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3axkson Trngrsss-^rgus
J. D. Jones Publisher
(1908-1955
Doyle Jones Jr. Editor and Publisher
(1955-1975)
MRS. MARTHA G. JONES PUBLISHER
VINCENT JONES EDITOR
Published every Thursday at 129 South Mulberry Street, Jackson,
Georgia 30233 by The Progress-Argus Printing Cos., Inc. Second Class
Postage paid at Jackson, Georgia 30233.
Address notice of undeliverable copies and other correspondence
to The Jackson Progress-Argus, P.O. Box 249, Jackson, Georgia 30233.
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
*t6CUTION fwHH im
r„.pmra NNA SUSTAINING
k ' n MEMBER-1975
One Year $6.24
School Year 5.20
Editorials
And a Time To Run
There’s a time to laugh and a
time to cry. A time to live and a
time to die. A time to give and a
time to receive. A time to stop and
a time to run.
And the time to run is upon us.
On May 26, and shortly thereafter,
the gates will open for the parade of
those who still believe that public
service is a private responsibility.
It takes real men and women to
seek public office in these trying
times. The timid, the bashful, the
fair-weather politico will take to
the highlands, from which safe
abode he can continue his
merciless sniping at those who
serve, and would serve.
This is no year for the
thin-skinned or the easily wounded.
There Is a Congressman
Behind Every Loophole
Each year after the tax deadline
has passed, there will appear a
news story of the number of
wealthy people who managed to
escape any tax liability, by taking
advantage of legal loopholes in our
tax laws.
This year, the magic figure
that was thrust upon a public
already maddened to a fury by the
absurdities of the 1040 Form, was
244 individuals who had adjusted
gross incomes of over $200,000 in
1974 and paid no income tax
whatever.
These 244 were not cheaters.
They broke no law. They merely
took advantage of the law. The
same law that takes 20-to-40
percent of your income, and mine,
each year does not apply to them.
They are protected by loopholes in
the IRS laws.
Should we go into a rage at IRS
officials, or the Ford administra
tion when we hear of these
outrages? Of course not.
The Nation's Birthday
Is Like Our Own
After the age of 20, birthdays
come with a startling rapidity, so
fast that one is always looking back
and wondering where the years
have gone. The nation’s 200th
birthday is approaching at break
neck speed, especially to editors of
small town papers and honchos
who are attempting to whip up
enthusiasm for a big, stupendous
celebration on court squares.
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A cantankerous public is likely to
demand its pound of flesh and woe
be to the office holder who can’t
afford to lose it.
We salute all who offer
themselves on the altar of public
service this year. Incumbents,
battle-hardened veterans of other
political wars, the innocent
newcomer, they are all worthy of
our admiration and respect for
their willingness to serve.
Serving the public is not the
easiest way to make a living, as
any public servant can attest. We
are grateful indeed that there are
still those who feel the obligations
and privileges of public service far
outweigh the thoughtless criticism
of those who would belittle both the
office, and the holder.
We should cut out the news
story, or editorial, send it to our
Congressman and Senators and ask
them what in the heck is going on.
Congress writes tax laws. Internal
Revenue Service interprets and
administers the tax laws.
If there are legal tax dodges
built into our tax structure, and
there are, they were put there not
by federal bureaucrats but by
members of Congress who seem to
be more interested in protecting
the estates of the wealthy than the
pocketbooks of the many.
Congress has the power to plug
the loopholes for the rich if they
have the courage to do it. Nothing
could give them the courage like a
middle-class taxpayer revolt.
Our present tax structure is a
shameful disgrace and every
honest, hard-working American
taxpayer needs to let Congress
know we are fed up with it and
ready to do battle —at the polls or
wherever necessary.
There are only six weeks left ‘til
publication of this paper’s special
Bicentennial edition. Response
has been good to our request for
pictures and stories of the early
days in Butts County. It would be
better if we had YOUR contribu
tion.
The nation’s birthday, like our
own, waits for no man, or woman.
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1976
The Last
Straw
BY
VINCENT JONES
Standing tall among the
forgotten figures in this
curious free-contrived eco
nomic system in which we
operate is the family farmer.
He knows no seasons, no
clock. He rises before the sun
and it has long set before his
work is done. His success, or
failure, rests with the
vagaries of the weather,
which no man can control
and none can predict with
reasonable accuracy.
