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Mntksm Trogress-^rgus J. D. Jones Publisher a9OB 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 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 Editori ah Let's Make This the Best Local plans are being complet ed for the celebration of our nation’s 201st birthday and for the week-long festival that has become known as Butts County Week, from July 3rd to July 9th. There are reasons to believe that the fourth might be the best in this instance, that this year’s events will eclipse anything witnessed by our people in the previous three jubilees that commemorated a joint national and local festivity. Under the direction once more of that reconstructed extrovert, Dick O’Hara, who not only knows how to enjoy life but how to share its joys with others, the same group of young business and civic leaders are putting together a program that will entertain and enthrall age groups from nine months to ninety years. As usual, most of the fun will go to those who participate in the various contests, who enter wholeheartedly into the spirit of the occasion, who drink deeply from the cup of friendship so freely New Hope for Our Schools Authoritative reports indicate that, following a period of critical analysis by both home folks and state personnel to determine the precise needs of the Butts County School System, there may be a referendum this fall to see just what our people want to do about the shortcomings of our schools. Following on the heels of a local self analysis and buttressed by the findings of a state committee, there is reason to believe that the recommendations will include only those items vitally needed to build a superior public school system in Butts County. No county is likely to progress far beyond the bounds of its ability to provide manpower for its industries and dedicated public servants to keep its civic, religious, fraternal and political organiza tions functional and healthy. In Who Needs This Protection? At every turn it seems there are those anxious to protect us against some potential evil, against some maligned force that threat ens to engulf us with its tenacles and strangle us with its excesses. To protect the consumers of this nation against the bugaboo of big business, President Carter campaigned on the idea of creating an Agency for Consumer Protec tion. Clear heads in Congress have said no to the plan and it seems headed for the trash heap for this NATIONAL NEWSPAPER AsibciMlQW IH4- rrHPrHsgT NN A SUSTAINING gi MEMBER-1977 Advance Subscription Rates, Tax Included: TELEPHONE 775-3107 One Year, Out-of-State $7.28 Six Months, Out-of-State $4.16 offered during the week. But there is much for the spectator as well. Community and club booths to offer all kinds of goodies and refreshments, arts and crafts, flowers, barbecue, ice cream, fireworks, street and enclosed dances, the Marine Corps Band from Albany, a gigantic parade with floats and bands, sidewalk sales by the merchants, just about everything one could desire to keep you in Jackson that week and anxious to get right into the thick of things. It will be a great week for greeting old friends, making new ones, and of thanksgiving for the opportunity of living in such a fine community with such splendid neighbors and friends. The Marines call it esprit de corps. During Butts County Week we call it Community Spirit, a visible manifestation of the friendliness, cooperation and help fulness that Butts Countians show to each other every day. This year let’s make the Fourth the best. Butts, as in many rural counties, a great deal of the responsibility for keeping these entities active is going to fall on the graduates of the public school system. Not only because there are more students there, but also due to the larger percentage of the private school graduates who go on to college and out of the community mafhstream during their adult life.. A bond issue, if it comes, will not be easy to pass. But it can be passed and it will be passed if we know anything of the tenor and the will of our people to build a public school system here second to none. There is anew hope, anew day dawning for our schools. It was late in coming, but not too late to salvage the lives of countless children who might otherwise have had their careers wrecked on the shoals of a mediocre education. term. It would have created another level of bureaucracy, employing a staff of 400 to start with a budget of 15 million dollars. Poor consumer. He needs an advocate to stand between him and business like he needs a 50-cents-a --gallon-tax on his gasoline. The consumer needs protection