‘This is tomorrow’
Phillips enjoy ‘space age ’ home
“This is tomorrow,” according to
Pike County resident Ed Phillips and he
is living it today.
The Phillips’ are living on a 7-acre
piece of land in their double dome
shaped house with a parallelism of
what is to be expected in the year 2000.
Phillips says he is, however, a man
willing to accept new ideas and is
willing to make the changes the ideas
will bring.
“We are very unusual people,”
Phillips said.
THE HOUSE
The double domed structure is
constructed of fiber glass sandwiching
a layer of compressed urethane foam
which acts as insulation against the
heat and cold.
Mrs. Katherine Phillips, a registered
nurse at the Griffin-Spalding Hospital,
finds the house as liveable as any other
structure she has lived in.
“I like it because one can make the
rooms any size you want and it’s easy to
keep up,” Mrs. Phillips said.
Rainmakers are encouraged
DAWSON, Ga. (AP) - Farmers in
southwest Georgia who have raised
$25,000 to finance a cloud-seeding
operation have received some en
couragement, but agriculture officials
say there’s still a long way to go.
Darrell Dunn, Terrell County ex
tension agent, said rain Sunday during
the fifth day of cloud seeding ranged up
to two inches and “was fairly wide
spread over about one-half of the
county.
“It was very beneficial for peanuts
and soybeans,’’ Dunn said Monday.
“But we need three-fourths of an inch
or so on the next three or four aftemons
— I
Dream comes true
Louis Thacker’s 9-year-old dream came true yesterday
when he flew his homemade airplane at the Griffin-
Spalding Airport. Louis taxied the craft up and down the JE 'fe
runway before the experimental plane lifted off to the
cheers of 25 to 30 well-wishers. MKrek
Okefenokee driest in years
FARGO, Ga. (AP) — The Okefenokee
Swamp wilderness refuge is the driest
it has been in more than two decades.
Drought has changed the 370,-000-
acre refuge along the Florida-Georgia
border from a water wilderness with
floating islands to dry land crossed by
shallow streams.
Another drought, lasting more than
two years, dried out the Okefenokee in
The Country Parson
by Frank Clark
gfW’fc'W
“A committee of five can
reach a decision easily —if four
of them are indifferent”
GRIFFIN
Daily Since 1872
Mrs. Phillips said the only problem
she had was learning to arrange the
furniture. Other than that, the house
posed no problems at all.
She said she could not line the walls
effectively with any piece of furniture
over four-feet high because of the
curves of the outer wall of the dome.
The structure has sliding doors at
both ends and a window in the section
that ajoins the two domes for ven
tilation and exits.
The house is totally airconditioned
and the Phillips’ say the three-quarter
inch walls are adequately insulated to
keep their electric bill under $34 a
month.
The home is total electric and is
heated by electrical space unit heaters
for each room.
The home is cooled by several air
condition units designated for a par
ticular room.
One would think from looking at the
outside of the structure there would be
only two big rooms. However, this is not
in order to be of real help.”
Rainfall over Sumter County Sunday
was reported as spotty. No rainfall was
recorded at the University of Georgia
experiment station at Plains and only a
trace was reported at Americus. Some
sections of the county reported
showers.
Farmers in a drought-stricken eight
county area around Dawson have hired
a North American Weather Consultants
plane to seed clouds with silver iodide
crystals in the hope of producing rain.
They said the corn crop is gone, but
they hope to save peanuts and soy
beans.
1954 and then fire devastated 65 per
cent of its area.
Ron Bisbee, refuge specialist for the
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the
current level of 120 feet above sea level
is two feet below normal and compares
with 118 feet in 1954.
Bisbee said alligators and fish are
being forced into an area of a few
thousand acres. Normally, they occupy
virtually all the swamp.
Boaters in the Suwannee Canal have
reported sighting many alligators,
which are rarely seen at this time of
year because they stay in the water and
away from the boat trails.
Bisbee also says vegetation which
usually grows from kneedeep water on
the prairies is dying in the hot sun.
“At this time under normal con
ditions, the water lillies are in full
bloom,” Bisbee said. “Now, there are
only a few.”
On the Chesser Prairie, usually
covered by water, blades of light green
grass are sprouting from the dry land
and flocks of white ibis are seeking out
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Tuesday Afternoon, July 19,1977
the case.
The Phillips’ have divided the house
into two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living
room a den and one and three-quarter
baths.
Phillips said the 1100 square foot
structure lends itself toward solar
heating and cooling, although it
presently has no solar system.
The house has two large windows
with a ventilation system in the center
of the dome which fill the house with
sunlight.
The smaller windows in the side of
the dome permit light into the structure
but will not permit one to look in.
As to the safety of the house, even in
very high wind situations, the Phillips
say they feel safer than in a mobile
home or some of the other conventional
homes.
They said the wind blows over the
structure because of its curvatures
rather than straight at the structure.
Even the maintenance and upkeep of
(Continued on page 2)
The contract with North American
runs for 30 days. Meteorologist Don
Griffith is conducting the operation.
