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Observations
By ELBERT FORESTER
Editor, The Dade County Sentind
a £
S; Thought 1 would begin this column this week by telling
$• hundreds of thousands of readers how to put up a Christ
ft mas tree-being too late, I’ll skip it. That’s one reason and
$ the other reason is that I have tried for nigh on 50 years to
$ learn how to put up a Christmas tree as it should be, and
I’m frank to tell you that 1 have utterly failed. ’Course,
there are scads of things I can’t do, but three of ’em I
ft KNOW I can’t do: Make a kite that will fly, whittle out a
ft bow and arrow that’s any good, and arrange a Christmas
trce - ' " admit that I can go to the woods and cut one down
ft and bring it to the house-Looks mighty shapely and purty
before I cut it, then when I get ready to stand it in
g position-looks awful. Why is that?
■ft Let me see, “Thirty days has April, November, Septem
ber, June; all others have 31 but February and it has 28 and
ft occasionally 29. Might of sorta got ’em jumbled up there a
¥ Idtle, but 1 was just taking a long look at two mighty,
ft mighty purty 1973 calendars I got this week-One from the
Roy Streets, Phoenix, Ariz., entitled “The Family Circus,”
which was rich indeed, and the other from Mac’s Gun &
Tackle Shop, Rising Fawn, showing pictures of big game,
ft along with a lot of hunting and fishing info. Lucy and Roy
ft said they hoped I’d have a whole batch more birthdays.
X; Thanks to all of ’ye in a big way! And, 1 mean in a BIG
•ft WAY! I’ll get around to my Greetings to everybody next
X week. You know-1 can just haul off and wish everybody a
ft; Merry Christmas and all that, and the publisher and Post
ft masters won’t note that I’m saving 8 cents on each deal,
ft Just say that the four papers running this column have a
ft combined circulation of 200,000. Now, multiply that figure
S: by eight and you’ll come up with what I’ll save, see. Now, 1
just thought that up all by myself—didn’t have a dab of
help. How about that, Cuz. Charlie? Takes a smart man-
ft Right? Right!
X* * *
§ In The News-“A Senate subcommittee was told Tues
£• day that aspirin was one of the best medications for the
ft common cold, but that hot chicken soup might be better
•ft than many heavily advertised cold and cough remedies.”
ft (Washington (UP) Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 6, 1972)
X By doggies, wouldn’t that warp ’ye? Just think about
•I; going to see your doctor and he’d look you over, scribble
■ft off something-You’d take to the druggist at Summerville,
LaFayette, Ringgold and/or Trenton-and the druggist
X; would measure you up a small vile of chicken soup. No,
that just don’t add up right to me; besides, we impose on
ft; the old Shang-Hi too much as it is . . . Pore thing. Don’t tell
the doctors this, but confidentially, I’ll tell you what to do
ft for a common cold-Nuthin’. Just wear it off. (That “wear”
ft; is just an old saying, you understand.) In other words, just
ft; keep movin’, on, ’cause rolling moss don’t gather no
;X stones or something like that.
;X ♦ * ♦
High Cotton Just another old saying, but attended an
ft; “Appreciation Dinner” the other night and there were more
ft law enforcement officers, sheriffs, state patrolmen, FBI and
S GBI agents there than Spiro Agnew has security guards,
ft Yeah, our Sheriff, Allison Blevins-for some 17 years-is
throwing in the towel come Jan. 1. “Throwing in the
:¥ towel” means retiring.
ft; Yeah, at Wright’s Restaurant, with steaks as bigas horse
ft collar pads, were the sheriffs from Chattooga, Walker,
ft; Catoosa, Whitfield-each bringing along a whole passel,
ft Then, Lt. Reuben Lyons and the Captain from Rome,
ft Judge Painter, Sheriffs from Tri-State area and bunches
ft; from Chattanooga-including WDEF (Jay Branum), our
ft own Max Robertson from Alabama. Well, can’t name all of
■ft ’em. Al Millard, FBI, Rossville, with the Mayor and others,
ft Al did a top job as Master of Ceremonies. As a matter of
ft fact, when Judge Johnny Painter, Al, Bro. Craton (Cloud
ft Springs) and 1 got through talking about Sheriff Blevins, he
X; wound up from an average Sheriff to the best Sheriff on the
ft: face of the earth . . . Shucks. ’Bout to forget my good
K friend Bill Williams, ATF, Rome, who looked after the
ft picture fakin’. Have to move on-but a list of all present
ft appears in The Sentinel this week. And, you know what,
:•! just lots of ’em said they liked this column-Now, I gotta
® get a bigger hat.
ft * * *
ft Good For You-Col. Dave Ledbetter, Summerville, age
79. Mighty fine string of fishes . . . Chip Reynolds and Bill
ft; Pursley, good for you, too in outwitting the two big bucks,
§ and ’grats to Dennis Elrod, Dry Valley, for fetching in the
ft whopper hornets’ nest.
ft * ♦ *
X I Hear Ye-Bill Rhyne, LaFayette-Always glad to help
ft my friends. Think it was Bill or his good lady Sue, who
v passes along the story of the wife who got a divorce and
ft said, “I’m absolutely through-I would only consider get
¥ ting married again after my 90th birthday—and then I
ft would have to be pregnant.”
ft * * *
The Very Idea-Trying to hi-jack a bus in Ringgold!
