Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

ifacksmi f r ogress-Arnus Volume 104 No. 6 '§||. Hk ~~m NEW AMBULANCE EMT Jack Reeves is shown with the recently purchased ambulance which is now operating out of Sylvan Grove Hospital. An additional ambulance is to'be purchased at a later date. „ , , Photo by Carole Lawrence City of Jackson Gets $117,000 Grant For Sanitation System U.S. Representative Jack Flynt, Sixth District of Georgia, is pleased to announce today a $117,000 Grant by the Economic Development Administration to the City of Jackson. The funds, which will be applied toward the improvement of the sewage system, were authorized by Title I of the Local Public Works Capital Development and Invest ment Act of 1976. According to the Economic Development Administra tion, the goal of the local public works program is to create jobs in building trades and related industries through the expeditious con Kiwanis Club Off To Good Start in 77 i The guest speaker at the regular meeting of Kiwanis, February 1, was Frank Craven, secretary-treasurer of the Georgia District of Kiwanis. Craven, who was a forest ranger in Butts County during the mid 19505, presented an interesting and informative program on the forest industry in Georgia. He was presented by Lamar Long, vice president and program chairman. The Kiwanis Club would like to wish a speedy recovery to Bird O’Neal and T. E. Robison, Sr. Club officials and members said these two charter members are missed when they are unable to be with the group. The Club has extended a welcome to Vincent Jones, M. L. Powell, J. R. Carmicael and Bobby Wat kins as new members. Doug Durrett, president of the Jackson Kiwanis, has said that out of the seven clubs in Division 12, the Jackson Club was number one for the month of January. “This an is an achievement we are very proud of and hope to maintain in the months ahead and with the hard-working committees and their chairmen, it is certainly an attainable goal,” Durrett stated. In addition to Durrett, other club officers are Ricky. Ballard, vice president; Lamar Long, vice president; Sandy Sanvidge, secretary and Lou Moelchert, treasurer. The Jackson Kiwanis has announced a first in its division for this year-the formation and charter of the Indian Springs Academy Key Club. Durrett said he would like to thank Mike Oglesby, Headmaster at ISA; Luke Weaver, chairman of the Board of Directors of ISA and struction of useful projects that could not have been built at this time without Federal financial assistance. In announcing this Grant, Congressman Flynt stated that “the Economic Develop ment Administration Grant will enable the City of Jackson to replace old sewer lines within the City limits. The funds will also provide for the installation of sewer lines to the industrial area between Jackson and Monti cello.” Congressman Flynt went on to say that “the designated funds will provide 100 per cent of the construc tion cost, .of which 31.25 per REPORT FROM GRIFFIN STATE PATROL POST Sergeant Hugh Taylor of the Griffin State Patrol Post announced today that his post has investigated four traffic accidents, made 319 arrests and issued 203 warnings in Butts County jduring January. Commenting further Sgt. Taylor said two persons were injured in the four accidents. Estimated property dam age amounted to $3,525. Also the post commander said a total of 28 pending traffic cases were disposed in the courts with the following dispositions: three guilty pleas, 21 bond forfeitures, two dismissed, and two nolo contendere pleas. Also Sgt. Taylor pointed out that fines and forfeitures amounted to $790.00 which were paid to the courts of Butts County. member of the Jackson Kiwanis Club; Harry Lewis, Kiwanis Youth Service Com mittee chairman; Kenny Smith, Kiwanis Key Club coordinator and all the young men at Indian Springs Academy who are charter members of the Key Club for the time and effort involved in the formation of this latest addition to the K-family. Key Club officers are Charlie Thornton, president; George Barber, vice presi dent; Greg Miller, secretary and Clark Burg, treasurer. CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Feb. 10-Division Rally in Covington, hosted by Divi sion 12, Lt. Governor Ed Hunt’s home club. Feb. 17-Visit of Kiwanis International President Stanley E. Lehneider to the Georgia District. He will be coming to Atlanta. Also coming up in April or May is the annual Walk-for- Mankind and club members have urged all walkers to “get their tennis shoes retreaded." cent will be used to pay for labor.” On-site employment will be under way within 90 days on the project, with full scale construction starting as soon as weather permits. City Clerk Lewis Freeman said Jackson was one of only two cities in the Mclntosh Trail Area to be awarded an EDA grant out of. approxi mately 350 applications. The other city was Fayetteville. Freeman said that work will begin within 90 days on the sewage lines. Keck and Wood of Atlanta are the engineers in charge of the project. City Permits Partial Pay 01 Utilities Members of Jackson’s City Council at their meeting Monday night voted to allow City utility customers until March 31st to pay their January utility bills. This action was taken because of the unusually high gas and electric bills render ed by the City on February Ist as an outgrowth of the unprecedented cold weather experienced during the month of January and late December. Customers will be allowed to make partial payments and these payments will be credited to the gross amount due on their January billings. This decision does not alter the City’s “cut-off” policy for non-payment