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4 June Singing 5 :
Walter Hardin’s Been To Them All
By Johnny Solesbee
News Editor
Walter Hardin is no stranger
to the annual "June Singing** in
Forsyth County. As a matter of
fact, Hardin has been to the last
66 singings, or to put it more
simply, he hasn’t missed a one
since the singing became an
annual event in 1905.
This coming Sunday will mark
the 67th annual "June Singing"
at the Forsyth County Court
house and although the interest
and attendance have dwindled
somewhat through the years,
there will still be four groups
to sing in the upstairs of the
courthouse.
Couple Married At The First One
By Johnny Solesbee
News Editor
Mr. and Mrs. Emory
Williams of the Daves Creek
Community of Forsyth County
remember the first annual
“June Singing*’ at the For
syth County Courthouse for a
number of reasons.
One of the reasons Is that the
singing use to be a big event and
**lf you wanted to see somebody
that you hadn't seen in a long
time, go to the 'June Singing,'**
Mrs. Williams recalls.
Another reason they re
member the first “June
Singing** Is that it wasn’t held
In June at all, but on July
29, 1905. The courthouse wasn’t
completed and the first singing
was delayed until the courthouse
was far enough along to hold the
singing there.
Writer Hardin Gives a Laugh In Front Of His Store
"More come then than now,"
Hardin recollected as he tal
ked to a reporter in his store
on Highway 19, north of Curn
mlng. "It was crowded like
everything."
Hardin, 77 years old, was a
lad of 10 when the first sing
ing was held and doesn’t "re
collect seeing an automobile
there at the first one. They
(automobiles) began to come
in in 1910. There wasn’t many
up till then and mighty few
then.”
M.T. Wallace of Forsyth Co
unty, now deceased, was the man
responsible for starting the si
nging and staged the first one
in the brand spanking new For
The reason Mr. and Mrs.
Williams can remember the
exact date of July 29, 1905,
as the first singing Is because
that's the day they were mar
ried—at the first annual “June
Singing*’.
“We thought that would be a
rarity,'* Mrs. Williams laughs
In explaining why she and her
husband chose to be married
at the singing.
Although Mr. and Mrs. Wil
liams, now 88 and 81 years old,
respectively, probably won’t
go to this year’s singing, they’ve
been to plenty of them In their
lifetimes, and with understand
ale reasons.
“I don’t guess we'll make It
Sunday," Mrs. Williams said.
“We can’t go places and 6tand
around and walk around much
anymore."
The Williamses, who have
syth County Courthouse, even
before the Courthouse was even
finished. The corner stone had
not been lain at the time, Har-'
din remembers.
The courthouse, now on the
eve of dilapidation, "was the
biggest thing that had ever been
then,” Hardin says.
The groups that come to the
"June Singing", "still sing
some of the same songs, but
there has been a big change,"
Hardin says about the songs
sung then and now.
"I like the new ones better.
Most old folks like the old
ones better, but I like the new.
Con’t on page 17
lived In Forsyth County all their
lives except for nine years In
Fulton County, remember quite
a bit about the singing and how
it was.
Th couple lived close to M.T.
Wallace, who started the
singing, and he “was a big sin
ger. Honest - to - goodness,
he left home EARLY on Sunday
morning of the singing," Mrs.
Williams recalls.
“The courthouse yard would
be working like bees," she re
members. “They say It's about
wore out now . . not many
people go."
“Folks went from far and
near to that singing. We always
carried our lunch," Mrs. Wil
liams said. When lunchtime
came, “most of us would go
to cars, buggies or wagons and
Con’t on page 17
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Dedicated To The Cum m ing And Forsyth County
CUMMING, GEORGIA LXV ISSUE 25 15 CENTS PER COPY
Five Indicted On Morgan Murders
The trials for five persons
indicted last Friday on the April
30 murders of Mr. and Mrs.
Wallace Morgan will probably
be during the next term of
Superior Court in Forsyth Co
unty in late July and August.
The March term of the For
syth County Grand Jury, which
was recalled last Friday, ind
icted all five persons charged
with killing the couple in their
home in the Piedmont Commun
Postmaster Ray Taylor Retiring June 30
By Johnny Solesbee
News Editor
Ray Taylor, Cumming Post
master, reached the 43-year
mark with the Post Office De
partment last Monday, June 19,
and at the end of this month,
he’s putting the postmark on his
career.
Taylor, Cumming* s post
master since April 29, 1960,
began his career on June 19,
1920, as a substitute rural ca
rrier out of the Gainesville
Post Office.
During his long years of deal
ing with the mail, he’s had
some memorable experiences,
and remembers only twice when
“rain, sleet and dark of night”
kept “the courier from his duly
appointed rounds.”
44 Candidates Qualify For August Primary
Politicking in Forsyth County
and the area can get into full
swing now with qualifying dead
line a week past.
