Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME XCVI —NUMB *§ XIV
b K, v e
iTP - »
. i"“ et ey A g' & ‘:w”’*"wyf i v‘;:x Bt m;fi gk
'fi«fi%‘fi‘fn A o R ~ \“M, BN -0(e B
v . - o Se § s o "':): <§l R e (“‘M—'f e - 2
eg 4 e S eA | PN g, TR SO QR B
i R m;fi% e e ,‘x R 4 “,.\‘ m(f, fi‘u‘ »o W ":; gt 3
e B ):L" - s ’kn P M Tl iyl P :‘Yx\).‘:‘u‘q‘?flw o W, .éw -
&iy£sSTR Uvt S O ORGSR L e T e
g PR S L4TR T(R . B -~ L o Re - .
M J@’m Yii 75 ‘g"? A ¥ .fifiwkgr BpE s e
3 “Mx“";if’ ‘x’,;_,, ey ”‘e‘e’.‘*‘ bT29 N “f’:".f e~ s
o & '*.‘ifix Woo™ _" 5, S . m 3'* \:‘,m" g ‘_‘.‘& e s§ W -
v oIRA %"P‘ 3 FE = e, EN Ne a 7 ¥ :
N X g i T R e ite) by P " i "
ST W S i oeo TP SN o :
CER R L e i, Riie sT, ‘Q:W e,
B E e WAV oB T S SAT
o R | o §w’r ko Vi - w‘-@h‘ R v
BT ol SRR Rl BT gS N o .
5N R 0300 % W ame, MER LR AW e TR AR ) Y o .
L L i R L G AR BRI s sy SR S TR gy
A R AN, Lt e SRR ot P 3.0 ely b R AR, i e M
Lb sW4S AL g oTI ‘*‘»f-;’-;@ Re A e s M e R
SO IR NI, et e W N T eM TR e M R i
ot R : e NeS e R R-3 S § S i ded R
T S e g ee M g N e -
M R e fl‘&i‘fi&" FaAp IOV A . )r'k«dgt‘*';;i;;" v '*‘zm e
PR R *’M B RO eee¥ ol o] oru 9
BT e ~flvif:‘** LEAIe T TR eBR NG eot M ]
AT BT S e io AN TR S S .& |
ot ar e il £ b Soak e RN TR A NN “alhess|
S g R Ry WAL Ap’w.»,. gl s g Py *Aot " >
PRt SPG oTR Y AR Mo
R i ‘,&.}:Q'w‘ " R= i 4 Be g Sy S
Pt og P P eTR SR S Y T
Lset S r S e A S gD bk e
g Thacrw, eTRT Te A o .(‘:\», o
3 ST TR R e SRR €Re BB v R gt By Ak {
i s PP AT e RT e ~ ) .
g L REU egot S SRR M i g
X | T il o(T S o - R h%:‘&“w‘ A :,xv S
(S N ‘,\ \»."’ s ‘,; BRAGe .-: .(‘_“,‘\...- ‘f‘ ¢WL * 3 \\“)& ¥y ,"A- 3 ,}D v * .‘\ &2 it .;: .
