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■4r The Summerville News, Thursday. July 9, 19G4
She S’ltmnwruille ■Ninis
DAVID T. ESPY
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Entered at Post Office at Summerville, Georgia, as Second Class Mail Matter
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Wifel?l
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Congratulations, Menlo
It, is generally recognized over Chattooga
County that when Menlo people tackle a
task, they go all out.
The Independence Day celebration Satur
day they held was no exception.
The event was well-planned, well-exe
cuted and well-attended. The decorations
and program were superb and the food was
delicious.
Christians and Politics
Start working now to nominate good
men in the September primaries or quit
worrying about what laws will be enacted
and what laws enforced next January.
Study the background of those offering
for public office. Study the record of those
who have been privileged to serve. Get
commitments as to where the candidates
stand on the issues of the day.
Get into politics. It isn’t necessary to
announce for office. But there is the duty
of a Christian and a good citizen to support
those who do offer. Support means more
than a vote. It involves enlistment of
II ords Never Harm?
The familiar lines, “Sticks and stones
may break my bones, but words can never
harm me,'' are only half true.
Words can be as destructive as any
power known to man. These poison ar
rows of gossip and slander are formed with
innocent locking little things called words.
Their force can break the spirit of the
strong, sow discord amond brethren and
set nation against nation.
For these reasons, man is held strictly
accountable to God for every idle word.
"But I say unto you, That every idle word
that men shall speak, they shall give ac
count thereof in the day of judgment. For
by thy words thou shall be justified, and by
thy words thou shall be condemned.” (Matt.
12:36-37).
Gossip, even without malice, is like
shooting a rifle without taking particular
aim. What seems only harmless fun may
strike into the very lieart of some innocent
and unsuspecting victim. Words “which
1 really didn't mean" may turn out the
light of happiness in some home. If gossip
without malice is this evil, think what will
ful slander is by comparison.
Idle talk usually is positively hurtful to
someone or to some good cause. Even when
The Minister
Speaks . . .
By HI V KOBI KT I KANKI IN
Pastor, Summerville First
Baptist Church
In Matthew 5:13. Jesus said.
"Ye are the salt of the earth:
but if the salt has lost his
savour, wherewith shall it be;
salted it is thenceforth good
for nothing, but to be castout.
and to be trodden under foot
of men " Jesus has just fin
ished giving his disciples the
Beattitudes These Beattitudes
give the description of the
kingdom man. merciful, hum
ble. gentle, desiring righteous
ness and so fort li The spirit
of all the united qualities com
mended in the Beattitudes is
the salt of the earth. These
keep humanity fresh and liv
ing, preserve it from corrup-:
tion. and add to it the savour
which secures for men their
true and enduring eniovment
of life
Salt is one of those super-1
fluities which a French wit de
fined as "things that are very
necessary " From the begin- ;
ning of history men have
placed a high value upon it and
have sought it in caves and by
the seashore A bag of salt
among barbarous tribes was
worth more than a man The
Jews prized it especially be
cause they lived in a climate
where it was difficult to keep
food, and because their religion
laid particular emphasis upon
cleanliness. Salt was also used
in their sacrifices No offering
of < akes or vegetables was ever
- -a upon the altar saltless
Ti • Romans also praised salt
a- a necessity of human life
If
Published Every Thursday by the News Publishing Co.
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THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS
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IN COUNTY. $2 58 PER YEAR
point of view, then, it was a
great compliment for the dis
ciples to be spoken of as salt.
Their master had shown great
confidence in them and had
placed a high value upon them
But our Lord was not just
paying a compliment, he was
giving a greater and more
powerful call to duty. Salt
exists for a purpose, and so do
Christians. Salt is used as a
preservative, for allaying cor
ruption It is used on dead ani
mals to stop the effects of the
climate upon the matter. So;
the presence of the Christian
man or woman in his or her
own circle of friends is to be
preservative. His presence
should allay corruption, main
tain life, ward off decay and
spiritual death, and uphold a
standard of right Jesus is
saying, in effect. Human so
ciety. without My influence, is
rotting away and disinte
grating; and you. faithful
handful, who have partially
apprehended the meaning of
My mission, and have caught
something of the spirit of My
life, you are to be rubbed into
that mass to sweeten it. to
arrest decomposition, to stay
corruption, to give flavour to
its insipidness, and to save it
from falling to pieces of its own
wickedness Ye are the salt of
the earth."
