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'VOLUME XCIV NUMBER L
Council Tables City Manager, Stoplight Decisions
By TOM KIRWAN
The Summerville City Council Monday voted to continue
looking for a city manager, decided to take a wait-and-see
approach on the proposed installation of an expensive stoplight
on North Commerce Street, and appropriated funds for a new
police car.
Mayor Sewell Cash put the city manager question to the
council, asking if any of the five councilmen wished to make a
motion to hire either of two candidates interviewed by the
council before Christmas. In the interest of protecting the
identity of the two candidates, both of whom hold out-of-county
jobs with other municipalities, Cash labeled them candidates “No.
1” and “No. 2,” in reference to the order in which they had been
interviewed.
Neither candidate, apparently, was acceptable to any of the
| Denson: Strong Showing At
| Grant Hearings Is ‘Essential 9
By DARRYL YOUNG
AND TOM KIRWAN
If Chattooga County and
the City of Summerville are to
be successful in their bid to
obtain a $500,000 federal
grant for industrial park
development, a strong and
vocal backing by local residents
is essential at upcoming public
hearings, County Com
missioner Pete Denson said
Monday.
Denson said without such
support the two local govern
ments’ pre-application for
much-sought-after Housing and
Urban Development funds are
virtually bound to be turned
down. Even with such support,
he indicated, the grant may not
be approved.
“We need all the people we
can get at the hearings,” said
Denson. “It will help if people
show up.”
The hearings will be held
the next two Tuesdays, Jan. 16
and Jan. 23, at 7 p.m. at the
Chattooga County Courthouse.
Last year LaFayette was
awarded a similar grant by
HUD for the establishment of
an industrial park. Instru
mental in HUD’s decision was
the community support for the
project, Denson said.
About 200 to 300 Walker
County residents attended the
hearings in LaFayette and
wrote letters of support to
their senators and congress
men, Denson said. “That’s
what we need to do.”
HUD decides whether to
grant money or not, to a
county or city, on a point
system. The point system is
based on the economic need of
a community and other
factors, Denson explained. The
southern part of Georgia,
below the fall line, has tradi
tionally received many of the
grants, the commissioner
noted, “but our cnances are as
good as anyone’s.”
Former State Court Judge Says:
Superior Court Not Designed To Cope
With Flood Os Misdemeanor Jury Trials
By TOM KIRWAN
A new court needs to be
established to cope with an
avalanche of misdemeanor jury
cases overwhelming the Chat
tooga County Superior Court,
according to Summerville
attorney Jerry Westbrook.
Westbrook was the last
judge to serve on the state
court bench in Chattooga
County before it was abolished
in the early 1970 s by local
voters. As state court judge, he
was paid $5,800 annually to
hear misdemeanor cases and
many lesser civil suits. He held
arraignment day once a month
and had jury trials once every
three months, with the com
bined hearings taking anywhere
from two to five days or so.
*Td set up the jury trials
and have a jury selected and
brought in,” Westbrook said of
his court. “Then a majority of
these people (defendants)
would see they would get a
trial and they would plead
guilty. I think there was one or
two times we concluded a jury
session in one day. That’s what
happens when you dispose of
cases.”
When the voters abolished
the state court, the Superior
Court inherited its cases. But
the record has shown, West-
She ^ummerutlle News
■9nr"
Public officials say the local economy can be
boosted if new industry is lured here with the
help of a federal grant aimed at buying property
to be developed for industrial use. The public will
have a chance to comment on the proposal at
hearings to be held the next two Tuesday nights
at the Courthouse.
brook said, that the
;-rrangement hasn’t worked out
satisfactorily here.
The quality of justice in
Chattooga County, with
reference to misdemeanor
cases, is “nonexistent,” he
declares. He maintains that the
Superior Court system is not
designed to effectively handle
misdemeanor cases and that
when it does it is an expensive,
time-consuming process. And
he adds that a man charged
with a misdemeanor faces a
long, drawn-out affair as his
case typically is put off until
subsequent terms.
Westbrook says that many
suspects routinely demand jury
trials in misdemeanor cases
hoping their case will be put
off. In many cases the ploy is
effective, Westbrook said.
“These cases are not getting
disposed of,” he commented.
Cases in which a person
takes out a warrant against
another person, say for assault,
are similarly running into prob
lems, Westbrook said. “Just
about all these cases have to go
by the wayside,” he said.
Why the problems? Why
hasn’t the Superior Court been
able to deal effectively with
misdemeanor cases?
“You have to put it in
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA 30747, THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1979
councilmen for employment as no motions were made. It was
decided to continue to interview candidates for the job.
