January 2,1976
Trial
FORT GAINES, Ga. (UPI) -
• Prosecution witnesses testified
Thursday in the trial of John
Bristow that four victims were
shot at close-range by a high
powered rifle in a rural grocery
store near Bluffton last Jan. 22.
Testimony was scheduled to
1 resume at 9 a.m. Friday. The
i prosecution planned to call 31
I witnesses.
1 Special prosecutor Jesse
< Bowles of Cuthbert told an all
-1 black jury of eight women and
- four men the state hoped to
prove that the four white
victims were shot in the head
with a “very high-powered
weapon,” probably a 30-30 rifle,
that "literally blew their heads
| off.”
The three defendants, all
black Blakely men, are each
charged with four counts of
murder. Homer Salter Jr., 24,
and Marvell Davs, 24, will be
| tried later.
Davis was named on a list of
prosecution witnesses and is
expected to plead guilty to the
slayings at Mansfield’s Store on
U.S. 27 near Bluffton.
“These men died instantly,”
said Bowles, who was hired by
the family of one of the
Legislation
ATMNTA (UPI) - Legisla
tion to reduce the term of
public service commissioners
and close loopholes in the
state’s Sunshine Law will be
introduced when the General
Assembly convenes Jan. 12.
Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-
Atlanta, says he will offer a
constitutional amendment to
reduce the term of the five PSC
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Victims shot at close range
victims. “When they were
killed they were probably in a
prone position or lying on the
floor. There were no eyewit
nesses to the actual shooting
other than the people who
actually did the shooting.”
Clay County Superior Court
Judge Walter I. Geer overruled
a motion by defense attorney
C.B. King for a change of
venue and allowed reporters
into the courtroom for the first
time since jury selection began
Monday.
The victims were Harris C.
Mooney, 41 of Gainesville;
Robert Charles Berry, 17, of
Coleman; Danny J. Lashley, 24,
and Robert Earl Gordon, 23,
both of Bainbridge.
Bowles outlined the state’s
reconstruction of events in an
opening statement.
He said Salter picked up
Bristow and Davis in his
father’s car on the afternoon of
the murders. He said the men
went to the store during the
afternoon and made several
small purchases, and then
returned to the store after
dark.
Bowles said Bristow and
Salter went into the store with
Bill to reduce PSC terms planned
commissioners from six to four
years and to require them to
run from single-member dis
tricts rather than statewide.
He said the five districts
would be created by pairing
Georgia’s 10 congressional dis
tricts.
“Right now, the Public
Service Commission is a
nameless, faceless group to
a 30-30 rifle while Davis waited
in the car, parked 300 yards
south of the store on the
highway.
Bristow said Davis later
heard shots fired, started the
car and tried to position it for a
get-away. In his haste he
backed off the road and one
wheel slipped off the narrow
driveway. The car was stuck
with one wheel suspended in
the air.
Salter and Bristow returned,
tried frantically to get the car
out of the ditch but had no
success, Bolwes said.
Bristow and Davis fled on
foot, and Salter went back to
the store and was arrested
there.
The state then called a series
of witnesses, including Clay
County Coroner Donnie Myers.
Myers said the store checkout
area was “a mess,” with blood,
spinal fluid, skin and pieces of
skull all over the floor.
Dr. James B. Dawson,
assistant director of State
Crime Lab, testified that all the
victims had been shot in the
head with a rifle at close range.
He said brass cartridge cases
and lead and copper fragments
everyone in Georgia except the
utilities,” Coverdell said.
Sen. Ed Barker. D-Warner
Robins, says he will introduce
legislation to tighten the state’s
controversial 1972 Open Meet
ings Law, which directs all
elected or appointed govern
mental bodies to meet in open
session. The state Supreme
Court has ruled the law does
not apply to the General
Assembly.
Barker said government
meetings where the people’s
business is conducted “should
be completely open. I want to
close some of the loopholes”
that allow abuse of the law.
Rep. Mildred Glover, D-
Atlanta, says she will introduce
a bill making it a misdemeanor
to drive without a license after
were found at the scene.
Debbie Redding, an 18-year
old high school student, said
she discovered the bodies when
she went to the store to get
cigarettes. She said she re
turned to her house, about a
quarter-mile away, and told her
father, who called police. She
said she saw a car stalled in a
near-by ditch and saw a black
man running toward the store.
Bill Redding, having already
called police from his home,
arrived at the store about the
same time as Salter, he
testified. He said Salter asked
for help getting his car out of
the ditch.
A. J. Lambert of Bluffton
testified he arrived at store
between 7:30 and 8 p.m. and
found Salter, who told him he
was driving by when he heard
screaming and shooting. He
said Salter claimed he got
stuck while trying to turn his
car around.
Lambert also said he spotted
three blood stains on Salter’s
shirt about two inches above
the belt and blood on his pants.
“It looked just like blood to
me,” he said.
it has been revoked for
repeated violations. It is
currently a felony to drive a
car after losing a license
because of habitual traffic
violations.
