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J. D. Jones Publisher
U9OB 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.
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
OCIMIQN jEE
frttfrmEn NN A SUSTAINING
AKV a MEMBER-1977
One Y’ear, in Georgia $6.24
Six Months, in Georgia $3.91
Editorials
The Last Good Evening
The City of Griffin, the State of
Georgia and the nation can ill
afford the loss experienced
recently in the death of Quimby
Melton, Sr., long time editor of the
Griffin Daily News and a master
builder of progress for his adopted
community.
Purchasing the News in 1925,
he built it through the depression,
war, recession and prosperity into
one of the model small-town daily
newspapers in America.
Since World War ll’s end, he
has been ably assisted by his son,
Quimby Melton, Jr., on whose
shoulders soon fell the mantle of
leadership occasioned by his
mother’s and then his father’s
lengthy period of declining health.
That the younger has succeeded so
brilliantly is but a living testament
to the teaching ability of the elder.
For years the front page of the
News sparkled with the wit and
wisdom of its publisher as distilled
into a front page column, entitled
Good Evening.
Every day for a third of a
century, Quimby Melton, Sr. said
good evening to the News’ readers
with this column which was always
filled with thought provoking
observations on life on both the
Winning Is Nice
If losing builds character, then
most of us should have enough of
that quality to last several
lifetimes.
Certainly there are lessons to
be learned from any loss—respect
for the winner, a more intensive
self examination, the knowledge
that one has done his best and
should be proud of that, regardless
of his rank at the finish line.
But it is nice to win, too. The
Progress-Argus staff found that out
last Friday when it was named the
winner in the Community Service
competition in the Georgia Better
Newspaper Contests, sponsored by
the Georgia Press Association.
Oddly enough, the paper won
with its very first entry. Of all the
awards given at the press
Emotion Versus Intellect
Perhaps there is no issue
facing the American public today
that lends itself to emotional
outbursts more than that of the
question of capital punishment and
its value as a deterrent to crime.
Bring up the subject and you
w ill hear immediately of the torn,
desecrated body of a 12-year-old
girl, or the mass murder of six
members of a happy family. The
other side of the coin will bring
forth arguments about the stench
of burning flesh as the electric
chair fries a murderer, or the
horrors of a hangman’s noose that
slipped.
The apologist for capital
crimes can excuse any crime, no
matter how terrible, as but a
natural outgrowth of a society that
has left some of its members
jobless, hungry, and economically
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Six Months. Out-of-State $4.16
local and national scenes.
The late publisher was a
craftsman with words and could
turn a phrase with the best of them.
But more often than not, his
columns did not depend on
cleverness to catch the reader’s
eye, but rather they displayed
openly a genuineness of character
and a Christian concern that made
him care for his fellow man and
what was happening to him.
He believed firmly that a
newspaper should not only mirror
the happenings of a community but
that it should exert a positive role
of leadership in helping a town
shape its own destiny.
His accomplishments as a
journalist and as a Christian
molder of men’s characters tower,
in retrospect, like a sturdy oak
beside some of the spindly
saplings of today. But he has left a
son who has amply demonstrated
an ability to fill his giant shoes.
Quimby, Jr., upon his father’s
death, wrote a beautiful tribute to
his father under the Good Evening
head. He said it would be the last
Good Evening column the Griffin
Daily News would ever print. For
that, and for the loss of its original
author, our lives will all be poorer.
convention, the Community Ser
vice award is one of the most
valued. For, unlike others that
recognize individual achieve
ments, this award signifies
superior service to a community by
the entire staff, its correspondents
and those volunteers who provide
the tips, stories and pictures that
make a newspaper readable and
interesting.
And so this is an award that
belongs to the entire community,
for many of its members played a
vital role in helping produce a
newspaper that was deemed
worthy of being so honored. The
staff, therefore, gladly shares with
all of you the thrill of having your
hometown paper so signally
honored.
and culturally deprived.
Watching four very knowledge
able, and experienced, panel
members discuss the subject for
two hours on a recent TV program
bears out the contention that it is a
subject more given to emotional
than intellectual solutions. Both
proponents, and opponents, of
capital punishment yielded to
blatant emotionalism to prove their
points.
