Newspaper Page Text
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Volume No. 96, No. 40
Tax protesters threaten recall of commissioners
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Cliff Holloman of Byron was prepared with graphics
to illustrate his point last Thursday night at the tax pro¬
testers' meeting with the county commissioners. He told
Burse says federal matching
funds are step in right direction
Dr. Luther Burse's recent trip to
Washington, D C., along with other
leaders of historically black colleges
from all across the nation, was a
profitable one for Fort Valley State
College
The college may be one of the first
colleges to qualify for and receive from
$50,000 to $250,000 in funds from the
federal government's recently amen¬
ded Title III program. Known as
challenge grants, the Title III program
provides matching endowment funds
to historically black colleges. Because
it is a matching endowment, the
college must raise enough money to
equal the amount the government will
provide.
Under the Title III program, the
college must invest the endowment
money it receives and can only spend
pan of the interest or income derived
from the investment in certain,
restricted ways. After 20 years, the
endowment fund and any income from
it may be used by the college for any
educational purpose.
Members of the college’s En
dowment Board will meet this Friday to
decide how much money the college
will raise and therefore how much
money the institution will receive in the
matching endowment funds from the
Title III program
Dr, Burse said a meeting with a
consulting firm is also on the agenda
Friday. The firm will advise the
endowment committee on ways of
raising the matching money and will
recommend what they feel is a
reasonable amount for the college to
raise.
The amended Title III program is
designed to make colleges more
self-sufficient because the institutions
are expected to put up part of the
endowment funds. "It is almost a
dis-incentive the other way, 7 Burse
said, referring to grants that are given
to colleges based on need, or which do
not require the schools to put up
Peach County Hospital named Rural
Hospital of the Year in Georgia
The Peach County Hospital has been
named Georgia’s Rural Hospital of the
Year by the Georgia Rural Health
Association. Peach County is the first
hospital to receive the award which
was presented at the Association’s
annual meeting held last VC ednesday
at Mercer University Medical School.
The hospital was nominated for the
award by James Fowler, the
community health coordinator of Fort
Valley State College's CHIP program.
Fowler said he felt “compelled” to
A
ante IGea&er-alribune
Home Owned and Operated for more than 90 Years
Fort Valley, Peach County, Ga., October 6, 1983
Commissioners IF, L. Brown (above) and Hal Peavy that
he was disappointed in them.
matching amounts of money.
The Fort Valley State College
president said the new endowment
funds which are restricted to
historically black colleges, are not
necessarily contradictory to the
desegration orders from the federal
government. President
“I think "the is saying they
are very valuable and need to be
strengthened and be brought to a point
where they are attractive to all
American students. The fact that he is
giving out these funds shows the fact
that these colleges need help,” Burse
said.
Although he said the endowment
fund will be a much needed “shot in
the arm,” he says the area where more
help is needed, and has not been
properly addressed by the Reagan
administration, is financial aid to
individual students, “The Carter
administration provided assistance to
individual students and we had more
individual grants then, but the
President has taken the approach of
strengthening the institution them¬
selves to attract more students,” Burse
Public asked to suggest names for
membership to hospital authority
The Peach County Hospital is asking
the public for assistance in nominating
someone to fill Donald Merriffs seat
on the hospital authority. Merritt has
been transferred to North Carolina and
has resigned his post with the
authority.
Hospital Administrator Mickey
Smith said a nominee should be
someone who is willing to work from
five to 20 hours a month and be able to
attend both day and evening meetings.
“Most importantly, they should be
very interested in the hospital.” he
added.
Authority members are elected to
three-year, renewable terms. Two
other seats on the authority are up for
renewal in November, but both Ann
Vinson and Bill McGehee will have the
option of seeking reappointment.
Merritt formally announced his
resignation at the last authority
meeting. At that time, Chairman Julius
Simmons wished him well and added
that the authority noted his leaving
with regret. Simmons said that
because of Merritt’s dedication, “it is
going to be hard to find a replacement
for him’ ’.
Until recently the hospital authority
members appointed their own
members without any input from out¬
side their group.
nominate Peach County Hospital and
praised the facility for demonstrating
over the years “their deep and
heartfelt concern for the residents of
not only Peach County but residents of
other counties as well. ’'
In his letter of nomination, Fowler
praised the hospital authority, the Pink
idies’ Auxiliary, and the emergency
medical technicians (EMTs) as well as
the entire hospital staff for doing
volunteer work in all areas of health
are in addition to their other full-time
responsibilities. staff,
“This is not only a hospital
these are our friends and neighbors,
even to those who do not come in
contact with them everyday,” Fowler
•said. He described the EMT force at
the hospital as “one of the most
professional in the ’ ’
teams state.