X Beats anything. Sheriff, you and Paul Peal, Col. O’Donald,
K Jim, Lucy, Juanita, Rep. Peters, Sister Andrews and a
bunch of others, go into a huddle and let’s don’t let that get
X started around here. Lot of groups and people I want to
$ congratulate in Ringgold, and county-wide, but I’ve fooled
ft around and might nigh have run out of space . . Much
oblige there, Betty Johnson, 331 Browns Ferry Rd., Chatta-
X nooga. You’re a honey. For your kindness, I’ll just dedicate
£ next week’s personal column to you. OK? . . . Will do —
g John Price, just as soon as I can muster the time to pick
: : through and come up with it. Tell your friend . . Same
5 goes for you-Cuz. Hazel .. Uncle Ed says: Being happy
•: can make poor men rich, but being unhappy always makes
:• rich men poor. (I go along with that.) . .. Adcox Adds: The
;i main thing wrong about this younger generation is that we
: : don’t belong to it any more. Right! ... Pa Dave vows: Any
•: crackpot can find fault and criticize-and usually does.
Bottom Lines-(Re-run, I think): Be what you is and not
•: what you ain’t ... For if you ain’t what you is ... Then
;• you is what you ain’t.
Import of Revenue-Sharing Act Still Not Clear
Aside from no-fault in
surance, one of the most con
troversial subjects in the coun
try today is federal revenue
sharing.
Under the program, Chat
tooga County is slated to re
ceive (and may have already
received its share by the time
you read this article)
5200,000-plus and the four
municipalities in the county
may share some $75,000 more
The main point of con
jecture to date has been the
lack of definite guidelines for
determining how the money
may be spent, and for what
purposes
One source reports that
local officials are accountable
only to their constituents for
the manner in which these
re venue-sharing funds are
spent.
Long accustomed to the
delay and seemingly endless
review other federal aid pro-
grams are subject to, local of
ficials find this aspect of
revenue sharing “too good to
be true.”
"In giving us this *no-strings'
money,” one cautious county
commissioner said, “I get the
feeling someone may be trying
to ‘give us enough rope.’ ”
Local planning and spending
reports, one source said, do
have to be published in local
newspapers, thereby giving the
public its own review of the
new program.
The following article, which
appears in the current issue of
the Georgia County Govern
ment Magazine, published by
the Association County Com
missioners of Georgia, ad
dresses itself to the revenue
sharing program:
“We got what we went
after. A new order of federal
aid to state and local govern
ment, one with almost no
strings attached.
ohe B’itnttnrruiUr New
I IEWI0! I
JjUMW !
HIB 'A [ A A
IWJL'aL .A fl
1 Jp ■ jT , J •
This attractive manger scene will greet
guests Sunday as they arrive at the
Chattooga County Memorial Home for
the annual Christmas party for needy
children. The Memorial Home grounds
County Ranks 47th
In State Population
Chattooga County now
ranks 47th in population
among Georgia’s 159 counties,
according to final 1970 census
figures.
The county added 587 new
residents during the period
from 1960 to 1970 for a per
centage gain of 2.9 percent.
County residents increased
from 19,^54 in 1960 to 20,541
in 1970, according to the latest
figures.
After the 1950 census—
when a county’s population
determined its vehicle license
prefix number-Chattooga was
assigned the number “37.” Due
to a considerable loss during
the following decade, the coun
ty’s prefix number dropped to
41. This does not indicate that
Chattooga County is still losing
population, but rather that
other areas of the state are
gaining population at a faster
pace.
Catoosa County, which
took Chattooga’s place as the
37th most populous county in
the state after the 1950 census,
has now moved up to the 33rd
spot. Walton County is now in
41st place.
The 10 most populous
counties in the state (with
county seat designations) in
descending order are:
-Fulton (Atlanta),
607,592;
-DeKalb (Decatur),
415,387;
-Cobb (Marietta), 196,793;
-Chatham (Savannah),
187,767;
■ Muscogee (Columbus),
167,377;
-Richmond (Augusta),
162,437;
- Bibb (Macon), 143,418;
-Clayton (Jonesboro),
98,043;
Cities and counties get a
bigger slice than do state gov
ernments, and rural areas
slightly more than urban. All in
all, the counties will command
about 40 percent of the total
federal revenue-sharing pro
gram which is to span five
years.
