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VOLUME XCVIII — NU&:ZB ¢ XV
Coun ;;’s Voting Districts May
Decrciise Because Of Mandate
By JAMES BUDD
News Editor
A mandate hy the Georgia
General Assem{)ly in 1982
may greatly reduce the
number of county voter
precincts by the first of next
year, including Chattooga's
13 precincts.
Chattoo%g County Probate
Judge Jon Payne said he ex
pects to begin work on the
massive remap of the county
to consolidate several smaller
districts into larger ones.
The 1982 law requires that
the criteria for determining
voting grecinct boundaries be
changed in all counties by
1984.
Under the guidelines, only
visible features, which are in
dicated on official Depart
ment of Transportation maps
and boundaries of counties
and municipalities will be us
ed to enclose precincts. The
County Voters Go To Polls
For State, Local Questions
Chattooga Count
residents wil% go to the poll}s;
Tuesdafr for the seventh elec
tion in less than a year. -
On the ballot in the l(llpcom
ing election is a statewide race
and two local referendums.
The statewide race is to fill
the seat of Jesse Groover
Bowles on the Georgia
Supreme Court. Hardy
Gregory, Paul S. Weiner and
Jack Dorsey will face off for
the post. (gee election close
up, below).
Also on the ballot will be a
referendum to float $925,000
The Issues:
5
Election May 3
JAILHOUSE BOND REFERENDUM
Voters will decide Tuesday if they want Chattooga
County to float 10 fyears of bonds for a total of $925,000 to
fund renovation of the county jail.
U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy has in
dicated to county officials that some action must be taken
to increase day room space for inmates at the facility, or
face the closing of the jail until a court-ordered new jail is
constructed.
Chattooga County Commissioner Wx}(ne *‘Pete”’ Den
son is on record as saying renovation will have to be done
to the jail — either through a 10-year issuance of bonds, or
thyfi)ugh a one-year jump in the tax rate by six to seven
mius.
- STATE COURT
Rep. John Crawford passed legislation through this
year's General Assembly to allow countg voters to decide
whether to create a Chattooga County State Court.
Coung voters abolished the state court in 1972, but
several Grand Juries have since recommended the re
creation of the court because of an increase in misde
meanor cases crowding the Superior Court docket.
According to court data, the number of misdemeanor
cases handled by the Superior Court increased from zero
the year before the court was abolished to a record high of
1,242 in 1979. The state court case load was approx
imately 3,000 the year the court was abolished and netted
$70,000 above cost the same year.
Rep. Crawford’s bill makes it mandatory that, upon
voter approval of the referendum, the state court judge
would not practice law in addition to his judgeship \(Jipon
his appointment. The first judge would be appointed by
the governor for a term to ex&l;re Dec. 31, 1986. An elec
tion for the judgeship would be conducted in the general
election of 1986, and every four years thereafter.
The court would have monthly terms on every third
Monday at the county courthouse. Cases tried in the court
would {m appealed to either the Supreme Court or the
Court of Appeals, whichever court has jurisdiction in the
case. ‘ ;
The jury for the trial of all civil and criminal cases tried
in state court would be composed of six members, chosen
from a panel of 12. /
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
A statewide election was called to settle once and for
all who will be seated on the high court bench to fill the
term of Jesse Groover Bowles wgo stepped down in 1980.
Gov. Busbee appointed Hardy Gregory, 46, of Vienna,
to fill the seat, but the appointment was contested in
federal court. ‘
The federal court ruled that a special election — not
the governor’s appointment — was required to fill the
vacancy.
While the court decision was u‘nder appeal;, the
November 1982 General Election came up and Hardy
Grefiory ran for the post, defeatix(x'g Keegan Federal.
, owever, on the 1982 ballot, Gregory was marked as
the “incumbent.”
Two weeks after the election, the U. S. Supreme Court
dismissed the earlier appeal and a mandate came back
down to the federal district court and the plaintiff came
tf;grward and said a special election was necessary to fill
e post.
&?egory will oppose Clayton County attorney Paul S.
Weiner, 60, and Jack Dorsey, 51, of DeKalb County.
This election marks the sixth consecutive statewide
election bid by Dorsey, who lost the November, 1982 elec
tion for the high court seat vacated by Robert Jordan.
Che Summeruville News
physical features include
rivers, creeks, roads and
railroad tracks.
Judge Payne said the man
date also requires the
equalization of the number of
registered voters in a par
ticular precinct, a requirement
that may mean the consolida
tion of several smaller
precincts into nearby larger
ones."
