Newspaper Page Text
Will city sack meters?
The Griffin City Commissioners will
decide at their next meeting on Aug. 23
whether to do away with downtown
parking meters for a trial period.
Eight merchants came to the
Tuesday night meeting to request that
the meters be removed.
Sid Rifkin, owner of Marsh’s, said
removing meters would be the most
effective and simplest step toward
helping the downtown area and putting
the merchants there on an equal par
with those in other shopping areas.
He said he had names of some 30
merchants who opposed the meters and
had promised to come to the meeting.
Mrs. Angie Patterson, owner of The
Bazaar Boutique, suggested the
commissioners visit other towns to see
first hand the “joy of shopping with free
parking in downtown.”
She described a city she recently
35 to earn diplomas in summer sessions
Summer school at Griffin High is
scheduled to close Friday and 35
seniors will be eligible for diplomas,
according to C. W. Daniels, Griffin High
summer school principal.
People
••• and things
Paper cup tossed from window of
auto with bumper sticker urging “Keep
America Beautiful.”
Two-year-old thumping watermelon
with tiny finger and smiling when he
signals he thinks it’s ripe.
Two women stopping in traffic lane of
busy shopping center to discuss latest
diet book they are reading, un
concerned about traffic swirling about
them.
Back-to-school
gets started
Many Griffin community businesses
today kicked off their back-to-school
promotions.
With the opening of schools here just
weeks away, merchants have been
busy stocking their stores with clothing,
school supplies and other goods
youngsters need to start the fall season.
Many merchants plan special offers
for parents shopping for their children.
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First Federal building on South Sixth street.
DAILY NEWS
Daily Since 1872
Some merchants want to give it a try to see what happens.
Commissioners will decide what to do at Aug. 23 meeting.
visited in New Jersey which had taken
down its meters, rerouted traffic and
closed off street sections, adding
benches and flower boxes, which helped
make the downtown area interesting
for shoppers.
Mrs. Patterson noted that several
downtown businesses have either
moved or closed recently and said she
understands that others may be in
trouble.
William Rosenfeld, owner of Buy-
Rite, feels that with the advent of
shopping centers, meters are an
tiquated. Arrangements could be made
to control parking as is done in other
cities, he said.
The controls could include marking
tires with $2 fines for parking more
than 2 hours.
Merchants and employes could
“snitch” on each other for using the
The seniors, representing 5 different
school systems, will receive diplomas
from their respective school systems.
A breakdown of the seniors’ schools
and the number of students attending
are as follows:
Griffin High will have 24 eligible for
graduation; Henry County has 5; Pike
County High will have 4; Lamar County
High has 1 and Parker High School of
Greenville, S. C. has 1.
There were 308 students enrolled in
the 8-week sessions which represented
Spalding, Butts, Pike, Lamar, Fayette
and other counties.
An average of 16 teachers worked
during the summer session which of
fered students an opportunity to make
as many as 25 quarter-hours. The 25
quarter-hours would equal to one and
two-third units of regular school work.
Daniels felt the offering of quarter
hours was advantageous to many
The Griffin Merchants Committee
suggested the promotion but did not
organize a specific campaign.
Most merchants accepted the dates
the committee suggested and started
their fall promotions this week.
The bargains are expected to attract
thousands of shoppers to the com
munity this week.
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Wednesday Afternoon, August 10,1977
students because it meant that a
student who needed to make only a few
quarter-hours would not have to attend
the whole 8-week session.
A student could make 5 quarter-hours
credit during the morning sessions by
attending summer school 13% days. He
could make the same hours in the af
ternoon by attending 20 days.
Morning session classes are 3 hours
while the afternoon classes are 2 hours.
Summer school at Griffin High has
been good for students in counties other
than Spalding and is offering a viable
service to. area youth.
“It certainly has been helpful to the
surrounding coqnties,” Daniels said.
A county-by-county breakdown shows
there were 17 students enrolled this
summer from Pike County; Lamar had
8; from Henry there were 7; from
Fayette 4; and from others there were
16.
street spaces, he said.
“We’d get a few chislers but most
people would cooperate,” Rifkin
commented.
Mrs. Rifkin said she gets several
complaints from customers daily about
the meters.
According to City Manager Roy
Inman, around $17,000 to SIB,OOO is
taken in annually from the meters. The
first year they were removed from
parking lots, merchants came up with
$7,000 to help defray the lot rentals and
taxes. Later the city got $5,000 but has
received no money in the last 18
months, he said.
Mayor Raymond Head said he
favored a trial period of from 60 to 90
days to see if not having meters would
work.
“I hate to see downtown continue to
lose businesses,” he said.
The Country Parson
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“You ought to give advice
sparingly — it can, like
medicine, have bad side ef
fects.”
“If the majority of merchants want
them out, I’d favor taking them out. I’d
like to hear how most of them feel about
it,” said Commissioner Ernest “Tiggy”
Jones.
Commissioner Louis Goldstein said
he can see the advantages of both sides.
“Others feel just as strongly about
keeping them. I’d like to see a trial
period and hear from the other side,”
he said.
“Let’s have a trial period and let the
other side raise cain for a while. Go
ahead, put a sack over them and try it
out,” said Commissioner Dick Mullins.
He noted that since the meters have
been in use around 30 years, most
people don’t know what it would be like
(Continued on page 2)
The Griffin-Spalding school system
was represented by 186 students from
Griffin High; 46 from Unit I, 3 from
Unit II; 18 from Unit III; and from
Griffin Academy there were 3.
All seventh graders taking courses
did so for make-up work only.
