Newspaper Page Text
Spalding County Fair catalogue in today’s edition
‘Undecided’ may decide option tax
An unscientific and random sampling
of opinions from Griffin citizens on the
q. local option sales tax proposal shows
sc the “undecided” people might decide
S(the issue.
w Nearly 50 people responded with 42
di percent favoring and 33 percent op-
Ci posing passage of the tax. The other 25
repercent said they were undecided.
7 City voters will cast ballots Tuesday
scfor or against the local option one
percent sales tax. Interest in the vote
s *had been dormant until this week when
for and against began to speak
j { The Griffin Daily News asked people
on downtown streets and in shopping
centers what they intended to do about
Carter asks Congress for one-year delay
on mandatory retirement legislation
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White
tyouse, under pressure from business
h ind education groups, is asking
s tongress to delay the effect of
legislation prohibiting mandatory
retirement at 65.
Congressional sources disclosed
4 Friday that President Carter made the
j *equest for a one-year delay in a letter
I o the Senate Human Resources Com-
|Six men arrested
i in marijuana heist
1 MIAMI (AP) — A tip from a Georgia
sheriff has led to the arrests of six men
jin connection with the disappearance of
63 bales of marijuana from a U.S.
Customs Service storage room in
Miami.
The arrests were made early Friday
by agents in Georgia and South
Carolina, said Customs Spokesman Jim
Dingfelder.
The marijuana, valued at about
|750,000, was taken from an un
derground storeroom Thursday.
Officers said thieves may have entered
the locked room by removing concrete
>locks from a wall.
Dingfelder said Miami police had
Issued a description of two autos seen
near the storage area. Camden County,
Ga., Sheriff Jimmy Middleton told
Customs agents in Savannah, Ga.
Thursday evening that a car matching
the description was in Woodbine, Ga.
Sheriffs and Customs agents set up
EEF M ■
rwS4 \
Enjoying game
KeHy Smith, 5, the daughter of Chester Smith, and Mark Yevlck, 4, the son of
John Yevlck, enjoy the show at Memorial Stadium, as the Griffin Bears foiled
over LaGrange 14-0.
DyXIIJY
Daily Since 1872
voting.
It seemed to be a general opinion
among many of the undecideds that
they were not as well informed as they
would like to be. Others said they were
inclined toward voting no but they were
keeping their minds open, pending
further information.
Some of the voters with definite no’s
are totally against any further taxes of
any kind, even if it amounts to just a
penny.
Others opposed to the option sales tax
have voiced distrust with government
officials not to keep the initial objective
of lowering ad valorem taxes after the
first year.
Those in favor of the tax feel it is a
mittee. The panel is expected to
complete work next week on a bill
setting 70 as the age at which em
ployers may force their workers to
retire.
The House passed a measure Friday
to raise the mandatory retirement age
from 65 to 70 for about 70 per cent of
those employed in private businesses.
The bill, approved 359-4, also would
surveillance, then moved in Friday
morning to make arrests as three men
tried to leave the motel, he said.
Six bales of marijuana were found at
the scene, the Customs markings in
tact, he said.
Other agents arrested three men in
Beaufort, S.C. early Friday. Dingelder
said 13 bales of marijuana were found
there.
He identified those arrested as:
Donald Ray Williams, 29; Raymond E.
Mitchell, 33; Joseph N. Wakefield, 34,
Joe Earl Eglesby, 35, Ronald Ray
Young, 28, and Arthur Franklin Farr
Jr., no age.
No addresses were available.
Dingfelder said he wasn’t able to
determine immediately at which
location each man was arrested. He
said all six were being moved to a
federal detention facility at Brunswick,
Ga.
No formal charges had been filed,
Dingfelder said.
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Saturday Afternoon, September 24, 1977
fairway for all the citizens to pay a
share of the expenses borne by the city,
since it provides services to all the
people
Others favoring the tax feel it is
better to pay a penny on the dollar as a
sales tax than have to pay increasingly
higher dollar amounts as city services
and ad valorem taxes skyrocket with
ever present inflationary times.
A number of persons surveyed said
they would welcome some relief from
high taxes and anything, even a one
cent sales tax, would be helpful in
reworking the whole taxing system.
A majority of the elderly persons
polled were solidly opposed to the one
cent tax. The younger persons tended to
ban mandatory retirement at any age
in the federal government. Nearly all
federal workers now are subject to
mandatory retirement at age 70.
The provision in the House bill af
fecting those in private employment
would go into effect 180 days after final
approval. The portion of the bill af
fecting federal workers would take
effect immediately.
The Senate proposal would not alter
current law on federal employes.
Business and higher education
groups have mounted an intensive
lobbying effort to head off the bill which
had been expected earlier to breeze
through the Senate and receive the
President’s approval.
Labor Secretary Ray Marshall and
Commerce Secretary Juanita Kreps
have endorsed the measure, but word of
their support was followed by reports
that opponents were getting attention
Three consider entering
race for vacancy
David Elder, former long-time
county commissioner, is interested in
returning to the board.
Elder was a familiar face around the
Spalding Courthouse for some 16 years
or so, winning reelection every time he
offered. He left the board after deciding
not to offer.
County election officials are
scheduled to hold a special vote Nov. 8
to fill the unexpired term of Reid
Childers who resigned this week.
