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Finger licking good
Kim Knight, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Knight, masters the art of
cake decorating while Wendy Ogletree, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James
Ogletree, sneaks a taste of the sweet icing. The cake decorating classes for 4-
Hers held Tuesday and today were sponsored by the Spalding County Extension
Service.
New law prompts plea
for local money help
• ATLANTA (AP) — Unemployment
insurance benefits to laid-off employes
may soon have to be paid by local Geor-
, gia governments and they are asking
the state to help them foot the bill.
“Those in local government are
terrifically concerned about the cost of
* this program estimated to be $9 million
a year overall and $500,000 in Fulton
County alone,” Fulton County Com-
< missioner Tom Lowe said Tuesday.
Local government employes have
good job security and do not need the
, insurance as much as workers in the
private sector, Lowe told the state
House Industrial Relations Committee.
Many of the state’s local officials
support a federal suit filed by the
People
...and things
Tall man packed into compact he’s
driving, his knee nearly sticking out of
window on driver’s side.
* New grandmother to friend, “My
grandbaby is the most beautiful baby
ever bom.”
♦
Driver waiting patiently alone at
traffic light during pre-dawn hour, then
, scratching off when it changes, just as
if he were dragging with someone.
The Country Parson
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“Most of us don’t like to be
, called liars — especially when
we’re lying.”
DAILY NEWS
Daily Since 1872
National Institute of Municipal Law
Officers challenging the con
stitutionality of a 1976 congressional act
which gives state and local govern
ments the option of providing the in
surance or losing some federal funding,
he said.
Decatur Mayor Ann Crichton said
state money will be needed to keep local
governments from having to raise
property taxes if the suit fails and the
law goes into effect Jan. 1, 1978, as
scheduled.
“Assuming the law is upheld, I view
this as another form of aid to cities and
counties I’d like to see the General
Assembly consider funding,” said
committee chairman Ed Mullinax, D-
LaGrange.
He said the state has long had such a
program but in recent years local
governments have used federal funds to
provide such benefits.
The Georgia Legislature approved a
bill this year mandating that local
governments provide unemployment
insurance, but a measure which would
have created a state fund to absorb the
cost passed the Senate then got bogged
down in the House.
Postal service
wants to help
small towns keep their identity
WASHINGTON (AP) — The three
families in Berry’s Lick, Ky., can
breathe a little easier. So can the folks
in Devil’s Elbow, Mo.; Zap, N.D.
The Postal Service wants to let
America’s small towns keep their
identity even if it closes their post of
fices to save tax dollars.
Under the proposal, due to take effect
in 30 days, residents of towns whose
post offices are closed can in virtually
all cases receive mail addressed to
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Wednesday Afternoon, August 24,1977
Berry’s Lick and Zap can breathe easier
GRIFFIN
City to sack meters
for 3-month trial
Parking will be free in downtown
Griffin during a trial period,
beginning Sept. 15 and continuing
through the Christmas season until Jan.
1.
The decision to sack the meters was
made by a vote of 4 to 1 at Tuesday
night’s city commission meeting after
merchants both for and against the
proposal had their say.
The dissenting vote was cast by
Commissioner R. L. “Skeeter” Nor
sworthy, who said he favored removing
meters from the streets, but is against
taking them off the parking lots
because “I don’t think it’s right for the
taxpayers to pay for off-street parking
for us merchants.”
Ed Whatley of Spalding Gas Co. also
spoke out against spending tax money
to provide lots. He said he owns
property which has its own parking
spaces and he is opposed to the city’s
providing lots for other people with tax
money.
The commissioners agreed that the
plan might not meet full public ac
ceptance and that it might not work.
As Commissioner Ernest “Tiggy”
Jones put it, “We don’t know whether
we are exactly right or wrong. It may
be distasteful at first to some, but we
hope to help everybody,” he said.
Commissioner Dick Mullins also
agreed that the city will have to see how
the plan works.
“We may have to activate the off
street meters or remove all the meters.
We’ll see then,” he said.
“The public may not accept it or it
may. It may involve a tax increase or it
may not,” observed Commissioner
Louis Goldstein.
Petitions were presented by both
sides.
William Rosenfeld of Buy-Rite
presented a petition signed by 68
downtown merchants in favor of
removing the meters. He noted the
response was much better than an
ticipated 2 weeks ago when it was
announced that 30 merchants supported
their removal.
