Newspaper Page Text
Harksr tt progress-Argus
VOL. 99—NO. 24
23 Candidates Qualified
Before June 14 Deadline
Twenty-three candidates beat
the deadline of Wednesday noon,
June 14th, to qualify as candi
dates in the Democratic Primary
of August Bth, 1972 with only
two races contested, that of sher
iff and county commissioner.
Qualifying since last Wednesday
were T. A. Carmichael for re
election as county surveyor, and
A. G. Cowan, for county commis
sioner.
As of noon June 14th the can
didates for the various county
offices are as follows.
Commissioner—Jimmy (Jim
bo) Darnell, James W. Gilbert,
Thomas N. (Neal) Baker, Ham
mond Barnes, Gery Hoard, D.
W. (Dave) Bailey, Dan Fears,
Haywood Hodges, Thomas Tay
lor, and A. G. Cowan. Messrs.
Fears, Bailey and Barnes are all
incumbents.
Sheriff—Hugh C. Polk, incum
bent; Barney L. Wilder, John L.
Coleman, James Appling and Bil
ly Leverette.
Clerk of Court—David P.
Ridgeway, incumbent.
Ordinary—Luther J. Washing
ton, incumbent.
Tax Commissioner—Mary Will
Hearn, incumbent Tax Collector.
School Superintendent—Wm.
B. (Bill) Jones, incumbent.
Treasurer —Billy Sutton, in
cumbent.
Coroner—John A. Sherrell,
incumbent.
Surveyor—T. A. Carmichael,
incumbent.
Justice of Peace, 612th District
—Donald Montgomery, incum
bent.
4-H'ers Do
Well In
Horse Show
The Northwest District 4-H
Horse Show was held at Stone
Mountain State Park on June 8.
Three local club members came
home with a good supply of rib
bons and trophies.
Gail Marsh won 2nd place in
Senior Poles, 2nd place in Senior
Barrels, 4th place in Western
Pleasure, 4th place in Western
Horsemanship, and 4th place in
Senior Reining. Gail will repre
sent Butts County at the State
4-H Horse Show in four of the
above classes.
Joe Norton won first place and
a trophy in Senior Pole Bending
and sth place in Senior Barrel
Race.
Jenny Saunders competed in
Senior Barrels and placed 3rd.
Joe and Jenny will also be rep
resenting Butts County in each
of the above events at the State
4-H Horse Show.
Each of these club members
should be highly complimented
because the classes were very
large and the competition was
extremely keen.
THREE JACKSON IANS GET
CLAYTON JC DEGREES
♦
John W. Browning, Jr., Marcus
Preston Browning and Robert
Hunt Ridgeway of Jackson were
among 300 graduates receiving
Associate in Arts Degree dur
ing Clayton Junior College’s sec
ond annual commencement exer
cises Saturday, June 10, at 10
a. m. on the Morrow campus.
Reg Murphy, editor of “The
Atlanta Constitution,” was the
graduation speaker.
Clayton Junior College opened
in September, 1969 as a unit of
the University System of Geor
gia and was accredited by the
Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools in December, 1971.
The junior college awarded de
grees to college-transfer students
and to career graduates in crim
inal justice, nursing and secre
tarial studies at its second grad
uation ceremony.
Convicts Held Jasper Woman
Hostage For Several Hours
A sister of Mrs. O. J. Bond of
Jackson, Mrs. Frances Bond Boyd
of Jasper County, underwent a
harrowing ordeal Tuesday, June
6th, when she was held hostage
by three armed escapees from the
Putnam County Correctional In
stitute, the experience leaving
her shaken and extremely ner
vous though she was unharmed.
Mrs. Boyd told her sister that
about ten o’clock Tuesday morn
ing the three came to her door
and with a drawn pistol made
her open the door. One of the
three escaped convicts, identified
by Putnam County officials as
David Lee Forrest, 23, Jerome
Young, 32, and Johnny Frank
Cowles, 21, asked where the
phone was and when she showed
it to them they cut the wires.
Mrs. Boyd then related that
they demanded and received the
keys to her late model car.
Another escapee took her by the
arm and carried her to a prison
truck with an iron door and
cage and put her inside with sev
en men, five Negro and two
whites. One of the white men,
Mrs. Floyd stated, was the guard
who had been overpowered, for
ced to give up his weapons and
his clothes, and locked in the
prison bus into which she was
thrust. Mrs. Boyd said that when
she was put in the truck with the
unclothed guard that he exclaim
ed, “I’m sorry, they have taken
my clothes.”