In other business, the council voted to sec if the Georgia
Department of Transportation in the next six months finalizes a
proposed plan to widen North Commerce Street before the city
installs a traffic light near the Piggly Wiggly store. If no definite
decision by the DOT is forthcoming within that period, the
council said, the city will go ahead and install the stoplight.
The council voted to delay action on the traffic light after
Mayor Cash read a letter from DOT District Engineer John Wade
which said the city would be responsible for footing the bill of
moving and reinstalling the proposed traffic light if it is already in
place in the event the widening project is approved.
Mayor Sewell Cash estimated the cost of reinstalling the
stoplight would be in the neighborhood of $4,000 to $5,000,
boosting the cost of the project considerably.
KI a
JERRY WESTBROOK
proper perspective,” says West
brook. “Our Superior Court
judges—that’s a very serious
job. They handle very serious
crimes-from murder, right on
down. They have to set their
priorities. They are sitting in
court and are making a high
salary; they’ve got the DA’s
(district attorney’s) office out
there-^four assistants, two
The $500,000 dollar grant
would be used for the purchase
of land, the building of roads
and to establish utility services
for commercial building sites.
Denson believes the develop
ment will entice diversified
industry into the area.
“We need industry
producing various products and
not just specializing in
textiles,” Denson said. “We
need something different; we
don’t want to hurt the
industries we have.”
Denson explained the
industrial sites could either be
sold or leased to companies.
Industrialists have found it
faster and more economical to
locate a new facility in an area
that welcomes industry and
provides it with suitable and!
partially-developed land on
which to build.
The commissioner said that
along with industry comes
more housing, more jobs, more
private businesses and more tax
revenue. This could possibly
lower taxes, he said.
David Howerin, Community
Planner of the Coosa Valley
Area and Planning Commission
will attend a called meeting of
the Menlo City Council tonight
at 7, to discuss the possibility
of Menlo receiving a portion of
the county’s grant or securing a
separate grant.
Howerin said that this area
historically receives very few of
these grants. Menlo’s best
chances of getting a portion
would be to influence the
county commissioner to set
aside a portion of the grant
they are seeking for a recre
ation program they would like
funded, Howerin said.
HUD probably wouldn’t
issue grants to individual com
munities in a county, he indi
cated. “If Menlo, Trion,
Lyerly, and Summerville all
applied for grants, I’m 95
percent sure they would be
see DENSON, page 14-A
secretaries, and an investigator.
And then somebody comes up
on a public drunk case and the
judge has 60 or 70 jurors
sitting out there making S2O a
day . . ,and then all of the
sudden all this stuff falls in on
him and he says, ‘What am I
sitting here trying DUI (driving
under the influence) cases for
and spending all the taxpayers
money on it/ ”
The result?
“They’ll try one or two
(misdemeanors) and hope that
they’ll get a conviction and the
others will plead guilty.
“Under the present setup,”
Westbrook explains, “a judge is
sitting on the bench, trying
murder cases, rape cases, child
molestation cases, cases that
have to be tried, cases that
need to be tried, cases that
need something done with
them, and then you throw in
some bad check cases and you
can see that nobody really has
the patience to sit there and
say *OK, let’s take care of this.’
You have to say, ‘Let’s take
care of the important cases.’
It’s a matter of setting
priorities.”
An innocent man charged
with a misdemeanor who is
bent on having a jury trial to
clear his name is in for a long
The initial cost of installing the light, Cash estimated, would
be about $1 2,000.
Cash and the City Council once again expressed dissatisfaction
that the DOT would only approve a complex, expensive stoplight i
for the intersection where Kelly Street and Sixth Street meet
North Commerce Street. The council and mayor feel a cheaper,
simpler system would be more than sufficient.
“I don’t think it’s fair for us to put up an expensive light and
then have to (pay the costs to) relocate it,’’ Cash said.
“In three to five months we should know about the widening 1
project,” said Councilman Hubert Palmour. “If we don’t, I’d be
willing to go for it (that is, installing the light).
Businessman Jimmy Woodard said he sympathized with the
council’s taking a wait-and-see attitude on the light, but added
that “something needs to be done” about the traffic situation on
North Commerce at the intersection.
“There are so many near-accidents at the intersection that
people don’t even know about,’’ he said.
“We need some sort of break in traffic on North Commerce,”
he told the council. “There is no break from Kelly to Farrar
Drive.”
Because the highway is typically clogged with traffic, he said,
dnvers frustrated at not being able to enter the traffic stream will
sometimes take unnecessary chances which make the strip
hazardous.
