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EARLY COUNTY NEWS, THURSDAY, FEB. 5, 1970
EARLY COUNTY NEWS
Official Organ of Blakely and Early County
BLAKELY, GEORGIA 31723
W. H. FLEMING PUBLISHER-EDITOR
W. W. (BILLY) FLEMING BUSINESS MANAGER
Published Every Thursday By the Early County News.
Entered at the Post Office in Blakely, Ga., as Second Class
matter under Act of -March 3, 1879.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
One Year-43.09 Six MontHs—s2.o6
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All cards of thanks, memorials, resolutions and matters of similar
nature are charged for at a minimum of SI.OO for 50 words or less.
Other rates furnished upon application.
Classified Rate— 25 words or less 75c. Each additional word 3c
One time insertion.
—MEMBER—
GEORGIA PRESS ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL PRESS ASSOCIATION
Politics o£n Parade
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The Atlanta Journal and
Constitution have been raising
cain for several years about
Georgia’s prison system, partic
ularly its work camps. Very
rarely have they found anything
to praise in the operation of the
Dept, of Corrections, which, in
cidentally, is considered by ex
perts to be doing the best job in
its history.
These newspapers have been
insistent that the State withdraw
prisoners from work camps
which didn’t meet the criteria of
fire safety, sanitation, etc. This
the Department has been doing
Now comes a bill which passed
the Senate last Friday which
would prevent Corrections from
withdrawing prisoners without
the consent of the County, no
matter what conditions the
camps are in.
Corrections Director Robert
Carter says that if the bill is en
acted it will leave him powerless
to enforce the law and regula
tions. So, if Atlanta Newspap
ers, Inc. are truly interested in
bettering Georgia prisons, why
haven't they taken a stand
against this bill?
******
We wonder who is paying the
guard at Martin Luther King's
new grave at Ebenezer Church
in Atlanta. He's there every
day, in uniform, and in an un
marked car. Is he an Atlanta
city policeman? Also, we hear
that two vicious dogs are kept
in the enclosure, presumably to
discourage vandals.
******
The "Hatcher for Comptrol
ler" campaign seems to be get
ting off to a fast start. Bumper
stickers for the candidate are
already in evidence.
And, Tom Frier, publisher of
the Douglas Enterprise at Doug
las, Ga., Comptroller - General
candidate Joe Sport's home
town, has sent letters to all the
state's newspaper editors in be
half of Joes candidacy.
******
On Tuesday of this week,
Pete Wheeler, Director of the
State Dept, of Veterans Service,
delivered a blistering attack in
a speech at Columbus against
the U. S. Budget Bureau for its
"so-called economy moves
which are severely diluting med
ical programs for veterans”. He
charged that Vietnam vets and
veterans of other wars are suf
fering severely over the Budget
Bureau's reduction of medical
care and facilities in VA hospit
als.
Al Kehrer, head of the civil
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rights division of the AFL-CIO
in Georgia (hired by the nation
al headquarters in Washington,
not by the Georgia office) and
chairman of the Julian Bond -
controlled Democratic Forum,
is undergoing severe criticism
from local labor leaders. They
would be most happy to see Mr.
Kehrer recalled to Washington
"before he destroys our image
in Georgia”.
*••»»»
The NAACP started a cam
paign last week to force Atlanta
radio and TV stations to hire
more Negroes. In fact, they gave
about 20 stations a Feb. 20
deadline. The funny part of all
this is that now the Atlanta
Community Relations Council,
a bi-racial group, says that they
are going to force the Negro
owned stations to hire some
white people. What’s sauce for
the goose is sauce for the gan
der.
• «••••
A bitter fight is brewing in
the House over Senate Bill 356
which would allow transit sys
tem busses in Georgia to exceed
the legal width. An amendment
to this was put on in the Senate
— then killed — to let all ve
hicles exceed this limit, no mat
ter where they traveled in the
state. The bill has passed the
Senate without the amendment,
and the trucking industry is
seeking to restore this amend
ment in the House. Could be a
repeat of the many bitter rail
road - truck fights of the past.
***♦»*
Within a year the food stamp
program in Georgia will reach
the stupendous total of
$70,000,000, and Fulton County
is likely to have the largest such
program in the nation. Now
modifications of the program
under federal law will bring in
30 million dollars over present
expenditures. State government
will benefit to the tune of
$2,100,000, representing the
sales tax of 3 %.
