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Home Owned And Operated For Ninety Years
Volume No. 96, No. 16
Chamber announces hiring of new industry hunter
Herman Stine will begin work next
Monday, Aprii 25, as the executive
director of the Peach County Chamber
of Commerce. This announcement was
made at the chamber directors’
meeting last Tuesday by Chamber
President Dennis Herbert.
Herbert said that he had been
waiting for a long time to make that
announcement.
Stine has been the chamber
Union loses at
Woolfolk
"it's a strong vote for the company
and we are real pleased with the
results," Woolfolk Chemical Works
Vice-president Virgil Young said
Tuesday after a union election at the
company was defeated by a wide
margin.
The Oil, Chemical and Atomic
Workers International Union has five
days in which to file an objection with
the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) in Atlanta. If they do not file an
objection, the NIJLB will certify the
outcome of the election next Tuesday
if they do file an objection, the NLRB
will conduct an investigation into the
election. Shortly after the voting ended
Tuesday, Young said he had received
no indication that an objection to the
election would be filed.
Although there were two voting
periods scheduled, all 56 id production,
maintenance, shipping at receiving
workers involved in the election voted
in the first period. The outcome of the
vote was 38 against the union and 17
for. One ballot which had been marked
with initials was invalidated.
This was the first union election at
the company which was represented by
Mallory Phillips of Fisher and Phillips
in Atlanta
Peaches may have
escaped again
Middle Georgia peach crops have
been hurt by this week’s freezing
temperature, but the full extent of
damage will not Ik- determined for
another few days, said County
Extension Agent Joe Chapman on
Wednesday morning
Chapman said comprehensive
study by varieties after four or five
days of warmer weatlier should enable
the specialists to reach a full report of
cold damage by next Monday
Dr Bill Horton of the Southeastern
Fruit and Tree Nut Research
Laboratory at Byron confirmed
Monday that s<>mr varieties of the fruit
had suffered from the 30-degree
temperature of Monday morning He
said that in lower areas the kill damage
to the early May Gold variety ranged at
five to 10 per cent, while he found
damage to the Red Globe variery to be
up to75 percent
Chapman offered the prediction that
the damage rate from Monday’s cold
will be in the 50 to 80 per cent range in
Peach
Sam Caldwell are heard in Peach
State Labor Commissioner Sam
Caldwell Friday won a reprieve from
further investigation by the State
Campaign Financial Disclosure Com
mission into the practices of his 1982
campaign for re-election when J udge
Tommy Day Wilcox issued a temporary
Fort Valleyan represents Caldwell
Freeman
Leverette returned Friday to
present his case in the hometown
courtroom, and he won his case.
Leverette grew up and went to
school here, the son of Mrs. E. D.
Leverette and the
Leverette, He later fulfilled his
ambition of becoming an attorney
after completing studies at Emory
University School of Law in
Atlanta.
Although he comes back to visit
on occasion, he was quick to say
that he had been away, “at least 30
years.”
He resides at the northeast
Georgia town of Eiberton, where
he continues to practice law. He is
Fort Valley, Peach County, Ga., Thursday, April 21, 1983
executive director in Kokomo, Indiana,
where he was successful in attracting
several “high-tech” industries into
that area. Ralph Fuller, chairman of
the selection committee, said that
experience in economic development
was the primary concern of the
committee. He said that Stine’s proven
record was the most important
consideration in deciding to offer him
the job.
Wedding bells ring with help of jailers
by Carla M. Hill
Wedding bells and jail cells. If you
don’t think the two mix, then you
probably haven’t heard the too-good
ro-be-true story of a repentent burglar,
the girl he loves and and a handful of
cops who eared.
Byron City-Jail was the chapel and
Judge John H. “Buddy" Smisson
performed the ceremony uniting
19-year-old Mark Lindlcr and 18-year
old Denise Hart in holy matrimony.
Add in to that unique event a sheriff
who granted an overnight “honey¬
moon” pass and a cop with a big heart
and you have most of the facts behind
the love story in Byron. Most, but not
all
The cop with the btg heart is
Investigator James Barbour. He says
he thinks everybody deserves one
break, and he decided that young Mark
needed that one break. Not only did
Barbour pay for blood tests out of his
own pocket, he surprised the bride
with a bouquet of flowers to help
brighten her wedding day just
moments before the ceremony.
Polite and articulate, Mark is in
many ways muc h older than his 19
years would tell. He’s been on his own,
out of trouble, supporting himself since
he was 15. Family problems ruled out
staying home and staying in school,
His one and only venture outside the
long arm of the law came last year
when he broke into the back of a Byron
restaurant for food. He had met and
fallen in love with petite black haired
Denise several months earlier. The two
of them had hitchhiked to Byron
because he thought his mother could
put them up until he could find a job.
He had lost his job in Florida after
being replaced while he was out
recuperating with a broken foot. They
had no car and no money for a bus ride.
They both say that hitchhiking was a
last resort, one that had them both
"scared to death."
