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Capt. Grubbs visiting mother in Griffin
He wants to get back to work
Capt. Victor Grubbs wants to get
back to work.
He’s a 747 pilot.
He hasn’t worked since his plane and
another 747 collided at an airport in the
Canary Islands some 6 months or so
ago.
The mild mannered Georgian is in
IMMfeJMfin nirl V t 7 11
■■■■l VI w < JH
CapL and Mrs. Grubbs with pet dogs Muffin and Puddin.
Social Security tax hike talk
is making rounds
WASHINGTON (AP) - A
congressional panel wants to raise
Social Security taxes next year for the
best paid American workers and their
employers to help keep the system sol
vent.
Under a plan approved Tuesday by
the House Ways and Means Committee,
withholding taxes would rise $238 in
1978 for those earning at least 819,900.
Lower-paid workers would feel the
bite of higher taxes beginning in 1981.
The committee plan, approved 20-17
over the opposition of Republicans and
Southern Democrats, calls for keeping
the present system of taxing workers
and their employers equally. The
measure now goes to the full House for
a vote.
Clarke County Sheriff
changes tune on leaves
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Clarke County
Sheriff Larry Williams said Tuesday he
is responsible for five incidents in
which inmates, including three con
victed murderers, left the county jail
without escort.
Grand jury presentments said the
panel had uncovered “numerous
unescorted leaves without con
sideration for the reason (for the in
mate’s) being jailed.”
The jury said convicted murderer
Julian Donegan made “many
unescorted trips” from the jail, as did
Ruby Mitchell and Grady Davis, both
serving life sentences for murder.
“I’ll take the fault for that,” Williams
said in an interview. I had a policy
which in retrospect was a bad policy. I
wish I could take it back but I can’t. It
was a bad policy that there wasn’t real
tight supervision and there needed to
be.
“The fact that the results of the policy
weren’t ideal speaks for the fact that it
was a bad policy. I*ll take the blame be
cause I am the policy maker,” he said.
He said a new policy is now in effect
that allows leaves, under guard, only
for fire or medical emergency.
The jury said the matter was brought
DAILY
Daily Since 1872
Griffin this week visiting his mother,
Mrs. A. H. Huckaby on East Poplar
street.
His wife, the former Smantha
Maebrooks is from Griffin and is having
a good time renewing acquaintance
here.
Capt. Grubbs misses flying and wants
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Wednesday Afternoon, October 5, 1977
in Congress
The proposal runs counter to a plan
under consideration in the Senate
Finance Committee to have employers
for the first time pick up a dispropor
tionate share of the Social Security tab.
The House committee voted for the
new tax scales as part of a broader plan
to keep the system, running at a deficit
since 1975, from going broke by 1983.
Under current law, everyone earning
at least $17,700 will pay higher
withholding taxes beginning next year.
This year, the 5.85 per cent tax is
withheld from only the first $16,500
earned, for a maximum tax of $965.25.
Under next year’s higher wage base,
that will go to $1070.85.
The committee, however, wants to
to the attention of Williams last sum
mer.
The situation came to light in August
when a convicted robber, John Ran
som, was shot and wounded at his
home. Williams at first said Ransom
had escaped from the jail, but the in
mate insisted he had been granted
weekend leaves.
The grand jury reported that Ransom
had been given regular leaves to do
some work on his home. It said this had
been reported to Williams, but no action
was taken.
The grand jury said the unescorted
leaves evidently grew from an “un
written policy” that trusty prisoners
could leave the jail when accompanied
by deputies.
It reported that Williams had said off
duty deputies could escort prisoners on
leave for a fee set by the prisoners and
deputies.
“Therefore it was assumed that no
direct approval was needed,” the
presentments said.
The panel recommended that in
mates be allowed to leave the jail only
when accompanied by an on-duty
deputy in a police car.
GRIFFIN
to get back to it as soon as he can. He
said he had checked himself out in a
simulator and that they are as tough or
tougher than the real thing.
Capt. Crubbs satisfied himself that he
can fly.
The medical people are checking him
on almost a month to month basis. He
raise the top end of the base to $19,900,
with a tax of $1,203.95.
By 1981 the base would rise to $27,900.
With the proposed rate increases, a
person earning that amount would have
$1,799.55 withheld.
And by 1986, under the committee
proposal, a combination of base and
rate increases would mean people
earning $37,500 would pay $2,587.50,
triple their present tax.
Because the committee proposal
would wait until 1981 to increase rate
hikes already planned, the impact on an
estimated 86 per cent of American
workers would be smaller and further
off.
For example, someone earning
$15,000 pays $877.50 this year and will
have $907.50 withheld next year under
the current law. But rate hikes the
committee favors would raise the tax in
1981 to $967.50.
The committee endorsed raising the
maximum retirees can earn before
having their benefits cut.
