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Gerald Hodges of Literacy Action Inc.
talks to a group of volunteers who will
be helping local senior citizens plan
Volunteers Rally To Help
Elderly Cut Power Bills
Over two dozen volunteers
met at the library conference
room in Summerville Monday
afternoon to undergo inten
sive training in a unique
energy-conservation project.
The project is aimed at the
elderly in the community and
is geared toward showing
them how they can save
money through simple conser
vation measures.
Individuals of the grou
that met at the library—afi
volunteers—have each been
assigned five or six
households to visit, coordain
tors said. At each of the
homes the volunteers will sug
gest conservation measures
the occupants can take to
reduce their power bills.
Gerald Hodges of Literacy
Action Inc., based in Atlanta,
has helped coordinate the pro
ject locally. Literacy Action
Inc. developed a special
packet of easy-to-read cards
which the volunteers will use
in helping local senior citizens
Building At Fairgrounds
Is Being Renovated As
Senior Citizen Center
Work began last week on
the fairgrounds building on
Seventh Avenue to convert it
into a center for local elderly
residents.
The building, made
available by the county, is be
ing renovated under a $20,489
contract, according to Julian
Veal, public information of
ficer otp the Coosa Valley Area
Planning and Development
Commission (CVAPDC) in
Rome.
The money is being made
avatlable under Title 3 of the
Older American Acts of 1978,
Veal said. The money was in
itially awarded the Georgia
Department of Human
Resources which in turn ear
marked the money for the
Area Agency on Aging, he ex
plained. That agency in turn
contracted with the county to
execute the contract.
The center, to be open each
weekday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
will become the new location
for the Chattooga County
Food and Nutrition Program
for the Elderly, which now is
located at Fairway Recreation
Center. Forty local residents,
age 63 and older, are served
hot lunches each weekday
there, with a number of educa
tional, and recreational pro
grams held in conjunction
with the meal.
The center, Veal said, will
give elderly residents a place
to meet and socialize. Addi
Linebackers Will
Meet On Monday
The Chattooga Linebacker
Club will meet Monday to
elect officers for 1980.
““We'd like to have
everyone who is a member to
attend as it's an important
meeting,”’ a spokesman said.
The meeting will be held at
Summerville Recreation
Center at 7 p.m.
Talks To Volunteers
—]H
to plan energy-reduction
strategies.
Also helpin%lto develop the
Eroject is Rachel Cantrell, a
ome economist with Georgia
Power Co.
Mrs. Cantrell, Hodges, and
Virgil Stewart and Milton
Greason of Northwest
tionally, he said, the center
will be used as a multi-purpose
site for speakers, holigay par
ties, arts and crafts, informa
tion referrals and counseling,
recreational activities, ‘‘and
education programs in
filigic: o
County Site Might
Be Feasible If Firm
Leaves LaFayette
“We did look at some more
specific sites in Summerville
and concluded that there were
some sites that were feasible
and could probably do the job
for us.”
That's what Tom
DuVoisin, president of
Phoenix Smefiing Co., said
when asked in a telephone in
terview Monday his conclu
sion after visiting Chattooga
County in the wake of vocal
opposition surfac in% to his
firm’s plans to build a
smelting plant in LaFayette.
But BuVoisin in(ficated
that only the barest of ex
ploratory moves have been
made in reference to consider
ing a site in Chattooga Coun
ty, and that the situation in
LaFayette would have to be
resolved to the company’s
satisfaction before an alter
native site could be con
| sidered.
1 ““I suspect that the deci
sion of what we do and where
we go is up to us, but we cer
tainly have several alter
| natives to going ahead and
| building (in LaFayette),” he
Che Summeruille News
energy reduction strategies. The group
met Monday in the Chattooga County
Library.
Georgia Electric Membership
Corp.—TVA together trained
the volunteers Monday, em
phasizing methods that help
reduce energy consumption.
Volunteers who will be
visiting local homes include:
Mrs. Lib Wood, Ms. Ozell
Thomas, Mrs. Hester Hurtt,
Mrs. Becky Groce, Mrs.
