Newspaper Page Text
Flowei w be issued on
Fort Valley s place and time in the
sun begins at 10:30 a m Thursday
when the First Day of Issue of four
flower stamps will be ommemorated
Inside today
Inside this issue you will find a
special section of The Leader
I rihune in honor of the First Day
of Issue ceremony for the flower
stamps to be held today. We felt
that this was far too important an
occasion to let pass without a
souvenir issue. We hope that you
enjoy it and will keep it as a
momenta of this festive dav.
a
25 * She
Volume No. 91, No. 16
Two prisoners break out
of one walks back
Two inmates at the Peach Giunry
Hilton fjail) climbed the security fence
which surrounds the jail last Friday
afternoon and enjoyed a few hours of
freedom
The hiatus ended for one of them
when Jerry' Jolly walked back to the jail
Saturday morning and turned himself
in For El wood Solomon, the freedom
walk lasted a bit longer, for it was not
until Saturday afternoon that he was
apprehended at his father's house on
Highway 42 near Byron
According to Chief Deputy Jimmy
Jones, no charges have been filed
against either Solambh man pending further
investigation Was in jail on a
murder charge; Jolly was being held
for violation of a parole
Chief Jones said that this is the third
instance where prisoners have gotten
out of jail by scaling the fence He also
City changes and decides to issue
beer license to the Tackle Box
I hr members of the fort Valley City
.ourntl on Tuesday reversed an earlier
decision and have allowed Frank
NeSmith of the laikie Box to have his
beer license renewed
Although the city had never pulled
NeSmith s license, the utv juncti
voted on March 30, 1081, not to renew
the license when it was up for annual
renewal two days later on April 1 I he
members of the license committee had
made this recommendation to the full
council.
Giunctlman ( W "Pete" Peterson
told the other members of council at
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Wally Freshwater (front row, left) accepts a plaque
from Sampson Culpepper at the United Givers Lund
board of d,rectors meeting Monday night. April 20.
Culpepper congratulated Freshwater for a successful
fund drive uhuh collected S16.250 in cash and pledges.
Freshwater was later elected President of the UGF.
at the Peach County High School
auditorium Among the important
guests expected to take part in the
ceremony are Mrs Rosalyn Carter, her
mother Mrs Allie Smith, Deputy
Postmaster General ( Neil Benson. U
- S Senator Sam Nunn and Con
gressman Jack Brinkley
The object of most of the attention
will lie the camellia stamp which was
suggested he the members of the
American Camellia Sextets The other
flowers sharing honors on the first dav
of issue are the dahlia, the rose and the
lilv
In addition to the First Day of Issue
of the stamps, library Director Jimmy
Smith said that camellia stamps from
pointed out that there has been one
instance where someone broke into the
jail by scaling the same security fence
Chief Jones said that Sheriff Johnnie
Bee ham is working to ger the fence
built in such a way as to prevent this
kind of escape, either in or out
The two prisoners were in the
dormitory part of the jail and the jailer
let them walk downstairs into the yard
fur exercise at 3..30 p m. The pair
obviously hustled downstairs before
the jailer came down and climbed over
the gate and walked away. They were
not missed until the remaining
prisoners were put back into their cells
at 4‘30 pm
When he was captured, El wood
Solomon gave no resistance, said Chief
/ones Assisting in the arrest were Lt.
Fred Barker, Captain Frizel Ray and
Detective Chris Brumbaugh
t he called meeting that all the facts in
volvcd in the case were not made
known at the earlier meeting He said
that he did not know at the time that
Police Chief Sam Stalnaker had recom
mended m a letter that the NeSmnh
license be renewed.
In the discussion that followed, u
was revealed that a shooting had ou ur
red at the Lac kle Box in February Out
tng this incident, one white manager
and one white customer allegedly told a
black customer to buy his beer outside
"with the Other rugger" This led to
the white customer allegedly taking a
Looking on with much approval are (second row) Mrs.
Pat Joiner. H. E. Bryant. (third row). Helen Marshall
Jimmy Smith. Mrs. Elizabeth Richmond, (fourth row).
l)oug Freeman. Jesse Hall and Fred Glenn. The group
particularly appreciated the fact that two of Peach Coun
ty's most photogenic people were on the front row.
around the world are displayed this
week at the Thomas Public Library,
"The new stamp to be issued here
April 23 joins those of T other nations,
the first of which was issued In Por
iugal in 1898.” said Smith
Patrons and stamp collectors mav
buy the new stamps at the Fort Valley
Post Office beginning Thursdav morn
ing. said Postmaster Warren Thump
son. One window at the post office will
be dedicated solely to the sale of the
new stamps, and people will be in the
lohfn of the post office to hand caned
the 'tamps
Hie new stamps will also be available
at the Peach County High School
auditorium
Home Owned And Operated For Ninety Years
Fort Valley, Peach County, Ga., April 21, 1981
In other activity during the week,
Captain Frizel Ray reported that an
automobile stolen in lacke City,
Florida, was found at the Mobil Station
at the intersection of 1-75 and 247
Connector on April 16. The 1978 Ford
Erl') was parked at the station and Ft.
Bobby Brown and Deputy Kenny
Cameron ran a check on the car and
learned that it had been stolen on April
10 There has been no arrest, but the
case is still under investigation.
