Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by the City of Covington, with additional funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services through Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and generous donations from Dr. Thomas Crews and Dr. R. Steven Whatley.
Newspaper Page Text
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Volume 110 No. 102
Shades of King Arthur!
What appears to be a scene straight out of medieval history is ac
tually a demonstration at NCCHS earlier this week by the Society
of Creative Anachronism, a group from Decatur. The Society
enacted scenes from the past before several groups of English
Literature students at the high school. (See inside story Photo
by Steve Cowan |
Time change Sunday
Sunday, Oct. 31, marks the end of Eastern Daylight
Time and the reinstatement of Eastern Standard Time
for Georgia and much of the eastern U.S.
Newton County residents are reminded to turn their
clocks back one hour before going to bed Saturday
night The time change officially takes place at 2 a.m.
Sunday.
More car buying in Newton
Residents of Newton County
have been purchasing new cars at
a faster clip in the last two years
or so, a national survey shows.
The evidence is to be seen in
the number of shiny late models
in the area and in the mounting
registration figures.
The car-buying surge, attributed
to rising incomes and to the
general improvement in the
economy, has brought the local
automobile population to a high
level, 16,350. It has also increas
ed the number of families sport
ing two or more cars in their
Funds applied for
school improvement
Applications submitted by the
Newton County Board of Educa
tion for federal funds to improve
two schools were discussed by
Superintendent Frank Cloer when
the board met in regular session
Oct. 25 in the Board of Educa
tion building.
If approved, the school system
would receive $950,000 for
physical improvement of Palmer
stone Elementary School in
Oxford and $500,000 tor im
provements at Cousins Middle
School, also in Oxford.
The money would come from
federal funds available to public
agencies through the Local Public
Works Capital Development and
Investment Act administered by
the Economic Development Ad-
8 Pages
driveways. Conversely, the
number of families without cars
is smaller than ever.
The facts and figures on car
ownership and distribution
throughout the United States are
contained in statistics from the
Department of Commerce, the
Motor Vehicle Manufacturers
Association and others.
They show that car ownership
in Newton County, as of the be
ginning of this year, reached the
level of 167 cars per 100 local
families.
It was a bigger ratio than was
ministration ot the Department of
Commerce.
Superintendent Cloer also an
nounced that an application for
$60,000 has been filed with the
Department of Highway Safety to
fund a driver education program
at Newton County Comprehensive
High School.
He said officials of the depart
ment recently visited the system
and Cloer was optimistic concern
ing the funding of the project
and the implementation of driver
education in the high school cur
riculum before the end of the
school year.
Also discussed was submission of
applications for accreditation of
(Please turn to page 4A)
/I Prize-Winning Neics/Mper, Serving Newton County For 110 Yean
Covington, Georgia — Thursday, October 28,1976
Varner, Johnson seek county
commissioner post Tuesday
By Greg Jones
News editor
Newton County voters return to
the polls Tuesday to help deter
mine who will be the next Presi
dent of the United States and to
vote on other candidates and pro
posals of both state and local
significance.
The presidential race featuring
Democrat Jimmy Carter and
Republican Gerald Ford is one of
only two contested races listed on
the local ballot.
The other pits Republican Bill
Johnson and Democrat Roy
Varner in a contest for chairman
of the Newton County Board of
Commissioners.
Doug Barnard, Democratic
nominee for Congress from the
10th District, also has an an
nounced opponent, Republican
Bob Ingham Jr. Ingham, how
ever, is waging a write-in cam
paign and will not be listed on
the ballot.
The bulk of candidates ap
pearing on the ballot are in
uncontested races. Local races
include Don Ballard for state
senator from the 45th District;
Phil Johnson for state representa
tive from the 74th District;
Thomas W. Ridgway for judge of
Superior Court for the Alcovy
District; John T. Strauss for
Alcovy Circuit district attorney;
Henry Baker for judge of Probate
Cout; James Hardman for clerk
of i Superior Court; Gerald
/3O
/L/!y
recorded in most sections of the
United States, 146 cars per 100
families. In the state of Georgia,
(Please turn to page 4A)
Preliminary work was being performed this week
in preparation of the paving of Herring Street —a
street that will provide access between Covington
and the area north of the Georgia Railroad tracks
Malcom for sheriff; Don Wood
Jr. for tax commissioner, John
Knight for surveyor; Sam Cowan
for coroner;
Also, Jerry Prosser for county
commissioner in District One;
Franklin Gray in District Two;
C. H. Berry Jr. in District
Three; Harold Cobb in District
Four; and Nelson Allen in Dis
trict Five; Sam B. Hay Jr. in
District One of the school board;
Leonard Standard in District
Two; Virgil Costley Jr. in Dis
trict Three; Garland Hillman in
District Four; and Mrs. V. H.
