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Che Summeruville News
The Official Legal Organ of Chattooga County
WINSTON E. ESPY WILLIAM T. ESPY
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JAMES BUDD
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Address All Mail to: THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS, P. 0. Box 310, Summerville, Ga. 30747
Editorials
Colleges Should Up Standards
President Reagan’'s National Commis
sion on Excellence in Education is due to
make its report momentarily. Headed by
University of Utah President David
Gardner as chairman, the commission has
discovered several undesirable trends
among U. S. schools.
One is that educational standards
have been slipping in most high schools
and colleges in the decade between 1970
and 1980. That dismal trend began in the
'6os has not been corrected. One example:
in 1970, the average college applicant in
Utah had taken four college preparatory
courses; in 1980, the number was down to
three.
As a result of this high school trend,
admissions standards at colleges have
been steadily lowered — so that lesser
prepared students can be enrolled. But at
Utah, President Gardner placed ads in
the state’'s newspapers last year giving
Letters To The Editor
Lack Of Participation
Dear Editor:
The obvious commendable effort of the
news to make people of the community think
dismayed one citizen as to the amount of par
ticipation, sixty-nine out of our county’s
gopulation! How callous we ask for such a no
le effort. No doubt citizens used the survey
READY BUYER
Give a man credit for anything these
days — and he'll buy it. — Columbia
(S. C.) Record
FromOurEarlyFil
2
77 YEARS AGO
The following are excerpts from the April 12, 1906, issue of The Summer
ville News.
* * *
JUDGE FITE HAS EDITOR INDICTED — Chattanooga, Tenn., April
10. — A special from Dalton, Ga., says the grand jury of Whitfield County,
Georgia, this morning indicted L. G. Walker, editor of The Chattanooga
Times, for alleged libel on account of a recent editorial in which it was stated
among other things, that Judge A. W. Fite, presiding officer of that circuit,
did the society ladies of Dalton an injustice if he charged that they gambled
when they played bridge whist for prizes. The judge was quoted as having
compared this pastime to crap shooting among a low class of citizens.
Orders have been issued to serve papers on the editor if he will not appear
in court, and Governor Cox will be asked for requisition papers if they are
necessary.
* * *
WANTED — 10 men in each state to travel, post signs, advertise and leave
samples of our goods. Salary $75.00 per month. $3.00 per day for expenses.
ROYAL:SUPPLY CO., Dept. W. Atlas Block, Chicago.
* * *
FOR SALE — Army tents 14 x 16 feet, cost the government new $44.00.
We sell them for SIO.OO in good condition. They are just the thing for camp
hunting and fishing. Murphy & Bitting. Summerville, Ga.
* * *
The town council of Lyerly in a recent ordinance made a long step forward
in the interest of prohibition and humanity. The ordinance provides that no in
toxicating patent medicines, phosphates, cider, or any thing else that intox
icates shall be sold in the town. As suggested by our Lyerly correspondent in
last week’s NEWS, the legislature will be asked by the people of Chattooga to
pass a bill to prohibit the manufacturing of whiskey in the county. Our
representative, Dr. Rudicil, will be asked — and not only asked but earnestly
solicited — to put this bill through.
* * *
LOCAL AFFAIRS — Since 1892 no newspapers have been printed on Sun
day in Norway, and since 1895 no bread has been baked on that day.
§ g s g
BARGAINS —lO c box Stationery for .. . s¢, 10c Roll Crepe Paper .. . sc,
10c Pearl Buttons per dozen. . . sc, 25c Ladies Hose Supporters for .. . 10c,
26c Mennen’s Violet Talcum Powders f0r...19¢, and 25¢c Back Bands
for ... 15c. THE NOVELTY STORE.
* * *
TAYLOR & ESPY Hardware, Buggies, Wagons, Implements, Groceries. 3
Scovil Hoes f0r,..51.00, 2 Plow Collars f0r...51.00, 3 Pair Trace
Chains . . . SI.OO, 25 Plow Clevises . .. SI.OO, 5 Good Single Trees . . . SI.OO, 1
Good Blind Bridle . . . SI.OO, and 2 Long Handle Shovels ... SI.OO.
notice that applicants accepted would
need specified credits in math, science,
history foreign language, English and
fine arts.
More colleges should follow this exam
ple, and many are. Things have become so
lax in high schools that many give a stu
dent as much credit for a driver-education
course as for biology or math. And many
colleges have become so lenient (with high
school graduation mills) they now accept
students who can’t even read — then give
them a college credit for a course in
reading!
The laxness. in standards today at
many U. S. high schools and colleges is at
scandal level. Colleges should resume
their traditional practice of enforcing
reasonable admission standards. Only
then will high schools be forced to reduce
the number of easy, elective courses and
to increase the number of required credits
in basics.
as a vehicle to express themselves for real and
imagined slights but evaluation shows we
believe we are just below the average com
munity. (This citizen believes we are about
average) about a (7) seven.