of utility bills that were due prior to the January billings. Students Suspended on Drug Charges According to Butts County School Superintendent J. M. L. Comer, three Jackson High School students were suspended from school Feb ruary 3 for allegedly having in their possession a drug suspected to be marijuana. Jackson police detective Denny O’Neal said that less than an ounce of the drug was found and that it has been sent to the state crime lab to determine if the drug is marijuana. O’Neal said the students were released in the custody of their parents. NATIONAL FHA WEEK OBSERVED AT HENDERSOf The week of February 6-12 is National FHA Week. The theme is “Building the Skills of America.” Several activi ties have been planned for the week by the Henderson Junior High FHA. Jackson, Georgia 30233, Thursday, February 10, 1977 Butts Jaycees To Sponsor Citizen Awards The Butts County Jaycees are again sponsoring the Outstanding Young Man, Outstanding Young Educator and Outstanding Young Farmer for Butts County. The individuals chosen for these awards will be honored in conjunction with the county’s STAR student at a banquet on March Ist at the Jackson High School Cafe teria. Nominations for these three awards should be sent to Donnie Phillips, P.O. Box 3875, Jackson. Nominations may be made by anyone in the county and must be received by Mr. Phillips no later than February 21, 1977. The Outstanding Young Man should be a Butts County resident who is under 36 years of age. He should have made outstanding con tributions to his community within the past year. The Outstanding Young Educator should be under 36 years of age, currently employed by a school in Butts County and have made outstanding con tributions to his school in the past year. The Outstanding Young Farmer should be under 36 years of age and engaged in farming on a full time basis. Nominations for any of the above awards should include the reasons the person is being nominated, a listing of his community activities and a brief personal background. Individuals wishing to attend the banquet March 1, should contact Donnie Phillips or John Hall at 775-7405. Famed Jazz Band To Play At Gordon JC The world-famous Preser vation Hall Jazz Band will perform at Gordon Junior College on Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. in Alumni Memorial Hall. The band is renowned for its New Orleans jazz style, a combination of marches, quadrilles, blues, spirituals and ragtime. The Gordon concert is one of the first since the band performed in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 22 during the presidential inaugural pro ceedings. Although most of the musicians are over sixty, their music is bright, young, filled with spirit and played with technical excellence. Young and old audiences alike will enjoy this irresist ible music. Tickets for the Gordon performance are $2.50 and will be on sale at the door. if Bran ■ a Hk Bp-' ,• B| DOT CLEAN-CP DAY Saturday, February sth, was the date set by the Georgia Department of Transportation for its big clean-up day, after a week's postponement due to the weather. Members of the Third Division maintenance staff, including Nevin Duffey, superintendent, are shown participating in the drive to remove litter from the State’s highways. Photo by Carole Lawrence. Weather Warms But City's Gas Outlook Still Remains Cold Despite the recent warm ing trend, the City of Jackson’s gas shortage re mains critical and the City is presently authorized to serve only Priority 1 customers (residential and small com mercial), according to an announcement Monday by Mayor C. B. Brown, Jr. The Jackson Mayor re ceived Monday a telegram from Peter G. Smith, President of Southern Natural Gas Company, which pointed out the continued critical shortage of natural gas supplies. In the telegram, Smith warned: “If we should have another protracted cold snap, our gas supply situation would be just as precarious as it was in the latter part of January. City Business Licenses Are Being Renewed The City of Jackson is now in the process of renewing business licenses for 1977. All persons, firms or corporations doing business within the City limits of Jackson are required by law to have their business registered and renew their business license each year. Business licenses are re newable on January Ist of each year and are considered delinquent on April Ist. Failure to renew a business license by March 31st will subject the owner to a penalty of 20 per cent of the amount of the license. JEWELRY SHOP IS NEWEST BUSINESS Jackson's business district welcomed anew member this week, when Corine Clark opened her jewelry store on 26 Third Street, next door to Rita's Beaute Rama. Clark’s Jewelry is having a grand opening on Saturday, February 12th, complete with prizes, to which the public is cordially invited. CHRISTIAN WOMEN SET GRIFFIN MEET The Fellowship of Chris tian Women of Griffin are inviting all women of the area to a dutch luncheon on Friday. February 18th, at the Griffin Moose Club from 12-to-2 p.m. Barbara Fain, of Atlanta, will be the guest speaker. Tickets are available through the Christian Book Center-College Hill Plaza in Griffin. The fact that we have procured some embergency gas supplies does not mitigate the basic problem. Receipt of this gas is conditioned on our serving only Priority 1. Therefore, I urge you as strongly as possible to continue to restrict your system’s gas sales to no more than Priority 1 users (resi dential and small com merical under 50 MCF per day). Any recommencement of gas supplied by Southern Natural Gas Company to priorities lower than Priority 1 could seriously jeopardize our