Gordon Junior College has set a
record for the third consecutive year in
the percentage of the nursing graduates
who passed the examination of the
State Board of Nursing Examiners.
Gordon nursing students passed 97
percent of all sections of the test.
President Jerry M. Williamson called
the results “phenomenal.”
This class of nursing students
graduated in June, 1977, and the test
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Judy and Ronnie swap flying tips with instructor John Mabry (r|.
Government gets tough
on student loan debts
WASHINGTON (AP) - If you
borrowed money from Uncle Sam to get
through college and neglected to pay
him back, there may soon be a bill
collector looking for you.
The government, getting tough with
some 390,000 recipients of federally
insured student loans who never paid
them off, is turning over about $430
million in bad debts to private collec
tion agencies.
So, if you’re among the one in six
federal loan recipients who defaulted
since the program began nine years
Thunderstorms trigger
tornadoes in Georgia
By The Associated Press
Thunderstorms moved through north
Georgia Wednesday afternoon,
triggering tornadoes and high winds
which ripped the roofs off several
buildings, uprooted trees and smashed
cars, authorities said.
No injuries were reported.
A small twister near Cumming in
Forsyth County uprooted trees and
damaged power lines, the state patrol
said.
As a thunderstorm moved through
Eastanollee, in Stephens County, about
3:30 p.m., a tornado tore the roof off a
“It’s a good feeling to have
done something you should have
done — especially if you didn’t
want to.”
Griffin students figure in Gordon’s top nurse training
GRIFFIN
DAI WS
Daily Since 1872
was administered to them in July.
Mrs. Frances E. Butts and Mrs. Dale
M. Chapman, of Griffin were high
scorers for Gordon this year with over
600 points in each of the five divisions of
surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics,
psychology, and medicine. The
minimum passing score is 350 in every
division.
President Williamson stated, “This
phenomenal score on the state
ago, there’s the prospect that your
credit rating may be jeopardized unless
you pay up.
The Office of Education, part of the
Department of Health, Education and
Welfare, has been trying to collect on
the loans, but hasn’t been successful, so
it’s calling in the pros.
If you’re one of those in default,
though, you’ll be given one last chance
to repay before your file is turned over
to a collector, says a federal official.
“We want to give them a chance to
pay because, if their files go to
home and flattened a chicken house,
police said.
About 4:30 p.m., a tornado hit the
AFA Corp, in Toccoa, blowing out
windows and tearing down a wall,
authorities said.
The twister then traveled to a
shopping center in Toccoa, damaging a
grocery store and a telephone company
building, officials said.
The storm “turned over a tractor
trailer truck, smashed about five cars
and flattened some chicken houses,”
said officer Bobbie Bolman of the Toc
coa police department.
There was “a lot of flooding” in the
area and debris in the streets, she said.
No damage estimates were available.
People
••• and things
Two women bicyclists stopping to
converse on East College street late
Wednesday afternoon.
Several people arriving at same time
in downtown clothing store to answer
newspaper ad for job openings.
Woman taking weeks to chose new
sofa fabric, unhappy with final
decision.
Griffin, Ga„ 30223, Thursday Afternoon, Septembers, 1977
examination for the third year in a row
indicates that we have one of the best if
not the best nursing program in the
state of Georgia. We are certainly
proud of the fine record that our
graduates are achieving and of their
subsequent performance in our local
hospitals. I know of no other college in
the state which has such a splendid
record.”
Mrs. Marie LoMonaco, director of
collectors, we want them to know what
they are getting into,” says Leo Kom
feld, deputy HEW commissioner for
student finance assistance.
“They could be jeopardizing their
future credit ratings and could have
trouble later getting mortgages, credit
cards or car loans.”
Komfeld said the decision to use
private collection agencies is “rooted in
our firm conviction that those who are
able but unwilling to pay their debts do
a grave injustice to the American
public who provided them with an
opportunity for education.
“Unfortunately, there is an attitude
on many campuses that this is
government money, it’s a soft touch
and you can get out of paying it back,”
Komfeld said in an interview.