Rep. Hosea Williams, D-
Atlanta, is scheduled to go on
trial in March on charges that
he drove a car last Aug. 31
after his driver’s license had
been revoked for repeated
traffic offenses.
Mrs. Glover said her bill
would become effective upon
signature of the governor. Since
Williams’ trial is not set to
begin until after the legislature
ends, the provisions could mean
that the penalties for his
alleged offense will be reduced
by the time he comes to trial.
■ J
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JU \ ■
1\ ' 1
Leak
AIKEN, S.C. (UPI) — Offi
cials at the Savannah River
nuclear defense plant said
Thursday neither the public nor
the environment would be
harmed by the leak of 20 grams
of radioactive tritium gas from
a 200-foot stack.
The plant, operated by the
federal Energy Research and
Development Administration,
Thursday disclosed the New
Year’s Eve gas leak, but said
the radioactive material had
quickly dissipated.
"There is no adverse effect to
the public or the environment
and no radioactivity was
detected in buildings surround
ing the facility in which the
incident occurred,” said Myrtle
Atlanta murder
rate declines
ATLANTA (UPI) - The
Atlanta Police Bureau says the
city’s crime rate decreased
considerably during 1975, in
cluding a 25 per cent drop in
the murder rate.
In a yearend report issued
Thursday, the bureau said 185
people were murdered in
Atlanta in 1975 compared to 248
in 1974.
Robberies were down by 11
per cent, from 4,345 to 3,867.
Burglaries dropped from 16,822
to 14,523 and auto larceny
decreased from 4.215 to 3,785.
qqojiqia news
Georgia float wins
PASADENA, Calif. (UPI) — A float entered by the state
of Georgia was awarded first prize in its class Thursday in
the 87th annual Tournament of Roses parade.
The 54 mile, two-hour spectacular of color, ingenuity
and nostalgia, passed before an estimated 1.5 million
spectators packed solid along the parade route. Another
100 to 150 million saw it on nationwide television.
The parade was officially designated as the inaugural
event of America’s Bicentennial Year and many of the.
parade’s 61 floats stressed the nation’s heritage.
Betsy Johnson, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Thomas
H. Johnson of Statesboro, Ga., marched in the parade with
the McDonald’s All-American High School Band. Miss
Johnson plays the flute.
Ex-mayor buried
KENNESAW, Ga. (UPI) — A former Kennesaw mayor,
Luther C. Chalker, was buried Thursday in Kennesaw
City Cemetery.
Chalker, 87, died Tuesday. He was mayor from 1931 to
1945. He worked as a cashier for the Kennesaw State Bank
for 32 years and also worked in real estate.
Chalker is survived by his son, Fred H. Chalker of
Conley.
Woman killed
ELBERTON, Ga. (UPI) — An Elbert county woman
allegedly was shot and killed early Thursday by her
common law husband, authorities said.
Patsy Ann Langston, 26, died from a single gunshot
wound from a .22 caliber pistol, authorities said.
Police charged Mrs. Langston’s common law husband,
James Charles Pate, 39, with voluntary manslaughter in
the death.
Too tired
Public nor enviroment harmed
Reardon, the plant’s informa
tion officer.
She said the leak resulted
from a process line failure at
one of the plant’s production
facilities. Officials closed the
facility pending the outcome of
an investigation to pinpoint the
cause of the failure.
Tritium, an isotope of hydro
gen manufactured for defense
purposes, is one of two primary
radioactive materials manufac
tured at the plant. The other,
plutonium, is also used for
defense.
Mrs. Reardon said calcula
tions by monitoring teams at
the site indicated the concentra
tion of tritium at the plant was
“extremely low" and any
possible contamination was
However, assaults were up by
5 per cent, from 3,389 to 3,533,
and rapes showed a slight
increase from 456 to 459.
Atlanta Public Safety Com
missioner A. Reginald Eaves
said the decrease in crime was
due to a “closer relationship
between our people and the
community.”
“Two years ago, there was a
large number of citizens who
were scared of us, but there
has been a massive turnabout,”
he said.
WAKEFIELD, Mass. - Thirteen-year-old twins Linda (1)
and Lynne Donovan of Wakefield want to go for a ride but
3-year-old pet St. Bernard “Eskiba” has other ideas as
she refuses to pull their sled over the snow. (UPI)
confined to one room.
The gas is lighter than air
and rises on release. Mrs.
Reardon said it dissipated as a
20-mile-per hour wind moved
eastwardly.
The monitoring teams were
unable to detect any traces of
the gas downwind from the
plant, she said.
One worker was in the
production facility when the
leak occurred, she said. He was
checked for radioactivity and
none was found.
Officials only closed the
facility where the process line
failure was detected. The rest
of the plant remained in
operation, Mrs. Reardon said.
“If a leak occurs it is
standard procedure to shut
down the facility at which it
happens,” she said.
The plant, located on the
South Carolina side of the
Savannah River between
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Augusta, Ga., and Aiken, has
been the object of criticism by
environmentalists in recent
months. They say the plant’s
production of radioactive gases
jeopardizes the environment.
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