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About Griffin daily news. (Griffin, Ga.) 1924-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1977)
Polls will be open until 7 o’clock tonight ■ j ._J-w*. < r * , T ? TR®® ** • U| BMK&tiESL^K 4 J WL H ■-i v ” k -- * ■w'*#* I** 1 ** L .. *» v . \3 .■3MBSBP’*' ? > -*' r * -i, ■• ' „.*;?B|fct: W' * ■ <_l r ’' "REr- ■■ *■ ■* ‘ ■•**'-*' ■ k -“ tnswaßr ■• raMBB" r 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.