“This will almost be an educational
lesson in away,” he said. “A part of
growing up is learning that you have to
pay off your debts.”
Komfeld said the response to his
department’s invitation to private
organizations to bid for the first
collection contract has been “over
whelming.”
The winning bidder will be required
to locate the negligent borrowers and
set up a schedule for them to repay the
government.
If unsuccessful, the collector will
recommend to the government other
measures it can take, including legal
action.
Komfeld said the first contract will
be awarded and files sent to the
collection agency by December. The
contracts will prohibit unethical
harassment tactics, he added.
Komfeld said the collection agencies
will work for a percentage of payments
collected. No additional federal money
will be used to finance the program, he
said.
The collection contract will apply
only to the Federal Insured Student
Loan Program, under which the federal
government has directly insured about
half of all loans in the Guaranteed
Student Loan Program. The rest are
guaranteed by 27 state and private
agencies, some of which already use
private collectors, Komfeld said.
Gordon’s Division of Nursing, ex
pressed much pleasure with the success
of her graduates. There have been only
three graduating classes of nurses, and
each class has achieved “fantastic”
success on the test, she explained.
Gordon’s 1975 class passed 97 percent of
the exam, and the 1976 class passed 96
percent.
The same examination is given all
over the nation on the same day.
Flying
She didn’t like it; now she loves it
If you’re a gal who wants to land a
guy, get interested in his hobby. Even if
you hate it.
That’s what Judy Waller did. She not
only landed the man, she landed his
hobby, too.
According to long time flight in
structor, John Mabry, 20-year-old Judy
is the first female he can remember to
solo a J-3 Cub at the Griffin-Spalding
Airport.
And he’s been around there 26 years.
Judy didn’t start out wanting to fly.
When she first began dating Ronnie
Powers, she hated airplanes. In fact,
she wasn’t too much interested in
Ronnie.
But perseverance paid off.
He claims he used to call her every
night for weeks before she’d even go out
with him.
Since accepting that first date,
however, getting together has turned
into a nightly event.
You see, Ronnie’s not too dumb. He
needed some help rebuilding an old
plane he’d bought. J-3 Cubs are his
at
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Mayor Raymond Head joins Mrs. Frances Bolton at city hall annex building in
sweeping out beetles.
Beetles ioin armv worms here
Beetles have joined army worms in
pestering Griffinites.
Workers at the Griffin-Spalding
Hospital called in exterminators this
morning when the big black bugs were
found scampering about one of the
entrances.
Just the other morning Mayor
Raymond Head jointed Mrs. Frances
Bolton at the city hall annex building in
sweeping out beetles.
Many of the king size beetles can be
seen creeping about the sidewalks of
downtown Griffin in the early morning
hours as the business day starts.
An exterminator told a hospital of
ficial the beetle invasion first came to
their attention when they were called to
Gordon’s nursing program consists of
two years work and its graduates
receive the Associate in Arts degree,
after which they are eligible to take the
examination. Many other schools
require either three or four years of
instruction; however, all students take
the same licensing examination.
The 15 students who passed the test
and who are now full-fledged
Registered Nurses are:
Vol. 105 No. 213
hobby and this one needed a lot of work.
It had sat out at the Thomaston Airport
for more than 8 years and had not been
flown in 4. It was in a bad condition with
much of the fabric ripped and tom.
He turned on the charm with Judy
and gained a helper right there. And a
free one at that. All he had to pay her
were some ice cream cones and an
occasional dinner out. Os course, she
gets to be with him, and that’s fun, Judy
says.
“He can make me laugh just wat
ching tv.”
Ronnie put the dewinged plane on the
back of a soybean truck and brought it
to Griffin. It was parked down in Brook
circle several days, causing one neigh
bor gloomily to predict: “It’ll never
fly.”
Then Ronnie took it out to the old
Wooden Nickel building, former home
of the Moose Club on Zebulon road,
where he and Judy began the 6-month
rebuilding job.
