SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1965
Master Locksmith
Athenian
Bill Downs
Cracks Safes - Legally
-
By PENCE MIDDLETON
Banner-Herald Writer
Bill Downs is a safecracker,
but the police never give him
any trouble.
He isn't a master criminal,
though. He's a master
locksmith, and his safecrack-
ing is perfectly legal.
Downs, who moved here
from Atlanta to open Downs
Lock and Safe Co. in Alps
Shopping Center, naturally
runs into some bizarre and
amusing situations in the unu-
sual line of work.
Perhaps the funniest job
Downs handled was installing
a lock on a refrigerator door
for a 400-pound woman who
just couldn't resist food.
Downs said he gave the keys
to the woman's husband.
Downs says his job never
seems routine. He is confront-
ed with a different problem
almost every day.
He changed an apartment
lock five times in one day for
a couple who were separated.
The husband asked that the
lock be changed to keep his
wife out of the apartment.
Then later in the day the wife
called and asked that the lock
be changed to keep her hus-
band out.
This went on all day, Downs
JAMES
(Dick)
ROBERTS
Promises
"THE FIRST WARD WILL HAVE ITS
SHARE OF PAVED SIDE WALKS AND
STREETS OR THERE WILL BE NO PAVED
SIDE WALKS OR STREETS IN THE CITY
OF ATHENS."
Vote For James Roberts
OCTOBER 13
PAID POLITICAL ADV.
STRONGEST SUPPORTER
OF THE AMERICAN HOME
Across The Nation almost 64% of its homes are owner-oc-
cupied. Savings associations, such as ours, provided 44% of
the money used by home buyers in 1964. Currently ten mililon
Americans are buying their homes with funds borrowed from
a savings association. Home ownership is one of the safe-
guards of American freedom. Home financing is our business.
See us when you plan to buy or build.
SAVE
BY
THE
Not the 10th...
the 10th is Sunday
A Non Business Day, You
Have A Day's Grace to Put
Savings to work. So
Remember-
Save By The
11th
11th.
Athens Federal Savings and Loan Association
LI 6-0158
And Lumnk in
Hancock
THE ATHENS BANNER-HERALD, ATHENS, GEORGIA
Couple Escapes Disaster
Oglethore Sheriff W. T. How
ard said a vehicle driven by
Clyde Burroughs of Crawford
went dead as it approached the
rossing, with the front end of
the car protruding over the
track.
A married couple fled from
their stalled car on a railroad
track in Arnoldsville Friday
night seconds before a train
crashed into the vehicle, hurling
it high into the air.
Re-Elect
HENRY J. MORTON
Councilman
FIRST WARD
Democratic Primary Oct. 13, 1965
Your Vote and Influence
Will Be Appreciated
(Paid Political Adv.)
защ, ние не плау
one of his workers at the
apartment to await further
developments.
Five years ago in Atlanta,
one of Downs' employes was
cracking a door lock for a
customer when an old lady
walked out of the next apart-
ment. Taking the locksmith as
a burglar, she held a shotgun
on him until police arrived.
In another episode late one
night, two elderly, unmarried
women in Atlanta went to the
movies. When one of the la-
dies returned, she realized
she didn't have her key. She
called Downs.
Downs said he opened the
door four times, but each
time it closed by itself. He
thought it was the wind until
the other woman came out of
the room saying she thought
it was a burglar.
One of Downs' workmen
took a 10-mile ride on a train
while he was working on a di-
ner-car door in Atlanta. When
he realized the train was
moving, it was too late to get
off.
Downs is often summoned
to help police investigate a
safe-cracking. He determines
whether the job was done by
an amateur or a professional.
A few years ago in Atlanta,
an apartment house adver-
tised that they would pay $10,-
000 to anyone who could crack
their safe. The safe, sup-
posedly burglar-proof, had the
highest rating in the world.
The safe company guaranteed
it could not be drilled.
Downs worked on the safe
all day and all night before he
finally cracked it. He said he
didn't get his money because
the company went out of busi-
ness a few weeks later.
In the Athens area, there is
plenty of business for Downs.
He said college students boost
his business when they lock
themselves out of their apart
ments or lose keys to locked
cars.
Downs opened a cemetery
vault in Athens this summer
which had not been entere
since the Civil War.
For Continued Progress
In City Government
RE-ELECT
DWAIN P. CHAMBERS
COUNCILMAN
FOURTH WARD
Democratic Primary
Wednesday, Oct. 13th
(PAID POL. ADV.)
છે. વિલો જ ઘડી કામ લ
Banner-Herald Photo by REM
Downs In His Role As Safecracker
lock on a refrigerator for a 400-pound woman
who couldn't resist food. Downs, whose shop
is in Alps Shopping Center, has received na-
tional recognition for his locksmith's "tricks
of the trade."
Bill Downs of Athens, shown above in his role
as a safecracker, is a master locksmith who
has opened many stubborn strongboxes in his
time. He has done everything from helping
police investigate safe burglaries to putting a
Kiwanis Club Honors Newspapers
a Georgia historian. He will The slogan for this year's ob-
speak on "Georgia Newspapers servance is: "Newspapers
and Newspapermen." Make a Big Difference in Peo-
The purpose of National ple's Lives."
Newspaper Week as defined by Edward C. Keefe, president of
its sponsors, the Newspaper As- Kiwanis International, praised
sociation Managers, Inc., is to the newspapers for their con-
emphasize the partnership ex- stant efforts in securing an in-
isting between newspapers and formed citizenry, and called
their readers, and to stress the upon the 276,000 members of the
unique role of the press in service organization to bring to
maintaining and protecting the the attention of their communi-
freedoms enjoyed in this coun- ties the important role being
try today. played by newspapers.
FOURTH WARD
Democratic Primary
Wednesday, Oct. 13th
(PAID POL. ADV.)
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The Kiwanis Club of Athens
will join in paying tribute to the
nation's newspapers during Na-
tional Newspaper Week, Octo-
ber 10-16, club president Grady
Oaks, said today.
The club will honor represent-
Iatives of the local press at its
Tuesday meeting at 1 p.m. in
the Georgian Hotel.
The speaker for the program
will be John Bonner, Director of
Special Collections at the Uni-
versity of Georgia Library, and