Mrs. Boyd related that it was
dark and close in the truck and
that the escapee drove the truck
to the back door of her home,
jamming it up against the steps,
leaving her a prisoner. She said
it was at this time that the three
colored escapees took her car and
got away.
Mrs. Boyd said her husband
was in the pasture mowing when
she was asked if she had a hus
band. The men became fright
ened that he would come to the
house, learn of the circumstances
and begin shooting. Mrs. Boyd
said that she begged the men not
to harm her and told them if
they would help her escape from
the truck that she could forestall
any shooting.
Mrs. Boyd said there were a
lot of tools in the truck and that
the men used picks and shovels
to make a hole large enough for
two men to crawl out and push
the truck away from the house,
beating the lock off and releasing
her.
Mrs. Boyd recalls that she ran
to her husband in the pasture but
was so hysterical that she could
n’t talk but could scream. Mrs.
Boyd said that a service man was
near the chicken house distribut
ing feed but did not know of her
temporary kidnapping. When she
came in sight of her husband
and salesman they were talking
but heard her screams and got
in the truck to meet her. As they
approached the house she told her
husband, Floyd, not to shoot the
men as she was not harmed. The
guard was waving for them to
come on to the house as the coast
was clear. Through the use of a
two-way radio owned by the feed
salesman, he contacted his com
pany in Macon and had them in
form law officers. Mrs. Boyd re
calls it wasn’t long before plen
ty of people were there with
dogs and offers of assistance.
Mrs. Boyd said that the three
men who escaped in her automo
bile went into the house, changed
from prison garb to her hus
band’s clothes and took off. One
of the escapees had on the
guard’s clothes but left those af
ter changing into her husband’s
attire.
Mrs. Boyd said that despite
her ordeal she is about to re
gain her composure and hopes
the escapees will soon be appre
hended.
Body of Boy
Found In
Jackson Lake
The body of 14-year-old Tom
my Smith Bryant was discovered
Thursday afternoon, June Bth,
under a dock on Jackson Lake
where he had disappeared from
his boat Sunday night, June 4th,
in the Waters Bridge area.
Newton County Coroner Sam
Cowan said that his body was
found beneath a boat dock not
far from the lakeside trailer
home where he lived with his par
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W.
Bryant, on Norman Road in the
Jackson Lake area.
The young boy, an eighth grade
pupil at the R- L. Cousins High
School in Covington, was report
ed missing Sunday night when his
boat was spotted with his shoes
and socks in it about ten o’clock.
The young boy had been seen
about an hour earlier by acquain
tances alone in the boat. Tommy
was a native of Mcßae.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednes
day members of the Newton Cos.
Rescue Unit, a sheriff’s posse,
and rangers of the Game and Fish
Department dragged the lake. His
body was discovered Thursday af
ternoon lodged under a dock by
two boaters.
Funeral services for the drown
ing victim were held Saturday
morning at 11 o’clock at the Ho
ris Ward Funeral Home chapel
in Decatur with burial in Corinth
Baptist Church Cemetery.
M-Sgt. Connell
Decorated With
Bronze Star
WITH U. S. COMBAT AIR
FORCES, Vietnam—U. S. Air
Force Chief Master Sergeant
Donald F. Connell, son of Mrs.
Fairy K. Connell of 155 Lyons
St., Jackson, Ga., has been decor
rated with the Bronze Star Medal
at Tan Son Nhut AB, Vietnam,
for meritorious service while en
gaged in military operations.
Sergeant Connell was cited for
his performance as an electronics
superintendent at Tan Son Nhut.
He is a 1950 graduate of Zeb
ulon (Ga.) High School and at
tended the University of Nebras
ka at Omaha.
His wife, Martha, is the daugh
ter of Mr. and Mrs. William H.
Means of Zehulon.
Billy Duke
Aces Lake
Hole Friday
Holes in one are becoming a
habit for Billy and Terry Duke,
sons of Mr. and Mrs. Harold
Duke.
Billy Duke, Jackson High
School’s trophy winner for his
golf prowess, aced the lake hole,
No. 7, at Deer Trail Golf Club
Friday with a nine iron shot to
the cup some 105 yards away.
Billy was playing with Kenny
Norsworthy.
One year ago to the day but
on a different date his brother,
Terry Duke, made a hole in one
at Deer Trail, his ace coming on
Friday, June 11th, while Billy’s
was made on June 9th.
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1972
Mrs. Manley
Has Earned
Doctorate
■--& ‘///fa//* , /i
, i|pss| § *
•M
MRS. JO ANN MANLEY
Announcement is made today
by the University of Georgia,
that Jo Ann Seagraves Man
ley of Jackson, has earned the
degree Doctor of Education.