For instance, Payne said
the Haywood District, the
county's smallest, may have
to be included in the Subligna
or Dirttown District. “%he
bottom line is what it is goin
to save the taxpayers,” saig
Payne.
The Probate Judge said it
cost as much to conduct an
election in a precinct where
only 40 turn out to vote as it
does to conduct an election
where 300 turn out.
The state requires that at
in bonds over the next 10
years to finance renovation at
the county jail, and a referen
dum to create a state court in
Chattooga County.
There have been some
changes in the polling places
for this election. Dirttown
District voters will vote at the
Gore Community Center
rather than the Pleasant
Grove Baptist Church.
Subligna voters will vote at
the community center rather
than Scog%ins Store.
A total of 8,939 county
residents are registered for
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA 80747 — THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1982
least three poll workers be pre
sent at each voting district
during elections.
‘lt cost you the same to
vote 15 or 40 as it does to vote
200 or 300,” said Payne.
The mandate will effective
ly end the old militia district
system, which has been in ex
istence since the mid-1800s.
Payne said he is uncertain
if he will have to divide the
Summerville box to insure
equalization of districts. “I
would like to see some of the
smaller ones consolidated,”’ he
added.
Judge Payne said he ex
%ects the University of
eorgia and the Secretary of
State office to provide com
puter printouts of the voter
makup in each precinct to
facilitate the remap effort.
The General Assembly this
year appropriated $75,000 in
the 1984 budget to reimburse
Tuesday’s election, down from
the 8,966 figure in the Nov. 2
General Election.
Chain Store Operation Plans
Summerville Business In ’B4
Plans have been announc
ed to oFen a 44,752-square
foot Wal-Mart Discount City
store at U.S. 27 and Farrar
Drive in Summerville.
According to company
spokesman Fritz Steiger, con
struction on the new iuilding
should begin in late 1983 or
early 1984 with a grand open
ing “in late summer”’ of next
year. ‘“We're excited about
coming into that part of
Georgia,” said Steiger. ‘‘lt
has a great potential for us.”
Jack Shewmaker, presi
Local Club Opposes Sale
Of U. S. Forest Lands
Dr. Philip Greear told ap
proximately 40 members of
the Chattooga County
Wildlife Cluh last Thursday
that North America has few
“balanced forests’’ and the
proposal by the Reagan Ad
ministration to sell six million
acres of forest lands nation
wide would further erode our
“life support system.’’
Greear, who is chairman of
the Shorter College biology
department and a specialist in
plant ecology, saixf the U. S.
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Against Forest Sale
Dr. Phih(’f) Greear, chairman of the Shorter eollege
biology department, told members of the Chattooga
County Wildlife Club Thursday our national forest
lands are needed because the ‘‘common man’’ cannot
afford the luxury of owning wilderness Iproperi:y. The
forests, he adcilexg, are not only beneficial in protecting
game and fish, but the trees are a major source of ox
ygen production.
the cost of making the
changes in each of the state’s
159 counties.
In an April 11 letter,
Secretaré of State Max
Cleland, Georgia's chief elec
tion official, informed election
superintendents throughout
the state of the available
monies.
Counties will be alloted 25
Local Taxable Sales
Show 82 Decrease
Chattooga County's tax
able sales dropped slightlz
from 1981 to 1982, thouF
fourth q}l:arter taxable sales
were slightly higher in the last
part of 1982.
According to figures
released by the Georgia
Chamber of Commerce, Chat
tooga's taxable sales were
$76,304 in 1981 compared to
$74,126 last year.
Fourth quarter figures
show taxable sales increased
to $19,614 in 1982 compared
to $18,674 the previous year
in Chattooga Countfy.
Fourth quarter figures for
1982 statewide show an in
crease of 9.3 percent com
pared to fourth quarter
dent and chief operating of
ficer of the company, saig the
Summerville store will employ
approximately 60 area
residents, with additional hel
to be hired during peafi
seasons.
Prior to the ogening date,
interviews and their location
will be announced in the local
media.
Wal-Mart Discount City
stores are designed as one
stop family shopping centers,
featuring 36 departments, in
cluding gousewares,
government now owns 190
million acres of forest lands —
less than one acre per person
in the nation.
The professor, who was in
strumental in preserving
north Georgia's Cohutta
Wilderness Area and suc
cessfully battled the state
DOT over the routing of 1-75
across Lake Allatoona, said
today’s economic conditions
make private ownership of
primitive acreage bf’ the
‘“‘common man’’ virtually im
cents for each registered voter
whose residence, as a result of
the boundary changes, is mov
ed to a new voting precinct.