Childers cited health reasons.
Gov. George Busbee accepted the
resignation,* clearing the way for the
special vote.
Women
and health
“Women and Health” is a
series of 9 articles which the
Council on Family Health has
prepared for distribution
nationwide through NEA. The
Council is a public service
group funded by the
manufacturers of medicines.
The series will deal with such
things as tension, cancer, home
accidents, working mothers,
medicine, pregnancy, child
abuse and similar subjects.
Watch for this interesting and
informative series beginning
Monday in the Griffin Daily
News.
NEWS
lean more toward a positive yes.
Many of the elderly persons said they
were living on fixed incomes and any
additional taxes would in essence pose
a burden and hardship upon them.
“I’m more apt to vote against it. I’ve
got to figure it out. I live a fixed
income,” said 70-year-old Joseph
Williams.
Mrs. De L’Etoile said she owned no
property in Griffin but felt the sales tax
was the best way for everybody to pay
his fair share.
“It’s a fair tax,” she said. “I own no
property and I’m talking really against
myself but it’s fair,” Mrs. De L’Etoile
continued.
Tax supporters have been stating
from the Oval Office.
A congressional source said the
request for a one-year delay was a
White House attempt to try to appease
business. But he said business lobbyists
apparently would like at least a two
year delay.
The House measure applies to private
sector workers in companies employing
20 or more persons.
It grants up to two years for man
datory age 65 retirement provisions to
be phased out of existing labor con
tracts.
The proposal still would allow most
persons to begin collecting maximum
Social Security benefits at age 65. But it
is anticipated that the financial
pressure on the Social Security system
would be slightly eased because of the
persons who would decide to work to
age 70.
Two other people said they also were
considering running to fill the vacancy.
Jack Moss, long time veteran
member of the board, said he was
considering making the race. He said
numerous people and groups had asked
him to consider running.
He said he would and is considering
it.
Alton (Sergeant) Norris who has
been a candidate for several offices
said he was about 70 percent sure he
would make the race.
He didn’t say he would announce but
was strongly leaning toward it.
People
...and things
Six-year-old, with peanuts in one
hand, hotdog in the other and soft drink
at his feet in Memorial Stadium last
night, asking dad what inning it is.
First leaves of fall tumbling to
ground from large oak which shades
blooming dogwood.
Station wagon coming to stop in
residential driveway as 2 dogs pile out
of the back window, 5 youngsters out of
back doors, 2 out of front passenger
door, and tired looking mother out of
driver’s door.
Vol. 105 No. 227
that of an estimated $1,162,228 sales tax
collected per year would mean that
there would be a reduction of some
$688,025 in property taxes now being
paid by the taxpayers. Garbage fees
per household would be reduced by S4B
a year and there would even be a
surplus fund for other services that
would amount to $142,203.
Georgia law requires that 2.381 mills
be retained to repay prior bonds and the
taxpayer will have to bear that part of
the tax expenses.
Under conditions of the optional tax
structure, the city must apply a portion
of the sales taxes collected to offset the
ad valorem taxes only during the first
year.
■r” 3” d'
Cases of salmonellosis
reported in Georgia
ATLANTA (AP) — New cases of
salmonellosis are being reported in
Georgia as well as in several north
eastern states, the national Center for
Disease Control has reported.
The CDC said Friday that more than
180 cases have been reported in the
current outbreak of food poisoning
related to the consumption of pre
cooked roast beef in New York, Penn
sylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and
Massachusetts.
“The finding of cases in Georgia
indicates that contaminated beef is not
a problem limited to the northeastern
part of the United States,” the CDC said
in its weekly report.
The CDC reported last month that
some of the poisoning cases — which
result in diarrhea, cramps, chills and
fever — have been linked to beef im
ported from Australia and packaged by
at least two American firms.
“The total number of cases in this
outbreak is difficult to assess, since
interviews, necessary to determine the
association of a case with precooked
Autumn beauty
Fall is officially here and signs of the colorful season are showing up
everywhere. The newly fallen (above) leaf resting on the surface water of a
creek is indicative of the autumn beauty yet to come.
Weather
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA—
Mostly fair through tonight. Partly
cloudy and slight chance of showers
and a few thundershowers Sunday.
High today in mid 80s. Low tonight mid
60s. High Sunday low 80s.
After that time city officials would be
free to direct the extra tax money into
other directions.
To quell the fears of this sort of thing
happening, a proponent of the tax said
in a recent debate that the city attorney
believes the Griffin Charter can be
amended to bind the extra taxes to
property tax relief in the future. As the
state law is presently written, it
requires the property tax relief for only
the first year.
Opponents claim that once a tax is
started, it s hard to stop and those
voting in favor of the tax would be
paying more for everything, including
food, drugs, clothing, homes and even
electricity.
roast beef, have not been completed on
all persons with Salmonella isolates,”
the report said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
has said regulations for cooking
prepared beef have been changed to
raise the standard for the internal tem
perature of cooked beef from 130
degrees to 145, hot enough to kill
potentially dangerous bacteria.
The Country Parson
by Erank < '.lark
Sa
t “We never heard of energy
shortages when I was a
youngster — but in those days
most energy came from
muscles.”