Unlike the oil barons who,
thanks to the Arabs and the
Ford administration, can
pump oil 24 hours a day, rain
or shine, at a fixed and
inflated price, his prices
depend upon such variables
as the drought in Kansas, or
the Russian wheat crop, or a
buyer’s boycott against the
high price of pork products.
The only thing certain in
his life is the uncertainty of
everthing, the weather, the
domestic and world markets,
the inflated prices he must
pay for machinery and
fertilizer and petroleum pro
ducts.
Faced with such imponder
ables, why does he stay in the
business? Why would anyone
invest $250,000 in land and
equipment to show a profit of
SIO,OOO, and even that not
guaranteed?
Probaby because he was
born to the land. His father
and grandfather showed him
how to till and care for the
soil, how to use and
appreciate farm animals,
how to watch for the first
signs of the season’s change
and how to set ole Ring on the
trail of a corn-fat coon.
Any man, or woman, who
ever hoed a garden and
planted seed in the turned
earth can understand this
love of the land that makes
life meaningful and worth
while for those who raise our
feed and fiber.
On every hand, we hear
loud protestations on the
sanctity of the family farm.
Politicians shout it, econo
mists proclaim it, educators
teach it, but no one is doing
enough to protect it and
guarantee its survival.
The greatest single threat
to the continued survival of
the economic unit we know as
the family farm is the
present structure of county
and federal estate taxes.
State and federal income
taxes do not concern the
farmer unduly, and state
property taxes, at one-fourth
of one mill, present more of
an inconvenience than a
burden.
But rapidly escalating
county property taxes consti
tute a direct threat to the
existence of the family farm.
There is no way that his land,
with its income from small
grains, livestock, poultry and
timber can produce the
income to pay taxes at the
same rate of a 150-unit motel
on the expressway, which
may be located just one-half
mile away.
Taxing authorities should
consider land use, and real
income, of property when
making assessments. The
intrinsic value of a piece of
land is the income that can be
derived from it. At the local
level, the family farmer
needs not only consideration,
but fair treatment.
Perhaps an even greater
travesty is being played out
at the federal level, where
antiquated tax laws may
force his wife, or children, to
sell both land and equipment
upon his death to settle
federal estate taxes.
The family farmer de
serves a better break at the
tax table. In fact, it is
absolutely essential that
farm property in an estate,
or in the farmer’s life, be
valued according to its use in
agriculture rather than its
speculative value to a real
estate developer or some
other non-farm investor.
The farmer needs our
support on these matters. It’s
high time we all pitched in to
help the hand that feeds us.
.\ Sfr*ll iima
Memory Lane
News of 10 Years Ago
Dr. Randolph Long was
selected president of the
Butts County Jaycees at their
meeting Thursday night.
Jackson girls placed third
in the Macon state track
meet. Sheila Mask, Cathy
Mask, Vicky Washington,
Debbie Nelson, Kiki Car
michael, Wanda Cauthen,
Pam Greer, Donna Free
man, Patrice Marchman and
Norma Dean Hearn were the
point scorers.
The deadline for signing
for water at Flovilla, Indian
Springs and the Camp
Ground under the proposed
water system for these cities
is May 20.
Mrs. William Sasser won
the sweepstakes ribbon for
the most points in the show
and the best in the show at
the May meeting of the
Cherokee Garden Club.
William Marks Towles, of
the University of Georgia,
has recently been elected to
membership in Beta Alpha
Psi, national honorary ac
counting fraternity.
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. Myrtice Elizabeth Crim
Jones, 81.
News of 20 Years Ago
Fire early Tuesday morn
ing destroyed the 55-room
Foy Hotel at Indian Springs,
along with the home of Mr.
and Mrs. J. R. Love of Atlan
ta, a servant’s residence, and
the cottage of Mrs.
Gledhill of Macon. The Foy
was built in 1898 and in 1921
when the Wigwam at Indian
Springs was destroyed by
fire, it was enlarged.
The Jackson schools were
boycotted Friday when 74
pupils failed to attend classes
and, over the weekend, 14
bullets were fired into the
high school office, library
and classrooms.
The location of a winery at
the old Jackson Box and
Lumber Cos. plant is being
considered.
Mr. and Mrs. William
Jerry Corley lost their lives
Sunday when their son waded
into the deep water of a
fishpond and they, neither of
which could swim, tried to
rescue him. James Bedsole
succeeded in rescuing the
child but could not save the
parents.
