Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME XCIII - NUMBER I
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Fair Association Giving Up Sponsorship of Fair
B S
By TOM KIRWAN
The Chattooga County Fair Ass P
tion has voted to give up its sponsorship
of the fair, return the fairgrounds and its
buildings to the county, and to disband in
the near future.
During a meeting held earlier this
month, the association’s board of direc
tors unanimously approved the action.
The association asked that County
Commissioner Pete Denson pay outstand
ing bills totaling $3,800, plus an electric
bill estimated at S6O, and in return the
17-acre fairgrounds and its facilities
would be returned to the county. Under a
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Lost in a Sea of Kids
Summerville Police Department dis
patcher George Dean (above) and
Sheriff L. D. Ragland (below) appear to
be lost in a sea of kids when third grade
classes from Summerville Elementary
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City’s PSC Problems
Said Close to Solution
City Attorney Bo Loggins
said Friday “there is every indi
cation” the Public Service
Commission will allow Sum
merville to retain its natural gas
district in Floyd County if the
city provides gas to a handful
of Floyd residents in the near
future as promised, last
Wednesday following a two
hour hearing the PSC called to
determine whether it should
allow another gas company,
most likely Atlanta Gas Light
Company, to serve all or part
of new customers in the area.
Although the PSC made no
formal ruling on the matter,
Loggins said, “There was every
indication that if we proceeded
to serve those customers (in
Floyd County) we would be
able to retain our natural gas
district in Floyd County. Pre
sumably if we offer them
(approximately six Floyd resi
dents who previously had been
.denied Summerville natural
gas) service, the PSC will let us
keep the area we’ve got.”
The city got into hot water
with the Public Service Com
mission this year after it turned
down the Floyd residents, who
live on Highway 140 (Turkey
Mountain Road) in Floyd
County. The city council
denied the requests because of
the high expense involved in
laying gas pipes to the area and
because of a Federal Power
Commission order prohibiting
the addition of new gas cus
tomers.
The PSC received com-
She ^ummerutlle News
long-standing agreement, the property
would revert to the county if the asso
ciation gave up its sponsorship of the’
annual fair.
COUNTY TO FOOT BILLS
Denson told The News Wednesday he
plans to pay the outstanding bills in the
near future but that no decisions have
been made yet concerning the fate of the
fair and its sponsorship.
“I haven’t given it a thought as far as
the county sponsoring the fair. I will look
into the possibilities of someone
sponsoring the fair, or we may just use it
toured the police and sheriff depart
ments Friday. Dean showed the
youngsters how his radio works, while
Ragland demonstrated how a suspect is
fingerprinted.
plaints from the residents who
had been turned down, and the
PSC inquired into the matter
by sending the city a letter
asking why it wasn’t serving
residents in its certificated
area. The city, for reasons
which haven’t been fully ex
plained, took over six months
to respond to that letter. The
PSC, in the meantime, decided
to call a hearing, ordering
representatives of Summerville
to show cause why the PSC
shouldn’t allow another gas
Resident Charged
On Federal Counts
A Chattooga County resi
dent has been idicted by a
federal grand jury in Atlanta
<mi two ’counts of interstate
transportation of stolen
vehicles.
Larry Joe Dooley of the
Dry Valley community was ar
rested last Thursday by a Chat
tooga County Deputy and two
special Federal Bureau of In
vestigation (FBI) agents.
Dooley was arrested while out
on an appeal bond.
A spokesman for the FBI in
Atlanta said early Wednesday
that Dooley had been released
on bond the same day he was
arrested. The amount of his
bond was unknown at press
time.
If and when Dooley’s cases
go to trial, the spokesman said,
it will be sometime in late
October.
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY. GEORGIA 30747 -, THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 22. 1977
firm to invade Summerville 4
North Floyd County natural
gas district.
After the announcement of
the hearing, the city council
passed a resolution stating it
would begin serving all Floyd
customers in the district, a
move to convince the PSC it
wanted to retain the service
area.
“It’s apparent to me,”
Loggins said, “in the event we
told the PSC we were not inter
ested in serving the customers
the PSC would simply have
taken our district or a portion
of it away from us. Whether
they would take existing cus
tomers was never discussed.
But they have that power if
they choose to use it.”
Councilman Parris echoed
the city attorney’s remarks. “If
we don’t serve them, then the
PSC will allow Atlanta Gas
Light to come into the district.
They will take it (the district)
away if we don’t serve them.
That’s what the whole thing is
about.”
Parris, in his testimony
before the PSC, said he believes
the customers in Floyd County
can be served with Summerville
natural gas within six weeks.
But he noted that no formal
application for service, nor the
required deposit, has been re
ceived from any of the com
plaining Floyd residents.
Councilman Parris said he
will formally request at a
•M CITY, page 3
I
(the fairgrounds) for storage.”
According to association sources, the
decision to give up its sponsorship of the
fair was mostly related to financial prob
lems the annual event experienced this
year.
