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VOLUME XCVIII — NUN& &8 XIV
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U.S. Rep. Larry McDonald addressed
members of the Summerville-Trion Op
timist Club last Friday at The Round
Table Restaurant. McDonald, who has
been the 7th District representative
since 1974, said President Reagan's
Rep. McDonald: Reagan
‘Threw In The Towel’
By JAMES BUDD
News Editor
Seventh District Rep.
Larry McDonald told the noon
meeting of the Summerville-
Trion 6ptimist Club Friday
the Reagan Administration
“threw in the towel’ in
August 1982 and has reverted
back to the ‘‘New Deal
Philosophy'" of big govern
ment.
The Marietta Democrat
said prior to the Administra
tion's approval of a $98.3
billion tax increase last sum
mer, Reagan attemf)ted to
adhere to the ‘“supply side”
policies of New York
Republican Jack Kemci). “That
group (the supfily siders) are
now out in the president’s
thinking,”” said McDonald.
The four-term con-
Commissioner Outlines
Expense For Renovation
By PAM PURCELL
Staff Writer
Renovating the Chattooga
County Jail was the main
topic of the Summerville
Business & Professional
Women's Club meeting last
Tuesday evening.
Chattooga Sheriff Gary
McConnell and County Com
missioner Wayne *‘Pete’’ Den
son were the guest speakers
for the meetin%. They each
spoke briefly about their. in
volvement in the jail renova
tion contre--ersy.
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Spring Forward!!
It’s time again to set your clocks forward one hour
before %oing to bed Saturday night. Chattooga Coun
tians along with the rest of the state will go from
Eastern Standard Time to Eastern Daylight Savings
Time beginning at 2 am. Sunday. An easy way to
remember the changes in both the Fall and Spring is:
“Spring forward, Fall back."
Che Summeruville News
Rep. Larry McDonald
gressman said the Reagan Ad
ministration has tried four
separate schools of economic
thought since 1980: the free
enterprise policy, the supply
side policy, Milton Friedman's
monetarists policies and the
Keynesian policies of ‘“‘The
New Deal.”’
He called the swing of the
Administration ‘‘economic
madness’’ in the face of a S2OO
billion deficit in the upcoming
year and an expected $250
billion deficit the following
year.
McDonald had few kind
words for the Democratic Par
ty, as he expects the party to
make the nuclear freeze issue
its main platform in 1984. The
congressman said he would
like to support Ohio Democrat
John Glenn for the presidency
Two sheets shawing the
county’s deposits and ex
penses for 1982, and the cost
for the jail renovation were
distributed to the members.
Denson said the county is not
yet under a court ord‘;er, but
will be soon unless plans get
underway to improve the jail.
He said the county has two
choices — build a new jail or
renovate and add onto the ex
isting jail. He explained that
he felt the ‘‘best and
cheapest’’ choice is renovation
and adding onto the existing
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA 30747 — THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1983
economic policies have swung back to a
“big government, new deal philosophy”
after two years of tryinfi to limit the
scope of government. ‘‘The administra
tion threw in the towel with the big tax
increases in August 1982, said the
Democrat.
in 1984, but the former
astronaut’'s voting record was
“too liberal,” he said.
On local issues, McDonald,
when asked if he had
developed a stance on the pro
posed sale of the U. S. Forest
Service lands in the Armuchee
District of northwest Georgia,
answered that the federal
government owns the
equivalent of all of the land
east of the Mississippi River
and that much of the land is
needed for mineral explora
tion.
McDonald said the Con
stitution prohibits the federal
Fovernment from owning
ands. He did say that areas
such as ‘‘The Pocket'' camp
ing area could be turned over
to the state for management.
jail.
Denson said to build a
50-man jail to meet the state
and federal requirements
would cost the county approx
imately $2.4 million. To
renovate the existing jail and
add a second floor to meet re
quirements would cost ap
proximately $910,000. The
difference in the two choices is
an estimated $1,390,000.
Denson noted that many
people had suggested using
revenue from the malt
beverage account to finance
the renovation. He said that is
not possible as other expenses
must be paid with those
funds.
According to the expense
sheet, the malt beverage ac
count had a balance in the
bank Dec. 31, 1981, of
$12,938. Deposits of $150,431
between January and
December of 1982 resulted in
a balance of $163,370. Ex-
Fenses for the year were as
ollows: Chattooga County
Ambulance Service, $105,000;
ABC Board Members, six at
the cost of SIOO per month
each, $7,200; Attorney, $160;
Chattooga County Chamber
of Commerce for the
Christmas lights, $950; Coosa
Valley APDC, membership
dues for the county,
$8,742.40; reliable heating and
air conditioning for the cour
thouse, $16,000; Trion Recrea
tion Center, $364; and
transfer to Chattooga County
general fund, $25,000. The
total expenses for the year
came to $163,417.20 with a
balance in the account Dec.