all right. But from the bureaucrats and the wild-eyed spenders in Congress. Not from the private enterprise system that represents the best hope of keeping this democracy free and workable. THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARGUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1977 The Last Straw BY VINCENT JONES Those who have objected strenuously to the 13 cent stamp for first class letters will soon see a change. They will be paying 15 or 16 cents by this time next year. No less an authority than Postmaster General Benja min F. Bailar has promised it. And when the U. S. Postal Service starts throwing out feelers about a rate increase, it’s time to hold on to your pocketbook. As unpopular as the rate increase will be, it will play second fiddle to the proposi tion that Saturday RFD deliveries be abolished. And that also is part of the package Mr. Bailar is proposing and threatening to have the USPS adopt, with or without the consent of Congress. Selling the American pub lic on the necessity of raising postal rates to take care of wage hikes and mechaniza tion costs—and if better service were offered as a public benefit—might be politically feasible, although the economics of the situa tion might appear shaky. But penalizing the rural route box holder by offering him only five days service just won’t cut the mustard. The postmaster is going to be deluged by millions of complaints from RFD pa trons and by a like number of their city cousins who believe in the principle of fair play for all. Under a curious act of Congress, which forfeited its responsibility in the matter, the postal service as it now exists was created as an autonomous corporation, go vernment owned but private ly operated. It is, therefore, neither fish nor fowl, and its gender is just as questionable as some of the cost-saving ideas it engenders. / • • But the one thing the S. Postal Service is, without any question, is a monopoly: It operates as a monopoly under authority delegated by the Congress under its established hierarchy of leadership. Asa monopoly, it ha£ an obligation to provide full service to the public. Not part-time service, not ser vice to suit its own whims or balance its own budget, but full service. Communications between town and country, which have never been as good as desired, would be harmed by discontinuing RFD deliveries on Saturday. Friday issues of daily newspapers would not be delivered until Monday when their news content would be stale and practically worth less. Semi-weeklies, which ordinarily publish on Tues day and Friday, would be faced with the same delayed deliveries. In both cases, advertisers would shy away from Friday issues, particularly on week end specials, knowing that part of their audience would not be reached until Monday Mr. Bailar might very well find himself hailed into court should he decide to go through with curtailment of Saturday RFD deliveries. If he is not infringing on the freedom of the press by such an action, then he is flirting dangerously close to it and the courts may very likely have an opportunity to decide the issue. The other issue in the case will be decided by the court of last resort—the people. Despite the effort to place USPS in a never-never land, with its authority and responsibility questioned and questionable, Mr. Bailar is likely to find out just who owns the U. S. Postal Service. USPS belongs to the people. And they want service from it. And that includes Saturday mail deli veries. For everybody. Stroll D\vn j Memory Lane NEWS OF 10 YEARS AGO Three people guessed the correct weight of the hog given away Saturday by Polk Tire Company. They were Cindy Mangham, Mrs. Asa O’Neal and Mrs. John B. Kelly, of Monticello. Mrs. Kelly bought the other’s interest. The First Baptist Church will present Mrs. Fran Holston in sacred concert Sunday evening at 8 o’clock. Dr. and Mrs. Holston and family will leave soon for Bogalusa, La. Miss Delia Watkins was the charming hostess to the Jackson Garden Club Tues day evening for a dinner at the Elder Hotel. The Jackson High class of 1915 held its annual reunion Sunday at Indian Springs and 15 of the class were present. Miss Nancy Goff, student at the Southern College of Pharmacy, is spending a quarter as an intern with her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Roy Goff at City Pharmacy Ann Adams and Judy Weaver have been placed on the semester Honors List at Wesleyan, and Cadet James Mack Cawthon has made the Honors List at North Georgia College. Deaths during the week: William Hicks Key, 77. >EWS OF 20 YEARS AGO . f A total of 163 Butts Countians took the Salk polio