But. salt gives relish to what
would otherwise be tasteless or
unpleasant. Christ's people are
the relishing element in the
world, which prevent it from
being loathsome altogether to
the Lord Abraham's nephew.
Lot. was one savour in the
plain that made Sodom and
Gomorrah so long endurable
There was not much salt in
Lot. but a little. A king once
asked his three daughters how
much they loved him The first
one replied that she loved him
better than silver. The king
was very pleased The second
replied that she loved him
better than gold Again the
king beamed proudly. The
HERMAN BUFFINGTON
ADVERTISING MANAGER
NATIONAL EDITORIAL
OUTSIDE COUNTY, $3 61 PER YEAR
The folks who made it possible, and there
were a lot of them, are to be congratulated
and commended. We are sure no finer tri
bute to our nation, regardless of size, was
held anywhere.
And we join hundreds of others who hope
this will indeed become an annual event in
Menlo.
other votes and it invites financial con
tributions from those who can help.
It is commentary on our times when
the selfish lobbies through campaign con
tributions own many public officials before
they ever take the oath of office. Those
citizens interested only in the public wel
fare have done too little to have a voice of
influence.
Some men are dedicated to a public ca
reer with nothing more than the public in
terest as their motive. Their number is few
because only a few give them any encour
agement. —The Christian Index
this is not true, Solomon offers this lucid
comment: "In all labor there is profit: but
the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.”
(Proverbs 14:23). No higher compliment
was ever paid Jesus than this: “. . . neither
was. guile found in his mouth." (I Peter
2:22)
In spite of these and many other pas
sages of scripture condemning it, gossip is
probably the most universally practiced of
Satan’s varied black arts. Try this on your
friends. Join a company of three of more
people. You don’t have to choose those
regarded as bad people. Listen to what
they are saying. The chances are two to
one that in five minutes something unkind,
and probably untrue as well, will be said
about somebody.
The tongue can also be usefully em
ployed. "A word fitly spoken is like apples
of gold in pitchers of silver.” Contrasting
wise and evil speakings, Solomon observed:
"There is that speaketh like the piercings of
a sword: but the tongue of the wise is
health." (Prov. 12:18)
God gave us two eyes with which to
see. Grant us wisdom to look and listen
before we speak, so that our words may be
well spoken.
third and youngest said that
she loved him better than salt.
The king was highly indignant
that his youngest daughter
loved him no more than that
and was quite loud in expres
sion of his discontent. His
cook heard his raving and i
served him his breakfast the
next morning without any
salt The meal was so flat that
the king could not enjoy it.
When he learned that nothing
had been salted, he saw the
force of his daughter s remark.
She loved him so much that
nothing was good without him.
Salt adds savour to what
otherwise would be tasteless.
The Christian adds flavor to
the world tor God.
Salt does its work silently,
inconspicuously, and gradually.
Jesus also described his foi
lowers as "light " Light can be
seen and that is one side of the
Christian's life, the side that
most of us like But there is
an humble kind of work that
all of us have to do. We can
never be the light of the world
except on condition of being
the salt of the earth We must
live the humble example and
then ray out into the darkness.
Bible J erse
To Study
•
“Endure hardness as a
good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
1 To whom was the above
advice given”
2 By whom was it written? ■
3 What was the young
man's chosen occupation?
4 Where may this verse be
found?
