Newspaper Page Text
Che Summerville News
DIED WITH LINOTYPE TECHNOLOGY
etaoin shrdlu, We Miss You
By TOMMY TOLES
Editor
IF YOU haven't seen etaoin
shrdlu’s name in The Summer
ville News in quite a few years,
there's a good reason. He's
dead.
Well, maybe not dead, ex
actly. Just kind of shelved. It
all has to do with the near ex
tinction of the Linotype, which
most newspapers once used to
set t{pe.
The Summerville News
uses computers, photocom?osi
tion techn(i)gues and an offset
press to produce the newspaper
each week. But unlike most
modern newspapers, The News
also uses the venerable
Linoty;;le on a regular basis.
Publisher Gene Espy sits
down in front of the combina
tion of gears, pulleys, cams,
belts, motors and heaters each
week to maintain The News'
subscriber list and, on occa-
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PRISON ROAD GRADING NEARS COMPLETION AT PENNVILLE
Taylor’s Ridge Shown Behind Roadway And Heavy Equipment
SOUGHT BY SUMMERVILLE
Prison Utilities Bids
Adpvertising by the City of
Summerville for bids on
utilities to serve a %roposed
new state prison near Pennville
began this week in The News
and bids are scheduled to be
opened at 10 a.m. Thursday,
Sept. 18, at city hall.
The proposal calls for bids
on installing 5,525 feet of
10-inch water main, 1,650 feet
of 15-inch sanitary sewer line,
772 feet of 12-incK sewer line,
2,049 feet of sanitary sewer line
and 252 feet of 10-inch sanitary
sewer line.
The maximum time for
completion shall not exceed 45
consecutive calendar days from
the starting datc;e?ecified in
the notice to proceed, the city’s
ad says.
Plans for the project may be
obtained from the city’s
engineers. Welker and
sttt ———
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One Hurt In Accident Near Trion
One person was injured in a one-vehicle
accid%nt on old Highway 27 about a mile
north of Trion at 11:20 p.m. last Friday.
Georgia State Patrol Trooi)ler Bill DeHart
said a car driven by Martha Bridges, 60,
LaFayette, was traveling south on the
roadway when it swerved to miss a dog
sion, to produce lead type for
tickets or other commercial
printing.
* * *
IN FACT, The News has
three different Mergenthaler
Linotype models, two of them
in working condition. One is us
ed on a regular basis. None is
nfi;ver than a quarter-century
old.
This summer marked the
100th anniversary of the con
traption that revolutionized
the publishing industry and
made possible newspapers with
more and longer stories. But
one 80-year-old Baltimore
printer estimated recently that
only 130 Linotypes are still in
use in the United States — a
figure that Gene and his
brother, David, think may be
too low. But if it is accurate,
The News has two of them.
Around 70,000 of the
machines were built in this
country. But today, with the
advent of offset printing, com
puters and laser technology,
most have gone the way of the
Associates Inc., Engineers, 328
Roswell St., Marietta.
The city recently approved
a contract with the state for
the utilities. Geor%lia has
agreed to award the city
$1,008,016 for the project, in
cluding upgrading of its
wastewater treatment plant.
Rights-of-way for the
utilities have been obtained
from Florida resident Ernest
Klatt, who owns a considerable
amount of property in the
Pennville area. T%e agreement
between Klatt and the cit
calls for the utilitiés to reacK
Highway 27 at the prison road
by Nov. 1 and that's why the
city is speeding the process.
Grading of the prison road
has been nearly completed.
Bartow Paving Co.,
Cartersville, has the contract
in the road. A northbound car caused the
Bridges vehicle to swerve again and it
went out of control and struck the utility
pole, DeHart said. Mrs. Bridges was
taken to Tri-County Hospital, Fort
Oglethorge, for treatment after the
mishap. (Staff Photo by Earl McConnell).
dinosaur.
Gene started set.ting type
on the Linotype when he was
a sophomore at Chat.tooqa
High School in 1963. He would
come to the newspaper office,
then on Commerce Street in
downtown Summerville, and
begin setting the under the
supervision of his father, the
late David T. Espy. ‘‘We used
to have a stor{{ run in the
paper, the ‘Doc Mag’ column,
it was a medical column and I'd
set it,”’ Gene recalled.
