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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 ADVERTISING RATES 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 2^ Xi/ /7j M/h'ams g & ff m kt 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 ^UUUUUUUUUUUUUUULQJI JLftJL ftJUULfiJLJk i MANRY-JORDAN : O . o i FUNERAL HOME • • Established 1937 » ° o c : : 313 S. Maia St. Phoae 723-4200 ° 0 o E BLAKELY, GEORGIA : O o ° We Serve □ □ Any Insurance Policy : * • * ■ Ageat For Ualtod Faaily Lift lasaraaco Co. | Lua a a a a a a a g aa a t oc ct a m 88 8» rajliu.ii AA.aA.fl fl a AR A^ 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 ( / IN DURANCE & REALTY \ / 4=^ CO. | A 1 r AUWMOBILIL H6MEO|/VN€R'S I 7 Z\ L coster vein doCL/ex \ ! 1 4^^ ^4/ 72S &4Z4 I I: I g, i ' BMKELX.Q. 1 ■ / \ • 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. HBiniiiiioniiiWral mmmiiiiiiiiiß# ft BSHmRiimHW MOlßHlilllllllMMil 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. Advertisement Pays I