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4 ot T
DAVID BROWN SAW STRANGE
CREATURE ON TAYLOR'S RIDGE
Had Trouble Finding Right Key To Truck Due To Fear
ACCORDING TO PARTICIPANTS
Trion Mayor Called ‘Liar’ Over Water
By TOMMY TOLES
Editor
A debate over extending
water service to several areas
in Trion became somewhat
heated at last Thursday night’s
meetir:lg of the Mayor and
Council with one resident stalk
ing out of the meeting room
after calling Mayor J.C.
Woods *‘a liar.”
The debate took place after
Mayor Woods told tfie Council
that he hoped the city's
engineers would have a report
ready within a week to 10 (fays
on expanding the city's utility
services to tracts within the
town that have been sold by
Riegel Textile Corp. to in
dividuals who reportedly plan
to develop the plots for residen
tial, commercial or industrial
purgoses.
rion resident Dickie
Anderson, who had asked
about the status of obtaining
water for a new home he was
building at last month’s
meeting, appeared again last
week and said it appeared the
city wasn't doing anything
about utility expansion.
EXPANSION
After Mayor Woods said
that hours had been spent on
the issue following the Riegel
sales, Councilman Larry
Stansell proposed immediate
expansion of the city’'s water
system along Club Drive and
Back Penn Road. Stansell said
he had a preliminary estimate
that a six-inch water main
could be extended some 2,000
feet along Club Drive and
almost 2,300 feet along Back
Penn Road for approximately
$25,000.
Referring to retfuests that
the city extend utility service
to the tracts inside the city,
Stansell said, ‘‘Even though its
been somewhat dumped on us,
it’s our duty as elected officials
to take care of the pro
blems:, .
Stansell said he didn’t feel
the city's engineers would
recommend expansion with six
inch mains and said the city
should set aside $25,000 out of
BENEFACTOR HONOR ROLL
To Acknowledge Contributions Received For Room
Renovation At Chattooga County Hospital:
1. Employees of Farmers and Merchants Bank
2. Georgia Power Company
3. D. B. and Elsie Barron
4. Chattooga County Hospital Employees
5. Medical Staff of Chattooga County Hospital: Keith Hannay,
M.D., Stephen Mineart, M.D., Herman Spivey, M.D., Hugh
Goodwin, M.D., Jack Meacham, M.D., Gary Smith, M.D., Galil
Allen, Nurse Practitioner. .
6. Gene Kellett
7. Chattooga County Ministerial Assn. - Trion
8. Dorcas Sunday School Class First Baptist Church
9. Dr. Marc Wall
‘Bigfoot’ Family Sighted In Area?
the general fund for the two
?rojects with the city paying
or 75 percent of the costs and
the property owners the re
maining 25 percent.
REPUTATION
“We have a terrible reputa
tion as far as letting anyone in
the city of Trion,” Stansell
said. ‘‘We've had absolutely no
business expansion here in
Trion in the last 15 to 18 years
except for the shoppinf
center . . . we haven't expand
ed and we have the reputation
for not wanting anyone to
move in...we haven't
grown..."
Mayor Woods then told
Stansell he had made ‘‘some
pretty stiff accusations.’’
“No I didn't,” Stansell said.
“Yes you did,” Woods said.
The mayor asked indirectly
if the councilman had prefared
the remarks and Stansell said
he had been *‘flying by the seat
of my pants.”; ’
Woods indicated he
thought that the cost figures
for the proposed expansion
cited by Stansell were not
valid.
WOODS DISAGREES
“Riegel owned the proper
ty,” Woods said. ‘We have not
as elected officials kept anyone
from building."” In past years,
if progfrty couldn't be bought
from Riegel, the mayor said,
“you couldn’'t put up a
business.” Then suddenly
Riegel sells large tracts of pro
perty without warning to the
city and before the town could
come ufl with a policy for deal
ing with utility expansion, he
said. Developers lecf’ purchasers
of individual tracts to believe
that the city would serve the
areas with utilities and streets,
the mayor charged.
He said it wouldn’t be fair
to the city's taxpayers for
them to pick up 75 percent of
the cost of sucfi an expansion
and would make the city liable
for serving other similar areas.
“How are we going to get the
money?”’ he asked.
