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3arksott Trngress-^rxrtis
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.
One Year, in Georgia $6.24
Six Months, in Georgia $3.91
Editorials
James Earl Carter , Jr.
On Thursday, January 20th, in
Washington, D. C., a soft-spoken
Georgia peanut farmer, James
Earl Carter, Jr., 52, will place his
hand on a Bible, recite an oath and
become the 39th president of the
United States. And the world will
never be the same again.
For this is no caretaker
president we have elected, this is
no retired general who is sworn to
uphold the status quo. This is a man
of action, a man committed to the
Spring Is Just Around
Some Cold Corner
Caught up in the bitterness of
the most persistently cold winter in
memory, local residents find their
conversation inevitably turned to
discussions of just how cold it is,
how cold it has been and when it
will all end.
As cold and unpleasant as the
weather has been, it has been
worse. With the lows for the year
hovering around the eight degree
mark, certainly there have been no
records set for low temperatures.
But what the fall and winter
weather has lacked in extremes, it
has more than made up with its
dogged determination to keep
things unpleasant out-of-doors.
Since late October, there haven’t
been more than a dozen decent
days that would encourage outside
activities.
In February, 1973, the County
received one of its deepest
snowfalls, measuring eight-to-ten
inches. Temperatures were cold,
far below freezing, but not frigid.
January of 1940 brought a snow
storm of the same intensity, but
with much colder temperatures.
Local thermometers plummeted to
the zero mark, and slightly below,
that year and stayed there for more
than one day. Recurring blasts of
arctic air every few days kept the
snow on the ground for two weeks
or more, with the slush turning to
ice with the setting sun.
One of the City’s most crippling
ice storms arrived with the New
Year in 1936, and led to one of the
most damaging fires in the
downtown district. A one-to-two
inch accumulation of ice on the
beautiful trees that overlapped and
framed Third Street brought giant
A Week of Contradictions
It was the week that was for the
politicians, that is, a week filled
with double-talk, gobbledygook,
and actions that defy the thinking
of the average citizen.
President Ford says it will be
good for consumers to pay more for
gasoline, that if we pay more for it,
we will use less and, if we use less,
we won’t have to import as much.
That makes as much sense as
saying the natural gas you are
paying twice as much for now as
ten years ago will heat your house
Advance Subscription Rates, Tax Included:
TELEPHONE 775-3107
OFFICIAL ORGAN
BUTTS COUNTY AND
CITY OF JACKSON
One Year, Out-of-State $7.28
Six Months, Out-of-State $4.16
belief that it is his destiny to lead
this nation out of the political
doldrums and into the sunlight of
a government whose codeword
will be honor and whose precept
will be dedication.
Asa fellow native Georgian, as a
firm believer in the fundamental
strength of this republic and its
people, we wish the new president
Godspeed, knowing full well that as
he succeeds, or fails, so shall we
all.
limbs crashing to the pavement
and the street has never again
regained its former beauty.
Some of the old timers can
regale one with tales of the
blizzards that swept the area in the
latter part of the nineteenth
century and of how wagons were
driven across the frozen Ocmulgee
and how tree trunks, full of frozen
sap, exploded in the woods with the
sound of cannons firing.
Today’s moderns, for the most
part cozily ensconced in cold-proof
homes, are much better equipped
to deal with the rigors of winter
which are more of an inconven
ience than a downright threat to
life or limb.
There has to be a turning point
and with about a month to go in
what we consider real winter
(March can be disagreeable but is
usually not bitterly cold), surely
the worst is behind and the best lies
just ahead.
The pansies, planted bravely
on a cold November day, have not
bowed their heads to the ice and
sleet; the narcissus lies dormant
just beneath the earth, awaiting the
first warm rays of the sun before
officially heralding Spring; the
crocus is biding its time impatient
ly, awaiting only the encourage
ment of the traditional January
thaw.
Although imprisoned inside for
weeks now, we still find some
compensations. The fires have
burned warm, bright and cheerily;
the companionship has been
del’ghtful, and some of the books
interesting, and there is probably
not as long to go to outside warmth
as there is to the time we last felt it.
twice as hot.
President-elect Carter, who
campaigned on a program that had
some semblance of fiscal sanity to
it, now says let’s spend our way
into prosperity; let’s circulate the
money and, if there are those who
can’t or won’t earn theirs, then let’s
give them some, so they can
become consumers and stimulate
the economy again.
