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VOLUME XCIV - NUMBER XXVII
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Second Man Held ®
For Trion Robbery
The second county man
sought in connection with the
armed robbery of a Trion gas sta
tion July 29 was apprehended
Monday morning.
Authorities identified the man
as Travis Joe Little, 18, of Central
Avenue in Trion. He was arrested
Monday morning at his residence
and was charged with armed rob
bery and theft by taking. He re
mained in the county jail under a
$15,000 bond yesterday after
noon.
Warrants allege that Little
and Vinson Edward Hughes, 18,
of the Mountain View Communi
ty held up the Dixie Oil Service
Station on Central Avenue in
Trion around 3 a.m. last Sunday.
The two men who robbed the gas
station wore stockings over their
heads, a sheriff’s department
report said, and one carried a
shotgun.
The pair took $1,757.79 and
the attendant’s 1970 Dodge Dart,
the report said. The vehicle was
later found undamaged. As of
Tuesday afternoon the money
had not been recovered.
Hughes was arrested last Sun
day.
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Cancer Society Volunteers Meet
Doug Hardin (L), a field representative of
the American Cancer Society talks with
local volunteers Mike Smith, Doris Led-
Downed Wire Leaves Area
Without Power For An Hour
Residents of Summerville and
some surrounding areas lost their
power for an hour Friday after
noon, however no serious com
plications developed as a result of
the blackout, a Georgia Power
Company official said.
“A connector burned in two,”
said Mike Smith, district
superintendent of Georgia Power
Co., explaining the reason for the
outage. "The main feed out of the
(Summerville) substation had one
wire fall and burn in two at a con
nector.”
25 Cases Are
Dismissed By
Grand Jury
Twenty-five cases of the 115
presented to the Chattooga Coun
ty Grand Jury this week were “no
billed,” according to court
documents.
Cases that are “no billed” are
dismissed, a finding which in
dicates the charges are
groundless.
Ages and address of persons
whose cases were dismissed were
not available at press time in all
cases. Those found below were
current at time of arrest. Felony
cases dismissed by the Grand
Jury included: Thomas William
son Jr., criminal damage to pro
perty in the second degree; James
W. Barnett, 41, of Mountain
View, burglary; James Reese
Cooper, habitual violator; and
Michael A. England, aggravated
assault.
Also, Brent Kennedy, criminal
trespassing; Tommy DeWayne
Powell, burglary and aggravated
assault; James Williams, 20, of
101 E. Sixth St., Summerville,
murder; Johnny Fowler, criminal
damage to property in the second
degree; Horace Randall
Hamilton, 18, of Menlo, burglary;
Robert Lee Nixon, aggravated
assault; and Kenneth William
Parker, issuing terroristic threats
and acts.
Also, Frank W. Kerce, 31, of
416 Cedar Avenue, Rome,
burglary; Tony Curtis Nicholson,
theft by bringing stolen property
into the state; and Terry Wayne
Tapp, criminal interference with
government property.
^ummeruille Newa
5’ _
^ocal Reaction To New Coin: Thumbs Down
r.s
£ ® By PAM PURCELL
* *
9 The Bureau of the Mint, when it began circulating the
C __w Susan B. Anthony Dollar Coin six weeks ago, hailed it
“the dollar of the future.”
But a poll taken this week of Chattooga businesses and
banks indicates the future of the new coin is murky at
best. As in other areas of the United States, the coin is
simply not being accepted by the public as federal officials
had hoped, the poll shows.
“We have had a few (of the new dollars) to go through
the cash register," said one variety store manager. “We
haven't handed them out as change unless the customers
want them. Most of the time people see them in the
register and want them for souvenirs.
“I don’t like them," he added. “I think they’re a
mistake. People are not going to like them—they’re too
close to a quarter in looks. People will get them mixed up
with quarters and that will cause problems.”
Another merchant voiced virtually the same opinion.
“We haven’t received very many of the new dollars,
not over a half a dozen a week,” the merchant said.
“However, we’ve heard a lot of complaints from our
customers about them. They say the new dollar looks too
much like a quarter. So far, though, we haven’t had any
ford, Katherine Camp, and Caroline
Crawford about upcoming fund raisers.
Smith said company officials
weren’t altogether sure what
caused the line to break, but
theorized that lightning had hit
the line earlier and that it wasn't
until Friday that the damage
took its toll.
“The only thing that I can see
after examining it was that
sometime in the past it had
evidently been hit by lightning
and was damaged,” Smith said.
“There’s no real way to say why it
picked a clear, sunshiny day to
fall, but it did.”
At the time the problem arose,
he said, the local Georgia Power
maintenance crew was in Lyerly
and hurried to Summerville to
correct the situation. The local of
fice of the power company was
swamped with calls, Smith noted,
from residents reporting the
outage.
