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Toccoa Falls College students salvage belongings of a friend. |AP)
Hosea Williams
praises Maddox
MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - It was the
first public testimonial for Lester
Maddox since the former Georgia
governor was stricken with a heart
attack, and it came from a veteran civil
rights activist.
“The one thing about Lester Maddox,
they never bought him out,” said Hosea
Williams Monday night before taking
the stage of a fashionable restaurant to
ask for donations to the Heart Fund in
Maddox’s name.
“As for as racism, Lester’s bark was
much worse than his bite,” said
Williams, executive director of the
Southern Christian Leadership Con
ference. “He was committed to helping
poor white people, and when you help
poor white folks, poor black folks
benefit, too.”
Maddox, 62, became a national figure
in the 1960 s when he was photographed
brandishing an axe handle as he turned
blacks away from his Atlanta fried
chicken restaurant.
Last September, he suffered a heart
attack while working in the garden of
his Marietta home. In a recent in
terview, he said he expects to resume
normal activities early next year.
“You know what I dug about old
“A committee is a group that
can put its finger on a problem
without touching it”
Large portion of city
to be without power
A large portion of the city will be
without electric power (weather per
mitting) for about 20 minutes Wed
nesday morning in order that
emergency repairs may be made at the
substation on Slaton Street.
The outage will begin at 7 o’clock and
will affect the following areas:
1. A portion of the north side of Griffin
beginning north of Broadway and in
cluding the area between North Hill
GRIFFIN
Daily Since 1872
Lester,” Williams asked. “Some black
preachers came to talk to him when he
was governor. He threw them out of his
office because they were talking about
the aspirations of good solid middle
class blacks, not the poor, and that’s
what Lester Maddox was interested
in.”
“Certainly Lester and I had our
differences. But he’s a man of con
science. He stood up for what he
believed and when it came down to
class problems, he stood with the
poor,” Williams said.
“Other than that restaurant scene,
nobody can talk about any kind of great
evil racism perpetuated by Lester
Maddox,” Williams said. “In fact, he
did more for black people during his
term than any other governor in my
lifetime,” he added.
Williams said Maddox was the first
southern governor to integrate the state
patrol and the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation and was instrumental in
bringing federal food programs to the
poor throughout the state.
“A lot of black people are going to tell
me ‘Hosea, you’re crazy to say those
things about Lester Maddox,’ but I
respect a man who stands up and fights
for what he believes in.”
Later Williams told the restaurant
crowd: “Had Jimmy Carter followed
up what Lester Maddox started,
Georgia would be a better place.”
He was followed to the stage by
Bobby Lee Fears, a black ex-convict
who toured with Maddox as “The
Governor and the Dishwasher” before
Maddox’s heart attack.
“Lester Maddox is a super human
being,” Fears said. “Anybody who
calls me an Uncle Tom is sick, because
the governor and me are partners.”
Street and Jackson Road.
2. The east side of Griffin beginning
east of Sixth Street and including the
area between Jackson Road and East
College Street.
3. A portion of the south side of Griffin
beginning south of Broadway, including
the area between South Hill Street and
East College Street. Also included are
South Eighth Street, South Ninth Street,
Beck Street, Maple Drive, Wesley Hills
and the downtown area.
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Tuesday Afternoon, November 8,1977
People
...and things
Griffin businessman driving car with
“just married” markings, his daughter
having used it the day before in her
wedding.
Young voter, obviously a first timer,
spending a little while in the machine to
make sure he has flicked the right
switches.
Man working over manhole at
Lyndon Avenue appearing to talk to
himself as he gives instructions to
unseen worker underground.
Mushroom
venture
abandoned
The building and property where
some Japanese investors tried to
produce mushrooms is up for sale.
The property has been declared
abandoned. The Bank of Griffin has
listed it for sale with Searcy Realty Co.
The Fukaishi Group purchased five
acres in the city industrial park on
Everee Inn Road at $6,000 an acre some
three years ago.
A building was constructed and the
group attempted at least three crops of
mushrooms but failed. Some sort of
fungus was blamed.
Backers of the venture sought
scientific help from the Experiment
Station here but the fungus problem
never was solved.
It takes some 50 days or so to produce
a crop and the firm tried at least three
crops.
A staff of at least six employees
dwindled to three then the backers of
the plant called it quits.
The mushroom investment was
estimated to range between $250,000
and $300,000.
Susuma Ogata and Mrs. Yasko
Nishimura told local people who were
interested in the business they intended
to go back to Japan to try to learn why it
failed in Georgia.
Apparently they changed their minds
and decided to abandon the property.
2 hours before tragedy
Dam said ‘solid as rock’
TOCCOA (AP) — The Kelly Barnes
dam, was inspected two hours before it
broke Sunday, killing at least 38 per
sons, and those who looked at it said it
was “as solid as a rock,” an aide to
Gov. George Busbee said today.
Tom Perdue told a news conference
that David Fledderjohann and several
other persons inspected the dam
because of the torrential rains which
had been occurring and they reported
there seemed to be no danger.
However, they continued to watch the
creek below Toccoa Falls, which flows
through the Toccoa Falls Bible College
and when the water began to rise about
1:30 a.m. Sunday they began warning
people in the floodplain below the falls
to leave.
Fedderjohann.whowasresponsiblefor
inspecting the dam on a regular basis,
was killed along with several other
volunteers who were warning residents
in the disaster area, Perdue said.
He said that because of the question
of dam inspection, he spent much of
Monday night trying to determine the
last time the dam was inspected.
“Last year," Perdue said, “the
college received $39,500 from the
Federal Disaster Assistance
Administration for repairs along the
creek bank, some roads and some
buildings because of flash flooding
which occurred Memorial Day last
year.