Felton Rainwater of Morrow Powell
and Smith Roberts, representing the
group to keep the meters, presented a
petition signed with 91 names of
merchants and concerned citizens.
He explained his group was opposed
to the removal of meters if it meant off
street parking would be jeopardized in
any way.
Other merchants speaking out were
Sidney Rifkin of Marsh’s who said
meter removal has been successful in
other towns and Ira Pope of the Fabric
Center who said he thought it was up to
the owner or manager of each business
to tell their employes not to park in
spaces needed by store customers.
According to City Manager Roy
Inman, the lease on the lot at the rear of
the Chamber of Commerce will be up
for renewal in September and other
leases will expire next summer. Leases
on some lots run until 1979 and 1981, it
was noted.
(Continued on page 3)
their hamlets.
And the communities will still be
listed in the Directory of Post Offices,
often used as a reference book for place
names.
The proposed regulations, published
in today’s Federal Register, outline the
steps to be taken in closing a post office.
The public has 30 days to comment
before the proposal becomes final.
One postal official noted, “People in
rural America are worried that if they
lose the post office, they also will lose
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- an(l Mrs< R a y Hanna, went into
business Tuesday selling Kool-aid for 10 cents a cup in
front of his home on East College street. Bill serves two
nOOrniTIO* customers, Penny Taunton (1) and Vicki Wiggins. Anna
lA*e Hinson, 7, is his helper.
City board divided
on drunk ordinance
City Commissioners R. L. Nor
sworthy and Ernest Jones spoke
against an ordinance decriminalizing
public drunkenness Tuesday night at
city hall.
The ordinance passed 3-2 with Jones
and Norsworthy voting against it.
“We’ll just be furnishing the drunks a
free taxi service and hotel. They could
even sue the city for violating their
rights,” Norsworthy said.
“It’s the most hypocritical thing this
board has ever done. We could be
creating a monster, a bureauracy. For
the last few weeks we’ve been talking
about where our tax money goes and
salaries at the library and hospital and
now we approve this which will add to
community identity.”
Deputy Postmaster General William
F. Bolger said many small town
residents “believe that it is like being
taken off the map. So if we close a post
office, we will do everything we can to
maintain community identity.”
One example of a community whose
post office loses money is Berry’s Lick.
The Postal Service says the facility,
which serves only three families,
brought in only $37.67 last year while
running up expenses of more than
’ Vol. 105 No. 200
the hospital staff and we don’t even
know what they are going to do”, he
said.
Norsworthy said he has asked for a
budget of the entire program, listing
salaries of all involved and the duties of
the 2 new staff members who will be at
the hospital emergency room to counsel
drunks.
“What are they going to do? Shuffle
paper? The city will lose $25,000 in
drunk fines and it will cost state tax
payers some $116,000,” Norsworthy
noted.
Commissioner Jones also spoke
against the program.
“I don’t think it will work. It will put
an extra heavy burden on the police
$4,000. Berry’s Lick can be served by a
rural delivery route, which could
provide mail service at a saving to the
nation’s taxpayers.
The Postal Service says it expects
some local opposition anytime it wants
to close a post office. But resentment
usually dies down after residents be
come used to the change, officials say.
Postmasters’ organizations oppose
office closings, which force the local
postmaster to quit his job or move.
Bolger promised “to go to any ex-
Weather
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA -
Partly cloudy with chance of showers
tonight and Thursday. Low tonight near
70; high Thursday in mid 80s.
LOCAL WEATHER — Low this
morning at the Spalding Forestry Unit
68, high Tuesday 91.
department and put the officers in a
precarious position,” he said.
Griffin was selected as a pilot city to
operate the program. The state is
giving some $116,000 for its operation.
The ordinance to decriminalize
public drunkenness will not be effective
until it is approved on second reading in
2 weeks. It provides that instead of
arresting drunks, police officers let the
drunk decide whether he wants the
officer to take him home or to an
alcoholic treatment center. Or the
officer can hold the drunk in protective
custody in jail until he is no longer
incapacitated. The person will not be
arrested unless he has committed a
criminal offense.
treme to make our actions as easy as
possible on the lives of our employes."
Once the regulations take effect, the
Postal Service is expected to resume its
slow reduction in the number of post
offices from the current 30,000. A
moratorium on closings has been in
effect since July 1, 1976.
When an office is closed, service is
provided by rural delivery or by a local
citizen who agrees to sell stamps and
provide other postal functions in his
store or home.