Deaths during the week:
Van McKibben Fletcher 84,
and John B. Maddox, 65.
News of 30 Years Ago
Radio Sation WSB was to
air a live program Saturday
from the Indian Springs State
Park.
The Jackson FFA Chapter
elected Howell Fleming as
president; B. F. Pelt, vice
president; Herman Cawthon,
secretary; Leonard Cald
well, treasurer; Arthur Free
man, watchdog, and J. M. L.
Comer, advisor.
The War Memorial
Building Fund, with a goal of
$25,000, stood at $2,655.00 this
week.
The senior play, “All on
Account of Luella” was
declared a huge success with
Betty Hoard in the title role,
winning the most plaudits.
Jeff McMichael, Christine
Hardy, J. W. Hodges, and
Thornwell McLees all had
starring roles.
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. W. T. Plymale, 62.
News of 40 Years Ago
The Maddox and Crawford
farms, and others in the Iron
Springs district, were rav
aged by forest fires which
burned unchecked for
several days last week.
Among the college boys
and girls spending Mother’s
Day at home were Helen
Head, Shorter; Dorothy Ann
Carmichael, Wesleyan; Bert
Carmichael, Jr. and Doyle
Jones, Jr., Univ. of Ga.;
Richard Watkins, Gordon
Junior; Elwyn Patrick and
Jimmy Watts, Mercer;
Johnsie Settle, Helen Howell,
Helen Law, Mary Redman,
Hilda Whitaker, Sara Fran
ces McMichael, G.S.C.W.;
James Finley and Sams
Harrison, Ga. Tech.
Eugene Daniel has accept
ed a call to the Jackson,
Fellowship and Bethany
Presbyterian Churches.
Deaths during the week: J.
O. Gaston, 60.
News of 50 Years Ago
A rain, hail and wind storm
swept the County Monday
night, blowing Elgin Church,
in the Hammond community,
from its pillars and toppling
barns, blacksmith shops and
other outbuildings through
out the county. A 100-year-old
tree in front of the post office
at Indian Spings, was a
victim of the storm.
Commencement exercises
at Locust Grove Institute will
begin on Saturday and
extend through Tuesday
evening.
The annual junior recep
tion for the seniors was given
Friday at the Indian Springs
Street home of Col. and Mrs.
W. E. Watkins. Assisting
Mrs. Watkins were Misses
Olive and Anna Rambo.
Deaths during the week:
Walter McMichael, 49, super
intendent of schools in
Randolph County, and Mr.
Robert Boone Harkness, 71.
HOLLOWAY’S GROCERY
If you’re lonesome and it’s
“one of those days,”
Just come on down to
Holloway’s.
There you’ll find the com
pany of friends, by Jobe,
Laughing and telling jokes
’round the pot-bellied
stove.
Bill is first as the owner of
the store,
He stocks most everything,
and then there’s more,
There’s a Post Office in the
corner of store,
Bill runs that, too, from eight
o’clock ’till four.
Then there’s Margaret, Bill’s
wife, who, as a general
rule,
Can be found teaching
fourth grade at the ele
mentary school.
Our good friend Otis is next
on the list,
Working in the garden is his
idea of bliss.
He keeps us supplied with
good vegetables to eat.
All we have to do is supply
the meat.
Oh, yes, there’s Jeanette,
that’s me!
Boy, do I get teased
unmercifully.
Now for other friends, you’ll
find Jimmy Cornell
Who runs a beautiful place
called the Elder Hotel.
Neither Louis or Randy ever
hesitates
In running excellently the
oldest Park in the
United States.
Also there’s Dan, and you’ll
usually find him there,
Telling all the news from the
big, comfortable chair.
Then there’s Asa, J. TANARUS.,
“Nervie”, Clyde, and
many, many more,
Enjoying the hospitality of
the Little Country Store.
—Jeanette Bunch Cook.
F^iroilFßl
By Mrs. Cindy Brown
THE LITTLE HURTS
What trials we mothers
endure with our children!
Before my sons’ baseball
schedule was even one-eighth
over, my hair had turned
gray, my throat red, and my
knuckles white. We were only
four games into the season
when my 50 pound center
fielder was placed twice in
that dreaded position of
being the ball game’s last
batter. And it invariably
happened that our team was
behind, when the little Casey
struck out. He walked
towards the dugout trying
desperately not to cry. After
all, 8-year-olds are too big to
cry, especially in front of
their peers. But his mother
choked a tear or two away.
