Newspaper Page Text
VOLUME XCVIII — NUMBER XII
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Skull, Cloth*i From
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Summerville ;:lan’s
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Missing Reld isve
Walker County authorities
have tentatively identified the
skeletal remains found Feb. 15
on Taylor's Ridge just a few
hundred feet from the Chat
tooga County line as the niece
of a Summerville man.
Pamela Jean Owen, 15,
was last seen by her uncle,
Robert Conaway, of Summer
ville, on Christmas Eve in
1977 when he took her to
Bryman Plaza Shopping
Center in Dalton, =~ = . *
. A purse belonging to the
fiouth was found on Taylor’s
idge in 1978 and was turned
over to juvenile probation
authorities in Whitfield Coun
::ly. However, since law gsents
o not know who turned the
purse in to the authorities,
there is no way to find out ex
actly where it was found on
City Backs Down
In Meter Dispute
The Summerville City
Council backed down from its
previous stance this week re
quiring a city resident to in
stall four water meters at his
proposed trailer park, rather
than the usual one master
meter that most trailer parks
in the city and county install.
Mayor Sewell Cash said
the council agreed Monday to
write an agreement with resi
dent Kenneth Flood, requiring
that he install only one three
fourths inch master meter at
his Peachtree Street trailer
park.
Flood, an auto mechanic,
brought LaFayette attorney
Bill glack to a special-called
meeting last weeE. at which
time the council upheld a
March decision requiring him
State Jobless Rate
Highest In Months
Spokesmen for State
Labor Commissioner Sam
Caldwell said this week that
Geortgia's unemployment rate
rose from a revised 8.3 percent
in January to a preliminary
8.5 in February, the highest
rate for the state since
January of last year when 8.5
was recorded, also.
Officials of the Georgia
Department of Labor said the
state's total civilian labor
force rose by 25,807 in a
month'’s time, increasing from
2,623,517 in January to
2,649,324 in February.
“We simply had more peo
gle in the work force in
ebruary — both employed
and unemployed — and this
tended to force the jobless
rate upward,”’ one labor
department spokesman said.
Although the number of
persons receivin% unemploy
ment insurance benefits was
down in February from the
previous month, the number
of new entrants and re
entrants into the job market
Local Woman Finds Her Children After 30 Years
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The Missing Children
Summerville resident Tressi Bryant last saw her five children in 1953 before
she went on a three-week trip to the midwest looking for work. When she
came back to Summerville, her children had been put up for adoption and
she never saw them again until March of this year. One child, who was the
youncfest, has yet to be reunited with Mrs. Bryant. Above, the five children
stand in front of the Ethel Harpst Orphanage in Cedartown just prior to
their adoption. Two children lived in Alabama, two in Chicago and the
whereabouts of the fifth child is unknown.
Che Summeruville News
Tayl . lge
Two surveyors first found
a skull on Taylor’s Ridge Feb.
15 and a search of the area the
following day revealed more
skeletal remains and clothing.
Walker County In
vestigator Jack Hopkins said
early in the investigation,
animals had scattered the re
mains over a broad area of the
ridge. He said that law agents
may never be exactly positive
who the victim was, but were
‘‘99.9 percent sure” it was
Pamela Owen.
Family members have
identified the blue polyester
blouse and coat lining found
on the ridge as being similar
to ones worn by the youth
when she disappeared.
Authorities have been
unable to determine the cause
of death.
to install four meters.
Flood threatened to sue
the city for discrimination
over the matter.
Mayor Cash said the
presence of the attorney last
week ‘“‘may have influenced
some of the council members”’
to change their stance.
Cash, who said last month
at the regular council meeting
that Flood was not bein
treated fairly by the counciF.
said he is glad to be rid of the
matter. “I just want people to
be treated fairly,” said é’ash.
Flood said this week he
thinks the new agreement is
fair. “I just wanted to get a
fair deal from the city,”’” said
Flood. “‘They weren't treating
me fairly.”
was up significantly.
“Some of these people
were able to find jobs,” the
spokesman said, “[))ut others
were not. They may have been
students who did not return to
school, or they may have been
housewives trying to find
jobs, or discouraged workers
who decided to try to find
work again.”
