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Injured Pan American pilot Capt. Victor Grubbs rests his
badly burned arm on his knee at a hospital in Ft. Dix, N.J.
His wife Mae is at his side. Capt. Grubbs was to be
released from the hospital this morning where he has been
Griffin students get
close-up look at D.C.
Eighteen Griffin High students
attending the Close-Up program in
Washington, D. C. this week “are doing
Griffin proud,” according to their
teacher, William Bennett.
The group had breakfast with
Congressman Jack Flynt this morning
and visited his office where he was
trying to arrange a White House tour
for them.
The Cbse-Up program involves high
school students from throughout the
nation. They spend a week in
Washington learning first hand the
inside workings of the executive,
judicial and legislative branches of the
Fish bai t miller
He was their father confessor
ATLANTA (AP) - William M.
“Fishbait” Miller collected a lot of
seamy stories as a “father confessor”
to low-level government employes in
Washington.
When he was ousted from his $40,000-
a-year job as doorkeeper of the House
of Representatives in 1974, he wrote a
book about congressional indiscretions,
based mostly on back-corridor tales.
But, said Miller, who now lives in
Atlanta, “this kind of thing was com
mon knowledge. It is hearsay, but I
stand by it.”
For 24 years, the Mississipian was a
Capitol Hill fixture as he announced
presidents, statesmen and celebrities to
the House with the familiar “Mistah
Speakah.”
Army says recruit quality is down
WASHINGTON (AP) - The quality
of recruits entering the Army during
the past three months fell to the lowest
level in at least a year, and if the trend
continues it could lead to recruitment of
more women.
A high school diploma is a main
standard of quality for the armed
services. But figures obtained from
Pentagon manpower officials show that
only 47 per cent of the Army’s recruits
in January through March were high
school graduates.
This is about 9 per cent below the
Army’s minimum objective and well
under levels reported by the Marines,
GRIFFIN
DAI
Daily Since 1872
federal government.
So far, the Griffin group has talked
with Senators Herman Talmadge and
Sam Nunn. They’ve visited the
Pentagon, Howard University,
Georgetown University and Capitol Hill
and have participated in numerous
seminars and briefing sessions on such
matters as foreign policy.
Bennett said he has received many
favorable comments about the Griffin
students.
“Their comments are well prepared.
They are outgoing and interested and
ask hard-hitting questions, showing a
great interest and knowledge of the
Miller said many of the tales in the
book came from elevator operators,
policemen and congressional aides who
saw noted politicans in suspicious
circumstances.
“They’d be pretty tongue-tied at
times and want to get it off their
chests,” he said. “I was their father
confessor.”
Miller said 10,000 copies of his gossipy
memoir, “Fishbait,” have been
published for the first run and his
publisher expects to print 25,000 more
on the basis of early sales.
He spent 19 months writing the book
in collaboration with Washington
author Frances Spatz Leighton.
The book includes tales of men like
the late Sen. Estes Kefauver of Ten
nessee, who Miller said was “the worst
Navy and Air Force.
The continued downward trend in the
Army’s recruit quality seems likely to
fuel a debate over continuation of the
all-volunteer concept.
Some Congress members, including
Sen. John Stennis, DMiss., chairman of
the Senate Armed Services Committee,
contend the draft should be restored.
Defense Secretary Harold Brown
disagrees.
Army officials, who blame re
cruitment problems partly on
congressional cutbacks in funds, could
turn to the acceptance of more women
as away of bolstering quality.
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Thursday Afternoon, April 28, 1977
recovering from Injuries. He was the pilot of one of the
super jets which collided a month ago in the Canary
Islands. His mother is Mrs. A.H. Huckaby, 228 East
Poplar street, Griffin. (AP)
governmental processes,” he said.
Close-Up is the only federally funded
program of its kind. Congress
appropriates money for fellowships for
students unable to pay the S4OO costs.
One fellowship is given each school.
Those attending from Griffin High
include Carla Larson, Janet Drake,
Virginia Langford, Nathan Langford,
Larry Evans, Melanie Evans, Chris
Fletcher, Kathy Baker, Valinda
Barrett, Jennifer Brockenbrough,
Robert Hill, Rick Reynolds, Lee
Thomas, Lona Triplett, Steve Wallace,
Anne Weldon, Lisa Ward and Mary Lisa
Montgomery.
womanizer of the Senate, if not the
Hill.”
Miller also writes of congressional
tipplers.
“There used to be a liquor store on
Independence Avenue; you could look
out and see certain congressmen
headed right for it when it opened in the
morning,” he said.
Despite his stories of congressional
indiscretions, Miller said he believes no
more than 5 per cent of the members of
Congress are problem drinkers, and
only 10 per cent are philanderers.
He said he believes today’s
congressmen are more conscientious,
work longer and harder, and are better
prepared for their jobs than their
predecessors.
Sources said about 90 per cent of the
women recruited into the Army have
high school diplomas, which the Army
has said “is the best measure of quality
as it relates to motivation, discipline
and probability to complete the full
term of enlistment.”
The Army now limits its uniformed
women to about 50,000 out of a total
force of about 775,000.
