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3axksot x 'Prcgress-^rgus
J. D. Jones Publisher
(1908 1955)
Doyle Jones Jr. Editor and Publisher
(1955-1975)
MRS. MARTHA G. JONES PUBLISHER
VINCENT JONES EDITOR
OFFICIAL ORGAN BUTTS COUNTY AND CITY OF JACKSON
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Editorials
Queen for a Day
For one day at least, on Her
Day, mother will be queen of hearts
indeed. Although she may feel
strangely out of place perched on
her pedestal, on Mother’s Day she
deserves the best. She is certainly
entitled to it in partial payment for
the careless neglect we show her on
all other days.
Those who still can know the
warmth of a mother’s smile, or the
benediction of a mother’s kiss,
will ply her with cards and flowers,
gifts and expressions of love that
will mean more to her than a
24-carat diamond.
A Cause for Alarm
Dr. Rufus C. Harris is
president of Mercer University. A
long and honorable career in
higher education places him at the
zenith of college administrators in
the South and the respect for his
opinions commands a national
audience.
Almost 50 years of service to
higher education qualify him to
speak with authority on the
problems facing the colleges and
universities of today.
In a recent report to the
trustees of Mercer, Dr. Harris
pinpointed government regulations
as the main force hamstringing the
operation of our institutions of
higher learning.
“We are suffering through a
most dangerous crisis,” he said.
“Businesses bigger than colleges
have crumbled when decisions that
affect solvency are made by bodies
that bear little if any of the
financial responsibility.”
Government regulations now
in effect or pending are influencing
in some measure every area of
college management and operation
today. President Harris said.
“Our practices of employing or
discharging personnel from the
lowest to the highest ones; paying
them; how we release them or pay
them, are now controlled. Permits
and licenses must cover every
thing.”
“Other promised regulations
seek to restrict us in the matter of
the students which we can and we
cannot accept, the persons and
A Missile Needing Guidance
President Jimmy Carter, at
the swearing-in ceremony of U.N.
Ambassador Andrew Young, de
scribed Young as “the best public
servant he had ever known.”
There was a feeling at the time
that the praise might have been too
lavish and unwarranted by the
Ambassador’s experience and
performance.
Three months later, after a
roundelay of intemperate remarks,
the feeling has become all
pervasive.
Perhaps the Ambassador is
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Others who have only mem
ories to cherish will recall them
with reverence and thanksgiving
for the love and guidance of a
mother whose spirit still abides,
undimmed by the passing years.
Whether you are saluting a
memory or a living mother, you
are paying tribute on Mother’s Day
to the one person who probably
most influenced and molded your
life. And if you can be one half the
son or daughter her hopes, dreams
and love deserve, then you have got
to step on it, and set your aims
high.
percentages of those whom we may
employ.”
Bureaucrats don’t care
“whether we employ competent
teachers and scholars, so long as
we employ the percentages they
prescribe,” the Mercer president
said.
Some regulations are expect
ed, President Harris said. “No one
could oppose adequate wages for
personnel, good working condi
tions, financial aid for the indigent,
or the goal of equal access for all
to quality education at reasonable
cost.”
But what actually is happen
ing, he said, in many instances is
that the U.S. Department of
Health, Education and Welfare “is
obviously attempting to determine
the admitting practice of the
colleges and whether their prac
tices are discriminatory.”
“We should become weary of
affirming over and over and over
again that we voluntarily deseg
regated this college,” (Mercer’s
board of trustees voted on April 18,
1963, without legal compulsion, to
admit all qualified students without
regard to race.)
“Discriminate” means more
than acting on the basis of
prejudice,” President Harris said.
“It also means the ability to make
a clear distinction, and in modern
education that distinction must
remain in the hands of those best
qualified to do so.”
Which bears out our long-held
contention that federal judges often
make lousy educators.
trying too hard, but in the process
he is clearly overstepping his
authority. Some of the rough and
tough tactics employed in the civil
rights’ contests of the ’6o’s don’t fit
into the diplomatic scheme of
things.
The Ambassador needs a
training period, a shake down
cruise, before getting into the deep
water of international politics. And
you can bet your bottom dollar that
he has been told that, despite the
fevered protestations of the White
House to the contrary.