ability to provide you with enough gas in any subsequent cold snap this winter to meet Priority 1 County's Local Sales Tax Income Shows Slight Drop Income from Butts Coun ty's one-cent optional sales tax dropped $649.00 in November, when the Coun ty's check from the State Revenue Department totaled $12,655.03. For the month of October the County received 513.304.03 from the local sales tax. Since the local tax was first levied in April of 1976, when the County’s share w-as 512.440.39. receipts have gone up about Si,ooo a month, reaching a 1976 high in August when they topped at slightly over $16,000.00. The sales tax is collected Weather Wins Case Against Butts Court The February term of Butts County Superior Court has been postponed until better weather, in so far as jury trials are concerned. Jurors selected to serve for both the civil and criminal terms have been excused, according to David Ridge wav. Clerk of Butts County Superior Court. Arraignment hearings will be held Monday, but there will be no contested cases. Both the civil and criminal dockets are relatively light and pending cases will be disposed of within the next few weeks when the post poned terms are reconvened, Ridgeway said. The grand jury was in session on Monday and Tuesday but was expected to complete its work by mid-week. requirements.’’ In light of the above, Mayor Brown renewed his plea to all gas users to conserve gas by cutting thermostats down to 65 degrees in the day time and 55 degrees at night. The Mayor requested con tinued cooperation from businesses, churches and civic groups in restricting their activities to minimum levels until the gas supply returns to normal. Jackson s gas supply is now- running at about one-half of its normal allotment of 2,050 MCF per day, the Mayor said. At the peak of the shortage, the City was receiving only 850 MCF per day. whereas on Monday it was only slightly above by local merchants, remitted to the State Revenue Depart ment and then sent back to the County and the three municipalities of Jackson, Flovilla and Jenkinsburg. Butts County receives 57.8 per cent of the tax collected, the City of Jackson. 35.7 per cent, Jenkinsburg. 3.6 per cent and Flovilla. 2.7 per cent. The local sales tax was levied under legislation which permits local govern ments to assess the tax upon ratification by its citizenry in a special referendum. Monies collected from the Taxpayers Over 62 May Qualify For School Tax Exemption The Butts County Board of Tax Assessors would like to remind those eligible tax payers that the Special School Tax Exemption must be applied for each year. This exemption is not automatic and must be applied for between January 1 and April Ist. In order to qualify for this exemption you must be 62 years or older on January 1. your gross income cannot exceed $6,000 per annum for the immediately preceding year. Income shall mean gross income from all sources including all family members residing in said Homestead--no source of income is excepted. You must be eligible for Homestead Exemption in order to qualify for the special school exemption. The term Homestead as used in this context means real property owned by the applicant who is in posses sion thereof and a residence thereon and the land im mediately surrounding said residence to w hich ownership is claimed. GKOI NDHOG PREDICTS MORE WINTER WEATHER The famous old Punxsu tawney. Pennsylvania groundhog took a p>eek out of his den on Gobbler's Knob on Wednesday, February 2nd. and saw his shadow, which traditionally means six more weeks of miserable winter weather. Had the day been cloudy and the groundhog not seen his shadow, then Spring would have been just around the corner to the delight of everyone. 15c Per Copy 1.000 MCF. Of this amount, about one-fifth, or approxi mately 200 MCF, is used by the schools each day. The City’s propane facility, which is used to supplement the natural gas supply in event of emergencies, has a storage capacity of 30,000 gallons and is now about half full. Propane can be pumped into the City's gas system where it is mixed with natural gas but the mixture has to be restricted to less than 50 per cent. Mayor Brown said he wishes to express his appreciation to the citizens of Jackson for the wholehearted support given the City administration in its efforts to conserve enough gas to keep homes and businesses warm. sales tax are to be applied by both city and county govern ments towards a reduction of advalorem taxes in amounts equal to the sum collected from this source. It was estimated originaily that Butts County- would derive approximately $150,000 per year through levying of the local tax. and collections to date indicate that figure will probably be surpassed. With local retail sales in December at a high level. County officials expect that month's sales tax take to far exceed that of November. Barney Wilder Heads County Road Staff Barney Wilder, former Butts County Sheriff, has been hired as superintendent of the Butts County road department, effective Jan uary 31st. The popular ex-sheriff will head a crew of 8 employees at the road deportment's facility on Brownleo Road. Upon the mass resignation of the department's em ployees late last month, the Commissioner's office w-as deluged with applicants for the jobs, a spokesman said. The road department’s crews have been working from dawn to dusk and on week-ends in an attempt to gravel as many county roads as possible. Extremely cold weather, and the resultant thaws, have left many county roads virtually impassable. JOE. THE HOBO. SEZ: We'd all be better off if prices would just fall as fast as the thermometer has this winter.