Everett Lunsford and Mrs.
Rachel Smith.
Also, Mrs. Martha Bishop,
Mrs. Wilene Bishop, Mrs.
Charlie White, Mrs. Eloise
Parker, Mr. and Mrs. James
Burgess and Glenn Downes.
Also, Mrs. Minnie Bryant,
Mrs. Thelma Alexander, Mrs.
Mary England, Mrs. Jane Mc-
Cool, Tommy Ballard, Mrs.
Brooksie Vines, Mrs. R. A.
Vaughn and Mrs. Mae Lee.
Also, Mrs. Roy Bishop,
Mrs. Kathryn Camp, Mr. and
Mrs. Wright Wheeler, Ms. Joy
Stewart, Mrs. Conner Allen,
Mrs. Dorothy Kennedy, Mr.
and Mrs. Marnell Weems and
Mrs. Carrie Simpson.
general.”
“The meals will still be
restricted, but other services
of the senior center will not be
restricted— and that is the ad
vantage of having a multi
purpose senior center.”
said. His company reportedly
has already spent $150,000 in
developing the LaFayette
site.
He said his company
“would not be adverse to
relocating under the proper
circumstances.’’
“We have a couple of
things we need to resolve in
LaFayette,” he said, agreeing
that one would be the gisposi
tion of the property the com
pany has purchased.
"We Ji)d look at sites in
Summerville, but I'm not
prepared to make a statement
or conclusion as to what we're
goinfi todo. . .that isreally up
to what opposition we have in
LaFayette.”
Asked what the chances of
a move to Chattooga County
would be if the com?any
relocated its LaFayette plant,
he said his company ‘‘could
very iossibly” be interested
in a Chattooga site.
He declined to say which
sites might be considered.
“That would not be in our best
interests to publish those,” he
said.
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA 30747, THURSDAY, JANUARY J&, 1980
HUD Grant For Industrial Park
Turned Down For Second Time
For the second year in a row the Department of
Housing and Urban Development has failed to fund
a Summerville-Chattooga &unty grant request for
industrial park development.
The joint request, which sought $500,000 to buK
a tract of land and develop it as an industrial par
here, ranked 85th in a field of 119 Georgia com
munities that were in com{)etition for available
HUD grant funds statewide for non-metro prajects,
accorduw to Susan J. Wall.
Ms. Wall, a senior planner with the Coosa Valley
Area Planning and Devel?ment Commission
(CVAPDC) in Rome, said Monday that statewide 26
of the 119 proposed projects were accepted for fun
din% by HUD.
he CVAPDC helped develop the local grant re
quest, which was basicallf' identical to one which
was turned down in April 1979 by HUD. In that
competition only 15 of 96 Georgia communities
were invited by HUD to submit a formal application
for grant money, virtually assurin% them g)rmal ap
proval. The city-county request last year ranked
92nd in the fiel({ of 96 community proposals.
Ms. Wall noted that only two of the projects ten
tatively accepted for funding this year are in the
10-county area of northwest Georgia served by the
Jobless Rate Up:
Plant’s Closing
To Raise It More
By TOM KIRWAN
The une:y)loyment rate
appears poised to jump to its
highest levels in well over two
Kears—excluding abnormally
igh rates posted in July of
1978 and 1979 when some
area plants closed for a brief
time &ee graph).
Statistics recently released
by the Georgia Department of
Labor showed that the closing
of E. T. Brwick Industries in
LaFayette took its toll on
county labor market.
In all, according to John
Yancy, manager of the
unemployment (fiaims center
in Rome, some 130 Chat
toogans were among the 550
Barwick employees who were
thrown out of work.
The E.T. Barwick In
dustries situation boosted the
local unemployment fifure to
8.6 percent of the total work
infi %opulation, a high mark
which hasn’t been posted
since Fabrics America Cor
poration closed its doors in
1977 (with the exception of
the two high July jobless
rates previously noted).
According to -the labor
department, 8.6 percent of the
working population here was
unemployetf
In all, 831 workers didn’t
have jobs that month, accor
ding to the detpartment's
revised statistics for October.