J-3 Cubs are obsolete training planes
which came into being during the
Thomaston.
Since then they have spread to this
area. He said his firm was getting about
50 or more calls a day to come and
battle beetles.
Meanwhile, army worms continue to
plague famers and homeowners, ac
cording to Spalding County Agent Jack
Smith.
“We have made some headway with
the application of chemicals on
pastures and lawns, but there are still
some of the worms around and they will
be with us until the cycle is complete,”
Smith said.
Some farmers in the area will have to
replant some of their fescue pastures
Ms. Frances E. Butts, Ms. Dale
Chapman, Ms. Kathleen A. Gates, Ms.
Jeanette B. Newton, Ms. Vickie B.
Tidwell, Ms. Elizabeth L. Young, Ms.
Mary K. Champion, Ms. Judy P. Evans,
Ms. Elizabeth A. Redding, Griffin.
Ms. Donna Anderson, Ms. Annie C.
Sasser, Ms. Rhonda Brooks, Ms. Amy
D. Smith, Thomaston.
Ms. Lisa Moore, Jackson and Ms.
Vickey L. Vaughn, Barnesville.
Weather
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA -
Partly cloudy through Friday with
chance of widely scattered thun
dershowers, mainly in the afternoon.
Low tonight near 70; high Friday in mid
80s.
LOCAL WEATHER - Low this
morning at the Spalding Forestry Unit
70, high Wednesday 85, rainfall .04 of an
inch.
depression years and were discon
tinued in 1946. There are 2 seats, one in
front of the other, and the craft can be
piloted from either. It’s just wide
enough for an adult to squeeze in and
there are no instruments, no radio and
no lights.
The only way to navigate is with a
compass and eyeballs. Ronnie uses the
latter which he calls “the IFR
system.”.
“That means I follow roads. I don’t
use a compass much. I navigate more
by the seat of my pants. . .back to the
basics... You really have to be sharp to
travel much distance with your eyes,”
he said.
He and a friend, Barry Taylor (who
with his father, commercial pilot Ivan
Taylor, also flies a J-3 Cub) recently
made it all the way to Hilton Head just
by following road signs.
Cruising speed is 73 miles per hour
and an auto leaving Griffin at the same
time beat them there, Ronnie said.
Ronnie is employed by United Parcel
(Continued on page 2)
Injuries
in wreck
kill youth
Two people were killed and several
injured in seperate traffic accidents in
the Griffin area Wednesday.
Charles Anthony “Tony” Kilgo, 19, of
438 Hammond drive, died from injuries
he suffered when the small car he was
driving hit a utility pole south of Griffin
on old U. S. 41 about 11 a.m.
Mrs. Eloise Bowen, 42, of Locust
Grove, was killed when the car in which
she was riding ran down an em
bankment on Ga. 41, north of Locust
Grove in Henry County.
According to the Griffin Post of the
Georgia State Patrol, Kilgo died at the
Griffin hospital shortly after being
brought there. His brother, Dana Lyle
Kilgo, 15, was admitted to the hospital
with multiple injuries and was reported
in good condition today.
Mrs. Bowen was a passenger in a car
driven by Ressie Stroud, 61, of Route 1,
Locust Grove.
Stroud, along with 2 other
passengers, Andrew Willie Stroud, 17,
and Mark Charlie Clark, 5, both of
Locust Grove, were injured and were
taken to Clayton General Hospital for
treatment.
and others will have to be reseeded.
Homeowners with fescue lawns find
themselves in the same situation.
“The army worms eat the fescue so
close to the ground that, in some cases,
it will not put back out. In these cases,
replanting will be necessary. In cases
where the fescue is beginning to put
back out, reseeding will be necessary,”
Smith said.
Smith said it will not be necessary to
replant bermuda grass. This grass
grows from a stolen and it is unlikely it
will put out again this fall, but will
begin to grow again in the spring.
Smith said the best chemicals for
(Continued on page 3.)
