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VOLUME 91 - NUMBER 11
Lions
Invite
Camp
Paul W. Camp Jr., governor
of District 18-A, Lions Inter
national, will make an official
visit to the Trion Lions Club
on Monday, April 7.
A native of Rome, Lion
Camp has exemplified out
standing leadership as a
member of the Rome Lions
Club for the past 21 years. On
the district level, he has held
rhe office of zone chairman
and deputy district governor as
well as chairman of several
cabinet level committees.
Gov. Camp has 20 years of
perfect attendance, and has at
tended 17 state conventions as
well as three international con
ventions. He is a trustee for the
Georgia Lions Lighthouse and
a charter member of the Peach
Bowl Association.
Camp is in the home con
struction business and is a
member of Trinity United
Methodist Church, Rome. He
and his wife, Eulaine, have a
daughter, Linda, 19, and a son,
John, 16.
Elbert E. Whitenton is presi
dent of the Trion Lions Club.
Lions International, the
world’s largest service organi
zation with more than one mil
lion members, has long worked
to serve the needs of those less
fortunate than others. Perhaps
they are best known for their
Georgia Lions Lighthouse for
the Blind and for the annual
Peach Bowl football game,
which is supported by the
more than 11 thousand Lions
in Georgia.
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PAUL CAMP JR.
Police Blotter
The Summerville Police De
partment reported five viola
tions during the past week.
One motorist was charged
with failure to have vehicle
under control, three with dis
orderly conduct, and one for
failure to stop for a red light.
Improvements
Announced at
Menlo Library
The Cherokee Regional Li
brary Board announces an im
provement program at the
branch library in Menlo.
“Many of the fine people
there,” Mrs. Baker Farrar, re
gional board chairman, said,
“have donated their time,
labor, and money to make it a
fine place to go to borrow
books.”
Sheriff’s Report
The Chattooga County
Sheriff’s Department handled
56 violations during the past
week.
Speeding headed the list,
with 14 violations reported.
Driving under the influence of
an intoxicant and fishing with
out a license tied for second
spot, with five violations each
reported.
Twenty-six persons were
listed at Chattooga County
Jail.
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FBI agents, GBI agents, members of the Chattooga
County Sheriff’s Department, and Menlo city police
men converge on the scene shortly after tour masked
robbers took an undisclosed amount of money Friday
from Farmers & Merchants Bank’s branch office at
HOLD UP MENLO BANK
Officers Continue Search
For 4 Masked Robbers
Law enforcement agencies
throughout the area are still on
the lookout for four armed
men who robbed the Menlo
branch office of Farmers &
Merchants Bank March 28 of
an undisclosed amount of
money.
The four men, armed with
rifles and submachine guns,
entered the bank at approxi
mately 10:15 a.m. Friday,
forcing the bank manager,
three other employees, and
three customers to lie down on
the floor while they scooped
up the money.
Employees in the bank at
the time of the robbery were
Emory Gilmer, branch
manager; Nancy Light, Jeannie
Mitchell, and Barbara Wyatt.
The bank’s three customers
were not identified.
After leaving the bank, the
robbers, who were described as
wearing rubber-type hoods and
masks on their faces, escaped
on Highway 48 toward Look
out Mountain in a 1968-69
Green Ford with Tennessee
license plates.
FBI and GBI agents, Sheriff
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Sheriff Gary McConnell and his
deputies this week recovered a large
quantity of merchandise reported
Crackdown Continues On Burglaries
The Chattooga County
Sheriff’s Department
continued its relentless
crackdown on the increasing
number of burglaries in the
area with the arrest of a teen
age suspect in a series of
burglaries in Chattooga and
Walker counties.
Sheriff Gary McConnell
identified the young suspect as
Ray Ballenger, 19, Route 1,
Menlo.
The sheriff said Ballenger
has been charged with the
SUMMI RVII LE.( TIATTOOGA COUNT Y. GEORGIA 30747, THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 1975
OFFICERS CONVERGE ON SCENE
Gary McConnell and members
of the Chattooga County
Sheriff’s Department, and
Menlo city policemen were on
the scene within a short time
after the robbery.
Friday’s robbery marked
the second time within the past
six months that a branch bank
Council Seat
To Be Filled
Here Tuesday
Summerville voters will go
to the polls Tuesday to elect a
councilman for Seat No. 5 to
fill the unexpired term of
Charles Brooks, which expires
Dec. 31.
