Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by the 2016 Spalding County SPLOST via the Flint River Regional Library System.
About Griffin daily news. (Griffin, Ga.) 1924-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1977)
Nixon 7 brought myself down. I gave ’em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I”d been in their position, I”d a done the same thing.” WASHINGTON (AP) - Richard M. Nixon confessed that he lied about Watergate, that he made the wrong decisions, that he let “the American people down.” But the only man to re sign the presidency grimly vowed that he would never grovel before his enemies. In a dramatic recitation of his mishandling of the Watergate scandal, Nixon steadfastly maintained in a 90- ? * ' jffidiiy fe-, - p r< A a v\ jp **- IBlSrißffiWw •- WKS wOHIB f ■ • iwiWMH i JMWjBBW- I : -wMLt* BP PBrz MKm/ 11 ImH looking over drawings for renovation of the old post office building on West Solomon street are (1-r) County Commissioner Reid Childers, Architect Taylor Manley, Commissioners /^ll 1 . a Frank Thomas and P.W. Hamfl, Health Board Chairman Dr. Guy Woodroof and Rep. John Checking plans Mostfler. The building will become a personal development center for the area. It will house ~ mental health and related problems and put the programs, now scattered in several buildings, under one roof. People here take their troubles to Sen. Nunn’s man If enough people complain, Congress just might do something about the unfair laws in this country. That’s what some Spalding residents were hoping when they visited Earl Cheek, a member of Sen. Sam Nunn’s staff Wednesday in the county commissioners’ office at the courthouse. Mr. Cheek was making his twice yearly visit to Griffin to talk with citizens about problems involving the federal government. Take the man in his late 60’s who wants Sen. Nunn to do something about the Social Security system. The man said he’d been paying maximum Social Security since the program started back in the ’3o’s. But now that he’s past retirement age, he can’t draw benefits if he continues to work. And he wants to keep working as long as he can. His friend, the same age, retired at age 65 and draws the maximum Social Security benefits. He also earns about SIOO,OOO a year in dividend payments but is not penalized as he would be if the minute televised interview that he was innocent of crime but guilty of blunders — “mistakes of the heart, rather than the head.” “I let down my friends. I let down the country. I let down our system of government ...,” Nixon said Wednesday as he broke his silence on the scandal that drove him from office 33 months ago. “I let the American people down, and GRIFFIN Daily Since 1872 income were from his work instead. “It’s not fair,” the man said. “If I had retired at age 65, I figure I’d have to live til I was 94 to get back what I’ve put into the program, plus interest. I don’t think I should be penalized because I want to work,” he said. “Those politicians have made a political football out of it (Social Security). They’ve used that money to get votes,” he complained. Mr. Cheek, a retired school teacher himself, sympathized, “I know how hard it is to get along on retirement pay” He said most of the complaints he gets are about the Social Security system. If more people would write their congressmen, it might help, he said. He promised to send the comments along to Sen. Nunn. “I bought a federally financed house with faulty, incomplete construction,” bemoaned Mrs. Glennette Futch of Holly lane. Mrs. Futch said her family moved into the house before it had been Griffin, Ga., 30223, Thursday Afternoon, May 5,1977 I have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life,” he said in the first of four television interviews expected to earn him as much as $1 million. Nixon said, “I have impeached myself.... By resigning. That was a voluntary impeachment.” Viewers who expected a frank admission of guilt from Nixon were disappointed. Despite persistent questioning by completed. She said she and about 5 other families purchased houses from Tri-County builders with federally financed loans through the Farmers Home Administration. Before the finishing touches could be completed, the 2 principals in the corporation, Ed Vickery and Richard Hudson, died. Now she’s left with payments on a house with faulty wiring and no heat. The furnace has not been connected and the only heat her family had the entire winter was from the gas oven in her kitchen. When the temperature hovered below the freezing point, the family moved into her mother’s camper to keep warm, she said. The house next door was destroyed by fire because of the poor wiring, she said. And her home also is wired defectively, she continued. “The Farmers Home won’t do anything and I don’t have anyone I can go back to with the responsibility,” she said. If she moves out and defaults on the loan, she’ll lose what she has invested r* ■w* I ■ ■ British television personality David Frost, Nixon refused to admit committing any offense for which he should have been impeached or in the house. And if she gets everything fixed as it should have been, it will cost her family more money. She was hoping Sen. Nunn would help. Mr. Cheek put in a long distance call to the Washington FHA office telling them to be on the lookout for the problem. He took her loan number and promised to do what he could. Carl N. Richardson, former