“TheFDAA did not include any money
for the dam, because it had not been
damaged. Part of the money was used
to repair the approach road to the dam
and F.R. Hanson, vice president of the
college, made a visual inspection of the
dam Nov. 2 to look at road repairs made
as a result of that money.
“Hanson and two employes of the
highway department walked the road
across the dam Nov. 3. Hanson inferred
to me that visual inspections of the dam
were made at least three times a year
and more often when there are heavy
rains.”
“This dam held water for 30 or 40
years,” he said. “There was no reason
to think this dam was going to collap
se.”
Voting brisk in city, county
Voting was brisk early today in the
bond issue referendum and the election
of a county commissioner and two city
commissioners.
Interest in the bond issue apparently
prompted the heavier than usual turn
out for an off-year election.
Ballots were being cast on bond
issues to build a new high school, a new
athletic stadium and a food storage
complex.
Voters in the county as well as in
corporated cities in Spalding were
casting ballots for a county com
missioner.
They will elect a person to fill the
vacancy created when Reid Childers
resigned because of health. The can
didates are Jim Goolsby, David Elder,
Bob Gilreath, Frank Gunnels, Tom
Bearden and Al Norris.
Voters in the city of Griffin will elect
two city commissioners.
Candidates for the First Ward Post
are incumbent Ernest (Tiggy) Jones,
Emmitt Cone and Mrs. Charlotte
Manolis.
Candidates for the Fourth Ward Post
are incumbent R. L. (Skeeter) Nor
sworthy, Sid James Beeland and Bobby
Dunn.
Runoff elections in some of the
commission contests are probable,
election officials speculated.
Voting was heavy in the Experiment
area where ballots are cast at the
Experiment Station, a spot check
showed.
Downtown voting appeared to be
about average at the city hall voting
place while it was heavy to brisk at the
Spalding Courthouse.
Vol. 105 NO. 264
Dr. Kenn Opperman, president of the
550-pupil college, said roads in the
vicinity of the dam were inspected two
days before the tragedy.
“But the inspection was because of a
contract to put gravel on the road and
the purpose was not to inspect the dam
itself,” he said, adding that he did not
know of any routine inspection
program.
Dr. Jim Grant, the school’s public
affairs vice president, said “we are in
the process of establishing a process”
for releasing specific information about
the condition of the dam.
Corps of Engineers personnel looked
at what was left of the dam Monday,
and Col. Frank Walter, district
engineer at Savannah, said he couldn’t
say what caused the dam to break —
except to refer to the large amount of
rainfall. And he added, “we might
never know what caused it.”
Meanwhile, Busbee asked President
Carter to provide some federal ex
pertise to determine why the dam
broke. Carter declared Stephens
County a federal disaster area Monday,
making victims eligible for low interest
loans for farms and businesses.
Some students at the college said they
thought the dam should have been
looked at, but that they were mostly
concerned about flash floods which
occurred along Toccoa Creek when
there was heavy rain.
“Some people felt that the dam
should have been looked into,” said
Lenny Rasor, 21, a ministerial student
from Celina, Ohio. “But mostly they
just worried about the flooding.
Usually, once a year, there was a small
overflow but nothing like this.”
Opperman said the college had a
warning system to alert persons when
there is danger of flooding which in
volves door-to-door warnings from
volunteer firemen at the college. Two of
Sunday’s victims were doing just that
when the huge wall of water wiped out a
cluster of mobile homes and permanent
houses in a matter of seconds.
Opperman said no students or faculty
members had ever expressed concern
to him about the dam itself.
Meanwhile, the search continued for
—— 111
MJm ■ ’ Hl
Mrs. Kathy C. Pilgrim was accompanied by her son, Chris, this
morning when she voted in the Ringgold Community.
Weather
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA -
Partly cloudy tonight and Wednesday
with chance of showers Wednesday.
Low tonight in the mid 50s. High
Wednesday in the lower 70s.
LOCAL WEATHER - Low this
morning at the Spalding County
Forestry Unit 58, high Monday 68, trace
of rain.
the body of Paul Williams, 76, a
maintenance employe of the college
and the only victim unaccounted forJ
The body of Dr. Jerry Sproull, 45, a
theology professor, was found late
Monday beneath an air conditioner and
other debris only a short distance from
where his home was demolished. The
bodies of his three children, Melissa, 6;
Joslynn, 7, and Joanna, 9, were
recovered with 34 others Sunday. Mrs.
Pat Sproull, their mother, survived.
Although most of the victims will be
buried in various parts of the country,
services for some will be held Wed
nesday in Toccoa.
Services for Karen Anderson, 29, and
two of her five children, Joey and
Becky, of Glenn Dale, Md., are to be
held at 10 a.m. from Whitlock Mor
tuary.
Their home was one of the trailers
ripped apart as it was whipped about by
the roaring torrent. The father, Bill
Anderson and three children, survived.
Services for about six other victims
are scheduled from the Toccoa Alliance
Church at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The city of Toccoa, with a population
of about 9,000, continued to boil its
water before use. Damage to the water
transmission was estimated at about
$60,000.
Perdue said tests may be completed
today which would show whether water
available to most of the city is safe to
use without boiling.
The process of assessing damage
continued and officials were expressing
hope that a figure might be available
soon.
Gifts of money and other forms of aid
continued to pour in to the college.
Opperman announced that the school
had been given $50,000 from the World
Relief Commission of Wheaton, 111.
The school has been closed tem
porarily and students who have not
returned home are being cared for in
other facilities in the Toccoa area.