“Our attendance was the lowest it’s g
ever been,” said one organizer, who noted •'
that the fair, for the first time that can be ?
remembered, lost money this year,
although the exact amount is not known.
Fair organizers were disappointed with
this year’s fair after the amusements
company it employed brought only about i
half of the 30 rides and booths it had
Study Says County
Growth Rate 4.1%
For 6-Year Period
Although Chattooga County
is far from being a Georgia
growth leader in die 1970’5, a
recently-released state report
shows its population grew by a
healthy 4.18 percent from
1970 to 1976.
According to the “Annual
Estimate of Population for the
State of Georgia-1976”, the
county has increased its popu
lation during the six-year
period by an estimated 859
persons, or an average of 143
people a year.
The county’s population in
1970 was 20,541, while the
same figure for 1976 is e'ti
mated at 21,400.
RANKED 93RD
In relation to Georgia’s
county-by-county breakdown
in growth, Chattooga County
ranked 93rd, which means its
4.18 percent increase put it in
the lower middle third com
pared to other counties in the
state as a whole.
“Chattooga County is in a
solid growth region,” said Tom
Wagner, a staffer in the Office
of Planning & Budget, the state
office which prepared the
report.
“Chattooga is in a region
which just doesn’t grow as fast
as in the metropolitan areas,
but although the rate of
County’s Favorite Phone Number
Boasts 1,100 Calls in Typical Day
By PAM PURCELL
Chattooga County’s favorite
phone number, if sheer
numbers are used as a measur
ing stick, is 857-4711.
That’s the number local resi
dents call to find out the time
and temperature.
Ironically, though the tape
recorded message is financed
by The Farmers and Merchants
Bank, it isn’t located anywhere
near the bank. Instead, the
message unit is located at the
General Telephone Company
office in downtown Summer
ville.
How popular is the service?
The answer is unqualified
“very popular.”
“Since the (time and tem
perature) machine was installed
in June of 1974,” reports
General Telephone Manager
Eddie Thornton, “it has re
ceived approximately
1,358,520 calls.”
“There are three periods
when the calls reach a peak,”
he continued. “One is when
school starts and parents do
not want to be late taking their
children to class. The other
two are when the weather is at
one of the two extremes.”
During the past winter when
temperatures dropped below 0
degrees, Thornton said, the
machine received as many as
9,000 calls in a single day. This
averaged out to approximately
375 calls an hour for the total
24-hour period.
On a normal day, Thornton
said, the average number of
calls received is about 1,100.
Also, he added, the average
time periods when most calls
are made are after school and
work and between 7 and 8 a.m.
agreed to.
FAIR PROBLEMS
“The carnival has let us down for the
past two to three years,” another source
said. The midway killed us. “We were not
bringing in the show we should have
brought in. If you don’t have a good
carnival on the midway, the word gets
out and ‘boom’, you don’t have a
crowd.”
The $3,800 sum Denson has agreed to
pay with county funds represents a little
over half the amount the fair association
recently spent on roofing work on the
growth is not as fast, it is a
steady and healthy growth, in
terms that the numbers in the
county can be absorbed in
terms of schools, businesses
and other areas.”
He described the county as
“being on the fringe” of popu
lation booms being seen in the
Chattanooga and Atlanta areas.
The population figures
For Now
I Cloudland Water
I Problem Solved
The Cloudland water crisis
has been solved for now, but
officials of the mountain com
munity say they believe the
solution is only temporary in
nature.
Officials there recently bor
rowed some $1,200 from the
county in order to clean out an
old well which was previously
shut down because it had
become clogged with sediment.
The funds came to the county
through federal sources.
The cleaning-out of the old
HOW IT OPERATES
Thornton said the machine
is capable of receiving 28 calls
a minute as four calls can be
answered at a time. Each mes
sage lasts only eight seconds.
This averages out, on a 24-hour
schedule, to 1,680 calls an
hour, 40,320 calls a day, or
14,353,920 calls a year
The machine has 12 taped
announcements it plays con
tinuously. Each tape begins
with a different promotional
ad and ends with the time and
temperature.
The announcements are pro
duced by a professional adver
tisement company and re
corded by a woman in Atlanta
who makes telephone an
nouncements for her profes
sional career. She records the
majority of telephone an
nouncements made throughout
the telephone industry, Thorn
ton said.
Thornton said a number of
classes from different schools
have come by the office to see
exactly how the machine oper
ates.
“The smaller children tell
me they want to see the lady
who tells them the time and
temperature when they call,”
said Thornton with a smile. “I
take them in the room where
the machine is located and tell
them we have her inside the
box. They usually look around
to see if they can find her and
then 1 explain how it really
works.”
Anyone wishing to see how
the machine operates can stop
by the General Telephone
Company office, said Thorn
ton.
large exhibit building.
The association’s directors said it
would give up the sponsorship of the fair,
and disband its organization, if the
county would agree to pay the associa
tion’s outstanding debts.
The history of the Chattooga County
fair spans some 70 years.