Griffin- Spalding Hospital Authority chairman, dropped by to say he thinks “it would be a gross mistake to limit hospital income without limiting expenses” as is being proposed by the Carter administration. “I’ll agree medical expenses are unreasonable, but with most hospital expenses around 65 to 70 percent labor, their salaries cannot be raised to keep competent help without increasing the costs to the patient,” he said. “There’s no way adequate medical attention can be given if the spiral continues to rise and a limit is put on what they can charge,” he continued. Mr. Richardson also served as Chairman of the legislative committee The faces of Nixon during interview prosecuted. He admitted it was his fault the scandal “snowballed,” but said: “People didn’t think it was enough to Vol. 105 No. 106 Some still haven’t paid Spalding County taxpayers who have not paid their taxes for 1976 are receiving letters from the office of the tax commissioner reminding them their taxes are delinquent. Those who have not paid their taxes will be charged 9 percent per annum interest and $2.50 if the amount is less than SIOO and $5 if the amount is more than SIOO. Tax Commissioner Mrs. Ruby Hill said Spalding County has a record for collecting more than 99 percent of taxes. “I believe the people of the county know they are responsible for paying the taxes and will come on in and pay them,” she said. Mrs. Hill said two of the biggest headaches of the tax commissioner’s office are mobile homes that move out of the county during the year and finding addresses of those people who are delinquent in paying their taxes. She said the tax commissioner’s office tries to be lenient with those who are making an effort to pay their taxes. In hardship cases arrangements are made for the taxpayer to pay by the week or month. Mrs. Hill said more than 90 percent of the taxes on the digest in Spalding County are collected before the Dec. 20. deadline. She said the earlier bills are sent to the taxpayers, the fewer cases there are of delinquent taxes. If the bills go out late, “there you get into dipping into the money that has been set aside for Santa Clause,” she said. Mobile home owners who do not own their own property, will find them of the Georgia Hospital Commission. Henry Holliman who operates a seafood market complained that he has no way to collect delinquent accounts from folks on welfare or Social Security. He said he was a “soft touch” for needy people. “One old woman came in and cried for food and now I’m stuck for SIBO that she won’t repay. I love to help people, but when they don’t come across, it hurts,” he said. He said he thinks there ought to be a way government checks can be garnished or held up til the person can make arrangements about a bill. “When they get the stuff and run up a big bill, they disappear. And when I go by to see them, they don’t come to the door and pretend they’re not at home,” he said. A man who had been turned down for Social Security benefits came by to complain. He was told to file for reconsidera- (Continued on page two.) admit mistakes, fine. If they want me to get down and grovel on the floor, no. Never. Because I don’t believe I (Continued on page two.) Weather FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA - Fair tonight and sunny Friday. Low tonight in low 60s. High Friday in mid 80s. LOCAL WEATHER — Low this morning at Spalding Forestry Unit 56, high Wednesday 84. selves paying their taxes in advance beginning January 1. Taxes on mobile homes will be paid very much the same as on automobiles, Mrs. Hill said. She said the mobile home owners will be put in the position of paying taxes for one year (1977) at the end of the year and taxes for the next year at the beginning of the year (1978). After the first year, the taxes must be paid by April of each year. “We will be selling some of the property to collect the taxes.” Mrs. Hill said. She said the tax commissioner’s office can go only so far with the cases before the property has to be sold for the taxes. Staffers in the tax commissioner’s office check everywhere possible in an effort to find the addresses of some of the property owners who are delinquent. These include telephone directories, utilities and other sources. Records are kept on delinquent taxes and many of those who owe back taxes are caught when they come back into the county and file returns on other property they have purchased. “Some of the smaller counties in Georgia report 100 percent of their taxes collected. I doubt that they are collecting the total amount,” Mrs. Hill said. Some of the state’s larger counties are having property sales monthly before their respective courthouses in an effort to collect taxes. They run millions of dollars short of the digest each year. “Overall, we have one of the best tax collection records in the state and we are proud of it.” Mrs. Hill said. She gave credit for the good collections to the people who pay the taxes. People ...and things Two men working on scorching roof of city hall under hot sun, stopping a minute to look over their work. Middle-aged plump woman in shorts walking barefoot on hot downtown sidewalk, pushing bicycle. Out-of-town civic club speaker shuffling through his big notebook just before making talk, finding he had underlined almost everything for emphasis. “A good home is one in which each member is primarily concerned with the happiness of the others.”
