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lacfesxm Vtsxgrzss-^tgns J. D. Jones r Publisher (1908 19551 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. i f Address notice of undeliverable copies and other correspondence to The Jackson Progress-Argus, P.O. Box 249, Jackson, Georgia 30233. Advance Subscription Rates, Tax Included: One Year, in Georgia $6.24 One Year, Out-of-State ~.57.28 Six Months, in Georgia $3.91 Six Months, Out-of-State s4^l6 TELEPHONE 775-3107 Editorials Spring's Lost Promise The sting of Spring has lashed the nation from the Mohawk Valley to the St. John’s River. From the San Gabriel Mountains to the Poconos, the land has been lanced by piercing winds, drenched by torrential rains, whipsawed by dervish storms and scarred by the frightening nightmare of the tornado. Undaunted by the tears of the aggrieved, there is no indication that Spring’s rampage has suc cumbed yet to the calmer, more gentle ways that often characterize the season. When she goes on the war path, Spring can be the most devastating of our seasons. Tomadic winds can blast airplanes from the skies, obliterate the physical landmarks of a community and wreak havoc and destruction like no other Is Registration Necessary? President Carter, no stranger to controversy and no avoider of it, has proposed another measure that will result in considerable flap before it is finally resolved. Ho has proposed the elimina tion of registration requirements for voting in federal elections. Any potential voter could cast a ballot in such an election by showing up at the polls and providing proper identification, such as driver’s license, and proof of residence. The change would not affect state, county, or local elections where rules of pre-registration would continue to apply, at least for the present. Although obviously designed to get better participation in the election process, the suggestion seems to be fraught with dangers that would outweigh any increase in voter turnout. The potentials for fraud are too numerous, and visible, to even cite. With no registration lists, voters could cast ballots in several precincts without being contested, as there would be no way to challenge their right to vote, if they Peace Is More Whatever became of those tremendous windfalls that all Americans were going to share in, once we got out of World War 11, the Korean conflict and the Vietnam mess? * Georgia Senator Sam Nunn is talking sense when he charged recently that “it costs more to wage peace than war.” Part of the culprit has been the wild proliferation in personnel costs of the armed services. Admiral Rickover, in testifying before Chm’n. Nunn’s Senate 'Armed Service manpower commit NATIONAL NEWSPAPER mtcuTioN fwrtrt im* ffMfmtg! NNASUSTAINING MEMBER-1977 natural phenomenon. Rivers balloon from their banks and explode over the surrounding countryside, inundat ing houses, fields and people and afterwards polar blasts freeze the homeless and the heartsick with wintry winds that carry remnants of the season’s last snow. It has been that kind of Spring this year. The season has been feisty, mean, ornery, and down right tragic. Perhaps one might expect the transition from a woeful winter to Spring to be marked by excesses of the type that have been experienced. But soon, father time will take his toll, the sun will once again warm the earth’s surface, and a miserable Spring will melt into the languor of summer. Let us all hope that summer will behave in a more gentlemanly and dignified manner. met the meager voting require ments. One also might legitimately question the right of any voter, or any potential voter, to cast a ballot in any election, federal or not, who does not have enough concern for good government and enough get-up-and-go to make the trip to city hall, or the county courthouse, and establish a right to vote in any and all elections. President Carter seems to be abandoning his clarion pre-election call for “why not the best” and substituting in its place one he must feel has more popular appeal entitled “why not the least.” Good citizenship does, and should, demand some outward manifestation of our faitn in this country and our belief in its ultimate greatness. A citizen who cares so little about his country as to not make the effort to pre-register his right to vote is adopting an “I don’t care” attitude. And we don’t care to be governed by such people. And neither, we believe, do the majority of our fellow citizens. Costly tee, proposed a 50 per cent reduction in the number of generals and admirals. During the height of World War 11, Rickover pointed out, there was one