Newspaper Page Text
Early Cnunty News
Volume 123 - No. 51
© Early County News, Inc.
Electrical Load Management
Electrical load management is not
just another fancy phrase this time of
year, but rather a vital operation of
the City of Blakely that can either
save or cost the City’s electrical users
tens of thousands of dollars.
Successful load management on the
part of the city’s electrical customers
over the next 5-8 weeks can mean
lower power cost during the next 12
months.
Mayor Billy Fleming asks everyone
to postpone or curtail those activities
that are flexible such as cooking,
washing, drying, etc. during load
management periods.
That period will generally be bet-
Bankston Found Guilty,
Sentenced To 40 Years
Charles Bankston was sentenced to
40 years in prison Saturday following
a five day trial in the Early County
Courthouse.
Bankston was sentenced to 10 years
for armed robbery, 10 years for kid
napping, and 20 years for rape.
Superior Court Judge Lowery Stone
City Election Tuesday
City voters will go to the polls Tues
day to elect a mayor and two coun
cilmen to serve the City of Blakely for
a two year term.
There is only one contested race in
the election, that being for Council
Post No. 4.
Incumbent David Griffin, presently
serving the second year of his first
Peanut Acreage Down 13%
Across the nation, in response to the
provisions of the new peanut program
and the call for an acreage reduction
from the growers’ organization, pro
ducers have cut back planted peanut
acreage to the lowest level in many
years, Georgia Peanut Commission
Chairman George Whelchel announc
ed.
Cuts range from a high of 19 per
cent in Alabama to a low of two per
cent in New Mexico, according to
figures released by the Crop Produc-
Early Frontrunners Not
Always Eventual Winners
(Editor’s Note - The following feature
article is the third of a series cover
ing the gubernatorial race by Melita
Easters Hayes of Capitol News Ser
vice, who has traveled with all the
candidates and attended many of the
candidate forums. I
By Melita Easters Hayes
Capitol News Service
Since 1962, the first year a Georgia
governor was elected by popular vote
rather than the county unit system,
the early frontrunner in a hotly con
tested gubernatorial race has not pro
ven to be the eventual winner.
Hoping that history will not repeat
this year are the two early frontrun
ners in this year’s campaign - Bo Ginn
and Norman Underwood, who have
consistently placed first and second in
the polls.
Longtime political observers say
that even a month before the primary,
the race for the governor’s chair is
still wide open. “The poll that counts
is the poll on August 10,” laughs
House Ways and Means Chairman
Marcus Collins, who has represented
Cotton in the legislature for 20 years.
In 1962, it appeared that former
Gov. Marvin Griffin would be the sure
winner in his bid for re-election.
“Griffin was way out front,” Collins
recalls, “Marvin had lots of
barbecues.”
Can Save Tens of Thousands!
ween the hours of 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.
during the weekdays. Personnel at Ci
ty Hall will usually know by 11 a.m. if
load management will be in effect
that day.
Please, turn that thermostat up or
the dials down on your air condi
tioners - this will have more impact on
load management than any other
single thing you can do.
If you have a central cooling unit
that is not on load management, it
would be in your best interest to get
hooked up - you will be saving yourself
money!
“We are not realizing near the
specified that the sentences be served
consecutively.
The jury deliberated 90 minutes
Saturday before returning the guilty
verdict for the charges that stemmed
from the August 20,1981 incident.
Bankston, along with Charles
Ricks, robbed J.R.’s Quick Shop at
term, faces opposition from Lester
Shoemaker, Dwight Evans, and Will
Gilbert, Jr.
Incumbent Mayor Billy Fleming
and incumbent councilman Tommy
Wright have no opposition for re
election.
Fleming, who previously served six
years as a city councilman, is serving
tion Service of the Statistical Repor
ting Service of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
In Georgia, the supplier of 43 per
cent of the nation’s peanuts, acreage
was cut back 16 per cent from 565,000
harvested acres in 1981, to an in
dicated 475,000 acres to be harvested
this year. This is the lowest acreage
since 1915.