Revenue sharing's official
name is the State and Local
Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972.
It was introduced more than
three years ago, widely
debated, dubbed ‘an unrealistic
dream of local politicians,’
compromised by the House, its
wounds cauterized by a more
generous Senate, and finally
signed into law Oct. 20 by
President Richard Nixon.
The President chose Inde
pendence Hall in Philadelphia
for the signing ceremony, and
local leaders dared hope it
marked an era of greater in
dependence from the bureauc
racy that stiffled much of cate-
BIRTH OF THE CHRIST CHILD
are unusually attractive this year,
featuring the scene pictured above, a
large Christmas tree on the lawn, and
Santa Claus galloping across the roof in
his sleigh.
-Dougherty (Albany),
89,639; and
-Floyd (Rome), 73,742.
Echols County, in extreme
south Georgia, has the least
population in the state-1,924
residents. Eleven other Georgia
counties-Wheeler, Towns,
Baker, Long, Dawson, Clay,
Schley, Taliaferro, Webster,
Glascock, and Whitman-have
fewer than 5,000 residents.
Clayton County had the
largest percentage increase in
population for the period re
ported, moving from 46,365 in
State May Assume
New Responsibility
ATLANTA-Legislation will
probably be introduced in the
Georgia Senate in January to
permit the state to assume full
responsibility for occupational
safety and health standards.
The Senate committee on
Industry and Labor has re
ceived a 307-page report from
the office of Occupational
Safety and Health, complete
with suggested legislation.
Federal guidelines for in
dustrial safety have already
been laid down, but Sen. Floyd
Hudgins of Columbus, who is
in construction, said, “The
working people of Georgia
cannot afford to have the
federal government coming
down here to enforce our
laws.”
Sen. John Riley of
Savannah noted that the
Senate passed a safety
guideline bill last year but it
ACCG GIVES ITS INTERPRETATION
gorical aid's effect.
Revenue sharing hasn't
given localities complete
freedom in spending, but they
will have to look hard to find
something they cannot pay for
with revenue-sharing money.
The nine approved spending
categories are interpreted
broadly. The first eight deal
with maintenance and opera
tions in:
public safety, including
law enforcement, fire pro
tection, and building code en
forcement;
-environmental protection,
including sewage disposal, sani
tation, and pollution abate
ment;
health;
-recreation;
-libraries;
social services for the poor
and aged; and
financial administration.
The ninth priority is for
capital expenditures, any of
Second Front
1960 to 98,043 in 1970, a gain
of 111.5 percent.
Also registering large per
centage increases for the
period: DeKalb County (61.8);
Cobb (72.4); Gwinnett (66.2);
Houston (60.7); Douglas
(71.2); and Chattahoochee
(98.4).
Taliaferro County registered
the largest percentage of de
crease during the decade, drop
ping 28.1 percent, from 3,370
in 1960 to 2,423 in 1970.
was vetoed. He said, “We need
state interpretation and con
trol.”
Committee Chairman
Mayion London of Cleveland
said the committee plans to
invite federal authorities to
testify before the committee
before any final action is
taken.
Under an outline presented
by the office of Occupational
Safety and Health Committee,
it would cost slightly more
than a million and a half
dollars to implement safety
guidelines in Georgia.
Other members of the State
Senate committee on Industry
and Labor include Sens. Jack
Stephens and Ed Garrard of
Atlanta; Turner Scott of
Thomaston; Joe Kennedy of
Gaxton; E. G. Summers of
LaFayette; and Culver Kidd of
Milledgeville.
the ordinary and necessary
capital improvements the local
government is authorized to
make.
States and localities are ex
pressly prohibited from using
revenue-sharing funds as the re
quired local effort under other
federal-aid programs.
Education is conspicuously
absent from the list of main
tenance and operation cate
gories, yet the construction of
school buildings is a normal
and ordinary expense under
the capital expenditure
category. Thus, you may build
the school with revenue-sharing
funds, but you may not use
them to pay the teachers.
The actual application of
re venue-sharing paytnents by
local officials should help
prevent further property tax
increases. Long debate within
the legislative committees and
on the floor of both House and
Senate-indicated Congress’
■W.WSAW.
More Than 500
Children to Be
Feted at Party
Veterans’
Groups to
Be Hosts
The annual Christmas party
sponsored by Chattooga
County’s two service organiza
tions for needy children is
scheduled at 2 p.m. Dec. 17.
More than 500 youngsters
from throughout the county
are expected to gather Sunday
at Chattooga County Memorial
Home to receb'e an armful of
“goodies” provided by Mason-
McCauley Post 6688, VFW,
and American Legion Post 129.
