Newspaper Page Text
‘‘Quite simply, the way we choose to live is killing us, and this
situation can be neither ‘treated’ by the medical sector or im
proved by traditional public health measures.”
That sobering message—which boiled down means that
ultimately good health is found in the individual's lifestyle and
not in the doctor’s office—is an important conclusion of a
recently-published health study covering most of north Georgia,
including Chattooga County.
The study shows that a majority of statistical indicators us
ed by social scientists to evaluate the health status of a given
area show that the 23-county area studied generally compares
poorly with national averages.
ALL-OUT EFFORT NEEDED
Further, the health status of this area will only be improved
in the future through an all-out effort to educate residents of the
importance of taking more responsibility for their own health,
according to the report.
The area’s poor health status is detailed in a two-inch thick
study issued by the Appalachian Georgia Health Systems Agen
qv. Inc., called "Health Systems Plan, 1978 to 1983.” The agen
cy-better known by its initials AG-HSA—is one of seven heaitn
service areas in Georgia set up ” ngressional mandate
for the purpose of providing 5 5 lealth planning and
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Enjoys Honda Express
Mrs. Gail Rush of Summerville says she really enjoys
riding her Honda Express to work every morning. It’s
also economical, she says, as she spends only 45 cents
a week for gas when she rides her Express and over $lO
when she drives her car.
Mopeds, Honda Expresses
Local Residents Use
Alternate Ways To
Beat Gasoline Crunch
In these days of rising gas
prices and talk of gasoline shor
tages, it’s no wonder that people ;
are turning to more economical
means of transporta
tion—Mopeds and Honda Ex
presses.
Two Summerville residents,
Mrs. Gail Rush and Buren
Harkins, have found it's not only
economical to ride the mini-size
motorcycles, but also a lot of fun
no matter how unusual they may
look on the highway compared to
automobiles.
“I bought my Honda Express
about two or three months ago,” |
says Mrs. Rush, wife of the
Superintendent of "Sloppy” j
Floyd State Park. “I first bought
it for the fun of it. I thought it
would be the ideal thing to ride
around in the park, and it was.
“After gas started going up I
was glad I bought it then for the
economical side of it,” continued
Mrs. Rush, a receptionist at the
Department of Family and
Children Services. "I was spen
ding $lO a week for gas for my car
to go to work and that wasn't
covering it. Now, riding my Ex
press, I spend 45 cents a week for
gas. In the car it takes me 10
minutes to get to work, which is
approximately five miles..On the
Express it only takes 15. So
what’s five minutes?"
Mrs. Rush says she first had
to ride her Express around in the
park to get use to it and her
courage up to ride it on the
highway. The first time she rode
it to work, Mrs. Rush explains,
she made her son, Randy, ride his
Honda 750 motorcycle along with
her.
Now Mrs. Rush says she isn’t
afraid to ride it on the highway ।
and enjoys it, but riding the Ex- *
press to work does have its good
and bad points.
"It’s nice riding to work every ’
morning, Um cool wind wakes me
Study Concludes Health Status Os Area Below Rest Os U, S.
up so by the time I get to work
I’m wide awake,” Mrs. Rush ex
plains with a pleasant smile. “I
bought a basket to put on the
front so I can take a gallon of milk
or a loaf of bread home after work
if I need to. However, you can't
go buy groceries on an Express.
It’s also a little wet when it rains,
as it did the first day I rode it to
work.”
Mrs. Rush says according to
her owner's manual, her Express
is rated at 135 miles-per-gallon
with a half-a-gallon gas tank. It’s
top speed is 28 miles per hour.
The Express is automatic and
cost roughly $350, she says. One
unusual thing about it, Mrs. Rush
Grand Jurors Drawn
For Aug. Term
Prospective grand jurors have
been drawn for the 1979 August
Superior Court Term, according
to Clerk of Court Lann Cordle.
Those named below are to
report to the Chattooga County
Courthouse Monday, Aug. 6, at 9
a.m., he said.
Prospective grand jurors from
Summerville are: Hubert M.
Joyner of Route 2; Julius Smith
of Route 2; Darlene Scoggins of
Route 1, Box 371; Mid Alien 111
of Box 505; Charles F. Parker of
Route 1; William B. Hix of 19
Lewis St.; Mrs. .J. C. Shropshire;
Robert Smithson of Scoggins
Street; J. P. Ufford of Box 482;
and Jimmie C. Alexander of 360
Oak St.