Alabama has cut back from 222,000
acres last year to 180,000 acres this
But, on the day of the primary,
Senator Carl Sanders of Augusta, who
had served as Gov. Ernest Vandiver’s
floor leader, defeated Griffin by a
margin of 162,000 votes.
As the voting returns came in, one
of Georgia’s most frequently quoted
political laments was born,
“Somebody’s been eatin’ my
barbecue that ain’t voting for me.”
In 1966, Vandiver seemed the early
leader in the race to replace Sanders.
However, he suffered a heart attack
and two young men changed their at
tentions from a congressional bid to
the governor’s race - Sen. Jimmy
Carter of Plains and Bo Callaway, the
state’s only Republican congressman.
In all, there were six names on the
Democratic ballot - Ellis Amall, the
former governor; Garland Boyd, a
former Lt. Gov.; Hoke O’Kelly, a fre
quent candidate from Lawrenceville
who rarely placed well; James Gray,
an Albany newspaper publisher and
television station owner who had serv
ed as state party chairman; Lester
Maddox, an Atlanta segregationist
businessman; and Carter, making his
first bid for statewide office.
-Vandiver, the last county unit
governor, was way out front all the
way,” Collins recalled. After Van
diver’s heart attack, Amall became
the front runner and was generally ex
pected to win the nomination. In the.
Thursday, July 29,1982
Early County - Blakely, Georgia 31723
amount of savings from our load
management that we should”, stated
Mayor Fleming. “The City made a
number of mistakes when it went to
load management that have caused
problems in getting the customers to
readily accept the system.”
“The first summer that system was
in operation was one of the hottest
summers in history, with something
like 14 straight days of 100 plus degree
temperature.” Our buildings nor our
cooling systems are designed to han
dle that kind of heat.” he added.
“And the City of Blakely made the
same mistake many other cities did
that year by trying to save too much
gunpoint, then kidnapped and raped
the 19 year-old ABAC co-ed who was
working in the store. The young girl
was then released several miles
below Blakely on a dirt road.
Ricks, who turned states’ evidence
and testified during the trial, is
waiting to be sentenced.
the unexpired term of former Mayor
Charlie Jacob. Wright is seeking re
election to a second term as city coun
cilman.
The polls will open at City Hall at 7
A.M. and close at 7 P.M. The City
Council Meeting scheduled for that
night has been moved up to Monday
night, August 2nd.
year, with Florida reducing its
acreage from 60,000 to 51,000 for a 13
per cent reduction.
In all but two peanut producing
states, (South Carolina and New Mex
ico), it is predicted that harvested
acreage will be less than that
harvested in the disastorous 1980 crop
year.
Nationwide peanut production is ex
pected to tally 1,295,400 acres, 13 per
cent below last year.
primary, Amall received 231,480
votes while Maddox received 185,672
votes and the third finisher, Carter,
received 165,562 votes, according to
figures in the book “Governors of
Georgia.”
In the runoff, Maddox, who had not
been taken seriously by the press or
other politicians, won with 54 percent
of the vote. The general election was
close, with Callaway receiving more
popular votes than Maddox. A large
number of write-in votes for Amall,
many in Atlanta’s black precincts, in
sured that neither candidate received
the necessary simple majority to win.
The decision was thrown to the
Georgia legislature.
Given a choice between congrega
tionist Maddox and a Republican, the
legislature opted for Maddox with a
182-66-11 (abstentions) vote.
“It is the only campaign I think of in
recent years where the sheer populist
vote won rather than a coalition of the
Macon Telegraph for 12 years and in
the same position with the Atlanta
Journal for two years.
In 1970, despite Jimmy Carter’s un
precidented four year campaign for
the office, Carl Sanders seemed the
unamious choice of the newspapers,
politicians and influential organiza
tions for the governor’s chair.
