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Che Summerville News
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CHAPTER FIVE
MARYLYN GETS A CLUE
In the pitch blackness just inside his front door, Travis
Walker felt movement near him. He never saw anything.
Instinctively, he ducked, and something swished vicious
ly over his head. In a heartbeat, Travis’ instincts, honed
to a razor sharpness in two years in the jungles of Viet
nam, returned, and as he ducked, his right foot flashed out
behind him, sinking into something soft.
A great WHOOOSSSHHH! came from the darkness.
In the classic counter move, Travis whirled on the ball of
his left foot and aimed the right at where the face ought
to be. At the same instant his foot connected, something
hit him with a vicious thunk! in the kidneys. His back ar
ched sharply and he went to his knees as he heard the crash
of a falling body.
Travis scrabbled with his hands in the dark, trying to
close with his attacker. He got his hands on something,
cloth maybe, and pulled. The cloth was jerked out of his
hands and he heard, rather than saw, the path of the in
truder toward the back door. It slammed and Travis was
suddenly alone in the dark, f)ain shooting up his side into
his neck from the kidney blow.
Painfully, he dragged himself to the telephone. Fifteen
minutes later, Claude Pair came back insicfie from his in
spection of the back door and the rear of the apartment.
“No sign there now, but it's easy to miss small things
in the dark, even with the best light. I'll come back in tfie
morning and take a good look around,” he said to the tall
man on the couch, with an ice bag pressed to his back.
“Thanks. Hard to figure why someone would jump me
inside the door of my apartment.”
“You all right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Did you see anythir:ig?"
“Not a thing. It was dark as pitch inside the door. It
didn't register with me that my outside light was out. And
now that I think about it, the door mat was crooked. I
should have picked those things up. Thinking about the
game, | guess.”
“Yeah. Our guys clobbered them again, huh?"
“Clobbered is right. Thirty-two to nothing.”
“Wow! Some team you've got here.”
“Yeah. Say, do you have many breakings and enter
ings in Humber Hollow?"’
“No. Very few. Mostly everybody knows everybody
else, and very few doors are locked.”
“That's what 1 was thinking. Wonder why this guy
came after me, then. Any ideas?”’
"NoYe, none at all. You?"
“Well, a couple.”
“Shoot!™
“OK. First, I don’t think he was a burglar. I didn't sur
prise him in the act of robbing me. He was waiting inside
the door. I'm sure of that.”
“OK, what else?”
“The second one is pure speculation, but I don't think
he had an ordinary weapon in his hand. I mean like a piece
of wood or an iron pipe.”
“What do you think he used?"”
“A bar of soap in a sock.”
The two men IJooked at each other.
“The old army trick,” said Claude Pair softly.
“Right. You don’t want to kill a guy, or even leave
bruises, you use a bar of soap in a sock.”
“Which means?”’
““Which means he meant to give me a beating, not kill
me.
“But what does that add up to?”
“Beats me. Maybe it was a rival coach, figuring to take
the upstart down a peg or two,"” Travis said ligfitly and
they Eoth chuckled.
“That might be the only way they can stop you.”
“Oh, it's not me. The team would play the same if I
weren't there.”
“That's not the way I heard it.”
Suddenly Travis became aware that Claude Pair was
looking at him strangely.
“You're pretty ta%l the officers said reflectively, rub
bing at his chin.
Travis nodded. ‘*Six four if we win. Four six if we lose,”
Travis said lightly, but the officer was still looking at him.
A picture was trying to form in Claude Pair's mind. Put
a copger hood on him. ..
“Tell me, coach, have you heard anything about this
Copperhead character?"”’
“Only what everybody else has heard; that he is a
mystery man, half ghost, I:alf snake, half Zorro, and the
other half deadly.”
“That about covers it,”’ the officer laughed. Then, *'Do
you think there's any chance it could have been him that
waylaid you?"
“I don’t think so. If it had been, I don't think I would
be sitting here now talking to you. And this doesn’t seem
to be his style.”
“That’s what I was thinking. But you know, a number
of people are trying to connect him with the two killings.”
“I doubt tllat.”
““Me, too.” There was a heavy pause, then Claude Pair
asked casually, ‘Do you have any idea who he might be?"”’
“Not a clue. Do you?"”
“No. But all the signs point to someone who has recent
ly come to this part of the country. Someone who has skills
nobody here has, or has ever had the chance to acquire.”
“Well, I wouldn't question that line of reasonin§, but
that would narrow the suspects down, wouldn't it?"
“It does. Definitely."”
Travis made to rise. ‘‘Well, look, I don't want to keep
you any longer. I've got to fall into bed, and there doesn’t
seem to be much more you can do here tonight.”
As Claude walked to the patrol car, the picture of the
tall young coach dressed all in black with a copper hood
had not a%together left his mind.