ANSWERS TO BIBLE VFRSE:
1 To young Timothy.
2 By Paul the great Apostle.
3 He was a young minister
4 II Timothy 2:3.
A Prize-Winning
Weekly Newspaper
SELF-IMPOSED HANDICAP
t1 /jr c
n g I
/rxi • i
the ILL ®
DROP OUT J
-The Georgia
A LEGISLETTER
C 1 W
By GLENN McCULLOUGH
Executive Manager
The eight-weeks-long special
session of the General Assem
bly which ended last week has
written an Election Code that
should aid in the conduct of
honest elections, but the work
it devoted to a new Constitu
tion appears to have gone
down the drain.
Unless, that is, Governor Carl
E. Sanders is successful in a
planned appeal to the U. S. Su
preme Court to reverse the
order of three Federal judges
sitting in Atlanta. Last week
they handed down a final
ruling that the new Constitu
tion cannot be submitted to
the voters in the November 3
general election.
The order was based on the
court’s contention that the
Constitution is invalid on two
grounds: First, the 1868 Con
stitution provides that a new
constitution may be written
only by a convention called by
a two-thirds vote of House and
Senate and elected on a basis
of population. Second, that it
is being proposed by a House
that is Illegally constituted be
cause it is malapportioned.
However, the court ruled that
individual amendments to the
1945 Constitution may be sub
mitted to the people in Novem
ber.
♦ * ♦
Late in the afternoon of June
24 the three-judge Federal
panel handed down an order
making permanent a tempo
rary order issued June 19 re
quiring that the House be re
apportioned strictly on the
basis of population as required
in a U. S. Supreme Court ruling
of June 15. The panel is com
posed of Judges Elbert Tuttle.
Griffin B. Bell and Lewis R.
Morgan.
The only boon granted the
state, following a personal ap
peal by Governor Carl E.
Sanders, was that reapportion
ment of the House may be de
layed until the regular session
of the General Assembly which
meets in January. 1965.
This means that candidates
for the House—of whom more
than 100 already have been re
nominated—will run from their
present counties this year.
However, they will serve for
only the 45 days of the 1965
session. And the court limited
their powers at that time to
conducting regular business
and passing a redistricting act.
There is some talk among
members of the House of peti
tioning the Governor to call
another special session this
year to reapportion—and get it
over with. Rep. Mackie Simpson
of Wheeler County is circulating
a petition to this end. but it
would require the signature of
three-fifths of the members.!
Governor Sanders has said he |
will not call another special j
session voluntarily.
Rep. Denmark Groover of
Bibb County. ' representing I
House members, appeared be
fore the court at the June 24
hearing and pleaded with the
three judges to let the people ■
vote on the Constitution in I
November But they refused to I
reverse an earlier decision.
• * *
Before the court's final deci-;
sion. some House members had '
hoped that Governor Sanders
might be allowed to appoint
a constitutional convention
which would approve the Con
stitution in much the same
form as it was passed by the
House and Senate late on June
23. But the judges held the
convention delegates must be
elected. Apparently there is not
sufficient time for this pro
cedure.
Rural House members are
anxious to have the Constitu
tion approved in its present I
form because it carries certain i
By Glenn McCulloug
concessions to rural counties
which might not be obtained
from a convention elected by
popular vote. Among these is a
permanent guarantee of $9,-
300,000 annually to the coun
ties in road funds. Cities would
get the same amount.
Despite sharp differences be
tween the House and Senate
on many aspects of the Consti
tution, their conferees were
able to obtain agreement on
the afternoon before the court
met. The Senate yielded on
most controversial points.
Nevertheless, the Senate ap
proved the document 40 to 13
and the House followed a few
minutes later with an affirma
tive vote of 152 to 16.
Complying with the court’s
order, the Constitution pro
vides for a House of from 162
to 216 members, elected on a
basis of population. It also pro
vides four-year terms for both
House and Senate members,
election of the state school su
perintendent, retention of the
“face your accuser” law and
the annual road grant.
The Election Code sets up a
State Elections Board with
broad powers, provides a single
date for both Democratic and
Republican primaries, and a
cut-off date of 50 days before
the primaries and general elec
tions for the registration of
voters.