Employment in Georfiia
rose by 17,588 in a month’s
time — from 2,406,289 in
January to 2,423,877 the next
month. But at the same time,
joblessness was also up — by
8,219 — from 217,228 to
225,447.
The total civilian labor
force is the number of persons
both employed and
unemployed.
The national unemploy
ment rate for January and
February was 10.4. In
February of last year, the na
tional rate was 8.8, while
Georgia's was 8.1, with
2,392,827 Georgians working
and 211,249 others jobless.
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA 30747 — THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 1983
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SN T ™ N WA E AL
A group of students at the North Sum
merville Elementary School recently par
ticipated in a jump rope competition to
raise funds for the American Heart
Medic Alert Program Could
Save Thousands Of Lives
By PAM PURCELL
Staff Writer
To reach an even greater
number of the 40 million
Americans who have life
threatening hidden medical
conditions, Medic Alert Foun
dation is mountini the largest
Medic -Alert Week campaign
in its 27-year history.
Focus of the campaign will
be ‘‘National Me«fic Alert
Week,”” which is being observ
ed this week, April 3-9. During
this time thousands of in
dividual volunteers and
organizations throughout the
United States will be conduc
ting local community pro
firams to educate people with
idden medical conditions on
the lifessaving value of
emergency medical identifica
tion.
Medic Alert, the best
recognized system of
emergency medical identifica
tion in the world currently
serves 1.2 million members in
the United States. Close to
600,000 others are served by
16 affiliate foundations out
side the U. S.
The Medic Alert system
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Emblem Could Save Your Life
“Medic Alert Week’ is being observed this week
through Saturday. In an emergency where you are
unable to communicate your hidfien medical condition
your life could be saved by a Medic Alert emblem
(above). The emblem (on a necklace or bracelet) tells the
hidden medical condition, individual Medic Alert
membership number, and the toll-free number of the
emergency answering service. ;
Students Raise Funds
consists of an alerting device
(worn as either a bracelet or
necklace), a 24-hour emergen
cy answering service, and a
wallet card reissued every
year to assure emergency
medical fiersonnel that they
are working with current
medical history that is 12
months or less old. To keep in
formation current, each
member receives a print-out of
his total file each year and is
asked to make any necessary
changes.
Each alertinfi device is
engraved with the member’s
hidden medical condition, or
conditions, individual Medic
Alert membership number
and the toll-free number of the
emergency answering service.
If the member is stricken in a
medical emergency and is
unable to communicate his or
her hidden condition,
emergency personnel can call
Medic Alert and receive,
within 30 seconds, the
member’s emergency medical
data which has %een stored in
comlputer files.
he lifetime membership
fee is sls. When, and if, addi
By JAMES BUDD
News Editor
A Summerville woman was recently
reunited with four of her five children 30
years after they were hastily adopted
while she was gone on a three-week
journey seeking em?loyment.
Tressi Bryant left her five children at
her parents’ Summerville home in 1953
and traveled to Illinois, where she found
work as a diet technician in a hospital.
When she returned to Summerville
three weeks later to pick up the children,
she was horrified to ?earn Eer father had
petitioned then-juvenile referee Arch Far
rar to place the children in an orphanage.
Farrar -heard the case, and after a
Superior Court order, the children were
transferred to the Ethel Harpst Or
phanage in Cedartown, where they were
adoFted.
arrar said Tuesday he could not
remember the details of the case, but said
it was not uncommon at that time for hun
dreds of children to be placed in state
homes. Under Georgia law, juvenile
records are closed an(Fl cannot be opened
without a court order. :
Tressi Bryant, who in 1954 married
Roy Bryant of Summerville, explained
that her first husband had gone off and
left her with the five children and she had
no choice but to leave them with her
parents while she traveled to the midwest
Association. The students each received
g‘ledges for each hour they jumped rope.
he competition, held at the school,
lasted approximately three hours.
tional information is needed to
update a member's file, there
is a 84 charge. In cases of
financial neeg, no charge is
made.
