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VOLUME CI — NUMBER XXXVI
CLOSED GATE FOR LAST TIME IN 1977
Changing Times Doomed Fair
By TOMMY TOLES
Editor
NINE YEARS ago, the
tradition-rich Chattooga Coun
ty Fair closed its gates for the
final time. It died without a
whimper after a life span of 71
years.
Today, the fairgrounds bet
ween Seventh Avenue and
Stockade Road in northeast
Summerville are overgrown
with weeds. Only the exhibits
building, now used for a nutri-
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WEEDS, DECREPIT CONCESSION STAND REMAIN AT FAIRGROUNDS
Chattooga County Fair Went Out Of Business Nine Years Ago
COULD DELAY SETTING MILLAGE
Potential Tax Issue Arises
By TOMMY TOLES
Editor
The Chattooga County
Board of Education and Com
missioner Harry Powell may
face potentially complex and
significant problems and
possibly a delay in setting this
year's tax rate.
Figures from the
preliminary 1986 tax digest are
available but it may be during
the first week in October before
taxing authorities know
whether that information is
likely to remain valid.
Three major property
owners in Chattooga County
have until the first week in Oc
tober to determine whether
they will appeal an assessment
decision by the county’'s Board
of Tax Assessors. If no appeal
is filed, the digest figures may
remain substantially the same
as they are now. But if an ap-
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WIDENING WORK ON U. S. HIGHWAY 27 TO BEGIN MONDAY
Pipe Stockpiled For Utility Relocation. See Story Page 3-A
Local Football
~.,',;;Q""’ Pages 14-154
tion center, and a boarded-up
concession stand remain. The
livestock barn is gone and the
eastern end of the grounds
were taken over several years
ago for Fairway Recreation
Center and swimming pool.
Most Chattooga residents
under 17 or 18 years of age
have little memory of the fair
or its traditions in what used
to be a primarily agricultural
county.
* * *
AFTER THE fair closed
down in the fall, 1977, the
Chattooga Fair Association an
peal is filed, a potential exists
for reducing the tax digest by
between $2-million and
$6.5-million.
REVENUES
Based on the 1985 tax rate
and a theoretical maximum
reduction in the digest, county
revenues could be reduced by
more than SBO,OOO and school
revenue could be cut by more
than $27,000.
Joel Cook, chairman of the
county school board, said Tues
day he hadn't received the
digest information but felt the
schools wouldn't be in too dif
ficult a financial position even
if the digest were to be reduc
ed the maximum amount
possible.
Commissioner Powell said
Tuesday he had been briefed on
the potential problem but
hadn’t decided what steps to
take on the tax rate.
The property owners in
volved are Rlegefy Textile Corp.,
The Summeruille News
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA — THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1986
nounced that it was giving up
its sponsorship of the fair, was
turning the fairgrounds back
to the county government and
was disband);ng.
One unnamed fair official
told The News at the time that
attendance at the fair was the
lowest it had ever been and
that the association had lost
money on the operation. It
never made much money, fair
officials said, and there was
usually little money left over
each year for routine
maintenance.
The carnival that the fair
Georgia Rug Mill and Georgia
Glove Mill
The Chattooga County
Board of Tax Assessors on
Sept. 2 sent a letter to the three
firms asking for additional
specific information on their
Sheriff Hit On Cars
Chattooga County Commis
sioner Harry Powell Wednes
day told Sheriff Gary McCon
ne?l, he would buy two %atrol
cars for the agency ‘“‘when I
have time”’ but that the sheriff
shouldn’'t wait for five re
quested vehicles ‘‘because you
might go blind before that ap
pears.”
The remarks to McConnell
were contained in a hand
written letter from the commis
sioner. It blasted McConnell on
‘Gourdies’ Popular
.-See Page 1-B
association was able to obtain
for the last few years of the
county fair's life was blamed,
in part, for the festival's
demise. In 1977, the carnival
brought only about half the 30
rides and booths it had promis
ed and the previous two or
three years weren't much
better.
* * *
CHARLES SUMNER,
Trion, for years secretary of
the fair association and one of
its more enthusiastic sup
?orters, said a combination of
actors led to the carnival pro
blems although they probably
weren't well understood by
local residents at the time.
Sumner — like several fair
directors contacted recently by
The News — misses the annual
event. As do Leroy Massey,
Menlo, .and Bob Brison and
J. B. White, Summerville, all
former fair association officials.
The first fairs got their
start in downtown Summer
ville not too long after the turn
of the century. The midway,
which was a far cry from some
of today's la‘;Fe carnivals, was
set up on West Washington
Avenue and featured such
events as a greased pif—
catching contest, greased aFo e
climb and sack races, along
with homemade concessions.
