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Meet John Snider ; Probate judge
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John Snider
Lawmen pull bodies
from Spalding well
“Drugs from the word ‘go’, both
dealing and being hopped up”, were
involved in the deaths of two Griffin
men according to Spalding Sheriff
Dwayne Gilbert. The bodies were
pulled from an abandoned well off
Walker’s Mill road about 10:45 this
morning.
Randy Reeves, 26, and Stanley
Darsey, 19, apparently were shot and
their bodies thrown in the 42-foot dry
well.
Ronald Terry Fouts, 20, of 622 East
Mclntosh road, and Joseph Alfred
“Jody” Gresham, 18, of 49 Pine street,
Experiment, have been charged with
murder. They were being held in the
Spalding County jail.
They were arrested Tuesday
afternoon around 2:30 p.m. at their
homes.
The investigation first began Monday
afternoon when Reeves’ wife, Patsy,
returned home from work and found
her home at the Ga. 16 east and
Dutchman road intersection had been
burglarized.
Blood, both in a trail and in pools, was
found throughout the house in the living
room, a child’s bedroom and on the
back porch, lawmen said.
Darsey, a family friend, had been
living with the Reeves for about six
months and when he and Reeves did not
return home from work Monday night a
search was started.
Sheriff Gilbert did not go into details
on how the arrests came about but said
that six rifles taken from the Reeves’
residence were found wrapped in a
quilt, which also had been stolen from
the home, in a wooded area on Seven
Forks road off North Hill street
extension, Tuesday afternoon.
The death weapon was not among
them, as it was thought to be a small
caliber pistol, he said.
Gilbert said that someone, he did not
disclose whether or not it was one of the
Terry Smith chairman
of merchants committee
Terry Smith of Sutton’s downtown
department store, is the new chairman
of the Merchants Steering Committee
of the Chamber of Commerce.
The Griffin merchants elected him
this morning to succeed Don Rainwater
of Morrow-Powell who completed his
term of office.
Mr. Rainwater reported to the annual
meeting on the committee’s activities
during the past year.
These included the annual Christmas
Parade and holiday decorations, eight
special promotions to stimulate
business, providing for the third year of
253 free offstreet parking spaces in
downtown Griffin, a sales seminar,
DAI LY N EWS
Daily Since 1872
John Snider, the new Probate Judge
of Spalding County, comes from a
family of public servants. His father,
Otis M. Snider, served for 18 years as a
county commissioner and was
chairman of the Board of Registrars in
Spalding County from 1961 to 1970.
Otis M. “Pete” Snider, Jr., the
Probate Judge’s brother, served for 12
years as a city commissioner in
Griffin; of those 12 years, he served
three as Mayor of Griffin.
John Snider is the distant cousin of
Judge Arthur K. Maddox who was
Judge of the City Court (now State
Court of Spalding County) from 1929 to
1941.
Snider is also a distant cousin of State
Attorney General Arthur Bolton.
“I suppose it’s this family
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suspects, told investigators where the
bodies were and went to the spot with
them last night.
The bodies were left in the well
Tuesday night, both as a safety
measure and for fear of disturbing
evidence in the dark.
Early this morning, Sheriff’s officers,
GBI agents, Griffin police and local
Civil Defense workers worked for
several hours recovering the bodies.
Also on hand were District Atty. Ben
Miller, Coroner Emmett Chappell,
County Medical Advisor Virgil
Williams and news reporters.
The scene was about a mile north of
Ga. 16 east, on Walker’s Mill road in a
credit seminar, shoplifting seminar,
advertising clinic and promoting visits
of the Heritage Train and the Armed
Forces Caravan.
Mr. Rainwater thanked the
committee members and expressed
appreciation for the cooperation and
participation of the Griffin merchants.
The merchants elected the following
members of the Merchants Steering
Committee to serve this year: Kim
Beatty, David Bolton, Jon Crouch,
Charles Jones, Ed Oakley, Don
Rainwater, Dan Brazelton, Steve
Fulgham, Terry Smith, Eric Sigman,
Stell Gray, Louis Arnett, Bates Bowers,
Jim Wiggins, and Billy Reeves.
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Wednesday Afternoon, January 12,1977
Law officers pull bodies from well this morning
involvement in public service that
would account for my interests in
politics and elections,” said Snider.
Snider is a familiar figure at the polls
during local elections and is known for
many accurate election predictions.
He officially assumed the duties of
Probate Judge of Spalding County on
Jan. 1 to begin a 4-year term.
Duties of his office include handling
the probate of wills, petitions for
administration of estates, orders
declaring no administration
necessary, petitions for year’s support
by widow, letters of temporary or
permanent administration and the
appointment of guardians for minors or
mentally ill persons.
He also issues marriage licenses and
pistol toters licenses.
desolate wooded area covered with
undergrowth and pines. The well was
near a chimney where a house once
stood and had an old square wall made
of rocks around it about a foot high. It
was about 100 feet from the road. The
well was uncovered but a wooden
platform had been thrown into the hole
which delayed recovery of the bodies.
GBI Agent Bert Davis descended into
the well on a pulley of ropes attached to
nearby trees. About a half dozen men
slowly let him down. He tied ropes to
each body which was pulled out and
taken by ambulance to the Griffin
hospital to be examined by Dr.
Williams.
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Chamber executive vice-president Mildred Sawyer and
Merchants Chairman Terry Smith.
“Most of the phone calls I get during
the day are inquiries about marriage
licenses or pistol toters licenses,”
Snider said.
The Probate Judge is also authorized
to perform'the ceremony of marriage.