Sincerely yours,
Charles H. Elder :
IT IS?
The reason love is intoxicating is
because it’s made in the still of the night.
— The Mudhook
Y GOODNESS JUST ANOTHER
t‘OOKAT AL’ CHICAGO POLIMICAL
E CAMPAIGN!
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- b O
Mountain Echoes
by Jimmy Townsend
Troubled Spirits
It is, of course, absurd to believe in
ghosts, but of all the ghosts there just
might be, it is the least absurd to believe
in the ghosts of Indians.
As a young boy in the North Georgia
mountains, 1 found it quite easy to
believe in them. Walking in the pine
forested hills, with the last rays of the sun
Dialogue ...
American Holocaust
Last week marked the anniversary of
the Warsaw Ghetto battles between the
Nazis and the Jews during World War 11.
There’s*been a lot of attention drawn
to the Holocaust lately. There should
always be a lot of attention drawn to the
low point in man’'s history —the
systematic execution of six million Jews
in Nazi concentration camps. Perhaps if
we remember the past, we won't repeat it,
the thinking goes.
I attended Charlie Lowry’s Rodeo last
weekend and couldn't help but notice how
people’s attitudes toward the American
Indian has changed in less than 100
years. The rodeo featured an Indian giv
ing the Lord’s Prayer in sign language
and they had a Kiowa man and his family
entertain with music during intermission.
The point is, Americans were part of a
Holocaust against the Indians just a few
short decades ago. We probably don’t like
to remember that little fact, and I suspect
that the reason we harbor such a roman
tic notions about the Indians today is we
can sort of ‘‘sugar-coat’’ our history. You
can't sugar-coat the facts and get away
with it.
When the first white settlers arrived
in Virginia and New England in the
1600 s, most scholars estimate there were
close to one million Indians living in what
we now call the 48 contiguous United
States. In 1860, there were probably
300,000 Indians in the U. S. and the Ter
ritories, most of them living west of the
Mississippi. )
By 1860, there were 30 million Euro
peans and their descendants living in the
U. S. Most of the Indians were victims of
smallpox and other diseases that they
had no immunities to. It wasn’t uncqm
mon for smallpox infested blankets to be
deliberately sent to reservations to
reduce the Indian populations further.
What one has to remember, is there
were Indians living in both North and
South America — probably close to 30 to
50 million from Alaska to the tip of South
America. What occurred in South
America from the Spanish conquerors
was even worse than in North America.
An estimated 240,000 Aztecs died in one
battle with the Spanish for what is now
Mexico City. Only 60,000 Aztecs surviv
ed.
The horrible facts go on and on. Some
of our early forefathers got the bright
idea that one sure way of reducing the In
dian population and te assure they would
go on the reservations was to kill off the
buffalo. Of the 3,700,000 buffalo
destroyed from 1872 to 1874 — just two
years — only an estimated 150,000 were
killed by the Indians. The buffalo were
shot from trains and left to rot on the
plains — 3.7 million of them in two years.
One of the more fascinating Indians
by James Budd
dying in the dark, I found it easiest of all.
It takes little imagination to sense their
silent steps upon the mossy trail that
runs along beside the creek. A flickering
movement amidst distant trees might be
them. And as I go deeper into the woods I
hear sounds that could be their cries. Or
‘continued on page §
was Sitting Bull, a Sioux from South
Dakota. He fought the invaders into his
territory for decades and was known for
his visions, including one in which he saw
the results of the Battle Little Big Horn
in 1876 against General Custer.
After the massacre, Sitting Bull led
dozens of his tribesmen into Canada in
search of a home. Half-frozen and starv
ing, he led them back to the U.S. to the
reservation.
In the following years, he joined up
with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show,
where he was a star attraction in the
Eastern U. S. and in Canada. Sitting Bull
gave most of his money to the ragged
band of boys that seemed to follow him
around. He reportedly told Annie Oakley,
another of the Wild West Show stars, he
did not understand how white people
could be unmindful of their poor.
Sitting Bull quit the show in 1887 and
was given a white sombrero (which was
often photographed wearing) and his
white show horse. '
He returned to the Standing Rock
Reservation and in 1890, a wave of
religious fervor swept the Sioux reserva
tions. Some of the Sioux began dancing
the ““Ghost Dance,” in which they had vi
sions of their dead ancestors coming back
to life and driving the whites from the
land. Though Sitting Bull, who was the
last hero his people had, was skeptical of
the dance, he was feared by the BIA and
the reservation police.
The BIA wanted all the ghost dancers
arrested and they called in“ Buffalo Bill —
the only white Sitting Bull trusted — to
aid in the famous chief’s arrest. A com
munications mixup caused the reserva
tion agent to send Buffalo Bill away
without ever seeing Sitting Bull.
