Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME 74—NO 5
OLD MAN WINTER:
Snow, Cold Wove Causes
Untold Damages In Area
Telephone and Power Lines Hardest Hit; Snow
And Cold Wave Make Folks Uncomfortable
Temperatures that hovered slightly above the zero
mark and a blanket of snow estimated from three to five
inches, played havoc with telephone and power lines in the
Summerville area this week putting repair crews on a
round-the-clock working schedule.
The trouble started during the
early hours last Saturday morn
ing when snow began falling
over the area. By daybreak the
snow blanket had a thickness of
from three to five inches. Ice
and snow caused telephone and
power lines to sag and in many
instances break, disrupting tele
phone and power service in vari
ous sections of the city and
county. There was no immediate
estimate of the damage caused
by the cold wave.
Telephone lines along the
Lyerly Highway maintained by
the Summerville Telephone Co .
were severely damaged. At one
point a telephone pole snapped
off near the top, landed across
the highway, leaving telephone
lines exposed to traffic moving
between Summerville and Lyerly.
Officials of the telephone com
pany said every available repair
man is on the job. Telephone
services was reported out be
tween Summerville and Menlo.
The lines from here to Menlo
were reported broken at seven
different locations. However,
telephone authorities said, most
of these lines were restored to
service a short time after they
were felled by ice and snow.
LONG DISTANCE OUT
Miss Grace Weaver, manager
of the local telephone office, said
all of the long distance lines but
one was out of order. There was
only one line open to Rome and
it was placed on an emergency
status. Under usual circum
stances there are eight long dis
tance lines to Rome and six to
Chattanooga. All of the Chatta
nooga lines were out of order as
late as Monday. Miss Weaver
said these lines went out of serv
ice sometimes Friday.
Trouble-shooters for the city
water company had their ups
and downs, too. Many residents
reported water lines frozen and
(Continued on Page 7)
'Spring' Football Practice
Underway At Summerville
Coach Lamar Parker and Assistants Will Work
With Squad For Next Five Weeks; Annual
Red and Black Game Will Climax Session
Five weeks of “Spring lootball practice” was scheduled
to get under warps at Summerville High School this week
as Head Coach Lamar Parker and his assistants looked over
new prospects and greeted last year’s returning lettermen.
The local pigskin squad under
the Georgia Athletic Associa
tions rulings will be allowed to
work out for a period of five
weeks.
Coach Parker will be assisted
again this year by Assistant
Coaches Lconaid Bruce and Joe
Hamilton. This combination of
football • brains’’ will guide the
Indians through next year's sea
son.
The spring training program is
designed to help old and new
players to condition themselves
for games scheduled next fall.
However, the coaches explained,
this training period will allow
more time to teach individual
players (he rights and wrongs of
(he game.
Tiic spring training session
will be climaxed by the tradi
tional "blood battle" between the
(Continued on Page 7*
City's Uncollected Taxes
Soar To High Os $26,633
Current Collections Below Par At This Time;
Steps Will Be Taken To Collect Back Taxes
Tax records at the City Hall show there is a total of
$211,633.20 on the books in uncollected taxes covering all
previous years anti City Clerk Sam Sitton declared tux
collections since the first of the year to be far In-low normal
at this time.
Tux collections since the Ursi
of the year up to Feb. 10,
amounted to only tLOHfio. KH
ton Mild tn connection with the
<>s. । ,iii tax ph tun I Itton de
dared. some of the taxes owed
the city had not Item "charged
off He explained this by stat
ing there is a certain amount of
turnover result Inc when new
residents cmnr to town for a
short period of time and then
move off owing the city foi
tnxes.
At the end of the year Dee 31.
1331, uncollected UmU amounted
The Summerville News
CLEANING CREW
TO SCRUB CITY
STREETS WEEKLY
City Desires to Make Streets
Presentable For Week-Ends;
Citizens’ Cooperation Asked
Summerville’s streets in the
business section will get a thor
ough weekly cleaning by the City
Streets Department early each
Saturday morning, city officials
said, “so the town will look nice
on week-ends."
Street cleaning crews will be
gin a washing and sweeping
project during the early hours
each Saturday morning in order
for the job to be completed be
fore the business hours start.