With the issuance of the
preliminary November
statistics, a slight improve
ment was postetf. The jobless
rate dropped slight that
month to 8.3 percent, or 802
persons, the preliminary
report said.
But news of another area
plant’s closing threatens to
Eush the job%ess rate even
igher.
J. E. MESSENGER
CLOSES ITS DOORS
On Jan. 4 of this year J. E.
Messenger Co., located on the
Menlo Highway near Sum
merville, closed its doors.
According to plant
mana%er Clyde Henderson,
the closing resulted in 39
employees %)eing laid off and
could {)e temporary.
Henderson told The News
that the company, a division
of HBG Corporation, has
voluntarily filed to reorganize
under federal bankruptcy
laws.
He e)éplained that the com
pany had filed under Chapter
11 of the Federal Bankruptcy
Act. That chapter allows a
company to obtain a federal
court order that frees it from
the threat of creditors’
lawsuits until it can develop a
plan to put its finances in
order. Wfiile the reorganiza
tion proceeds, the activities of
management must be approv
ed by the court,
The ultimate reorganiza
tion plan must be accepted by
a majority of the creditors,
under the provisions of
Chapter 11. Ft may involve
various options, including a
full or partial payment of
debts. The law provides that if
a reorganization plan fails, a
company may be forced into
bankruptcy.
UP FOR SALE
According to Henderson,
the company, which manufac
tures power supply cord sets
for such small appliances as
those produced by ‘I)Vlr. Coffee,
Tappan, and Magic Chef, is up
Yor sule.
“We hope to sell the plant
to any interested party,” he
said.
He revealed that negotia
tions are currently under way
with an unidentified party
which has expressed interest
in buying the plant.
“We should know
something (about the
possibility of the plant bein
sold) this week," he explaine(f
In recent years the plant
has had roughly 60
employees, but LEaL figure
was reduced to around 40
employees when the produc
tion of wire harnesses was
dropped at the local plant in
July of last year.
Henderson said the com
gany had failed to reorganize
ecause its owner, Elisha
Gray of Benton Harbor,
Mich., had retired early in
1979 and that he is ‘‘trying to
%et out’’ of the business here.
sray, he said, is 73 and a
former chairman of the board
of Whirlpool.
The plant opened in Chat
tooga County in July 1973.
Denson: Majority Of Federal ss%
Going To Fix Up Chattooga Roads
Nearly 70 percent of the
county’s Federal Revenue
Sharing funds under the cur
rent entitlement period will go
for road maintenance and pur
chase of equipment, accorts)ing
to County Commissioner
Wayne Denson.
At a 10 a.m. public budget
hearing in the Courthouse #ri
day, Denson announced his
decision on how the funds will
be spent. He said $161,321 of
the $231,201 available to the
countfy in federal funds will be
used for maintenance and pur
chase of equipment, general
o?erations amfimfimvements
of county roads. The paving of
Stolen Truck
Is Recovered
A truck stolen earlier this
month from a local car lot was
recovered with only minor
damage in Alabama on Mon
day.
A 1977 Ford pickup truck
stolen from Brfm{()s Used Cars
in Summerville Sunday night,
Jan. 6, was recovered by
deputies of Etawah County,
Ala., Monday evening.
The truck hmf minor
damage to the right front
fender and the switch had
been removed.
CVAPDC. A proposed sewer project in a Bartow
County low-income area was tentatively approved
for $292,000, while Polk County has received
Ereliminary ap{)roval for a grant of $200,000 for
ousing rehabilitation for low- and middle-income
residents.
Ms. Wall noted that HUD awards gets grants on
a point system which allows categories in each pro
posal a maximum number of points, The community
projects which capture the highest number of points
are accepted for grant approval.
This year the City oF Cordele’s proposal earned
the highest number of points-—721 out of a possible
total of 821. A City of Gordon proposal gad the
lowest number of poim.s—s39~—o? the projects ac
cepted by HUD. The Summerville-Chattooga Coun
ty proposal’s total was 381 points.
