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Che Summerville News
— The Official Legal Organ of Chattooga County —
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Editorials
Happy New Decade
As the calendar is flipped to Jan. 1,
1980, it's easy to feel that all of our pro
blems are behind us and that we're star
ting with a clean slate.
But Chattoogans who have been
around for a couple of decades or more
know that this isn't the case. Our pro
blems remain with us as we enter the new
decade, but the challenges they pose do
not at this juncture appear insurmoun
table.
In fact, there are some indications
that the 1980 s will be a progressive and
constructive period.
Many national experts are forecasting
good things for the country in 1980.
Three men who make a living of studying
trends were interviewed by a national
magazine recently, and their conclusions
are generally positive, with some impor
tant exceptions.
Here's what they said we can expect
tor the 1980 s:
* People will have more spending
money than ever before, and they'll spend
more of it on recreation than ever before.
* Houses and apartments will tend to
be smaller, but people will enjoy them
more because they will be compact and ef
ficient and require less upkeep. Somebody
clse will mow the lawn, maintain the pool,
A Good Resolution
If you're one of many Chattoogans
who find income tax filing is complicated,
confusing and time-consuming, now's the
time to set a simple plan in action. It
won't help with your 1979 return, but
when 1980 preparation time rolls around
the job will be a lot simpler and may even
save you money by insuring that each
and every legal deduction is taken,
A taxpayer’s first New Year's resolu
tion should be self-organization. The key,
according to tax experts, is to file away
each tax-related item when it's received.
By keeping all documents in a single, safe
place, they will be ready when the time
comes to prepare next year's forms. The
taxpaver will avoid the mad scramble to
gather misplaced receipts and other
documents in time for the April 15 federal
filing deadline.
Taxpayers should save medical, den
tal and drug receipts, proof of interest
charges, state and local tax documents,
charitable receipts and notes on un
documented cash contributions. An ade
quate retention system should hold the
year's bills, invoices, receipts and cancell
ed checks,
At filing time, the individual can then
present his or her tax preparation service
with an orderly, complete package of
materials with which to work; or per
sonally approach the job without having
to constantly stop and search for missing
items.
Records to be kept include any
documents reflecting income. Wages are
normally reported on a W-2 form supplied
by emplovers. However, records should
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and do the painting and fixing.
* The family as a unit will grow in im
portance.
* The most desirable home will have
its own recreation center with a giant
television screen and other sophisticated
entertainment at the people’s fingertips.
* People will dress much the same as
today, with minor variations in style such
as narrower coat lapels and slacks,
shorter skirts, and wider shoulders. The
V-shape will be “in."”
* Our biggest domestic problems—
inflation, crime, the energy shortage,
pollution, and deprived people— will stay
with us and some will intensify.
* Look for new crises in integration,
migration, social security, and even
sports.
* Like our homes, the size of our
vehicles and the length of our trips will
tend to shrink.
* Computers will be everywhere, from
the kitchen to the toy box.
* Shonping centers will become learn
ing centers and fun centers as well.
The predictions are a “mixed bag,”
but on the whole the overall picture ap
pears good, the three experts said.
Let's hope they are right,
be kept on all interest and dividend in
come, profits or losses from sales of pro
perty and securities and all other money
received.
A good rule of thumb is to file
everything that relates to receiving or
spending money. It's much easier to
discard an unneeded document than to
search for a receipt or statement that's
been misplaced or even discarded.
Here are several additional sugges
tions for taxpayers:
1. Pay all tax-deductible items by
check. Reviewing your checkbook pro
vides an immediate picture of your deduc
tions. It's wise to retain the bills, sales
slips and any receipts for these checks
should a deduction have to be proven.
This is especially true for medical ex
penses which may have been reimbursed
in part by insurance coverages.
2. Retain past income tax forms for at
least six years. They are helpful if you
have a "windfall"" and wish to average in
come over a five-year period.