"We didn't waste any time (in
repairing the line), but we took
our safety precautions and
repaired it as quickly as we
could,” Smith said. “There were
no incidents as a result of the
outage that I know of.”
Smith said the line fell parallel
to a sidewalk just north of the ci
ty limits sign on Rome
Boulevard. The line was not
energized, he said.
He took the opportunity to
Menlo Policeman
Formally Hired
The Menlo City Council voted
to hire a new police officer during
its regular monthly meeting Tues
day night.
Following some discussion by
the council, Jerry Crowe, 35, of
207 Kelly St., in Summerville,
was hired as the new police of
ficer. Crowe, a former security of
ficer in Dalton, had been working
as an acting policeman for the ci
ty for several days.
Crowe replaces John Igou of
Villanow, who was dismissed in
mid-July from the post.
In other action the council:
* Was advised by Councilman
Lonnie Ward that a bill from
John Sweitzer, water project
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA 30747, THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1979
warn residents to stay away from
downed wires when they spot
them. “The line was not energized
after the protective equipment
shut down (the local electrical
system). But many times a down
ed wire is energized, and residents
should stay away from it and
report it to us as quickly as possi
ble.
The outage was the second one
in the local area in two weeks.
Late last month an oak tree fell
on Taylor’s Ridge, bringing elec
tric wires to the ground with it.
Chief Deputy
Resigns
Chief Deputy Gene Nix of the
Chattooga County Sheriff’s
Department has resigned his
post, effective Aug. 15.
Nix, who has been with the of
fice since Jan. 1, 1977, said he
resigned due to personal reasons
and conflicting opinions with the
sheriff. He and Sheriff L.D.
Ragland declined to elaborate fur
ther on the subject.
Nix said he plans to stay in
law enforcement and may soon be
working with another law enforce
ment agency.
engineer, had been received in the
amount of $1,623.88. The council
approved payment of the bill.
* Was advised that drilling
had been completed on the city's
well to 87 feet with no less than
150 gallons of water being able to
be pumped out per minute. After
some discussion, however, the
council agreed to drill an addi
tional 63 feet for a total of 150
feet, in hopes of being able to
pump 200 gallons a minute.
• Accepted a new water ap
plication from Lee Majors in
Alpine.
* Approved paying Mra. Pat
Shipley, city clerk, SIOO for over
time work she has done on back
book work.
“I’ve had some f
customers to give me
back the new coins
and tell me they
wanted paper bills
^mstead.”
x —a local merchant
Golf Tourney, TV Giveaway
Cancer Society Plans Two Fund Raisers
Local members of the Chat
tooga County unit of the
American Cancer Society are
hopeful two fund-raisers planned
this month will put the county
closer to its 1979 goal.
According to Doug Hardin,
the regional field representative
of the Cancer Society, only $7,431
of the county’s goal of $11,513 .
has been raised, representing 68 i
percent of the goal.
Local cancer volunteers met
recently to discuss possible ways
to raise more funds. Originally a
street dance-carnival or a
barbecue with country singing
were proposed, but the plans were
dropped because the drive is
scheduled to end this mpnth.
Organizers felt there was insuffi
cient time to prepare for either oi ’
the events.
Instead, local Cancer Society
volunteers are planning to focus
on two fund-raising activities—a
television give-away on which $1
donations are being asked, and a
golf tournament.
Volunteers began distributing
donation tickets Saturday for the
television, a 12-inch black and
white set donated by TG&Y of
LaFayette. One thousand dona
tion tickets have been printed, ac
cording to Katherine Camp, who
is helping to organize the effort.
The initial response has been
good, she said Tuesday morning.
Chattooga Indians
In Summer Drills
Although the temperature reads in the high 80s and 90s the
Chattooga High Indians have begun drills for the upcoming
football season. They have worked for two weeks already, ready
ing for the season opener against perennial-toughie Lakeshore,
on Aug. 24, 8 p.m. at the Little Big Horn.
The coaching staff consists of head coach Ron Williams; Fred
Toney, offensive coordinator and backs; Kenny Mitchell, defen
sive backs; “Jug” Hayes, offensive and defensive lines; and
newcomer Melvin Mosley, offensive and defensive lines. B-Team
coaches are Lefty Norton and Phil Parham.
In summing up the practices so far, Williams said, “The kids
have worked real hard this winter weightlifting and so far this
summer in drills. They have had a good attitude and morale.
The Indians will return a lot of starters from last year’s 2-7
sophomore-laden squad and only 5 of the starters will be seniors.
Coach Williams noted that, “We have a lot of juniors and
seniors returning, and we really expect a lot of senior
leadership.”