A few days' later, the Indian Police
moved in to arrest Sitting Bull. A crowd
of his followers gathered outside. He left
peacefully, but when he got outside, a
disturbance grew, arifle went off, and Sit
ting Bull was killed. The calvary had to
be called in to restore the calm,
About a week after Sitting Bull's
death, the last known Indian massacre oc
curred — at Wounded Knee, S. D.
With Sitting Bull dead, the Indians at
Standing Rock wanted to join up with the
Sioux at the Pine Ridge Reservation. Led
by Big Foot, a band of about 350 Sioux
left on foot across the frozen plains in the
dead of December. The calvary caught up
with the band and surrounded them. A
jittery soldier fired his weapon, sending a
chain reaction through the ranks.: When
the smoke cleared, 300 of the 350 men,
women and children were dead. They were
buried in a common grave where they
died. It was just a few days after
Christmas in 1890 — less than 100 years
ago. :
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CLOSE UP
Facing South
A Syndicated Column
Voices Of Tradition
In A Changing Region
EULA HALL: “HEALTH CARE IS MY BABY”
GRETHEL, Ky. — “‘l've been called a wild woman
because of the risks I've taken, but never a wonder
woman,”’ commented Eula Hall as she accepted an award
from the Wonder Woman Foundation in New York City
in November, 1982. The cash award
was one of 18 given to women over 40
who were judged to possess the
courage, compassion and independence
of the comic book character.
Eula Hall received the award for -
her work as the founder and supervisor | -,
of a public health clinic in the isolated T
and impoverished Mud Creek area of ~
Floyd County, Kentucky, where she L
has long worked for better human ser
vices.
Born a retired coal miner’s daughter in neighboring
Pike County, Eula Hall hired out as a teen-ager to
families in need of help. ‘I got the reputation for knowing
how to take care of babies and women,’’ Mrs. Hall recalls.
At 17, she married McKinley Hall. The marriage proved
full of strife and sorrow. ‘‘My first husband turned out to
be an alcoholic, very violent and abusive to me and our
children,” she relates. ‘“When he threatened us, I would
go to the neighbors for help and protection. That’s the
reason I feel I owe the community my life.”
As their five children were growing up, Eula Hall took
handicapped people into her home for a small fee from the
state. She was becoming aware of the area’s desperate
need for health care, and also for ordinary people to take
more control over their lives. During the War on Poverty
in the 19605, she and other Mud Creek citizens organized
around such issues as better roads, school lunches and
flood prevention.
“But health care was always my baby because I'd
seen so much suffering,”” Mrs. Hall emphasizes. The Mud
Creek Clinic got its start after the Eastern Kentucky
Welfare Rights organization conducted a door-to-door
survey in the hills and hollows and found that one person
in 10 needed health care and couldn’t get it. They found
quite a few people who had never seen a doctor in their
lives. There were complications of pregnancy, infection
and disease from polluted wells. Black lung, diabetes and
hypertension were going untreated. ‘I made up my mind
we would have an answer for all those people,” Mrs. Hall
says. :
After raising $1,400 through rummage sales and
donations, a grassroots group rented a small frame house
and got two doctors from Our Lady of the Way Hospital
in Martin to come out twice a week to see patients on a
sliding-fee basis. Within a year the place was too small,
and Eula Hall moved out of her 12-room house so the
clinic could use it. By 1982, the building had been divided
into 19 rooms. It had a dental unit, a mobile lung-testing
unit, and 20,000 patient records. :
‘““But all that went up in flames last summer,” recalls
Mrs. Hall. “The night of June 15 I got a call that the
clinic was on fire. By the time we got there, nothing could
be saved. I went back home and thought about the
destruction and I just had to cry. I talked it over with my
husband Bascom (no relaticn to McKinley Hall, who had
died some eight years back). We decided we would have a
Mud Creek Clinic — come hell or high water!”
The next morning, the Halls had a phone hooked up on
a willow tree near the still-smildering building. The
medical staff saw 20 patients that day. “You can’t just
tell people you're sorry, to come back later.” Ar
rangements were made for the clinic to move into the
local elementary school for the summer. Equipment was
loaned and donated. Patients and local people rallied for
the initial fund-raising.
Today the Mud Creek Clinic is going strong in tem
porary trailers in a location on Kentucky highway 979. A
new cinderblock and concrete clinic with more services
for the community is on the drawing board. Mrs. Hall
hopes to provide dental care again as well as X-ray
facilities and a room for meetings and classes. Eventually
she wants to have a ‘“‘desperately needed” shelter for
abused women. ;
“I've fought hard for a place where patients can be
treated as people,” Eula Hall states. “It has to be ac
cepted that health care is a need and not a privilege. Do
we really care about people? If we don't, it’s society
that’s going to suffer!”
— DOROTHY HALL PEDDLE
freelance
Racine, WI
—e e VGRS, WA
TOUGH ALL OVER
How hard it is for a rich man to enter
Heaven concerns us less than how hard it
is for a poor man to remain on earth, —
Kanawha (la.) Reporter