Notes From
20 Years Ago
Mr. John L. Pollock, 85, died
at his home in Lyerly Monday
afternoon. July 3. He was a
prominent citizen of that com
munity and had been active in
the affairs of Chattooga
county, having been chairman
of the County Board of Educa
tion. . .
Seaman First Class Merle J.
Jones has been commended for
meritorious conduct aboard a
battleship in a fight with Jap
anese forces in the Solomons.
Four-H club members in
Chattooga county will take
part in a state-wide plan to
establish a college scholarship
loan fund honoring the former
Senator Hoke Smith. County
Agent O. P. Dawson announced
this week.
News has been received by
Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Snoots of
the death of their son. Capt.
William F. Snoots. The first
Lyerly casualty in World War
11. Capt. Snoots was killed in
action in the New Guinea area
on June 12th. . .
In the Georgia State Demo
cratic Primary, held Tuesday.
July 4. Col. Henderson Lanham
was elected as solicitor-general
of the Rome judicial circuit:
Tom A. Cook was elected with
out opposition as state senator
of the 42nd district: and H
Grady Ramey defeated his two
opponents and was chosen as
county representative to the
Georgia general assembly.
J. Ralph Rosser. Lanham's
opponent, carried Walker and
Chattooga counties, but Lan
ham piled up an overwhelming
majority in Floyd County. . .
In the race for representative
. . M M. Allen polled 417 votes.
H. Grady Ramey 1.176 and Will
H Stephenson 540.
Pvt Harry Parris, of the Bat
tey General hospital, is spend
ing a few weeks with his
mother. Mrs. Emma Parris.
Miss Helen Owings spent the
week-end rtith relatives in j
Sensing the News
By THURMAN SENSING
Executive Vice President
Southern States Industrial
Council
PLANNERS OF
INSURRECTION
Nothing in the American ex
perience has prepared the na
tion for the invasion of the
State of Mississippi now in pro
gress by youths trained and or- ■
ganized by the National Coun
cil of Churches and the Stu
dent Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee.
Indeed the average Ameri-i
can, planning a peaceful sum- I
mer vacation, can hardly im
agine what is involved in this
extraordinary combined opera- I
tion to push through revolu
tionary changes in the cus-|
toms of one state. Few church
men, certainly, understand
that the NCC is devoting its
personnel and finances to the
invasion or that it is working
hand-in-glove with SNCC. an ।
organization that is insurrec-;
tionary in character and in
filtrated by communists.
Whatever opinion the vast
reasonable majority of the
American people may hold re
garding the wisdom of Missis
sippi’s social arrangements,
they surely are disapproving of
the use of the worst type of
radical extremism to force
through change.
If it is social change that the
American people desire, there
are plenty of peaceful means of
achieving it in this republic—
ways of bringing it about
gradually without a social ex
plosion. The principal means
embodied in our U. S. Consti
tution is the amendment pro
cess. But those who desire rad
ical change are afraid to at
tempt to use the amendment
process, for they fear that
change is wanted only by a
tiny radical group, not by the
great body of the American
people.
Another legitimate instru
ment of change in our society
is the system of states. They
amount to 50 laboratories.
Their utility lies in the fact
that each traditionally has had
its own special approach to the
problems of popular govern
ment, allowing for progress
geared to the special charac
teristics and needs of its peo
ple. Now the liberal intelligent
sia, concentrated in a few’
crowded, hectic metropolitan
centers, are determined that
everyone must live the same
way and have precisely the
Same system of state govern
ment. This desire already is
productive of ill-will among
the American people.
If this weren’t bad enough,
the states have to reckon with
militant extremists who aren’t
satisfied with the slow but reg
ular processes of the law and
social custom. They are de-
Chickamauga and Chatta
nooga.
Misses Margaret Scoggins,
June Self and Katherine Erwin
were in Rome shopping last
Saturday.