“Our real problems this year, besides a relatively young club
is defensive depth especially at defensive back, and our offensive
line, he added.
OFFENSE
Offensively the Indians strong suit is their offensive
backfield. Richie Ludy who has "looked real good” during these
drills is the Indian quarterback, Mark Weaver, fullback and
Darry Evans, tailback, are also said by the coaching staff to be
“looking good” and will return to the Indians I-formation this
year.
Williams went on to tell about the other offensive positions,
“We are pretty well set at tightend with Steve McGill and Jeff
McCary. At wideouts we have 3 boys that are really doing a good
job for two positions, Will Hair, Eddie Herod and Raynard
Adams.
"The offensive line is anchored by Alan Fletcher and Wendall
Black at guards, Mickey McGraw at center, Rodney Bright at
tackle and several young kids working for the other tackle posi
tion,” he added.
DEFENSE
"Defensively our strong suit is dur linebackers, Wendall
Black and Alan Fletcher. We also have several other linebackers
who have worked hard and looked real good, Johnny Gentry,
Regan Black, Mark Weaver and Mickey McGraw, Williams con
cluded.
"At defensive guard, we have Mike Alexander back and
several still trying for the other starting position.
“At tackle we are set with Steve McGill, Rodney Bright and
William Donovits.
"Gary Payton and Jeff McCary have looked good at defen
sive end,” he said.
At defensive back, probably the weakest spot on the defense,
the staff has looked at a lot of prospects for the positions, but
are waiting for "someone to really come forward and claim the
starting spots."
» * •
The Indians will run from the Pro-l-formation and run the 6-2
on defense.
problems with getting the two mixed up.”
Two local florists said they haven’t received any of the
coin dollars from customers. Like several other business
people, they think the new coin is too small.
“I think they’ll be mistaken for quarters,” said one. “I
think in giving change we’ll give customers dollars for
quarters because we’ll be in a hurry and not paying atten
tion to what we’re giving back, quarters or dollars."
Said another: “We foresee some problems with the new
coins because they look so much like quarters. It’s hard to
tell the difference between the two at a glance.”
Representatives of a local drug store and two clothing
stores said they have handled a few of the new coins and
realize there will be some problems with them.
Older people, especially are complaining about having
trouble distinguishing the coin from a quarter, they said.
A drugstore spokesman said his store has handed out
some of the coins in place of paper bills but found that
customers didn’t like them.
“Os the five people who work here, two of us like the
new coins and three don’t,” he said. “The ones that like
them have been giving them to the customers instead of
bills. They (the new coins) are real close to quarters and
until we get use to the weight, size and all, it may cause
some problems. I’ve had some customers to give me back
“I believe we may be able to sell
more than that," she commented.
Fifty donation tickets were
disposed of at a meeting of the
local VFW Post and its auxiliary
Saturday evening, she said, and
the Women of Georgia Power
group and local Jaycees are also
helping in the effort.
“The television project seems
to be going real well,” Mrs. Camp
said.
The set is on display at the
county courthouse. Persons
wishing to donate to the fund
raiser can do so at the courthouse,
at Allen’s Hardware and at
Echols Appliance Co.
Meanwhile, plans for the
benefit golf tournament are in the
works, according to local Cancer
Society Chairman Mike Smith.
Smith said the tournament is
tentatively planned for early
September at the golf course in
Trion. The tournament, which
Smith said will be a “scramble
type with a shotgun start,” will
have four-man teams (whose
members will be picked by tour
nament organizers in an effort to
make competition as equitable as
possible).
The entrance fee has been ten
tatively set at $lO per partici
pant, Smith said.
Winners will be given gift cer
tificates from the local pro shop,
Smith said.
“Anyone interested in par
ticipating in the tournament can
call me (at 857-2459) or Wayne
Burnley (at 857-2463),” Smith
said.
In addition to the fund-raising
Grand Jury Binds Over
Cases For Trial Here
The August term Chattooga
County Grand Jury “true billed”
90 of the 115 felony and misde
meanor cases that were presented
to it as of Wednesday afternoon
by the district attorney’s office.
Cases that are “true billed”
are bound over to the Superior
Court for trial.
Felony cases bound over for
trial include: (ages and addresses
at the time of arrest were not
available in all cases) Robert
Dean Burleson, 58, of Route 1,
Jamestown, charged with passing
a worthless check; Hoyle W. Bell,
charged with passing worthless
checks; H. W. Bell, passing a wor
thless check; John Hamilton
Bailey, 35, of West Seventh St,,
Summerville, two counts of
burglary; Jack Byron, burglary;
Johnny Tapp, two counts of
forgery in the first degree;
Darlene Carter Youngblood, three
counts of forgery in the first
degree; John Q. Adams, two
counts of burglary and two
counts of.theft by receiving; and
Oscar Adams, credit card theft.