The ballot for the various se
ats in the county will be relat
ively small as compared to
some of the other seats in sur
rounding counties.
A total of 18 candidates are
now seeking the five posts on the
new county commission set up.
Following is a complete list of
candidates for election in the
upcoming Aug. 8 Democratic P
rimary in Forsyth County.
BOARD OF COMMISSION
ERS—Post 1: J. Lanier Bann
ister, Lamar Sexton, Marcus J.
Shoemake; Post 2: Thad C. W
ood, J. C. Vaughn, J. Crawford
Roe, Weldon Stewart; Post 3;
Lawton Sosebee, Floyd Jones;
Post 4: Garland C. Barron, H
Various Candidates Tell Platforms
Several candidates in the up
coming August Primary have
told their platforms and have
given some biographical Infor
mation on themselves.
Following are the candidates'
releases.
The Forsyth County SherlfPs
Department released Tuesday a
report on the accomplishments
the sheriffs office has made
during the past three years.
Sheriff Donald Pirkle re
ported that 16 arrests were
made for auto theft; a total of
‘June Singing 9
Set Sunday
The 67th Annual June Singing
will be held at the Forsyth Co
unty Court House on Sunday,
June 25, from 11 a.m. until
4 p.m.
Special guest singers Include
the Dave Holbrook Quartet, the
Deliverance Quartet from
Jasper, Ga., and the Proclam
ations from Marietta, Ga.
Plans are being made for one
of the best singing s ever held
In Forsyth County.
Everyone Is cordially invited
to attend.
ity.
Those indicted on two counts
each of murder were the Morg
ans’ two sons, Michael, 23, and
Steven, 15, both of Cummlng;
Michael’s wife, Hollis Wingo
Morgan, 22; Robert William
Shaw, 24, Atlanta; and Robert
George Howard, 25, of Atlanta.
After hearing state’s evid
ence Friday, the Grand Jury in
dicted the five.
The next term of court is sc
Back before the sophisticated
asphalt began to ribbon across
the country Taylor didn’t have
such an easy time of seeing
that the mail was distributed
to residents.
On a route that was created
by the Gainesville Post Office
along the Dawson and Forsyth
County lines, Taylor went in a
1928 T-Model and on a winter’s
day, the T-model pushed a
snowball in front of it. When he
came to some of the hills the old
T-Model would hardly go and
then it found its match in a hill
and didn’t make it up. The mall
couldn’t go through.
Another time he remembers
when the mail couldn’t go th
rough was only several years
ago when Old Man Winter shook
his icy fingers on this area and
erman L. Hamby, George M.
Willard, D. Gene McCormick,
Hohn A. Milton; Post 5: Weldon
Mathis, Larry D. Watson,
Harold Jones, Voyce Millwood.
COUNTY SCHOOL SUPER
INTENDENT— Clarence N.
Lambert, incumbent; Robert B.
Otwell.
BOARD OF EDUCATION—Loy
C. Day, incumbent; Almon HiU,
District 3; Roger L. Heard,
District 4; Carroll Castleberry,
District 5.
ORDINARY—B. B. Wallace,
incumbent.
SHERIFF—B. Donald Pirkle,
incumbent; CarroU Tallant.
TAX COMMISSIONER—Don
aId M. Major, Edward Couch,
Bobby Gene Gilbert, Robert S.
Coker, Broadus Orr.
SURVEYOR— William Mun
104 arrests were made on lar
ceny; and 81 arrests on bur
glary.
In the past three years, the
Sheriffs office has made 43
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Donald Piikle
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Harold Jones
heduled July 24, and the cases
probably will be tried with cr
iminal cases in early August,
according to assistant district
attorney for the Blue Ridge Cir
cuit, B. B. Robertson.
The five were arrested last
month by the Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Department along with
state Criminal Investigation D
ivlsion agents following an ex
tensive investigation into the
covered the streets and high
ways with a solid sheet of ice.
In remembering his days with
the Gainesville Post Office,
Taylor told of something he
did that he has never heard of
another mall man doing.
A small tornado had hit
around the Clermont (in nor
thern Hall County) area and the
cloud was coming directly be
hind Taylor on his mail route.
He came to a mall stop and
across the road huddled in a
storm pit were a woman and
her children.
“The woman wanted a money
order,” Taylor recalls.
He got out of his vehicle and
went into the storm pit and
fixed the woman up with a
money order, but all the time
keeping a wary eye on the en
day, Wilson M. Price.
CLERK OF SUPERIOR C
OURT—Cecil McClure, incum
bent; Paul Hammond.
CORONER—F.C. Tatum Jr.,
Tex Smith, Waymon Tate, Roy
ston A. Ingram Jr.
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE—
Silas Stargel, Arnold Marjen
hoff, W. S. Turner and Char
les Bailey.
Some races in other counties
are going to be a bit more c
rowded. The Lumpkin County
sheriff’s race has 10 candidates
qualified to run.