Those who earn more than the
current ceiling of $3,000 lose $1 in
benefits for every $2 they report. The
panel would raise that to $4,000 in 1978
and $4,500 in 1979.
The panel rejected a Republican
proposal to raise the ceiling to $4,500 in
1978 and $6,000 in 1979.
They find the darndest things in toll bridge booths
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Thousands
of motorists toss their coins into the
moneycatchers on the Islands Ex
pressway toll booths each day — but
they also throw slugs, tokens, dog tags
and other unidentifiable flying objects.
In a small room that once was a
pigeon roost, Florence Edenfield sorts
the junk from the cash for the Chatham
County administrator’s office.
The room is unheated in the winter
and their are no breezes to ease the
summer heat.
NEWS
hopes it won’t be too long before he can
be at the controls of a 747 once again
flying for Pan Am all over the world.
Capt. Grubbs doesn’t talk about the
circumstances of the collision with the
747. The accident still is in litigation.
The Spanish government which had
jurisdiction, since the accident was on
Spanish soil, may release a report on its
findings in a month or so.
Capt. Grubbs would like to be back in
New York when the report comes.
“Working in New York is nice
because that’s where they can pay you
more than you are worth,” he joked.
Capt. Grubbs can recall most of the
details of his escape from his flaming
plane.
His first thought was to get through
the windows of the cockpit but that’s
impossible. The glass is so thick, he
said.
The crew’s exit door was all gone,
Capt. Grubbs remembers. He looked
down through an opening into the lounge
below. The pilot’s cabin on a 747 is
above a large lounge.
Capt. Grubbs recalls seeing a woman
standing beneath him in the lounge.
“I had to get her away so I could get
down,” he thought.
Somehow he managed to get below.
He remembers flames were
everywhere.
At one time he thought about jumping
from the plane to the ground but
realized he was too far up.
He made it out another way and
remembers finding himself on the
ground.
People
••• and things
Motorists traveling east on West
Taylor street squinting, lowering sun
visors and using their hands to shield
their eyes from early morning sun.
Cheerleaders shouting their best for
dear old GHS in practice drill on
campus with only an empty building as
an audience.
Motorcycle police officer helping
motorist change tire on Memorial
drive.
“When I handle that money, my
hands get black — it’s so dirty,” Mrs.
Edenfield said.
A battery of noisy machines helps her
divide the take. Quarters, nickles,
dimes, pennies, tokens and “wierdos,”
as County Administrator Joe Lam
bright calls them, rattle down into the
metal tubes with their own kind.
There are plenty of foreign coins,
mutilated pennies and slugs.
But then there are the political
buttons, washers, dog tags, New York
Careful,
governor
SPRINGFIELD, 111. (AP) -
Gov. James R. Thompson will
probably be more careful the
next time he gets a chance to
preserve something for post
erity.
The letter he placed in a hos
pital cornerstone Tuesday had a
few errors in it, including the
misspelling of the names of
boxers Muhammad Ali and
Eamie Shavers and an in
correct description of tele
vision’s “Gong Show.”
Jim Skilbeck, the press aide
who drafted the letter, tried to
get it back.
“They had already mortared
it over,” he said.
The letter described the Gong
Show as a program where
“people do outrageously silly
things and the contestant
judged to have done the most
ridiculous thing is the winner.”
It’s the contestant who’s
judged to have given the best
performance, not the most ri
diculous, who wins the show.
Vol. 105 No. 236
A girl came up and said he had to get
out of there because of the heat. Capt.
Grubbs told her he couldn’t stand. He
was on his knees.
The girl helped and soon he was
walking away.
He was able to help some of the other
people later.
His right arm was badly burned but
he didn’t feel the pain.
No flames ever hit it but the heat did
the damage.
Capt. Grubbs said his back was
burned, too.
Capt. Grubbs spent 7 weeks in a New
York hospital after the wreck.
Normally he weighs about 180 pounds
but has gained a lot of weight because
of his inactivity.
He wants to get his weight back down.
“I refuse to buy a big uniform,” he
chuckled.
The aviation fever struck Capt.
Grubbs early.
He was born in Claxton, Ga., and
grew up in Cordele. He attended
ErskineCollege.thenwasintheAirForce
during World War 11. He flew B-17s in
North Africa and other European battle
areas.
Capt. Grubbs remembers the late
Jimmy Culpepper, an old barnstorm
pilot who used to let his wife, Louise,
walk on the plane’s wings during stunts.
Culpepper’s influ?nce figured in
Capt. Grubbs’ fascination for flying.
When he was in the hospital, Louise
Culpepper who lives in Milledgeville
now wrote a note to Capt. Grubbs
saying she was glad he had survived the
Harvest of Values
will begin Thursday
Some 70 firms will participate in the
annual Fall Harvest of Values this week
in Griffin and Spalding County. It will
begin Thursday and run through
Saturday.