Councilman Ira Pollard, noting that he has advocated the
light’s installation since it was first proposed well over a year ago,
made the motion to delay the light’s installation for up to six
months. He moved to “continue (the stoplight project) for six
months to find out what the decision will be on the widening
project. If a decision is not made in six months, I would like to go
ahead and put the light in.”
Mayor Cash indicated the council was in a no-win situation
with regard to the stoplight. If the city goes ahead in the near |
future and installs the light, it would be liable for the additional
expense of moving it if the DOT approves the widening project.
But by waiting, he said, the city will surely have to pay more for
rhe project as inflation continues to soar.
In the end, the council unanimously passed Councilman
Pollard’s motion. The six-month period will give the city the
opportunity to lobby the DOT for approval of a less-expensive I
stophght system at the intersection, Mayor Cash said.
Bids were opened at the meeting for a new police car. Two |
Bond Sale Pending
High-Rise For Elderly Gets Grant
A five-story, 60-unit
apartment complex for the
elderly could get off the
jr umd soon with news this
week that a ’5116,000
from the Appalachian Regional
Commission (ARC) has been
approved.
It was nearly three years ago
that Everett Lunsford,
executive director of the
Summerville Housing
Authority, submitted an appli
cation for the grant. The grant
opens the door for the agency
to finance the project with the
sale of roughly $1,800,000 in
bonds, Lunsford said. It has
not been determined yet as to
whether the bonds will be sold
publicly or will be held by a
bank, he said.
The grant proposal was
originally submitted to the
Georgia Residential Finance
Authority, which in turn
secured the grant from the
Appalachian Regional Com
mission Authority, Lunsford
said. Congressman Larry
McDonald’s office was
instrumental in securing the
grant along with help from
Senator Sam Nunn, he added.
If for some reason the
ordeal, Westbrook said.
“The first term of court he
would have to come on Friday
for arraignment day,” he
explains. “They’d have to set
his case over and tell him to be
over the following Tuesday or
Wednesday for when they were
“The system is not
geared to where a
misdemeanor defendant
gets a fair shake. It’s not
geared to where the courts
can give him a fair shake."
going to try the misdemeanors.
Ok, he goes back up there and
he sits there and sits there and
sits there. And when they
finished up the big cases —
murder, rape, felonies-and
didn’t have time to hear the
misdemeanor cases, then
they’d tell him to be back for
the next term of court; so the
cycle starts all over again,
unless he has a lawyer or
knows what he’s supposed to
do in that case-which is to file
a demand for trial. With a
demand for trial if he’s not
tried that term of court... or
at the next, succeeding term,
then he’s acquitted.”
bonds cannot be secured for
the project, Lunsford said, the
money will be returned to the
ARC. “The only reason the
project would fall through is if
the interest rate on the bonds
were to go up,” Lunsford said.
The earliest that
groundbreaking could take
place, Lunsford said, would be
in mid-February, but more
than likely it will be in two to
three months. Once ground is
broken. Lunsford estimates it
will be another year-and-a-half
before construction is com
pleted.
The completed complex will
have 58 one-bedroom apart
ments and two two-bedroom
apartments. The two-bedroom
apartments will be used to
house individuals requiring a
fulltime nurse or person to live
with them. Lunsford also said
about 5 to 10 percent of the
units will be built to accommo
date the handicapped.
The one-bedroom apart
ments will have a kitchen
dinette, living room, bathroom
and bedroom, he said.
Qualifications for residents
in the housing project will be
those “62 years of age or old in
“Even going through this
procedure, see, he’s going to
have to miss work on Friday—
arraignment day—and then
have to come up and sit
through the remainder of the
week and then come up there
six months later until the jury’s
gone ... It’s a possibility he
could sit there for arraignment
day plus two weeks the first
time and two weeks the second
time.
"It’s not fair to the courts
and it’s not fair to the people,
because even though I’d say
nine-tenths of the people who
are asking for a jury trial are
just trying to put it off, there’s
that one in there that really
wants to go to court and wants
to take care of his case and
doesn’t want (the
misdemeanor) on his record.
He wants to keep his record
clean and he knows he’s inno
cent and wants to go to
trial... he’s in the same boat.
He can hire a lawyer and pay a
fee and file a demand and
everything-it’s not fair to him.
On the other hand, it’s not fair
to the judge and the DA’s
office when they’ve got serious
cases to worry about and have
all these misdemeanor cases
just punching them in the
see COURT, page 14-A
bids were received by the city, and the council accepted the
higher bid. The high bid —s47 more than the low bid—was the
“better buy,” the council said, because it represented “more car
for the money,” as one councilman put it. The council accepted
the $6,225 bid offered by Brimp Warren Ford for a 1979 V-8,
351-cubic inch LTD. The auto has several features designed for
police work.