******
The announcement of Julian
Bond that he will go on a
nationwide money raising tour
with potential Negro guberna
torial candidate C. B. King has
a great deal of significance for
white candidates in Georgia. If
the money is raised, then King
becomes a candidate who will
get almost all the Negro vote.
This being true, no white can
didate can take the liberal ap
proach, for he certainly can’t
take any votes away from King.
So — every white candidate has
to be conservative.
MARVIN
GRIFFIN
EVERYBODY WAS
IN THOSE DAYS
The anti-Southern folks in the
nation, in their determination to
continue the South in the status of
a conquered province, went back
22 years to 1948 to quote from a
speech made at Irwington, Wil-
kinson County
by Supreme
Court Justice
nominee G.
Harold Car
swell, who was
ia candidate for
the Legislature
in the election
of that year.
I- presume that the young 28
year old Georgian made the
speech that -summer day- of 1948
on the Court House square of
Irwington, the county seat of
Wilkinson County, in the middle
of Georgia.
I made a speech in the same
place that summer, running for
Lt. Governor, and I shook hands
with the young attorney as I went
about the town paying my
respects to the voters. I was
escorted on the rounds by the late
George Hatcher, Sheriff of
Wilkinson County, and a native of
Attapulgus, the brother of
Charlie Hatcher.
I was a segregationist in 1948. If
I had not been I would have never
been elected Lt. Governor. At
least 99 per cent of the white
people in Wilkinson bounty were
also segregationists. It was a
rock-ribbed rural county of
Georgia, and the voters of
Wilkinson County were steeped in
the customs, traditions and
mores of the old South.
I did not hear Judge Carswell
state he was a segregationist, but
his critics have dug up a jcepuyt of
the speech he made, and are
using it to try to block his con
firmation in the U. S. Senate. If
he stated in 1948 he was a
segregationist, he certainly had
plenty of company in Georgia and
the South. Everybody who was
anybody in politics were
segregationists, or said they
were. The late Ralph McGill, who
is referred to as the “conscience
of the South’.’ by his colleagues,
said he was in 1948.
I DO NOT FORGET
TOO MANY THINGS
It is ridiculous to try to hold one
accountable for what one is
purported to have said in the
“prime” of youth 22 years ago.
Critics of Judge Carswell are
using excerpts of the speech
taken from the Wilkinson County
News, a weekly owned and
operated at that time by the late
Alec Boone, one of the most
colorful figures of Middle
Georgia in his time. Uncle Aler
was certainly a segregationist
during his life time, and the
publisher of the paper, Joe
Boone, makes no apologies for his
political philosophy. If Judge
Carswell stated in 1948 he
believed in segregation, so be it.
During those days Senator
Herman Talmadge shelled the
woods with a political philosophy
of segregation. He shook acorns
off the trees at Irwington telling
the natives what he was going to
do to that crowd of Washington
bureaucrats. I came along in 1954
and shouted I would protect the
integrity of the people and the
institutions of Georgia “come
hell, or high water”. Senator
Dick Russell was a
segregationist, and in 1958 Buster
Vandiver ran for Governor and
was elected on the battle cry of
“no, not one” school would be
integrated.
I can remember when a long,
tall Texan by the name of Lyndon
B. Johnson came to the United
States Senate, and when Senator
jcsoiurß (
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Richard B. Russell took him
under his wing. Senator Russell
told me on one occasion in
Washington that Lyndon Johnson
was fearless, and got in some
pile-driving licks on con
stitutional government, state
sovereignty and protection of the
South’s governmental in
stitutions. Mr. Johnson changed
his views to get elected Vice
President, and he sure changed
to get elected President in 1964,
but he was not indicted for. what
he said years before.
I WAS CHIDED TO
GET ON THE BALL
In 1956 Miss Lib and I, and a
delegation of Georgia folks, in
cluding leaders of the House and
Senate, attended a Southern
Governors Conference at
Greenbriar, West Virginia. We
arrived there by plane on Sunday
afternoon, and when we reached
the fabulous hotel owned and
operated by the Chesapeake and
Ohio Railroad, I was waylaid at
the front entrance by the then
Governor of North Carolina,
Luther Hodges.
The people of North Carolina
had just held a referendum on
school integration, and the vote
was 2 to 1 to maintain segregated
educational institutions. Luther
was feeling “chesty”.