Chief of Police Griffin Pledger
has been authorized by the city
to ask each merchant in town
to cooperate with the Depart
ment of Streets. All citizens are
urged to do the same It has been
pointed out that some merchants
pile trash and boxes on the street
curbing for pick-up by the garb
age truck. Only part of this trash
reaches the garbage truck, it
was said, and the rest of it is
scattered over the streets of the
business section by the wind.
Merchants (and citizens) are re
quested to work with the Streets
Department in its efforts to
make the streets here more at
tractive.
VI W Heels
i eb. 21
A regular meeting of the VFW
will be held Friday night at 7:30.
at Memorial Home. All members
are urged to attend.
GO EASY ON GAS,
URGED BY SITTON
City Clerk Sam Sitton today
urged customers of the City Gas
Department to be as conserva
tive as possible in the consump
tion of natural gas to prevent an
additional heavy gas penalty
from being imposed on the City.
Anytime the City exceeds its
quota ot lAM mcf m gas per
day, it is subject to a penalty by
the Southern Natural Gas Co
During the month of January
the gas penalty here amounted
to $5,540 00, and with tiie unex
pected cold wave, city officials
feared the penalty for this
month would exceed that ot last
month.
to 326.331 <lO. NR compared to $23.
183. H, for the same period in
im
When the amount of uncu|.
levied taxes was patted on to the
Hoard of Mayor ami Oily ('mm.
ci), at its last meet inn. city oil I
vials immediately took steps to
make arrangements Io collect
the buck taxes
The City plans to fake legal
steps to collect Us back taxes.
Chief of Police Griffin Pledger
bus been authorized to start pro*
<• .dingt to Milliy ii in* uinieh
would lx- served on delinquent
ci-.
2,000 GALLON MOONSHINE STILL DESTROYED
' M I . ' llxU
■ v Hi ■ hl M
Hu
IWI 01^1^ 1 wS
■r “ i .
IW
It actually took “the strong arm of the law” to destroy a pair of 1,000 gallon tank-type whiskey
stills captured by county police and State Revenue officers last Saturday. The big still was found
in a wooded area about six miles northwest of Summerville. A. R. Woody, State Revenue officer
from Rome, is shown on the left swinging a pick to destroy one of the two big mash tanks. Her
man Evans, another revenue officer and Deputy Sheriff Paul White can be seen on the right
as they dismounted the still’s condenser, which turned out to be a car radiator.
Large Whiskey Still Found,
Wrecked Before Run Made
County Officers and State Revenue Men Chop
Up 2,000 Gallon Operation Six Miles From Town
A raiding party of County Officers and State Rev
enue men discovered and destroyed a 2,000 gallon tank-type
whiskey still in a thickly wooded section only six miles
northwest of Summerville last Friday. No arrests were
made, officers said.
Deputy Sheriff Paul White
and State Revenue Officer A. R.
Woody headed the raiding party,
i The still was discovered earlier
‘ in the week and the officers re
turned to the scene Friday with
picks and axes to lay the illegal
' whiskey operations in waste.
' Herman Evans, another State
‘ Revenue man, and Bill Whaley-,
. from the sheriff’s office here,
: assisted in the destruction of the
I big still.
, The officers said they “lucked"
' upon the still when they noticed
! traffic had been moving over a
■ back road that led into the
i thickly wooded section. Follow
ing a "hunch,” Deputy White
said the officers located and ob
served the still for some time in
hopes of catching its operator.
However, the moonshiners failed
to show and the officers re
turned on Friday to destroy the
still.
The still was nestled on a
sloping hillside. It was a neat;
'operation. Only a few feet apart i
sat two 1,000 gallon round tanks.
A wall of concrete blocks formed
a furnace around the tanks. This ,
was no old time whiskey opera
tions. It was designed and op
erated to prevent smoke from
giving away its location in the
hills. This type of still is hard to
locate in the woods. The furnace
was fired by two large gas burn- i
ers, one placed on either side of
the still Most any kind of gas
cun be used as a source of heat
ing. The big tanks were con
structed of aluminum with wood
tops.
An automobile radiator served
as a condenser at the still. This
contraption serves the same pur
pose as a "worm” usually found
in the operation of a copper still.
A deep pit filled with water was
located a few feet from the op
erations. The water evident h
was hauled to the still-site by
truck. A hand pump attached to
a tree was used to transfer the
water from the pH to the mash
tanks.