Lt. Sam W. Favor, of Sum
merville. Ga., and Camp Koh
ler. Cal. and Lt. Aurelia Jane
Hughes, A.N.C., were married
June 5 at 6:30 p. m. in Hayes,
Kan. at the home of Rev. John
Thorn, Presbyterian minister. .
Cpl. James E. Adams, of
Camp Bowie, Texas, is spend
ing a 10-day furlough with his
mother, Mrs. V. T. Adams.
The invasion news reel pic
tures showing allied soldiers
leaving the barges and being
dropped in their tracks by
German gunfire, brings back
tightness to my throat when
the radio announced D-Day . . .
The heartbreaks of the rela
tives of these fallen heroes
should not happen again. The
peace this time should be made
secure ... by Katharin A.
Henry.
Mr. and Mrs. Eli Stephenson
are spending a few days with
their son, Joe. who is in school
at Dahlonega. Ga.
The Georgia white demo
cratic primary will be held
next Tuesday. July 4. Mr.
Henry McWhorter, chairman
of the Chattooga County demo
cratic executive committee, an
nounces that in Chattooga
County, the polls will open at
7 a. m next Tuesday and will
close at 6 p. in There are
three candidates in the race
for the seat of Representative
in the General Assembly. These
candidates are M. M* Allen.
Summerville; H. Grady Ramey.
Trion: and Will R Stephenson.
Summerville.
Great opportunities come to
all. but many do not know they
have met them.
—Albert Eli2ah Dunning
termined to launch a mass ag
itation movement against a
state or a community, such as
Mississippi and St. Augustine,
Fla., in order to turn the estab
lished order upside down. They
care not in the least how they
torment a community, disrupt
its economic life, turn its
churches into centers of strife,
and blacken its image around
the nation. These militant rad
icals are so morally insensitive
that they do not care that peo
ple are injured, that peaceful
people are inflamed, or that so
cial warfare inundates a com
munity or state.
To find a parallel to the in
vasions of Mississippi or St.
Augustine one has to look back
to the 1930's when Nazism was
spreading across Germany,
when radicals were meeting in
beer halls, and when the Hit
ler Youth were being trained to
Ilie Offices...
The Candidates.
Attention, all candidates subject to the Sept. 9 Democratic
primary:
If you haven’t yet turned in your biographical sketch and
platform (briefly, please) to The News for this series of articles,
please do so within the next two weeks.
Here is your opportunity to get some “free advertising,” so
don’t let it pass. Be sure your qualifications are listed along
side those of your opponent.
TAX RECEIVER
Most folks have trouble distinguishing the difference be
tween the duties of the tax collector and those of the tax receiver.
Actually, “tax receiver” is a misnomer. It should be “tax
return receiver"—he receives returns, not taxes. On the other
hand, the “tax collector” receives taxes or collects them.
The tax receiver is busiest the first part of the year on the
tax records and the tax collector is busiest the latter part of the
year.
Here is how it works:
Between Jan. 1 and April 1 each year, each property owner
must list with the tax receiver his property and his intention of
paying tax on same This is called “filing a tax return”.
The tax receiver uses a separate sheet of paper for each
property owner. On the sheet is listed the name of the property
owner, his address, the location (by district, number and sec
tion) of the real estate, the number and types of automobiles,
trucks, furniture, cows and tractors and the “fair market value”
of each.
The law requires that the receiver administer this oath to
all persons making a tax return: “I do solemnly swear that I
have carefully read (or have heard read) and have duly con
sidered the questions propounded in the foregoing tax list, and
that the value placed by me on the property returned, as shown
by said list, is the true market value thereof; and I further swear
that I returned, for the purpose of being taxed thereon, every
species of property that I own in my own right, or have control of,
either as agent, executor, administrator, or otherwise; and that
in making said return, for the purpose of being taxed thereon,
I have not attempted, either by transferring my property to
another or by any other means, to evade the laws governing
taxation in this state. I do further swear that in making said
return I have done so by estimating the true worth and value of
every species of property contained therein.”