Is capital punishment a
deterrent to capital crimes? Does
society have the right to demand
retribution for crimes committed
against its members, even to the
taking of a human life?
Those are the questions that
remain unanswered and it would
seem that intellect, rather than
emotion, can best provide the
answers.
THE JACKSON PROGRESS-ARCUS, JACKSON, GEORGIA THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1977
The Last
Straw
BY
VINCENT JONES
Someone once defined
memory as the place where
our youth goes after its
death.
Be that as it may, the
faculty for instant recall is
one of man’s most keenly
honed senses and it takes so
very little to bring back the
past in acute detail.
Last week, notice was
carried in this paper and
other papers that on July 22,
1934. John Dillinger was shot
and killed by a number of
federal agents in Chicago.
The item had little import on
that half of the nation’s
population who didn’t know
who John Dillinger was,
although in 1934 he was the
country’s number one bank
robber and killer and headed
the newly-formed F.8.1.’s
want list.
But for the writer, and
several of his friends, the
story must have conjured up
a whole data bank of
memories. For we were in
Chicago at the time and
watched the same movie,
"Manhattan Melodrama”
that Dillinger saw before he
stepped out into a hail of
lead.
Not at the same theater,
but at one about eight blocks
away. The movie as we recall
starred Clarke Gable, Wil
liam Powell and Myrna Loy
and was an enthralling
down-to-earth drama about
tw o brothers, one a criminal,
the other a prosecuting
attorney.
It all began when the late
Dr. R. A. Franklin and Dad
got their heads together and
decided that the ladies and
the children should go to
Chicago to take in the
Chicago Exposition, or the
Century of Progress as it
was called.
After much debating and
weeks of planning, the
entourage set sail in two 1933
vintage, square-top autos
that were minus air condi
tioning (unheard of at the
time 1 and subject to numer
ous tire and engine malfunc
tions.
Doyle, w ho had just turned
eighteen, and Robert Frank
lin were to be the chief
drivers, given occasional
relief by Martha Franklin
and Mrs. C. B. Palmer, who
was the wife of a CCC officer
at the Jackson camp. Hiram
and the w riter were in charge
of the devilment and good
time section, while Mother
and Mrs. Franklin provided
the necessary coaching and
back seat advisory corps.
A stop at Mammoth Cave
on the way up gave the young
folks a thrill and the mothers
a scare until we all appeared
from the depths of the earth
to be greeted with 95-degree
heat and a • pean of
thanksgiving that we had
been spared.
As luck would have it, we
ran smack dab into the worst
heat wave that Indiana and
Illinois had experienced in
ages. Over 100-degree tem
peratures blistered the faces
of the drivers and handker
chiefs and scarves were
suspended from sun visors in
a futile attempt to hold out
the sun.
Thunderclouds boiled on
the distant horizon and
lightning zigzagged terror
into the hearts of the
mothers, who had never seen
such a pyrotechnic display in
so open a plain.
Chicago opened its homes
to visitors to the Exposition,
as hotel and motel chains as
we know them today were
non-existent. We stayed in a
modest home owned by a
Miss Wood who did her best
to keep us cool despite the
sweltering heat.
Riding to the Exposition on
Chicago’s elavated was quite
an experience and one the
mothers never looked for
ward to. The huge ferris
wheel, countless rides, edu
cational exhibits including
one bv Sally Rand and her
fans which the menfolk
attended, all left a group of
Georgia ruralites dumb
struck and starry eyed.
Coming from the theater
on our last night in Chicago,
A Stroll Down
Memory Lane |
NEWS OF 10 YEARS AGO
The Van Deventer Little
League All-Stars won the
Fourth District champion
ship with a 3 to 2 victory over
Griffin Friday night on the
Griffin diamond.
Eva Watson is displaying
Japanese Yard Long beans
that are actually a yard long.
Billy Turner, all-Southern
Conference defensive half
back while at Furman
University, has joined the U.