flag officer for each 6,000 men of lower ranks, while today the ratio is one to each 1,785 men. There are too many fat cats in the military establishment. Our defense budget would be helped considerably by the mandatory retirement of half of them and our fighting capacity would not be damaged one whit. THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA The Last Straw BY VINCENT JONES At times the world gets rather heavy for our adults, who always try to carry all of its burdens on their shoul ders, while failing to grasp the wisdom of the young, who seem to know that fretting and worrying never solved many problems. So, with Spring already sprung, perhaps it is time for us to remember that the joys and pleasures we shared many decades ago still thrill today the hearts of the young, and that time’s erosive passage has changed only the form, but not the basics. And so we remember... Our first dance, held in a barn, with cornstarch making tolerable the concrete floor, and Japanese lanterns cast ing eerie light patterns on the nervous young dancers, with their uncertain feet... The early driving lessons when Mom and not the State Patrol taught you how to maneuver a car and how adept we were in the back yard with the big machine and how narrow the highway became when we met our first real car while under the steering wheel... The senior play that had a romantic scene calling for a kiss and how my neighbor, who was my gal-pal but not a sweetheart, and I really played the scene to the hilt, both in the auditorium and at the local theater, probably to the mortification of our parents and school officials, neither of whom felt we should be so well versed in the osculatory art at that tender age... The track meets in which our team competed very well, in spite of its meager equipment consisting of one discus, one shot put, home made hurdles and an aged and dangerous bamboo pole.. The warm nights spent roller skating in our giant outdoor rink, with the paved streets and sidewalks our floor, and the moon, stars and an occasional street light our only illumination... The rare treat of a date for a movie in a neighboring town, complete with ice cream soda, and the airy ride in a rumble seat or an open convertible that seemed terribly daring at the time... The enthusiastic fans who followed the basketball team everywhere and how they almost mobbed us when we beat Griffin in the tourna ment and were rewarded by the principal with a day off from school for displaying such winning form... The difficulty in selecting the right college to attend, and the trip made with three others in an open Model-T to Presbyterian College and the huge hill across the river near the college that chal lenged the auto’s horsepower and how we all hated to drown just when life was beginning to open up for us... The Spring the school entered its first tennis match and found two of us with two worn practice balls and two racquets, one of which went plunk when a ball hit a weakened string across its mid-section... The notes we would pass in class, not so much out of romantic attachments as to frustrate the teachers who were confounded by the snickers and the devilish grins without knowing the cause... The day a chemical experiment went awry and the lab became filled with green and yellow smoke which brought out the local fire department to the delight of the student body who got an unexpected one-hour recess... Does our youth today do some of the same things, face some of the same challenges, know some of the same joys? Of course they do. And they will do all right, too, with our support. For, after all, we survived, didn’t we? I } Tv. i 1 1 I A Stroll Down Memory Lane News of 10 Years Ago Rev. Andy Holston and his family will be honored at a special service at the Jackson Methodist Church. The Holstons will leave soon on a four-year missionary tour of Brazil. Donald Montgomery has been named to head the 1967 crusade of the American Cancer Society in Butts County. A Flovilla airman, A-3C David Elliott, has made an 8.000 mile trip to spend his leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Elliott. Airman Elliott is stationed in Taiwan. Sgt. Clarence A. Whitehead has. been awarded post humously the Military Merit Medal and the Gallantry Cross with Palm by the Republic of Viet Nam. The International Choir of Brazil will appear at the Jackson Elementary School, thanks to Dr. Roy Goff who made the arrangements. Miss Ginnilu Etheredge, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. N. Etheredge, will play with the Emory at Oxford band at an open house next Sunday. Deaths during the week: Mrs. Bertha