. g, i ..w*‘f “SSk i N-‘"""‘T"{.fli‘:‘j"p -ey > '\”. PR T by &’{&@\% iy
R SRR A - “ el "‘m e BRI W e
gk o g S IDet P ARG A o L 0 oA2 *g&&gr‘»
MR ASoLR U e SRS y 3LN ’ + P eSR F W
o e it iL T L Sight . w"' P g R :55"\\::\“ Q@‘»&
it : W S SRR ot S i el ey
.i 4 R PRI R v i TSR NPT i
s » g L, PR Ov A
eTS . —~— % SR SR ""n"&\f ARNo k‘ & 4 g™ s
Cv P i P N e e >RS. TR
; SR - At e £ SRR Shay % 't‘ gy R RIS N
bs gt RO i 4,fl L R Sov i T a,“
Pet AR Rt T SR TAe S . VL et B T T
PRB, WL e R SR Pt i ~g”'*. ,SR 5 ‘W§ Lot =“ mr . »’&
Tol ol S R e LeIRS R oe S . TN N
Y S el R e PN T R L e A SRR
ARSEETN S S eTR SIRTL A Ne Rl sTt Be e T
TR s)fl“ A BERT N Regß ST R S FEiey &é et Tt Ny
SRS et SR ogt L N e ?&ph *;{“ T T R e ..xf‘v
Se L R G, MOeA R L sR e
‘-‘ » g sO LR RW- C o %@wwfi e -
P % PETORRT g . FIIRES T oy L e S G TRTTe é‘ Sy
;‘f:‘k‘rw 884 '-),'Qt Dl by ks R F‘?gwg&i:& 'Qg&&f o -_&0 Yo
TLR gt WA ar To 'l oy F Pe R GRSk g
% e y NeR LR S ee < e WNETONERE o S
P v» o S » e 'm SRCURAE GO WTRe B e &“ i
T e Mol £ .. i -% e SPV L R
SR L G ey NS b Aot o S e S
AT LY >. ’ V‘yr - vgSy o~ P- Ry fi.*& ih ¢4 g W
G % ’;_' : o B i"v- ’ # o ™ ~\f‘ ;\‘ @3\‘3 S R
eXU ep W S . . ePR T e
s> . =y : T & A S SFTRCR PN EL %
# o . 3 3 - pa Nl | S ‘f»’.%’x‘,; b
) il g R
LWV ey
v
Dead fish litter a shallow area of the
Chattooga River in this picture taken
from the Lyerly Dam Bridge on Aug. 11.
Many of the white spots on the surface of
City Street Dance Raising $$
For Heart Equipment ‘A Success’
A street dance held in
downtown Summerville on
Friday night was deemed a
success by its sponsors.
The Chattooga County
Ambulance Service and the
Chattooga County Rescue
Squad raised $486 (after ex
penses were paid) from the
dance. The proceeds will go
toward the purchase of Life
Pak 5 equipment for the local
ambulance service.
““We had a real good crowd
to turn out for tfie dance,"”
said a spokesman for the two
groups. ‘Everyone was nice
and very cooperative. We
didn’t have any problems or
trouble, and everyone seemed
to enjoy themselves.”
The crowd began gather
New Trials Sought By Two
Motions for new trials
have been filed by a Summer
ville attorney representing
two local residents convicted
of separate crimes during the
last week of criminal hearings
earlier this month.
Attorney Bobby Lee
“Buzz’’ Cook Jr. has filed a
motion for a new trial on
behalf of James M. ““Buddy”’
Bentley and Timothy Kendall
Evans.
Bentley, 41, of Rossville,
was convicted of aggravated
battery and aggravated
assault. He was found guilty
of shooting at Department of
Family and Children Services
(DFACS) social worker Jim
Smith twice, wounding him
once in the arm in an un
provoked attack on May 18 in
the DFACS parking lot.
Bentley was sentenced to
serve 17 years in prison.
Evans, 19, of Lyerly, was con
Northwest Georgia ‘Oil Fever’ Focuses On Dade County Drilling
Tiny Dade County is quickly
becoming the focal point of “oil fever’
sweefiing northwest Georgia.
Chattooga County's nelfhbor to the
north is disti::guishing itself by havi
its state-owned rights of way approvgg
for oil and gas exploration. Additional
lé, the first sfate permit in northwest
eorgia since mid-1979 was issued
there just 23 days ago for an ex
ploratory oil-natural gas exploration
well.
Since 1979 major oil and natural
gas companies have been snapping up
mineral rights in this part of the state.
Dozens of Chattooga County lan
downers, county records show, have
signed away tf‘llose rights for sums
ranging from about $2 to sls an acre.
for the initial year under a 10-year ¢on
tract; typically Sl’Fer aere is paid for
subsequent years. That activity set off
s lation that there may be oil in
tEem hills, and some cagier property
Scene Of Mid-August Fish Kill
ing on East Washington
Street around 6 p.m. on Fri
day. People continued to come
and go throughout the even
ing, said the spokesman. The
crowd even stayed despite a
brief shower of rain that
night, the spokesman added.
The dance continued until
after 2 o'clock on Saturday
morning.