31, 1982 at a minus $47.
see OUTLINES, page 9-A
City Cracks Down On Unpaid
Tax Bills Totalling $84,000
By JAMES BUDD
News Editor
The City of Summerville is
befiinning a crackdown on
delinquent taxes owed from
residents and businesses
totaling almost $84,000 from
last year.
The council has voted to
turn the matter over to City
Attorney Ben Ballenger, who
is expected to begin issuinfi
“fi-fas”’ to collect the baci
taxes.
“It's in the hands of the at
torne{ now,”’ said Mayor
Sewell Cash. ‘“We're going to
let him (Ballenger) decide
what he can do.”’ i :
However, Ballenger said
he is waiting for the council to
instruct him what to do next.
“I'm going to try to get toit,”
said Ballenger. ‘‘Whatever the
::ioqpcil instructs me to do, I'll
o.
Both Ballenier and Mayor
Cash agreed that the fi-fas
process can be expensive.
“There are a lot of $25 and S3O
bills,” said Cash. ‘“‘l've got
mixed emotions spending
SI,OOO just to collect $25 or
S3O in taxes.”
Summerville’s tax collec
tion percentage dropped to 93
percent in the last two years,
spurring some council
members to push for a
Judge Gives Mrs. *
Neelley Death For
Lisa Millican Murder|
An Alabama judge Mon
day sentenced Judith Ann
Neelley during a pre
sentencing hearing to die in
the electric chair despite a
jury's earlier recommendation
for life in prison without
parole.
Mrs. Neelley, the mother
of three, was convicted March
22 by a DeKalb County, Ala.,
jury for the torture-murder of
13-year-old Lisa Ann Millican
last September.
The teen-ager’'s body was
found in the Little River Ca
nyon near Fort Payne several
days after she (fisappeared
Sept. 25 from the Riverbend
Mall in Rome while on a shop
ing trip. The youngster had
geen shot once in the back and
injected numerous times with
syringes of drain cleaner
before being pushed into the
canyon. Miss Millican, a resi
dent of LaFayette, was living
at a facility in Cedartown for
abused and deprived children
at the time of the murder.
Judge Randall Cole, who
presided over the two-week
trial, also presided over the
gre-sentencing hearinfi held in
ort Payne. Judge Cole called
Wave Of Burglaries
Sweep Trion Area
The Chattooga County
Sheriff’'s Department is in
vestigating a rash of break-ins
around the county this past
weekend.
Officers answered a call to
the Corde Powell Jr. residence
at 1613 Ridgeland in Trion
around noon Friday. Someone
had gained entry into the
residence through a carport
door. Reportedly missing
from the residence was
assorted personal papers.
Later on Friday officers
were summoned to the old
Lucky’s Food Store building
in Trion. Deputies found a
vent cover on the roof had
been removed and a portion of
the susHended ceiling knocked
to the floor. According to the
report, entry into the building
was apparently thwarted.
Damage to the building was
estimated at several hundred
dollars.
Friday afternoon deputies
answered a call to the Fa 2s
D. Bramlette residence on 1e
Chapel Hill Road. Entry i o
the residence was apparer vy
gained by kicking in the buck
door. Reportecfiy missing
from the residence was a
.22-caliber rifle, two tape
recorders and a quantity of
jewelry valued at several
thousand dollars. Authorities
have a couple of suspects in
connection with the case.
Deputies also investigated
the vandalism of a soft drink
machine in front of Hurley's
crackdown.
Under the fi-fas process,
the court issues an order for
the sheriff to levy tax on pro
g‘erty where money is owed.
he sheriff may confiscate
property such as an
automobile — and sell it at
public auction to raise the tax
money.
Because of inflation, tax
increases and higher valua
tions on property, the city's
outstanding delinquent taxes
have grown steadily from
$8,104 in 1973 to $67,922 in
1981 to $83,896 last year.
The outstanding delin-
T:em taxes as a percentage of
the current levy, likewise, has
skyrocketed from 6.5 percent
in 1973 to 37 percent last year.
Total tax collections in
creased from $119,548 to
$210,475 last year. During the
10-year period, total collec
tions increased steadily with
the largest increases coming
since 1978. o
Tax collections totaled
$148,928 in 1978 and jumped
to $179,770 in 1979 and
steadily increased to the
$210,475 figure last year.