Director of } Curriculum for
Butts County Schools for the last
five years, Mrs. Manley is a na
tive of Madison County, daugh
ter of Mr. and Mrs. George Thom
as Seagraves, Sr. of Ila. An hon
or graduate of Ila High School,
she attended Piedmont College
and received the B. S., M. E. and
Specialist in Education Degrees
from the University of Georgia,
financing her college education
with scholarships and fellowships.
She has done advance work in
Mathematics, Language Arts and
Perceptual Psychology. She was
one of the first educators in
Georgia to study the SMSG
Mathematics (often referred to
as the Yale program or “New
Math”). In 1965 she was one
of 200 persons .Invited to partici
pate in a Conference for super
visors of English, held in Boston.
In 1969 she was one of 35 in
vited to Columbia University for
an international conference on
Innovative Curriculum. She also
participated in a NSF Institute
in Mathematics at University of
Illinois in 1970.
She is a member of the Butts
County Association of Educators,
the Georgia Association of Edu
cators, National Educational As
sociation, The International Read
ing Association (a charter mem
ber of the Atlanta Area Council
of that organization), The Na
tional Reading Conference, the
State and National Association
of Supervision and Curriculum
Development and Kappa Delta Pi,
honor Society in Education.
In 1966 she was named one of
three Outstanding Young Educa
tors in Georgia (the only wom
an so honored). When she began
her career in supervision and cur
riculum development in Worth
County, she was the youngest in
structional supervisor in Georgia
and one of the youngest in the
nation. She has taught at all
levels from first grade through
high school and graduate level in
college.
She is a member of the Jack
son Presbyterian Church, pres
ently serving as President of
Women of the Church and As
sistant Sunday School teacher in
the Junior Department. She is
also president of the newly or
ganized Magnolia Garden Club
of Jackson.
Dr. Manley resides on Coving
ton Street with her children:
Molly, a student at Jackson High
School; Myra, a student at Hen
derson Junior High; Thomas, a
student at Henderson Element
ary, and pre-schoolers George
and Bruce.
Her hobbies center around the
family and include sewing,
needlepoint, reading, travel, cook
ing and directing weddings.
PROGRESS-ARGUS WINS
HEART FUND CITATION
The Jackson Frogress-Argus
has been awarded a Heart Fund
Citation for the newspaper’s ser
vice in advancing the heart pro
gram and stimulating public sup
port toward the conquest of dis
eases of the heart and circula
tion.
JACKSON, GEORGIA 30233
Wreckage of Plane Found
Friday in Monroe County
The dogged persistence of two
local law enforcement officers,
Butts County Deputy Sheriff W.
L. (Bill) Taylor, Jr., and Jack
son Police Chief Watson Vaughn,
led to the discovery of the
wreckage of a World War II
fighter plane and the body of
its pilot in a heavily wooded area
off Lassiter Road in Monroe
County, approximately two miles
from the general area that the
plane was observed in obvious
distress Saturday morning, June
3rd, about 11:30 o’clock.
The pulverized wreckage of the
modified Psl Mustang that car
ried pilot Richard Keith (Dick)
Kestle, 43, of Columbus to his
death, w-as strewn around a cra
ter, gouged out of hard red clay
in a heavily wooded area, that
was approximately 12 to 15 feet
wide and about 10 to 12 feet
deep. The impact of the plane
which nosed down almost per
pendicularly, pulled dirt back
into the crater, covering portions
of the fuselage of the crumpled
plane. A heavy foliage of oak
and hickory trees had hidden the
wreckage from planes of the Ci
vilian Air Patrol that had comb
ed the area since Monday after
noon.
Monroe County Sheriff L. C.
Bittick said that the wreckage
was located in northeast Monroe
County, approximately 1% to 2
miles over the Butts County line.
Butts County Sheriff Hugh C.
Polk said that Chief Watson
Vaughn and his wife were driv
ing along Lassiter Road about
2:15 Friday afternoon when Mr.
Vaughn spotted a solitary buz
zard circling over the area
where the plane was soon to be
discovered. Chief Vaughn contac
ted Deputy Bill Taylor on the
radio asking him to come join
in a search of the heavily wood
ed terrain. The two men walked
between % ami % of a mile
across a field and into the woods
where the wreckage was located
approximately 200 yards deep
into the forest.
The plane evidently crashed
almost straight down, clipping
two moderate size limbs off a
hickory tree. The impact dug the
aforementioned crater in the
hard earth, bringing instantane
ous death to the pilot. The wings
were sheared off, scattered in a
random pattern among the trees
with no single piece of the plane
outside the crater being larger
than a pillow slip.
