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Lanierland
By Virginia Woodward
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Established 1908
JIM COSEY—PUBLISHER, EDITOR
HARRIET WOODALL ADVERTISING MANAGER
VIRGINIA WOODWARD NEWS EDITOR
r, U : b a'L S M!r Wedn r day by T £ e Fors * h °> un, y News Company. Second Class Postage
paid at: Post Office in Gumming, Georgia under Act of March Bth in 1897. Subscription rates
!2,f 0r !? t i l « and oth f r Geor 9' a counties, $5.15 per year, including State Sales Tax; out-of
state, $5.00 per ye*r.
107 DAHLONEGA ST.
887-3127
Important Meet Tonight
A public meeting is being held in Gainesville
tonight that could affect all residents of For
syth County.
The meeting is to discuss the operation of
Lake Lanier with the U. S. Corps of Engineers.
They plan to present a proposal on additional
uses for Buford Dam, a water supply for metro
Atlanta, wastewater management, recreation,
fish and wildlife conservation, drainage,
economic development and environmental
quality.
We realize that sounds like a lot of unin
teresting subjects, but what it boils down to is
that if the usages are added, Atlanta will be
New City Hall Is Asset
The new City Hall for Cumming is almost
ready for occupancy.
This new facility will be a big asset to
governmental agencies and the residents of
this city.
It is something we can boast about and brag.
The modem building will house city govern
ment, recorder’s court, police and fire
No Signs For Highways
With an election at hand the Georgia
Department of Transportation has decreed
that campaign signs or other signs placed on
the highway right-of-way or posted on highway
signs, lightposts or the like are illegal and will
be removed by DOT.
The annual outbreak of defacing the public
rights-of-way is an old custom, as candidates
attempt to catch the attention of motorists. In
the past, after the campaigns are finished,
candidates for office have repeatedly
neglected to remove such litter, resulting in
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PAGE 2
JULY 17, 1974
assured a flow of not less than 650 cubic feet
and Columbus will be assured of a flow of 16000
cubic feet per day. If this is approved, the lake
level will drastically change and many
lakefront land owners could find themselves
docking their boats in mud.
Economically, this could mean disaster for
Forsyth County. We strongly urge all Forsyth
County residents to attend this meeting at 7:30
p.m. tonight at the Gainesville Civic Center
and let your thoughts be known.
It could represent a big change in the future
of our county.
departments, plus a new jail.
It will be a showplace for people of Cum
ming. The city fathers have worked hard in
planning a building that will be convenient for
city business.
We applaud the efforts of these people and
look forward to the grand opening of our new
city hall.
permanent marring of the natural beauty of
the Georgia hills.
DOT officials have reminded candidates that
placing signs on state property is a
misdemeanor and that the offender is subject
to SI,OOO fine and-or one year in prison. Can
didates are liable if their supporters violate the
law.
One step that the public can take in clearing
up the matter is to determine not to vote for
any candidate whose signs, placed improperly,
are offensive.
CUMMING, GEORGIA
30130
When my contemporaries talk about the old
days and the inconveniences of life 60 years
ago, I really don’t know what they’re talking
about.
In my early years in Ohio I lived in a
downtown department building in Bellaire.
When we left Bellaire for Barnesville my
parents built the first California bungalow in
those parts, complete with a full basement and
coal fired furnace. In the living room we had
artificial gas logs and the lights were dual,
both gas and electricity. The fixtures had six
fluted tulip shades. The three that curved up
held gas mantles, and the three that turned
down held electric bulbs.
My father wanted electricity only, but my
mother was afraid that it might go out some
night and she would be left in the dark. I don’t
believe we ever lighted the gas, and some
years later those were removed. My mother’s
kitchen was as modern as my own, with the
Where Has All The Water Gone?
1 «
RANDOM THOUGHTS while sitting at a
typewriter: I recently was talked into playing
a softball game at the Cumming Methodist
Church between the old folks and the young
people. I suppose it goes without saying which
team I was placed on.
I hadn’t held a softball bat since about the
year “one” and was really kinda scared about
the whole thing.
But, believe it or not I didn’t make a com
plete fool of myself. I got ready for the game by
wearing a pair of faded jeans and an old
college shirt with the number 39 imprinted on
the front and back.
Being rather new to the people in the church
and on the other team, when I got up to bat they
started backing up in the outfield. I heard my
wife say from the stands, “He may look
professional, but they don’t know him like I
do!”
I swung at the first pitch which was about
three feet too high. I missed. Laughter arose
from the stands and someone hollered, “Way
to watch, Jim!”
The next pitch came and I gave it all I had.
The bat made contact with the ball and I
started to run. I just knew from all the power
behind the bat that it was going to be a
homerun. The ball barely made it to second
base and I just made it to first.
Needless to say, the morning after the game
I could hardly get out of bed. Every muscle I
have was sore. It’s bad to get old so young!
++ + +
I SPENT LAST week at Jekyll Island at the
annual Georgia Press Association convention.
This yearly event is the highlight of the
newspaper business.