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA
The Last
Straw
BY
VINCENT JONES
On this Mother’s Day when
each of us in our own feeble
way attempts to express our
deepest feelings for our
mothers, living or dead
perhaps we can receive some
inspiration arid help from
some of the literary masters
of other days who loved their
mothers just as much as we
but who were gifted with a
joy, and means, of express
ing it that often eludes us.
And so here are a few of
our scrapbook favorites,
some pure poetry, but all
printed as prose to conserve
space:
Robert Louis Stevenson
dodicated”a Child’s Garden
ol Verses” to his mother with
these words, “You, too, my
mother read my rhymes for
love of unforgotten times,
and you may chance to hear
once more, the little feet
along the floor.”
And who can forget Jane
Taylor’s tribute to her
mother and the lines, “Who
ran to help me when I fell,
and would some pretty story
tell, or kiss the place to make
il well? My Mother.”
Sir Edwin Arnold asked
this question about mothers,
"Don't poets know better
than others? God can’t be
always everywhere: and, so
invented mothers.”
And William Thackery in
his Vanity Fair said,
"Mother is the name for God
in the lips and hearts of little
children."
Edith Nesbit asked for a
mother's inspiration all of
her life with these words,
"Dear Mother, in whose eyes
I see all that I would and
cannot be, let thy pure light
forever shine, though dimly,
through this heart of mine.”
Jarries Barrie gave
mothers a celestial quality
with this statement, “The
only ghosts, I believe. w*ho
creep into this world, are
dead young mothers, return
ed to see how their children
fare. There is no other
inducement great enough to
bring the departed back.”
And Rudyard Kipling paid
his mother a stirring tribute
with these words, “If I were
damned of body and soul, I
know whose prayers would
make me whole. Mother
o’mine.”
Samuel Coleridge once
wrote, “A mother is a mother
still, the holiest thing alive.”
Victor Hugo knew a
mother’s love and paid it
tribute in these words,
"Mother’s arms are made of
tenderness, and sweet sleep
blesses the child who lies
therein.”
May Riley wrote of her
mother thusly, “The sweet
est face in all the world to
me, set in a frame of shining
golden hair, with eyes whose
language is fidelity: this is
my mother. Is she not most
fair?"
John Greenleaf Whittier
told of his mother’s influence
with these words, "We
search the world for truth.
We call the good, the true, the
beautiful, from graven stone
and written scroll, and all the
old flowers-field of the soul;
and, weary suckers of the
best. We come back laden
from our quest, to find that
all the sages said, is in the
book our mothers read.”
And Eugene Field, that
master of imagery, made
(his offer to his mother, “O
Mother-My-Love, if you’ll
give me your hand, and go
where I ask you to wander, I
will lead you away to a
beautiful land—the dream
land that’s waiting out
yonder. We’ll walk in a
swcet-posie garden out there
where moonlight and star
light are streaming, and all
the flowers and the birds are
filling the air with the
fragrance and music of
dreaming."
W hat a promise to make to
your mother on Mother’s
Day. Or to her memory.
ii 1
iiiiiisKjjEiß
A Stroll Down
Memory Lane
News of 10 Years Ago
Aubrey W. James, of
Jackson, has won SI,OOO for a
money-saving suggestion
made at Warner Robins Air
Material Area where he is a
radar repairer.
Hal Summers, superinten
dent of Indian Springs Plant,,
Avondale Mills, is President
elect of the Butts County
Lions Clubs.
Lance Corporal Charlie
Thaxton of the U.S. Marine
Corps has been awarded the
Navy Commendation Medal
with Combat Distinguishing
Device for his heroism while
serving in Vietnam. While
under heavy enemy fire and
at the risk of his own life he
rescued from drowning a
fellow Marine from a
rain-swollen river their Ma
rine company was crossing.
Albert Smith set anew
Class B State record in the
pole vault in the 3-B
sub-region meet in Columbus
with a vault of 12 feet, three
inches.
Jackson’s newest down
town business is Anne’s
Beaute’ Rama, owned by
Mrs. Anne Snell, of Griffin,
and operated by Miss Patsy
Waller, of Jackson.
Mrs. W. M. Settle, of
Greensboro, was hostess to
the Jackson Garden Club for
the Tour of Homes held in
Greensboro last week.
Deaths during the week:
Charlie Elmer Thompson, 57.
News of 20 Years Ago
A phantom pet poisoner
who laces ground beef with
strychnine is being sought by
authorities after killing about
30 pets over the weekend.