The nation is deserving of
better leadership, from the one
going out and the one coming in.
the JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA
The Last
Straw
BY
VINCENT JONES
Before he has time to
warm his chair in the oval
office. President Carter may
initiate an action that will
cause a temporary breech in
his love affair with the
American voters.
Trudging through the
snows of New Hampshire, or
basking in the sunshine of
Florida, he never wavered in
his pledge to grant amnesty
to those eligible for it as a
result of the Vietnam war.
Standing before audiences of
booing veterans, he courage
ously took his stand on the
side of compassion and
togetherness and promised
that one of his first acts as
president would be to end the
divisiveness caused by the
Vietnam conflict.
He distinguished between
pardon and amnesty and
criticized President Ford’s
offer of conditional pardon,
which required effort and
commitment on the part of
Hie parolee, as too rigid and
tough.
His anaylsis of the Vietnam
war as an unpopular one and
one in which we should never
have been engaged in
undoubtedly correct. Three
presidents wrestled with the
problem there before one of
them finally brought the
conflict to conclusion, with
the United States neither a
winner nor a loser.
His spiritual concern for
the sitters-out of this war,
who may indeed be lonely
and miserable in other
countries, and his desire to
bring them back into the fold
of the nation they rejected
when in need, is laudable and
perhaps understandable. But
eompassion sometimes has
to be tempered with reason
and with a long look at the
future.
Who has ever heard of a
war that lasted over 24 hours
that was popular at its close?
The Civil war was popular
when it began, with volun
teers from Georgia to
Pennsylvania standing in
line to enlist but by 1864 the
ranks of both sides were thin
from deserters and it was a
common practice to hire a
proxy to do your fighting for
you.
The popularity of World
War 1 died when the casualty
list appeared from the
fighting at the Marne and
Be I lea u Woods and the spirit
of 1941 was snuffed out by the
death tolls of Tarawa,
Cassino and Omaha Beach.
Every war becomes unpop
ular when the bodies come
home, and the hospitals
overflow with the husks of
fine young men and the
memorial services are held
with increasing regularity in
tue cities and small towns
across the country.
For wars are chiefly tests
ol will, of which side will
fight harder and endure
longer the hardships, suffer
ing. agony and deprivation of
war itself.
It is after the first few
glows of patriotism have died
out that the tail-turners, the
deserters and the home-at
a 11-costs gang begin to assert
themselves. It is then that the
war becomes unpopular, the
questions arise as to why our
country is in it and those
seeking the easy way out
obtain support from a
populace that is tired of the
long struggle.
There would seem to be
two paramount questions
involved in this matter and
they both deal more with the
realities of the situation than
with compassion.
Should this nation reward
with its blessing the draft
evaders, defectors, and dis
honorable dischargees who
served, or escaped service,
in the Vietnam conflict?
And. if we do, how effective
would any future draft ever
be in this country, keeping in
mind the fact that this nation
has never won a major war
without a draft, and isn’t
likely to?
When the Russians rattle
' < ir sabers, as they will, are
v.e h\ this proposed policy of
A Klroll Down '
Memory Lane
News of 10 Years Ago
Jackson’s first radio sta
tion, WJGA, will be on the air
within the next 120 days, it
was announced by Herbert
Shapard, general manager.
Charlie C. Goss, of Jenkins
burg, celebrated his 103rd
birthday on January 17th.
Rev. Andy Holston, leaving
soon with his family as a
missionary to Brazil, spoke
to the Lions Club and
thanked the members for
their financial support of his
missionary effort.
The engagement of Miss
Fredericka Catharine Moss,
of Alexandria, Virginia, to
John James Flynt 111, son of
Congressman and Mrs. John
James Flynt, Jr., of Griffin,
has been announced.
At the January meeting of
the Hawthorn Garden Club,
Mrs. Artis Wilson was
elected president; Mrs. J. E.
Edwards, vice president;
Mrs. J. L. Bailey, Jr.,
secretary, and Mrs. J. M.
Nutt, treasurer.
Miss Candy Adams,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Clint Adams, has received
her cap at the Georgia
Baptist Hospital School of
Nursing capping exercises.
Deaths during the week:
Elwood Smith Thomas.
News of 2(1 Years Ago
The County Commission
ers have curtailed the $2.50
per pair bounty for fox ears
and the move will save the
County an estimated SI,OOO a
year.
Miss Jean Dodson,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H.
L. Dodson, and Jack Long,
son of Mrs. Ruby Long, have
been awarded the DAR Gold
Medal Good Citizen award of
the William Mclntosh Chap
ter.
