Newspaper Page Text
CAIRO, GEORGIA
The Best City of Its
Size In the Entire
United States
(1.50-S2 A YEAR. IN ADVANCE.
VOLUME XLVII.
Victory Near On
Electric Rates
Reduction Is Due,
Ga. Commission
Reveals
Victory is assured and near in
long fight to bring electric rates
a South Georgia
in 22 extreme
counties down to a level with
those of the remainedr of Geor
gia, City of Cairo and Chamber
of Commerce officials said this
meek.
Walter R .McDonald, of the
Georgia Public Service Commis¬
sion, revealed Saturday in a pub¬
lished statement that the Feder¬
al Power Commission has effect¬
ed an agreement between Georgia
Power & Light Co., serving Cairo
and Whigham, and most of the
other municipalities across the
edge of the state, and its parent
concern, Florida Power Corpor¬
ation, which will settle issues be¬
tween the two developed by a
lengthy FPC investigation, and
which will lay the foundation
for further rate reductions to cus¬
tomers of the Georgia company.
The FPC hearing, postponed sev¬
eral times while the settlement
was in negotiation, and last set
to begin this week, has now been
called off.
Mr. McDonald said the extent
of the rate reduction to customers
of Georgia Power & Light Co. had
not yet been determined but that
it would be announced shortly.
It is understood that the basis for
the reduction will be increased
income of the Georgia company
resulting from certain regular
payments to its parent concern
which the FPC investigation
found proper.
A notable adjustment last year
which benefitted customers of the
Georgia company, and a new
hook-up between it and Georgia
Power Company whereby addi¬
tional power resources became
available to this area, also result¬
ed from this effort.
The Chamber of Commerce
here, which has been prominent
in this rate fight for three years,
hailed the FPC settlement and
the assurance of an additional re¬
duction in rates as a major vic¬
tory for the entire 22 -county area
"because it will remove another
major barrier to industrial de¬
velopment of the area.” Hereto¬
fore, the greater part of Georgia
served by Georgia Power Co. has
enjoyed electric rates some lower
than those in the area served by
Georgia Power & Light Co., it
pointed out, but now the entire
state will be on a virtual equality,
it was stated, and the vast power
resources of Georgia Power Co.
will now become available to this
extreme South Georgia area, in
addition.
The Chamber of Commerce here
spurred the rate reduction fight
several times when continuation
w as about to become a victim of
discouragment, officials re
counted. They not only worked
actively with City of Cairo offici¬
al an< d those of other municipali¬
ses, but remained in close con
tact with attaches of FPC on de¬
velopments. Mayor Ed Mathis,
°‘ abiding Valdosta, also manifested an I
interest and the munici¬
palities engaged J. B. Copeland,
* Valdosta attorney, to handle
atter Phases of the proceedings.
ae latter this week expressed
' s appreciation to the Chamber
0 Commerce here for its splendid
°' c * former City Manager Adron
Rosser and former Councilman
Albert Walker devoted much
Ime to the effort in 1947 and
1948 .
/S gt. Ronald Shores and Jack
„ ,
p'j 1 a -- er spent > °f Elgin Sunday Air here Force guests Base,
as
^ formers’ parents, Mr. and
W. C. Shores.
v. • • *
* r - and Mrs. George Cannon,
eorgene and Scotti, of Tallahas
et . Fia., spent the weekend here
Wlth homefolks.
(fount
The Official Organ of Grady County.
“The man who wandereth out of the way of advertising shall remain in the congregation of the dead."
TWELVE PAGES
Rofanans Hear
b. E. George
Guests Include
WGRA Officials
County Agent S. E. George de¬
livered the guest address at the
weekly Rotary luncheon Wed¬
nesday in the Citizens Cafe. He
was introduced by President of
the Club, Fred Roddenbery, who
presided.
W. C. Woodall, Jr., of Dawson,
owner of the local radio station
WGRA, and Jim Honey, station
manager, made short talks about
the opening of the station and its
good reception in preliminary
tests.
■Mr. George gave a report on his
recent trip to the National Juni¬
or Vegetable Growers’ Associa¬
tion in Washington, D. C. He hiad
interesting comments to make on
the difference there in growing
and grading produce, and found
up there a variety of bunch beans
being grown, which he will try
to adapt here in Grady County
this year. The rest of the trip,
he said, was taken up with sight¬
seeing which proved of value in
comparing the different wtays of
farming.
iFrankie Maxwell and Thomas
Barley, seniors from the Cairo
High School were guests of the
club.