The sales promotion is expected to
attract thousands of people from the
community and surrounding areas.
Merchants have been stocking their
shelves and display counters for
several weeks in preparation for the
sale.
The annual event started a few years
ago in Griffin and has grown each year.
It signals that the fall shopping season
is in full swing and comes at a time
when people are getting ready for cool
weather.
Those participating in the promotion
this year include:
Custom Picture Frames-Olds Fur
niture, Inc., Jim Pridgen Hardware,
Inc., Cobb’s Lawn & Garden Center,
Cartledge Furniture, Southern States
Printing Co., Dairy Queen No. 1, Beaty
Auto Parts, Inc., Abigail’s, Smith-
Roberts, Morrow-Powell.
Rhodes Furniture Co., Goode-Nichols
Furniture Co., Toyota of Griffin, Jean
Machine, Dena’s Casuals, Friedman’s
Jewelers, Cain’s, Suburban LPGas Co.,
Sutton’s, Bishop’s Clothing.
Griffin Hardware Co., Kmart,
Hensley’s Office Equipment, Akin’s
Feed & Seed Store, Norris Custom
Carpets, Vaughn Furniture, O’Kelly’s
Furniture Co., Maxwell’s Home Fur
nishings, Carpets of Griffin, Whitmire
Jewelers, Jones-Harrison Furniture
Co.
The Diana Shop, The Bonnie Shop,
Transit Authority tokens and souvenir
coins.
Mrs. Edenfield said she likes to keep
some of the oddball coins because she’s
interested in them.
Coins from Vietnam, Norway, Puerto
Rico, England, the Netherlands and
Mexico are included in the offerings of
people taking the shortcut to the
beaches, she said.
But the non-negotiable objects ac
count for only about $1 a week, from a
Weather
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA -
Mostly fair and not as cool tonight with
lows near 50. Partly, cloudy and mild
Thursday with highs in the mid 70s.
LOCAL WEATHER - Low this
morning at the Spalding Forestry Unit
40, high Tuesday 72.
Something of
a celebrity
crash.
Mrs. Grubbs said stacks and stacks of
mail came after the crash. She has
acknowledged all but about a 112 letters
and hopes to finish that soon.
Capt. Grubbs brushed and played
with Muffin and Puddin’, his pet dogs
he brought home from Scotland, as he
talked this morning about flying.
Everybody wants to see the pilot who
survived the crash, Mrs. Grubbs ob
served.
She said her husband had become
something of a celebrity.
Mrs. Huckaby, his mother, related
earlier how her son and his wife were
flying to Hawaii recently on a vacation.
The pilot of the plane learned Capt.
Grubbs was aboard.
He came on the plane’s PA system
and announced they had a celebrity
aboard. He said the pilot of the 747 in
the Canary Island crash was flying with
them to Hawaii. The pilot said he would
not point out who Capt. Grubbs was to
prevent any embarrassment over the
celebrity status.
The passengers broke into applause
to acknowledge that Capt. Grubbs was
aboard.
He hopes to get in a little golfing while
in Griffin during these few days visiting
his mother.
But more than anything, he wants to
get back to controls of a 747 again.
Retirement at age 60 looms just a
couple of years away.
Capt. Grubbs doesn’t want to spend
much of that on the ground.
Cronic Chevrolet, Inc., The Plant
Emporium, Collin’s Men’s & Boy’s
Wear, Kinney Shoes, Griffin Sales &
Service, Inc., Artistic Flowers & Gifts,
Purser Furniture Co.
Esquire Barber Shop, Byron’s
California Concept, Randall & Blakely,
Inc., Accent Glass & Mirror, Inc., Buy-
Rite, Bearden’s Electronic Shopping
Center, Family House Restaurant,
Crouch’s, Mobile Telephone & Pager,
Inc., Tonkin Casuals, White’s Auto
Store, Carden’s, Murphy’s Restaurant,
Emmett’s Eatery.
Griffin Auto Parts, Godard’s Clothing
Co., Griffin Office Supply, Easter
wood’s Shoes, Wynne’s Jewelers, Cole’s
Drugs, Cherokee Lawn & Garden
Centers.
First Federal Savings & Loan Assn.,
Griffin Federal Savings & Loan Assn.,
The Bank of Griffin, Commercial Bank
& Trust Co., First National Bank of
Griffin, Griffin Daily News, WGRI,
WHIE, WKEU.
The Country Parson
by Frank Clark
iiii
“Credit is a system by which
folks enjoy the fruits of their
intentions.”
haul that can hit SI,OOO a day.
On rainy days she has to dry the coins
with an old hair dryer before putting
them in the sorting machines.
But despite the tedious work and the
noise of the machines, which she ad
mits “gets old,” Mrs. Edenfield said
she is not tired of the job, which takes
less than one hour a day.
“I really don’t mind,” she said. “I
don’t mind any job where I can earn a
living.”