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3axfeam Vttxqvz&s-£tgns J. D. Jones ? Publisher (J9OB 1935) Doyle Jones Jr. Editor and Publisher (1955-1975) — ■ MRS. MARTHA G. JONES- PUBLISHER VINCENT JONES EDITOR OFFICIAL ORGAN BUTTS COUNTY AND CITY OF JACKSON Published every Thursday at 129 South Mulberry Street, Jackson, Georgia 30233 by The Progress-Argus Printing.Co., 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 Justice Demands Payment The system of criminal justice in this country has just about made the full circle. All of the way from the inhumane prison camps of 50 years ago to the apologistic attitude of today that blames society for the actions of its social miscreants. We have come from leg irons, a cornpone, peas and water diet and bull whips to private rooms, sirloin steaks and color television. The electric chair is burdened only by the dust of the passing years since it was last used and the hangman’s rope is frayed and rotten. Our prisons have abandoned their chief purpose, which is incarceration, in pursuit of a caprice known as rehabilitation. Our penologists are more con cerned with the civil rights of their wards than they are with the responsibilities the criminals owe society to right the wrongs done their fellowman. But whatever the arguments advanced for or against capital punishment, for or against cod dling of prisoners, or for or against our penal system as it is constituted today, there is one simple facet of criminal justice that could, and should, be instituted universally. The criminal should be made to pay for his crime. Not with his life, necessarily, or even with 50 years of imprisonment, but with money. Forty per cent of our states, 20 in all, already have laws requiring that a criminal be held financially responsible for the\:onsequences of his acts. Crimes against property result in damages that can be easily assessed. The destruction, or loss, of property through theft or arson can quickly have a price tag affixed and it should be the thief, or the firebrand, who eventually pays for its restitution. Crimes against a person would Happiness Isnt Guaranteed It is awfully easy to misread The Declaration of Independence so that life, liberty and happiness would seem to be assured us. Not so at all. It is the pursuit of happiness that we are guaranteed and no one of us, with much self respect, could ask for anything more. Our forefathers found happi ness in accomplishment. George Washington was pursuing happi ness on a farm, but he found his true happiness as the founding father of anew nation. Abraham Lincoln was pursu ing happiness as a young lawyer until fate made him a war-time Advance Subscription Rates, Tax Included: TELEPHONE 775-3107 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER BBESBZI fmM rmftMiST NNASUSTAINING B MEMBER—I 977 One Year. Out-of-State ~.$7.28 Si\ Months, Out-of-State $4.16 be more difficult, but not impossible, to affix proper values to. The insurance companies can place a value on a fractured leg, or a broken jaw. Why couldn’t the state do likewise? Injuries resulting in hospitaliza tion, such as bullet wounds or knife thrusts, could easily have a price tag affixed and why should the gun toter or the knife wielder escape scot free and let the victim’s hospitalization policy pick up the tab? Even deaths resulting from the commission of a criminal act should result in a repayment to the victim’s family by the murderer, based on actuarially sound princi ples of computing liability in such instances. But pure justice cries out that it is the criminal, not society, who should make restitution for the commission of his criminal act. Under such a program, state prisons could offer opportunities for inmates to make decent salaries while engaged in produc tive work, a part of which could be set aside to repay society for the wrongs they have done. Work release programs outside the prison could be offered the emotionally stable to not only assist them in repaying their debt but to better prepare them for their release. We have carried this whole matter of civil rights to an extreme. It is high time the emphasis was shifted to civil responsibilities. Making a criminal pay for his crime is a basic move towards pure, unadulterated justice. Work ing out the methods and the amount of reparations is a matter for the penologists. But we submit that a start and a genuine effort to make such a program succeed is far better than the no-sense policies prevalent today in too many of our incarceration centers. president and the great emancipa tor. Thousands of settlers pursued happiness across the open plain and founded the great West. Would they have left home if Social Security checks, or welfare checks, or food stamps had been available? Security is a lure that takes us