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Christie comments Bonds needed for state funds Supt. D. B. Christie of the Griffin- Spalding School System reviewed today the state regulations under which state construction funds could be made available here. The amount involved is about $4- million. He said another point to remember is implementing a law that makes provisions for handicapped, mentally retarded and behaviorally or emotionally disturbed children. More classroom space is needed to meet this new law, he pointed out. The superintendent also said 40 percent of the students at Griffin High attend college, leaving the other 60 percent heading into the job market upon graduation. He said a comprehensive high school program would improve the one for students not college bound. This is a statement from the superintendent on the bond proposals: Tuesday, November 8, the citizens of Griffin and Spalding County will have D/XII.V Daily Since 1872 Griffin vicinity is sopping wet following days of downpour The rains came by the bucketfulls Friday and Friday night, leaving few Griffinites dry. Reports of flooded basements, stalled cars and knee-deep puddles were numerous. Officially the Griffin area received 4.35 inches of the wet stuff from 8 a.m. Friday to 9 a.m. today, according to the Georgia Forestry Unit. But, many local residents would quarrel with that, offering their flooded yards and driveways as evidence. High temperature Friday was 67 degrees at 5:15 p.m. and the low was 62 degrees. The worst news is more of the same is predicted by the National Weather Service for today and Sunday. A low pressure system stalled over the Southeast will continue to bring rain in the form of showers and thun derstorms. Predictions call for clearing 111 V Patient the opportunity to go to the polls and vote on an issue which will affect not only the youth but also the economic growth of this community. Three questions will appear on the ballot. 1. "Shall School Bonds for a High School and Other School System Additions and Improvements in the amount of $5,955,000 be issued by the Griffin- Spalding County School System?” “Shall School Bonds for an Athletic Stadium and Facilities in the amount of $1,000,000 be issued by the Griffin- Spalding County School System?” 3. "Shall School Bonds for a Central Food Storage and Cooler-Freezer Facility in the amount of $160,000 be issued by the Griffin-Spalding County School System?” The second and third questions, if approved, will result in construction of a stadium and a food storage facility entirely with local funds. QUESTION ONE Question number one on the ballot, if approved, insures the construction of a GRIFFIN Griffin, Ga., 30223, Saturday Afternoon, Novembers, 1977 late Sunday. Most Griffin High football followers planned to dress for the weather tonight when they go to Jonesboro to see the Bears battle North Clayton in the final game of the saason. They were spared a dreary night in the rain Friday because of the Saturday night game. But folks in Pike County had to brave deluge Friday in Zebulon to see the season’s closer. Pike lost to Taylor County 38-0 in a battle in the mud and rain. Faithful followers of the team found makeshfit shelter for the first half but most of them left at halftime for the gym or home. Other sportsmen who hunt game faced a day in the rain if they planned to open the deer season with a trip to the woods today. The rains didn’t spare AIR stock drivers in their efforts to qualify for the Dixie 500. Janet Guthrie, third in the running for Rookie of the Year honors on the NASCAR tour, is shown here patiently waiting for the rains to clear at the raceway Friday. (AP) new high school which includes classrooms, P. E. fields and facilities, baseball field, an all-weather track, football field with dressing facilities, and adqquate parking spaces. Passage of this issue will provide for renovation of the library at the Spalding Junior High II campus and construction of a new P. E. facility on the present Griffin High campus. We will also be able to construct a new eighteen classroom elementary school on Cowan Road which will alleviate the overcrowded conditions that exist at Atkinson, Beaverbfook and Orrs. The state will provide this system with ap proximately SBOO,OOO to construct an elementary school only if the high school issue is passed and we do in fact construct a new high school. ARGUMENTS Many arguments have been presented as to why this system is in need of additional facilities, however, I think it is imperative that I name a few which may have been overlooked or NEWS Many, however, were undaunted by the weather and went to their deer stands anyway. Griffin commuters from Atlanta were glad to escape the capital city late Friday where the heavy rains swelled Peachtree Creek and other regularly flooded areas. Flash flood warnings in Atlanta remained in effect today. And race fans faced uncertainty. Time trials and qualifying for the Dixie 500 at AIR in Hampton had to be called off Thursday and Friday because of the rain. The drivers were to try to get in their rounds today. However, the threat of rain hung over the track and the possibility of a week’s delay for the race was in their air. Elsewhere, The Associated Press Reported: passed over lightly. It has been previously mentioned that this system will receive approximately $4,000,000 in state funds to provide for con struction of the high school and new elementary school if the voters approve the first question on the ballot. State capital outlay funds presently are allocated to public school systems on the basis of increased attendance or consolidation and this system will receive funds based upon consolidation. This present method of allocating construction funds to school systems will no longer be in effect after 1980 due to the passage of the House Bill 905 by the General Assembly. ALLOCATIONS LESS It is apparent that school system allocations for construction purposes will be much less than what is presently earned. Dr. Cal Adamson, Associate State Superintendent of Schools, in a letter addressed to me dated October 17, states “capital outlay grants under (Continued on page 2) Vol. 105 No. 262 Firemen early this morning evacuated three persons from the lower level of a College Park apartment flooded with waist-high rainwater as thunderstorms countinued to drench much of the state Saturday. Firefighters reported that a woman and her young child and an elderly man whose bed was “floating” in his apart ment were led to higher ground during the early morning hours. Because of the unusually heavy rain, the National Weather Service extended its flash flood watch for Southwest and much of Northern Georgia until tonight. The