Three candidates are run
ning for the vacant seat on the
council. They are Tommy
Baker, Hubert Palmer, a former
councilman, and Frank Price.
The polls will be open from
7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at Summer
ville City Hall.
COUNTY OFFICERS RECOVER STOLEN MERCHANDISE
stolen in Chattooga and Walker coun
ties during the past few months. The
sheriff announced the arrest of a teen-
recent burglary of the Son-Lib
Trade Center at Cloudland. He
is also charged with the theft
of vehicles at Best
Manufacturing Co. and
Beersheba Presbyterian
Church, among others.
Sheriff McConnell this week
recovered a large quantity of
items reported stolen during
the past few weeks. Among the
items recovered were two
Honda motorcycles-one stolen
at Teloga and one stolen in
Walker County.
Menlo. Four bank employees and three customers
were forced at gunpoint to lie on the floor while the
robbers scooped up the money. The four men are still
at large.
in Chattooga County has been
robbed. On Nov. 22, a lone
black bandit forced his way at
gunpoint into the F&M branch
office at Trion as a female em
ployee arrived for work.
An intensive search was car
ried out in the LaFayette area
when a suspect fled into a
wooded residential area. A
suspect was later picked up in
Ohio and charged with armed
robbery, aggravated assault,
and theft of a motor vehicle in
connection with the Trion
bank robbery.
The search for the Menlo
robbers was carried to the
Alabama area when an uniden
tified truck driver reported to
law enforcement officers that
he met the apparent getaway
car traveling Highway 48 up
Lookout Mountain toward
Cloudland.
Sheriff McConnell said
Tuesday that the car used by
the four bank robbers had been
found in DeKalb County, Ala.
It had reportedly been stolen
in Ohio.
Chattooga County has been
plagued with an alarming
number of burglaries during
the past few years, taxing the
understaffed sheriff’s depart
ment to the limit.
Chattooga and Walker law
enforcement officers con
ducted a long search in the
Teloga area Tuesday for
another suspect in a series of
burglaries. The suspect, un
identified until an arrest has
been made, was sighted Tues
day afternoon by two local
No arrests have been made
to date but an intensive search
is still being carried out by law
enforcement agencies in the
area for the four men. A
nationwide alert has been
issued..
UNCLE NED SEZ:
DEAR MISTER EDITOR:
I knowed that most folks
was in debt up to their ears but
1 didn’t realize just how much
folks today depend on credit
until 1 heered about the man
what took a bank-financed
vacation driving a mortgaged
car over a bond-financed high
way using credit-card gasoline.
This shore is a modern
world we are a-livin’ in. It
makes a body wonder where it
will all end.
Yores truly,
UNCLE NED
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aged Chattoogan who has been charged
with the burglary of Son-Lib Trade
Center at Cloud land and other bur-
j deputies who gave chase.
Officers reported that the
| man abandoned his truck and
fled on foot into the woods.
Bloodhounds from the Walker
i County Correctional Institu
tion and airplanes furnished by
the state were called in to join
the search for the suspect, who
made good his escape after
dark.
Officers of both counties
are still on the lookout for the
* suspected burglar.
Phone Rates
Now Higher
In Chattooga
General Telephone Co.
customers in Chattooga
County will begin paying more
for telephone service with the
receipt of their April 16 bills,
according to an announcement
Wednesday by the company.
The Georgia Public Service
Commission Tuesday approved
detailed tariffs for General
Telephone in connection with
the $2.7-million increase in
annual revenues granted by the
commission on March 19.
The new tariffs establish the
basic telephone rates for each
exchange served by the
company and also cover rates
for other items and services
provided.
The new rates, effective
April 1, vary in amount of
increase among the various
exchanges.
In commenting on the new
rates, Eddie Thornton,
Summerville district service
manager, said: “In the past,
some customers have been
paying rates not necessarily
related to their local calling
scope. The new pricing concept
establishes rates on a more
equitable basis, so that
customers with smaller local
calling scope pay less than
customers with larger calling
scopes.”
Thornton added that the
new rates will be reflective on
bills received by customers
beginning April 16, with
appropriate adjustments back
to the April 1 effective date.
The PSC also approved the
concept of a 20-cent charge for
directory assistance calls.
“However, this will not
become effective until details
of the plan have been worked
out,” Thornton said. He added
that 60 percent of all calls to
directory assistance are made
by only 10 percent of our
customers. We feel it is fairer
to all customers for the small
group who use the service
excessively to bear the greater
portion of the cost.”
