Newspaper Page Text
Early bounty News
Volume 123 - No. 48
© Early County News, Inc.
Farm Bureau Sponsors
Candidates Forum
A “Meet the Candidates Forum”
featuring candidates for the office of
Governor of Georgia will be held July
10 in Camilla, according to Wilber
Evans, President of Early County
Farm Bureau.
Sponsored by county Farm Bureaus
in the ninth Farm Bureau district
(southwest Georgia), the forum is
designed to provide candidate ex
posure and voter information, Mr.
Evans said.
The forum will be held at the
Mitchell-Baker County High School
from4:ooto6:oop.m.
“All gubernatorial candidates have
been invited,” said Mr. Evans. “We
hope they will also come and we hope
for a good turnout of citizens in this
area.
“We think voters ought to know
where the candidates stand on all
issues expecially those affecting
agriculture in this state," he con-
City Election
August 3rd
Tri-Rivers Supporting Bill
Providing Barge Channel
The Tri-Rivers Waterway Develop
ment Association has announced its
support of a bill introduced by Rep.
Bill Dickinson (R-Ala.) directing the
Secretary of the Army to provide the
authorized barge channel in the
Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint
Waterway.
E.E. Bishop, Sr., president, said the
association will testify in behalf of the
bill before the House Water Resources
Subcommittee July 13. He expects
spokesmen for Alabama Governor
Fob James and Georgia Governor
George Busbee to join the three-state
association in its plea for a depen
dable, year round channel. A lun-
Moonlight Madness
Better Than Eclipse
—f’ t ■
B JI r
Friday nights’ Moonlight Madness, consisting of sales from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m.
by 14 Blakely merchants went over bigger here than did Monday nights’ com
plete lunar eclipse.
Prizes were awarded to the sales people who wore the best nightwear during
the sale. The winners were Lurieen Jordan of Neal Logues - “Most Original”, and
Shirley Simms of Southeastern Office Supply - “Funniest”.
Pictured above, Shirley is presented her prize -a pair of size 48 panties -by the
clown, nonna Boggs of the Chamber of Commerce.
turned.
The county president said that the
meeting will "give us the opportunity
to hear what the candidates have to
say and after the formal part of the
program, anyone who wants to stay
around and talk with the candidates
can do so.”
Mr. Evans said the candidates will
benefit from the forum, too. “The
meeting will give them an excellent
opportunity to communicate directly
with voters in this area of the state.”
He urged “all the people in Early
County” to attend the Camilla forum.
The farm leader said, “In these
critical economic times, it is more im
portant than ever for us to elect
qualified candidates to all public of
fices, especially to the Governor’s of
fice. It is our duty as voting citizens to
learn all we can about each candidate
so that we can vote more
intelligently.”
cheon meeting with members of the
Alabama and Georgia Congressional
delegations is planned for the same
day.
Bishop said the bill simply directs
the Secretary of the Army to do what
he already has the authority to do. It
will, he said, “focus attention on the
regional and national importance of
the waterway for interstate com
merce and export trade.”
Authorized in 1945
“Congress authorized a 9 by 100 foot
channel in 1945,” Bishop said, ‘ ‘and in
dustries built plants and terminals
along the waterway in Alabama,
Georgia and Northwest Florida
Thursday, July 8,1982
Early County - Blakely, Georgia 31723
New Intersections
With the new west side by-pass here complete, a number of vehicles have
already begun motoring over the new route.
As soon as the state has the proper signs routing the truck traffic over the new
road It will be rather heavily traveled. Removing the heavy truck traffic from the
downtown congestion will make several intersections considerably safer.
However, there are five new intersections that local motorist must now ap-
believing the channel would be com
pleted. It has not been, and the costs
of meeting Florida environmental
demands, combined with reduced
freight tonnage caused by an
unreliable channel, has brought us to
the point where the waterway could
lose all Federal funding.”
The Corps of Engineers has com
pleted improvements assuring the
authorized channel in the Georgia and
Alabama portion of the waterway.
Bishop explained, that does no good,
however, if barges cannot move
through the 107 mile Florida portion to
the gulf.
The State of Florida in the early
1970’s began objecting to all perma
nent, “structural,” solutions to water
way problems in that state, Bishop ex
plained. In 1977, an amendment to the
Federal Clean Water Act also re
quired the Corps to obtain permits
from the States for such routine
maintenance activities as dredging
and snag removal. However, the act
stated that “This section shall not be
constructed as affecting or impairing
the authority of the Secretary (of the
Army) to maintain navigation.”