J.W. “Bill” Whitaker, a Terrell
County farmer who organized the
rainmaking project called Rain Gain
Inc., said Griffith gave the farmers no
guarantee for his $25,000 fee. But he has
assured them that he will produce
about 30 per cent more rain than would
normally fall.
Rain Gain includes about 2,000
farmers in the counties of Terrell,
Calhoun, Webster, Lee, Sumter,
Dougherty, Randolph and Stewart.
the dwindling puddles of water, probing
for minnows and other aquatic life.
Showers
drench
some areas
Parched fields and hot city streets got
drinks of water here Monday evening
as scattered showers cooled the area.
The Spalding County Forestry Unit
recorded .40 of an inch of rain.
Farmers hoped the rains would
continue as they made counter moves
in planting late crops in an effort to
offset losses from the dry summer so
far.
Some farmers already have plowed
under their com and turned to soybeans
in hopes of making something from this
summer’s growing season.
The rain here Monday was one of the
best in many weeks, many growers
said.
Sir
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Mr. and Mrs. Phillips: “We are very unusual people.”
Some authority members
change tune at hospital;
now they’re singing
‘Don’t fence me in’
The Griffin-Spalding Hospital
Authority voted Monday night to wait
until the August meeting before making
a final decision on whether to fence in
the hospital grounds.
There was considerable discussion
and some opposition to the proposal.
“I’ve never seen a hospital fenced in.
. .anywhere. . .It would be like Alto
State Prison and would detract from
the looks,” Dr. Vaiden Smith, president
of the medical staff, said.
Board member Jerry Savage agreed
and asked if there were any way to have
security other than a fence.
Executive Director William Feely
said he had been getting negative
feedback about the fence from both the
employees and medical staff.
He explained that the idea steemed
from an incident several months ago
involving a woman who returned to her
car in the parking lot to find a man on
the hood who attempted to grab her.
She was not injured.
Feely noted that a nurse had been
killed at Emory in the parking lot there
and such things are possible.
“The fence is the cheapest way to
go,” be said.
Two bids were received on the
project. The lowest, $10,230, was from
Griffin Fence Co. Griffin Hardware,
Inc. also submitted a bid of $10,716.
Dr. Kenneth Reynolds was concerned
about the cost of fencing such a large
area. The fence would extend to Ninth
street in front of the Health Department
and would enclose an area presently
being used as a ball field. Dr. Reynolds
said the facility belongs to the citizens
I>. « A. ■
I 9 j
r> • Leon Archer powers through a turn at the Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga.
UaClllg Racing is his alternative to a 9 to 5 job. See story page IL
Vol. 105 NO. 169
Also:
Also in this story:
1. — Authority struggles with
question of whether to admit news
people to all meetings and committee
sessions. They haven’t resolved that
one.
2. — Blue Cross - Blue Shield patients
must have coverage reviewed like -
Medicare and Medicaid.
3. — Dr. Tom Floyd donates medical
books to hospital library after retire
ment. Board passes resolution thanking
him for his service to community.
3. — Dr. James O. Day will be
Griffin’s newest medical doctor.
and he hated for the hospital to fence in
an area it would not use and which
would do away with a ballfield.
Larry Ballard, chairman of the
grounds committee, explained the
fence would follow the hospital
property lines from Graefe street
adjacent to the loading platform, down
to Ninth street, across the front next to
the golf course and up the end of the
south parking lots to Eighth street,
back to the comer of the building. The
rear and emergency room entrance
would not be enclosed, he said.
A motion by Dr. Reynolds to table the
matter until August when other options
could be studied passed 5 to 3. Voting
against the delay were Ballard, Bill
Wesley and Dick Hyatt. For the
proposal were Dr. Reynolds, Savage,
Otis Head, Mrs. Jo Pollard, and
Chairman O. M. (Pete) Snider.
Weather
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA -
Partly cloudy and warm through
Wednesday with chance of mainly
afternoon and evening thundershowers.
Low tonight in the upper 60s. High
Wednesday in the low 90s.
LOCAL WEATHER — Low this
morning at the Spalding Forestry Unit
67, high Monday 92, rainfall .40 of an
inch.
No action was taken on whether to
invite the news media to all hospital
board and committee meetings.
Dick Hyatt said that it seemed the
authority has the appearance of having
closed meetings,and since the hospital
is a public facility, the board should
show good faith in welcoming the media
to all meetings. He also suggested they
be notified in advance.
Dr. Reynolds agreed. He said in the
past there was criticism of closed
meetings and before the sunshine law
was enacted, “even the medical staff
was not allowed.”
Chairman O. M. (Pete) Snider said
the press is notified of regular board
meetings, but “there are so many
committee meetings, they would have
to hire somebody else just to come to all
(Continued on page 2)
People
••• and things
Well known locksmith here
struggling to open box of aspirin with
screwdriver.
Father-to-be pacing floor of hospital
maternity ward where wife is in labor,
he being unable to find out anything
because the babies were being fed and
he could not enter the area.
Tiny boy sitting in stands watching
baseball game hoping he could snag
foul with king-size glove he was
wearing.
