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This Issue Dedicated to Forest Park Taxpayers
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Serving
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County!
VOLUME 44 — NUMBER 25
A Sorry Performance Indeed,
And the Public Must Know the Truth
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Is is with a heavy heart that the editor of The Free Press
has to spread across the front page and in other pages such a sorry document of
municipal misbehavior by elected officials and a City Manager who was hired. But
in a position of public trust, a newspaper editor has no choice but to keep the tax
payers informed. Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
POINT OF VIEW
— By JACK TROY
They Were 'Covering' the Story-
Waits, Bigham and Ole Mickey Mouse
The coverage of the mayor versus council fiasco at Forest
Park City Hall seemed normal enough, at first. WSB-TV, WAGA
TV, Journal and Constitution, Free Press and News reporters were
there to report the gory details.
male companion on the Eagle bench, while the Eagles were fight
ing for their first state championship. First time I ever saw a
woman on any football team’s bench.
Anyway, Mr. Waits did not return to Forest Park to write the
results for The News, but when he did show up a week later he
made the mistake of coming through Hapeville, and was arrested.
Judge John Watson sent him to the Veterans Hospital at Dublin
for four months, but he only spent a month there. He still has
three months to go under the sentence.
It sort of burned me to remember that before Con J. Herman
House — trustee? — stole The Forest Park News, I was coming
to the office on Sundays and working up News material while
allowing Waits to take his ex-wife and five children to the moun
tains for fishing and recreation. Oh, well.
Mr. Arrington Joins
All Us 'lnsubordinates'
DICTATOR-MAYOR PUCKETT OPENED
THE GATES FOR THE FREE PRESS
The editor of The Free Press subscribes that the action
of Dictator-Mayor W. Reid Puckett in vetoing the action of
four honorable men of the City Council (Messrs. Looney,
Bateman, Foust and Waldrop) and in reinstating Junior
Elliott, and then, in firing Auditor J. B. Arrington, former
Ford Motor Company auditor,
. I <
for “insubordination”, is the big- '
gest crock of you-know-what in
the history of the great City of 1
Forest Park. It stinks! It has
many, many connotations.
“Insubordination?” Mr. Ar
rington had dug out the whole
sordid mess. All the thievery and i
NON-UNION JOB 111
Recreation Monstrosity ‘Monument’
To City’s Monumental Negligence
If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be funny. Anytime, however,
an undertaking like a recreation center with a low ceiling above
an “Olympic pool” turns out to be as useless as Forest Park's,
the taxpayers have just cause to scream about the negligence
of their governing body.
Can you imagine Carter's Cleaners without an ironing board?
That’s the same thing as having a swimming pool without a
diving board. The pool has one, but “it’s a board from which a
swimmer dares not dive,” The Atlanta Journal discovered.
Girders supporting the roof of the pool building stretch too
far and too low over the board, making a spring foolhardy if not
deadly. What do they mean by Olympic pool? Do they mean it is
regulation size? — Huh?
The monstrosity now uncompleted — and unlikely to be
completed anytime within the foreseeable future — may stand
And then someone pointed out Mickey
Mouse, drunken Mark Waits and that well
known pornographic photographer Dick
Bigham. They were sitting away — many
seats removed — from the newspaper team
of experienced news and radio and TV ed
itors and reporters.
They had a little nest of their own at
the south end of the council room. They
huddled like a covey. Mickey Mouse was
adviser. What paper they represented was
hot quite clear, but this "should now de
velop this week.
Last time we saw Mark Waits, who has
been in and out of the City Jail of Forest
Park without charges — and left the city
owing money to some responsible busi
nesses — was at the North Ciayton-Koss
ville game when he saw his blond AA fe-
all. He had been aided by Swift’s
top auditor, Mr. Looney, a coun
cilman and a former Master of
the Masonic Lodge of Forest Park
and present Demolay Dad. Mr.
Looney is an honest and honor
able man who sometimes, in his
(Continued On Page 4)
Dictator
Puckett
'lmpossible'
Forest Park citizens voted for ■
a City Manager Form of Gov
ernment . . . years and years
ago.
Instead, they have had the
DICTATORIAL form of govern
ment.
They sure didn’t vote for
that!
Nobody is going to put up
with a dictator, especially one
like W. Reid Puckett. He has a
lot to live with at age 74, and
maybe he’ll try to learn to tell
the truth!
Mr. Puckett is a clever man,
but as many clever men, Mr.
Puckett long ago overplayed his
hand. He has worn his ego as
a sordid badge and he has
shown it on many occasions.
But Mr. Puckett, who has the
kind of mind that is not the
easiest for the average citizen to
fathom, decided he was bigger
than his councilmen. Did he
just decide that on his latest
veto?
No, Mr. Puckett has always
figured he was going to be the
dictator, regardless of the fact
that it’s a city manager form of
government, and that actually
the true governing body is the
council.
Mr. Puckett has kept some of
the boys—afraid for their jobs—
in line by using a now famous
threat: “I can FIRE you, you
know.” But STRANGELY, he
can’t fire Junior Elliott or allow
him to be fired. Why? Why?