Costs Increase
The Corps has obtained permits
from the State of Florida since 1977,
Bishop said, but only at high costs in
dollars, time and reduced freight ton
nage. Under current tight budget con-
Star Gaze
Kolomoki Mounds State Park will
hold a Astronomy Program on July 9,
1982. The program will begin at 8:45
p.m.
Everyone is invited to attend. So br
ing you a blanket or lawn chair,
flashlight and binoculars if you have
any. Recognize the common galaxies
and learn about the ancient legends
and their place in history. So meet us
at the Temple Mound parking lot.
Saturday July 10th
Jr. Rangers will have a meeting at
the Old Museum from 10:00 a.m. to
12:00 noon. All other Boys and Girls
between the ages of 7 to 14, and would
like to become Jr. Rangers are
welcome to come.
There will be a Film, “This Land”,
shown at the Old Museum at 7:00 p.m.
Everyone is invited.
Sunday July 11
There will be mound tours through
out the day for any who would like
guided tours of the Temple Mound and
Ceremonial Mounds, starting at 11:00
a.m.
For additional information contact
Kolomoki Mounds State Park at
912-723-5296.
On Truck Route
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Our
WWI
Veterans
Workman's Comp Reduction
Insurance Commissioner Johnnie
Caldwell has ordered a 15.4 percent
reduction in workers’ compensation
rates. Caldwell’s order becomes ef
fective August 1,1982.
The 15.4 percent decrease will apply
to rates that were approved for use on
October 15, 1978. Up until that time
workers’ compensation rates were fil
ed with the state Insurance Commis
sioner by the National Council on
Compensation Insurance (NCCI), and
the Insurance Commissioner could
either approve, disapprove, or change
the amount of the proposed rate
change.
Since then however, Caldwell has
gotten support from both the
legislature and the courts in his ef
forts to require companies to file for
proach with caution. These are the intersections on Highways 62 and 39 where the
trucks will enter and exit the by-pass.
In addition there are now 4-way stops at the intersections of River Road,
Freeman Road and Chancy Mill Road.
Knowing most local motorist are not yet accustomed to the new intersections,
everyone is urged to use caution when approaching one of them.
How many times have you heard someone low rate our country lately? She has
her problems and we tend to complain about them a lot. But how many people do
you know who reiused to “celebrate” her birthday this past weekend?
With all her faults, our America is still the best place on earth to live! It just
didn’t happen that way either.
Thousands, literally hundreds of thousands, have left their homes, fought and
often given their lives to make her the great country she is today. They are her
greatness and we owe everything she is today to them and God.
Only six World War I veterans were still alive this past weekend to celebrate
America’s birthday. Pictured above are four of these: (L-R) Emory Cannon who
served in the Army, Chester Clardy who was in the Infantry, Alto Warrick who
was in the Army, and O.R. Brooks who was in the Cavalry.
Not pictured were L.A. Pitts who served in the Marines, and Frank Stokes who
served in the Army.
If America continues to be great for another 200 years, they were as much
responsible as anyone and should be a part of each of her birthdays.
rate changes on an individual basis,
and with investment income being in
cluded in the statistical data filed by
each company.
Caldwell had originally proposed a
20.1 percent decrease in workers’
compensation rates. In his February
8, 1982 order proposing the 20.1 per
cent decrease, Caldwell said his ac
tion was based on data he received
early in January from the state
Workers’ Compensation Board.
Caldwell said he instructed his staff
to apply actuarial formulas to this
data. This methodology indicated that
a 20.1 percent decrease was in order.
However, those figures did not take
into consideration the 17.4 percent in
crease in weekly benefits that was
subsequently passed into law by the
USPS 164060 25$
legislature. Caldwell said testimony
at public hearings further showed that
the figures did not include adequate
amounts for taxes.
Caldwell said these and other fac
tors that were brought out in the hear
ings made it evident that the rate
reductions should be 15.4 percent
rather than 20.1 percent.
Caldwell said the net effect of the
rate reduction, coupled with indepen
dent filings and other changes, will be
a net decrease in workers' compensa
tion premiums in Georgia of approx
imately $27 million.
SB 379, passed by the 1982
legislature, will put workers’ compen
sation on an open competition rating
system starting January 1,1984.