Some officials argue that women
have shown they can perform well in a
wide variety of military jobs and that
the doors should be opened wider to
them. But certain Army traditionalists
oppose increasing the number of
Capt. Grubbs
He won’t quit
FORT DIX, N.J. (AP) — For Pan
American pilot Victor Grubbs, it’s time
to go home after a month of therapy for
burns suffered in the worst disaster in
aviation history.
Behind him is the March 27th
collision of his Boeing 747 with a KLM
747 on a runway at Tenerife in the
Canary Islands in which 580 persons
died. He was one of 66 survivors.
Ahead of him is his scheduled release
today from Walson Army Hospital
here, a trip to his home in Centerport,
N.Y., with his wife, Mae, and time to
think about the 32-year flying career
that he hopes to resume by this
summer.
During a bedside interview, the 56-
year-old Grubbs said he is grateful that
he has not been plagued by nightmares
of the crash. But he said he has not yet
been able to read news accounts of the
disaster. ,
“When I started to read a magazine <
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People
••• and things
Utilities on West Poplar street being
repaired: telephones on one side and
gas on the other.
Police car sitting quietly at 6 a.m.
today at Hill and Taylor streets.
Two 10-speeders parked in entrance
to Griffin High baseball field, riders
having stopped to see an inning and get
the score.
women in the service because they are
barred from combat duty.
Military manpower experts have long
forecast that an improving economy
would make it more difficult for all the
services to attract volunteers, par
ticularly young men with the potential
to fill skilled civilian jobs.
Army officers claim the winter
months traditionally are poor for
recruiting. But they cannot explain why
the Army did so poorly compared with
the other services in terms of quality
volunteers in the January-March
quarter.
Vol. 105 No. 100
Boxed in
story about it, a doctor here came in
and caught me weeping,” Grubbs said.
“He said not to worry, but I put it away.
“I’ll save all the stories and read
them someday, but I’m not going to do
it now,” he said.
Grubbs, a native of Griffin, Ga.,
received extensive treatment for
second-and third-degree bums on his
arms, legs and back.
“I’ve had time to think of so many
ways where a few seconds could have
avoided the whole thing, but I have to
believe that fate made it inevitable,”
said Grubbs.
In Westminster, Calif., funeral
services were conducted Wednesday
for 114 victims of the crash who were
burned beyond recognition.
Grubbs said his mind often wanders
back to the victims on his plane, who
were mostly retirees from California en
route to a “Golden Odyssey” vacation |
cruise.
SAN ANTONIO, Fla. — “Bounce” of the Locomotion
Circus finds himself all boxed in during a Spring Festival
at St. Leo College in San Antonio, Fla. The circus
specializes in juggling and gymnastic acts. (AP)
LaGrange to battle
high blood pressure
ATLANTA (AP) - Health officials in
LaGrange, Ga., have begun a drive to
help the 40,000 residents of Troup
County find out if they are suffering
from high blood pressure.
Dr. William McClellan, an internist
who is leading the town’s battle against
hypertension, said he became con
cerned about the high rate of heart dis
ease and stroke in the western Georgia
county.
“Hypertension (extremely high blood
pressure) probably is the No. 1 problem
in the United States,” McClellan said
Wednesday.
He said studies in Georgia and two
other states showed approximately 50
per cent of those with the disease don’t
know they have it, “and 25 per cent of
those who know they have it are not
under treatment.”
McClellan, 30, a native of Bir
mingham, Ala., said hypertension “is a
prelude to heart attack and stroke; it is
the leading risk factor in these dis
eases.”
McClellan said the LaGrange clinic
currently is treating more than 100
indigent patients with hypertension.
He said nurses, social workers,
physicians and pharmacists staff the
free clinic voluntarily, “and we have
not spent a dime so far.”
McClellan said 2,700 persons already
have received preliminary tests, and
during May the volunteer program
Weather
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA -
Fair and cold tonight with low near 50.
Partly cloudy Friday with high in upper
70s.
LOCAL WEATHER - Low this
morning at Spalding Forestry Center
43, high Wednesday 74.
“It was one of the happies groups I’ve
ever had on a flight,” he said.
Grubbs repeated that he knew he was
blameless for the collision. He
predicted the National Transportation
Safety Board’s investigation will exon
erate him.
“I think they’ll learn from the tapes
that it was just a horrible mistake and
that the KLM pilot took off without
clearance,” he said. “That seems to be
the consensus.”
Grubbs has received more than 700
get well letters from around the world.
“One little girl wrote that she didn’t
want to catch me in a plane again,” he
said. “But the main message in all the
cards is, ‘Don’t quit.’”
Grubbs said he made up his mind not
to quit moments after the crash as his
jet was exploding into rubble.
“Even though I was sick at seeing the
plane I knew I couldn’t quit because it
wasn’t my fault,” he said.
hopes to test another 3,000 persons.
Troup County’s rate of heart disease
is about 88 per 100,000 persons and the
attack rate of stroke is about 129 per
100,000, compared to the national aver
age of about 100 per 100,000 for heart
disease and about 50 per 100,000 for
stroke, he said.
“We hope through our testing and
treatment program to get our stroke
average below the national average,”
McClellan said.
The Country Parson
by Frank Clark
't ' iff? it-*—,,-, ,7
•C. —
“An amusing accident is one
somebody else had.”