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Thursday, July 10, 1969
Director Burson Tells Kiwanians About Family & Children Services
State Director of Family &
Children Services Bill Burson
was the speaker at the regular
weekly meeting of the Covington
Kiwanis Club on Thursday of
last week.
The public welfare director
told the Kiwanians about the many
services and operation of the
F&CS in Georgia.
A portion of his interesting
speech is printed below:
I always welcome the oppor
tunity to come before the lead
ers of a community and discuss
the programs and problems of
public welfare with them. This
business of providing family and
children services in a State the
size of Georgia is big business
and, to be effective and success
ful, it must have the interest,
support and participation of con
cerned and involved citizens like
you, as Kiwanians, have proved
yourselves to be.
A good place to begin, I think,
is with the welfare program here
in Newton County. And I am de
lighted to tell you it is an ex
cellent one.
In Miss Rebecca Pennington,
your County Director, you have
one of our State’s best welfare
administrators. Your County
Staff is able and dedicated and
your County Board of Family
and Children Services is con
cerned and conscientious.
Under Miss Pennington’s dir
ection, your program is pro
viding assistance for 1,429 citi
zens who cannot provide for
themselves. That number in
cludes 502 aged persons, ten
blind individuals, 166 disabled
citizens and 575 children and
176 adults in 192 families with
dependent children.
This represents a monthly wel
fare payroll here in Newton Cou
nty of almost $54-thousand of
which 78 per cent comes from
the taxes you pay to the Federal
Government, 18 per cent from the
taxes you pay to the State Gov
ernment and four per cent from
the taxes you pay to your County
Government.
In addition, Newton County vol
untarily has accepted its res
ponsibility to see that the hungry
are fed by undertaking a Com
modity Distribution Program fi
nanced through the office of Eco
nomic Opportunity. According
to figures for the month of May,
your program is providing assis
tance for 1,015 persons (includ
ing 557 welfare clients and 1,015
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State Bank No. 6U-123>
Form Mp (But*)—Rovteod January. IMB
PUBLISHER'S COPY
„ wx J u . BANK OF MANSFIELD
Consolidated Report of Condition ot
o f Mansfield, j n t h e State of Georgia and Domestic Subsidiaries at the close of
business on June 30 » 1969 .
Dollars Cts.
ASSETS
1. Caah and due (torn banks (indudinj I unposted debits) 3X4 63 2
2. U.S. Treasury securities C^o 606 25 3
3. Securities of other U.S. Government agencies and corporations none 4
4. Obligations of Stales and political subdivisions l
5. Other securities (including S corporate stock.) 6
6. Trading account securities rhr« i ;
7. Federal funds sold and securities purchased under agreements to resell 842 221 US 8
8. Other loans ... 5 006 00 9
9. Bank premises, furniture and fixtures, and other assets representing bank premises nom 1 10
10. Real estate owned other than bank premises 00710 11
11. Investments in subsidiaries not consolidated nnm > 12
12. Customer’s liability to this bank on acceptances outstanding 6 DOO QQ 13
13. Other assets 1 6UI 439 Os 14
14 TOTAL ASSETS
LIABILITIES 462 633 22 15
15. Demand deposits ot individuals, partnerships, and corporations g-T LTr Cq .„
16. Time and savings deposits of individuals, partnerships, and corporations J7
17. Deposits of United States Government ? |, q oqQ hq lg
18. Depoeits of States end political subdivisions non J 19
19. Deposits of foreign governments and official institutions 7)00 1 20
20. Deposits of commercial banka 602 21
21. Certified and officers’ checks, etc. e l 1ih6.1118.97 xxx xxx xxx xx 22
22. TOTAL DEPOSITS • ’ 636 j Oif? ‘6? m xxx xxx xx (a)
(a) Total demand deposits , 810.101.~35 _ xxx xxx xxx xx (b)
(b) Total time and savings deposits • — r non) 23
23. Federal funds purchased and securities sold under agreements to repurchase
24. Other liabilities for borrowed money non S 2 5
25. Mortgage indebtedness non 3 26
26. Acceptances executed by or for account of this bank and outstanding & QQQ QQ 27
27. Other liabilities 3 Il|n 97 28