3. Keep a log or diary of expenses such
as miles driven, meals, parking and tolls
incurred while doing charitable work.
Credit card purchases of gas are not con
sidered proof of travel.
4. File records of long-term expenses
such as home improvements and in
vestments. These are needed to wverify
profit and loss when a home or other in
vestment is finally sold.
5. Take a close look at your own state
tax laws. They may allow deductions not
permitted by the federal government.
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Q Off the Newsdesk
1979 —Lovable As Mr. Vader
This is being written on New Year's
morning, a dreary morning at that,
although the inspiration for this column
began rolling around in the ol’ noggin
yesterday.
The intention here was to write an
upbeat column praising 1979 as a decent,
although unspectacular year. The original
notion was to upbraid the general noisy
denunciation of the year being heard
everywhere, and to point up some of its
more positive aspects. But, alas, trying to
figure out something good about 1979
proved to be about as easy as finding
something lovable about Darth Vadar.
Although there were a few good things
that happened —we weren't at war, for ex
ample—they were overshadowed by a
host of gloomy situations mostly brought
on by developments in Iran and other
members of OPEC.
The hostage situation itself is suffi
cient reason to call 1979 a damnable year.
It isn't that simply 50 (or whatever
number) Americans are being hostage,
but that the entire nation is being held
captive by a gang of wild-eyed fanatics.
1979 will also be remembered as the
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Tale Of 2 Taxes
Dear Sir:
I just mailed a check to the tax commis
stoner for my 1979 taxes on my summer home
in Cloudland:
assessed fair market value, $16,731
gross assessment, $6,693
county exemption: none; net county,
$6,693
school exemption: none: net school, $6,693
Tax:
state tax, $1.67
county tax, $77.97
school tax, $93.70
school bond, $6.02
total tax, $179.36
The total county tax equals $79.64.
The total school tax equals $99.72.
As a com%arison. my Florida county
(Manatee) tax breakdown reveals the follow
ing:
Assessed value, $23.340
Less Homestead exemption: $5,000
Less over 65 exemption: £5.000
Lattons torke Hitn,
year of the gas price increase." Alarming
and as far-fetched as it is, if we continue
to double our gasoline costs each year
we'll be paying $l2B per gallon by 1986.
Such a leap seems unthinkable now, but
the words of the OPEC official who said
Americans can look forward to $lO a
gallon gasoline in the 1980 s can’t be ig
nored.
Anyway, the original idea here was to
talk up 1979 . . .to sort of stick up for the
misabused underdog. But after hours of
thought, it never came. The effort was
made, but when the hostess of a New
Year's party our family attended asked
the group, ‘“Who honestly can say 1979
was a good year?’'—and no one in the
room responded—it became apparent
that the gloomy analyses commentators
have been making aren't far off the mark.
And when she asked the group how
many of them had had auto accidents in
'79, the room became of a sea of hands.
Anyway, the only conclusion I could
draw was that 1979 was a pretty rotten
year or that my friends are pretty rotten
drivers. I decided it might be a bit of
both.
Net Assessment for both county and
school: $13,340
Some $6,000 net more than Chattooga
County's.
The taxes are computed as follows:
County taxes, $196, which includes the
school taxes for the county.
City taxes (Holmes Beach)—s2o.oß.
Fire district tax—slo.
Total —5226.08, however, Florida allows a
discount of 4 percent if paid in November, 3
percent in December, 2 percent in January, 1
percent in February and net in March with a
penalty if paid later. By paving in November,
my net tax was $217.04.
This is just to suggest that some relief like
we have in Florida (which is an extra $5,000
exemption to property owners over 65 who
have resided at least five years in the state)
would help some of “us” senior citizens, like
myself, with no children or grandchildren to
attend a Georgia school.
I would estimate that Manatee County has
at least a 125,000 person permanent popula
tions; with the wintertime population double
that.
