Newspaper Page Text
DAILY NEWS
Daily Since 1872
Woman slain; mate held
another in well wounded
I Ws-tr.
V Tgfy Kj*
£ ' I
Prince Charles walks with Dean David Collins, right, Rector of the St. Philips
Episcopal Cathedral of Atlanta, Sunday after addressing the congregation.
Prince Charles left Atlanta Sunday to go to Texas, the next stop on his tour of the
United States. (AP)
Prince in Atlanta
‘Why weren’t
you in church?’
ATLANTA (AP) — Britain’s Prince
Charles wound up his three-day visit to
' the Deep South Sunday by worshipping
at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta
and quipped to bystanders outside,
• “Why weren’t you in church?”
He flew immediately after the ser
vices to Kingsville, Tex., where he was
; to be the guest at the ranch home of
Mrs. Anne Armstrong, former am
bassador to Great Britain.
During the Episcopal services, the
prince walked from the front pew to a
lectern near the altar and read the
parable of the Pharisee and the Publi
' can from Luke 18: 9-14.
He was seated next to Gov. and Mrs.
George Busbee, and joined in singing
hymns and the national anthems of both
the United States and Great Britain.
While kneeling, the prince bowed his
head and placed his right hand around a
Town had last laugh
WARSAW, N.C.—(AP)A Columbia,
S. C. radio station tried to make this
community of 2,700 the butt of a big-city
joke, but a little small-town ingenuity
rewrote the punchline.
The station, EIS, sponsored a contest
in which the first prize was a trip to
Warsafr. Second prize was a week for 2
in New Orleans. The station called it a
“No Contest Contest.”
In addition to the accommodations in
a Warsaw motel, the prize included bus
transportation via Turkey, N.C., which
was to have been the original first prize
destination, but the station found the
bus wouldn’t stop there.
Along with the bus tickets came a
warm carton of milk, a cheese sand
wich, a used pillow and an old
magazine.
Joe and Joy Wilson won the trip, and
Wilson had to admit that at first blush
he was disappointed not to have won
second prize instead.
But residents of Warsaw didn’t like
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Monday Afternoon, October 24,1977
carved oak fleur delis extending from
the end of the pew, apparently shielding
his face during private prayer.
Admission to the cathedral, which
seats 1,200, was by ticket only, with first
choice going to as many parishioners as
possible. Those members who did not
get in received letters of apology from
Dean David B. Collins of the diocese.
Saturday night, Prince Charles
laughed often at a musical ex
travaganza on the South held at the
landmark Fox Theater in Atlanta,
including a crash course on how to
acquire a Southern accent.
In the afternoon, he watched eighth
ranked Kentucky dismantle Georgia 33-
0 at Athens. He drew wild cheers when
he strolled onto the field during half
time festivities and stopped to kiss
several cheerleaders.
what the contest had done to their
town’s image..
The Warsaw people told the Wilsons
to tear up the bus tickets and instead
sent Milford Quinn to pick them up
Friday in his private airplane.
When they landed in Warsaw, the
Wilsons were met at the airport by 200
cheering residents. Officials handed
them certificates signed by Gov. Jim
Hunt which made them “honorary Tar
Heels.”
Then the Wilsons went to their motel
for more surprises.
“We walked into the motel and it was
lined with flowers, buckets of cham
pagne and baskets of fruit,” said the
amazed Wilson, 30, an installer for
Western Electric.
Townspeople looked on the contest
first as a cruel, nasty joke but they
turned it into their favor “Now people
have heard about us and know more
about us,” one said.
Griffin police were investigating
seperate weekend shooting incidents in
which one woman was killed and
another critically injured.
Mrs. Rosemary Delane Thomas, 31,
of 817 Hammock St., died of gunshot
wounds to the head.
Police said they were called to the
residence shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday
and were met at the door by Douglas
Moore Thomas, 43, husband of the slain
woman.
They found Mrs. Thomas lying on the
floor just inside the doorway. She had
been shot in the forehead with a high
powered deer rifle and apparently had
been dead some 12 hours, police said.
Thomas was taken into custody and
was being held in the city jail for
questioning.
Saturday afternoon about 1:15 p.m.,
police answered a call to 1450 Boyd Row
to check a report that a woman had
fallen into a well.
She was identified as Martha May
Gilbert, 22, of 1450 Edgewood Ave.
Her common law husband, Bill White
(also known as Willie Mack Davison),
37, told police that he and his wife had
been gathering pecans near the
abandoned dry well and had gotten into
an argument. According to police, he
said he slapped his wife and she fell into
the well. When his efforts to get her out
failed, police were notified.
According to Sgt. Dean Ray of the
Narcotics Division, the woman could be
heard groaning at the bottom of the 40-
foot well.
Griffin Firefighter Joe Henley was
lowered into the well and attached a
rope around Mrs. Gilbert so that she
could be pulled up.
She was rushed to the Griffin-
Spalding Hospital where doctors
discovered she had been shot .through
the right cheek and had been stabbed
several times in the throat, Ray said.
She also had been beaten about the
head with an unidentified object, he
added.
She was transferred to Macon
Medical Center and placed in the in.
tensive care section where she
remained in critical condition today.
White was being held in the city jail
on an aggravated assault charge,
pending an investigation.