The difference Medic Alert
makes is that hundreds of
thousands of people are able
to lead normal, productive,
daily lives knowing in a
medical emergency — if they
can not speak — Medic Alert
will speak for them, according
to Alfred A. Hodder, founda
tion president.
According to the American
College of Emergency Physi
cians, there are more than 80
million visits to U. S. hospital
emergency rooms every year.
This fact alone, said Medic
Alart clearly demonstrates
the need tor peopie who have
hidden medical conditions to
take advantage of the protec
tion offered to them by
emergency medical identifica
tion.
The possibilities of a pa
see MEDIC, page 9-A
UNCLE NED'S
NOTES |
Dear Mr. Editor:
Im just an ole cuntry feller
but I have to say I agree with
our president of these here
United States when he said |
our national defense had to be ’
expanded to a futureistick
viewpoint out thar in space. 1
certainly couldn’t fathom how |
wez agonna do it but I think |
that's the coming thang fer |
our national defense. E
My ole pappy said that ‘
them thar scientists are |
always trying to find in- |
telligent beings on other J
planets cauze they gave up the
search here on earth. And that |
the most important space was {
not up tharin the universe but |
the space between our ears.
Yores Truly,
UNCLE NED
to look for work.
After returning from Illinois, she went
to the Cedartown orphanage to recover
her children, but officials there would not
give her any information.
The closed court records iurther
thwarted her efforts to learn of her
children’s whereabouts.
Two of the children, Charlene, who was
then 4, and Lilly Bell, who was 5 in 1953,
were adopted by a minister from Chicago.
Two other children, Johnny, who was
7, and Betty who was the oldest at 9, were
adopted by a minister from Gadsden, Ala.
A fifth child, Madelene, who was the
youngest at 2 years old, was adopted after
the other four and has yet to be reunited
with her mother.
The two sisters living in Chicago, who
are now in their 30s, found out from their
adopted parents that a brother and sister
were living in Gadsden, Ala., with the
minister, who adotpted them 30 i;ears ago.
In January of this year, the sisters
wrote every minister in Gadsden until
they came up with their brother and
sister’s adopted parents.
“‘Charlene wrote 13 letters to Gadsden
ministers before she found the right one,”’
said Mrs. Bryant. ‘‘Her adopt,eg parents
%ave her J‘ust enough information to find
etty and Johnny in Gadsden.”
In early February of this year, the
three sisters and ther[vnother finally made
Van Pelt To Resign
From DA’s Office
By JAMES BUDD
News Editor
Assistant District At
torney Ralph Van Pelt will
resign from the district at
torney’s office effective April
15.
The 26-Cyear-old native
Chattooga Countian recently
prosecuted Samuel T. West,
who was sentenced last month
to die in the state’'s electric
chair for the Dec. 12 double
murder of two local men.
Van Pelt said he Rlans to
enter practice with Ringgold
Attorney Clifton M. Patty,
who represented defendant
West last month.
“I've learned about as
much as I can,’’ said Van Pelt.
‘“l've reached a point of
diminishing returns (at the
DA's office) and I want to see
what else I can learn.”
Van Pelt said he talked
over his resignation with
District Attorney David
Lomenick and the chief gro
secutor agreed to let Van Pelt
City ‘Town Lift’ Meeting
Points Out Need For
Merchants Cooperation
Members of the “Town
Lift” steering committee .of
the Chattooga County
Chamber of , Commerce met
March 30 at the Georgia
Power building to map out
plans for the future of the pro
ject in Summerville.
Chairman Will Hair told
the meeting the purpose of the
Town Lift project -is to
enhance the appearance of the
downtown area, increase use,
create an economic hub for the
county and to insure the best
services for the area are
available.
Officials from TVA and
Georgia Power are
cooperating with local of
ficials to h(fi with the project.
Stan St,oY:ely of TVA told
the group the authority has
been involved with similar
Chattooga Rating Score
To Be Printed April 14
Scathing, seething, boil
ing, brutally honest are adjec
tives and phrases to describe
how 69 Chattooga County
residents rated 16 categories
of services available in this
county in The Summerville
News’ recent county survey.