Several bands from the
area donated their time and
performed a wide variety of
music for the crowd. The
bands included: The Country
Swingers from Summerville,
The Southern Magic from
Rome and Fireweed from
Trion.
Tents, loaned by Lane and
Erwin-Petitt Funeral Homes,
victed of the Feb. 21 burglary
of Jim Ragland’s residence in
Lyerly. He was sentenced to
serve 6 years in prison.
The grounds For a new trial
for Bentley, the court docu
ment filed by Cook contends,
is that the trial court judge er
red in failing to charge the
jury on delusional compulsion
as outlined in Georgia Code
Ann. 26-703. The trial court
also erred in failing to charge
the jury on merger of offenses,
the motion states.
Another ground for a new
trial, the document argues,
was that the trial court erred
in failing to grant the defen
dant’s motion in limiting and
excluding from consideration
of the jury ‘‘that portion of
Bentley's admission wherein
he was questioned concerning
marijuana found on him at the
time of his arrest.”’
A photograph of the Hoff
The Summeruille News
RS - e
the river are floating dead fish. In all,
roughly 60,000 fish were killed, accor
ding to the Department of Natural
Resources.
owners were reportedly able to hold
out for sweeter deals. But so far, no
new permits for exploration drilling
have been approved in Chattooga
County; Dade gounty alone has that
distinction. (According to state
geologists, several years ago some ex
ploratory drilling was done north of
Subligna; other exploratory wells were
sunk in past years in northern Floyd
County and in Gordon County. In all
cases, however, thé wells proved un
produckive and were abandoned).
A Texas-based oil and natural gas
exploration company that is prospec
ting in Tennessee and into northern
Alabama and Georgia is stirring much
interest in Dade County. SONAT Ex
ploration Co. of Houston, a subsidiary
of ‘Southern Natural Resources Inc.
based in Birmingham, has leased for 10
years the oil and gas exploration for
175,000 acres of land owned by
Bowater North America Corp. in the
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA 30747, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1981
housed a concession stand.
Refreshments included hot
dogs, pog{corn. cookies, cup
cakes, Cokes and coffee.
Funds were raised from
the concession stand, along
with donations made by the
crowd. In addition, a large
ceramic pitcher-and-bowl set,
donated gy D & J Ceramics of
Menlo, was raffled off.
“We would like to thank
the people who turned out for
the dance and others who
helped in so many ways,’’ con
cluded the spokesman. **As of
Saturday we have $3,437.57 in
the bank toward the equip
ment purchase. We are almost
half way to purchasing this
much-needed piece of equip
man device — used to help
restore bone and muscle — in
place on the victim’s arm after
the shooting that was in
troduced into evidence is an
additional ground for a new
trial, said the court document,
as such was ‘‘camulative pre
{'udicial and (introduced) sole
y to inflame theC{'ury." The
admission into evidence of the
weai)on used was listed as the
final ground for a new trial.
Grounds for a new trial for
Evans, a motion filed on his
behalf said, included that the
trial court erred in refusing to
grant the defendant’s motion
to suppress evidence that was
illega?g/ seized.
The presiding judge,
Joseph E. “Bo’’ Loggins, is
scheduled to hold a hearing on
the motions on Oct. 5. Bentle{
is lodged in the county jail,
but Evans has been re{eased
on an appeal bond.
Riegel Agrees To Pay *40,000
In River Fish Kill Settlement
While not admitting liabili
tK for the August fish kill in
the Chattooga River, Riegel
Textile Cog). has agreed to a
negotiated settlement of
$40,000 in connection with the
incident that killed an
estimated 60,000 fish.
J. Leonard Ledbetter,
director of the state's En
vironmental Protection Divi
sion (EPD) of the Department
of Natural Resources (DNR),
announced the settlement in a
“)\ress release issued last
hursday.
Ledbetter said Wednesday
that $40,000 figure had been
set out in a proposed consent
order the state had recently
delivered to the local textile
firm. Riegel, he said, had
“agreed in principal to the
consent order, but we haven't
finalized the consent order.
It’'s just a matter of our at
torneys and their attorneys
polishing up the language.”’