Why?
Forest Park has had city
managers named Hill, Doctor
Tucker, and T. J. Elliott, Jr. Hill
was a genius who was caught in
shady practices; Dr. Tucker was
a phony, and Mr. Elliott—well,
this newspaper apologizes to the
taxpayers of the City of Forest
Park for actually recommending
him for the post of City Man
ager when he was running the
(Continued On Page 4)
★ ★★★★★
A PREFERRED
TAX CUSTOMER
Why has a rather well known
business figure who now lives
and operates outside the City
of Forest Park FAILED TO
RECEIVE any tax bills for a
number of years?
Is it possible that it is be
cause he and the Lord High
Mayor of the Admiralty are
associated together in a pri
vate business venture? More
later!
as a wasted tax money “monument” to a foolhardy Mayor and
City Manager, whose INCOMPETENCE may be judged by the
whole area behind City Hall and a myriad other acts of down
right negligence. The weeds grow tall; the rocks and rills sur
. round a fill.
Perhaps members of council are to blame, too, for allowing
a contractor who does not have any credentials as a contractor
and an assistant who also wears a fireman's suit as his chief
claim to being a builder “play this important project by ear” —
without plans, blueprints or any real knowledge of the building
trade — and ignore the fact that the firemen really were play
ing with “fire” in being brazen enough to accept a job which
they were wholly incompetent to handle.
What would you say — if you were a union man or a union
body —about a municipality building anything of the nature
with non-union labor? And no pickets ever showed up! Why?
FOREST PARK, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1963
Arrington Given Full Powers As City Mgr.
Elliott Resigns Monday
In Letter to the Mayor
SOLID FOUR OF COUNCIL WIN EVERYTHING
AS W. REID PUCKETT EATS UNCOOKED CROW
Mayor W. Reid Puckett gummed cold crow as the
Council of the City of Forest Park, led by J. W. Looney
and backed in a decisive manner by Henry Waldrop, Bill
Foust and Dr. Bill Bateman— the solid four— installed
J. E. Arrington as City Manager-Engineer and Clerk with
full powers and acted swiftly on the late Monday afternoon
resignation of T. J. (Junior)
Elliott as City Manager. This |
action came early in Monday
night’s meeting attended by a
crowd that overflowed almost to
Central Avenue.
Elliott resigned by letter to
Mayor Puckett, leaving the
document on the Mayor’s desk,
to be effective at 5 o’clock Mon
day afternoon, Aug. 5. It was a
simple resignation, but a major
stroke for the good of Forest
Park.
Mr. Elliott’s resignation was
accepted, 4 to 3, with Burks,
Abercrombie and Gau 11 ne y
■■ 'BOSS' WAS ON TOWN -
City Manager Mas Drunk
And He 'Fixed' Fire Station
The new headquarters fire station was spick and span one
dark and rainy night . . . not so very, very long ago. Hard
working rank-and-file firemen had done a first class cleaning
job, as the rank and file always do.
ri
Mr. Elliott
countless occasions, to tell people he desired to control: “I can
FIRE you, you know!” Well, apparently he cannot afford to
FIRE Mister T. J. Elliott, Junior.
For on the sordid and unbe
lievable record of vetoing coun
cil action in firing the City Man
ager—for more than just cause,
a hell of a lot more, indeed—
vetoing the action, not while
council was in session, but the
next day in the privacy of his
now famous closed-door office—
he must have some good reason
other than the one he usually
gives to reporters alleging the
“great ability” and the “fine
qualities” of the City Manager.
"One of the finest men I have
ever known.” Can’t he find an
other drinking companion?
There are those who would
sooner trust a shoat in the cus
tody of a crocodile than either
the Mayor or City Manager any
longer in a position of public
trust! The Mayor has betrayed
his sacred oath of office —and
BOTH have long since destroyed
the confidence of the long-suf
fering, hard-hit fine taxpaying
citizens of the City of Forest
Park, whose indebtedness is now
the fastest growing in the U.S.A.
voting against—Foust, Looney,
Waldrop and Bateman voting
for—with the allowance of ONE
DAY’S severance pay.
Rex Reeves, old city attorney
who was one of the heroes in
ridding the City of Dr. Tucker
as City Manager several years
ago, represented Mr. Arrington,
who had been fired last week by
W. Reid Puckett, who charged
“insubordination.”
Rex skillfully enacted a farce
in conveying to the Mayor Mr.
Arrington’s “abject apologies” if
(Continued On Page 4)
The City Manager, out on a binge, went
free-wheeling across the floors, tracking
gobs of mud as he went; he climbed be
tween the clean sheets of a bed, messed
up the bed as only a drunken, puking,
mud-carrying, shoe-wearing so-and-so
can, and slept it off.
Why was the incident not publicly re
ported, or even if it was done privately,
why didn’t the Mayor take disciplinary
action . . . even ragardless of the City
Manager, the Rear Admiral, being the
boss of the firemen? The Lord High May
or of the Admiralty has been known, on
When is the
Seeby Money
Coming Bock?