We asked county, Sum
merville, Trion, Lyerly and
Menlo residents to rate the
roads, schools, library, parks,
public facilities, phone ser
vice, shopping facilities,
contact with each other after 30 years.
Johnny vaguely remembered that his
mother was dating a man named Bryant
in Summerville before he was taken to the
orphanage. ‘“‘He sort of put everything
out of his mind,” said Mrs. Bryant. ‘“‘He
just wanted to forget about it.”
A few days after making contact with
Lilly Bell and Charlene, Johnni and Bet
ty drove to Summerville where they
checked into the Sequoyah Motel. ‘‘They
phoned every Bryant in the phone book,”"
said Mrs. Bryant. ‘‘They weren't there
five minutes before they called us.”
Mrs. Bryant, who for the first time in
30 years made contact with one of her
long, lost children, didn't know what to
say. “‘I just couldn’t believe it,” she said
tearfully. ‘“‘My prayers were answered.”’
Johnny and Eetty immediately left the
motel anX came to their mother’'s home,
seeing her for the first time since 1953.
That evening they called Charlene and
Lilly Bell.
“They were sort of like I was,” said
Mrs. Bryant. “They didn’t know what to
say. They asked me how I was and said
the{ would come down as soon as they
could.”
Johnny and Betty stayed in Summer
ville for two more days before going back
to Gadsden.
Charlene came to Summerville a few
see LOCAL, page 9-A
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RALPH VANPELT
try the case of Alvin Neelley,
charged with murderinf and
kidna ging 23-year-old Janice
Kay 8 apman of Rome. Ms.
projects in the region since
the mid-60s and offers an
economic analysis of the main
street areas, aerial photos and
a “leakage study.”
St,oke%y saidy the leakage
study reports how and why
monies come into a retail area
or why they leave a particular
AR . S
' Stokely said he autharized
aerial photos to be taken of
the downtown Summerville
area in February as part of the
project.
Ed Holcomb of Georgia
Power said his company is
“implementation oriented"”
and pointed out the project
can be a success only if the
merchants want it. “‘Only if
people are interested in com
munity improvements are
they going to happen,” he
public health, law enforce
ment, fire protection,
newspaper, cable, radio and
government.
The Summerville News
will print all the comments
you, the readers, had on the
services — all the comments
that are not blatantly |
obscene, that is. l
You will be astounded and |
amazed at how those who |
responded to our survey feel. !
The comments will be ac- |
Chapman’'s body was found
Oct. 3, 1982 in the remote
Haywood Valley region in
Chattooga County.
District attorney
Lomenick announced last
week that he would not seek
the death penalty for Neelley
because he apparently did not
fire the shots that killed Ms.
ChaXman.
n initial investigation in
dicates Neelley's wife,
18-year-old Judith Ann
Neelley, allegedly killed Chap
man.
Mrs. Neelley was found
guilty of murdering a 13-year
old LaFayette girl bfi an
Alabama jury last month.
‘“‘Alvin Neelley needs to be
prosecuted." said Van Pelt.
‘He's cunning. His method o{
operation is to get a young gir
to do his dirty work. Ig}o
secuting Alvin will f)erhaps be
the tou%hest thing I've done.”
Neelley's toughest
sentence, said Van Pelt, would
be two life terms.
said. .
Wednesday's discussien
centered around ideas that
would enhance the commerce
of Summerville's downtown
area.
Most agreed that
downtown areas should
operate more like shopping
malls. with equal hours,
similar #d promotion and of
fering more variety of retail
goods. _
It was also pointed out
that the county’'s staggered
banking hours cause confu
sion among residents who
wish to shop in downtown
Summerville.
Other suggestions includ
ed keeping retail operations in
the downtown area open for
longer hours, well into the
evening.
companied with a large graf;h,
giving the percentage total of
those who participate in the
survey and the exact score
received by each of the
categories listed.
We'll even print some un
solicited comments on institu
tions and items we missed in
the survey.
Be on the lookout for next
week's Second Front in The
Summerville News.
b o ) b PR o -
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TRESSI BRYANT
PRICE 20c