The exhibits were displayed in
the Chattooga County
Courthouse.
Later-on, the fair was mca ¢
ed to what is now the old Sum
merville Junior High School
comlplex between Rome
Boulevard and College Street.
In fact, the fair association was
responsible for erecting a fence
around the football field area.
The fence has since been
removed.
] * *
FAIRGOERS paid their ad-
equipment and property to
justify the total figure on the
tax returns they had turned in
to the county. In the mean
time, the board retained a
higher figure on the 1986
digest. The firms have 30 days
a variety of issues and was in
cluded with another typed let
ter which criticized the sheriff
for his procedure in forwarding
funds to Powell for boarditxég
prisoners at the jail (see rela
story).
FUNDS
Sheriff McConnell last week
told Powell he needed five new
patrol cars. The sheriff's letter
said all previously budgeted
funds for that purpose had not
Powell Changes View On Jail Payment
Chattooga County Commis
sioner Harry Powell apparent-
R' changved his mind from Tues
ay to Wednesday on whether
the Frocedure used by the
sheriff in paying the county for
out-of-town prisoners boarded
at the county jail was
acceptable.
On Tuesday, the commis
sioner said he wanted to check
with an attorney about the pro
cedure but “‘I J:)n‘t see wh[\)' it
wouldn't be..." acceptable.
But on Wednesday, the com
missioner sent two letters to
Sheriff Gary McConnell
blasting him for the procedure.
One of the letters said the mat
ter was being referred to
Georgia's attorney general, the
Lookout Judiciefie Circuit
district attorney and county
attorney Ed Surles.
mission to the fair at the en
trance to Sturdivant Gym
nasium, where they got a
chance to view the exfiibits.
From there, they could go out
the other side og, the gym onto
the football field ang}t':he car
nival area.
About 1947, the fair moved
to its final home off Seventh
Avenue in northeast Summer
ville. Under an agreement sign
ed that year, the county deed
ed a 17-acre site to tfie fair
association with a clause which
said the property would revert
to county ownership should it
ever cease to be operated as a
count{ fair location. Thirty
years later, the fair association
exercised that option.
Then-county commissioner
Wayne h“Pete” Dens}c:r})l ac
cepted the property wit S
that another sponsor coul(()ine
found. The Chattooga Young
Farmers organization discuss
ed the proposal but according
to reports at the time, the
festival's longstanding finan
cial woes made the group reluc
t,;nt to make a commitment for
the project.
Accerdin% to former fair
association officials, the opera
tion went out of business
because of a combination of
several factors.
* * *
1. WHILE the fair’s
revenues remained fairly static
over the years, costs steadily
A T N
enough volunteers to man
every operation, it was
necessary to hire workers, and
labor costs went from 50 cents
per hour or less steadily up
ward through the years.
Maintenance costs continued
to rise, primarily centered
around the exhibit building
and barn areas, but also in
see CHANGING, page 8-A
from when they received that
letter to respond and to decide
whether an appeal will be filed.
County tax officials were
uncertain whether the 30 days
are calendar or business days.
see TAX ISSUE, page 8-A
been spent and that funds were
also included in the depart
ment's 1986 budget.
Only two of three requested
cars were bought from the
1985 budget, the sheriff said,
and only $4,500 of $34,760
budieted for vehicles in 1986
has been spent.
The department has two
cars with over 400,000 miles,
the sheriff said in his letter last
see SHERIFF, page 7-A
PRISONERS
The controversy involves
the sheriff changing his
method this summer of forwar
ding payments to the commis
sioner'’s office for boardin% out
of-town prisoners at the Chat
tooga County Jail.
As a resu}l't of the flap, the
sheriff said Wednesday he was
considering not accepting out
of-town prisoners at the jail,
which he said would result in a
revenue loss to the county of
around $190,000 annually.
McConnell indicated he was
frustrated at the continuing
controversies with the
commissioner.
Powell Tuesday morning
displayed a c{\eck for
$26,367.50 made out to Chat
tooga County and signed by
the sheriff. It was drawn on an
account at First Federal Sav
Trion Okays Classrooms
--See Page 9-4
CHATTOOGA ARTIST SKETCHES LIKENESS OF “BIGFOOT”
Based On Description By Summerville Man
Did Rigfoot ‘Jinx’
Attack TV Station?
Could it be the *‘curse of Bigfoot?”
WXIA television, Atlanta, may be
thinking that there could be something to
the idea that Bigfoot didn't want his
presence known beyond the Chattooga
County area.