He told me that North
Carolinians were determined not
to bend and yield to the demands
of the Federal government, and
that North Carolina would stand
fast. He then said: “Griffin, you
must not waver. The future
welfare of our nation depends on
the courage of our leaders in the
South, and if all Southern
Governors will stand together,
we will keep our educational
institutions segregated.”
The next year the Army in
vaded Little Rock, Arkansas, and
conquered Orvil Faubus on the
same issue, and at Sea Island,
where Georgia was host to the
Southern Governors Conference,
I tried to get the conference to go
on record as opposing the tactics
of the Federal government in
invading one of the sovereign
states of the Union. Governors
Hodges and Leroy Collins, of
Florida, changed sides and joined
hands, and both became the
strongest advocates of judicial
tyranny in the South.
When President John Kennedy
took office, 'he 'appointed
Governor Hodges to his cabinet
as Secretary of Commerce. To
my knowledge, nobody opposed
his appointment and con
firmation on the grounds of what
he used to be.
One of the “thou shall nots” in
the U. S. Constitution is the
section which prohibits any
governmental division to enadt
any ex post facto laws. No man
can be charged with anything he
said or did prior to the passage of
the law, and since the critics of
Judge Carswell charge he made
his remarks in 1948, the Supreme
Court did not outlaw segregation
in the public schools until 1954. In
other words, there are some who
are trying to “ex post facto”
Judge Car swell.
I make these points, and state
these facts merely to show how
silly and ridiculous it is to try to
block the appointment of a native
Georgian simply because of what
he said when he was a young man
running for office in a
predominantly segregated com
munity and state.
Incidentially, Judge Carswell
was defeated in his race for the
Georgia Legislature. The folks in
•his county said he “was too
liberal”.
Insurance Taxes
NEW YORK — Insurance
companies paid more than 52.75
billion in taxes and fees to the
federal and state governments
in 1968. reports the Insurance
Information Institute. Os that
total, some 5921.2 million went
to the states in the form of
premium taxes.
FROM^^
our
FILES
25 Years Ago
(From the Issue of Feb. 8, 1945.)
THE Board of Commissioners,
meeting in monthly session Tues
day, adopted a resolution asking
for all county warrants now out
standing to be presented to the
county treasurer for payment.
They also instructed the treas
urer to notify all holders of
county warrants that were is
sued prior to January 1 that the
warrants would not bear inter
est after Feb. 6, 1945.
**••
A COURT TO handle juvenile
cases in Early County has been
created and Ordinary Q C. Mor
gan has been named its judge,
it was revealed here this week.
*•**
T. A. BELL, for many years
local agent for the Central of
Georgia Railway, retired from
active service on Feb. 1, and has
been succeeded by H. A. Fleyd,
of Hartford, Ala.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Sgt.
Arthur L. Chapman, 28, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt Chapman,
Route 5, Blakely, Ga., has re
turned from service outside the
continental United States and is
now being processed through the
Army Ground and Service Forces
Redistribution Station in Miami
Beach.
♦♦♦♦
A WEDDING of Interest to their
friends and relatives In South
Carolina and Georgia was that of
Miss Marie Elizabeth Pence to
Mr. Arthur Harold Middleton,
which took place in Columbia,
S. C., on December 10. The
ceremony, using the Impressive
double-ring ritual, was solem
nized by Dr. S. P. Bruorton.
T-SGT Marian W. Houston is
at home with his parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Wyatt Houston. Sgt.
Houston left for the service on
November 22, 1940. He was
stationed at Angel Island before
going overseas. He was at Pearl
Harbor when the Japs attacked.
PVT. Billy J. English was
wounded in action In Belgium
while serving with a parachute
division on January 4, his
parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. J.
English, were notified the past
week. The telegram stated that
his wounds were only slight,
Billy’s friends will be pleased
to know.
50 YEARS AGO
(From the issue of Feb. 5, 1920.)
REV. ALEX W. BEALER, for
merly of Valdosta, began his
pastorate of the Blakely Baptist
church last Sunday morning.
***«
MR. KENNETH SMITH was off
the road spending a few days in
Blakely this week.
♦♦**
MR. WALTER JORDAN has
gone to Moultrie to accept a
position in that city. Mrs. Jor
dan will join him later.
MR. AND MRS, Claude Howell
have moved into their new home
on Church street.