Other guests included W. C.
Woodall, Jr., of Dawson, Rev.
Shannon Hallaway, Rotarian of
Pelham, Kenneth Flynt, Station
Director WGRA of Cairo, O. L.
Gee of Dawson, Rotarian G. N.
Guest and R. W. Wheeler of Bain
bridge.
Rotary Sponsors
Glee Club Here
Emory-Valdosta
Singers In Cairo
February 14th -
It was announced this week by
the Cairo Rotary Club that they
would sponsor the appearance in
Cairo of the Emory-Valdosta Glee
Club on Tuesday evening, Feb¬
ruary 14th, at 8:00 p. m.
This Glee Club, composed of
40 young men plus a guest so
prano, has made an enviable
reputation as being the “South’s
Most Entertaining” Club. Last
season the young men gave
twenty performanes in Georgia,
Florida, Alabama and Mississippi,
climaxing their tour with a visit
to New Orleans. During the sea
son before that, the Glee Club
toured south Florida and gave
two concerts in Havana, Cuba. At
the end of the present season, in
June, the Club expects to repeat
the tour to Cuba.
The group is directed by James
Dasher, outstanding Georgia mu¬
sician and composer. Mr. Dasher,
who is also organist and choir de¬
rector of a large Valdosta church,
has a dozen published composi¬
tions listed in the catalogue of
six publishing houses.
As guest artist, the Cairo pub¬
lic will hear Mary Burnett, pos
sessor of a beautiful lyric soprano
voice. Other features of the pro¬
gram will include the Quartet,
composed of Bobby Morgan of
Graymount, Hamp Watson, of
Baxley, Jack May, of Columbus,
and Jack Kelly, of Thomasvile,
in popular and novelty numbers.
Another guest artist will be Mad
ame Letta Phawlova, who appears
in a novelty dance.
The performance in Cairo will
be of unusual interest because of
three local boys who are mem
bers of the Glee Club. They are
John LeGette, Billy Oliver and
Lloyd Herring.
An advance ticket sale will be
conducted one week before the
concert, and the Rotary commit¬
tee will announce prices in a few
days. The Rotary Club asks that
you reserve the 14th and attend
this performance of two hours of
music and fun.
CAIRO, GRADY COUNTY. GA. FRIDAY, JANUARY 27. 1950.
p 0 tafo Bad Not
Lifted Here
Quarantine For
Weevils Still
In Force
Local agencies this week re¬
ceived from state and Federal
entomologists Grady county maps
showing the 1950 sweet potato
weevil quarantine areas designat¬
ed thus far with emphatic word
that the extensive ban caused by
this menacing pest continues in
effect here and in 13 other South
Georgia counties.
Encouraging progress has been
made in freeing some previously
infested areas of the weevils—
but new infestations brought in
from Florida and Louisiana,
and a second successive very mild
winter, provide ominous signs for
the future of this potentially
great sweet potato industry in
South Georgia.
Officials said the under-manned
staff engaged in the effort to
stamp out the infestations have
been unable, somewhat because of
the warm weather, to determine
the location of all infestations and
urged farmers to bear with them
in the continuing effort with the
assurance that the staff is doing
everything in its power to stamp
out the menace in the shortest
possible time.
They stated that quarantine
regulations have minimized the
development of new infestations
in quarantine areas but that in¬
fested potatoes and plants from
Florida, particularly South Flori¬
da, and infested potatoes from
Louisiana, continue to come into
Georgia to spread the infestations
to new areas, which almost en¬
tirely accounts for the addition of
several counties to the list for
this year. In addition to Grady,
most of the infestations now are
in Dougherty, Coffee, Ben Hill,
Mitchell, Seminole and Thomas
’ counties, it is said.
In Grady county, the maps, on
display at the office of County
Agent S. E. George in the Court¬
house and at the Chamber of
Commerce office in the City Hall,
show 28 officially-listed infested
farms as of Jan. 20th against only
19 last year. However, all the
new farms listed except three are
in the heavily-infested northeas
ern quarter of the county, which
adjoins heavily-infesetd areas in
Mitchell and Thomas counties.