You get to “talk shop” with people from all
over the state, plus it’s a relaxing atmosphere
without too many meetings to attend.
The most exciting moment comes on Friday
night when the awards banquet is held at the
big convention hall. Everyone is decked out in
his finest and all the ladies look lovely in their
long gowns and fancy hair-dos.
The meal is the typical banquet-style with a
slab of beef and a couple of hard, green peas.
But, nobody seems to mind.
After the dinner, comes the awards. It’s the
Oscars and Emmys of newspaper business.
They present awards for all sorts of things
from local news coverage to advertising. But,
the granddaddy award comes at the end of the
evening when the best newspapers in the state
are named.
I must brag just a bit by telling you that the
exception of the small electric appliances. Her
range was white enamel and operated on gas.
The only times I ever saw some of the old
time make do’s was at my grandfather’s
house. He too, had gas lights and the only oil
lamp in his house was a decorative one.
The high ceilinged, narrow rooms were
heated with gas fueled fife places until I was
about five. Then he installed a pipeless wonder
in the center of the hall. I learned years later
when I moved to Mississippi that it was a floor
furnace.
Grandpa still had the house out back, and the
laundry was done in the kitchen. The water
supply came from an iron pump in the sink,
which had to be primed. You kept a pan of
water on the stove, and when you wanted
running water you poured it into the pump and
pumped vigorously until the flow started.
Grandpa had scrapped his old wood burning
stove by the time I was big enough to
JIM COSEY
paper I was with before arriving in Forsyth
County, The Daily Sun of Warner Robins, was
presented the award as the best daily
newspaper in the state of Georgia with cir
culation under 20,000.
++ + +
JEKYLL ISLAND is probably Georgia’s best
loved vacation spot.
I always enjoy visiting there and lolling on
the beach and listening to the wind in the palm
trees.
But the best part of Jekyll Island is visiting
the old mansions that are erected on the back
side of the island.
Energy Crisis Remains
If we were to believe all we see
and hear we might assume that
the “energy crisis” is over. Some
of the major oil companies which
a few months ago were urging us
to adopt energy conservation
measures are now bombarding
their retail dealers with hard-sell
messages and ideas for increas
ing gasoline sales.
On the open road, the 55 m.p.h.
speed limit is so widely flouted
that there are not enough patrol
men to inhibit the speeders who
have concluded that gas-conser
vation is no longer necessary.
While speed violators must an
swer to the local courts, if they
are caught, the oil companies are
faced with a tougher problem.
They have to explain at the bar of
public opinion their ambiguous
policy of preaching conservation
while promoting sales.
The fact remains that despite
return to hard-sell marketing to
keep gasoline stocks moving, the
world-wide supply of petroleum is
as limited as ever. Eventually,
the wells will run dry, and substi
tute energy sources are a long
way from full development.
remember, but he still kept his heavy iron
cooking utensils.
His telephone still cranked, which ours did
not and the two things I loved to do best were
Drime the pump and crank the telephone. The
telephone operator was a friendly soul, and no
one ever looked up the number in the slender
book. You just said “Put me through to Tom
Jones,” and it was done.
Another treat at Grandpa’s house was in the
fall, when he made his yearly supply of apple
butter. He had a big copper kettle in the back
yard, and the cooking went on for days.
Everyone took turns in the stirring, and you
knew it was done when it had thickened to the
proper consistency, and when it was rich spicy
brown.
Yes, the only memories of anything in my
life slightly pioneering came from Grandpa’s
house, not my own childhood home.
PUBUSHER-EMTOR
It’s hard to believe that once, not too long
ago, the richest men and women in the world
lived there during the winter months. Their
“cottages” present an image of beauty and an
aura of memories. You can almost see the men
sitting on the front porch, smoking their ex
pensive cigars and talking of business in the oil
and stock markets. You can hear the swish of
the long dresses as the women chatter in the
living rooms and talk of upcoming parties in
New York and trips to Europe.
If you haven’t visited the millionaires’
village at Jekyll, you’ve really missed a treat.
It’s like stepping into the past and into another
world —a world that will never return.
Nor is the industry’s inconsis
tent approach to the supply-de
mand problem much help to this
country’s economic problems. Oil
imports at the high prices now de
manded by the oil exporting na
tions play havoc with the U.S. bal
ance of payments. Largely be
cause of crude oil purchase?, our
trade deficit is at a high level.
A preferable and far more con
sistent policy would be to reduce
our dependence on foreign crude
supplies while continuing to rein
force our new-found conservation
ethic. The sudden splurge of sell
ing activity by the oil companies
can only undermine the public’s
incentive to save gasoline or other
energy sources. Then, should
there be a new Arab oil embargo
or other disruption in fuel sup
plies, pleas for voluntary conser
vation will be skeptically received
or widely ignored by the public.
If American businessmen and
consumers do not have the char
acter and will power to discipline
themselves the federal bureau
cracy stands ready to do it for
them, as millions of rationing cou
pons in federal vaults remind us.