Anderson then asked
Mayor Woods whether he had
called Woods before buying his
tract and asked if the city
A WHOLE family of Bigfoot creatures seems to exist
in the Northwest Georgia-Northeast Alabama area, accor
ding to reports receiveh by The News since an incident on
Aug. 24 in Chattooga County.
%avid A. Brown, 44, Summerville Rte. 1, said a creature
about 7' feet high, covered with hair and having a horr
ible odor came near him on the high point of Jenkins Gap
on Taylor's Ridge around 9:30 a.m. Aug. 24. The creature,
which he said appeared to weigh 350-400 pounds, had large
eyes, a flat nose and a pointvl:i head. Its arms hung down
to its knees, Brown reported to the Chattooga éounty
Sheriff's Office.
Brown, in an interview with The News, was asked if the
creature may have been a black bear standing on its hind
legs.
* * *
“NAW, IT was no bear. I'm sure it was no bear,” Brown
replied. “I sat and stared at him three or four or five
minutes and it was nothing like any bear I've ever seen.”
Brown said he was in one hollow below the crest of
Taylor's Ridge looking for ginseng and walked over to
another hollow, where he later saw the creature.
“After thinking about it, I think it was with me in that
first hollow,"” Brown said. He saw what he thought was
someone walking toward him on the far side of a hollow
and thought it was a friend who may have followed him,
parked his car next to Brown's truck and walked to the
area to find Brown. He yelled for his friend to come on over
but got no response, Brown said, and all of a sudden, "it
?ot deathly quiet.”” He thought it was peculiar that his
riend didn't respond to his greeting., Brown said, think
ing that he had yelled loudly enough.
* * *
ALL OF A sudden, Brown said he heard movement
behind him and he turned around, thinking it was his friend.
It wasn't. It was the strangest creature Brown had ever
seen. It was panting or breathing hard, as if it had been
running.
“It came up behind me some 60 or 70 feet without me
ever seeing it,” Brown said, and when he heard the move
ment, ‘‘Bigfoot” was 20 or 25 feet away.
“I was froze to the ground.'l couldn't move,"” Brown
said. ‘I was afraid it would attack me ... " and thought
if he didn't move, it might not hurt him. But if it had made
would serve the property and
was told by the mayor that the
city woulg’ rovide water ser
vice to his ff)md.
“No I didn't,” the mayor
replied.
“LIAR"”
“Thank you — you're a
liar,”” Anderson replied and
stalked out of the meeting.
Maiyor Woods told the
councilmen he had told Ander
son that the city was consider
ing running a water line to the
boundry line of the overall
tract, not to Anderson's in
dividual lot.
Stansell then told the
mayor that he had not made
any accusations toward any
specific person or group about
Trion's lack of growth, saying
that his view was based on
general public opinion.
Woogs said he had been on
the town's planning commis
sion since 1962 and “I'll bet
I've shown property to at least
15 prospective industries . .. ”
Stansell said again that he
had not assessed blame to the
mayor or past or present coun
cil members.
*...1t came across that
way to me,” Woods replied,
“I'm bitterly opposed, bitterly
opposed to your 75-25 pro
?osal. .. " He added, "I don't
eel it's fair to ask those 700
taxpayers (of Trion) to sub
sidize those people who bought
that property.”
1 IMPATIENCE
| Councilman Roy Bowers in
| dicated impatience with the
| speed at which development of
1 a utilities expansion policy was
| moving, saying, “We need to
| do something . . . I'd like for us
| to solve this as soon as we
i can.”
The mayor then said he had
told Anderson it was the
responsibility of the original
purchaser of the Riegel proper
ty to provide him with water
“‘but he went ahead and built."”
If the city's engineers are
supposed to have a report on
expansion within the next 10
days, Stansell asked the
mayor, would the Council have
J a called meeting or workshop
on the subject.
By TOMMY TOLES
Editor
PUBLIC?
“Sure, I feel we ought to
look at it before having a public
meeting,”" the mayor replied.
Stansell said he would
withdraw his motion —the
discussion began before the
mayor asked for a second —
but asserted that he was not
withdrawing his intention to be
‘‘an instigator in getting
something done.”’ Stansell said
he felt the engineering report
would include both sewerage
and water expansion and
would appear too expensive.
Saying he was not wavering in
his commitment to have
something done about water
expansion, Stansell said *“l'm
not a politician” and was not
good with words while “the
mayor is an expert in political
words.”