Once they arrived in Byron,
problems had developed at his
mother's and they had no place to go
And no money for food “1 know it was
stupid and I’ve learned my lesson now,
but right then ail I was thinking was
how hungry we were and something
just got into me I know it was wrong
now, but at the time 1 guess I was just
thinking crazy,” Mark says. Whatever
the reason, Mark broke into the
restaurant’s back door and when he
went back out, he had over $100 in his
pocket.
restraining order
The ruling handed down in Peach
County Superior Court bars the com
mission from conducting, for the
time being, any further investigation or
hearing on trie collection of campaign
contributions and on the possible use
attorney
Labor Sam Caldwell
He was prepresenting Caldwell
Friday in the commissioner’s
dispute with the State Campaign
Financial Disclosure Commission
over that body’s charge that
Caldwell employed illegal practices
in his latest bit for re-election.
After an hour and a-half of
arguments, Superior Court Judge
Tommy Day Wilcox granted
Leverette a temporary restraining
order against the state commission
barring any further investigations
of Caldwell's campaign until the
full case is heard in court.
Leverette's wife is the V.
Florence Kemp of Fort Valley
I
In addition to his work with the
Chamber of Commerce, Stine will also
spearhead the Peach County Develop
ment Authority's effort to seek new
industry for the county,
Stine, 36, has been employed by the
Chamber of Commerce in Kokomo
since May 1976. Prior to that he was a
district Scout executive for five years,
Prior to that he was employed by the
Cooperative Extension Service in
m
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The newlywed family: Mark, Denise and 2-year-old Kevin, photo by Carta Hilt
Within hours Byron police knocked
on the door of the Byron motel room
they had rented with some of the stolen
money. Mark admitted what he'd
done. Barbour says of the incident,
“We got back all but about five or six
dollars of what was stolen. He never
put up any fighting or hollering when
the police questioned him. If he’d held
a gun between somebody’s eyes I
wouldn’t have a bit of sympathy for
him, but he didn’t do that. I’m not
saying that he shouldn’t be punished;
he should because he committed a
burglary and to not punish him
wouldn’t be fair to the owners of the
restaurant. But we’re always arresting
people so why can’t we help them once
in a while? He’s a hardworking boy.
And at 19, he's still a boy — a young
man — and if we don’t help him now,
what will happen to him later?”
Barbour is quick to add that he thinks
the Byron police won t ever have any
more problems from him.
Mark was entenced to one year in
jail and four years probation. He is
working five days a week with the
city’s sanitation department and has
apparently impressed the folks there,
too. He already has a job offer with
them when he gets out of jail,
Mrs Lindlcr is a shy, pretty
18-year-old. She’s also the mother of
two-year-old Kevin, a blond-haired
bundle of energy who regularly charms
the kind hearted Barbour out of a bottle
of state employees on state time for
campaign purposes involving Caldwell
or on his behalf.
Wilcox granted the stay following
arguments in a 90-minute hearing
Friday morning during which Freeman
Leverette, representing the labor
ommissioner, pressed the contention
that the commission is employing
investigative and quasi-judicial tactics
outside its jurisdiction. He also
questioned the commission’s consti¬
tutionality, raising the point that some
of its members are ‘‘political
appointees ” of Georgia lawmakers.
Wilcox denied a motion to dismiss
the full charges brought by the
commission thus far against Caldwell,
setting May 2 as a date to hear
arguments on whether a preliminary
injunction should be granted. He also
advised attorneys Patrick McKee and
Hale Almand, who are representing
the state, that he would be prepared at
that time to hear the full case,
including a suit filed last week by
Caldwell against the commission, if all
briefs in the matter are submitted to
him by April 25.
In that suit Caldwell asks that
Chairman William B. Hollberg and R.
Indiana as an Extension agent in 4-H
work. He received both the BA and MA
degrees from Indiana University.
In preparation for his move to Peach
County, he and his wife, Nancy, and
five-year-old daughter, Alison, were in
town this past weekend looking at
houses. He has bought Judge Bryant
Culpepper’s house in Quail Hollow
near Fort Valley.
Dennis Herbert noted that Stine has
of “pop” from the nearby Coke
rr ine.
The marriage came about as the two
realized they “wanted to make it
right.” Officer Bill Woods had taken
both of them to Green Acres Baptist
Church where they joined the church
and were baptized. “Since I've been in
here we’ve both turned our lives over
to God,” Mark says. “We thought it
would be the right thing to do. We love
one another and we decided it was
what we should do. And having Denise
for my wife instead of just my girl
friend gave me a sense of security.”
Although their chances may seem
slim, Mark says they’ll make it.