The Rural Health Association,
established in 1981, is the first
statewide organization formed to help
promote and improve the health of and
health services for rural Georgians.
explained.
He added that “colleges need help
now in the area of individual grants
more than ever, because of the
escalating cost of going to school and
because the effect of the cutbacks the
Reagan administration made that first
year are now being felt. We really
appreciate these endowment funds,
but we also say what we really need is a
two-pronged approach. They ought to
also match the endownment with
increases in funding for individuals. ”
It is obvious that the student grants
are sorely needed “to alleviate the
financial burden on students whose
families simply can’t come up with the
money needed to pay for college. I
think the end result is that there are
more students who are choosing not to
go to college for this reason Burse
explained. The ideal aid plan would
government
provide the school with both, Burse
said, “If we could get something to
ease the suffering of the students who
need aid while at the same time have
programs like the endowment funds, I
think we’d be better off.”
The Committee on Taxation came
just short of an ultimatum to the Peach
County Board of Commissioners last
Thursday night as they asked the
commissioners to get rid of Chief Tax
Assessor J. T. Joiner and Tax
Appraiser Tom Waldon and to revert to
the 1982 tax digest.
The mood of the 80-plus people who
gathered at the courthouse Thursday
night was to start a recall campaign of
the county commissioners. While
disavowing any recall effort, Billy
Powell told the commissioners that the
message was clear: if they did not get
rid of Joiner and Waldon, the voters
would seek to remove the commis
sioners from office.
Powell, who is chairman of the
on Taxation, made a strong
statement for the commis
.lionets:, but he said that the voters
wanted Joiner and Waldon
He also urged the
commissioners to scrap the 1983
proposed digest, revert to the 1982
digest, and work toward clearing up
the inequities in the plan in the
interim.
“A recall is an ugly thing,” said
Powell, ‘*Rxould cause a schism down
the middle of the community and I’m
not sure but what it would be a
misdirected effort,” he said. He added
that he was emotionally and physically
drained and that he would not take a
leadership role in such an effort.
'‘Maybe I’m not mean enough,” said
Powell.
Responding to the threat of a recall,
County Commission Chairman Hal
Peavy Jr., said that he would not fight
it. He told the group that he had no
apologies for the representation he had
given the county and that ‘' if you will
look at the dollars you are spending
(compared to other court lies), I think
you are getting a pretty gtxxf deal. ”
Peavy had said several days earlier
that if a recall campaign was mounted,
that he would save them the trouble
and that he would resign. He told the
group Thursday night that the
commissioners had listened carefully
to the message of the protest group
and would consider that message,
Election to replace Williams, Peeler
on Byron Council set for December 5
A special election to fill the
unexpired terms of Byron Aldermen
James Williams and Bill Peeler will be
held in conjunction with the city’s
mayoral election on Monday, Decem¬
ber 5.
Peeler and Williams have announced
they will resign their posts in order to
run for mayor of Byron,
The December 5 ballot will contain
both the mayoral candidates’ names
and another area labeled as a special
election. The second area will contain
the names of the yet unannounced
candidates for the aldermanic posts.
The dual ballot will be in accordance
with state laws which require a special
election to fill the city council seats.
The Byron aldermen voted at their
regular monthly meeting Tuesday to
hold both elections at the same time in
order to save the cost of holding a
separate election.
It was recommended at the meeting
by City Clerk Frances McDaniel, who
said she was studying state election
law changes and updates while she was
at home recuperating from back
problems. She told the aldermen the
special election was required, but a
dual election was permissable.
The aldermen also discussed what
one resident of Old Oaks subdivision,
Grady Adams, called “the problems”
with road conditions, lack of sufficient
police patrols and enforcement of
speed limits in the area. Adams told
the council members he felt he was not
getting “very much at all” for the $300
a year he pays in city taxes.
Mayor Larry Collins was supported
by other aldermen who said that some
Melba Barrett Tax Commissioner
Mrs. Melba Barrett has been
appointed Tax Commissioner for
Peach County.
Judge of Probate Court John W.
“Buddy” Smisson named Mrs.
Barrett to that job on Monday
morning, October 3. Mrs. Barrett
has been the chief deputy of that
office and has served as acting tax
commissioner in the absence of
Mrs. Eloise Mathews since
mid-April 1983
Judge Smisson said that Mrs.
Mathews submitted a letter of
resignation on September 29, 1983,
to become effective September 30.
Smisson said that he has forwarded
Mrs. Mathews’ letter to Governor
Joe Frank Harris for action.