Captain Ray also reported that five
horses were stolen from A T. Wilson
on Highway 96 East of Fort Valley
sometime between March 22 and
March 31 The detective said that this
theft may have been related to other
ret ent horse thefts that have happened
in Houston and Twiggs counties
recently
The horses had a combined value of
$5,400, said the detective
pistol and shooting three times at the
black customers,
Councilman Claybon Edwards asked
Detective Isaac Lawrence if there was
anything to lead him |Lawrence] to
believe that this incident would not
fiave happened if the owner, Frank
NeSmith, had been present. Lawrence
replied that one of the black men in
volved in the incident had been a fre
quvnt customer at the Tackle Box and
had in fact bought a house from
NeSmith. NeSmith told Edwards that
the manager of the place had been
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Peach County’s white population is up as
Fort black increases
Peach County s population has
increased 19 76 per cent since 1970,
according to the 1980 census. Peac h
County s population increased by some
3161 persons, from 15,990 to 19,151.
It was projected in 197 7 that Peach
County’s population would increase by
5810 by 1980, an increase of 36.33 per
cent. At the time of that projection the
county's population was increasing at
the rate of 19-45 per cent. The 1980
census figures fall short of that
projection by 17 per cent, or 2649
persons.
Of that increase of 3161 people, 2428
were white and 679 were black. Whites
accounted for 76.8 per cent of that
increase while blacks accounted for
21.5 per cent. The white population
experienced a 35.9 per cent increase
while the black population rose 7,5 per
cent.
in Fort Valley the population
decreased 2.72 per cent since the 1970
census, from 9251 persons to an even
9,000. The white population in Fort
Valley decreased 9 8 per cent while the
black population rose 0.9 per cent
during that 10-year period.
Byron has experienced a 21.4 per
cent increase in population during the
past 10 years, with an increase of 293
persons over the 1970 figures of 1368.
The population in Peach County is
now 50.96 per cent black and 49.04 per
cent white. In 1970 the county was
56.78 per cent black and 43 22 per cent
white.
Fort Valley’s present population is
I he Executive Director of the
American Camellia Society, Milton
Brown, said that a first day cover
(envelope] which will feature a color
picture of the headquarters of the
American Camellia Society at Massee
Lane and the new stamps arc available
for $2.00 from the society headquarters
and at the school. Brown also united
the public to the ceremonies at the
high school at 10:,30 a.m,
Fort Valley Mayor Rudolph ( arson
also issued a special welcome to visitors
saying. "We in the city have been
working toward making the utv as
clean and safe as possible so that vour
stav here can be a pleasant
experience " "We certainly want to
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Oranges in Peach
Oranges were going down the line at Pearson-1.ane ing Pearson. Pearson-Lane now has some 2000 acres
packing house last week instead of the peaches that Of peaches in the Peach County area. This year's
we are used to seeing. Pearson-1.ane rec ently installed peach crop is said to be in good shape and will pro
a great deal of new packing equipment at the sheet and bab/y be an average crop, provided the rains continue
were testing the system with oranges as they were the to come, Pearson-Lane will probably begin pac king
only fruit available. With the addition of the new peaches around the middle of May. Some 100
equipment, the shed's pac king capacity neatly doubl- teenagers will he hired this summer to man the pack
ed. The expansion came after Pearson-Lane bought ing house, compared to 60 who were hired before the
Valley-View Farms following the retirement of Irv- expansion.
65,75 percent black and 33-91 percent
white. In 1970 blacks accounted for
63.42 per cent of Fort Valley’s
population while whites accounted for
36.57 j>er cent.
Whites represent 61.83 per cent of
Byron population today while blacks
represent 38.17 percent.
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Time To Change
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% ku: DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIIVIEl It
~W, BEGINS / g .1
X APRIL 26th
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Turn your clocks forward one hour Saturday
evening before going to bed.
welcome our distinguished guests and
visitors to our city to be a part of the
issuance of the American Camellia
Society commemorative stamp,’’ said
the mayor. He also had particular
praise for Congressman Jack Brinkley,
Milton Brown, Dr. Dan Nathan and
other AGS officials who "stimulated
some interest’’ in this stamp.
Immediately after the celebration at
the high school, guests may visit the
ACS headquarters at Massee Lane for a
barbeque dinner. The headquarters,
with its rart- book library and the
Stevens/ I aylor Gallery of Boehm
porcelains, will be open to the public.
t ransportation will be available for
the guests from the gardens at 1:30 and
Copies 25ct. each, 1 Year (local) Subscription $7.80
The population in unincorporated
areas of Peach County has increased 16
per cent over the ten year period since
the 1970 census. In 1970 Peach County
ranked 66th among Georgia counties in
relation to size. By 1976 Peach County
had moved up to 58th. Peach County
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
2 30 p m. for trips to Blue Bird Body
company where tours will be con
ducted At 2:30 the members of the
hoard of the ACS will meet at The
Citizens Bank.
The committee for the celebration
consists of Postmaster Warren Thomp
son, Dr Dan Nathan and Milton
Brown.
The effort to have a camellia stamp
started in 1976 when Dr. Nathan and
Brown contacted Representative Jack
Brinkley about the idea. Brinkley co
ordinated the request to the U S. Postal
Service with the entire Georgia
legislative delegation.’ The
CONTINUED ON PAGE 11