Canning bubbles
right along here
Despite shortages of summer
vegetables to some canneries in
Georgia, the supply of green beans and
pimientos to Pomona Products Co. in
Griffin has been sufficient.
Hugh Hunt of Pomona Products said
the beans canned at the Griffin plant
are grown in East Tennessee and that
area has had more rain than the Griffin
area.
Hunt also said pimiento processing
began last week and, so far, the supply
had been sufficient. Most of the
pimientos canned in Griffin are grown
in Alabama, Mississippi and Ten
nessee. Some of the pimientos are
grown in the local area, but only a small
percentage.
Hunt said Pomona Products had been
lucky so far this season. He said winter
vegetables are grown in south Georgia
and north Florida and that the supply
would depend on the amount of rain in
those areas.
Some of the south Georgia canneries
are having trouble finding enough
First Federal is 50 years old
The First Federal Savings and Loan
Association of Griffin will observe its
50th birthday with a 3-day celebration
beginning Thursday.
Festivities start at the 223 South Sixth
street building with a cake cutting at 2
p.m. The public is invited to drop by for
a visit and refreshments Thursday
afternoon from 2 to 4, Friday from 9
a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9
to 12:30 p.m. Door prizes , including a
microwave oven for first prize, will be
awarded.
First Federal was founded Aug. 8,
1927, as the Griffin Building and Loan
Association. There were 60 members
who subscribed $65,000 of which $5,000
was paid in initially. During the half
century, the association has expanded
to its present asset size of more than
$36-million.
Serving on the first board of directors
were P. E. Arnall, D. R. Cumming, G.
J. Drake, J. P. Persons, J. P. Mason, J.
W. Gresham, J. B. Mills, Robert
Wheaton, M. M. Emerson, Bowden
Vol. 105 No. 188
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Pomona Plant Manager J. P. Coates (1) and Bob Rogers, raw farm products
manager, look over incoming pimiento pepper at Griffin plant.
vegetables to keep operating.
Especially the specialty packers such
as Holmes Canning Co., Sandersville;
Seabrook Farms, Montezuma; and R.
B. Roddenberry Co. of Cairo, Ga.
Most of these firms which usually
rely heavily on local products have
been importing vegetables from neigh
boring states.
Seabrook, which grows much of the
products it freezes, has increased its
fall planting of peas. A spokesman for
the firm said the pack this year had
been about half of normal.
A spokesman for Holmes said that in
some cases when the plant should be
operating for 8 hours, it is operating
only one.
Vegetables that are in short supply
include black-eyed peas, butterbeans,
white acre peas, squash, cucumbers,
field peas and sweet potatoes. None of
these are packed at Pomona Products.
Hunt said the beans for the pork and
beans packed at Pomona Products are
grown in Michigan and there is not
Ragsdale, Thomas J. Denham, George
A. Niles, J. P. Nichols, Jr., B.R.
Blakely, Quimby Melton, Sr., B. S.
Haisfield, W. T. Bennett, John W.
Hammond, W. J. Carreker, B. B.
Higgins, and John H. Cheatham.
D. R. Cumming was the first
president. He served continuously until
his retirement Sept. 1, 1960.
Joe Cumming, the second president,
served the next 17 years, retiring last
month.
Larry Stover, the third president,
joined the firm in 1972 as vice president
after being with Decatur Federal
Savings and Loan Association. He grew
up in Washington, Ga.
On March 18,1935 members accepted
a federal charter. Earlier members
had approved a resolution that the
association petition the Federal Home
Loan Bank for conversion to a federally
chartered association and to change the
name to the First Federal Savings and
Loan Association of Griffin, and to
apply to the Federal Savings and Loan
Weather
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA —
Partly cloudy and hot through Thur
sday with chance of afternoon or
evening showers. Low tonight near 70,
high Thursday in the low 90s.
LOCAL WEATHER - Low this
morning at the Spalding Forestry Unit
56, high Tuesday 94, rainfall 1.69 inches.
expected to be a shortage of those.
Hunt emphasized that the picture for
the local canning plant could change if
the dry weather continues into the fall
and affects the supply of fall
vegetables.
Shortages of vegetables in the area
are being reflected in prices at the State
Farmers Market at Forest Park.
Monday prices for pole beans were sl2
per bushel and above. The price was the
same for butterbeans. Snap beans were
going for $9 per bushel. New crop
Georgia sweet potatoes were selling for
sl3 for 50 pounds or 26 cents per pound.
Many of the prices for fresh
vegetables dip considerably during the
summer months because of plentiful
local supplies and plentiful supplies
from South Georgia and North Florida.
This year those supplies have been
reduced and prices have remained
high.
“We have been fortunate at Pomona
Products,” Hunt said.
Insurance Corp., for insurance of its
accounts.
On June 1, 1973, a branch office was
opened in Barnesville. Mrs. Faye Evans
is manager and Mrs. Mildred Turner,
teller.
In addition to Stover, other officers
are T. T. Blakely, vice president; Kay
G. Harper, vice president and
secretary-treasurer; Annelle W.
Bowles, vice president and assistant
secretary-treasurer.
Present directors are T. T. Blakely,
A. L. Blanton, J. R. Cumming, W.
Barron Cumming, W.R. Gilbert, E. S.
McDowell, Jr., D. J. Smith, J. Larry
Stover, J. Henry Walker and Sara S.
Whiddon.
Other directors who have contributed
their time and talents over the years
were seaton G. Bailey. J. H. Cheatham,
Jr., R. W. Cheatham, George W.
Wheaton, Dr. H. P. Stuckey, John H.
Morrow and Girdean Harper.
A cake cutting is scheduled at the
Barnesville office Thursday at 10 a.m.