The councilman emphasiz
ed that he was not trying to
spend the tax money of Trion
wantonly but was seeking to
make an investment in the
future growth of the town.
Referring to the taxpayers, he
said, *'l don't think they want
to see this town dry up and
blow away."”
“STIFLED”
A return on such an invest
ment wouldn't come im
mediately, Stansell said,
because “‘growth won't come
easy after being stifled for
vears.” Riegel Textile Corp.
had been t%]e “mother and
father” to the town — which he
described as a “‘baby” — for
decades, Stansell said, but that
it is time for the city to *‘grow
up and make some tough deci
sions.”
“You're not wanting to do
anything that [ haven't
wanted to do for years,” the
mayor said.
“Somewhere along the way,
it looks like we are going to
have to subsidize it,”" said
Councilman Hoyt Williams,
referring to the initial cost of
utility expansion to a small
base of customers.
“*Not necessarily,” the
mayor said, referring to
Warner Robins as one town he
said obtained expansion of
utility service without
subsidies.
BIDS REJECTED
In other action, the Council
rejected both bids on two
trucks for the city, after the
mayvor said one dealer had bid
on a 1986 model while the other
dealer had bid on a 1987 model.
The city had asked for bids on
a 1987 model.
The panel approved the pur
chase of a new patrol car from
Brimp Warren Ford Co. at a
cost of $11,950. The only other
bid was $15,525, minus a ‘‘gas
guzzler' rebate of $1,300 from
Jimmy Black Chevrolet.
Councilmen also okayed the
Furchase of a Bobcat loader
rom Rhinehart Equipment
Co., Rome, for $12,444. The
other bid was for $13,291 from
Clark Handling Materials Inc.,
Chattanooga.
A staffer with the Coosa
\"ullely Area Planning and
Development Commission is
working on development plans
for the track field, the mayor
another st,er toward him, Brown said he was thinking at
the time, “I'd go up that mountain like a rocket . .. "
For several minutes, Brown said he and the Bigfoot just
looked at one another, neither of them movin?.
The creature's left “‘hand’ or paw had long fingernails
that curved *‘like corkscrews in a knot" and his left arm ap
peared to be useless, Brown said. His left leg also appeared
to be hurt, or “somet,h‘ing sgemeg wrong with it.
THE CREATURE'S right “*hand” had short fingernails
and appeared normal, the Chattooga Count{ man said.
Since the creature was covered with thick, long black
hair that fell in locks, Brown said he couldn't tell whether
it was male or female,
The face appeared “monkey-like,” and the mouth was
flat across the face, somewhat human-like, with thick lips,
Brown recounted. But it didn’t have an‘y" teeth, Brown said,
which made no difference because ‘I thought it could still
eat me.” It appeared to be rather old.
Finally, the creature turned to its left after a §nmt and
walked away down the ridge. Brown also turned back up
the mountain but didn't walk aw:ay.
*
“I'VE GOT bruises as big as half-dollars all over my
legs where I slid on the rocks,” Brown said. ‘1 went up
that mountain in three or four minutes and when the deputy
and I went back down there it took us 15 minutes. I guess
I did go back up the mountain ‘like a rocket.’ I thought
I was §OMg to have a heart attack ... When I got to the
tauck, ‘Il bet I tried every key I had before I got it crank
ed.
And Brown said a law enforcement report and a re’port
in The News that he vomited because of the smell of the
creature was wrong. ‘I threw up because that's how scared
I was, not because of what it smelled like,"” he said.
Brown, who has hunted gingsen%. a medicinal herb that
grows wild, for years on Taylor's Ridge, said he'll never
%o to the area alone aiain. He has even dreamed about the
igfoot twice since t e incigent. i
HIS DAD, who is 70 years old, always thought there
was something unusual on the rit‘iige. Brown said, and his
mother once saw something odd when she was in the
Brown's pasture.
Brown admits that his story seems ‘‘unbelievable. If
somebody had come up to me and said they'd seen that,
I'd have said, ‘You're crazy!” "' he freely acknowledges, ‘‘but
I know what I saw!”
Brown wishes he had concrete proof of the creature’s
said, in hopes of providing
more facilities and Earking.