S. Army as a 2nd Lieutenant.
Susan Parker has won the
“Monkey's Uncle” Hunt
sponsored by WKEU, Griffin,
by finding a stuffed monkey
with about SIOO worth of
prizes.
Among the Jackson B&PW
Club members returning
from the national convention
in New York are Mrs.
Annadawn Edwards, Club
delegate; members, Miss
Dorothy Thomas, Mrs.
Gladys Wilson, Mrs. Ger
trude Wright, Mrs. Helen
Spencer, Mrs. Jane Powell
and non-members, N. A.
Powell and Miss Eloise
Beauchamp.
Martin Ridgeway was the
only Butts County 4-H Club
member attending the 4-H
Wildlife Camp at Camp
Washega.
Deaths during the week:
Mrs. Miller Ogletree, 63;
Mrs. Estelle Carmichael
MaLaier, 94.
NEWS OF 20 YEARS AGO
City Pharmacy will for
mally open its new store to
the public on August 2-3, with
a grand opening sale.
The Butts County Board of
Education announces the
election of Mrs. J. W. Proctor
to teach junior and senior
English and Miss Etta Lee
Branham, Home Economics.
Mr. and Mrs. J. R.
Carmichael entertained
Thursday evening at their
country home on Briarcliff
Road in honor of Mrs.
Charles Mitchell, of San
Diego. Calif., who is visiting
her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Victor Carmichael.
Grady Jackson, Jr. and
Scott Coleman will represent
Butts County at the Teen-Age
Traffic Safety Conference at
Middle Georgia College in
Cochran.
Linda Harrison will pre
sent her Butts County
championship Cotton and Its
Uses Project, junior division,
at Rock Eagle’s 4-H Club
Center.
A former pastor, the Rev.
W. C. Bowen, will conduct
revival services at Stark
Methodist Church.
NEWS OF 30 YEARS AGO
Miss Georgie Watkins told
Kiwanians Tuesday night
how extension work is
carried on in Rochester, N.
Y. by Cornell University.
Harvey J. Kennedy, mayor
of Barnesville, has been
appointed Superior Court
Judge of the Flint Circuit by
Gov. M E. Thompson.
The Jackson Exchange
Club, which received its
charter on July 24th, will
meet Thursday night at the
Buchanan Hotel.
A total of 26 applicants
stood the Civil Service test
for a rural route carrier at
the Jackson post office.
James Hilley, a student at
the Henry W. Grady School of
we were met with special
editions of the newspapers
hailing the death of the
much-sought-after Dillinger.
It was the kind of trip, and
experience, that every boy
not-quite-15 should have at
least once.
Journalism at the University
of Georgia, is spending his
internship this summer on
the Milledgeville Union-Re
corder.
Edwin Williams and James
Biles are representing the
Butts County Future Farm
ers of American chapter at
the state FFA camp on
Jackson Lake.
Deaths during the week;
Joel H. Harrison, 67; Miss
Emma Lou Childs.
NEWS OF 40 YEARS AGO
Miss Myrtie Lee McGoo
gan has been elected Butts
County Home Demonstration
agent.
M. O. McCord has been
named superintendent of the
Central Georgia Electric
Membership Corporation.
An interesting paper on
"The Indians of Georgia”
prepared by Eugene M.
Mitchell, father of Margaret
Mitchell, author of “Gone
With the Wind" was given at
the Butts County Historical
and Archaeological Society
Friday night.
On Monday evening Mr.
and Mrs. M. L. Powell
complimented their guests,
Misses Vonice Rich and Ruth
Colvin of Jesup, with an
enjoyable dance at Indian
Springs.
George E. Mallet, presi
dent of the Butts County
Game and Fish Conservation
Club, announces the receipt
of 40 quail from the state to
be stocked on Butts County
farms.
W. M. Meredith of Worth
ville reported the first open
cotton boll on July 31st.
Deaths during the week;
Mrs. Bertha McClure Smith,
NKWS OF 50 YEARS AGO
A school term for 1927-28 of
seven and one half months
was fixed by the Butts
County Board of Education
at its monthly meeting. This
is two weeks longer than the
present term of seven
months.