I suppose I had best get
used to surviving through
sports losses. After all, with
three young men at our
house, there shall be lots of
losses and hopefully, lots of
wins. And then there is that
other unspoken fear: that a
child might suffer an injury -
the proverbial black eye,
broken wrist, etc. Oh, the
coaches, the umpires and
even the fathers must endure
with us ladies. Yet I cannot
bring myself to believe that
they feel the same as we do,
when a little soldier says,
Congratulations on your
editorial “Surly Voters” in
this A.M.’s Atlanta Constitu
tion. You have truly assessed
the mood of the American
voter. The time has arrived
for a change.
We have a Democratic
‘Whatsoever
JBS? Things’
' m Donald E. Wildmon
ROCKS ARE AS GOOD AS GOLD
In the sixth century B.C. lived a man by the name of
Aesop. He was an extremely wise man in a practical sort of
way. He was a master storyteller whose stories carried with
them a great principle. Many of his stories have been
preserved and are circulated throughout the world to this
very day.
One of his stories had to do with a man who had
accumulated a great deal of wealth. Instead of spending his
wealth to make life more enjoyable for himself, and instead of
giving his wealth away to make life more enjoyable for
others, he cashed in his wealth and put it all in gold.
The man took his gold and went into a forest near his
home and buried the gold. Each day he would walk out to
where the gold was, dig it from the ground, and handle it. He
would spend most of his time polishing the gold and keeping it
shining. After polishing the gold, he would place it back into
the ground and cover it up again.
Day after day the man would go through the same
routine-go to the woods, dig up the gold, polish it, look at it,
admire it, and then replace it. The man was, indeed, proud of
his wealth.
One day another man heard about the gold. He hid in
the woods and waited. When the rich man passed, the second
man followed him at a distance. He hid behind a tree and
watched as the miser dug up his gold, polished it, and
admired it. He watched as the man placed it back into the
ground.
When the miser left the second man remained, hidden
behind the tree. When the miser had gone out of view the
second man went to where the gold was buried and dug it up.
He placed all of the gold in a bag and escaped with it.
The next day the miser made his way back to where he
kept the gold buried. Upon arriving he noticed that someone
had stolen his gold. The miser began to scream at the top of
his voice. “Someone has stolen my gold! Someone has stolen
my gold!”
Others who heard him screaming came running to see
what the trouble was. When the miser was questioned about
it, he told those who had come what had happened. One man
in the crowd asked the miser what he had planned to do with
the gold. “Do with it? Do with it! What do you mean what had
I planned to do with it. I wasn’t planning to do anything with
it. I was only going to keep it and admire it!” the miser
shouted. “Well, if that is the case, why don’t you simply put
some rocks in the hole and admire them,” the second man
replied. “They will serve the same purpose.”
Money is only a means to an end, not an end in itself
You should use your money to benefit yourself and others. If
you don’t plan to do that with your money, then get yourself
some rocks. They aren’t nearly as expensive and are a whole
lot less likely to be lost or stolen.
Rocks are as good as gold to hoard.
(Tour the Holy Land and Switzerland with Mr
Wildmon. His tenth tour, Departs Nov. 8. For more info write
him at Box 1368, Tupelo, Miss. 38801)
“Momma, I lost the game. If
only I hadn’t struck out; if
only I had caught that
flyball; if only I had
One night while our team
was playing, I was tempted
to hurdle the fence and swing
at a pitch or two myself. I
wanted to help so badly til I
actually caught myself
swinging as hard as the
batter. Then in the next
inning I jumped up to help
catch a ball hit to centerfield
and knocked three bags of
popcorn out of spectators’
hands near me. I sat down a
bit sheepishly and tried to
behave for the rest of the
game. It wasn’t easy!
JUST ONE ROSE
There is a world of beauty in
just one rose.
There is much loving duty in
just one rose.
There can be very much
meaning in just one rose.
Why can’t we all show our
best like just one rose?
CONGRATULATIONS
My congratulations this
week are extended to all the
Mothers in Butts County. I
figure they deserve a little
applause before school vaca
tions commence!
candidate in Jimmy Carter
that is our best chance to
bring about this turn-about
... so, right on for our
fellow Georgian!
Alma Laßue Barnes
Atlanta