away from the pursuit of happiness, which is to be found only in accomplishment and challenge. You have not been guaranteed happiness. Only the pursuit of it. But if you don’t mistake security for happiness, then the freedom to pursue is all you really need, anyway. THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA The Last Straw BY VINCENT JONES While reflecting one day upon the promise of Easter as 1 languished beside a murmuring brook in the broad valley, I drifted off into a deep sleep only to be startled by a vision of three angels. The mightiest of the three, his gold sword hanging from his side, stepped forward to vent his wrath against the evils of the earth. “The just are too meek and the unjust grind them beneath their feet. Cruelty is stronger than kindness; the peace-loving people of this earth are overriden by the wicked who conquer them and pirate their treasures. Violence can deflower purity and stealth overcome honesty and there is no hope for the righteous unless force of arms is greater than that of the enemy,” he said. Strange words, I thought, for an angel but ringing with truth. Then the second spoke with a voice not so commanding as that of the first, or a presence not as dynamic, but with an intellectual depth that placed emphasis on the mind rather than the strength of arm or sword. “Might cannot save a nation, for the power to win battles carries within itself the seeds of destruction. Did not the children of Canaan overcome their conquerors only to embrace the idols of their enemies? How often have you seen those who championed liberty, and fought for it, become tyrants of those whom they have freed? Might cannot conquer the world, but wisdom can. Wisdom to instruct the ignorant and set our young on the right path. Then, and only then, will the peace of God come to us.” Two angels, one represent ing Might, the other Wisdom. Both making strong cases for their positions. What would the third prescribe for the world’s ills? I waited breathlessly, but not for long. With a reproachful glance at his friends and with a face wreathed in a smile and lit with the knowledge of the ages, he said: “Might corrupts and knowledge is a wraith. Men pursue either, or both, at their peril. Love is the only force under Heaven that can conquer the hearts of men. “For man is born to trouble. Disease hounds him; the forces of nature shake his dwelling place; the tempests of life test his spiritual foundations. Violence dogs his feet; his pride blinds him; his folly deludes him; his possessions enslave him. The curses of his life are distrust, conceit, envy and immoralitv. “There is no hope for him save love and the power that comes from God to both receive and give it.” The sword of the mightly rose from its scabbard. “But how,” asked the angel of Might, “can love endure when pitted against might and wisdom?” “Because,” replied the angel of Love, “love cannot be destroyed. You can kill men, or crucify them, even as I was crucified, but you cannot destroy love. For God decreed that when he sent me into the world to live, and die, that all men might live and know the love that God first showed to them.” The clatter of the gold sword on the pebbly brook bed awoke me from my reverie. But not before I had discovered again the mean ing of Easter, the power of God’s love and the certainty of the resurrection. Editor’s Quote Book Democracy is the worst form of government except all others. Winston Churchill & 'X) ffs-fTI ■ Ii "~Ty v iNUu kf jjPi f ix —^ | A Stroll Down Memory Lane News of 10 Years Ago Jackson High delegates to the 22nd Youth Assembly at the State Capitol included Judy Smith, Carole Leve rette, Dorner Carmichael, Debbie Nelson and Ellen Payne. Miss Carol Mask and Mrs. Roy Prosser were advisors. Rev. Bill Thomas, pastor at Macedonia Baptist Church, will make a trip to Kobuk, Alaska as a member of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board. Wendell Edwards, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Edwards, Jr., was one of 12 West Georgia College students saluted by the Chieftain, college yearbook. Mrs. Gussie M. Cawthon has been named to the Dean’s List at Tift College. Fred M. Hoard, of ABW Chevrolet Cos., has been tapped as one of the four top salesmen in the Atlanta zone. Mary Ruth Martin, daugh ter of Mr. and Mrs. George N. Martin, Jr., has been elected vice president of the new West Georgia College 4-H Club. Deaths during the week: Daniel Walter Fogg, 85; Rev. Johnnie Allen Terrell, 85; Charles W. (Chuck) Shields, 41. News of 20 Years Ago Mr. and Mrs. Elwood Robison, Jr. are on an all expense paid trip to Havana, Cuba, a gift from General Motors honoring Mr. Robi son's sales ability. T. E. Robison announced this week that Grady O. Jackson has joined the sales force of Settle & Robison, Inc. Miss Susannah Ridgeway, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Ridgeway, will represent Jackson High School in the Fourth District music finals. Butch Miller celebrated his ninth birthday with a wiener roast enjoyed by 53 of his friends. His grand mother, Mrs. Gay Pitts, and mother, Mrs. Frank Miller, were co-hostesses for the event held at Indian Springs. Cub Scouts of Den 3 made a tour of the newspaper office on Tuesday, led by Mrs. J. D. Pope, Den mother, and Mrs. J. W. Carter, assistant Den mother. Den members in clude Lindsey Powell, New ton Etheredge, Ricky Lewis, Bill Kitchens, Johnny Carter, Mark Ingram, Bryan Howell, Carey Pope and Gene Pope. Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Eiseman, of Metter, former residents and merchants of Jackson, died last week within three days of each other. Miss Sylvia Eiseman, of Atlanta, survives. A son, Teddy, was killed in World War 11. Deaths during the week: Mrs. Otis E. Leverette, 81; David Obe Woodward, 71. News of 30 Years Ago The City of Pepperton is installing anew sewerage system, the work being done by the Pepperton Cotton Mills. The Board of Education has voted to install a twelfth grade in the Jackson High School, effective this Sep tember. Members of the Jackson Kiwanis Club have elected S. W. Causey, president, and Vincent Jones, vice presi dent, to attend the Kiwanis International convention in Chicago in June. Recently named to head the Jackson High 4-H Club girls were Harriet Buchanan, president; Hazel Turner, THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 1977 vice president; Eugenia Ball, secretary, and Emily Far rar, treasurer. Members taking part on the Towaliga 4-H Club’s March program were Gene Maddox, William Smith, Billy Hammond, Marlyn Welden, Lela Pelt, Wallace Caldwell, John Pettigrew, Janice Brooks and Nancy Duffey. S. H. Thornton, funeral director and licensed em balmer, this week observed his 43rd anniversary as a Jackson business leader. Deaths during the week: William Troy Lofton, 72. News of 40 Years Ago The City of Jackson has been allotted $28,875 in WPA funds to assist with street and sidewalk paving. P. H. Weaver, president, and Eugene Daniel, vice president, have been named as delegates from the Jackson Kiwanis Club to the Kiwanis International con vention in Indianapolis in June. President Roosevelt re commended to Congress on Monday, the fourth anniver sary of the CCC, the creation of a permanent Civilian Conservation Corps. Under present law the Corps will expire on June 30, 1937. A heavy trailer truck crashed into the bridge at Indian Springs during a rain storm Monday night, scatter ing cigars, chewing gum, groceries and feedstuffs across the road and into the creek. One enterprising citizen recovered over 500 rainsoaked cigars. Work has begun on the Snapping Shoals Power and Light Company project which will serve many residents in the Worthville, Fincherville and Stark areas. A wind storm that struck Jackson early Monday lifted the roof of the Jackson school auditorium, blew down the garage of R. P. Sasnett and toppled several trees on the J. W. O’Neal property. News of 50 Years Ago Prof. R. I. Knox, superin tendent of the Jackson public school system since 1922, has resigned to accept a similar position in Hartwell, Geor gia. W. F. Duke, Sr. reports on the heavy freeze of March 28, 1894 when there was ice four inches thick and all fruit trees were killed for the year. On SaMfday before the third Sunday in May there was snow and all cotton was also lost for that year. At a public sale Tuesday, Mrs. J. M. Leach sold a one-half undivided interest in 242 acres in the 610 district, the property of S. J. Carmichael, deceased. This acreage was bid in by H. D. Russell for $1,700. In the Sixth District declamation contest at Bes sie Tift auditorium, Miss Lucile Brown won first place, Miss Frances McKibben, second, and Miss Edna Allen, honorable mention. Prof. D. V. Spencer, 1913 graduate of Emory Univer sity, has been elected superintendent of the Jack son public school system Mr. and Mrs. S. B. Kinard and Bert Kinard entertained members of the Emory Glee Club Wednesday evening after their performance at the auditorium. Deaths during the week: Roy Stodghil), 10. ftiiroußßi By Mrs. Qlidy Brown I am trying to find out if it’s o.k. to feed my family eggs. Does anyone know? I think I better check it out, because eggs are about the only thing left that we can safely eat. Pork is out; succaryl is out; mushrooms are out; tuna fish is out; diet-free drinks are out; everything is out. Do you know that I heard over the radio yesterday that bluejeans are unsafe? That’s right. Some German scientist has taken it upon himself to decide that the nickle in the waist-button on bluejeans can cause a severe skin rash, which in turn causes