The Council okayed an
allocation of $450 from the
Civil Defense budget to the
Chattooga Ambulance Service
for equipment to complement
the new Lifepak-5 units recent
ly ordered.
Two street lights have been
installed on Allgood Street at
a monthly cost to the city of
sl4 per month, the mayor said.
AUDIT
George Slickman, Rome, of
the city's auditing firm, went
over the town's audits for fiscal
year 1986, which ended last
June 30.
General fund revenues were
$948,151, he said, compared to
the budgeted figure of
$906,234.
The sewerage fund showed
an excess of income of $49,800
even after transfers to other ci
ty departments, he indicated.
However, the recreation
Engineer Estimates
$250,000 In Costs
It will cost an estimated
$250,200 to run water and
sewer lines to ei%ht large tracts
of property in Trion, the City
Council was told at an informal
meeting late Wednesday after
?oon by the city's engineering
irm.
Thomas R. Gore Jr., vice
president of Robert Company,
Atlanta, presented the cost
estimates to the panel and
mayor, which held a previous
ly unannounced and unposted
meetin% at 5 p.m. The session
was still going on after 7 p.m.
Wednesday.
Gore said it would cost an
estimated $117,150 to run
utilities to several Duncan pro
perties north of town and
$25,500 to a West Pennville
Road tract. It would cost
$107,550 to provide water and
sewer service to the Hurley and
Gamble prope:&v along U. S.
27, he estimated. 5
The engineer also warned
that the expansions, combined
with development of the city’s
pr_o?]osed industrial park,
mlg t require improvement
and expansion of the city's
water and sewerage plants.
Mayor J. C. Woods pointed
out that the city doesn't own
the water treatment plant. The
city obtains its water from
Riegel Textile Corp.
“I'm . ready 'to. o
something,” said Councilman
Larry Stansell after a length
discussion of Gore's estimates.
“1 want to proceed with
haste . ..but not with such
haste that we screw up and
make mistakes.”
Gore said the Council
should seek to develop a policy
soon on how it would apportion
the cost for providing utility
service to the property lines of
department had some $32,000
in excess expenses over
revenues for the year, he said.
And the gas department
showed a deficit of some
$200,000, including transfers
to other departments, he in
dicated. Reason for the figure
in the red was because gas
system revenues were down
some $85,000 and Southern
Natural Gas Co. had added a
surcharge. The Council last
month increased ¥as depart
ment fees in an effort to help
with losses in that department.
A revised cemetery or
dinance was approved and the
Council received a report that
the city issued seven building
permits valued at $3,730 last
month from Recorder Ricky
Bowers.
POWELL LETTER
Mafyor Woods also read a
letter from Chattooga County
Commissioner Harry Powell to
Larry Rising of Riegel Textile
the tracts — how much the ci
::{v would bear and how much
evelgFers of the tracts would
bear. There is no set formula,
he said, because almost every
city does it differently. Trion is
in a unique position, he said,
because most cities have
already expanded their water
and sewer systems and have
policies for dealing with such
matters.
In response to a question
from Councilman Stansell,
Gore said the use of PVC pipe
would reduce the cost figures
by around 25 percent. His
estimates involved the use of
iron pipe, Gore indicated. Most
of the reduced cost would in
volve labor savings, he told the
Council. ‘‘There's nothing
wron%l with PVC if you put it
in right,”” he said.
Mayor Woods asked if
cities financed such expan
sions. Gore explained that the
citg' may need to establish an
industrial development
authority and finance the in
dustrial park throu%h in
dustrial development bonds.
Water and sewer line expan
sions are usually financed with
revenue bonds, as well as
grants and low-interest loans,
Gore said.
The cost figures presented
by Gore Wednesday, combined
with an estimated cost of
$600,000 to $700,000 for
developing the industrial park
would mean that the city may
be faced with raising more than
sl-million for the proposals if
they are im‘i)lemented, the
mayor pointed out.
Gore suggested, after a
comment by Mayor Woods,
that the Council study his cost
estimates and proposals and
The Summerville News, Thursday, September 4, 1986
existence. “‘l'd ‘five anything if there'd been somebody with
me or if there'd be any way to get a picture of it,”" he said.