Sheriff Bittick said there was
only one body aboard the modi
fied fighter named “Miss Gator
ade Cola.” Mr. Bittick said the
remains were taken to Dillon
Funeral Home in Forsyth.
Photo by Bill Knight, Griffin Daily New*
PLANE FOUND IN MONROE COUNTY— A 5-day search for a missing P-51 Mustang, owned
and piloted by Richard Keith (Dick) Kestle, of Columbus, came to an end Friday afternoon, June
9th, when wreckage of the plane was discovered in a heavily wooded area off Lassiter Road in Mon
roe County. The impact of the plane, which plunged almost straight down through dense trees, dug
a crater some 12 to 15 feet wide and 8 to 10 feet deep, killing the pilot instantly. The plane wreck
age w-as discovered by Police Chief Watson Vaughn and Butts County Deputy Sheriff Bill Taylor as
they followed a lazily circling buzzard to the scene.
DISCOVERED PLANE
f P;
i K jjsfeSßi* i
TAYLOR, leLt, and VAUGHN
Mr. Kestle piloted the plane in
1969 to a second straight victory
in the annual Harold’s Club
Transcontinental Trophy Dash, a
1,667 mile race.
The Columbus pilot was be
lieved to have attended the
Transpo ’72 Exhibition in Wash
ington and was enroute home
from Dulles International Air
port June 3rd when his plane de
veloped trouble over Butts Coun
ty.
An Indian Springs State Park
employee, Jack McDowell, told
law officers and, searchers of
hearing and seeing a place fly
ing low over his house Saturday
morning and only moments later
hearing an explosion when it
crashed. The site of the crash
was almost directly in line with
the area that McDowell predic
ted that the plane would be
found.
On Sunday afternoon, June
4th. Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Tor
bett of Butts County discovered
debris from a plane in their pas
ture. Among the pieces was por
tions of a plexiglass canopy
that experts now believe blew
off striking the plane’s trim tab
•which probably triggered the fa
tal crash.
Since Monday afternoon. June
sth, more than 100 volunteers,
including Civil Air Patrol (CAP)
personnel and Ft. Benning sol
diers. have been engaged in the
search. Lt. Harry Saunders of the
Georgia CAP Wing theorized that
the fighter’s canopy blew off in
flight and damaged the rudder
and trim tab.
Sheriff Bittick said the wreck
age was about s 4 of a mile from
the nearest house and about the
same distance from a dirt road
which wound through the area.
Mr. Bittick said that there w-as
no indication of a fire at the
scene with the plane apparently
taking a steep nose dive straight
through the trees and exploding.
Authorities with the CAP and
$5 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE
Federal Aviation Authorities sift
ed through the pieces late Friday
and Saturday morning in an ef
fort to pinpoint the cause of the
crash. Authorities said up to 15
planes from the Georgia CAP
wing and the Alabama CAP were
involved in the search at one
time. Officials had expanded
the search Thursday to include
an area in Southeastern Alabama.
Lions Install
New Officers
At Gala Party
Monday night, June 5, was a
special occasion for the Butts
County- Lions Club. They- held
their annual Ladies Night at
which time new officers of the
club were installed.
The meeting was presided over
by outgoing president, Stanley
Maddox.
Some 42 Lions, Lionesses and
guests gathered at the Holiday
Inn in Locust Grove for this oc
casion.
After a delicious meal, Lion
Steve Jett led the group in sev
eral songs that helped settle the
food and put the group in a fes
tive mood. Lion Jett then pre
sented Misses Lynn Freeman,
Laurie Summers, Marsha Yawn,
A1 Gilbert and Glen Maddox who
are members of the Youth Choir
of the First Baptist Church. The
group did several numbers from
their now folk musical “Show
Me,” which they will be present
ing at a later date.
President Maddox then called
on Lion Don Folsom, Chairman
of the Sight Conservation Com
mittee. to present an award to
Dr. Robert H. Pinckney for his
service to the Club and the Citi
zens of Butts County in the field
of Sight Conservation in that a
number of people have received
glasses through this program who
otherwise may never have been
able to get them.
The program w-as then turned
over to Deputy District Governor
Charles Wynn who was accom
panied by his wife.
Lion Wynn proceeded to in
stall the following officers for
1972-1973 year.
Millard F. Daniel, President:
Steve Jett, First Vice President;
George McGahee, Second Vice
President; Raymond O’Quinn,
Secretary; Larry- Deraney, Treas
urer; Wayne King, Lion Tamer;
David P. Ridgeway, Tail Twister;
Jimmy Landrum, Director; Paul
Erwin, Director; B. B. Campbell,
Director; Hal Summers, Song
Leader; Billy Sutton, Reporter.