Ison in District Five. Several
candidates for justice of the peace
will also be included.
Statewide uncontested races on
the ballot include Bobby Pafford
Inside
® he News
®A Prize-Winning
Newspaper
1976
Better Newspaper
Contests
Editorial 2A
Society IB
Obit 108
Sports IC
Classified Ads 8C
Legal Ads 10C
Commissioners wont
factor reconsidered
The Newton County Board of
Commissioners Tuesday voted to
ask the State Revenue Depart
ment to reconsider its 12 percent
factor of this year’s county tax
digest.
On a motion by Commissioner
Billy Strickland, the board desig
nated Bill Ballenger of the tax
appraisers’ office to check figures
included in the Sales Ratio Study
for Newton County.
The study, based on 1974 pro
perty transactions in the county,
was used by the Revenue De
partment to determine that the
digest figure submitted to the
state from Newton County was
not high enough.
Work proceeding on Herring Street
and Ford Spinks for the Georgia
Public Service Commission;
Harold N. Hill Jr., Conley
Ingram, Robert Jordan and
Hiram Undercofler for associate
justice of the Georgia Supreme
Court; J. Kelley Quillian, George
T. Smith and William Leroy
McMurray Jr. for judge of the
Georgia Court qf Appeals.
Listed elsewhere on the local
ballot are 29 amendments — 28
statewide and one local.
The local amendment, Amend
ment 86, calls for the collection
of Newton County taxes twice a
year instead of the present once.
'rhe commissioners said Ballen
ger could closely check the trans
actions in the Sales Ratio Study
to see which sales actually went
through and which ones didn't,
and to determine what the actual
selling price was. If apparent in
equities are found, Ballenger and
a member of the board would
visit the Revenue Department to
negotiate for a possible reconsid
eration of the 12 percent factor.
The action by the commissioners
was taken after members of the
board spoke by phone with
Harold Sheats, attorney for the
Asscxdation County Commissioners
of Georgia. The vote to take such
action was unanimous, but Com-
in the event that the Emory Street and West Street
crossings are blocked by a train. Here workers
mold concrete into a spillway to drain water from
the street.
3 Sections
Bill Johnson
Fifteen Cents
Roy Varner
It was introduced by Rep. Bobby
Sigman who says the action will
make it easier for county resi
dents to pay their taxes by
allowing them to pay half the
yearly amount each time taxes
are collected.
Os the remaining amendments,
Amendments 1,2, 5 and 20 are
among those which have received
the most attention.
Amendment 1 would substitute a
revised edition of the Georgia
Constitution for the present
document; Amendment 2 would
(Please turn to page 4A)
missioner Nelson Allen, appointed
temporary chairman of the board
in the absence of Jack Morgan
and who did not vote, voiced his
opposition. Allen said he did not
like the idea ot the tax digest
being factored, but said a delay
in accepting the factor could
delay the collection of taxes in
the county.
In other action, the board heard
from John Perry, who runs a
garbage collection service in the
county. Perry said the recently
approved fee system for commer
cial garbage haulers had the po
tential of forcing him out of
business. Commissioner Strickland
made a motion that the fee for
pickup trucks hauling garbage to
the landfill be reduced from
$3.00 to $2.00, noting that Perry
used pickups in his business, and
adding that the reduced fee
should have a lesser effect on
Perry's business. The motion d : d
for lack of a second.
In a related matter, the board
set a $lO dumping fee for trucks
weighing less than one-and-a-half
tons and having a compactor.
The board also granted ambu
lance service director Billy Jones
(Please turn to page 4A|
Lt.-Gov. Hunt to
speak at Klwanls
Kiwanis Lieutenant-Governor Ed
Hunt ot the 12th Division of
Georgia will be the guest speaker
at the Covington Kiwanis Club
meeting Thursday at the Crest
Restaurant at 1 p.m. This will be
the divisional head’s official visit
to the local club.
Kiwanian Bob Jones is in
charge of the program today and
he will make the introduction of
the program at the civic organi
zation’s weekly meeting.
Hunt succeeded Charles Lam
bdin of Barnesville as the Lt.-
Gov. of the Division. Two years
ago he served as the president of
the Covington Kiwanis Club. He
has been a member of the local
club for the past 20 years.