vaccine at the Butts County Health Center last week. The Jackson Senior Hi-Y Club has been named the top club in the state by the Georgia Y.M.C.A. Bill Gar land is president of the local chapter and R. D. Lawrence, advisor. Dr. Charles H. Johnson, of Atlanta, has begun the practice of dentistry in Jackson. W. A. Holston, City gas engineer, has designed a permanent numbering sys tem for Jackson’s residences and business houses. Cinderella was the theme of the sixth birthday party given little Miss Kay Pinck ney by her parents, Dr. and Mrs. R. H. Pinckney. Southern Railway System was advertising round trips from Jackson to Brunswick on “The Cracker” for $7.35. NEWS OF 30 YEARS AGO F.F.A. officers have been chosen and include Herman Cawthon, president; Arthur Freeman, vice president; James Byars, secretary; Ennis O’Neal, treasurer; Edwin William, reporter and J.M.L. Comer, advisor. A meeting to set up canning days for the coYn munity canning plants in Jackson and Towaliga will held Wednesday in the courthouse. A stalk of volunteer cotton, growing through a crack in the concrete at Farmers Union Warehouse, had a bloom on June 14th. There has been no run on sugar since rationing ended, Jackson merchants reported in a recent survey. Pliny H. Weaver, New York life agent in Jackson, has been given the National Quality Award by the National Association of Life Underwriters. 0. L. Parker will be in charge of the summer school program at Jacksofi "High. Deaths during the week: James Leonard Lofton, 36; Harper Williamson, 48; Ro berta Lane Edwards, 83. NEWS OF 40 YEARS AGO The Jenkinsburg commun ity will hold its annual Fourth of July celebration again this year, with Judge John D. Humphries, of Atlanta, as the principal speaker. James Edward Connell, Jr., of Indian Springs, was a recent graduate of Georgia Military Academy. Fourth District Congress man E. M. Owen will dedicate Jackson’s new post office-federal building at exercises on Saturday, July 3rd. City council at its meeting Monday night will act on the matter of reducing electric rates, both for commercial and residential consumers. Lightning on Thursday afternoon destroyed a barn and three mules at the home of G. P. Saunders. Among the most enjoyable affairs of the early summer season was the prom party Friday night at which Miss Josephine Sasnett enter tained in honor of her guest, Miss Rachael Crittenden of Sheelman. Deaths during the week: Jeanette Wiley, 21. NEWS OF 50 YEARS AGO Dan Hoard has painted for Mr. A. S. Mills, of the State Highway Department, an attractive sign to be placed over the bridge at Indian Springs. The flock of hens owned by Mr. D. F. Maddox, of Jackson, stands first in the entire state for the past two months, based on the percentage of production, figures announced by the State College of Agriculture show. The Sam Thurston farm of 100 acres, located on the Jackson-Jenkinsburg high way, has been purchased by Settle and Robison. The old theory of cockle burrs foretelling a bad winter by their date of maturity will be tested this year. A fully-matured burr was shown in Jackson on June 21st, the earliest anyone can recall. It remains to be seen what kind of winter this omen will bring. Friends of Park Newton Jr. will regret to know that he sustained a broken arm Wednesday morning when he fell from a tree at his home on West Third Street. Settle and Robison were advertising new 1927 Chevro lets at $525 for the touring roadster and $595 for the coach. I A successful change, 1 with hindsight, called progress. _ Editor's Quote Book Be considerate— you nay need help yourself someday. William Feather ) have a nice weekend... ...rekindle a friendship flmfri ~ 0? Mrs. €My Brown Long years ago when I was in my teens, we did the sanest dances! Perhaps you remember some of them: the Fish, the Stroll, the Jerk, the Mash, the Twist, the Watusi, etc. People today don’t know how to do sane dances. In case you’re not “with it”, the big new dance is the “Bump”. Now, I realize that the “Bump” doesn’t sound like it’s that difficult to accomp lish, but let me state just for the record, if you’re in doubt, don’t! (Especially if you’re with a fat partner!) If you have not had the pleasure of seeing your kids do the “Bump”, then treat yourself and go to a dance right away so you can watch somebody else’s kids do it. You’ll be shocked and amazed at the timing and rhythm required for this dance. Personally, I thought I had accomplished something back in high school when I learned to do the Twist. Yet, the highlight of my dancing career was the day on which I successfully learned the “Monster Mash”. You know the one—about the grave yard