Smisson said that the resignation is
not official until the governor
accepts it.
Once he received word from teh'
governor’s office, Judge Smisson
said he will call for the election of a
tax commissioner. That election
probably will be sometime in
1 Year (local) Subscription $8.84
W. L. Brown, the only other county
commissioner present Thursday night,
said that the commissioners are not
standing behind the proposed digest
just to be punitive. “I suppori the
evaluation concept,” said Brown, but
he agreed that there are some mistakes
in it. Brown asked that with the
appeals process in motion, he felt that
the inequities could be worked out and
that the county would “come out with a
better situation.” He noted that there
are some personality problems in the
tax assessors’ office.
Brown reported that the commis¬
sioners had asked the Board of
Equalization to re-hear any cases of
people whose case might have been
affected by the fact that between
September 6 and September 16 the
information in the tax office was not
readily available. Brown reported also
that the equalization board turned the
commissioners down. “They are an
Paperwork leading to recall
campaign may have begun
The paperwork leading to a recall
campaign for the members of the
Peach County Board of Commissioners
may have started. Jon and Susan
Jordan of Fort Valley requested and
received from Judge of Probate Court
John W. “Buddy” Smisson last
Friday, September 30, applications
that must be signed by 100 registered
Peach County voters.
Judge Smisson explained that the
applications, if signed by enough
registered voters, will entitle the voters
to receive peitition forms which must
then be signed by 30 per cent of the
registered voters. Once the peition
forms are issued, Judge Smisson said
that the voters will have 90 days during
which they may obtain signatures.
Susan Jordan said this week that she
is not sure whether the Committee on
Taxation would endorse the recall
effort. She said that the effort would be
led by dissatisfied property owners and
taxpayers. In explaining the possible
recall procedure, Judge Smisson said
December or January, he said. The
person who is elected will hold that
office only until December 31,
1984, for that office becomes
vacant after the general election in
1984.
Mrs. Barrett, 54, is a native of
Macon where she attended A. L.
Miller High School. She and her
husband, Grady, moved to Fort
Valley after their marriage in 1950,
and they have lived here since.
Mrs. Barrett has been employed office
in the tax commissioner’s on
a part-time basis since 1977, and
on a full-time basis‘since August
1980. Mrs. Mathews named her as
chief deputy shortly after Mrs.
Mathews was elected.
Mr. and Mrs. Barrett have two
sons, Chuck, who lives in Bibb
County, and Gary, who is a teacher
at Peach County High School. The
Barretts also have a grandson.
The new tax commissioner said
that she has attended several
schools conducted for tax officials
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autonomous ' body,’ said Brown
referring to the fact that the members
are appointed by the grand jury.
Fred Jackson asked the commis¬
sioners to keep Tom Waldon and J. T.
J oiner out of the board of equalization
hearings. Powell suggested that
assessors John Demons and Grant
Vennes are more reasonable people
and that they should be the ones to
represent the assessors in a board of
equalization hearing.
J ackson also suggested from the
floor that the protesters should raise
money among themselves to carry the
entire case to Superior Court. Jackson
volunteered that he would give $500 to
the cause.
The commissioners agreed to
consider the requests made Thursday
night and to report their decision. They
said they could not make a decision
Thursday night since a quorum was not
present.
that the peitition for each commission¬
er must be signed by 30 per cent of the
registered voters within his or her
district.
Since Commissioner Donnie Doles
was elected on an at-large basis, his
petiton would have to be signed by 30
per cent of the 9,000 voters in the
county. This means that his petition
would have to have at least 2,700
signatures.
In each of the four election districts
represented by the other four
commissioners, Judge Smisson said
that there are between 2,000 and 2,500
voters. Each of these commissioners’
petitions would have to have between
600 and 750 registered voters'
signatures.
Smisson said that should the
applications or the petitions be
submitted to him, then he will have to
decide whether the names on the lists
are properly on the voter registration
list.
of the problems with road conditions in
the area are due to the builders who
have not properly maintained the
sloping banks of the road.
“I realize there isn’t any money
available, but said. I’m contributing my
part,” Adams
Referring to enforcing the speed
limit he said, “You can even stop me. I
know I’m guilty sometimes, too. But if
we stop three or four people there the
word will get out.”
A representative from the Georgia
Department of Transportation spoke to
the council, asking that they enact a
state recommended set of ordinances
regulating signs which are erected
alongside the interstate. No action was
taken on the request, but council
members told Jack Hamlin they would
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
and commissioners. She said that
she has not decided whether to run
for the office in the special election.
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Melba Barrett