At the time (lie officers found
the still, they said Hom all indi
cations, the finished product
would not lie ready io run for a
few days This led them Io be
lieve Hie still had not lieen in op
eration too long. II was rs(i
mated (hat each tank would
produce approximately lt'*t gal
ions of moonshine whiskey. A
tulal of 13(1 one-gallon jugs
found stacked in boxes was also
destroyed by the lawmen, Large
holes were chopped in (he tanks
to free the "working mash." Ev
erything tin' ol Heers did not dc
slroy was loaded on it track nd
brought to the sheriff's office
SAVING BOND SALES
TOTALED $33,193.00
Havings Bonds sales in chat
looga County for the month of
January totaled $33,193. wilh E
Bond sales leading by fur over
the sale of H Bonds.
The county's total quota fur
the year is *33(1.000 A total of
$31,193 E Bonds were purchased
while 11 Hund sales reached only
4-'.UUU.
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA, FEB. 20, 1958
Laugh and
Learn
Nine interesting features,
including the regular week
ly comic strip, appear on
page 9 of this week’s News
and will appear each week
for the entertainment of
our readers.
In addition to two comic
strips, “The Fizzle Family”
and “Puggy,” the News is
pleased to present a cross
word puzzle, “Candid Facts,”
"Lass of the Week,” "Baf
fles.” "Half-Past Teen" and
“Tell Me.”
These added attractions is
another step taken by the
News to improve the paper
to make it more attractive
to the reader and its adver
tisers.
MERCHANTS SET
FOR BIG DINNER
A dinner meeting for members
only, will be held by the Retail
Merchants Association Wednes
day, Feb. 26, in the Summerville
High School cafeteria, John Sal
ley, president of the organiza
tion announced.
President Salley said that due
to telephone difficulties he had
been unable to reach the out-of
town party intended as a speaker
for the occasion. However, a
speaker will be available as soon
as arrangements can be made,
he said.
The Association recently closed
a successful membership drive,
boosting the number of active
members to approximately 100.
Membership fee was set at $5
per year by the Board of Direc
tors.
The dinner meeting is being
held lor the purpose of discuss
ing and formulating plans by the
organization for the coming
months.
'Womanless Wedding' Will
Feature Stunning Models
PT A Will Put On Skit With Local
Businessmen Dressed As ''Lovely Ladies"
The Summerville P T.A will
s|s>nMir a "Womanlcss Wedding,"
February 27. 7 30 pm. al the
high school auditorium. This
promises Io Is- an evening filled
with entertainment, fun and
laughter h<r all memls-rs of the
family You will sec a large num*
her of local business men
dres:<d as -’lovely ladles "
These arc a few of Hie char
aclers:
Bride Mr Hotchkiss
Groom "Hmllry" Gregg
Bride's mother James King
Groom., father -Carlton
Ht range
Groom a mother—t'ay Pledger
It's Strange
To Mr. Strange
This is a strange story about
a man named Strange . . . Ray
mond Strange, of South Martin
St.
Mr. Strange owns a stove
equipped with coils that produce
hot water when fired. This is the
beginning of the strange story.
Mr. Strange built a fire in the
stove early Monday morning. He
went into another room. A few
minutes later there was a
I strange explosion at the Strange
home. Mr. Strange rushed back
into the room where he had fired
i the stove. The stove was gone.
।lt had exploded and its parts
1 were scattered all over the room,
some of them protruding from
! the wall
“That’s strange,” said Mr.
Strange to himself. "Why should
my stove blow up?” The answer
soon came. The water coils in
side the stove had frozen and
exploded after the fire had been
I started.
COUNTY'S SHARE
OF STATE FUEL
TAX IS $48,532
Money Allocated According
To County's Itoad Mileage
Chattooga County during the
fiscal year 1956-57 received $48,-
532 from state fuel taxes for use
on county roads, according to a
I news release from the Georgia
Motor Trucking Association.
Almost a third of the total —
$16,113 — came from taxes the
state collected during the 12-
i month period from truck oper-
I ators.
I Each fiscal year the State
Treasury Department d. tributes
approximately $9 million from its
highway tax revenue (fuel tax
es, license fees, etc.i among the
counties for their use in building
and maintaining county roads.