Mayor g:sh said in the 12
years he has been in public of
fice, the city has never had to
issue fi-fas for delinquent
taxes. ‘‘We'd rather they
the crime ‘‘heinous, atrocious
and cruel”’ and said the cir
cumstances of the teen-ager’s
iflgl justified the sentence,
nder Alabama law the
death sentence is automatical
ly appealed.
Some 20 minutes after the
hearing, the 18-year-old Mrs.
Neelley was taken by car to
the Julia Tutwiler Prison for
Women in Wetumpka, about
15 miles north of Mon
tgomery. She becomes the se
cond woman facing a death
sentence in Alabama.
Mrs. Neelley's court
appointed attorney, Robert
French of Fort Payne,
reportedly vowed to appeal
the case ‘‘to the Supreme
Court.”” French, during his
90-minute plea, said he didn't
feel his client deserved the
electric chair. ;
DeKalb County District
Attorney Richard Igou was
report.ed)iy pleased with Judge
Cole’'s decision. Igou had
argued for the death penalty
during the trial.
Testimony during the trial
showed that Mrs. Neelley
lured Miss Millican from the
see JUDGE, page 9-A
in Trion Friday. The lock on
the machine was reportedly
popfied and an estimated $75
in change taken.
Early Monday morning
deputies were summoned to
the residence of Foy Nunn on
the Penn Bridge Road. So
meone allegedly broke into the
residence through a window
and took approximately $37.
Investigators .Tony
Gilleland and Ron Turner of
the sheriff's department are
investigating the incidents.
UNCLE NED'S
NOTES
Dear Mister Editor:
Ive done a lotta thinking
recently about that proposed
state court fer this here coun
ty. I have to say that I'm fer
it. .We just have to do sum
thang to help ease the burdin
on onr superior court and at
the same time be shore that
people that commit the of
fenses that would go before
the state court are dealt with
instead of the present system
whereby they may or may not
be tried. And the way the
dockit has been lately with
felonies, that just dont have
time to try the misdemeaners.
I hope people will vote fer it.
Yores Truly,
UNCLE NED
come in and not have to go
through this process,”’ said
Cash.
The mayor said the tough
economic times may be factor
Summerville Delinquent Taxes
TOTAL OUTSTANDING
COLLECTIONS OUTSTANDING %fi",{ggfig?
TOTAL AS A PERCENT DELINQUENT PERCENT OF
COLLECTIONS OF CURRENT LEVY TAXES CURRENT LEVY
1973 $119,548 96.2% $ 8,104 6.5%
1974 126,213 85.4 29,683 20.1
1975 159,423 100.3 29,229 18.4
1976 158,697 100.4 28,543 i)
1977 149,354 90.2 44,721 27.0
1978 148,928 96.3 50,492 32.6
1979 179,770 106.0 40,387 23.8
1980 192,095 94.2 52,121 25.6
1981 202,673 92.8 67,922 33
1982 210,475 92.9 83,896 37.0
Architect Hired For Project
The hiring of an architect
and teachers for the 1983-84
school year highlighted the
Tuesday afternoon meeting of
the Trion Board of Education.
The board briefly discuss
ed a roof modification project
at the Trion Elementary and
Wayside schools. The board
was advised that to receive
funds from capital outlay for
the project they must have an
architect. Lowell Kirkman, an
architect from Dalton,
discussed the project with the
board.
The board agreed to secure
Kirkman and Associates, Inc.
as the school system’s ar
chitect.
: Col.liniozn executive ses
sion, the rd discussed per
sonnel matters for a lengthy
time before coming back into
regular session. The board
New Farm Payment Program
Just One Change In Many
Sweeping State Agriculture
By JAMES BUDD
News Editor
Farming in Chattooga County and the
rest of Georgia has undergone hundreds
of changes in recent decades, prompting
one rural sociologist who studied 35 years
of census data to say the state is experien
cing ‘‘some weird trends’’ in farm popula
tion.
In a report issued this month, Doug
Bachtel of the Georgia Extension Service,
said farm population and the number of
farms in the state have dropped steadily
since 1945, while the number of part-time
farmers and total farm production have
increased.
In Chattooga County, there were 1,265
farms in 1945 and by 1978 that number
had decreased to 315. -
The average size of the farm in Chat
tooga County has increased from 112
acres in 1945 to 215 acres in 1978, while
the proportion of land in the county for
farming decreased from 70.2 percent in
1945 to 33.4 percent in 1978.
Chattooga County’s farm population
was 6,222 in 1950 and was listed as 618 in
1980.