Pl‘he funds involved are called Community
Development Block Grants, designed to help low- to
middle-income residents in three areas: fiousing.
public works and economic development.
The grant competition requires that a communi
ty that is submitting a proposal to aim the project’s
impact at one of these three areas, and it was in the
area of economic development that the local grant
aimed to address. Unfortunately for the Lwofirocal
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the Chattooga County Parent
Child Center’s parking lot in
Summerville is also included
in this allotment, Denson said.
The balance of the funds
for the entitlement period,
which began Oct. 1 and con
tinues through Sept. 30, will
be used in a wide variety of
ways.
The largest allotment was
awarded to the Summerville
Recreation Department in the
amount of $12,000. The
Department had asked for
$25,000 at the first public
hearing in December,
Funds were also provided
for the other local recreation
departments. The Trion
Recreation Department
received $8,000; while the
Menlo and Lyerly depart
ments each re(:eivec{fls.'i,()()().
[ Denson noted that it has
| been a long-time 'practice of
| providing some funding to
these recreation programs.
The Chattooga Improve
| ment Association’s Day Care
l Center in Holland was award
led SIO,OOO of the funds. Joe
7 Cannon, director of the center,
| had made a request for
| 818,030 earlier.
; Another SIO,OOO was allot
| ted to the Summervilie Fire
I Department. In a written re
i ?uest earlier they had asked
| for $15,000.
governments, HUD seldom funds this type of grant,
«a review of past years shows, because such projects
tend to help an entire area rather than the low- to
moderate-income bracket. HUD officials say that
projects helping specific low- to moderate-income
areas—housing or sewer projects, for example—
tend to score higher than more generalized projects.
According to Ms. Wall, a computer printout
issued by H{Jl) showing how the competing com
munity projects eurn(«f points showed that the
Summerville-Chattooga County project ‘‘fell down"’
in the program impact category. A project deemed
to specifically help the target population could earn
as much as 200 points in that category alone, but
the local proposal scored a zero in that category,
presumab[;f because the project would have helped
the entire community rather than just low- and
moderate-income residents.
Many communities tend to score higher because
their percentage of Blour residents is higher than in
northwest Georgia, Ms. Wall said. This traditionally
has given Soutfi Georgia communities the edge in
the gIUD grant competition, she noted, because a
higher percentage of the population there is in that
category compared to the more-industrialized areas
of the state, such as northwest Georgia.
Denson approved giving
the Mental Ffl:alth Center of
Northwest Georgia in Sum
merville $3,000 for rent.
The Lyerly Parks Depart
ment was approved $3,000.
The Lyerly gxre Department
received SI,OOO. This was the
amount they had requested.
Denson also approved giv
ing the (,‘loudlnns Property
Owners Association and Com
munity Park $3,000 for their
projects.
The Cherokee Regional
Library was awarded $5,000
of the funds by Denson. This
was the amount they had re
quested.
The Georgia Tech In
dustrial Development Agency
was given $4,880 of the gmds.
Denson explained that the
agency, formed several years
ago, helps the county with in
dustrial development in this
area.
Additionally, Denson allot
ted SI,OOO for the Pennville
Youth Club.
He also approved a $3,000
allotment for the Subligna
Community Center.
Denson told the group of
refi;esent,atives present that
inflation was the reason he
was unable to award the entire
amount they had requested
earlier. He said he wit(b\ed he
could have given them all the
PRICE 20c:
money they asked for and
hupe({ they understood why
he didn’t.
Several representatives
present stood and told Denson
they understood and thanked
him for the funds they had
received.
Bike Riding
On Sidewalks
Is A No-No
Summerville Police
Chief Arlen Thomas an
nounced this week that
the police department will
begin LakinT action
against people riding
bicycles on the sidewalks
in the downtown area.
“Hidings bicycles on
the sidewalks in Summer
ville is against city or
dinances,”” said Thomas.
‘“lt's dangerous for
the rider and the
Fedest.rians. It's especial
y dangerous for those
pedestrians coming out of
stores with their arms full
of packaglfs. We will
begin taking action
against those people this
week."”