Boys and girls enrolled in
the County's agricultural
clubs held their annual picnic
Friday at Indian Springs.
Dr. R. A. Franklin,
member of the Georgia
House of Representatives,
has introduced a bill which
would provide $31,000 for
additions and improvements
at the state property at
Indian Springs.
Miss Juanita White, of
Tifton. has been elected as
head of the expression
department in the Jackson
public schools.
Quantities of bright garden
flowers and lovely music will
add beauty and enjoyment to
the prom party with which
Miss Ruth Maddox will
entertain on Friday evening
at the home of her parents,
Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Maddox,
Jr., on West Third Street.
Milton Compton will enter
tain about thirty-five guests
at a watermelon cutting
Thursday evening at his
home on Third Street.
Japanese lanterns will de
corate the porches and
lawns. Mrs. H. R. Slaton and
Miss Sara Slaton will assist
Mrs. Compton.
have a
nice weekend...
...be inconsistent
•V£.
fT] ‘Whatsoever
Things’
By Donald E. Wildmon
PROGRESS! ISN’T IT A WONDERFUL THING!
Progress! Isn’t it a wonderful thing!
For instance, abortion was once illegal except for
exceptional cases. But now—now we have progressed! In
more and more of our states abortion—for any reason at all —
is not only legal but encouraged! An abortion on an embryo of
eight months is quite legal and accepted now, and most
expecting women who do so have an abortion simply because
they don’t want the child! Maybe in the future >f the mother
decides shortly after the baby is born that she doesn’t want
it—the wrong sex, deformed, wrong color hair, ears too
red—she can simply send it to an incinerator to be burned.
And if you think that progress isn’t getting closer, just give us
time. Closer and closer we are coming to Hitler’s master
race. We are building what we fought to destroy. Progress!
Isn’t it a wonderful thing!
Or, again, see the progress in another area—freedom of
expression. Our progress has legalized pornography on the
newsstand and in the movie-while outlawing prayer and Bible
reading in public schools! Isn’t progress simply wonderful!
See it still on another front—this wonderful thing we call
progress. It has made the criminal socially respectable and
the Christian socially rejectable. We coddle the criminal and
condemn the Christian. Progress! Isn’t it simply wonderful!
There is also scientific progress. Man splits the atom!
And the first thing he does with his new knowledge is to make
a bomb to kill his fellowman. Progress! It is so fantastic it is
killing us!
We used to judge the rightness or the wrongness of a deed
by a Higher Power. Now we put it up to popular
vote—“everybody does it.” Progress is simply great!
We build sprawling cities of architectural beauty—mag
nificent things! But we do not bother to learn our neighbor’s
name. Isn’t progress simply grand!
We used to rest one day in seven—most of us. A few who
absolutely had to worked. Now that seventh day can hardly
be distinguished from the other six. More and more
businesses are opening to “serve” the people. What we did
call greed is now called service. Oh, this thing called
progress is simply the most!
There is still other evidence of our progress. We feel
sorry for the dope addict. We protect him, defend him,
provide him with some juice for his habit. And we chastise
the total abstainer for being non-social. Progress! How do we
manage to get so much of it!
We raise our prices so we can cut them when we put our
products on sale. We run the speedometer mileage indicator
to sell the car. What we once called unethical business
practices we .now call good business procedures. Isn’t
progress simply and truly wonderful
In the Church folks used to have to give evidence that
they should be admitted. Now the Church officials won’t let
them out. Progress! How great it is!
Progress is getting to be so great and grand that one
wonders how long we will be able to stand it.
A forest fire
Starting one
is a crime.
The penalties for starting a forest fire
range from a fine to imprisonment.
Or both.
ESS A Public Service of This Newspaper & The Advertising Council
ruth at random
By Ruth Bryant
THEN AND NOW
I used to think when I was young
And never ill at ease
It seemed I had a rabbit foot
So always I could please!
But now that I am . getting old
My rabbit foot has gone
And though I can’t please everyone
I still must linger on!
And now I pray for strength and love
To please my precious Lord
As earnestly I seek His will
And read His Holy Word!