“There are some complex things going
on here,” said Bachtel. “The contrast is
enormous. While agricultural production
in Georgia has increased amazingly, the
amount of time spent in actual production
is down. One farmer today produces
enough food for 78 people.”
While farmers are able to produce
more now, Bachtel said fewer farmers list
farming as their primary occupation.
“For a variety of reasons people have
been leaving farming as an occupation,”
he said. ‘‘But at the same time we're see
ing an incredible increase in part-time far
ming. We don’t have any date on it, but I
imagine most of these part-time farmers
have roots in farming. q‘hey realize the
can’t make a living out of it, but they stifi
want to farm.”
According to indications by major
credit agencies, there will be a sharp in
crease in farm foreclosures and bankrupt
cies in the state between now and June.
As of Jan. 1, 1983, 73 percent of the 9,300
loans from the Georgia Farmers Home
Administration were delinquent. Of
those, 250 farms had declared bankrupt
cy.
y One of the problems farmers face is the
huge surplus of commodities in the na
tion, making less and less profitable to
grow food goods.
On Jan. 12 in Dallas, President
Reagan outlined a program to pay
farmers an equal amount of goods from
the nation's surplus warehouses for the
for the increased delinquent
taxes.
“More people are being
delinquent because of the
then approved the following
teachers for the 1983-84
school calendar.
Trion Elementary: Mrs.
Peggy Baldwin, Mrs. Sindy
Bishop, Johnny Brimer, Mrs.
JoAnn Coalson, Mrs. Sylvia
Chiou, Mrs. Frankie Gordon,
J. W. Greenwood, Mrs. Elsie
Hall, Mrs. Joyce Hannah,
Miss Martha Haygood, Miss
Ginger Henley, Mrs. Joyce
Hogg, Miss Janet Martin,
Mrs. Beth Mitchell, Mrs.
Margaret Moody, Mrs. Karen
Morgan, Mrs. Fran Myers,
Mrs. Jane Overfield, Tim
Rowe, Mrs. Eileen
Southerland, Mrs. Lydia
Stephens, Mrs. Brenda
Stewart;, Mrs. Judy Sum
merlin, . ®rs. Kim Tucker,
Mrs. Shirley Walker, Miss
Nancy Williams and Mrs.
Cheri Wilson.
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Virginia Barkley is Chattooga Coun
ty’s executive director of AS(%S and is
the link local farmers have with the
federal Payment-In-Kind program,
which pays farmers for not planting
certain crops. The J)rogram is just one
of many changes during recent years
on the Georgia farm.
amount the farmers previously agreed not
to grow.
The Payment-In-Kind program, or
PIK, got underway immediately. ‘lt was
a very rushed program,”’ saig Virginia
Barkley the Acting County Executive
Director of ASCS in Chattooga County.
There are five crops available under
the PIK program: cotton, corn, grain
sorghum, wheat and rice.
Under the program, which began im
mediately after President Reagan's an
nouncement in Dallas, farmers nation
wide can receive up to 50 percent of their
base production during the 1980-81
season. In Chattooga County, farmers
have a maximum of 45 percent base, ac
cording to Mrs. Barkley.
Chattooga County reported a base pro
duction of corn at 1,857 acres in 1980-81;
533 acres of grain sorghum; 1,341 of
wheat acreage; and 1,300 acres of cotton
lands. o
Farmers have the option of receiving
45 percent (the whole base allowed here)
or a guaranteed base of 10 to 30 percednt.
“Most whole base bids were on wheat,”
see NEW FARM, page 9-A
PRICE 20c
economy, | think,”” said Cash.
“I feel like the council is le
nient and courteous and I
hope we can collect them in a
very courteous wav.”’
Trion High: Mrs. Linda
Byars, Kennith Couch, Allen
Hayes, Mrs. Susie Hayes,
Miss Carolyn Herndon, Mrs.
Camilla Hyden, Miss Jean In
%le. Miss Joanna Lanier, Mrs.
arolyn Mayo, Ronald Patty,
Mrs. Eda Rutledge, Michael
Rutledge, Mrs. Jessie
Wingfield, Mrs. Sandra Mor
rison and Danny Strickland.
The board approved the
following resignations: high
school — Miss June Ledbet
ter, Mrs. Dolly Rosato, Lamar
Long, Mrs. Cynthia Kelley
and Charles Miller; elemen
tary school — Mark Pickle,
Mrs. Marsha Wright and Miss
Julisa Willingham. e
uperintendent Bill Kinzy
also a;:ievged the board that
Mrs. Ruby Martin, the
elementary librarian, will be
see ARCHITECT, page 9-A