Reporter Neal Craig and a cameraman
visiteéJ the county last Thursday, Sept. 11,
to cover the Bigfoot story which hag been
featured in The News.
Resident David Brown, who resides
just east of Lyerly Hi%hway near Summer
ville, took Craig and the cameraman to the
location on Taylor’'s Ridge where Brown
said he saw a strange creature on the mor
ning of Sept. 24.
The WXIA reporter visited The News
and interviewed several local residents
about the possibility that a strange
creature popularly known as Bigfoot
resides on Taylor’'s Ridge.
The WXIA report was promoted on the
Atlanta television station’s 5:30 p.m. news
last Thursday and at least twice on the 6
p.m. news —{)ut it was never shown. But
no on-the-air explanation was offered.
BLANK
The sngment was shown on WXIA's
6:30 a.m. Friday news and it was schedul
ed to be on the 6 p.m. news that day.
However, the segment started with Crai
and Brown walking down the ridge trafi
toward the spot where Brown saw the
creature. But after a few seconds, the taped
report blacked out and co-anchor Chuck
Moore said, *'l don’t believe it. I don't
believe it." John Pruitt, co-anchor and
Moore briefly discussed whether B)igfoot
had some sort of control over WXIA's
equipment since the station had tried un
successfully to get the report on the air
Thursday night. Moore said the report
gmght be telecast during the weekend but
it didn't appear.
ings and Loan Association,
Summerville. The commis
sioner said he thought it was
for ‘‘food” relating to jail
prisoners. The commissioner
said the check appeared to him
to be a personal counter-type
check since it had no printed
designation indicating the
name of the account or the
account-holder. It was dated
July 7 and had a hand-written
designation of “1" in the top
right corner.
STAMPED
Until mid-summer, Powell
said Tuesday, the sheriff had
merely stamped his endorse
ment on the back of checks
from cities or counties boar
ding prisoners at the jail and
turned the checks over to his
office for deposit.
Displaying a letter dated
1 € 1 TA A
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Aug. 22 from J. Virgil Moon,
finance director—comfitroller of
Cobb County, Powell said the
county had received checks for
‘Unity’ Meeting Set
The Chattooga Chamber
Foundation Inc. board of direc
tors voted unanimously Tues
day afternoon for the grougeto
sponsor a ‘‘unity meeting” bet
ween government, civic,
business and community
leaders in an attempt to end
divisiveness that may be
hampering growth in the
county.
The issue was first broach
ed by director Hugh Hender
Gary Whitaker of WXIA told The
News, with more than a hint of frustration
in his voice, that Craig and the cameraman
were unfamiliar with the wiring and et;(uip
ment in the Rome bureau office of WXIA
Thursday evenini, causing videotape
editing problems that forced cancellation
of the Bigfoot segment. The bureau chief,
Don Hatcher, was on vacation last week.
FALSE START
The segment was telecast successfully
Friday morning, Whitaker said. The first
part of the piece had been started and
aborted during production and then
started over. Both the false start and the
entire completeevfiiece were on the same
tape cassette, itaker explained. But
when the tape was rewound after the Fri
day morning showing, it was accidently
wound back to the befiinning of the false
start, rather than to the beginning of the
“‘good”’ entire segment.
Rather than try again during the
weekend, WXIA decided the report was
“jinxed" and dr‘c))&)ped the idea of trying to
show it again, Whitaker indicated.
Meanwhile, a Chattooga County artist
came up with a sketch of the Bigfoot
creature that Brown reported having seen
on Taylor’'s Ridge. The artist, who wished
to remain anonymous, said he based his
sketch on Brown's description of the
creature featured in The News. Aside from
being a bit less ‘‘hairy’’ than Brown had
described, it apgears to be a faithful ren
dition of what Brown said he saw in the
woodlands.
A rumor earlier this week that the Chat
tooga County Sheriff’s Office had arrested
a man over the weekend who may have
been ‘‘Bigfoot’ turned out to be false.
. Sc whatever Brown saw. .. it's still
there.
the February, March, April
and May boarding of Cobb
prisoners but none in July or
see POWELL, page 10-A
son, who is also serving as
Bresident of the Chamber of
ommerce this year and was
e\i}cked up by director Henry
atson, g:esident of Farmers
and Merchants Bank.
The Georgia Department of
Industry and Trade has in
dicated that it won't refer in
dustrial prospects to the coun
ty so long as vyolitical bickering
continues, Watson said. The
see ‘'UNITY’, page 11-A
PRICE 20¢