The Jackson High Science
Club, with Barbara Thoma
son as president, and J. C.
Williamson, as teacher, is
holding an open house on
Thursday.
Pepper plants from the
company’s nursery in Flor
ida are arriving in Jackson
and Joe Lewis, local man
ager of the Stokely-Van
Camp corporation, said this
week that pimiento pepper
will be canned at the Jackson
plant this fall.
Mrs. Gladys Wilson, chair
man of the Butts County
Easter Seals drive, reports
that $253 has been raised on
the County quota of $400.00.
Little Miss Janet Robison
and Master Tom Robison,
children of Mr. and Mrs. T.
E Robison, Jr., were
christened at an impressive
ceremony at the Jackson
Methodist Church on Sunday
morning. Water from the
Jordan River was used in the
rites.
Miss Elizabeth McMichael
was installed Monday as
president of the Jackson
Business and Professional
Women’s Club.
Deaths during the Week:
Victor Weyman Cole, 75;
Walter Jackson Smith, 75.
News of 30 Years Ago
The Jenkinsburg Garden
Club will hold its second
annual Iris Show on May
10th. Sponsoring garden
clubs include the Mimosa,
Cherokee, Jackson, Haw
thorne, Towaliga, Ringgold
and Jenkinsburg.
Flint Superior Court Judge
Ogden Persons has ruled in
favor of 19 citizens seeking a
declaratory judgment
against the Board of Com
missioners to prevent the
board from issuing beer and
wine licenses.
The Butts County AAA
office released figures show
ing that 55 per cent of the
farmers in the county took
advantage of the soil conser
THURSDAY. MAY 5. 1977
vation program in 1946 and
earned $32,489.71 for carry
ing out these practices.
Butts County was the
political capital of the state
for awhile on Saturday when
Governor M. E. Thompson
dropped by for a visit with
friends and former governor
Herman Talmadge stopped
here for a few minutes en
route to Eatonton for a fox
hunt with friends.
Bennie Thurston invited
about 20 of his friends to his
fifth birthday party Saturday
afternoon.
The J. T. Goodman home
and lot of about three acres
on Covington Street has been
sold by Mrs. T. H. Buttrill for
$5,000.00.
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. Rosa Lee Edwards, 71.
News of 40 Years Ago
Butts Countians going to
the Kentucky Derby include
Dr. O. B. Howell, J. C. Jones,
J. O. Cole, R. T. Williamson,
Charlie Gifford, Dr. L.
Redditt and J. A. Reynolds.
The new post office and
agricultural building in Jack
son will be formally dedi
cated on June 15th.
The Towaliga School will
have commencement Satur
day night, with the high
school pupils offering two
plays, "Some People Have
All the Luck” and “Cabbage
Hill School.”
(). E. Smith has bought the
T. J. Carson home on Walker
Street for SBOO.OO.
Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Knowles
entertained about 25 boys
and girls on Friday after
noon, April 30th, at their
home. The party was in
honor of their son, Jack,
whose fifth birthday it was.
Members of the Jackson
Methodist Church who ap
peared on the program of a
District meeting held here
were Miss Elizabeth Finley,
soloist; J. Avon Gaston,
invocation; Miss Bessie Ruth
Burtz, business session and
Rev. A. E. Barton, devotion
al.
Deaths during the week:
William D. Vaughn 61;
Harvey Clifford Smith, 21.
News of 50 Years Ago
Ben Cleveland, lessee of
the state property at Indian
Springs, announces the open
ing of the casino and
amusement parlors on Mav
sth.
The Butts County Board of
Education is considering the
erection of anew consolidat
ed school to serve the Stark,
Cedar Rock, Worthville and
Fincherville communities.
The regular May meeting
of the D.A.R. was held at the
home of Mrs. Doyle Jones
with Miss Annie Lou McCord
as co-hostess. Mrs A. T.
Buttrill was elected Regent
and Mrs J. M. Leach, Vice
Regent.
The Junior-Senior Prom
will be held at the home of
Col. and Mrs. W. E. Watkins
on Friday evening.
W. J. Wood sold a lot on
College Street to J. C.
Newton on a bid of $1,856.00.
Forecaster A. L. Smider,
ol Griffin, predicts 22 fair
days in May, three partly
cloudy, three with showers,
and three with thunder
storms.
Deaths during the week:
John Mason Thomas Mayo,
83: Miss Mary A. McElroy,
7!. Mi's. Annie Jeter, 44.