The two veterans’ organiza
tions have been treating the
needy children of the com
munity to this annual party for
many years, and some of the
youngsters would not have a
“visit” from Santa Claus if it
were not for this event.
The children are given fruit,
candy, nuts, and toys. Mem
bers of both organizations and
their ladies auxiliaries will meet
jointly Friday night to sack
candy and fruit for the several
hundred youngsters who will
be on hand Sunday when Santa
Claus arrives once again at the
Memorial Home.
TOYS READY
The special Christmas Party
committee has purchased the
toys and other goodies that
will be distributed to the chil
dren. The Memorial Home has
taken on a festive air in prepa
ration for the influx of eager
youngsters. A large Christmas
tree has been lighted on the
lawn, an attractive manger
scene depicts the story of the
birth of baby Jesus, and a
smiling Santa, complete with
sleigh and reindeer, gallops
across the roof of the Memorial
Home.
The hosts for the party got
a big boost this year when
Commissioner Harry Powell
donated SI,OOO to help defray
expenses for the annual chil
dren’s party.
“I appreciate what they’re
doing up there,” the com
missioner said. They are reach
ing many youngsters at Christ
mastime that no one else
reaches. I am glad that we were
able to help them with a little
surplus money.”
BUSES TO RUN
Two buses will be provided
for those children who do not
have transportation Sunday,
Hugh Don Hall, committee
chairman said.
One bus will leave Jackson
Brothers Store at Lyerly at
12:30 p.m., stopping at
Mahan’s Store in Berryton at
12:45, and at the Chattooga
County Courthouse at I p.m.
Another bus will leave Hall’s
Service Station in Menlo at
willingness to help local gov
ernments meet their increasing
service obligations without
further escalation of property
tax.
Nevertheless, the formula
they approved for distributing
the funds makes plain their at
titude toward those who would
shift their own load to federal
shoulders. The ‘tax-effort’
factor in the formula says
simply that Congress will help
those who help themselves.
in weighing the formula for
less-developed areas, they re
served one alternative. A state
governor may, with legislative
approval, shift the distribution
formula in favor of the urban
areas, but he may do it only
one time in the course of the
five-year program. Once the
change is made, he cannot re
turn to the original formula.
Experienced local leaders
warn of another development
they believe will follow rev-
- \
~ I /
mt
‘ ? jfl
Mystery Picture
Entries Increase
Apparently last week’s
Mystery Picture was much
easier than the previous week’s
picture. We received a large
number of correct entries for
last week’s pictured object.
For correctly identifying
last week's Mystery Picture as
that of a chocolate chip
cookie, we are sending a free
three-month subscription to
The Summerville News to:
Willie B. Langston, Route 1,
Menlo; Jennifer Hillis, 2859
Scenic Terrace, East Point, Ga.;
and Pam Cothran, Berryton.
Congratulations to these
persons selected to receive a
free subscription.
Today’s Mystery Picture
may prove a bit more difficult.
Look the pictured object over
carefully, and when you think
you have correctly identified
it, send a card or letter to:
Mystery Picture, Box 310,
Summerville, Ga. 30747.
The rules for playing our
weekly fun game are simple
Only written (cards or letters)
12:30 p.m. and will make a
stop at Crowe's Grocery in
West Summerville at 12:45.
Invitations to the party
were issued through the
schools throughout the county.
Last year, more than 600
youngsters were on hand for
the festivities.
WHAT IS IT?
entries can be accepted.
Remember, no phone calls,
please.
Why not send in your card
or letter right now and join the
many readers each week who
play our weekly fun game. This
might be the time for you to
be selected. You do not have
to be among the first to send in
a correct entry to be selected.
Cards or letters identifying
this week’s picture must be in
our office by noon on Dec. 19.
Registration Is
Announced for
Winter Classes
Registration for both day.
and night students at (Coosa
Valley Tech will be held on
December 11, 12, 13 and 14.
Day students should plan to
register between 8:30 a.m. and
4:30 p.m. All students should
plan to pay their Winter quar
ter fees and purchase their
textbooks. Anyone that finds
it impossible to register be
tween December 11 and
December 14 should call
235-1145 and notify the
school.
enue sharing. Knowing that
revenue sharing is putting more
resources into local govern
ment, they expect state govern
ments to try to mandate more
local spending.
Watch for pressure from
state legislatures, they say, that
will attempt to ‘spend the
revenue-sharing money for
you,' by requiring larger local
shares of local-state programs.
Here in Georgia, the county
commissioners’ association
urges its members to make use
of revenue-sharing money most
obvious. Toward that end,
ACCG is compiling a log o£
projects on which revenue'
sharing money is being spent.
Besides being a source of infor
mation to other Georgia cities
and counties, each entry
should support future ex
tension of the program.”