Page 10
— Griffin Daily News Saturday, August 27, 1977
Gang battles
San Quentin Prison is a prison in crisis
By JACK SCHREIBMAN
Associated Press Writer
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP)
— Burly “Big George” Sumner,
warden of San Quentin Prison,
glared across the shiny confer
ence table and spit out the
words like they were tough
meat: “We will be in control!”
Despite all the authority the 6-
foot-3,250-pound prison boss put
into the statement, it remains
more hope than fact. For San
Quentin, in the 125th anni
versary of its tempestuous exis
tence on a sunny hook of land
jutting into San Francisco Bay,
is a prison in crisis.
In July, gang-inspired racial
battles left three convicts dead.
Now, nearly a third of the cons
are “locked down” in the east
block — 600 men penned in their
cells all day under maximum
security.
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[pnIRMURM MONO MMOnt •’ Jj * PARAMOUNT PICTURE
« MwgMR . J COLOR
Nightly 7:00 A 9:00 P.M.
PARKWOOD CINEMA 111
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Nightly 7:15 & 9:30
PARKWOOD CINEMA I
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THE GREATEST
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IN HIS BIGGEST
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OF ALL!
SI nbad and
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»INBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER
.• J PATRICK WAYNE r TARYN IH AVER • < Margaret Whiting Jane Seymour
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PARKWOOD CINEMA II
Tonight 7:15-9:15
Another 100, hardened gang
leaders and members, are iso
lated under the gun in the north
block with little likelihood of
ever returning to the main pop
ulation. The rest go about their
business within the walls in an
uneasy peace Sumner prays
will stick. Officers scan this last
group for “underground” gang
members who face the north
block if found.
“I don’t have any reason to
believe the same thing would
not happen again,” Sumner ad
mitted ruefully of the day of
violence.
His main complaint is one
shared in varying degrees by
most of the men who have held
the warden’s post at one of the
world’s most notorious peniten
tiaries.
In short, trouble brews when
hard cases are mixed with
peaceful inmates who are
unable to defend themselves
against hate-filled crazies
whose solution to disputes is
sudden death at the end of a
filed-down spoon.
“I think the great, great ma
jority of inmates want to have a
peaceful, tranquil place,” he
said in an interview. “But we’ve
been at the mercy of gangs for
some time. We were controlled.
“If they decided they wanted
to kill somebody, we weren’t in
a position to do a heck of a lot
about it.”
On July 12, the decision came.
Sumner said it was little con
solation that the bloody ex
plosions were the result of a
“mistake” that pitted the nor
mally peaceful Black Muslims
against the Nazi-type whites of
the American National Social
ists and Satan’s Few mo
torcyclists.
As Sumner told it, the whites
mistakenly killed a Muslim in
the morning, thinking he was a
member of the Black Guerrilla
Family. The Muslims, who pro
fess to be law-abiding and aloof
from the troublemakers, back
ed up a standing threat to re
taliate when one of their mem
bers is hurt.
Nine hours later, the warring
factions clashed with clubs and
knives, turning prison corridors
into a bloody battlefield. When
it was over another two in
mates, whites, were dead, in
cluding a man who was hurled
from a third-story tier.
Within a few percentage
points, the racial mix at 2,200-
inmate San Quentin is fairly
representative of the statewide
prison population: White, 41.9
per cent; black, 39.7; Mexican-
American, 16.7; other, 1.7. The
average age at Q is about 30.
Sumner says there are signs
peace may return to the old
bastille now that the gangs are
isolated from the mainline. The
warden guesses the “really
hopeless bad guys” make up no
more than 2 or 3 per cent of all
inmates, and “the guys that be
long to the gangs and have to do
what the gangs decide at be
tween 15 and 20 per cent at
most.”
Their segregation, says Sum
ner, has brought hope to the
peaceful inmates who could not
stand up to the killers.
“Now that most of the gang
guys are out of the population,
Vision
The eye is the window
of every person’s body
According to the American
Association of Ophthalmol
ogy, the Biblical saying that
the eye is the window to the
soul can be extended to in
clude the body.
A halo in the eye, known
as corneal arcus— may be a
clue to diseased coronary ar
teries, a condition which fre
quently leads to heart attack.
The halo can be seen just by
looking at your eyes.
Tiny hemorrhages in the
eye may reveal diabetes; if
not treated this can lead to
permanent blindness.
Eyes that bulge forward
often indicate disease of the
thyroid gland. Sometimes the
bulge is so severe that the
the peaceful prisoners are ex
pressing opinions that it’s a
good thing,” he said. “It’s my
intention to keep the gang guys
completely separate from the
rest of the prison.”
In the same vein, Sumner
plans to create a number of
small “prisons within a prison,”
in the face of the legislature’s
rejection this year of an ad
ministration proposal for $92
million to build at least two new
flexible-security prisons in
California.