Stockholders of the Jack
son Ice Corp. found their
profits melted in 1956 and the
local ice company showed a
small operating deficit.
C. A. Anthony and Alton
Jenkins have been ordained
as deacons in the Flovilla
Baptist Church.
Dr. R. H. Pinckney,
retiring president of the
Fourth District Georgia
Optometric Society, brought
home the 1956 Achievement
Aw ard banner for his District
from the recently concluded
GOA convention.
Richard T. Walters has
been named Field Scout
Executive for the Flint
Council, Boy Scouts of
America.
December, 1956, was the
warmest December ever
recorded by the Atlanta
weather bureau, with an
average temperature of 54.5
degrees.
News of 30 Years Ago
A prize of $25 will be
awarded for the best name of
the Atlanta-to-Jacksonville
Short Route Highway. Dan
Hoard, L. M. Lipsey,
Waycross, and R. E. Yancey,
Eastman, are members of
the contest committee.
The Jackson Kiwanis Club
ai a Ladies’ Night meeting
observed its 25th anniver
sary. W. A. Dozier, the Club’s
first president, was the
speaker.
Stockholders heard an*
encouraging report on the
blanket amnesty encourag
ing the lail-turners to run for
the hills, there to be joined by
the over-the-hill gang in the
nearest peaceful sanctuary?
It is a sobering thought.
And it makes our compassion
less compassionate.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1977
progress of the Butts County
Freezer Locker Company.
The plant has 567 lockers and
over 150,000 pounds of meat
is now in storage.
Herman Talmadge was
elected governor by the
General Assembly Tuesday
night in the debate to
determine the state’s highest
executive. M. E. Thompson,
lieutenant governor, also
staked a claim to the office.
Mesdames Wade Ham
mond, Otis Hammond, Al
bert Maddox and J. T.
Maddox were hostesses for
the Towaliga Home Demon
stration Club meeting in the
school auditorium last week.
Mrs. J. E. Sims presided and
Miss Elizabeth Hood gave a
demonstration on vegetable
cooking.
News of 40 Years Ago
The Butts County Game
and Fish Conservation Club
was organized Saturday with
G. E. Mallet, president; Fred
H. Morgan, vice president,
and M. O. McCord, secretary
and treasurer.
In marked contrast to last
year w'hen the County
suffered one of its worst ice
and sleet storms, pear trees
are blooming in many yards
and flowers are budding all
over town.
Six Butts County boys
joined the CCC in Macon
Friday. They are Joe Mask,
Wade McGahee, Joe Ben
Blesset.t. J. B. Singldy,
James O’Kelley and Walter
Harris.
Doyle Jones, Jr., senior in
the Henry W'. Grady School of
Journalism at the University
ol Georgia, has been named
to the Dean’s List for the fall
quarter.
Butts County was repre
sented at the inauguration of
President Franklin Roose
velt on Wednesday by Dr. B.
F. Watkins.
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. A. L. Saunders, of
Griffin, formerly Miss Mary
Spruce of Butts County.
News of 5(1 Years Ago
Butts Countians sold 2,300
pounds of poultry at the
Southern Railway peddler
car last Saturday for $495.00.
B. C. Cawthon sold 600
pounds for $133.20.
Butts County now seems
practically assured of a
paved road from Jackson to
Indian Springs if present
plans work out.
Mrs. Juliette Low, nation
ally known as the founder of
the Girl Scouts of America,
died at her home in Savannah
Monday afternoon.
The next meeting of the
Georgia Funeral Directors
Association will held at
Indian Springs on June 9-10.
Master Bob Carmichael
entertained a number of little
boys and girls at his home
Monday to celebrate his
seventh birthday. Miss Lena
White and Mrs. J. P.
Mcßryant assisted Mrs. Bert
Carmichael in serving
delicious charlotte, cake and
fruits.
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. Jean Landers, of
Eastman, the former Miss
Janie Lemon; Mrs. Claude
Hendrick, of Sparta, the
former Miss Annie Ried
Maddux.
WE APPLAUD
YOU...
(jeu/ceed-
S' J JAYCEE WEEK *
JANUARY 10-22
ftiiraiFßi
By Mrs. Cindy Brown
DR. DRILL AND FILL
I have decided that the bad
place down below is probably
full of Dentist’s chairs! At
least. I feel that must be the
situation because for me,
going to the dentist is about
the same as going in that
direction!