Editor s Quote Book
Do today what should
be done. Tomorrow may
never come.
Harry F. Banks
I^RWRRI
By Mrs. Cihdy Brown
I know everyone is talking
about the weather all the
time. Sometimes the weather
may seem like the only topic
of conversation available!
However, when Mother Na
ture does us as kindly as she
has lately, then we OUGHT
to discuss her generosity.
Roses are blooming all
over - they are like a
perfumed rainbow. I noticed
driving into town the other
day that the Thrift and
“Yellow Bells” are taking
over some residences. Some
times I have been inclined to
think that God’s Springtime
greeness is a promise of
better things to come: in
fact, most Springs, I have
little doubt when I really take
the time to not just look, but
to really see what’s going on
in this old world.
You know, air conditioners
have helped to hide some of
the true beauties of the
outdoors. A good for instance
would be simply that few
folks sleep with their
windows open anymore. I
can remember those days
MILI i;
BBk 9|
CHANGING TIMES
Air Force M. Sgt. Lee J. Kenney has a common military
habit, according to the papers. He likes to collect souvenirs
for his kids. Once Kenney happened on two bazooka-type
shells on the bomb range at the old Salina, Kansas, air base.
He took the shells to a weapons expert to be sure they were
sale. After the expert gave him the go-ahead, he carried the
mementos home.
Kenney’s two boys at home, age 11 and 13, took a liking to
the shells. They stayed around the house for about a year.
And then one day the Kenney boys and some of the other
neighborhood children decided they would like to play soldier
with the shells. Anybody who has ever been a young boy can
recall what excitement it was to play soldier, especially if
you had something related to the real soldier to play with.
The story reminds one of the fact that some things which
once appeared harmful are not considered so now. Today
they are only things which many people like to play around
with. Right off the bat I can think of alcohol. It used to be
considered harmful by a great many folks. Now society
treats it as if it is rather harmless, and a great many folks
have a lot of fun playing around with it.
Then there is this thing of drugs. Many of us can
remember when drugs were considered very dangerous to
play around with. But a great number of folks, young and old
alike, today have found that drugs aren’t nearly as
dangerous as we once thought they were. And great numbers
are having a ball playing around with them.
Another thing which comes to mind while thinking along
this line is our modern attitude toward sex. Some of us can
remember when sex was considered a very wholesome and
binding experience within the bonds of marriage. We knew,
also, that beyond the bonds of marriage sex could have some
very dangerous consequences. Or at least we thought so. But
the modern day advocates of free love have evidently proved
us old fogies wrong. Because everywhere one turns today he
is presented with the modern idea that sex is something to
make a game of.
I guess times and people change. Some things which at
one time were dangerous have over a period of time lost their
danger and become things for us humans to fancy ourselves
with. And old war shell, designed to kill and destroy, over a
pei iod of time had become a toy which little boys could play
and have fun with.
When I read the story of Sgt. Kenney’s toy shells I thought
about all that. Even the neighborhood kids were having great
lur, with those old shells. They were, that is, until one of the
.-.hells exploded and killed all four boys.
Experts have taught us to change our ideas on several
things. Are experts ever wrong?
ruth at random
By Ruth Bryant
BEHOLD THY MOTHER
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his
mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the
wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the
disciple standing by, whom he loved, He
saith unto his mother, “Woman, behold thy
son!
Then saith he to the disciple, “behold thy
Mother”! And from that hour that disciple
look her unto his own home!
before air conditioning was a
necessity! I would wake up to
the birds singing, perhaps
the sound of rain falling and
other natural wonders. It
might do us all good to try the
old-fashioned method of
“Keepin’ our cool.”
And not to be forgotten are
the gardens which are
popping up throughout the
county. I believe more people
than ever are gardening, as
evidenced by the tomato
plants, okra and corn
abounding everywhere.
Somehow or other, food from
a personal garden is just a
little bit better than the
“store-bought” variety.
Well, it’s been a long time
since I weatherized, so I hope
no one was bored! I do hope
that everyone will take a
little extra time to appreciate
God’s gifts to us. Sometimes
we all need to be reminded of
the daily miracles we take
for granted. God has been
better to us than most of us
realize and I hope we all can
protect our precious environ
ment and free blessings.
‘Whatsoever
Things’
By Donald E. Wildmon