In fact, on his future Finseng-huntmg excursions, Brown
plans on taking a small camera and a weapon . . . just in
case. i &
MEANWHILE, Robin Avans, a Walker County resi
dent and brother of Trion policeman Roger Avans, said he
and three friends saw somethini earlier in the summer
similar to the creature rejmrted y Brown.
Avans and three friends, Kevin Pettigrew, Todd Rore
and Tommy Brooks, all of Walker County, had been involv
ed in a coon hunt in the Centre, Ala., area when they return
ed to find one of their missing dogs.
While riding down a dirt road in the center of a long
soybean field, they spotted something at the edge of the
field. A
“HE WAS real tall’’ Avans said, estimating the
creature’s height at 10 feet. It was slender and ap%eared
to have on somet,hing that appeared to be yellow-brown
“overalls,”” Avans said, adding that the creature was so far
away that it was hard to come up with a specific descrip
tion. The creature didn't appear to be covered with fur or
hair, except from its knees to its feet, he said.
It was walking upright like a man and taking long, stiff
legged strides, Avans said. ‘lt could walk in 15 minutes
wfiat it would take a man to walk in an hour,” Avans said.
The four saw the creature go into the woods but were
a little fearful of getting too close, Avans said. They didn’t
find any tracks because the ground was so dry and hard
packed, he said. A car was spotted a short distance away,
Avans said, but the two men at the vehicle — who were
of normal height — didn’t indicate that they had seen
anything unusual. Lol e
THE CREATURE was slim and did not appear bulky,
Avans said.
They sEott,ed the creature in a field near Ballé)lay,
located in Etowah County, Ala., near the Cherokee Coun
ty line, Avans said.
An acquaintance of Avans spotted a similar-looking
animal or creature near Pigeon Mountain west of LaFayette
this summer, he said.
It appeared to have on what Avans said his friend
describeg as “‘kind of a monkey suit.” His friend saw the
creature near a roadway early one morning when going
hor(rlxe from work. ‘‘He got a real good look at him,” Avans
said.
Corp. for the city's fire depart
ment, advising that the depart
ment would no longer receive
funds from the county due to
cutbacks in federal fievenue
Sharing. :
The News re;lxorted in
August that the letter had
been sent to about 20 depart
ments and agencies
throughout the county in July.
Trion was supposed to have
received $12,000 from the
county for recreation purposes
but got only $3,000 last lfiear,
the mayor said, and a bill for
some $2,500 was sent to the
county for fire calls outside the
city but remains unpaid.
Mayor Woods said he wanted
the Council to start thinking
about endindg fire call service to
areas outside the city limits in
future months.
Meanwhile, the Council also
approved several fund-raising
projects by the 50-Yard Club in
Trion.
later attempt to develop a
policy for cost-sharing between
the city and developers. g
GEORGIA FARM
BUREAU
@ INSURANCE
CO.
Southern F B
ouLizl:ns::l:nc: o @
: LSAA&MOWNERS
e HOMEOWNERS
e AUTO e LIFE » FIRE
e DISABILITY INCOME
BEN COLLINS
DAN LOGAN
Now in New Location }
118 S. Commerce St.
PHONE 857-3214
Local Men
*
Questioned
®
In Slaying
Two Chattoo%a County
men were being held for Crisp
County authorities Wednesday
afternoon on theft by taking
charges and for questioning in
the slayini of a convenience
store clerk in that South
Georgia coung'.
They are Bobby Gilreath,
28, Summerville Rte. 3, and
Charles Frank Gilreath, 23,
Summerville Rte. 3, Box 220,
Teloia Community. :
They were arrested at 10
E.m. Tuesday at their home bi'
hattogéa County Sheriff
Gary McConnell. Several items
stolen from the convenience
store last Thursday allegedly
were recovered from the
Gilreath home, the sheriff in
dicated. They offered no
resistance, he said.
The two are ‘‘prime
susgects" in the slaying of Cur
tis Denham, an employee of the
convenience store, located just
off 1-75 in Crisp County,
McConnell said.
“We received a teletype
from Crisp County authorities
Tuesday night saying t;hey
wanted the Gilreath men,”
Sheriff McConnell said. “We
just picked them up for Crisp
County."”
2-Man
Scramble
A two-man scramble golf
tournament has been set for
Sept. 6-7 at the Trion Golf
Course.
Tee-times are from 9 to 1:30
with a S2O per team entry fee.
7-A