Following is a complete list
of candidates for the Lumpkin
County offices.
SHERIFF—RaIph Ridley, in
cumbent; J. E. Howlngton, K
arrests for the Violation of the
Georgia Drug abuse control act.
The department served 1,490
warrants, Sheriff Pirkle said.
In regard to boot-legging, 53
arrests were made. In Forsyth
County, the sheriffs depart
ment destroyed seven illicit
distilleries. The department
seized and destroyed 6,450 ga
llons of mash used In manuf-
Thieves
Take $550
At Drake’s
Early last Thursday morn
ing, the Cummlng Police De
partment Investigated a break
in at Drake Furniture Company
on Dahlonega Street.
Someone entered the store
late Wednesday night through
a rear window.
Some $550 was taken from a
safe.
No merchandise was reported
taken.
Along with the city police, the
GBI investigated the case but
they had no details at press
time.
THE FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS
deaths of the Morgans.
Michael and Hollis Morgan
found Mr. and Mrs. Morgan on
early Sunday morning, April 30,
in the bedroom of their home,
authorities reported.
Mr. Morgan, 47, was pro
nounced dead at the scene, hav
ing been shot four times in the
head, stabbed and his throat cut
“from ear to ear with a butcher
knife,” authorities said.
Mr. Morgan’s wife, Wilma,
suing dark clouds.
Then there was one day when
Taylor delivered the mall in a
two-horse wagon. His father
drove the wagon “as far as
we could make it.” He doesn’t
remember exactly why an auto
mobile couldn’t make it on the
route, but nevertheless, the
wagon and horses were hitched
up.
Needless to say, Postmaster
Taylor has seen quite a few
changes in the postal service.
When he came to Cumming
on Feb. 13, 1945, as a War
Service substitute clerk, there
were no more than five people
working in the Post Office. The
quarters were cramped and
there was no parking space for
post office patrons.
Con't on page 17
enneth R. Seabolt, Thomas B.
Mote," Carl Robinson, Hoyt W
-11 son, Harold D. Martin, James
M. Davis, Jewell Gilreath, John
Ben Abercrombie.
TAX COMMISSIONER—Jos
eph Moose, Leon Davis, Carl
E. Wimpy, F. M. Beck Jr.,
Raymond O. Cain, incumbent.
COUNTY SCHOOL SUPER
INTENDENT—J. Marlin Smith,
incumbent; Allan Bickley.
ORDINARY Mrs. Mildred
Wood, incumbent; J. Ralph
Jones Jr.
CLERK OF COURT —C. E.
Couch, incumbent; James D.
Barrett; Edward E. Tucker.
CORONER—Forrest Sisk.
COUNTY COMMISSION- -
Rufe EdGrizale, Clyde Fortner,
acturing non-tax-paid whiskey.
The department seizedanddes
troyed more than 497 gallons
of non-tax-paid whiskey and a
* S WHk : 'l
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Garland Barron
Weldon Stewart
JUNE 22. 1972
was found lying on the left side
of their bed next to her husband.
She had been shot six times. She
was rushed to an Atlanta Hosp
ital where she stayed in critical
condition until she died on May
2 with a bullet lodged in her
brain.
Authorities speculated, foll
owing the arrests of the sus
pects, that property inheritance
and money were the apparent
motives for the killings.
"■HRe J
Wr v yt"
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Ray Taylor
Hayward Anderson, Jim D. R
icketts, Roy D. Adams, Jack
Walker, J. B. Jones.
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
Leon Alford, Dahlonega; Elbert
B. Gaddis, Cain Creek.
Following is a complete list
of qualifiers for Dawson Co
unty offices.
COUNTY COMMISSIONER—
Herbert H. Harden, incumbent;
A. T. Moore Jr., Don Stephens,
Max R. Looper, Cecil Simmons.
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDE
NT—CIarence Denard, inc
umbent.
CLERK OF COURT—Mrs.
Carolyn Stephens, Ralph M
addox, incumbent.
Con’t on page 17
total of 395 cases of beer were
seized.
In 1968, there were three p
atrol cars. Two of these cars
were usable and the other was
not.
Now, the department has
seven cars, Pirkle said. Six
Six of these are patrol cars and
two of these are cars on pat
rol 24 hours a day.
Pirkle is seeking re-election
for Forsyth County Sheriff.
Con’t on papa 17
Two Inch Rain
Dampens
County
The Cummlng City Water
Works reports that an official
two Inches of rainfall fell over
the Cummlng area Monday
night.
As hurricane Agnes continues
to sweep over the Southeast, the
Holiday Marina reported that
several Isolated boats on diff
erent piers were damaged.
Cecil Patterson with the C
orps of Engineers at Buford
Dam reported that Lake Lanier
was rising; however, official
details would not be available
for release until Wednesday.