*«**
MESSRS. R. A. Hudson, of
Jakin, and C. W. Bridges, of
Damascus, formally announce
themselves as candidates for
county commissioner in this Is
sue of The News.
MRS. EDGAR HALL, nee Miss
Nina Brooks, came over from
Pansy, Ala., Tuesday to look af
ter business Interests before lea
ving for her new home in Mont
gomery.
****
MR. AND MRS. G. C. Spillers,
of Tulsa, Okla., announce the
birth of a daughter, Anne Eliza
beth, on January 25. Mrs. Spil—
This Week
by
Tige’ Pickle
Jr
Al
Since the terrific and devas
tating explosion of last week,
which claimed two lives, injured
six and did untold damages to
buildings and homes, there has
been a lot of conversations which
begin like this: "I remember
where I was and what I was
doing . . .”
But 22-year-old Greg Rabon
will forever remember where he
was and what he was doing at 7;40
o’clock, Tuesday January 3, 1970.
When he becomes an old man,
the memory of this terrible day
will be forever etched in his
memory. And very likely he
will live to be an old man be
cause anybody who can survive
what Greg did is apt to survive
most anything. And reports from
the hospital are good. Late Mon
day afternoon Greg was doing
fine. He is going to have two
good eyes and very few, if any,
visible scars on his face or
arms.
Greg is an auto mechanic. He
had been working in his father’s
shop. On this day he was be
ginning a new job. He was
going to work at Davenport Mo
tor Company. He drove up to the
building garage doors, parked his
car a few feet away. "Speedy”
Clark, the parts manager, who
was killed in the blast, reported
the aroma of gas. Two liquefied
petroleum gas trucks were park
ed inside to undergo repairs.
Greg entered the building. He
recalls that the gas smell was
not very strong, and that Edward
Deal, gas manager, who also lost
his life, stated that "everything
would be alright if somebody
doesn’t light a match.” Greg
swung open the big garage doors
to let the fumes out, then gave the
keys to Mr. Clark.
He returned to the car to drive
inside the garage to unload his
tools. Then it happened he re
calls. A flash of light, a thun
derous explosion, angry flames.
Young Greg’s car was hurled
several feet away and became
an inferno. Somehow he mana
lers is the former Miss Lorena
Martin of this county.
♦♦♦*
WILLIAM UNDERWOOD went
down to Bainbridge Tuesday and
had his tonsils removed and is
now suffering the painful after
math.
♦♦♦*
DR. P. C. SIMMONS and Col.
Martin Cowart, of Arlington, at
tended Ordinary’s court here
Monday.
75 YEARS AGO
(From the issue of Feb. 7, 1895.)
AT THE regular meeting of the
County Commissioners, held last
Tuesday, road commissioners
were appointed for the next two
years, as follows; 866th dis
trict, G. W. Cherry, W. A. Boy
ett and W. M. Hamil; 430th dis
trict, E. H. Kellum, J. S. Ro
berts and W. D. Hodges; 1164th
district, J. H. Hatcher, T. B.
Holley and Ben Johnson; 1435th
district, J. W, Calhoun, J. A.
Lewis, J. B. B. Davis; 854th
district, C. W. Slrmons, J. N.
Widener, W. M. Pullen; 1140th
district, J. T. Hudspeth, S. K.
Bush, T. SI Sawyer; 510th, O.
E. Hall, Byron Harris, M. S.
Freeman.
A CARAVAN of motley Gypies
passed through Blakely yester
day.
****
MR. ROBT. ALEXANDER was
over to Arlington Saturday.
****
A POSTOFFICE has been es
tablished at Saffold, with T. J.
Mosely as postmaster.
MR. "DRAKE” DOUGLAS, of
the Sixth district, was in town
Tuesday.
****
MRS, E. E. HOLMES and dau
ghter, Miss Mattie, of Morgan
county, are visiting relatives in
Early County.
MR. W. M. PULLEN, of Da
mascus, was in town Tuesday.
JUDGE J. M. GRIGGS has ap
pointed Major T. F. Jones, of
Blakely, Mr. E. H. Kellum, of
Cedar Springs, and Mr. J. M.
Johnson, of Arlington, as regis
trars for Early county for the
next two years.
Herman Talmadge
• . >■
REPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES SENATE
POLLUTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT is a problem that
affects every American, regardless of who he is or where he lives.