The three new infested farms out¬
side this area in the county are
between Calvary and the Geor
gia-Florida line, where infesta¬
tions were traced to Florida. The
28 designated farms and others
that may be added as checks con¬
tinue, and an area of one mile
around each, are under strict
quarantine and attempted pro¬
duction of sweet potatoes in the
areas will be in violation of state
and Federal laws. Cairo proper,
and one mile around, also con¬
tinues under strict quarantine,
with production of sweet optatoes
this year prohibited. The live
infestations north of Whigham
last year have been stamped out,
apparently, and Whigham is not
under the ban. However, the
movement of sweet potatoes and
plants in and out of the county,
otherwise, is restricted.
Sweet potatoes found in the
quarantine areas are subject to
confiscation to be burned and
large quantities of infested pota¬
toes have been found and destroy¬
ed recently in wholesale houses
and elsewhere in Valdosta, Al¬
bany and other cities. The in¬
festations were traced to Florida
and Louisiana, it was stated. *
Entolomogists also reminded
the morning glories are domestic
host plants for the dread weevils
and that live infestatilons can be
maintained among these vines un¬
less they are destroyed.
The officials said efforts are be¬
ing made to personaly advise
every farmer in the prohibited
(Continued on last page)
Ranger Chosen
For County
Jesse Maxwell
Starts Feb. 1
Jesse Walter Maxwell, a resi¬
dent of the Pine Level communi¬
ty of Grady county, north of
Cairo, was this week appointed
Wildlife Ranger for Grady coun¬
ty, his service to begin next Wed¬
nesday, Feb. 1st.
Appointment was made by J. C.
Calhoun, director of the Georgia
Game and Wildlife Commission.
■His duties will be to promote the
development and conservation of
the county’s wildlife resources, it
was stated.
Grady county has now been
without a Wildlife Ranger for
some time.
City Council
Met Monday
Fire Protection Is
Proposed For Areas
Outside City
The Mayor and City Council
met in regular session Monday
night with all members present,
and for the most part dealt with
routine matters pertaining to the
City’s business.
Under discussion at this meet¬
ing was the problem of the City
Fire Department furnishing pro¬
tection and answering calls to
fires outside the city limits. Dur¬
ing the last year, the City fire
trucks made 13 calls outside the
city. It has been the policy to
merely ask the person who called
the trucks out to pay whatever
he thought the protection was
worth. But these 13 calls outside
the city last year, some of which
were not general alarms, result¬
ed in only one $25 contribution
being paid to the Treasury.
The policy followed in nearby
towns is to charge a flat »registra¬
tion fee of all those outside city
limits who wanted the protection
of the city fire department. Al¬
though the Council took no ac¬
tion on it, this plan is the one
most likely to be adopted at the
next meeting of the Council. The
registration fee would be some¬
thing like $10 per year for resi¬
dences, including barns and out¬
houses, and possiibly a little high¬
er fee for businesses or industrial
concerns. This additional revenue
would go into the Fire Depart¬
ment to improve services, and
perhaps, if warranted, to employ
an additional fireman.
It was pointed out that this ad¬
ditional fire protection for ad¬
joining areas would reduce the
fire insurance rates for those
within five miles of the city
limits. For those farther than
five miles, the fire insurance
companies do not consider the
protectiin adequate or of much
value.
Plans were projected at this
meeting for about two miles of
additional paving to be done this
summer. It was also revealed
that the new city water tank had
now been in use since Tuesday
Jan. 17th.
In order to bring the city’s
voting list up to date, the pos¬
sibility of a city-wide re-regis¬
tration of its voters has been un¬
der consderation for some time.
This move is likely to be made
at the next regular meeting of
the Council, it was agreed.
Contrary to the State Re-reg¬
istration law, however, city offi¬
cials pointed out that the city
re-registration would <be a re¬
latively simple matter, seeking
not to bar anyone from voting
but merely to revise the list up to
date, and eliminate the deceased
and those who had moved away.
The requirements would be that
voters be 18 years old, that they
have resided in the city for six
months and in the state for one
year. To re-register, one would
merely sign his name.
TWELVE PAGES
J ax Equilizdtion
Chamber Goal
Group Authorized
To "Adjust' 1 Co.
Tax Digest
The first regular meeting of the
board of directors of the Cham¬
ber of Commerec as reconstituted
for the new year, held last Tues¬
day night, with President John
H. Faulk, Jr. presiding, unanim¬
ously supported authorization of
a “special county tax equalization
committee” the duty of which it
will be to actively seek, begin¬
ning immediately, “revamping of
the Grady county property tax
digest this year to more truly
equalize returns on a sound and
uniform basis in line with the
general level of other counties.”