Chief of Police Bud Gilley, at the meeting, said his department
could use two new cars, but indicated he would be satisfied with
only one new one for now. The council voted to go ahead and
buy one new car immediately, with the idea of possibly buying a
second one after the new budget is finalized in June.
In other action:
* Mayor Cash reported the water system improvements
project is “on schedule.”
“Frankly,” he said, “I think we’re going to get it done a little
beforehand.”
* The council approved the payment of $2,202 for a sub
surface investigation at the water treatment plant, a necessary test
prior to the plant being enlarged. Peabody Testing Services, Inc.
of Chattanooga has already dug 11 test holes, to a depth of 25
feet, as part of the investigation.
* The council put on first reading an ordinance which would
reduce sewer rates from the current 75 percent of a customer’s
water bill to 50 percent. But Mayor Cash said anticipated
approval from the Farmers Home Administration, which is
financing the water improvements project, has not been received-
Cash said he expects to obtain such approval in the near future
Sewer rates cannot be reduced until after the final reading of the
ordinance (expected to come next month), and the FmHA
approval has been granted.
* The council ruled that for amusement-only pinball machines
are permissible under the city’s ordinances. But pinball machines
(and other coin-operated machines) used for gambling remain
illegal.
* The council approved a new payment system for city
employees called out for emergency repair work at night andon
weekends.
* The council approved payment of a $829 bill to the
consulting firm of Barnum and Sweitzer, Inc. of Rome on receipt
of an itemized bill for work rendered. The firm is advising the
city on its water improvements project and the clean-up of the
wastewater treatment plant.
the low to medium income
(bracket) and of good
character,” Lunsford said.
Residents will pay about 25
percent of their gross income
for rent, he added.
The Department of Housing
and Urban Development will
subsidize the difference
between what the renters pay
and the payment the local
housing authority must make
on the bonds used to finance
the project, Lunsford said.
The 2.85-acre lot the
Summerville Housing
Authority has an option on is
located on Marvin Street. The
lot is bordered on the east by
Scoggins Avenue and on the
I west by Marvin Avenue.
Lunsford said the project
has been coordinated by the
local housing authority board
of commissioners, who are
appointed by the Summerville
City Council. The chairman of
the authority is Harry
McGinnis; vice chairman is
John Bankson. Board members
are Gerald Burgess, Dr. E. P.
Hamner and Ted Martin.
According to Tommy Toles,
a McDonald aide, the grant is
to be used for Site Excavation
work. Foundation work, tiles
and filling can all be completed
with the $116,000 grant, he
said.
3 Buses OK’d
By PAM PURCELL
A bid for three new school buses was approved and the
use of the gym by the Chattooga County Min.sterial
Association was discussed at the regular monthly meeting
of the Chattooga County Board of Education Monday
evening.
Low bids of $6,849.66 for each bus body by Wayne
Body Company of Richmond, Ind. and $1 1,025 by Brimp
Warren Ford of Summerville for each bus chassis, were
approved by the board. Each bus will cost $17,874.66. The
three new buses, at a total cost of $53,623.98, will replace
three buses presently in service.
Dennis Allen and Jack Richardson of the Chattooga
County Ministerial Association came before the board to
request the use of the CHS gym for a county-wide crusade
to be held May 6-13. They explained they wished to use the
football stadium for the crusade but would like to be able
to use the gym in case of bad weather. They also explained
that they would be responsible for any damaged incurred
during the event.
Following some discussion, the board agreed to allow
them the use of the gym if needed. A committee consisting
of Jack Herring, Bill King, Sue Spivey and Joel Cook was
formed to draw up a policy concerning the responsibilities
the ministerial association would have.
In other action the board:
* Re-elected Joel Cook as the chairman of the board and
Ray Hall as the vice-chairman.
* Elected Bobby Lee “Buzz” Cook as the board’s
attorney.
* Set the meeting time of the board for 8 p.m. on the
second Monday night of each month.
* Agreed to sell Max White a 1967 school bus for $250.
* Approved a grant application for the gifted program.
* Talked with a parent, Paul Edgeworth, about the tax
increase and the types of books in the school libraries.
• Agreed to pay the expenses of any board member
going to the Governor’s Honors Program.
* Approved the use of a school bus for the Lyerly
Homemakers Club for a Saturday’s trip to Atlanta. The
dub will pay the expenses of the bus and driver.
* Approved Kenneth Smith as a bus driver-
(PRICE 15c
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