Under the new rate
schedule, which applies equally
to the Lyerly, Menlo, Trion,
and Summerville exchanges,
glaries. Sheriff McConnell and deputies
Winston Chadwick and Johnny Bass
look over the recovered items.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Mc-
Connell said he expects to
make two additional arrests in
connection with the series of
burglaries within a short time.
Sheriff McConnell also re
ported that a Louisville, Ky.
man, Paul D. Black has been
arrested and charged with
possessing and transporting
dangerous drugs.
Black is being held in Chat
tooga County Jail in lieu of
$20,000 bond, the sheriff said.
the monthly local cost for a
one-party residence line will be
$9.25; two party, $7.70; and
four party, $6.45. A one-party
business line will be $20.20;
two party, $17.60; and four
party, $1 5.60.
Old, New Telephone Rate Schedule
OLD RATES RESIDENCE NEW RATES RESIDENCE
1 party $7.30 1 party $9.25
2 party $5.85 2 party $7.70
4 party $4.85 4 party $6.45
OLD RATES BUSINESS NEW RATES BUSINESS
1 party $14.50 1 party $20.20
2 party $12.10 2 party $17.60
4 party $9.75 4 party $15.60
Increase in Gas
Rates Is Okayed
Natural gas costs for the
City of Summerville’s cus
tomers, except those on a resi
dential schedule, will be higher
as a result of action taken
March 26 at a called meeting of
the Summerville City Council.
After a lengthy discussion
among the mayor, members of
the council, and the city’^ gas
engineer. Bill Edwards, the
council decided that the city
could no longer absorb the in
creases in the cost of gas and
must, at the present, pass them
along to its customers.
In addition to the increase
for commercial, industrial, in
terruptable, and school cus
tomers, there will be a mini
mum billing of $2, fifty cents
more than the present rate. Gas
cutin fees will be raised from
the present $25 to SIOO. Any
gas cutins of more than 100
feet will be charged at 50 cents
per foot.
It was pointed out that the
city has absorbed gas rate in
creases of ten cents and seven
cents during the past four years
without passing the increase
along to its customers.
The sheriff’s department, in
spite of being understaffed at
present, is making a deter
mined effort to cut down on
the number of burglaries and
other crimes in Chattooga
County. Sheriff McConnell
asks the support of local resi
dents in the crackdown.
Local officers were joined in
Tuesday’s search in the Teloga
area by Georgia State
Troopers.
PRICE 15c
The district service manager
said customers who desire addi
tional information on the new
rates could contact the local
General Telephone business
office on West Washington
Street.
Councilman Earl Parris said
the “crisis” regarding gas rates
has really developed within the
past two months.
In urging the rate increase,
the city engineer said the cost
of gas in Summerville is “ex
tremely favorable” and that
the rate schedule is “consider
ably lower” than in most other
communities.
It was decided to leave the
rate schedule for residential
customers at its present level.
Councilman Sewell Cash
presented a strong argument
for excluding residential cus
tomers from the increase.
“Let’s wait until November,”
he said, “and then decide
where to go from there.”
Another substantial increase
in the cost of gas from
Southern Natural, the city’s gas
supplier, is expected by fall.
The rate increases are now
in effect.
Man Arrested
After Slaying
Wesley Bryant, 63, Route 1,
Summerville, has been charged
with murder in the connection
with the cutting death of Bill
Voyles, 72, late Thursday
night, according to records in
the Chattooga County Sheriff’s
Department.
Sheriff Gary McConnell said
Bryant is being held without
bail in the Chattooga County
Jail.
Meeting Scheduled
The quarterly meeting of
the Chattooga County Munici
pal Plamning Commission will
be held at 7:30 tonight, accor
ding to an announcement by
the commission chairman, H.
Grady Ramey.
The meeting is scheduled in
the Georgia Power Co. building
in Summerville.
Donations Listed
To Local Library
Two books were recently
donated to the Chattooga
County Library, in honor of
Jack Ragland and Mrs. Lilia
Edwards Pledger.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Daniel
presented a copy of “A Man
Called Peter” by Catherine
Marshall in honor of Mr. Rag
land.
The other book is “Some
thing More,” also by Catherine
Marshall, donated in honor of
Mrs. Pledger.
Thanks Expressed
Margie Love, volunteer re
cruiter for the local Easter Seal
campaign, this week expressed
her appreciation to all those
who helped during the March
campaign, and to those who
made contributions.
She extended special thanks
to the Tri-Hi-Y members at
Chattooga High School.