watch line extends west of a line from Thomasville to Macon and north of the Columbus-Macon-Augusta line. There were reports of washed out bridges, property damage and flooded roads in many areas of the state following the rains Friday. The weather service said the storms were brought on by an intense low pressure area near the central Gulf. Fire officials reported that the roof of a College Park dress shop collapsed early today after three feet of water ac cumulated on it. The Hall County Sheriff’s De partment said 4% inches of rain fell in the Gainesville area in a 24-hour period, washing out at least three bridges in the county. Officers said the bridges were located on E. A. Buffington Road, Fuller Road and Old Flowery Branch Road. They also reported flooding in urban areas. The weather bureau said the system would drift “slowly and erratically” along a northwestward course today and tonight, reaching east Tennessee by Sunday night. Forecasters said that “until then, periods of showers and thundershowers are expected to continue with oc cationally very heavy rainfall ac companying the showers in the watch area.” The Country Parson by Frank (lark II /fig r fl bK — “Love is the only thing you can give to one person without denying it to another.” r// / ' Superintendent D. B. Christie Social security House and Senate differ on how to get job done WASHINGTON (AP) — The House and Senate agree that vast sums of money must be funneled into the ailing Social Security system, but they differ on the question of how much working people and their employers should sacrifice to get the job done. The Senate on Friday concurred with the position of the House that Social Security taxes will have to be raised. Left unresolved was the question of whether the maximum tax paid by a worker will be doubled or tripled over the next 10 years. House-Senate conference committee will have to decide to what extent Social Security taxes will be raised for em ployees and their employers. The panel also must decide whether employers and employees should continue splitting the payroll-tax burden 50-50, as the House proposed, or whether employers will be required for the first time to carry a larger share of the burden, as favored by Senate. At stake are the paychecks of some 107 million working men and women and Social Security benefits of 33 million elderly Americans. The maximum a working man or woman now pays per year is $965, and that is matched by the employer. The Senate bill would change this so that, in 1987, for example, the top taf a worker would have to pay would be $2,407, while the employer would have to pay a maximum of $5,325. The House bill would continue the 50- 50 split, so that in 1987 both the em ployee and the employer would pay identical taxes of $3,025. The Senate passed its Social Security bill Friday night on a 42-25 vote, ap proving tax increases that will cost S7O billion to $75 billion over the next six years, for example, and liberalizing rules on outside earnings by pension recipients. The House approved its own plan last week. Here are unofficial estimates of how the taxes in the two bills compare. The figures include tax increases already written into current law: SIO,OOO WORKER The current tax is $585 a year. Both bills would raise it in 1978 to $605. Under the Senate bill the payroll tax on this worker from 1978 through 1987 would total $6,612, or $357 more than without the bill. The House version would result in a 10-year total of $6,580, or $325 above current law. HIGH-PAID WORKER Currently, no worker pays an annual Social Security tax of more than $965. That is paid only by those earning $16,500 or more. By 1987 the maximum wage subject to tax on the employee in the Senate bill would be $33,900, for a top tax of $2,407, and a 10-year total of $17,188, which is $1,988 more than without the bill. Newnan resident stuck trying Santa’s trick NEWNAN, Ga. (AP) - Robert Howard Parks has discovered that Santa’s traditional method of entering houses isn’t as easy as it looks. Parks, 31, got stuck Friday as he tried to crawl down his chimney after finding himself locked out of his house. It took volunteer firefighters two hours to free him after his wife called The employer now matches the employee’s share of tax, a practice that would be continued under the House bill. Under the Senate bill, that tradition would end in 1979, when an employer would be liable for a payroll tax on the first $50,000 of each worker’s wages, or a top tax of $3,068. In 1985 the maximum taxable wage would soar to $75,000, meaning a top tax of $5,288. In the House bill, the maximum wage subject to employee tax in 1987 would be $42,600, resulting in a maximum tax of $3,025. The tax over the next 10 years would total $21,391, or $6,191 above current law. Social Security is in trouble because of a declining birth rate and high unemployment, which reduce con tributions to the system, and high in flation, which increases payouts. The problems were compounded by a 1972 congressional error which had the effect of giving some beneficiaries double cost-of-living increases to com pensate for inflation. The Senate bill corrects that error, as does the House version, by reducing benefits that some future retirees would receive otherwise. The Senate and House bills differ on treatment of the “earnings ceiling,” which limits the amount of money a re tired person may earn and still draw a full Social Security check. Under existing law, the pension of a person 65 to 72 is cut $1 for each $2 above $3,000 that the person earns in a year. The House voted to eliminate that ceiling by 1982. The Senate voted to raise the ceiling for most retired per sons to $4,500 next year and $6,000 in 1979. In 1982 the limit would be elimi nated for persons 70 or 71 years old. People ...and things School children dressed in rain gear having great time playing in puddles while waiting on school bus to take them home. Old-timer taking rains lightly, quipping he thought he saw an ark pass outside his bedroom window last night Stack of pumpkins with wilting, carved faces stacked in bushes behind residential house. Weather FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA — Flash flood watch through tonight. Periods of showers and a few thun derstorms with rainfall occasionally heavy through tonight. Showers more scattered Sunday. Highs today in mid 60s, lows tonight in mid 50s. Sunday highs in upper 60s. when she heard his cries for help. Parks, who is 6 feet 1, said his legs were numb after he was freed, but he was reported in satisfactory condition at a local hospital. The chimney didn’t fare as well. Firefighters had to go through the attic and remove bricks from the chimney to free him.