Payne said he does not ex
pect Chattooga County’s
changes to be as drastic as
some county's, where chang
ing populations and new roads
have drastically altered the
physical boundaries.
figures for a similar period in
1981, while the annual in
crease for the state was 5.5
percent over 1981.
- The taxable sales in
Georgia are estimated by
calendar quarters of business
and are qbased on Georgia
Department of Revenue data
for adjusted gross tax
amounts.
These figures exclude out
of-state purchases, which
related to use tax amounts,
and indicate place of sales
rather than consumer buying
;I))ower by place or residence.
ata adjur‘ment allocates
chain store : iles by county for
greater accr ‘acy.
automotives, ssorting goods,
electronics and others. The
Summerville store will include
“» gerden center.
Wal-Mart employs 49,000
people in a 15-state market
area. There are 563 stores
open and approximately 65
million shares of Wal-Mart
common stock.
Headquartered in Benton
ville, Ark., the company
recently oFened a
900,000-square foot distribu
tion center in Culman, Ala.
possible.
“A person has no choice
but to sell land to get the
economic value from the
land,” said Greear.. ‘‘That’s
the basic reason why we need
to preserve the land.”
Opposition has been grow
ing in northwest Georgia to
the sale of 130,149 acres of the
Chattahoochee National
Forest, inc¢luding the entire
61,000-acre Armuchee
District locally.
The Chattooga County
Wildlife Club voted to give
SIOO to INFO (Individuals for
National Forest Outcry), a
groul? formed last month by
northwest Georgians opposed
to the sale of national ?orest
lands.
Greear, who is vice chair
man of the INFO, said he has
received correspondence from
persons all over the U. S. who
are interested in forming
chapters of the group. “INFO
would not only protect Johns
Mountain, but also lands in
California,’’ he said.
The groug) Blans a -rally
May 21 at The Pocket recrea
tional area.
The plant ecologist told
the group the destruction of
forest lands is a worldwide
problem. Forests, he said, are
important in replenishing the
Earth’s supply of oxy%en
through a process called
photosynthesis —the natural
creation of oxygen from car
bon dioxide. :
Rep. John Crawford, who
was present at Thursday’s
meeting, said the club could
investigate ways to create
more use of the Chat
tahoochee Forest in Chat
tooga County, possibly by
maintaining a trail along the
crest of Taylor's Ridge for
public use.
Crawford, who is a member
of the House Natural
Resources Committee, as well
as the powerful House Ap
propriations Committee, said
“‘the best defense is a good of
fense.”
. Crawford indicated he
would secure state help, if
possible, for the proposal.
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N Fod i P A {N, i b B
Murphy, Miller Endorse Askew
Presidential candidate Reubin Askew,
center, campaigned.in northwest Georgia
last' week ‘accompanied by House
Speaker Tom Murphy, left, and Lt. Gov.
Florida’s Askew Recelves
Peach State Support
For White House Bid
By JAMES BUDD
News Editor
Fort O?letho , Ga. —
Presidentia candg:te Reubin
Askew made a campaign
sweep of northwest Georgia
Thursday, accompanied iy
Georgia Lt. Gov. Zell Miller
arl:d House Speaker Tom Mur
phy.
Miller and Murphy, both of
whom endorsed Askew for the
presidency, introduced the
candidate as one of the top
governors the nation has had
in recent years.
Askew, the former two
term governor of Florida from
1971 to 1978, earned recogni
tion as one of the 10 greatest
American governors in a
study conducted by Harvard
University.
“I wholeheartedly endorse
Reubin Askew for President,”
said Miller. ‘‘Here is a man
who knows national, interna
tional and local problems and
is capable of finding
solutions.”’
Askew told the press con
ference that giving America a
competitive edge in world in-
Dougherty Sheriff Tells
Of Drug, Booze Horror
Stories Among Youths
By PAM PURCELL
Staff Writer
Local students and
residents heard true stories of
drui and alcohol abuse last
week when ‘‘Operation Drug
Alert” was brought back to
the county by popular de
mand for the second year.
Dougherty County Deputy
Sheriff Frank Summers,
better-known as ‘‘Deputy
Dawg,”’ was in the county last
Thursday and Friday with a
dislf)lay of over 10,000 items
collected as evidence ‘during
investigations involving
drugs and alcohol.
During the programs
Deputy Dawg told the au
dience of true cases that he
has been involved with over
the years that dealt with teen
agers, and sometimes even
younger children, that got in
to trouble or died as the result
of drugs and alcohol.
