Newspaper Page Text
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— HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13. 1979 . . .
—" - '
—Page of Opinion
Go Forward Council
Our congratulations to Coun
cilpersons Barbara Calhoun, Gene
Smith and George Nunn on their
exciting and dramatic re-election
to their posts on the city’s gover
ning body last week.
In a rather lack-luster city
council race last Tuesday, less than
one third of the voters bothered to
cast a ballot.
If was one of the strangest
elections we have ever witnessed in
Perry. Not once did any issues
arise any controversy, or any
Sgt. Jim West
The City of Perry is fortunate to
have an officer like Sgt. Jim West
on the force.
Just this week Sgt. West ap
prehended a suspected robber and
kidnapper passing through Perry
because he was alert and on the
ball.
In the past, Sgt. West has
proven himself an outstanding
officer in the manner in which he
New County Policy
We endorse County Com
missioner Jimmy Griffin’s
proposal to cut down on county
gasoline consumption by curbing
the use of county vehicles by
employees on their off duty time.
Under the present policy, a
number of county employees are
apparently being allowed to take
county vehicles home even though
they are not on emergency call.
Griffin says the policy bothers
CART Worthwhile
Perry’s initial experience with
the Community Artist Residency
Training program must be
declared a success.
Nationally known 12 string
guitarist, Mitchell Korn, thrilled
hundreds of Perryans during his
week long slay in the community.
Many people were exposed to this
unique type of talent for the first
The Parent Toy
Psychologists, apparently
realizing that the Christmas season
is not time to sit by the fire and
miss the action, have come up with
some timely advice (or a new
racket, the cynics might say).
They are advising people on what
they should give their children for
Christmas. In this, they have some
tough competition from the toy
firms and their ad agencies, but
let’s hear them out;
“A child's best toy is a parent,”
we’re told.
That’s a zinger and beautiful
proof of psychologists’ ability to
say something that everybody
already knows, but to say it so
nicely that it seems to be an ex
citing new insight.
Not only do parents know that a
Test Teachers
A State Senator in Colorado in
troduced a bill to require testing of
teachers' competency along with
that of students. Predictably, a
teachers' organization mounted a
letter-writing campaign in op
position.
Which worked out just fine for
discussion over any of the can
didate’s records or qualifications.
There was absolutely no public
debate and two of the five can
didates did not even run a political
advertisement in The Home
Journal.
Be all that as it may. We urge the
new council to move forward in a
united fronTTn 1980 and especially
the three candidates who received
the overwhelming mandate of the
voters last Tuesday.
shows concern for people in
trouble, in his fairness and in his
professionalism as an officer of the
law. He wears a pin on his tie that
reads P.I.G. He says it stands for
pride, integrity, guts. We believe it.
Congratulations, Sgt. West, on
another fine piece of police work.
We all appreciate the things you
and your fellow officers do on our
behalf.
him especially since a county
employee was recently arrested for
DUI in a county vehicle while he
was off work. Well, it bothers us
too. Griffin wants to curb the
practice of allowing so many
employees to use these vehicles for
personal use thereby cutting back
greatly on the county’s use of
gasoline. It’s a good idea. Let’s see
Griffin’s proposal put into action
immediately.
time in their lives through Korn’s
appearances at schools, homes and
several community concerts.
We commend the Perry Arts
Council and the CART Committee
for the fine work they have done in
getting Perry involved in a fine
arts program. We look forward to
the next performing artist to come
to our community.
child’s best toy is a parent. The
kids instinctively know it too, and
take full advantage of it. Just about
every parent becomes:
(1) A toy laundry. From
diaperdom to college, the parents
take dirty clothes and makes them
clean, even replacing the buttons.
(2) A toy restaurant, where one
can disdain the main course and
the vegetables, and proceed
directly to the dessert, leaving no
tip. And an hour later, demand a
pizza.
(3) A toy bank, requiring no
deposits and open all hours and
week ends, especially weekends.
A parent is a child's best toy
because it is more fun to kick than
a football. And better than a puppy
because it is easier to train.
the senator. He has collected the
teachers’ letters, as written, and is
offering them as Exhibit A. The
teachers’ writing and spelling
deficiencies, he says, illustrate
perfectly the need for a com
petency test.
" •• -'"I,
==f S£
- N CO^MISSIOH^
i
"...And Should Your New Job Ever Bring You Into
Contact With Commissioner Lovett...You'll
Automatically Qualify For Hazardous Duty Pay
As Long As You're In His Presence..."
County CTf
BY JOEL FERGUSON
Get Those Silver Dollars
There are a number of history
buffs and coin collectors in Houston
County, and they will have an
opportunity early next year to buy
something of value when the
federal government sells a big
batch of historic Carson City silver
dollars.
According to an announcement
by the General Services Ad
ministration last month, nearly one
million silver dollars -- minted in
Carson City, Nev., in 1878 through
1893 -- will be sold in 1980.
The historic coins -- the last of the
government’s holdings from
America’s great silver mining era -
- were part of nearly three million
90 percent silver dollars stored in
the U.S. Treasury vaults for more
than 60 years.
There will be two sales. The first,
beginning Feb. 8 and ending April
8, 1980, will offer 923,287 silver
dollars to the public by mail at
fixed prices. The sale will feature
three categories of the “cart
wheels”; 1883-CC (195,745), 1884-
CC (428,152), and “Mixed Years -
CC” - 1878-1885 and 1889-1893 --
(299,390).