'We’re just getting starred,” he said,
It is something special being married,
i f ’ s really changed everything. It’s not
just your girl friend anymore, it’s your
wife you care about. I feel it’s going to
gct better and better every month and
every year. I’ve always wanted a wife
and a family, and 1 never really liked
running around like my friends did. So
this is everything I always wanted. ”
Investigator Barbour says Mark’s
chances of making it when he gets out
of jail are “fine.” “If this hasn’t taught
me then I’d deserve to come back,”
Mark said. “If I’d been released I
might have done the same thing over
and over again. But since I’ve been in
here, I’ve learned a lot. Jail is no place
for anyone to be in. Hearing about it
Continued on page 2
E. Rivers, a member of the
commission, be removed because their
appointments violate Georgia law. It
further alleges that members, in¬
cluding Oliver C. Bateman of Bibb
County, go beyond their jurisdiction
and authority in investigating alleged
misdoings in Caldwell’s re-election
campaign.
The state had brought charges
against Caldwell for improper practices
in violation of the Georgia Campaign
Financial Disclosure Act after the
commission’s investigation of the labor
commissioner’s most recent re-election
bid turned up evidence of what it calls
' 'crooked political campaigning ”
Specifically, the most serious
accusation against the commissioner is
threefold. It is that some of the
required reports of his election
committee to the commission were
found to be either incomplete or
erroneous, thus not disclosing fully all
campaign contributions, that practices
of coercion against employees of the
Labor Department for contributions to
Caldwell’s re-election did exist, and
that some of the department’s
employees used state-paid time to
Continued on page 2
1 Year (local) Subscription $8.84
a distinguished record in community
life and chamber work in Indiana. In
1980 he was the Jaycee “Man of the
Year;” he is a past board chairman of
the Kokomo Area Vocational Schools;
is past chairman of the Peshews
District, Boy Scouts of America; and is
a member of several historical and
professional groups in Indiana,
The Chamber of Commerce has been
without a director since August 1982
Borders relieved of
$17,000 debt to city
Robert Borders, a former Fort
Valley police chief, will not have to pay
the $17,000 fi fa taken out against him
by the Judge city of Fort Valley. That is the
ruling Wilbur D. Owens issued
recently during a pre-trial hearing at
the district federal courthouse in
Macon.
In a suit against the city of Fort
Valley, Borders has claimed he was
denied due process of law when he was
fired in 1980. The pre-trial hearing was
one of several preliminary steps on the
way to the trial.
Judge Owens’ ruling means that the
city will have to cancel its fi fa against
Borders. The ruling will not be
implemented until the city council
county approve
their parts of hangar cost
The city of Fort Valley and Peach
County have approved their share of
the cost of constructing a new hangar
at Perry-Fort Valley Airport to house
aircraft of the Georgia Department of
Public Safety. It is to be a
6,400-square-foot structure and is to
shelter a fixed-wing airplane and a
helicopter, both operational by the
State Patrol.
City Council approved its $7,500 in a
special afternoon meeting April 8.
Peach County Commissioners voted
the county’s share, also $7,500, at their
regular meeting last week. Houston
County and the city of Perry are to give
the same amount each.
Mayor C. W. “Pete” Petetson said
the remaining $60,000 cost of the
building will come from the
Department of Public Safety’s budget
and the governor’s emergency fund.
The department is spending $40,000,
with $20,000 coming from the
emergency fund.
Perry-Fort Valley thus will become
the fifth locality at sectional centers
across the state to base State Patrol
aircraft for primarily emergency use. has
In the past the Peach-Houston area
come under assignment of the planes
stationed at Albany.
It could not be determined
immediately when construction of the
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The old and the new
Ronald McDonald came to town on Saturday riding high on the prized 1924
La France fire engine. Escorting him on the engine were driver Lewis Moye
and left. Steve Towns and Leonard Stat ham. Ronald’s colorful parade escort
included Brownies from Byron and Fort Valley. Large crowds watched
Ronald as he performed his magic at McDonald’s and at the Fort Valley
Health Care Center during the day.
3
when Elwyn McKinney resigned. The
search committee has not advertised
the open position but has sought likely
candidates.
The committee members who served
with Fuller on the selection committee
are Chamber President Dennis
Herbert, Chamber Immediate Past
President Pat Joiner, Gary Stephens,
Untie Newberry and most recently, Bill
Messer.
rates on the measure at its April 21
meeting.
City Attorney Charles Adams says
the ruling is in no way an out-of-court
settlement. ‘‘It simply says that
Borders owes no further money to the
city,” he said.
The next step on the road to the trial
is a deposition from Borders to his
attorney, James O. Wilson Jr. of
Clarkston. Attorney Manley Brown will
rake the deposition for the city of Fort
Valley. Until this step is taken, and the
discovery process is completed, no trial
date will be set.
Adams says he is confident the judge
will rule that due process was served in
the April 1980 incident.
new hangar would actually start. of
The mayor and other members
the airport authority are planning a trip
to the Albany facility next Monday on
an inspection tour.
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1 jj DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME la
1 BEGINS
t APRIL 24th
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Mark your calendar now so
that you will remember to
set your clock FORWARD
one hour when the time
changes this Sunday
Remember to Spring for¬
ward*