hos pitalization! Now, I know that may be hard for you to believe, but it is the honest-to-goodness truth. When I was growing up, or back in the “olden days” as my children say, we ate anything we wanted and felt safe doing so. No one was warning us about red dyes, cancer or skin rashes. Why, ‘Whatsoever ■ ijqfr Things’ By Donald E. Wildmon SALTY, THE DOG Out of the papers came the story of Salty. Salty is a 21-month-old mongrel. Not an average dog, mind you. But a determined dog nevertheless. Salty belonged to Mrs. Margie Labeff of Detroit and was her pet. She kept Salty for some time, and then gave her to some friends in the suburbs because, she said, “My place is so small I thought it wasn’t fair to keep her here.” The new owners kept Salty until she gave birth to a litter of puppies, and then they gave Salty to a family in Cheboygan, 272 miles northwest of Detroit. Mrs. Labeff gave Salty away in August, and Salty stayed with the second set of new owners until around the middle of December. Then Salty suddenly disappeared. For the next two weeks Salty traveled - over 272 miles of woods, fields, streams, roads, and towns from a place where she had never been before. And although Salty perhaps didn’t know where she started from she did know where she wanted to go - home. Back to Detroit and to Mrs. Margie Labeff. On New Year’s Day, Mrs. Labeff went downstairs to take out the trash and there stood Salty! “She knocked me down and started licking my face and kissing me,” said Mrs. Labeff. “She was wet and tired and so dirty that it was difficult to tell what color she was. Her paws were bleeding and she was starving,” continued Mrs. Labeff. But with tail wagging, Salty was home - home at last! The journey was over. Salty set out for something she wanted - wanted more than anything in the world. And she got it. It’s a story about a dog, but if you will raise the level just slightly you will find the same truth about humans. For we humans, like Salty the dog, usually get to the place in life where we want to go. The reason many of us never get any farther than we do is simple - we never really want to get any farther. I can recall the story of one Man Who set out to accomplish something in life - something He wanted more than anything else. And the road that led to His dreams wasn’t an easy one, either. But He wanted to go, and He paid the price. Through towns where He wasn’t wanted, over roads where He was spat upon, through valleys that echoed the hatred that the “good” people had for Him - He traveled. When He finally arrived at the place, accomplished that which He wanted to accomplish, He was bloody and bruised and weak from a merciless beating -but He was not beaten. In His hands were huge holes, caused by the metal spikes with which he was suspended in the air. And as if this was not enough, someone slashed a hole in His side to see more blood flow. While Salty came home dirty, tired, bloody and shaggy, she got what she wanted - to see her master again. And the Galilean accomplished His goal, also. To make it possible for us to see our Master again. And because of His journey, for many of us the journey is over. WHO ARE THE HAPPIEST? Who are the happiest people on earth? This question was asked by an English newspaper, and prizes were offered for the best answer. There were four prize-winning answers: “A craftsman or artist whistling over a job well done.” “A little child building sand castles.” “A mother, after a busy day, bathing her baby.” “A doctor who has finished a difficult and dangerous operation and saved a human life.” No millionaires among these, one notices. No kings or emperors. Riches and rank, no matter how the world strives for them, do not make happy lives. A sand my grandmother used arti ficial sweeteners all her life and lived to be a ripe-old age; my forefathers lived on pork; and I intend to keep up the family traditions by eating what I want and loving it! Frankly, the only thing which has affected my eating habits has been cost. For instance, we now grow our own coffee beans and we’ve started speaking Spanish and Portugese a lot. One night a miracle s going to happen: when the six o’clock news comes on, there’s not going to be one warning about any food item that is dangerous to anyone’s health. What a landmark newscast that one will be! Just out of meanness towards the FDA, I am going to the Grocery store right now and buy jello, colored hotdogs, sweet ’n low, Diet Pepsis and a jar of cholesterol. Reckon they’ll arrest me before I check out? castle does that far better than a palace. It would be a sad day on earth if only the rich and great could be happy. But happiness is for everybody, hot for a few. -Selected Viewpoints Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, conscience. George Washington