‘l’m trying to divide San
Quentin up into small sections.
... It’s impossible to work with
masses of people,” Sumner
said.
Even in the hard-bitten north
block, swarming with hostility,
Sumner entertains hopes of
spiritual reconstruction.
“I think some of the gangs
can be dissolved, if we can work
with these people as individuals
and (have them) make in
dividual decisions.” Then
Sumner sets his jaw again:
“As far as the gangs go, we
have to be in control — and I’m
going to do so. And they know
it."
He admits to much anxiety
about the crowded east block,
calling it a “large, unmana
geable situation,” and the in
mates there “600 question
marks.” He adds wistfully:
“It’s hard to really know in
mates. ... It’s difficult to deter
mine when to let them out. I
don’t have any reason to believe
the same thing (repeat
violence) would not happen.”
Sumner is unhappy with the
lockdown because “it’s unfair.
When lockdowns occur, many
who aren’t guilty of anything
are locked up with the bad
ones.”
He noted with profound dis
appointment that feeling guided
his release of a lockdown prior
to the July killings.
He said he had met with gang
leaders “and impressed on
them my intention of having a
peaceful prison here. They
assured me they would work to
gether in harmony. They made
truces with each other ... then
they went out and broke them.”
The gang members, he said in
a voice that almost trailed to a
whisper, "trusted each other,
but it didn’t come about. ...
They were inundated by their
own hatred for each other."
eyelids won’t close, even dur
ing sleep.
In addition, the ophthal
mologist can identify signs in
the eyes which reveal the
presence of arthritis. For in
stance, children with rheu
matoid arthritis often have
opaque areas of the eye
known as secondary cataract.
Crohn’s Disease, which af
fects the small intestines, re
veals itself in the eyes which
are reddened and the iris is
inflamed.
Most people know that
lack of Vitamin A can cause
night blindness. But they
don’t know that it can also
lead to lack of tears.
Thiamine (Vitamin Bl) de
ficiency causes a jerking of
the eyes known as nystag
mus. Deficiency of Vitamin
812 reveals itself in small
hemorrhages in the eye as a
clue, often accompanied by
loss of vision.
Eyes often provide the first
early warning that a stroke is
in the making. When vision
is momentarily interrupted in
one eye and the arm on the
other side is weak.
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Bert’s and Zell’s dads
The fathers of Bert Lance and Lt. Gov. Zell Miller were
among the classmates of the Rev. Walter Twiggs at
Young Harris College in North Georgia. Rev. Twiggs lives
in Griffin with his daughter, Mrs. Phronia Smith. Those in
this old class picture are (top, 1-r) Norman Allison, Jack
Lance, father of Bert Lance, and Rev. Twiggs, (seated)
Vasco Lance, Roy Curtis, Frank Miller and Grady Miller,
father of the lieutenant governor. Rev. Twiggs is a retired
Methodist minister and at one time was district
superintendent of the Griffin District.
Religion
History ungrateful
to the Samaritans
By JOHN VINOCUR
Associated Press Writer
TEL AVIV (AP) - Since Jo
seph begat Ephraim and Ma
nasseh, history has been an in
grate to the Samaritans, caught
in a free-fall toward oblivion.
The hint of a respite from the
dark line downward is appear
ing only now.
The descendants of the sons of
Joseph and the Biblical Good
Samaritan, who Jesus revered
for his rescue of a wounded man
ignored by priests and Levites,
have barely managed to set up
camp on this side of extinction.
One hundred twenty-six gen
erations ago, according to their
chronicles, there were 750,000
Samaritans in what is modern
Israel. Today, four families, the
Danfis, Cohens, Marchivs and
Tsedakas, 470 people in all,
maintain the sect’s rites and
traditions, half of them living in
a grubby Tel Aviv suburb called
Holon and the others in Nablus,
near the Samaritan holy site of
Mount Gerizim where Joshua
blessed his people.
Nablus is in occupied Jordan
and in the 10 years since the Six
Day War, the Samaritans have
fallen on the windfall of free
passage between the formerly
separated communities to
meet, marry and beget. Since
the war, 102 Samaritan children
have been bom, increasing the
world’s Samaritan population
by almost a quarter. But for the
sect’s historian, the births are
barely a jot on a graph of
precariousness 20 centuries
long.
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Benyamin Tsedaka, a 125th
generation descendant of Ma
nasseh who runs a bi-weekly
Samaritan newspaper, takes
the development without much
excitement. “We shall see,” he
says, a man with little trust in
stability.
“It took about 19 centuries for
the Christians to get interested
in what had happened to us,” he
said, referring to a British
consul in Palestine who tried to
assist the Samaritan com
munity when it numbered 146
near the turn of the century.
IWo kinds of chicken
from one great chicken place.