29 MINORITY^NTEMST IN CONSOLIDATED SUBSIDIARIES 110110 I— 29
RESERVES ON LOANS AND SECURITIES nonb
30. Reserve for bad debt losses on loans (set up pursuant to Internal Revenue Service rulings) ; , 5 g]
31. Other reserves on loam HOU B 32
32. Reserves on securities Wifi 33
33. TOTAL RESERVES ON LOANS AND SECURITIES
CAFITAI ACCOUNTS nono *
34. Capital notes and debentures
specify interest rate and maturity of each issue outstanding) no^p 35
35. Equity capital, total 1 | nOTIB 36
36 Preferred stock-total par value
(No. shares outstanding 1 ! 24 QQO 00 37
37. Common stock-total par value.- 1 1
(No. aharm authorised— ) (No. ah.r-ouuunding ) 38
38. Surplus 6U 390 70 39
39. Undivided profits 1 40
40 Reserve for contingencies and other capital reservee 390 7Q !41
41 TOTAL CAPITAL ACCOUNTS < 1 651 339! 67 42
42. TOTAL LIABILITIES. RESERVES, AND CAPITAL ACCOUNTS - '
, M. 0. Campbe 11, Cashier .°f ofcow-um-d | »/ co«wum
IS In— and correct, to the bat of mt tcnowMfe arui belief / f / / /'/}//
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state of Georgi®. , County of Newton .m
.mark -ARK FOR Swon. to and embark before - Me ’
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(Best Coverage: News, Pictures, and Features)
other needy individuals) who ot
herwise would not be getting
enough to eat.
Gentlemen, you can be justly
proud of what is being done here
in your County. These things
prove that you do care about
helping the less fortunate and
that your County Commission
ers are fully discharging their
responsibility to provide for the
general welfare.
But even with the good job
that is being done with the tools
at hand, I am sure you feel as
do I that it could be done better.
In fact, of all the conclusions
I have reached during my hectic
and, I regret, sometimes con
troversial tenure as State Wel
fare Director, the most profound
is there must be a better way
than what we are doing now to
provide for people who cannot
provide for themselves — es
pecially small children.
I think the most damning in
dictment of our affluent society
today is that we still have child
ren among us who are hungry
and are not provided enough to
eat; that we still have children
among us who are sick and handi
capped and are not given the
medical help and attention they
need; and that we still have child
ren among us who are culturally
and educationally deprived and
are not educated, motivated and
given the opportunity to grow up
with the will and capacity to
earn better lives for themselves.
We have had welfare programs
in this country for 35 years
now. And during all those years
the basis of those programs has
been the monthly dole —a dole
that never has been more than
enough to keep body and soul
together.
It has been a year now since
we raised benefits in Georgia
for needy adults — and the re
cent State Legislature refused
to appropriate funds for an in
crease next year. And the in
crease we made in payments to
dependent children on July 1
was the first in two years.
Each of those increases was
for $2 per month each and when
the adjustment for children was
made, our maximum welfare pay
ments in Georgia became SB2
per month for the needy adult
and $164 per month for families
with dependent children.
But don’t be fooled by those
because they are maximum pay
ments and they go only to the
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BILL BURSON (front center), Director of The State Department of Family and Children Services, was
the guest speaker Thursday at the Covington Kiwanis Club meeting at the Teen Can. Flanking Director
Burson are Miss Rebecca Pennington (left), Director of Newton County Family and Children Services;
and Mrs. Herbert Duke, Newton County Staff Member. Standing in the back are: Ed Robinson, Kiwanis
Program Chairman; and Kiwanis President Bond Fleming.
very few. The averages are
much less.
For example, here in Newton
County — where you have an ex
cellent program and this is no
disparagement of it because the
same situation is true through
out Georgia -- last month the
average welfare check to an aged
person was $49.51; to a blind
person, $55.90; to a disabled
person, $58.70; and to a family
with dependent children, $95.75,
which figures out to an average
of $24.48 per child.