There will be no limit on the
number of coins that may be or
dered. Coins in the 1883 category
are $42 each, and the 1884 category,
S4O each. “Cartwheels” in the
mixed years group are S2O per coin.
The second sale, to be conducted
later in the spring, will offer 54,847
coins in three mint-year
categories: 1880-CC (4,284), 1881-
CC (18,996), and 1885-CC (31,567).
The coins will be sold at public
auction by mail bid. A minimum
price will be set just prior to the
sale. There will be a limit of five
coins from each category bidder.
Prices in each sale include
delivery by registered mail to
addresses in the United States, its
territories and possessions, and to
APO and FPO numbers.
Prospective buyers should send a
post card, giving name, address
and zip code, to: Carson City Silver
Dollars, San Francisco, Calif.
94170. Information and order forms
will be sent to those on the list in
time for the first sale.
From 1972 to 1974, the GSA sold
some 1.9 million of the silver
dollars in five public sales, netting
$55.3 million for the benefit of
taxpayers. Sales were discontinued
in 1974 because of diminishing
demand.
The decision to return the coins
to the marketplace -- made by
Congress and signed into law by
President Jimmy Carter in March
1979 -- has received and en
thusiastic response from the
public, according to GSA officials.
The agency says it already has
heard from more than 200,000
persons interested in acquiring
some of the historic coins.
Each coin is in a plastic case --
appropriate for display -- inside a
velour-lined gift box. A brief
history of the coin is enclosed in
each box.
The Carson City mint produced
only 13 years of the silver dollar
designed by George T. Morgan.
Known as “Morgan Dollars,” they
feature the head of Miss Liberty on
one side and an eagle within a
wreath on the other.
The letters “CC” -for Carson
City -- appear under the wreath.
Each silver dollar measures four
centimeters in diameter and eight
mils in thickness. It weighs 412.5
grains and is .900 fine silver.
Although the market price of silver
fluctuates daily, when silver sells
for sl2 per troy ounce, the silver
content of one coin is worth about
$9.27.
In the late 1800 s, the increasing
popularity of paper money plus the
large number of silver dollars in
circulation lessened the demand
for the “cartwheels” produced at
Carson City.
The mint struck its last silver
dollar in 1893. Coins stored there
were shipped to other mints and to
Federal Reserve Banks throughout
the country.
Legislation in the early 1900 s plus
the demand for silver in the 1940 s to
support the war effort resulted in
massive coin melts.
All but about three million of the
government’s holdings of the 90
percent silver dollars in Treasury
vaults revealed the secret of their
historic and numismatic value.
Most of the remaining “cart
wheels” -- many still on their
original mint bags - were from the
long-closed Carson City mint.
■
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OUT ON A
BRANCH
V -"
Charles Dickens once wrote, “It was the best
of times, it was the worst of times.”
That thought came back to me the other day
when a visitor to my office told me the following
story I would like to pass along to you.
It seems there was a country family whose
first-born had seen his days on the farm and had
gone off to war. Maw, wanting to bring her boy
up to present times, dropped a letter off to him
; that went like this:
Dear Son:
Your paw has a job. It’s the first one he has had
| in 48 years, since we have been married.
I We are a little better off now, because we have
| so much money now we don’t know what to do
I with it.
Paw gets $17.25 every Thursday, so we thought
> we ought to do something about fixing up the
house.
We sent to Sears and Roebuck for one of those
bathrooms you hear about people having in
houses. It took a plumber to put it in shape.
On one side of the bathroom is a great long
thing, something like a pig trough, only you get
in it and wash all over. On the other side is a little
white thing they call a sink where you wash your
face and hands.
But over in the other corner, we really gol
something.
This thing you put one foot in, wash it clean
then pull the chain and get fresh water for the
other foot.
Two lids came with the thing.
We got no use for them in the bathroom, so I’m
using one for a breadboard, and the other lid has
a hole in it, so we use it for a frame for grandpa’s
picture.
Sears and Roebuck are real nice folks to deal
with. They sent us a roll of paper with this outfit.
Problem is, we can’t write on the paper very
well, so I’m using it to wrap Pa’s lunch in.
Take care of yourself,
Love, Maw
On another subject that has nothing to do with
bathrooms whatsoever:
The Economics Press Inc. of New Jersey
publishes a little booklet entitled, “Bits ...
Pieces.” The booklet is billed as “a monthly
mixture of horse sense and common sense about
working with people.”
Here are a few examples:
- Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to
change. And when we are right, make us easy to
live with.
-- You never have a second chance to make a
good first impression.
-- The trouble with people who talk too fast is
that they often say something they haven’t
thought of yet.
-- Nothing is quite so annoying as to have
someone go right on talking when you’re in
terrupting.
The Houston Home Journal
OFFICIAL ORGAN CITY OF PERRY
AND HOUSTON COUNTY, GEORGIA, SINCE 1170
1010 CARROLL ST., P.O. DRAWER M, PERRY, OA , 31049
PHONE (912) 987-1123 OR NIGHTS (912) 987-1490
BOBBY BRANCH PHILBYRD
Editor—Publisher General Manager
™ NY BLAKI - EY JOEL FERGUSON
Advertising Mgr. News Editor
TERRY WOOD
jll \ Features, Photographer
JUNE VOGT
Bookkeeper, Proofing
DONNA DENNARO
jl Composition, Circulation
frank russo
A (brimM liublitjiiuii EMILY MONTGOMERY
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