Also, Sue E. Houston of 309
E. Washington St.; Larry F.
Weesner of Route 1; Eddie Ray
Teague of Route 3; Rachel
guiding the development of health resources in a given area. One
of its key aims is to reduce the cost of health care through better
utilization of facilities. Seventy-five members are on the
agency's policy-making board. Just recently, Chattoogan Ben
Mosley was elected chairman of the AG-HSA.
The study, essentially the game plan the AG-HSA hopes to
follow through 1983, is chock-full of information, much of it
rather depressing.
For example, it shows that the area’s incident rates in a
number of areas—deaths, premature births, heart disease, ac
cidents, motor vehicle accidents, mental retardation, suicide,
homicides and cerebrovascular disease—are all higher than the
national averages for the same area.
ANSWER IS COMPLEX
How can these health-related problems be reduced? The
answer, in terms of the solutions put forward by the study, is
complex. In much detail, the study reviews possible solutions
and sets definite goals which translate into reducing the in
cidence of deaths and illnesses.
In the area of infant mortality and premature births, the
study suggests that prenatal care programs should be beefed up,
with special emphasis on dietary and nutritional habits. The pro
blem needs to be attached in the schools, where anti-smoking es-
^ummerutlle News
Driver Remains Sympathetic
With Striking Truck Drivers
Despite Shooting Incident
BY DARRYL YOUNG
An hour before dark, Trion
truck driver Wayne Searels had
heard an ominous message on his
citizen’s band radio: "Don’t be on
the road after dark.”
Searels, not one to be easily in
timidated, kept his Riegel Textile
Corp, rig rolling. Then only 15
minutes after the sun had set
behind the rolling Virginia hills, a
shot rang out from somewhere in
the isolated woodlands along
U. S. Interstate 85.
The Mack truck cab was
sprayed with glass fragments as
the bullet hit the extreme top
right hand side of the windshield.
"It seemed like 30 minutes went
by before the glass stopped
ricocheting around the cab. Most
of it went behind me into the
sleepei^ but I was hit by some of
it,” Searels recalls.
He continued down the road
three miles to the nearest rest
stop where he alerted the police of
the snipers approximate position.
“He was more concerned with
getting the trucks out of the rest
area than with who ever shot at
me. He didn’t want trouble at the
rest area I guess,” Searels said.
The bullet Searels said, must
have been a .22 caliber because it
I did not penetrate the windshield.
comments, is in the owner’s
manual it says the driver and
cargo can not exceed 180 pounds.
Buren Harkins also agrees
with Mrs. Rush on the economical
advantages of the mini
motorcycles as well as the fun of
them since he recently purchased
a Honda Moped.
“I bought my Moped June 18
in Calhoun,” comments Harkins.
I bought it because of a combina
tion of things—pleasure riding
and fuel conservation. My truck
gets 12 to 13 miles-per-gallon
while my Moped gets over 100,
and it only holds .79 of a gallon of
gas. It runs about 30 miles an
(Continued on Page 11)
Dillard; Benny J. Jones of Route
4; Ross White of Route 4; Fred
Cordle of Route 3; Reba K.
Phillips of Box 91; Gail P. Allen of
Route 4; Jean H. Barnes of Box
257; Gary D. Duke of Box 139;
Dort Brown of Route 4; and Hilda
T. Hill of 4 Taylor St.
Prospective grand jurors from
Lyerly include: Sammy H.
Blalock of Route 2; Ernest Hurley
of Route 2; Juanita Baker; Ernest
Alexander; Mrs. W. C. Bryant;
John Adams of Route 1; Ruth T.
Ratliff of Route 1; Fredda L. Mc-
Crickard of Route 2; and G. C.
Pickle.
Other prospective grand
jurors include: Eunice S. Cargle of
28 Park Avenue, Trion; Leroy
Tucker of Menlo; C. Amos Green
of Cloudland; and William R.
White of Cloudland.
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA 30747, THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1979
“I don’t think they really wanted
to hurt me, but if they had I don’t
think they would have really
cared,” he added.