* * *
HIS BROTHER, David,
general manager of The News,
said he began running the
Linotype after school around
1960 and on Tuesday and
Wednesday nights. He has a
textbook on the Linotyage.
Eublished by the Mergenthaler
inotype Co., Brooklyn, N. Y.
in 1940. David said he used it
in Diversified Coog.erative
’l‘raininiclasses in high school,
although the school itself had
no Linotypes.
At that time, The News had
for the .7 mile project from
Highway 27 east to the
186-acre prison property.
A graging corr)ltrgct f)t')r the
30-acre prison plot itself is not
likely to be awarded until late
this fall, according to Georgia
Department of Corrections gf—
ficials. And it could be as late
as next summer before con
tract is let on the prison
buildings themselves.
That work is estimated to
take 18 months to two years to
complete. Initially, the prison
wourd be desifined for 500 in
mates wit expansion
capabilities to 750 inmates.
The prison location has
aroused op¥osition in the Penn
ville and Trion communities.
Residents felt it should be
located in a less populated
area.
Thursday, August 28, 1986
four Linotypes operating
fulltime to produce tl{,e weekly
edition.
The machine that Thomas
Edison called the ‘eighth
wonder of the world” changed
the face of the printing in
dustry almost overnight. It
allowed one person to produce
a massive amount of type in a
short period of time — com
fiared to setting each letter by
and, the practice for 400 years
since invention of the printing
press.
* * *
GENE AND DAVID said a
competent operator could pro
duce up to seven lines of type
a minute. That may not sound
like much when compared to
150 lines produced now by The
News' modern computerized
~ equipment, but it was the only
~ system available at the time,
- and the most modern.
~ In a brief “test” of his
abilities, Gene set five lines of
the in one minute, even with
the Linotype malfunctioning to
a degree.
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
Hospital Bills
About Average
Chattooga County Hospital
rates comparalgly with other
Georgia hospitals with fewer
than 100 beds in the amount of
accounts receivable, the
Hospital Authority was told
Monday nil%ht by its auditor.
Doug airc{oth of the
Albany firm of Draffin and
Tucker, presented a review of
the hospital’'s financial
statements for both the 1985
and 1986 fiscal years. Compar
ing the Chattooga facility with
20 other hospitals around the
state, Faircloth said the Sum
merville hospital's receivable
rate was 9.60 percent. Ave
of the other facilities was Eagf
percent, he added.
However, the gercentage of
accounts receivable to patient
revenue was 21.05 percent for
Chattooga, compared to an
avera%e of 21.86 for the other
20 acilities, Faircloth
continued.
77 DAYS
The hospital had 77.21 days
of patient revenue tied ui) in ac
counts receivable while the
average of the other 20
hospitals is 76.84 days, the
auditor said.
Commissioner
Raps Oak View
Chattooga County Commis
sioner Harry Powell in late Ju
ly sent a letter to the State
Health Planning Agency ask
ing it to approve a proposal for
a private nursing home by a
Rome developer, rather t}i'an
an expansion plan by Oak View
Nursing Home.
It was the second time that
the commissioner has come out
in favor of a lf)lan by developer
Charles Williams (not con
nected with Chattooga
Hospital Authority Chairman
Charles Williams) to build a
76-bed private nursing home
on Bolling Road. In late spring,
Commissioner Powell spoke in
favor of the Williams prorosal
at a public hearing held in
Summerville.
The Powell letter was
revealed at Monday night’s
meeting of the Chattooga
Hospital Authority.
PATIENTS
In his letter, Commissioner
Powell said, ‘“The hospital at
present only serves from three
to seven patients...”
However, Monday night. Dr.
Keith Hannay, chief of staff of
the hospital, said the 31-bed
facility usually has between 11
and 15 patients at any given
time. The hospital hacr 11 pa
tients Tuesday morning and
nine that afternoon following
patient visits by doctors.
““The present building was
erected several years ago and
since the health center and the
new highwaf' that is now being
glanned along with other
uildings, we cannot unders
tand how this building could be
erected on the premises the
Hospital claims to own. The
county attorney, Ed Surles,
states that the Xeed is not pro-
' YLI Y] '
Each operator had a dif
ferent style of t}ipesettinfi us
ing a Linotype. ‘I saw each let
ter in my mind,” David said,
while Gene said he visualized
the entire word being set.