Sincerely,
John V. Craig
Cloudland
R T T
Facing South
a syndicated column
voices of tradition
in a changing region
REV. PAULI MURRAY: A LONG, LONELY QUEST
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—There is a striking consistency
to the varied seasons of her life. In the '3os she was a suc
cessful poet and civil-rights activist. Later, she became a
lawyer, scholar, and leading feminist. At every
point, her life has been shaped by her e
unchanging obsession with equality Wt
and justice. : o
Now, Pauli Murray is expressing It A
these values in yet another context. At \» \ §~;' fll'
the age of 66, she became an Episcopal M
priest, one of the first women to be or- /o
dained. As in each of her earlier - M
careers, her motivation was a mixture A 0 I;I""\
of idealism and ambition. A 2 fl'm‘;'""' as
Murray was raised in North ‘zur L,.."‘"”&,’m
Carolina by her grandparents and *~ i
aunts, and they imparted to her a fierce pride in her
racially-mixed ancestry. Her grandfather was a stern
mulatto veteran of the Union Army and a teacher of
freedmen. He goaded her to academic excellence and con
ditioned her to fight for a chance to use her talents,
regardless of the strictures of segregation. Her grand
mother was the daughter of a beautiful slave, and she
gave Murray her vivid sense of intimacy with the past.
Inevitably Pauli Murray came into conflict with
segregation. In 1938 she was rejected from the graduate
school of the University of North Carolina because of her
race. This, and her work as an early civil rights activist,
convinced her she needed to study law. In 1944 she
graduated first in her class from the Howard University
Law School.
Murray began writing poetry while in her early twen
ties, and within a decade she was a protege of Stephen
Vincent Benet. Her introduction to poetry was through
the Bible, and many of her poems reflect the sweeping
lines of the psalms. Her most famous poem, **Dark Testa
ment,” is a haunting cry against prejudice.
Her poetry served, in part, as an outlet for frustration
and anger. "What it did was keep me sane,”" she says. *'So
much of my poetry came along when there was no way I
could act: in the midst of rigid segregation, in the depres
sion, during periods of unemployment.”’
In the early 1950 s she turned her attention to the
traditions of her family. In 1956 she published *‘Proud
Shoes,”” an evcative account of her family's ascent from
slavery. In style and technique, it anticipated Alex
Haley's ““Roots’’ by 20 years.
While writing, she picked up a few odd jobs. She was
Deputy Attorney General of California, a lecturer in con
stitutional law in Ghana, and an associate of a
prestigious New York law firm. Later, she taught law at
Brandeis University.
Inevitably, Murray became a feminist, and in 1965
she played a pivotal role in the meetings that resulted in
the National Organization for Women.
In the early '7os her life took another turn.
“Throughout my life there has been this spiritual quest,”
she says. ““There keeps cropping up in my background
this wrestling with the Christian faith and its relation to
issues like poverty, conflict, and human suffering.”
In a sense, her decision to enter the seminary
represented a pulling together of the diverse strands of
her life, a summing up. At the time, it was uncertain
whether the church hierarchy would reverse its age-old
prohibition against the ordination of women. But she per
sisted, and in 1976 the Church General Assembly lifted
the ban. '
As a priest, the Rev. Murray is not interested in a
parish of her own. Instead, she sees her role as spokesper
son for equality and social justice within the church. She
donates much of her time to ministering to residents of
nursing homes near her Alexandria home.
Pauli Murray is a painfully realistic person. She
understands that circumstances gave her a unique set of
needs and ambitions that pushed her to become a social
pioneer. “'I think it has been a lonely life,”” she admits.
“But I suppose I have been conditioned to a lonely life.
It's not necessarily the one I would choose again, but I
find that if you have convictions and operate on principle,
and if you do it often enough, then you learn to accept the
consequences. It doesn't change the loneliness. It doesn't
change the pain. But somehow one is given the strength
to live with it.”
—JAMES DAVID BESSER
free lance
Washington, D. C.