The $40,000 figure was ar
rived at by combinin% an
estimate of the value of the
fish lost in the kill as well as
costs relatini to the related in
vestigation, he said.
The first evidence that fish
in the river were dying came
on Aug. 10 when a fisherman
%
ment for the local ambukanqef
service. With the people’s cor
tinued support, we hope we
can reach our goal of $7,500
by the end of the year. Again,
we would like to say thanks to
everyone for their help and
support.”’
City Voter Registration Drive
Starts Saturday At Fairway
The Summerville City
Council is backing a plan to
encourage more local
residents to register to vote in
the next city election, to be
held in early November.
“Many residents believe
that if they have registered at
the Courthouse, then they are
registered to vote in the City,
but that isn’t the case,”” noted
Mayor Sewell Cash.
A separate registration is
required by city residents who
wish to vote in municipal elec
tions, he explained.
In order to encourage more
Summerville residents to
register, the council has decid
ed to register voters at sites
away from City Hall.
“We are trying to Fush
community awareness of the
importance of voting in city
elections,”” explained the
mayor.
The first sign-up drive will
be held Saturday at the Fair
way Recreation Center, 9 a.m.
until 1 p.m. On Sept. 19 the
registration drive will be held
at the Summerville Recreation
Center,
“We will also be signing up
voters at the high rise and
tri-state area, mostly in Tennessee (bet
ween Chattanooga and Knoxville).
““We're enthusiastic about it and so
are a lot of the mag)or oil companies,”’
the Associated Press quoted W.
Michael Kern, an assistant vice presi
dent of Southern Natural Resources as
saying, ' All of the areas look good, but
really you don’t know what you're go
ing to find until you go down and do
the testing and the drfih’ng."
The geologic branch of the En
vironmental Protection Division of the
Georgia Department of Natural
Resources on Aug. 19 issued SONAT a
permit to dig a wildcat exploratory
well down to 10,000 feet. According to
information geologist Preston Prather
of the EPD, the permit is the state’'s
123rd to be issuedp:nd the first in more
recent years in northwest Georgia. He
said the well will be located approx
imately a ?uarber of a mile north
northeast of the New England Com-
noticed dead fish floating near
the Lyerly dam and reported
t to state officials. That even
g DNR staff began in-
Yyestigating the incident, fin
‘ding that it appeared to have
originated near Trion. The
following day plant officials
were notified of the fish kill,
and they at that time reported
that on the da be!‘:)re a
31.000-iallon sKortage of
sodium dydroxide had been
discovered during a routine in
ventory check. Riegel then
reported the suspected spill to
the Natural Response Center.
Sodium hydroxide, often
called caustic soda, is used in
the plant’s bleaching process.
It is a base chemical (that is,
lying at the opposite end of
the chemical spectrum as acid)
and burns the flesh.
“Sodium hydroxide is a
very expensive raw material,”
Ledbetter said. ‘‘Since
leakage of a spill would result
in considerabfia financial loss
0 the company, EPD
ecognizes that the spill was
n no way intentional.”
The cost of the chemical
an vary, depending on the
mount purchased and its con
entration. (Riegel uses
odium hydroxide concentra
(ions varying from 3 to 50 per
rent). According to an EPD
staffer, a gallon of the
;hemical costs around sl, but
as noted, the cost varies.
The loss of the chemical
from one of two main storage
tanks at the plant, according
to an investigator, remains
'unexilained. Riegel officials
‘say their system is set up so
that just such a spill cannot
'veach the river undetected.
. “Obviously the company
5031 the material and they say
il is missing from its inven
tory,” noted Ledbetter. “They
say they are not sure exactly
the route that it took to get in
to the stream. That's a matter
we're going over with them
and their engineers in the next
few days as they show us
Eerhaps at another site that
gs to be decided,” he explain
ed.
You must be 18 to register
to vote.
Three elected city posts
are up for grabs in the Nov. 7
election: the mayor’'s position
and the seats of two coun
cilmen: Seat No. 1, currentl
held by Ira “Junior” Pollar(f,;
Seminar To Focus
On New Tax Laws
The Chattooga County
Chamber of Commerce is co
sponsoring a seminar focusing
on new tax laws recently pass
ed by Congress.