One story he told involved
a 16-year-old boy ‘‘messed
up”’ on LSD that wanted the
keys to the family car. The
story went as follows: the boy
left the room where his father
was watching television and
returned a short time later
with a .16-ga:lfie shotgun. The
teen-ager walked up behind
his falfixer and shot him in the
back of the head. The mother
came in from the kitchen. The
son shot her as she moved,
catching her in the left side
causing her to lose her left
arm. The teen-ager Fot the
keys out of his father’s
ocket, shook them over his
?ather's body and said, “‘l'll
teach you of’d man. Who do
you think you are?”
* Another story involved a
15-year-old girl “strung out”
on LSD. The teen-ager took
Zell Miller. Both Georgia officials gave
their “‘wholehearted’’ endorsement to the
former Florida governor.
dustry would be one of his
main goals. “‘We are now com
peting with other countries
who are operating under a dif
ferent set of rules,” said
Askew. ‘“We've rebuilt the in
dustries of Europe and Japan
and now I think it’s time S\at
we rebuild our own
industries.”
Askew said he did not
believe that being a
Southerner would hurt his
chances in his quest for the
White House.
The former Carter Ad
ministration cabinet member
pointed out that 52 percent of
the American population now
live in the South.
Askew said the Reagan
Administration has done little
to restore the American
economy and said the only
reason inflation has dropped
off is because of the recession.
Primary on his mind, said
Askew, is to increase training
for high technology jobs — a
field, which is the wave of the
future, said the candidate.
“We've got to get updated,”
he said.
her father's car, went down
the highway at speeds of 80 to
85 miles per hour and wrapped
the car around an oak tree. It
took an hour and 47 minutes
to get her body out of the
wreckage.
A third story involved five
teen-agers that wanted to
celebrate after a football vic
tory. They went from one
town to another, got with
some other high school
students and began drinking.
On their way bac%( home there
was a firey explosion seen. It
took 27 officers and medical
personnel two hours to get the
UNCLE NED'S
Dear Mr. Editor:
Aint it jest the purtiest
whether yon ever done seen
the last two days. I hope this
crazly whether weave had will
settle down and stay prty.
Well that thar elecshun is
jest around the corner. I hope
everone will vote nomatter
how they feel, its our freedom
that protects our freedom.
Afiz Editor I jest got thru,
filing my tax return and it
reminded me of an ole saying
from my pappy...that after
he saved nup enuff to pay his
income tax he had to borrow
money to live on. And here's
anuther little cutie to close on,
early to bed and early to rise
and youll be in a tax bracket
up to the skies.
Yores Truly,
UNCLE NED
PRICE 20¢
Askew said manufacturing
employment will drop from 25
percent to 10 percent nation
wide by the end of the cen
tury. “We've got to get back
into competing as a nation,”
he said.
In 1979, after completing
his second term as governor,
Askew accepted an appoint
ment by President Carter as
the U.S. Trade Represen
tative. He traveled extensive
ly worldwide, conducting and
supervising trade negotia¢
tions between the U.S. and
foreign countries, defending
the trading and investing in
terest of American business.
He was primarily responsi
ble for American participation
in the ongoing work of the
General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade, an organization of
85 countries with head
guarters in Geneva,
witzerland, which oversees
much of the commerce of the
Free World.
After his cabinet term,
Askew returned to law prac
tice in Miami.
bodies out of the burning car.
Their speed was estimated at
over 100 miles per hour. The
largest piece of material taken
out of the wreckage was a beer
can.
Deputy Dawg told of a
16-year-old boy that commit
ted an armed robbery with a
.16-gauge shotgun. When ask
ed why he committed the rob
bery, the teen-ager said he
needed the money to supgort
his SIOO-day habit.
Authorities followed him for
two weeks and three armed
robberies. They went to his
house and found a kilo, (two
pounds, two ounces) of heroin
(83.6 percent pure) valued at
SIOO,OOO.
Another story told of a
15-year-old boy {Kat held up a
convenience store because he
wanted to make a deal involv
ing marijuana and cocaine.
W%ien he was arrested,
authorities found cocaine
(83.6 percent pure) valued at
$85,000 uncut.
The two pounds of mari
juana the teen-ager had pur
chased turned out to be one
pound of dried cow manure
mixed with one pound of mari
juana and several thousand
dead worms.:
Other stories he told in
volved 13 and 14-year-old girls
that had gotten involved with
drugs and become pregnant,
Some of the stories ended with
the teen-agers taking their
own life.
Deputy Dawg told the
group that he currently has 19
young people in his counselix?
classes in Albany for drug ad
diction. The youngest in the
classes is five-g'ears-old. He
noted that the youngest
see SHERIFF, page 6-A