It was imperative that a
Linotype oli)erat.or have ex
cellent spelling and English
skills because of the need to
justify, or make even, each line
of type. Plus, he or she needed
to be fast and to approach the
seven lines per minute
optimum.
* * *
“IT TOOK a lot of years to
get accuracy,” David said.
“You would strive for ?eed
and sometimes that cut down
on accuracy. The name of the
game was speed.”
That’s one reason Linotype
set editions of The News are
smaller than today’'s com
puterized versions. A fast
operator could produce only
around two ¥alleys (each about
20 inches) o tépe per hour ‘‘if
you hoss it,” Gene and David
see etaoin shrdlu, page 2-B
At the end of the 1986 fiscal
Kear — last June 30 —the
ospital had $360,532 in gross
accounts receivable with a
$68,546 reserve, giving a net
accounts recexvabFe of
$291,986, Faircloth indicated.
The accounts receivable com
pares to total patient revenue
of $1,712,610, he said.
Of the inpatient revenue,
debts up to 30 days old account
for 35.27 percent of the ac
counts receivable, Faircloth’s
charts indicated while debts 31
to 60 days old account for
another 23.03 percent. Debts
61 to 90 days old involved
15.08 percent of the total and
accounts receivable 91 to 120
days old amount to 8.15 per
cent of the total. Accounts 121
to 150 days old account for
4.65 percent of the total while
debts older than 150 days
amount to 13.42 gercent of all
accounts receivable, Faircloth
said.
Most of the accounts
receivable involve private pay
or insurance, rather tEan
Medicare or Medicaid, the
auditor told the Authority.
see HOSPITAL, page 6-B
X X X
perlr executed on this Elar
ticular block of ground, which
is owned by Chattooga Coun
ty,” the Powell letter said.
Authorit Chairman
Williams saic{ the panel plann
see COMMISSIONER, page 10-B
ABOUT INAPPROPRIATE USE OF FUNDS
Shrine Stories Misleading-Gregg
Stories in the Atlanta
newspapers recently about
alleged inappropriate use of
Shrine funds have been
misleading and inaccurate, ac
corg‘i':xlf to Lamar Gregg, Sum
merville, second vice gresident
of the Rome Shrine Club.
Gregg, who is also on the
hospital committee of the
Atlanta Yaarab Temple and
Scottish Rite Hospitaf Atlan
ta, emphasized that all local
fund-raisintg events advertised
as being for charitable pur
poses do forward the proceeds
to those charities.
He also acknowledged that
an apparent problem gid exist
with the Sgrine temple in
Orlando, Fla., where the stories
have originated. That temple
has been reprimanded by the
%arent Shrine orrganization,
regg indicated. From what
he’s read about the Orlando
situation, Gregg said the tem
ple apparently advertised and
sold tickets to its Shrine circus,
claiming that the proceeds
were egmll:xf to crippled and
burned children when some of
the proceeds were going for the
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PUBLISHER GENE ESPY OPERATES LINOTYPE
Newspaper Has Three Of The Venerable Machines
State Funds Awaited
M(::;&ly rott)x:ine business is |
expec to ¥ d at.
the 'llwp.m. T\xésdm of *
the Menlo Mayor and Council |
next week. z
Mayor Theresa Canada said |
the city is awaiting more infor- |
mation on whether the city will |
be eligible for low interest con- |
struction loans from the state |
for its sl.l-million sewerage |
system. ‘
Bids are tentatively |
scheduled to be opened at 2 |
p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14, on the |
project. 3
The city has already receiv- |
ed approval for a $390,000 loan |
from the federal Farmers |
Home Administration |
(FmHA), as well as a $570,000 |
FmHA grant and a $150,000 |
grant from the Appalachian |
Regional Commission. |
The Georgia Environmen- |
tal Facilities Authority late |
last week announced the |
availability of around |
S2O-million in funds for short- |
term, low-interest construction |
loans to communities across |
the state that have a commit- |
ment from the FmHA for per- |
manent financin%. Effective in- |
terest rates could range from |
two to 4.5 percent. f
Mayor Canada said if
Menlo receives the loans, it l
would be a considerable sav
ings under what is available |
from commercial lending 1
institutions. w
The Environmental |
temple’s administrative
expenses.
That's not the case with the
Shrine circus held in Atlanta
each year, Gregg said.