The seminar, presented by
Read, Martin £ Slickman,
CPAs, will be held on Thurs
day, Sept. 17, in the Daniel
Lee McWhorter Community
Room of the Farmers & Mer
chants Bank in Summerville.
The seminar will begin at 7
p.m.
The public is invited to at
tend the seminar. For reserva
tions, call 857-4033.
munity, located above Trenton.
According to SONAT officials, the
Dade County well will cost about $5
million on the Bowater holdings there,
In related activity, the State Pro
perties Commission two weeks ago
authorized oil and gas leases on pubfic
rights of way for exploration in Dade.
It is seeking bids from oil companies
after SONAT asked to lease the
mineral rights to about 600 acres of
right of way along five state roads in
Dade County.
According to Commission Director
G. W. Hogan, there are no plans to
build oil rigs on the state rights of way.
But SONAT will drill nearby and
needs to have the state lands should it
strike oil or gas, which would flow from
underneath the roadway, he said.
Hogan explained that if the com
pany strikes oil or gas, all landowners
in the area will get a pre-negotiated
percentage of the value of the fuel com-
what they'll be doing to pre
vent a recurrence.”’
Ledbetter said his agency
has two basic objectives in
such incidents: ‘‘The first is to
resolve the issue with a
reasonable commitment by
the company for the loss of
the state's resources. The se
cond is to assure that changes
are made if necessary to pre
vent recurrence. I am pleased
that we have resolved this
issue promptly and
amicably."”
Ledbetter praised Riegel
officials for acting swiftly
after being notified about the
fish kill. “Riegel Vice Presi
dent Doug Kingsmore did the
communications with this of
fice; he was most
cooperative,” said Ledbetter.
“He called me and made the
first contact. I found him can-
Hwy. 27 North Of Trion
Scheduled For Repaving
Several road f)aving pro
jects were recently approved
and should be started in the
near future,
The Georgia Department
of Transnortation on Friday
named a Nashville, Tenn, firm
— Ram Contractor Inc. —the
apparent low bidder for the
resurfacing of 11.4 miles on
U. S. 27 in the county.
The plant mix resurfacing
project will range from the
south city limits of Trion and
will extend north to a point
north of the Linwood south ei
ty limit in Walker County.
Cost of the project was bid
at $537,038 by Ram.
County Commissioner
Wayne "‘Pete’” Denson said
5.11 miles of other roadway
has been approved for resur-
and Seat No. 2, presently fill
ed by James Crouch.
Statistics indicate that
less than half of the City's
residents are re;iist,ered to
vote in municipal elections.
The exact number is hard to
come by, however, because no
1980 Census figure is
available showing how many
adults are in the City.
However, the 1970 Census
showed that 65 percent of the
general population was over
age 18. And 65 percent of the
1980 total population of the
City of Summerville is 3,171
persons.
However, only 1,418 peo
ple were registered to vote in
the city during its last elec
tion, 'lyhose figures indicate
that only about 44.7 percent
of the city’s adults are
registered to vote in the city.
An even smaller percen
tage of adults actually makes
it to the polls, of course. City
Clerk Bert Self noted that a
turnout of 800 voters is high
for the city. A turnout of 800
voters represents about 25.2
percent of all of the city's
adults.
ing from their land.
According to industry figures,
some 50,000 new wells were drifi:d in
the United States during 1979, but on
ly a small percentage proved fruitful.
Northwest Georgia lies within the
range of the Appalachian Mountains,
gart of what geologists call the
Jastern overthrust belt. Because of re
cent fuel discoveries in the Western
overthrust belt in the Rocky Moun
tains, the oil companies hope a pool of
liquid gold may fie somewhere below
this area’s mountains.
While oil has been found in eastern
Tennessee, no Georgia discoveries
have been recorded. Nevertheless,
there are some indicators that oil or
natural gas could be found in the area,
a development which could have enor
mous financial impact on all of nor
thwest Georgia.
According to state geologist
Prather, this corner of the state %ms
did, forthright and
cooperative. He wanted to get
the matter resolved . .. "
Kingsmore offered to have
Riegel ’foot the bill for restock
ing the river, Ledbetter noted.