Bloodmobile
here today
The bloodmobile was at the
Cheatham Building of First Baptist
Church from noon until 5:30 p.m. today.
Moose Club members sponsoring the
visit were hoping 300 to 500 pints of
blood could be collected.
*■««.
Coy L. Hodges and students of Griffin Tech make final preparations for open
house which will be held Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Faculty and staff will
be available to talk to people and to give tours of the modern facilities. Door
prizes will be given. Pictured (1-r) are Cindy Yancey, Coy Hodges, Danny
Williams and Mary Stinson.
People
••• and things
Tot about 4 awed with beauty of fall
leaf, picking it up then scampering
home to give it to his mother.
Squirrel dropping nut just fallen from
tree and scampering off for safety as
big watch dog charges.
Pumpkin patch now down to a
precious few with the approach of
Halloween.
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA -
Cloudy with chance of rain tonight and
lows in the mid 50s. Occasional rain
likely Tuesday with highs in the mid
60s.
LOCAL WEATHER - Low this
morning 49, high Sunday 74 as recorded
at the Spalding Forestry Unit.
Open house
Vol. 105 No. 253
Balloon maker
From yacht skipper to flying,
he practically wrote license rules
“Hot air balloons are great get-away
machines. Your problems just drop
away like the ground moves away from
you during take off — you can’t worry.
It’s just a frame of mind.”
Mark Semich, Griffin hot air ballon
manufacturer and flier, often lets his
troubles drift with the winds as he
quietly sails the wind currents high
above everything.
Resigning himself to the fact that
while he is flying he doesn’t know where
he is going, doesn’t know when he will
get there, and matter of factly not
really giving a caring, Semich is lifted
high as the scenery slowly but con
stantly changes below him.
“Ballooning is a gentle sport, it is
very calm, slow and easy-going. You
just go ghosting along with the wind like
having your own flying carpet. Nothing
really happens fast,” Semich said.
Semich has always worked within the
boundless confines of water and air.
Though the 2 appear on very different
ends of a spectrum, Semich sort of
discovered the new adventures of air as
he was working on water.
His work career began with a large
sea diving outfit on the Pacific Ocean
where he donned a heavy diving suit,
Weather
O. ■ \ \ ■■■
- ■v/V'*
Jr; ' *■ ' .. -
|jr ' X
Leave his troubles grounded
helmet included. He would sink to the
ocean’s depths as an apprentice diver
salvaging wrecks and making repairs
on ships.
Later he refined his oceanic en
deavors to skippering sail boats,
maintaining them, with his own work
force. His job as captain of the yachts
meant he planned the entertainment
and the cruises for the owner of the
boat.
“On those boats you lived like a
millionaire and got paid for it,” Semich
said.
One such yacht was John Wayne’s,
the Wild Goose. Semich and his crews
had taken on the job of making some
repairs on the boat. It just so happened
the skipper of the Wild Goose had a
fatal heart attack and Semich was
asked to be the captain.
He had been captain of the Wild
Goose for almost 2 years when he read
an article concerning the Navy’s in
terest in redeveloping modem ap
proaches to hot air balloons.
His interest in hot air balloons had
been kindled and Semich designed his
first balloon.
“I had never seen a real hot air
balloon in my life,” he said.
Taxes, energy work
wait for congress
WASHINGTON—(AP)—Energy and
taxes dominate congressional action
this week as the Senate takes up an
energy tax bill, the House debates
Social Security taxes and a conference
committee works on a national energy
policy.
While the rest of Congress planned to
take a Veterans Day off, the House-
Senate energy conference committee
was summoned to work on the holiday
by its chairman, Rep. Harley Staggers,
D-W.Va., who said today’s session was
in the national interest.
The panel made scant progress in 3
long sessions last week, agreeing only
on a compromise requiring utilities to
help consumers insulate their homes—
one of the less controversial issues
facing the 43-member committee.
This week it will look at President
Carter’s proposal to force most utilities
and industries burning oil and natural
gas to convert to coal. The House
passed the President’s program, but
the Senate voted to allow all but the
biggest plants to continue using oil.
The Carter administration can be
expected to lobby hard for the House
version and to try to persuade con
ferees to adopt a compromise bill
Cauctious at first, he rose to the
heights on a tether line but
courageously cut it to rise to greater
heights.
“I cast loose and the thing just
worked beautifully,” the hot air
balloonist said.
It turned out the Navy had been busy
developing their own hot air balloon.
Semich later learned that he owned the
second modem hot air balloon in the
world.
Things seemingly were going well
until he received a letter from the
Federal Aviation Administration’s
board of inquiry.
He had never equated his balloon
flying with airplanes but the FAA had.
He was told he needed a balloon pilot’s
license.
Semich laughingly said he was issued
the license because he had been
summoned for flying a balloon. By
virtue of that fact, he was issued a
license.
Semich since, however, has worked
closely with the FAA establishing
guidelines and regulations for hot air
balloonists.
(Continued on page five.)
resembling it. The Senate rejected
most of the major proposals in the
Carter energy plan.
The Senate Tuesday takes up the final
part of that energy legislation—its tax
aspects.
But the bill sent to the floor by the
Senate Finance Committee contains
(Continued on page 3.)
The Country Parson
by Frank Clark
£& Ji
“Diet foods are simply ex
pensive replacements for what
we shouldn’t have been eating
in the first place.”