After the return filing deadline of April 1 arrives, the tax
receiver has 10 days in which to put all the sheets in alpha
betical order by district. He then turns the books containing
these sheets of returns over to the Board of Tax Assessors.
The assessors go over the returns, making adjustments where
they think necessary. Usually, they are finished within a few
weeks and the books are back in the hands of the tax receiver.
He must then deduct from the gross evaluations the home
stead exemption and personal exemption and figure out the
net figure on which the property owner will be taxed.
The total net tax digest (evaluation basis on which the
taxes will be levied) is then figured for each district and finally
for the county.
This information is then transferred to another book and
names are placed in alphabetical order by district. Three copies
of this book (or books) is made—one for the tax collector, one
for the ordinary and one for the State Revenue Commissioner.
The Revenue Commissioner must inspect the book and if
all is not found in order the book is returned for further work.
(The current receiver has never had his books returned.)
The next step is for the county commissioner and Board of
Education. After seeing what the tax digest is, they set the
tax rates. This is usually done in July or August.
The tax collector gets to work after that figuring up how
much each person’s tax will be, billing him, receiving the tax
payment and “collecting”.
The tax receiver must list all defaulters, the amount of their
taxes and the double taxes assessed against them. He must in
clude this in his digest.
He also must “publish at the door of the courthouse” for
30 days lists of all the defaulters and the amount of their double
taxes.
Just as the tax collector, the tax receiver also is under bond.
It must be equal to one-fourth of the amount of the state tax
supposed to be due from the county for the year.
Here is the tax receiver’s oath:
“I swear that I will truly and faithfully perform the duties
of receiver of returns of taxable property, or of persons or
things specially taxed in the county to which I am appointed,
as requirel of me by the laws, and will not receive any return
but on oath or affirmation, and will before receiving returns
carefully examine each, and will to the best of my ability carry
out the requirements made upon me by the tax laws. So help
me God.”
The tax receiver is currently on a fee basis, but beginning
Jan. 1, 1965, he will go a $7,000 a year salary.
Fees paid him are on the same basis as those paid the tax
collector with the exception that the receiver gets no fees on the
school part. He doesn’t figure these taxes. They are done by
the tax collector. School taxes amount to about one-third of
the total which means that the receiver, under the fee system,
earns about one-third as much as the tax collector.
The fee basis graduates from six per cent on all net digests
up to and including $6,000 down to l 3 <i per cent on all over
$76,000. The entire scale appeared in last week's News in the
story on the tax collector.
RAY VANPELT
Ray Van Pelt. tax receiver of Chattooga County for the past
16 years, is the only candidate for the post this year.
Mr. Van Pelt is a native of Carroll County and a graduate of
Lyerly High School. He served in the U. S. Army two and one
half years, seeing duty with the Infantry in the European
theatre. Mr. Van Pelt received the Purple Heart medal for in
juries which resulted in the amputation of his left hand.
After the war. he operated a service station on the Dry
Valley Road for several years.
He is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American
Legion. Masons and New Hope South Baptist Church.
The Van Pelts live on the Bolling Road. Mrs. Van Pelt is the
former Katherine Reed, a Chattooga Countian, and they have
two daughters, Kathy 16 and Lynn 12.
Mr. Van Pelt said this week.
"I appreciate the confidence shown me in the past and w’ill
continue trying to serve the public to the best of my ability.”
invade communities and de
stroy law and order and social
peace. The same type of be
havior is manifest in America
this summer as hard-eyed
leftists recruit confused youths
to send them into communities
as a spearhead of insurrection
ary social revolution.
This is the kind of behavior
and social attack for which the
United States is ill-prepared.
Cities and states are prepared
to defend established rights in
the courts. But they aren't fa
miliar with the use of the “bu
rn a n wave tactic” against
places of business and com
munity facilities. This revolu
tionary device is remarkably
similar to what the Chinese
communists advise in the way
of political action. The waves
of demonstrators are used to
topple the property rights of
merchants, motel owners and
other businessmen.