President Faulk said the com¬
mittee will be named shortly.
In the discussion, it developed
that there has been a marked lack
of uniformity in the basis of mak¬
ing returns here and in other
counties of the area for the past
several years, or since the effort
was made to increase the digest
to channel more money into the
schools funds. Speakers said
present practices and trends are
proving most hurtful to the coun¬
ty and that they will prove ruin¬
ous unless checked. Some said
the incentive to own and improve
property in the county is being
destroyed.
President Faulk, as the meeting
opened, welcomed the new di¬
rectors. He said the monthly
meetings of directors will be held,
insofar as possible, on the fourth
Tuesday night in each month, the
regular time for 25 years, unless
noon luncheon meetings should be
decided on; and that they would
begin on time and he adjourned
promptly in an hour and one
half, for anyone to leave, but
that longer discussions would
continue as desired.
He asked Chamber Mgr. Louis
A. Powell for a statement on goals
for 1950 and Mgr. Powell remind¬
ed the directors of the great im¬
portance of their responsibilities
and opportunities in shaping
Chamber policies and leading the
county in developemnt activities
during the year. He emphasized
that the interest of Chamber
members, generally, should be
continuing and that progress dur¬
ing the year will be determined
more largely by the extent of
this interest and activity than by
any other factor. The Chamber is
not a one or two man organization
but one in which the entire mem¬
bership has basic responsibilities
for progress, with the organiza¬
tion as a frame-work through
which all may affiliate themselves
for collective and concerted ac¬
tion, he said.
The Chamber’s 1949-50 Pro¬
gram of Work was then taken up
and reviewed. It was found that
of a total of 62 specific objectives
set up and revealed in The Mes¬
senger a year ago nearly 30 have
been definitely achieved during
the past year, with substantial
progress on a number of other
goals, and no progress at all on
only 12. County tax equalization
(Continue on page seven)
Lemons Down
The price of lemons look a
nose-dive this week, dropping
to half of the advertised price
a week ago.
Last week Curtis Super Mar¬
ket advertised lemons for 95
cents a dozen. They were no
American-grown lemons to be
had; those available came
from Italy. You could buy
them at that price, if you
could find them at alL
This week the California
crop started coming in, and ac¬
cording to Curtis' ad in this
issue, you can now buy them
for 40 cents a dozen.
Hog Market
Is Higher
No. Is Increase
To 15.95c Lb. *
Hog prices advanced again at
Tuesday’s local livestock auction
sale, E. B. Hambrick, the manag¬
er, reported. No. 1 hogs advanc¬
ed to 15.95c a pound, up 45 points
from last week. No. 2s sold for
15.10c a pound.
Feeder pigs were offered in
volume at good demand and sold
up to 16c a pound. Hogs were
also in volume, again.
Cattle prices continued steady
and unchanged.
Colquitt Plays
Locals Tonight
Pensacola Triumphs
94-27; Cairo Beats
Whigham Tuesday
In two hard-fought games here
last Friday night with Quincy,
the Cairo basketball teams took
one game and lost the other one.
Coach J. P. Miller’s Varsity
squad trampled over the Quincy
Five with a final score of 47-38.
Quincy’s B team beat Cairo 42-7.
In the varsity game, Cairo’s
high point man was Dozer with
17 points, Perkins took 10, Mil¬
ler 8 , Frazier 6 , Harold 4 and
Courtney and Whidden 2 points
each. The whole squad had an
opportunity to play a part of the
game, and each gave a good ac-'
count of himself on the court.
Quincy’s high man was Butler
with 12 points; Moore nested 9,
Glisson 6 , Oliva and Willis 5
points each.
From the starting whistle Cairo
kept the lead on Quincy, and the
half-time signal saw a 24-,14
lead. The Quincy Five played a
good game, but never seriously
threatened the local boys.
Cairo vs. Peasacola
Last Saturday night Cairo’s va
risity team traveled all the way
to Pensacola, Fla., to meet their
Waterloo. Pensacola High, prov¬
ing too much for the local team,
handed them a 94-27 setback.
Dozier was top scorer for Cairo,
netting 10 points, while Rich for
Pensacola put 21 points through
the hoop. The less said about this |
game the better for all concern
ed.