“However,”" he said, '‘the
Game and Fish Division con
siders it better management
practice to observe first what
will occur naturally in the
stream. Game and Fish per
sonnel will continue to
monitor the stream and
evaluate the need for restock
ing at a later date.
Ledbetter, in noting that
Riegel has "‘cooperated fully"
in the investigation, said
Riegel ‘has systems designed
and installed to assure that
waste water and spilled
material go to the waste water
treatment facility owned and
operated by the City of Trion.
facing under the Local
Assistance Road Program
(LARP).
Roads that are scheduled
to benefit from the program
include Tucker Roa(s). Elrod
Road, Wilbanks Road, Packer
Dairy Road and Julius Jones
Roag,. he said.
Three City of Summerville
streets were recently certified
by the city council for repav
ing under a state program, ac
cording to Mayor Sewell Cash.
The mayor said that the pro
{gct wasn't included in the
O'l's regular resurfacing list
for 1981, but that he, Rep.
John Crawford and Sen. k. ([3.
1A S Py T el
i ~;:';_‘ , 28 7 !
e L
il ”fi'lf T A :
s B
W |
XERCISE Yoorrd®
5 e
1 g
‘ A Sy
9 VOTE, N L D
Y Y
.“ i ,w‘i@.,“- £ flé/"”v .
IVEINTHEaV 4 f‘fi* } / /i
MWE. S I
% 2 ] Yl
TER' Wy [& ?
prais M a
' ‘ V' fi ) % ,},{;;
{! fi" /} . j 4 ‘d:;#v
g g 1 B
3 R~ {
| 2B
Gae 3 3 / ‘;) . e
4 ‘ & iy I e
1 N Lo o iati g7y
75 B 2 5 f‘»—-,,\*:.\ -, S
2 # O-2 ’4’, ‘
G , Ry v | '
¢ y};‘l %——
B ~ T e sy
izi o ‘l',:’ i e 75; "‘» ‘/ #@f -
Getting The Message Out
Myrtis Evans, an office clerk at City Hall, staples up a
poster reminding local residents to register for the up
coming municipal elections. Less than half of the city's
adult residents are registered to vote in the elections.
some assets that make oil exploration
feasible. *‘ln the northwest part of the
state there are several factors,” he
said. "'You have sedimentary rock, the
kind of rock in which oil and gas are
found. And some of those rocks are
permeable and porous — porous
enough to hold oil and permeable
enough for oil to migrate. And you
have potential source %eds — in other
states in this type of terrain, oil has
been discovered. But the only way to
find out is to sink a hole and look.”
Nevertheless, the prospects of an
oil strike in Georgia aren't very cer
tain, according to ooil companies.
Georgia simply isn't consideredp one of
the top prospects in the nation for new
hydrocarbon discoveries. But oil pro
ducers say that the relatively chea
cost of oilyrights leases and the higg
price of oil makes drilling worthwhile
in northwest Georgia and in a few
other locations dotting the middle and
southern areas of the state.
PRICE 20¢
Riegel also has monitoring
systems and alarms to alert
them of possible spills.”’
Ken Primmer, a DNR
biologist who led a survey
team that checked the kill's
impact over a 24-mile stretch
within Georgia, estimated
that approximately 80 percent
of the river's fish were killed
and that it could take as lqnf
as b years before the river ful
ly recovers. He said that no
autopsy was done on any of
the fish, however it was fairl
safe to assume that deat}‘;
came from respiratory burns
caused by the river's high PH
level recorded following the in
cident.
Ledbetter said the massive
fish kill is the second lurgest
recorded in the state since
records began being kept in
Georgia in recent years.
Summers lobbied for the work
and were successful in their ef
forts.
The project includes slight
ly more than three-quarters of
a mile of resurfacing on the ci
ty streets. Bellah Avenue will
be paved from Georgia
Higfiwny 114 <to. 4); 8,
Highway 27, a distance of
slightly more than a half-mile.
Vine Street, from 6th Street to
a southern dead-end terminus,
will be repaved, a distance of
two-tenths of a mile. Frank
Street, beginning at Highland
and heading southerly to a
dead end, will be paved .03 of
a mile.