“The 1970 race is a classic illustra
tion of the frontrunner who ends up
money during those extreme
temperatures. A lot of people ap
parently made the same mistake that
year, but they all learned from it.”
“We even had several load manage
ment switches hooked up wrong,”
Fleming continued. “We haven’t
overcome that yet, either.”
“Hopefully, these mistakes are all
behind us now. Regardless, we don’t
have any choice, considering the in
creases in electrical costs we are go
ing to face over the next 3 to 4 years,
the City must set a goal of 100% par
ticipation in the load management
program."
SGA Students
Score High
On Tests
Headmaster W.T. Henry reports
that results of the lowa Tests of Basic
Skills and Cognitive Abilities Test
given to S.G.A.’s fourth, eighth, and
eleventh grade students have reveal
ed outstanding scores this past year.
Folling is a breakdown of the
number of students tested per grade
with the average obtained grade
equivalency and average national
percentile rank for each class on each
skill tested in the order of skill
-average obtained grade eqivalency
-average national percentile rank:
Fourth Grade (35 Students Tested):
Vocabulary - Sixth grade second
month-98. Reading-Sixth grade nineth
month - 99. Language skills - Sixth
grade fourth month - 98. Work study
skills - Sixth grade seventh month - 98.
Mathematics skills - Sixth grade - 99.
Composite score - Sixth grade fourth
month-99.
Eighth Grade (44 Students Tested):
Vocabulary - Nineth grade nineth
month - 89. Reading - Nineth grade
nineth month - 90. Language skills -
Tenth grade fifth month - 96. Work
study skills - Tenth grade third month
- 97. Mathematics skills - Nineth grade
seventh month - 90. Composite score
-Tenth grade first month - 95.
Eleventh Grade (41 Students
Tested): Reading comprehension
-Freshman college eighth month - 86.
Mathematics - Freshman college
(Continued To Page 8)
Touchdown Club
There will be a very important
meeting of the Early County High
School Touchdown Club Thursday
night (July 29) at 7:30 at the high
school gym.
loser syndrone,” McCash said. “Gov.
Sanders was considered by all
politically knowledgeable people as
virtually certain to win that race.”
McCash recalls taking a poll at the
Georgia Municipal Association and
Association County Commissioners of
Georgia conventions. “The question
was who do you think will win, not who
do you personally prefer,” he recall
ed.
“Carl Sanders was winning by an
outlandish margin. But, while many
people said they thought Sanders
would win they said they liked Jimmy
Carter personally. He was a fresh
face and he appealed to the conser
vatives.”
In 1974, Georgians had more than a
dozen names to choose from on
primary day - from “Machine Gun”
Ronnie Thompson on the Republican
ballot to a host of well-known
Democrats: Maddox, Bert Lance,
George Busbee, David Gambrell,
Harry Jackson, George T. Smith and
Bobby Rowan.
Bert Lance, a Calhoun banker who
served as Department of Transporta
tion Commissioner for the Carter ad
ministration, was the frontrunner.
“1974 was very much like this year in
that there was a large group of solid
candidates,” McCash recalls.
“George Busbee was certainly not an
(Continued To Page 5)
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...and umpires watched play closely I
The Blakely-Early County Dixie Boys Tournament team traveled to Roswell,
Georgia to participate in the State Tournament. In the opening game, Blakely-
Early County fell to a strong Whitfield County team 14-2. After leading 5-0
through four innings Whitfield struck for six runs with the help of a grand slam
homerun. Kevin Tabb suffered the pitching loss for Blakely-Early County.
Blakely-Early County next faced Norcross and again suffered inconsistent hit
ting as they lost 4-1. Alton Shorter suffered the pitching loss as Blakely collected
only four hits.
We are very proud of our Dixie Boys League, they were eliminated in the dou
ble elimination tournament, but they remain our champions. This tournament
helped them to gain both experience and confidence by striving harder in order to
reach their goals.
We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Department in both
donations and time for the State Tournament.
uses 164060 25$