There has been more violence
than has been publicized, Searels
commented. “If you called the
Virginia State Patrol and asked
them if they had a report of my
truck being shot at, I bet they
wouldn’t know a thing.”
The violence is an outcropping
of rising fuel cost. “Fuel went so
high, so fast—in one year it went
from 59.9 to 83.9 or more, either
the government has to do
something about it or the public
is going to have to pay for it in
the price of goods. Everything
that the consumer buys a truck
plays a part in getting it to
market . . .something has to be
done about it/’ Searels adamant-w
ly said.
Although Searels is sym
, pathetic with the independent
truck driver, he blames a lot of
the senseless violence on “people
just wanting to get into it.”
Searels said that he has noticed a
trend to the violence. “It started
out west and has moved across
the country to the east.”
“No” Searels answered, “I
don’t believe that it is one group
(of agitators) that is moving
across the country.” Instead, he
said, “it’s a mood of frustration.”
The independent trucker who
doesn’t move his rig for a week is
losing a lot of money. “Finance
payments on a truck are high,
competition for a load can be
tough.” Explaining that many
times the independent will go
through a broker—who takes the
lowest bid—in order to line up his
next run.
The 55 mile per hour speed
limit, despite what some may
think, is also hurting the indepen
dent. With no national uniform
weight limit or maximum trailer
length fuel is being wasted, he
said, and the price of fuel has
skyrocketed. Searels said he sym-
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pathizes with the independent
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Local Truck Driver Shot At
Wayne Searles, a Riegel Textile Corp, truck driver, ex
amines a bullet hole in his windshield he received while
in Virginia. “It must have been a .22-caliber fired from
some distance because it didn’t go all the way
through,” he said. Although he does not condone the
violence associated with the independent truckers
strike, he is sympathetic to their problems of rising
fuel cost.
forts need to be encouraged, a recommendation also cited as
necessary to reduce cerebrovascular and cancer rates. The need
for better dietary education programs is repeated throughout
the report.
Other recommendations include the stepping up of media
health campaigns, encouraging strong penalties for persons con
victed of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and
.pushing for required driver education programs in area schools.
By 1982, the plan says, the ratio of physicians to population
in each county in the AG-HSA area should be no less than one
doctor per 3,000 residents. Currently in Chattooga County that
ratio is one to 5,575, although in the entire area the ratio is one to
1,263. Other recommendations call for encouraging the hiring of
more doctors' assistants, adding three additional primary health
care centers in the area by 1982, reducing (slightly) the number
of hospital beds in the area (and thus hold hospital costs down by
getting the best utilization of existing beds), and a number of
other technical recommendations with reference to hospitals.
Several goals dealing with nursing homes are outlined in the
plan. The AG-HSA ishould strive to encourage older residents to
remain in "independent living situations as long as possible,”
the plan says, and should develop "information, counseling and
referral programs” to help older residents become aware of less
trucker, but does not condone the
violence.
Running a truck at 55 miles
per hour on a test track might
show it is using less fuel than if it
is run at 65, but that’s on flat
ground, Searels commented. “On
the road though, it’s different,
you go up and down hills." If you
get up speed coming down a hill,
your momentum will carry you
halfway up the next grade.
’ In most of the states, trucks
are now allowed a gross weight of
80,000 pounds. “You’re getting
the most out of your fuel at that
weight,” Searels said. “If a
trucker is at the 80,000 pound
limit and comes to a state with a
limit of 73,000 he either pays a
fine or has to find away around
the scales.”
“Many people, Searels said,
don’t understand what the in
dependent truckers are trying to
do.” Higher fuel cost will
translate into higher prices on
finished goods, and inflation will
rise at an amazing rate. "They’re
really trying to help everyone in
the U. 5.,” he explained.
Trion’s
Gas Rates
To Rise
The Southern Natural gas Co.
has an increase in the planning,
Mayor Jake Woods told the Trion
Town council Thursday night...
“and we have no alternative but
to pass the increase on to the
customer,” he said.
Officials from the gas com
pany, Woods said, have informed
him that an increase of either 15 .
cents or 33 cents per thousand
cubic feet (MCF) will be effective
(Continued on Page 11)
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Two Separate Accidents Within A Mile
Two separate accidents occurred within a
half a mile of each other on U. S.