The amount varies with each
' county’s road mileage
Highway user taxes paid on
trucks during the past fiscal year
'constituted S2B million, or 33 21
per cent of the total highway'
I user revenue.
Total 1956 state taxes on
trucks, excluding county and ‘
municipal taxes, were approxi-|
mutely $35 million six times
as great as total state, county |
and municipal taxes paid by rail
roads.
Bert mini J. T Morgan
Parson Arch Farrar
Flower girl Jimmy Duff
Besides these, there will be a
chorus hue of "glamour girls,"
a fashion show with “slumilng
models,” and scenes from an in
ti n. Ung bachelor pm l ■
Tickets may be purchased from
members of the FTA Admis
sion lor adults Is 50 cents Willi
children’s tickets lor 25 cents.
All men taking part in this
extravaganza are urged to meet
at the city library. Thursday
evening. February 20. al 7;30.
fur XLliiai..al
Voters Approve $300,000 School Bonds
To Repair and Improve County Schools
DIPLOMAS GIVEN
TO 35 BUSINESS
(01 LEGE GRADS
Massey Business College Held
Graduation Exercises Feb. 11
Thirty-five business college
graduates were awarded
diplomas at the Massey Business
■ College here Feb. 14.
Fred Hill, student, acted as
j master of ceremonies for the
occasion. The invocatin was giv
en by Rev. Charles Hendrix, pas-
I tor of the Lyerly Methodist
. Church. Mrs. Betty Cook and
Mrs. Dorothy Parker each de-
I livered an address to the gradu
; ates.
The principal address was de
livered by Rev. William E. Hotch
. kiss, pastor of the Summerville
Presbyterian Church.
Mrs. Helen L. Moore, dean of
‘ the business college, also ad-
I dressed the graduation class and
; delivered diplomas to Martha T.
i Ballenger, Dewey Baugh. Pank
ney Brown, Fred Bryson, Clara
Cleveland, Betty Cook, Jean
Digsby, Anne Donovits, Doris'
Fletcher, Lucile Hix Hamby. Mil
dred Herrod, Fred Hill, Jewell
: Hix, Annie Mae Hudson, Johnny
Humphries, Velma Hunter. Bar-'
bara Hutchins, Eva McCary■
Winnie Lee McDaniel, Cora
Mitchell, Elizabeth Neal, Shirley
I Nicholson, Dorothy Parker. Les
ter C. Parker, Mary Peppers,
I Jane Peters, Ozella Shankles,
Lucille Stephens, Jane Stokes.
Kathryn Tucker, Leslie Turpin,
Hazel Vaughn, Annie Waters.
Ronald Waters and Jo Ann
. Woodall.
PRISONERS BACK
IN COUNTY JAIL
The thirteen prisoners who
i were removed from the county
' jail here last week when the
iheating facilities broke down in
the courthouse, were returned
to the local jail this week after
heat was restored to the two
buildings. The courthouse and
i the jail are heated by the same
heating unit.
Sheriff Fred Stewart reported
: he was forced to remove 13 pris- !
i oners, one a juvenile, from his ,
। jail and transfer 12 of them to i
the jail at LaFayette when the
I local jail became so cold he j
feared for the health of the men.
Chief of Police Griffin Pledger i
said the juvenile prisoner was I
also returned to the county jail. i
NO HISTORY,
SAYS COMMITTEE
A committee appointed to in
vestigate the possibilities of
publishing a History of Chat
tooga County today issued a
statement saying the commit
tee was unable to ra <
enough money to have the
books printed.
Several days ago all money i
was returned to those who had
sent in for a copy. If anyone
who sent money for the pro
posed publication failed to get
a refund, they arc requested
to call Mrs. B, W. Farrar, at
41, Summerville, or sec Miss
Aline Allen at the Chattooga
Library.
CAST VOTES IN SCHOOL BOND ELECTION
< a A
HKt. Hl'
I 'V
■ Mt Sswßd’jK ip .
CP
When this picture was made by a News photographer about 2 p.m. Wednesday only slightly
more than 300 residents of Summerville had cast votes for the School Bond Issue. Pictured plac
ing her vote In the ballot box Is Mrs. Hoyt Farmer. Joe Brown stands at the left while Hoyt Farm
ci look, uu alter piacUig Uh ballot lu the box.