One place called Kentucky Fried But some folks like a crunchier crust
Chicken. on their chicken. They're the types who go
You see, Colonel Sanders knows that for Extra Crispy. It's tender and juicy on
different folks have different tastes. Take the inside like Original Recipe, but crispier
Original Recipe for instance. Almost and crunchier on the outside,
everybody loves its secret blend of 11 Whichever type you are, come on in for
herbs and spices the Colonel spent a good some of our “finger lickin’ good "chicken,
chunk of his life perfecting.
Choose your Chicken-Original Recipe or Extra Crispy.
Then choose your savings.
BM MB 888 MB MB BM BM MB. MB SM MBB MB MB M 888. SM MB MB BM
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A Band of . A Budcat of
Kentucky Fried Chicken. I Kentucky Med Chichen. I Kentucky Med Chicken. |
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I Fried Chicken or Extra | or g xtra Crispy. I Chicken or Extra |
J* Crispy. J
Prices Effective Thru Sunday, Aug. 28th
putackq fried
Vmm place in town for two kinds of chicken.
131 East Solomon St. 1477 W *’ t a<J Mc,ntosh
Phono 227-3678 Phone 228-2432
Owned and Operated by Ralph & Ginny Freeman
Sugar trail
Bicyclists of all ages
ride 25-mile route
By ROBERT O’MEARA
Associated Press Writer
NEWGLARUS, Wis. (AP) —
There’s a different kind of trav
eler on the rights of way where
steam locomotives once
chugged through the rolling
green countryside of southern
Wisconsin.
Bicyclists, young and not so
young, are riding the 25-mile
Sugar River Trail that connects
the little towns of New Glarus,
Monticello, Albany and Brod
head.
The trail, developed and
maintained by the state’s De
partment of Natural Resources
over the abandoned roadbed of
the Chicago, Milwaukee, St.
Paul and Pacific Railroad, is
one of four in Wisconsin. The
state considers itself a leader
in giving bicyclists safe, scenic
and level places to ride.
Trails in the state using old
railroad lines now total 91
miles.
“There are thousands of
miles of rights of way up for
abandonment nationwide and
we get lots of requests for in
formation from other states
about our program,” said Dave
Weizenicker, deputy director of
the DNR’s Bureau of Parks and
Recreation. “We’ve been a
stimulator.”
Weizenicker says after the
state buys the abandoned lines,
the tracks and ties are tom up
and replaced with fine-ground
gravel, five to six inches deep.
Between Elroy and Sparta in
western Wisconsin there is the
32-mile line which the North
western Railway sold the state
in 1965 for $12,000. Bicyclists
riding the full length travel
through three tunnels and over
33 trestles. The Milwaukee
Road property, purchased eight
years later, cost the state
$150,000.
Northeastern Wisconsin has
the 15-mile Ahnapee Trail, us
ing a former roadbed of the Ah
napee and Western Railroad.
Far northern Wisconsin has the
newly opened Heafford Junc
tion Trail, 19 miles long.
All the trails are free to the
public.
Officials say there is no way
to determine exactly how many
riders take to the trails annual
ly. You can register at the
headquarters of the Sugar Riv
er Trail here — the handsomely
refurbished Milwaukee Road
station — but only a few riders
do so.
Weizenicker estimates a total
of 100,000 people ride this trail
and the Elroy-Sparta Trail each
year.
Bob Martin, chief of resource
area studies for the Lake Cen
tral region of the federal Bu
reau of Outdoor Recreation,
based at Ann Arbor, Mich.,
says “there certainly is a lot of
activity” in other states follow
ing Wisconsin’s lead in devel
oping old rail lines into bicycle
paths.
State Patrol
cautions
businesses
The Georgia State Patrol in
cautioning businesses
throughoutthestatetobe wary of
publication firms soliciting
donations in the name of the
Georgia State Patrol. Georgia
Public Safety Commissioner
Colonel Herman Cofer said the
State Patrol endorses no law
enforcement publication other
than the Georgia Peace
Officer’s Association Magazine
and said he felt it was wrong
for any firm to use the name of
the patrol in soliciting.
“There may be many
legitimate organizations doing
police charitable work and
offering good publications, but
for them to raise money using
the State Patrol’s name is
unethical. We suggest any firms
being approached by such
publication firms to get
references and check them
with the nearest State Patrol
Post,” he said.
Colonel Cofer said the patrol
had gotten many complaints
about solicitation firms around
the state. “We just want to set
the record straight,” he said.
Vision
to appear
in Griffin
Vision, a group of young adult
singers from the Atlanta area
will appear in concert at the
Searcy Memorial United
Methodist Church in Griffin on
Sunday, August 28 at 7 p.m.
The group sings a variety of
religious songs and is directed
by Karen Wise. The Rev.
Maurice “Bud” Moore is pastor
of the Searcy Memorial United
Methodist Church.