FOR TEMPLE
Each of the Yaarab Shrine
Tem%le’s 11,000 members in
North Georgia buys S2O worth
of circus tickets, which are also
sold to the public, Gregg said.
However, the Yaarab Temple's
tickets sa}y; that the f)roceeds
go to benefit the temple and its
charities, he added. e['his past
year, the circus grossed
$1.6-million. Costs, including
rent, insurance, the circus per
formers, food and security,
were deducted, leaving a net of
some $400,000, Gregg said.
Of the net, proceeds go
toward the temple's ad
ministrative costs gut funds
are also donated to charities,
such as the Scottish Rite
Hospital, St. Jude Hospital
and other causes, Gregg said.
FREE TICKETS
The Rome Shrine Club each
year provides 1,200 free tickets
Fri;ital:(tiies Autho;'iéy v:rlas ‘1
c a part of Gov. Joe |
Frank H%%Hépoverafl economic }
development effort. 1‘
“Toge GEFA program is an |
examgle of the partnership ap- |
proach the state has taken with |
our local governments to en- |
sure the continued economic |
viability of our great state, and
this new initiative designed to |
meet a very specific need we |
identified, is a continuation of |
our existing efforts,” Jerry |
Griffin, GEFA executive direc- |
tor said. 5
According to Griffin, the |
new program is designed to |
assist communities that have |
had difficulty in obtaining in- |
terim financing at reasonable |
interest rates. !
There are a%proximately ‘:
$22.5-million in FmHA loans |
committed across the state. In |
addition, many of the com- |
munities that Kave loan com- |
mitments also have a grant |
commitment from the Farmers |
Home Administration which |
means that about $32.1-million |
in water and sewer construc- |
tion are ready to move forward |
when interim financing is in |
place. ;
“Through this new pro- |
gram, we are moving to work |
directly with the Farmers |
Home Administration as they |
continue their long-time pro- |
gram of providing the financ- |
ing for vitally needed water |
to youngsters in Chattooga
County and in other area coun
ties to attend the circus, he
pointed out.
The Club provides the
tickets, plus transportation
and some spending money for
the children attenfii.ng the cir
cus, he continued.
Critical stories about the
Shrine concerned the Orlando
temple’s handling of publicity
and tickets for its circus have
apYeared in the Orlando and
Atlanta newspapers this sum
mer. Another recent article ap
geared critical of the Shrine
ecause over sl-million was us
ed to provide long-term, low
interest loans to 13 Shrine
employees for the national
Shrine headquarters move
from Chicago, 111. to Orlando.
The loans were made at 6
percent.
Greg% said those stories
were misleading because they
didn’'t differentiate between
the Shrine's two corporate
arms — one charitable and the
other endowment-admini
strative.
One corporation is
and sewer facilities to our
small, rural communities,”
Griffin added.” "™ 5
“The GEFA program con
cept is SimPlekf'et it will pro
vide substantial savings to the
participating communities,”
according to Griffin. “The
Authority has sold three-year
notes, and the funds will be in
vested until needed by a par
ticipating local government. At
the time the funds are loaned
to the local government, the in
terest rate charged will reflect
interest eamixzfs that accrue
between the sale of the notes
and the payout of the funds.”
Hunt Safety
Classes Set
Huntinf safety classes
will be held from 6 until 9
p.m. next Tuesday, Sept.
2, and Thursday, Sept. 4,
at the Trion Community
Center.
Both sessions are re
quired and students must
make at least 75 on the
test to pass.
Geor%ia law requires
anyone born on or after
Jan. 1, 1961 to pass the
hunter safety course
before they may hunt.
chartered in Colorado and it
owns the Shrine's buildings,
such as the headquarters facili
ty and it is the endowment
fund for the Shrine; he said.
The other Shrine corpora
tion is chartered in lowa and
operates the organization’s
hospitals and charities, Gregg
indicated.
ENDOWMENT
Donations and be%uests go
to the Colorado endowment
fund to be invested or to collect
interest while the proceeds of
those investments goes to the
lowa corporation, which
%perates the hospitals, he said.
he lowa cor{:oratiqn’s
charitable budget is some
$220-million annually, Gregg
said.
Nemaper articles said
$1.25-million in loans initially
came from the Shrine
charitable corporation in the
form of relocation advances
but were later transferred to
the Colorado corporation’s
$2-billion endowment fund and
converted to long-term mor
see SHRINE, page 6-8