Cairo _ . Defeats _ , . Whigham ,
Cairo’s . , luck , , changed , , last , , m Tues
day night ® when both boys and
.. . ., .. ,
f n s ea e a ^ 1 e ^ am
teams with sate margins. . Boys ,
fmal score showed a 51-27 vie
tory, while the Girls defeated
higham - . j
In the boys game Perkins was
high scorer high with 12 pointsi Ulmer andj
Whigham s man was
also with 12 points. At the first
quarter, Whi,gham was holding
the Cairo boys to an 8-8 tie. The
half-time score showed Cairo had
edged ahead by only one point
16-15. At the third period, the
local boys had increased this to a
31-23 lead, going on to finish the
game with the 51-27 triumph.
Play Colquitt Tonight
The local teams will meet Col
quitt here at 7:30 Friday (to¬
night). When Cairo played the
Colquitt team on their home
grounds, it was a close and hard
fought game all the way, finally
ending in a close 32-29 victory
for the Syrupmakers. The games
tonight promises local fans two
good contests, and is extected to j
be well-attended.
There will be a preliminary
game starting at 6:30 between the; (
Northside and Southside boys, |
which may prove as interesting’
as the main feature.
Mrs. George P. Hofmann ex¬
pects to leave today, Friday, for
her home in Cincinnati, O., after
spending several weeks here with
her parents, Dr. and Mrs. T. J.
Butt.
GRADY COUNTY
Greatest Diversified
Farming I Section
In America
SINGLE COPIES, 5 CENTi
NUMBER 3.
Radio Station's
Opening Feb. 1
Test Broadcasting
Brings Flood Of
Good Reports
Cairo’s new Radio Station
WGRA is scheduled to begin reg¬
ular daily broadcasting service
next Wednesday, Feb. 1st, bar¬
ring some unforeseen difficulty,
Jim Honey, the station manager,
said this week.
He stated that equipment test*
broadcasts for several nights, from
1 to 6 a. m., had been completed,
with gratifying reports on good
reception at long distances; that
the Federal Communications
Commission inspector and the
engineers had made their final
inspections and found everything
ready; and that only a few small
pieces of equipment are lacking,
insofar as the facilities are con¬
cerned.
In addition to Mr. Honey as
manager, Royce Jones, an exper¬
ienced and widely-known ac
nouncer, will be chief announcer;
and W. C. Woodall, Jr. will be bus¬
iness manager. The complete
staff will be announced next
week.
1300 Kilocycles, 1000 Watts
The station is on 1300 kilo¬
cycles, 1,000 watts power, daytime
only. Stations of this power are
restricted to daytime operations
for the present. Officials of
Grady-Mitchell Boradcasting Co.,
Inc., the owners of the station,
said expansion of services will
be made as conditions warrant;
and that a network affiliation can
be established later if it is found
mofe desirable, everything con¬
sidered, than independent opera¬
tions. The station will have a
number of network features from
time to time, along with live
broadcasts of outstanding news
and entertainment programs, lo¬
cal, state and national.
All of the station equipment is
new and of the most modern de¬
sign. The studio building is not
only very attractive but complete
in every detail to fully meet the
needs. Two telephones, both with
extensions, and a United Press
news teletype circuit serve the
station, the phone number being
439. The studio and transmitter
are situated just outside the
northwestern city limits on the
Whigham highway.
Test Broadcasts.
WGRA actually went on the air
first about 1 a. m. last Friday
when , the ,, equipment , test , , , broad
.. tarted
f g „
Immediately, from . over a wide
area, long distance telephone calls
and mail b in
evidenci the splendid receplion
whicb , he slation brought about .
Some adjustments were made in
the equipment but almost with _
out exception excellent reception
was reported from far and near
First reports were from Miami>
Chattanoogaj Maryville, Tenn.
and Baton Roug6j La and nearer
points As the night broadcasts
continued> howeveri the range of
the station widenedi finally to
th Pa ifi „ oast
A Miami man called to state
that the reC e P tion was so good
he thought WG RA must be a new
50>0 00-watt station. To prove it,
he got his phone and receiving set
together close enough for Mr.
Honey here to hear the broadcast
relayed clearly over the 1,000
mile round-trip.
Chamber Has Gifts.
Announcers on the test broad
,, 35 ^ through the co-operation of
tbe j oca i Chamber of Commerce,
gave listeners all over the nation
the complete story about Cairo
and Grady county—historical and
otherwise,
In some of the broadcasts, it
was announced that the Chamber
of Commerce would send a case
of Cairo pickles to the first per¬
son calling from the farest point.
Another time some pure Georgia
cane syrup was offered. Later
(Continued on last page)