and all? I wish my kids could go back to those days just once, just long enough to do the things we thought were fun: going to the Drive-In, learning how to look like Marilyn, tearing the loops off our boyfriend’s shirts and using the hula- tjjpHi ‘Whatsoever jSS Things' By Donald E. Wildmon HIS TEACHINGS ARE TRUE TO LIFE It was a borrowed car. Mine was in the shop. I had looked at the gas gauge earlier, and it registered half full. But there I was, sitting nearly directly under a stop light at one of the busiest intersections in town. I had checked the motor out pretty good, and decided that the trouble was either a bad fuel pump or just plain out of gas. I raised the hood of the car as a signal to those behind me that I was having trouble. It certainly wasn’t an ideal location to have car trouble, but the car was too heavy for me to push out of the line of traffic by myself. I left it unattended long enough to make a phone call to the garage and inform them of my troubles. They said they would send a wrecker immediately. After I returned to the car, I decided to give it a try to see if it was out of gas. There was a gas station just directly across the street so I walked over and asked the attendant if he had a gas can I could borrow to get some gas in the car. He told me he didn’t, that someone had borrowed his and had not returned it. I then asked him if he had anything that I could carry some gas in, that my car was stranded in the middle of the street and I figured it just might be out of gas. Well, I got the cold shoulder treatment all the way. He said he didn’t have a thing to carry gas in, and said it in such a way that I got the message. I saw a water can and several empty oil cans around, but I decided that if he didn’t want to help I wouldn’t try to force him. I walked back to the car and stood outside to wait for the wrecker. I guess I waited something like fifteen to twenty minutes. Several hundred cars passed me at that intersection. There were all makes and models. Some expensive cars passed, and some that were more in my class drove by. Nearly all the drivers gave me a look. They were mixed looks. Some didn’t like it because I was blocking traffic. Others looked as if they saw a man who was having car trouble—but it didn’t interest them. I watched them all pass me by. And in my mind was a thought: “Isn’t anybody going to offer to help?” I must admit I got a totally negative reply to my self-question. Nobody was interested in the least way in helping me. Being a Mississippian, I thought at least someone would stop to help. I was in the Hospitality State, and I was a native of it. By and by I noticed a very old model car, which appeared as if it might stop running any moment, begin to pull along side as if it was going to stop. I noticed that the man who was driving the car was a Negro gentleman. He had his wife and family, about five children, with him. He got out, and I saw he was dressed in clothes full of holes and patches. He came up and spoke: “Anything I can do to help?” he asked. I explained the situation to him, and thanked him for his offer. As he drove away I thought of the parable of the Good Samaritan. The truths that the Galilean Carpenter taught are enforced by the experiences of everyday life. BUMPER STICKERS GOOD BOSS can” STEP ON YOUR TOES WITHOUT RUINING YOUR SHINE. -=?i Wmmm 11 hoop. Boy, that’s what I call livin’! Those were the days when everybody DIDN’T have a car; allowances were STILL three dollars a week; and the clothes you had were the clothes Mama made. I don’t know if my kids could have survived. Why, we even used to have peanut boilings. I told my husband that and he didn’t believe me—frankly, he’s decided that we folks from South Georgia were a little off anvway. Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a peanut boiling. What you do is this: You find a big black iron pot, you place it outside and build a fire under it; then you stuff it full of peanuts, water, and salt, and stand around hungrily until they’re ready. Talk about good eating! I hate to admit this, but I actually assisted in stealing a watermelon once; I called a boy once—that was unheard of; and once, I even, used mascara at school and believe me, we were not allowed to do that. And the thought of wearing slacks or jeans to school, if you were female, oh my. You would have promptly been sent home to repent. All in all though, those were MY good old days. I guess my kids’ good old days will be made up of cars, The Bump, Jeans and Hard Rock Music. To each his own! Editor's Quote Book There is nothing so advantageous to a man as a forgiving disposi tion. Tenace