You see, I am one of those
people who is so absolutely
petrified of going to a dentist,
that I usually have a
three-year waiting period
between appointments. I
finally got brave last week
and actually made and
KEPT an appointment. My
husband carried me to the
office - I think he figured
that was the only way he
could be sure I would keep
my appointment. I tried
very, very hard to be brave;
1 even managed to stop
crying by the time I walked
in the office door.
Then the bad part started:
I had to wait 15 minutes
before I was summoned to
the back by a cheerful,
white-uniformed, beautifully
teethed technician. She
ushered me to my chair, put
a little white towel on a chair
around my neck and left.
I cried. I shook. I prayed.
And I cried some more. After
what seemed like hours, the
dentist walked into the room.
Now my particular dentist is
a big, fatherly-like man:
He’s perpetually cheerful
and quite understanding.
“What on Earth is the
matter with you?” he asked.
”1 am petrified,”. I sniffed,
"I've never been this scared
in my life.”
"Well, don’t be so wor
ried." he said comfortingly.
"I have looked at your
X-rays (I had them made
years ago) and I need to
know if any particular tooth
is hurting.
Weekly
Devotional
By Donald L. Folsom, Pastor
First Baptist Church,
Jackson, Georgia
Ours is a time when rapid
and radical changes are
taking place. In fact, we as
people in recent years have
experienced the greatest
changes in the history of the
world.
In just a few brief years,
we have seen assassinations
and riots, unpopular wars
and sordid scandals, eco
nomic set backs and moral
confusion.
Perhaps one of the most
important books of this
decade is Alvin Toffel’s
“Future Shock.” We are
perhaps the first people in
history to live with “Future
Shock.”
However, I like what
William Scranton, U. S.
Representative, to the United
Nations, said recently. “All
though we live with future
shock, we have not collapsed
under that strain. We are
more skeptical than we once
ruth at random
By Ruth Bryant
THE WELL OF THREE GENERATIONS
Once it was fashioned of old sandrocks
Now it is covered with concrete blocks!
The pully is held by a big forked tree
A thick rope lets the buckets hang free,
The cover of cedar is rotting with age
The cross-beam is in a critical stage!
In spirte of all this the water is clear,
For the old washpot that is bubbling near,
Veins of pure water flow under the well
According to stories that Indians tell!
And now I am writing this poem for you
In memory of a well that is both old and new!
"No, sir, I just knew I had
several which needed fixing,
so I finally got up the nerve to
come," I replied, sounding
more and more like a
6-year-old by the minute.
To make a long story,
short, the caring “Den
lieian” gave me three shots
of novocaine; I guess he
knew that was a good idea
since I had refused to open
my mouth without Hypnosis!
And we started.
Now, you may not under
stand this, but a dentist’s
drill, to me, is the most
horrifying instrument ever
conceived by mankind. So it
follows naturally, that rather
than pull my teeth this time
the Doctor and I mutually
agreed to fill a particular
front tooth which definitely
needed work.
I honestly thought my time
had come. Every time I
figured he was through
drilling, the gentleman would
pull the drill down “just one
more time.” I would grab the
chair arms one more time.
The nurse would frown one
more time. Finally, after
what seemed like a decade,
the drill was laid to rest, the
filling was in place and I
weakly climbed down from
the dreaded black leather
chair. I was shaking like a
leaf. The dentist was shaking
like a leaf -- I think he was
shaking from fear I’d faint,
grab the drill, or something.
Next week when I return
for my second appointment
(at which time I’ll have a
tooth pulled), I plan to wear a
sign around my neck stating
'h;it I am a legal secretary!
Perhaps my dentist will be so
afraid of a malpractice suit,
that he’ll agree to cancel all
future appointments. What
do you think of that idea, Dr.
Drill and Fill? Have you paid
,your liability insurance late
ly?
were, but we are not fearful.
We are more realistic than
once was the case, but we are
not pessimistic.
“I believe we are coming of
age as a people. The price
has been high. Adulthood is
hard. We’ve had to give up
some illusions, and that has
often been a painful experi
ence. But above all else, we
are maturing in this critical
period and we are becoming
a stronger and a more
resourceful people, especial
ly as individuals."
I am inclined to agree. This
is especially true of people
who have their faith firmly
planted in God. After all, the
prophet Isaiah was right
when he said, “Thou will
keep them in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed of Thee
because they trust in Thee.”
Remember His Brother?
A minister at a funeral
service says to the funeral
gathering: “Before we send
this man’s soul to rest in
heaven can we have a good
word about him?” There’s
complete silence, and the
minister repeats his plea.
Finally, a gentleman in the
back pew offers: “His broth
er was worse!"