Highway 27 and within less than an hour
Monday sending at least four persons to
the hospital. An almost head-on collision
(top photo) sent Gordon David Williams,
driver of the pickup, a passenger in the
truck, Frank Bell Jr., and Dennis Lamar
Tapp, driver of the van, to the hospital.
Court Upholds T own Os
Trion’s Zoning Decision
A Superior Court decision has
upheld the Town of Trion’s deci
sion to deny Summerville at
torney Jerry Westbrook a zoning
change from residential to com*’
mercial on his property located on
Old Highway 27 across from
Riegel Textile Corp.
Carlton Vines, Westbrook’s
law partner and attorney in the
case, petitioned the Town of
Trion three times prior to appeal
ing the case to Superior Court. All
three times Trion officials
unanimously turned the proposed
zoning change down.
Westbrook’s property, a va
cant lot for many years, is direct
ly south of another lot used by
Riegel employees for parking. To
the east is a residence, and south
of Westbrook’s property is 4th
Street.
Vines argued the case before
Superior Court Judge Robert L.
Scoggins, saying that the prox
imity to Riegel and the lot used
for employee parking were factors
contributing to the unsuitability
of Westbrook's property for a
residence. For one hour during
each of Riegel’s three shift
changes. Vines said, the traffic
and resulting noise would make
the site very undesirable for
anything but a commercial
expensive alternatives to nursing home care, most notably,
home health care arrangements. Other goals call for the place
ment of more nursing home beds in the areas in which they are
needed, increasing the numbers of skilled and intermediate care
nursing home beds where they are in demand, and assuring cost
and quality controls with reference to nursing home care.
THEME: SELF-CARE
While the study seems optimistic that the health problems of
the area can be reduced, the central theme appears to be that in
dividuals must take it upon themselves the responsibility of
their own health car e.
The plan’s preface, however, ends on an optimistic note, poin
ting out that several trends are developing which are helping the
individual to realize the importance of good habits to stay
healthy. They include, the plan said, increased emphasis by
many physicians stressing "the caring’ function” of the physi
cian, a heightened awareness in the public domain in regards to
factors often linked to poor health—including stress and en
vironmental and economic problems—and an emerging spirit of
cooperation between health care providers and those individuals
and organizations with related educations. 1 and social concerns.
Bell and Tapp were transferred to Floyd
Medical Center, Williams was treated at
Chattooga County Hospital. Sandra Gail
Sizemore, driver of the Delta 88 (bottom
Shoto), was struck by Evans’ Wrecker
ervice which was en route to the
Williams-Tapp accident. Ms. Sizemore
was admitted to the county hospital.
establishment.
Vines also argued that proper
ty value was in effect being
“taken without just compensa
tion." He showed the court that
the property would have a
substantially higher value zoned
commercial than it presently does
zoned residential, Judge Scoggins
said in his order.
But the judge concluded,
"Because of the constitutional
amendment investing the General
Assembly with authority to en
power cities to pass zoning laws,
it can no longer be said that a zon
ing statute is per se unconstitu-
Offices Closed Today
Local city and county govern
ment offices will be closed today,
July 4, in observance of the In
dependence Day holiday.
All courthouse offices and the
Summerville City Hall will be
closed all day. Garbage normally
picked up today will be picked up
tomorrow.
The Summerville Recreation
Center, however, will be open as
usual. The pool will be open from
9 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Both Summerville and Trion
tional and void because it
deprives the owner of his proper
ty without due process of law.”
Judge Scoggins also cited a
precedent set in a Georgia
Supreme court case that states
the "governing body of a county
(or municipality) exercising zon
ing power will not be disturbed by
the courts unless they are clearly
arbitrary and unreasonable.”
He also cited another prece
dent that places the “burden of
proof that a zoning law is ar
bitrary and unreasonable on the
property owner.” Judge Scoggins
(Continued on Page 11)
post offices will be closed for the
holiday.
The Town of Trion, including
the Recreation Department, will
be closed today. Garbage normal
ly picked up today will be picked
up tomorrow, July 5. All other
days will be on regular schedule.
For any emergency calls for
the gas department, contact the
Trion Police Department and
they will notify the proper person.
PRICE 20c