A newcomer to the role, Snider had
never married anyone.
“Since I took office, I’ve married two
couples,” he said.
The office is also responsible for
recording wills and keeping records of
marriages in Spalding County which
date back to 1852.
“I’ve had several people ask about
me preparing documents for the
court,” said Snider.
“According to Georgia law, the
Porbate Judge is now prohibited from
practicing law in his own court and
Davis also looked for the death
weapon but was unable to find it.
Sheriff Gilbert said the deaths
apparently resulted in an argument
over a drug deal.
In an earlier drug related incident,
both Fouts and Gresham had been
taken into custody in connection with a
burglary in October at Dr. Fielding
Lindsey’s veterinary office in which
animal tranquilizers were stolen. They,
along with several others, were treated
at the Griffin hospital for a drug
overdose, police said.
Fouts also was charged with
possessing a small quantity of
marijuana Sunday by Griffin police
officers.
Vol. 105 No. 9
therefore, I cannot prepare documents
that will be handled in Probate Court,”
he said.
Handling the work of the Probate
Court are Snider and two secretaries,
Mrs. Evelyn Thaxton and Mrs. Jolene
Taylor.
Snider was bom in Griffin and
graduated from Spalding County High
School, where he was a member of the
region championship football team in
1950. He served two years with the
Fourth Armored Division in the Army.
He attended Massey Law College in
Atlanta and has taken courses in
accounting, income tax and real estate
at Griffin Tech.
Professionally, he worked as a
deputy of the Spalding County Sheriff’s
Dept.; he worked for Delta Airlines,
Budget writers oppose
bonds for fixing roads
ATLANTA (AP) — If Georgia is to
spend millions of dollars fixing up
roads, it’s going to do it with cash, not
with bonds as Gov. George Busbee had
planned, House budget writers decided
Tuesday.
Busbee had no immediate public
comment on the action by the House
Appropriations Committee.
Busbee’s House floor leader, Rep.
Roy Lambert of Madison, said he ex
pects the governor to continue to fight
for his plan to issue S3O million in bonds
to resurface about 4,000 miles of city
and county roads.
The House committee voted over
whelmingly to use instead Busbee’s
proposed surplus of about s2l million in
the current fiscal year’s budget.
The committee also approved a
special budget measure to appropriate
$1.75 million to begin construction of a
state office building near the Capitol
over a proposed rapid rail line station.
Elsewhere in the Capitol Tuesday:
—The Senate Judiciary Committee
(Continued on page 12)
Pike School Board
reelects Mullins
The Pike County Board of Education
last night renewed the contract of
Superintendent Jim Mullins for another
year and elected a new board chairman
— Jack Pilkenton. .
Several people opposed the rehiring
of Supt. Mullins.
However, most people, who spoke out
at the open meeting, supported him and
recommended that he be retained.
Lanier Johnson, ex-chairman of the
Pike County Board of Commissioners,
asked the school board to consider
hiring a new superintendent.
He said that in his opinion, the recent
school budget increases had caused a
serious split within the county.
Mr. Johnson said his opposition to
Supt. Mullins was not personal, ex
plaining that he opposed the superin
tendent’s spending policies.
“I believe a more conservative
superintendent will be a marked im
provement,” Mr. Johnson said.
The former county commissioner
said he would like to see the board trim
the school budget.
Several other Pike citizens voiced
opposition to Supt. Mullins, most basing
their arguments on higher school taxes
and increased school budget.
Supt. Mullins received support from
several spokesmen, including at least
two teachers, who praised the superin
tendent, asking that he be rehired for
another year.
The school board listened to the argu
ments in open session before declaring
an executive session to discuss Supt.
Mullins’ contract and cast ballots.
Supt. Mullins was rehired on a 3-1
vote.
Board members Richard Ward,
Charles Bentley and Steve Ballard
voted to retain Supt. Mullins.
Ronald Adams voted not to renew his
contract.
Weather
ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY 45, low
today 20, high yesterday 35, low
yesterday 10, high tomorrqy in mid 40s,
low tonight near 20.
FORECAST: Fair and cold tonight.
Increasing cloudiness and not quite as
cold Thursday.
EXTENDED FORECAST: A chance
of rain Friday, possibly mixed with
snow in the extreme north. Clearing
Saturday. A chance of rain developing
again Sunday.
owned an income tax franchise and
worked in real estate.
Snider is married to the former
Bonnie Mann of Griffin. They have two
children: Donna, who is one-year-old
and Darrin, eight-years-old.
The Sniders are very active in the
Highland Baptist Church where he
serves as a Sunday School director and
Bonnie is the Children’s Church
director, a teacher in the young
people’s Sunday School class and
president of the Women’s Missionary
Union.
Asked if his family political ties and
interest in politics would influence him
to seek higher political office at the
termination of his term as Probate
Judge, Snider laughed and said he had
no plans to that affect.
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Gov. Busbee
Chairman Jack Pilkenton did not
vote. The chairman only votes to break
ties.
Prior to renewing Supt. Mullins’
contract, the school board unanimously
elected Mr. Pilkenton as its chairman.
He succeeds Richard Ward, who served
as chairman for two years.
Charles Bentley was elected vice
chairman.
People
...and things
School boy arising this a.m., finding
lake outside his home frozen over and
skipping a rock along its ice.
Conversation in lobby of one of
Griffin’s banks: “Going to the
inauguration?” Reply, “I wasn’t
invited.” Response, “Oh.”
Girl, nose red from cold, walking to
school.
The Country Parson
by Frank Clark
“Whenever we pass a new law
we . have to hairy and start
legislating the exceptions.”