It affects the air we all breathe, and the land and the water that
we all must use.
The preservation and protection of these resources is vital to
the nation’s well-being, not just for the present but especially
for the crucial decades that lie ahead.
Air, water, and soil, oceans, lakes, rivers and streams —these
belong to all the people, everywhere. They are as necessary to
life as they are to economic progress and comfort.
Citizens have a right, and in fact a duty to posterity, to look to
the government, federal, state, and local, for the protection of
these irreplaceable resources. Once diminished and laid to waste,
their loss can only bring great suffering to mankind.
* * *
THE CONGRESS HAS SHOWN concern about pollution for
some time. Several laws to combat the problem have been en
acted. But these measures have not received adequate funding. Nor
have pollution control programs been as effective in the past as
they must be in the future.
There are encouraging signs. There is probably more interest in
this problem and more determination to do something about it.
This is true in the Congress and throughout large segments of our
society. It has been especially heartening to see young people
take up this crusade.
The President, in his State of the Union address, gave high
priority to the urgency attacking environmental pollution. Al
though he did not outline details of his proposals, he promised
“the most comprehensive and costly program in this field in the
nation’s history.”
« * *
THIS IS A JOB for all Americans. Pollution abatement is
particularly a challenge for the government and industry, but
nonetheless the involvement and concern of every individual
citizen will eventually be required.
We brought these problems on ourselves, and now we must
take steps to clean up the environment in which all of us must
live and work, and raise our children; no one can afford to
pretend pollution doesn’t exist or to imagine that it doesn’t con
stitute a very severe threat.
ged to get out with glass, lum
ber and debris falling every
where. He realized he was on
fire and ripped away his shirt
and attempted to extinguish the
fire from his face and head.
He remembers running up the
street a few hundred feet and
sitting on the curb across from
the County Office Building. “A
big man in a pickup truck car
ried me to the hospital”, Greg
stated. He never lost conscious
ness throughout the ordeal.
Greg’s parents, Mr. and Mrs.
H. B. Rabon, also en route to
work, he at his own garage and
she at the Robere Mfg. Company,
were ' 'right in front of the First
Methodist Church.”
"The earth appeared to shake
and I thought every tire on this
car had blown out”, Mrs. Rabon
said. ’ "Then a big white billow
ing cloud of smoke arose in the
rhe Honeywell building, Executive Park. Ouner and drinh, : A. R. Weeks/
.in lutint: John U. Summer & Associates / Mechaniral l\nffinrrr: Mallory &
Evans, Inc, / Elrflriral f:n^innr: Benjamin F. Hindman, |r. / Genrra! ('<m
traHnr: J. A. Jones Construction Go. / Mrrhanicat Cnntrartur: Mallory &
E\ans, \we. / Electrical (.antractur: Clrvcland Electrical Constructors, Inc.
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Programmed for progress:
Honeywell’s all-electric building.
Atlanta was a logical location for Honeywell’s southern
headquarters, serving 14 states, the District of Columbia
and Puerto Rico. And all-electric operation was a
natural choice for their new building.
In the Honeywell center you will find complex com
puter and communications systems. These are used for
demonstrations to prospective customers and for check
ing equipment on order. The company also plans to
initiate a time-sharing operation in which several small
companies may use a single computer simultaneously.
Honeywell’s data processing systems are only part of
the all-electric picture. The seven-story building is heated
and cooled electrically, so employees and tenants enjoy
perfect indoor climate in any weather.
If efficiency and economy are important in your
business, consider an all-electric building. Let one of our
commercial representatives program a system for you.
Georgia Power Company
A citizen wherever we serve®
direction of Magnolia Street, the
air was filled with debris. The
smoke was now black.”
Scared and apprenhensive, Mr.
and Mrs. Rabon headed for the
smoke, knowing that their young
est son was there. Only a few
minutes elapsed. When reach
ing the scene somebody shouted
"Greg is hurt and has been car
ried to the hospital.”
Rushing to the hospital, Mr.
and Mrs. Rabon found their son
receiving emergency treatment.
His face was covered. Hearing
his father's voice, anxiety show
ing, Greg reached out caught his
father’s hand, squeezed'lt and
said; "Daddy, this is a some
first day” —meaning the first
day on a new job.
Greg Rabon’s first day nad
become his longest day.
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