FAIR HISTORY
The first fairs were held in downtown
Summerville, with the exhibits being dis
played in the Chattooga Courthouse and
show, however, that the popu
lation growth in those areas has
left Chattooga County rela
tively untouched. In the Coosa
Valley area (made up of 10
counties, from Haralson and
Paulding counties north to the
Georgia-Tennessee line), Chat
tooga County was the second
slowest in growth, the study
showed.
well was successful, and if it
continues to pump at its
current rate there should be
sufficient water through the
winter, said a spokesman for
the Cloudland Improvement
Association.
“It may run all winter, but
then it might become clogged
tonight,” he said.
In the meantime the com
munity is still seeking funds
from state and federal sources
in order to find a more perma
nent solution to the problem.
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Time & Temperature Machine Adjusted
Ellen McWhorter, senior clerk at the General Tele
phone Company office in Summerville, adjusts the
volume control on the time and temperature machine
located in the telephone office. Over a million calls
have been answered by the machine since it was
installed in 1974.
Paulding County, which was
the sixth highest growth leader
in the state for the period
studied, led the population
growth in the Coosa Valley
area with a whopping 31 per
cent increase (up from 17,520
persons to 23,100 persons).
Other growth leaders for the
six years studied in the area
were Bartow County (a 16.9
percent increase), Catoosa
(with a 17.4 percent increase)
and Dade County (up by 11
percent).
In the mid-range growth
areas for the Coosa Valley were
Gordon (showing 8.6 percent
increase), Polk (up 6.89 per
cent), Floyd (increasing by 6.7
percent) and Haralson (4.2 per
cent).
In the Coosa Valley only
one county reported a growth
rate lower than Chattooga
County’s 4.18 percent growth,
that of Walker County, which
saw an increase of 3.17 percent
increase over the period.
In comparison, the state as a
whole had a 9.23 percent in
crease—or a total of 423,370
people—from 1970 to 1976,
ranking it the fifth fastest
growing state in the nation in
absolute numbers, exceeded
only by Florida, California,
Texas, and Arizona, in that
order.
on the grounds outside. The midway was
set up in the two blocks of West Washing
ton Avenue immediately off Commerce
Street. Sack races, a greased pole climb,
and a greased pig-catching contest, among
other events, were held along the main
street.
in later years the fair moved to the
athletic field at what is now Summerville
Junior High School, and exhibits were
displayed in Sturdivant Gymnasium,
adjacent to the athletic field.
After many years the county fairs
were moved to the present fairgrounds on
West Seventh Street.
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41 -
WILLIAM FRED ALDRED
Services Held
Tuesday for
Fred Aldred
Funeral services were held
Tuesday at 2 p.m. from the
Chapel of Erwin-Petitt Funeral
Home for William Fred Aldred,
a well-known Chattooga
County businessman.
Aldred, 81, died at 7 a.m.
Sunday at the Chattooga
County Hospital.
A native of Hancock
County, Aldred was born April
30, 1896, the son of the late
' mes Aaron Aldred and Sally
Mae Burnley Aldred.
He was the owner of Dixie
Credit Company in Summer
ville and Standard Credit
Company in Trion.
He was a former Ford auto
mobile dealer and furniture
store operator.
Mr. Aldred was instrumental
in laying the groundwork for
the building of the Chattooga
County Hospital. He was also a
veteran of World War I and was
a past chairman of the former
Jekyll Island Authority.
He was a member of the
Summerville First United
Methodist Church (having held
various positions in the
church), the Summerville-Trion
Rotary Club, and the Georgia
Morgan Horse Club.
Survivors include his wife,
Mrs. Mary Aldred of Summer
ville; two sisters. Miss Mable
Aldred of Summerville and
Mrs. Gladys Peacock of LaFay
ette; and several nieces and
nephews.
Rev. Henry Walker and Rev.
Harold Vaughn officiated at
the funeral. Interment fol
lowed in Summerville Ceme
tery.
Honorary pallbearers were
Dr. H. A. Goodwin, Bob
Kimbell, J. R. Burgess,
Marshal) Lowry, Dr. E. P.
Hamner, F. H. “Pete” Boney,
Paul Crouch, A. F. McCurdy,
Brimp Warren, Herbert Gilke
son, Ed Surles, Austin
Scoggins, Sadd Dalton, Dr.
Marlin Payne, J. T. Morgan,
James Richie, Max Cooper,
E. C. Pesterfield, Charles
s«c ALDRED, page 3
Youths Arrested in
School's Burglary
Two Chattooga County
youngsters have been arrested
and charged with the weekend
burglary of the Summerville
Junior High School.
Reports made by local law
enforcement officers state that
two 13-year-old Summerville
juveniles, whose names cannot
be published under Georgia
law, were arrested and charged
with burglary.
The boys allegedly broke
out a window in the storage
room Saturday night to gain
entry into the lunchroom
office, according to reports. An
estimated $52 was taken from
a cash box and an undeter
mined amount from a soft
drink machine.
Entry was made again
Monday afternoon but nothing
was taken.
The juveniles have been re
leased to the custody of their
parents.
PRICE 15c