Carmichael Dempsey, 82; Mrs. A. H. Pope. 91; Allen Perry Evans, 60, Miss Pearl Lee Dunn, 75; James Herbert Williams, 62; Malcolm Ainsworth, 70. News of 20 Years Ago y. Vandals entered both the Jackson High School and the Jackson Youth Center on Saturday night, but received very little loot for their trouble. J. C. Williamson, Jackson Higji science teacher, reports that Scott Coleman, Bill Garland, Grady Jackson and Charles Rooks will represent the school at the State Science fair this week. Butts Countians have con tributed $1,575.00 on the quota of $2,009.00, Red Cross Chairman Pliny Weaver reported on Monday. Among those appearing in the senior play, “Here Comes Charlie” on Friday night will be Nancy Carter, Bruce Chambers, Natalie Lang, Lamar McMichael, Peggie Moore, Martha Mays, Nancy Singley, Ann Moore, Lola Caldwell and Rose Grant. State Senator Bailey Wood ward reports that the Stark Post Road from Land’s Crossing to Pickett’s Store will be resurfaced this month. Sen. Woodward says he has also been promised three miles of paving for the City of Jenkinsburg and two miles for the City of Jackson. Butts County’s quota for the current Easter Seals campaign is S4OO, according to Mrs. Gladys Wilson, chairman. Deaths during the week: A. Lawrence Maddox, 75. News of 30 Years Ago With Senator B. H. Hodges as chairman and Mrs. W. M. Redman as cochairman, Butts County quickly raised its quota of S3OO for the Jefferson Day dinner for Democrats in Atlanta. Butts County voters have approved a $150,000 bond issue for school improve ment, the vote being 488 for and 263 against the bond issue. Miss Jane Collins, daugh ter of Mr. anj Mrs. T. J. Collins, was honored at North Georgia Coriege’s Honors Day program. A meeting has been called for Monday to reactivate Company A, 121st Infantry, Georgia National Guard. THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1977 Harry Ball has been named captain and Ezra M. Mc- Cord, first lieutenant. S. W. Causey, principal, and O. L. Parker, athletic director, will represent Butts County at the GEA meeting in Savannah. Butts County’s draft board has gone out of existence. Serving on the Board at various times were Walter Wilson, clerk; and members C. L. Redman, J. H. Turner, W. J. Bankston, P. H. Weaver, E. R. Edwards. J. D. Pope served as appeal agent and Drs. O. B. Howell, B. F. Aiken and R. L. Hammond as medical exam iners. News of 40 Years Ago A total of 49 Butts County farmers are buying their farms under the Resettle ment Administration pro gram, according to F. C. Hearn, supervisor. The Central Georgia Elec tric Membership Corpora tion, a project to provide electrical energy to rural sections of 12 middle Georgia counties, has applied for a charter and begun a survey of potential customers. The ice and frost reported here on Monday morning, April 12th, is believed to be a record for this section. Plans are underway for a Memorial Day program on April 26th to honor the County’s three living Con federate veterans, R. Van Smith, J. S. Gregory and F. M. Thaxton. Leslie Pinnell has acquired the market in the A&P Food Store and will operate it in the future. Robert G. Mays, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Mays, has been named to the Dean’s List at the University of' Georgia for the winter quarter. News of 50 Years Ago Threatt Moore, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Threatt Moore, was declared winner of the Sixth District Ora torical contest. A one cent reduction in the price of gasoline and kero sene has gone into effect, bringing gas at the retail level to 23 cents a gallon. Sara Carter has been named winner of the U.D.C. essay contest in the Jackson public schools. Susanna Foster and Otis Ball received honorable mention. Competing for Jackson High in the District track meet will be Robert Whit aker, Leslie Pinnell, Victor Wilson, Otis Ball, Frank Harper, Warren McMichael, Herald Henderson, Robert Dempsey, Robert Franklin, Marshall Evans and Wilmer Greer. A house on the Indian Springs highway owned by A. M. Watkins, Sr. and occupied by the family of Lee Hardy was destroyed by fire Friday. Mrs. L. H. Hurt enter tained about 75 boys and girls at an enjoyable Easter egg hunt Thursday afternoon complimentary to Miss Mar garet Hurt and Master Levi Hurt. Editor s Quote Book Indifference is the invin cible giant of the world. Ouida Editor s Quote Book Enthusiasm is at the bot tom of all progress. With it there is accomplishment. Without it there are only altbis Henry Ford Bf Btwd Well, April 15th is almost here again! Every year, Income Tax Forms are getting more complicated and I am getting more