Also, Tony Blackmon, ag
gravated assault; Gary Chamlee,
criminal damage to property in
the second degree; Fred Davis of
11 Frank St., Summerville,
burglary; Michael A. England,
criminal damage to property in
the second degree; Billy E. Epps,
17, of Route 2, Collinsville,
forgery in the first degree;
Dorothy Mae Green, issuing ter
roristic threats and acts; Bernie
Lee Pierce, criminal damage to
property in the second degree;
and Jerry Randall Sims, 33, of
?.»RRK
GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
PROJECT MLP-1 (88) CHATTOOGA COUNTY j
THURSDAY AUG. 23. 1979 I
7:30 P.M. (FORMAL) 530 RM.ON FORMAL) |
CHATTOOGA COUNTY COURTROOM
SUMMERVILLE GEORGIA .
The Georgia Department of Transporta
tion has erected at least three signs in
Chattooga County announcing the time
and date of a two-part public hearing for
Project MLP-(88), the proposed multi
laning of U.S. Highway 27 from Sum
merville to Trion. DOT engineers will be
the new coins and tell me they wanted paper bills instead.
Most of the customers just don’t seem to like them.
However, it’s like most government programs—we’ll just
have to learn to live with it.”
"I don’t think people will accept them,” one downtown
shopkeeper said. “They’ll be like the $2 bill. I know it will
save money, but why didn't they make them like the old
silver dollar—big? If I don't look close, I know I’ll give
them as quarters. They’re too hard to get used to.”
Spokesmen at two local banks said customers'
response to the new dollar coin has been very poor since it
appeared on the market July 1. Few customers want the
coin, two bank employees agreed, and those who do want
them as souvenirs. Merchants are also staying away from
the new dollars and haven’t asked for them on a regular
basis, the employees said.
One Summerville businessman, however, expressed
what appears to be a minority viewpoint.
“The new dollars are fine with me,” said the store
owner. “We’ve had no problems with them. We've had
very few from customers but we’ve given away a good
many of them. As for them looking like quarters—you
have to look at a $1 bill to tell it from a $5 bill and now you
have to look at them to tell the difference between a dollar
and a quarter.”
aspects of the drive, the local
Cancer Society Unit, as in past
years, is emphasizing education
as part of the local effort. Several
local industries, schools and civic
groups have been provided
Route 1 Box 201, Summerville,
aggravated assault, two counts of
possession of marijuana for the
purpose of sale, and four counts
of selling drugs.
Also, James Williams, 20, of
101 E. Sixth St., Summerville,
voluntary manslaughter; Leon
Library Board Sets
Emergency Meeting
An emergency meeting of the
Chattooga County Library Board
has been slated for Monday after
the board learned Wednesday
that the county will not im
mediately fund the library at its
proposed budget request for
fiscal year 1980.
According to Board Chairman
Celeste Florence, Commissioner
Pete Denson yesterday informed
her that he could make no finan
cial commitments beyond those
made last year until he receives
the county tax digest, possibly in
December. The digest is used to
determine the millage rate and
county revenue.
Commissioner Denson could
not be reached for comment
yesterday afternoon, but Mrs.
Florence said that he had told her
that the impact of soaring infla
tion on county purchasing had led
him to take that position.
The library board had re-
Signs Publicize Hearing
literature and programs em
phasizing the early warning
signals of cancer and the need to
see a doctor when any of those
signs develop. Annual checkups
are also being encouraged.
Dewight Burton, burglary; James
Blackmon, selling drugs; Daniel
Leon Epps. 22, of Route 2, Lyer
ly, burglary and passing a wor
thless check; Roger Dale
Galloway, 27, Route 1 Box 852,
Trion, two counts of theft by
see GRAND JURY, page 3-A
quested $1,833 monthly from the
county for the current fiscal year,
which began July 1.
“He (Commissioner Denson)
said he can only promise us S9OO
monthly (the equivalent to last
year’s level of funding),” Mrs.
Florence said.
According to Mrs. Florence,
the emergency meeting was called
to reevaluate the two local
libraries' financial picture in light
of the commissioner's decision.
“We don’t know right now
where we’ll have to make some
cuts,” she said. "We'll have to
decide that at the meeting.”
Some of the alternatives the
library board might take to
reduce expenses include the possi
ble closing of the Menlo Library
and a reduction of the number of
days the library in Summerville is
open to the public, she said.
The meeting will be held at the
library in Summerville at 4 p.m.
on hand to talk to residents with infor
mation about the impact of the pro
posal. The DOT is seeking public com
ments at the meeting, and written
statements prior to deciding to go ahead
with the project.
PRICE 20c