Reid W. Puckett, Dictator,
rather than Mayor, of the City
of Forest Park, told The Free
Press so many lies that the edi
tor—he always asked the editor:
“You’re a Mason, aren’t you?—
finally quit going to see him in
disgust.
The editor caught Dictator
Puckett insisting that the coun
cil pay Mr. Jim Seeby SSO a week
in recreation activities. The City
Charter forbids it. And the only
way a City Charter can be
amended is by an act of the
legislature. Thank God!
The editor of The Free Press
caught Mr. Puckett red-handed
in this little matter, and Mr.
Puckett planted a story with a
well known con and “friend,” J.
Herman House, Jr., who, acting
as a trustee, had stolen The For
est Park News from the owner,
who also owns the Free Press.
Mr. Dictator Puckett, Lord
High Mayor of the Admirality,
and Mr. House ran a story say
ing that The Free Press had
made an INADVERTANT error.
Well, the Free Press makes er
rors, but it doesn’t make any
“inadvertant” ones.
The charter was pulled on Mr.
Puckett, and he had to retire to
that famous private office and
lick his wounds. He knew it was
an illegal thing to do, but he has
known through his life of a lot
of illegal things, but he didn’t
hesitate to do them—if the gain
came to the Hon. W. Reid Puck
ett, Master Plumber.
What the Free Press demands
to know today is:
(Continued On Page 4)
SINGLE COPY 10c
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This Picture Is Symbolic
JUNIOR, SHARON, W REID AND J. SEEBY
W. Reid Also
Wanted to Be
Senator Too
In a short time now, the editor
of The Free Press will be moving
into his tenth year in the City
of Forest Park as an Editor and
Publisher of The Forest Park
Free Press and The Clayton
County News and Farmer.
He wasn’t around when W.
Reid Puckett served as mayor
in earlier terms, but he was when
his Honor was elected to office
(Continued On Page 4)
No Taxes
Paid By Lodge
On Rental?
The corruption and all the
other entanglements at the City
Hall of Forest Park allegedly
even drags into the sordid pic
ture the Masonic Hall of Forest
Park which has been served
through these many years by
W. Reid Puckett as secretary.
Some sort of rental arrange
ment of grounds to the nearby
Gulf Service Station has alleged
ly brought in considerable reve
nue to the Masonic Hall, but, it
is learned on good authority,
that Uncle Sam has not been
paid income taxes on this pri
vate business enterprise. A fra
ternal order is exempt because
of the nature of the activity. But
when any order makes money in
a business venture, taxes must
be declared the same as any oth
er business.
Make Beautiful Flowers With Hood Fibre
Instruction Books and All Materials
Can Be Purchased At . . .
Dwarf House
Gift & Card Shoppe
1424 Main Street Forest Park
’ ? ?
— Complete Interior Decorating Service —
Junior Keeps the Peace;
Barbara Sues for Divorce
Eli Matthew Gaultney, Junior,
is keeping the peace these days,
although Mayor Pro-tem of the
City of Forest Park. He is under
peace bond sought by his wife,
Barbara M. Gaultney, and is
sued by Jonesboro JP Peyton Mc-
Mullen at a JP hearing last week
in Forest Park. FP JP Charley
Brooks disqualified himself.
If a committal hearing is held
by the Ordinary’s Court, as The
Free Press hears, brought by the
defendant Mayor pro-tem, it may
occur after press time. It is pos
sible that Ordinary Joe Lane
would disqualify himself on the
“grounds of prejudice,” being a
Jaycee and thus a close friends
and civic club associate of the
Gaultneys.
Peace bond and petition for
divorce came in one fell swoop,
Bonding Company
Couldn't Go This Route
The bonding company represented by Mit Gunter was
overly fair to the City Administration of Forest Park. The
bonding company paid off an amount (more than $llOO
checks and cash, of missing money — out of the cash drawer
so easily available to many — but did not leave Forest Park
unbonded.
Mr. Gunter told officials that his company would keep
the bond in force until a replacement bond could be obtained.
Mr. Grady Lindsey came through with the new bond for the
city last week, and Mr. Gunter was able to take a trip to
North Carolina breathing a little easier.
It is a sort of historic event — not necessarily the kind
of history your children can be proud of— for a bonding
company to withdraw support from what has been loosely
called "The Fastest Growing City in the United States.”
Actually, it is the indebtedness that is the fastest growing
in the United States.
,j is
! I
TIME
TO HIT THE
ROAD!
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
, initiated last Wednesday by Mrs.
, Gaultney and signed by Fulton
Superior Judge Emeritus Virlyn
B. Moore. Judge Harold Banke
, of Clayton Superior Court was
unavailable at the time. Hearing
has been set for Sept. 4 before
Hon. Judge Harold Banke.
The estrangement came about,
Mrs. Gaultney charged in her
petition to the court, because of
defendant’s “ungovernable tem
per” and because “petitioner is
in fear of unjust bodily harm
and injury being done to her
■ and the two minor children.” So
: she was awarded a peace bond
restraining Junior Gaultney from
; continuing “acts of violence”
■ charged in the petition for di
vorce which also asks for cus
■ tody of the children, Matthew
, (Continued On Page 8)