SUBSCRIPTION RATE $2.00 PER YEAR
Supporters of the School Bond Issue went to the polls
here yesterday and voted their approval of issuing bonds in
the amount of $300,000 to be expended on the county’s en
tire school system.
How They
Voted
(Unofficial Returns)
For Against
i Summerville 544 306
\ Alpine 76 82
Coldwater 10 79
Dirttown. 44 44
Lyerly 110 77
Subligna . 4 58
Teloga 13 18
Trion 42 67
। Berryton 8 11
Pennville 16 36
! Cloudland . 20 8
Dirtseller 4 13
JSeminole . 8 30
Total 899 829
Majority of 70 votes for issuing
the bonds.
Only one ballot box was unre
ported. The Haywood community
with a maximum of 40 votes
failed to report last night.
HOW LONG HAVE
YOU READ NEWS!
Word was received by the News
this week from one of its readers
who said her family had been
reading the Summerville News
for the past 53 years.
Miss Pearl Burney, of Waynes- .
boro, Ga. wrote: “My paper
comes every Friday now, thank
you. My sister, Mrs. John Pollock,
had been taking the Summerville
News since 1895. up to the time
she died on Feb. 27. 1956. She
read it every week, and on
Thursday before she left us the
next Monday. I enjoy it. too.”
The News is interested in
' hearing from readers who have
!been regular subscribers tor
forty years or more. Address
your letter to the editor of the
News, Box 310, Summerville, Ga.
Holiday Notice
We will observe Saturday,
February 22, Washington’s birth
day, and no business will be
transacted. —Farmers and Mer
chants Bank.
'Get Tough' Policy May Be Used
To Collect City's Back Taxes
Chief Os Police Authorized To Serve Tax Fi. Fa.
If Necessary To Collect $24,633.20 On Books
A “get tough” policy may be carried out by the City’s
Tax Collecting Department following the announcement
a few days ago that $24,633.20 in uncollected taxes is still
on the tax books at the city hall.
The Board of Mayor and City
Council has authorized Chief of
Police Griitin Pledger to start
immediate proceedings against
delinquent taxpayers in an ef
fort to wipe out the $24,633.20
now past due in taxes. Chief
Pledger has been authoriz.cd to
serve tax fi. fa to satisfy tax
debts against property holders
who have neglected previous rc
requests to "pay up,” if neces
sary. City officials estimated
several thousands of dollars
could be added to the city's cos-
This was the second School
Bond Issue voted on in the past
few months. The previous elec
tion failed to produce the results
hoped for by school authorities
as the measure was defeated by
a small majority of 58 votes.
However, since that time, condi
tions in the school system have
continually grown worse. The
county's school funds were al
most completely exhausted. To
make matters more difficult
local school officials were ad
vised that some of the schools
were dangerously close to losing
their accredited rating with
the Southern Association of Col
leges and Secondary Schools.
A committee composed of im
partial persons representing the
Southern Association of Colleges
and Secondary Schools, recently
visited the Summerville High
School, and after a tour of the
school's facilities, recommended
immediate corrections.
Some of the smaller schools in
the county are badly in need of
washroom accomodations, sci
ence equipment, books for a li
brary, classrooms, etc. Many of
the present buildings are badly
in need of repairs.
County School Superintendent
Lowell Hix said the entire S3OO,
000 has been earmarked to be
expended on the county's school
system. The only expense to be
paid out of the money will be the
cost of holding the election,
printing of the ballots, and vali
dating the bonds The remainder
he declared will be spent to make
repairs and improvements in the
entire school system.
Supt. Hix said the Negro
schools will also be included in
' the improvement move.
The extreme cold weather dur
' ing the morning hours yesterday
kept many voters indoors How
' ever, by 2 p.m. the weather
showed signs of moderating and
the voting began to speed up a
bit. Approximately 350 had voted
at the courthouse here by 3 p.m.
Voting was the heaviest between
the hours of 4 and 6 p.m.. many
voters going straight to the polls
from work before going home.
fers through collection of these
back taxes.
City Clerk Sam Sitton already
has called to the attention of the
Board of Mayor and City Council
that present tax collections arc
far below par for this time of
year.
Taxpayers who arc aware of
the fact that they owe the city
for past due taxes could save
themselves a lot of legal red tape
and extra expenses in court costs
by settling their tax account
immediately.