The War on Hunger is being
won. The Medicaid Program
has been initiated and is work
ing well. We have gotten child
ren in trouble out of the common
jails. We have begun a multi
facted Work Incentive Program
to get those few able-bodied per
sons on the welfare rolls — mot
hers and their teen-age children
who have dropped out of school
— trained and meaningfully em
ployed. We are enlisting the aid
of volunteers in the solution of
welfare problems and are hiring
some welfare clients help us
help others of the poverty group.
And we have been able, on our
own steam, to make a significant
beginning toward solving the
problem of unwanted births.
Suffice it to say at this point
that they represent only a small
fraction of what we should and
would like to do. And you can
be assured that we in our De
partment are not going to rest
until we have moved on all as
pects of those five welfare pre
mises I outlined.
It is clear to me, whether
it yet is apparent to the gen
eral public or not, that we have
turned a corner in our approach
to welfare in this country. We
now have a new emphasis and it
is one that is where it should
THE COVINGTON NEWS
have been all along — on re
habilitation of adults where pos
sible and, in all cases, on edu
cation of the young to break this
welfare cycle which has plagued
and cost our society so much
for so long now.
Our goal in the Department
of Family and Children Services
is to put Georgia in a position
of national leadership in this
new welfare approach. And it
is my strong belief that with
Wishbone
Fried Chicken
Store
Grand Opening.
Wishbone is opening its new
Covington take-out store at West
Usher at Emory.
Come on over Saturday and
hear a Country and Western Band
from noon till 6:00 P.M.
And take advantage of
Wishbone’s Special SI.OO Chicken
Dinner plus a free Coke.
Offer good all day Saturday.
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imagination, innovation and hard
work on our part — if it is
backed up by financial support
from our State Legislature and,
most important of all, the moral
support of State and Community
Leaders and Opinion-Makers like
you — we can succeed over a
period of time in halting this
upward welfare trend and in cur
ing hard-core poverty here in
Georgia.
I have considerable more pre
pared remarks about welfare and
our hopes and plans here, but
in view of the fact that tomorrow
is Independence Day, I decided
this morning that I would dls
gress at this point and address
myself briefly to a corollary
which is related and, I believe,
pertinent to our subject.
As you know I have encoun
tered many critics since tak
ing this job and trying to do
more with it than warm a chair
and endorse two salary checks
a month.
But those critics who disturb
me the most are those who de
nounce their government and
their leaders with shocking bit
terness and vehemence.
As I have said before, I some
times am tempted to call them
"Uptown Klansmen” and "But
ton-Down Rednecks” because I
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regard them with a contempt
greater than that I hold for their
rural counterparts because they
know better.
While I do not agree with all
the policies of our government
or with all the actions of our
leaders, I want to make it clear
beyond misunderstanding that I
am proud to be an American
and thankful for the freedom
and blessings my citizenship af
fords me.
If I viewed the future as bl
eakly as do many men today, I
think I would go out and shoot
myself.
I am not one of those who be
lieves the American Dream is
dead.
I am not one of those who
believes our country is doomed.
I am not one of those who
sees a communist plot behind
every change in the status quo.
I am not one of those who be
lieves this great land affords
no opportunity for our children
and the generations to follow
them.
To the contrary, I believe we
are on the threshold of achiev
ing at long last for all Americans
the opportunity our founding fat
hers sought for themselves and
sought to perpetuate for all who
followed In their footsteps.
But I say to you, Gentlemen
of this Kiwanis Club, that even
if we do not succeed in achiev
ing that for everyone right now
that is no reason for us to re
ject the goal or to refuse to
continue to strive to achieve It.
What I am trying to say I
think was best expressed by the
late, great poet and historian,
Carl Sandburg, when he wrote:
“I see America, not in the
setting sun of a black night
of despair ahead of us.
"I see America in the crim
son light of a rising sun
fresh from the burning, cre
ative hand of God.
"I see great days ahead, great
days possible to men and
women of will and vision.”
That is the kind of future to
ward which I wish my efforts
to be directed and I am confid
ent so do you of the Covington
Kiwanis Club.
That is the kind of future for
which all the brave men of this
nation have fought with pride
and died with honor since our
Independence was won.
That is the kind of future to
ward which I believe it is ap
propriate that we redirect and
rededlcate ourselves on the great
national holiday of tomorrow —
Independence Day, 1969.
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