senile. The funniest fact of all is that every time Uncle Sam “simplifies” the forms, they become harder for me to understand! People have been paying taxes for eons, or so I’m told, but I feel that those of us who don’t make SIOO,OOO a year or more should not have to pay taxes. And what really irks me, is the fact that most people pay 26 cents in stamps just to file the darned returns. Can you imagine how much the Post Office must make at tax time? I wish I were a relative of the man who founded H&R Block, Mr. Tax or some of those equivalent companies. Why, they make a mint each tax season because poor folks like me are just too tin. headed to understand ‘Whatsoever JGp Things’ |TH By Donald G. Wildmon A FOUR LETTER WORD Occasionally one comes across a story that speaks so loudly. There are as many stories as there are people, but they don’t all come to the public’s notice. One did recently. I will let the person tell it in his own words. “Having suffered a traumatic experience in childhood, I have always had an abhorrence of funerals and dead people.” the writer said. “When my dad died I flew back East for the services. As I viewed his cold, lifeless body in the casket, I felt nothing. That inanimate figure bore no relationship to the Pop who had always been so happy-go-lucky and full of life. “His strengths were also his weaknesses. His carefree, devil-may-care attitude made life a constant struggle for Mom. Pop was a traveling salesman but he was much better at traveling than he was at selling. In death, as in life, he left stacks of unpaid bills. “When the moment came to close the casket, my heart dropped as I saw Mom lean over and kiss him. Surely she didn’t expect me to do that! Then I heard her whisper in his ear as she had done countless times before, when he had left for trips: ‘Bye, Pops. I’ll be seeing you.’ She was sending him off on his final journey -with the promise that she would join him.” The writer concluded with these words; “That gesture was a lifetime of education for me. It told me more about Mother’s love for Dad than anything I had witnessed in all my years at home. I would not have missed it for the world.” There are a lot of folks in this old world who carry signs and shout slogans of love. They get the headlines. And many times few of them know little of what they shout. There are others who practice day in and day out what the signs and shouts say. Love causes a person to do many things, nearly all good. Perhaps those who wish to have “trial marriages” could learn something from tne mother and wife mentioned above. Seems as though many of the modern folk have forgotten the “for better or for worse” in the marriage vows. We have made a terrible mistake in judgment in our country. It is either the elite of society or the rags of the radicals who get the spotlight when love and marriage are mentioned. Perhaps it would help a little to shine a flashlight on people like Mom. For it is that type person who keeps our country together. Those who stick it out through thick and thin. Those who take seriously the vows they take. Those who go on living and loving day in and day out without anybody shouting any “hoorahs” for them. Yes, it is the people whose love is genuine enough to carry them over the rough parts that we are indebted to. Love is a four letter word -and it covers a multitude of sins and shortcomings. ruth at random By Ruth Bryant DOGWOOD IN BLOOM Like stars along the millcy way That light a path across the sky. Like windows in cathedrals tall That brighten vaulted arches high! Like portraits of mere mortal men With trembling hands and hoary hair As bending low on twisted knees v They raise their shaky arms in prayer! Like sentinels of elegance That make the landscape quite complete Like bits of beauty sent from heaven Are dogwood trees on every street! the “Guvermint’s” tax ideas. We are often told that the rich folks never pay I have figured out why -- they can afford accountants to help them hide their income. If and when I inherit a million or two, I plan to become the most charitable person in these parts. When I get done giving away those greenbacks, the feds will owe me! The only thing worse than having to fill out Income Tax forms is the fear of the audit. From April 15 of each year on, I have this terrible fear that I will be one of those unlucky folks who is audited. IRS incites as much fear in me as does the dentist, a big dog or a cemetery late at night. Maybe while Jimmy is in Washington, he’ll sign a bill stating that all Georgians are exempt from filing income tax. Personally, I think that alone would get him reelected!