He rubbed his chin. *‘A possibility, Claude,” he said
to himself, ‘‘a definite possibility."
In the trees outside her house, Joe Merlin was wonder
ing what the possibilities were that Holly Parker would go
out with him. They had held hands in the fast food af)lace.
He had looked at her hand in his biione. Like a small bird
in driftwood. He felt funny in the knees. He desperately
wanted to kiss her, but was almost sure she would bust
him one in the mouth. Not your ordinary girl, my man.
They were at her steps. She turned.
“Uh, Holly?" he began.
v hYeRI :
“Uh, I was just wondering. I mean, do you think we
might, uh, that is, that you and I could, ul o o
“Go out?” she finished for him.
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“Weeeellllll, I think we might. But you have to pro
mise me something.”
“What?" : T
“That you won't refer to yourself as a dumb jock.
“Oh, that. Well, that's just an act, you see. Actually,
see A SEASON TO REMEMBER, page 5-B
By
PAUL
TREADAWAY
Copyright 1986
Teen Crisis . ..
. . . Pregnancy Center Helps Unwed Mothers, Offers Abortion Alternative
By TOMMY TOLES
Editor .
There has been a tremen
dous increase in teen-age
Eregnancies in Chattooga
ounty in recent years and
county statistics compiled by
the state are probably
understating the proglem since
many girls are going to
Alabama and Tennessee to ob
tain abortions or have their
babies.
That's the view of Martha
Blansit, director of the North
Georgia Crisis Pregnancy
Center, North Commerce
Street, Summerville. It's also a
reason local citizens got
together in mid-1984 to
organize the Center. Mrs. Blan
sit was at a public meeting on
the issue that September but
she never e)if)ected to become
director. *‘All I intended on do
iniwas to try to get up some
ba { clothes and maternity
clothes.”
20 VOLUNTEERS
But two years later, she is
heading up an organization
that has 14 trained counselors,
six more volunteers, spacious
offices, a budget of around on
ly $14,000 a year and vast
needs to help handle the grow
ing problem of teen pregnan
cies and abortions.
In addition to finances, the
Center is working hard to reach
the teens who most need help.
Many don’t read newspapers
and relate only to their own
peer group. Funds for radio
commercials about the
Center’s services had to be cur
tailed last winter when dona
tions slacked off.
There may also have been
some misunderstanding about
the origin of the Center and its
Sflonsorship. Mrs. Blansit em
-8 asized that the Center, while
hristian-oriented, is non
denominational and is not af
filiated with any church local
ly or nationwide.
It is under the ‘‘educational
g/luidance" of Sav-A-Life
inistries, Birmingham, Ala.,
an organization Eeaded by
former Northwest Georgian
Wales Goebel. And it gloes
have a local board of directors,
including Mike Sumner, Drs.
Jack Meacham, Keith Hannay
and Steve Mineart, the Rev.
Steve Wilkinson, John Agnew
and attorney Bob Ogletree.
ALTERNATIVE
The center is designed to
provide an alternative to abor
tion, Mrs. Blansit said, and it
serves as an information clear
inghouse and referral agency to
girls who may not have any
idea of the pregnancy services
offered in Chattooga County
NEAR HOLLAND
Bigfoot Sighted Again
Another sighting of Bigfoot
has been reported in Chattooga
County — this time just north
of the Floyd-Chattooga Coun
ty line on Highway 100.
Selma Lamb said she was
driving home around 10:15
Annex
Issue
Hearing
A public hearing on
whether to annex an additional
mile into the Summerville city
limits will be held at 7 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 13.
The hearing will be held at
the same time as the monthly
meeting of the Summerville
Mayor and Council at city hall.
The issue was brought up
at the SePtember meeting of
the sane and city officials
listed a number of advantages
they said would accrue to
citizens annexed into the city
limits.
Citly officials are hoping
that legislation can be in
troduced in the Georgia
General Assembly in 1987 to
annex the property, extending
an additional mile in all direc
tions around the current city
limits. The other alternative to
legislation is a vote of the
residents in the affected areas.
City officials have said that
if county government stops
contributing to various ser
vices the city provides to coun
ty résidents, it may have to
establish service fees and halt
fire protection to areas outside
the city limits.
Thursday, October 2, 1986
and Northwest Georgia. It pro
vides counseling, material
assistance and transportation
services.
So how did it all start?
Perhaps ironically, the concept
for the Center received its first
breath of life when local men
Agnew and Sumner, now on its
board, attended a church con
ference and the subject of abor
tion arose.
Sumner and Agnew came
back to Summervilfl‘and talk
ed to others about the need for
a dpregnancy center. Soon, an
ad was placed in The News and
a public meeting was held in
September, 1984 with around
70 g‘eople in attendance.
rom that point on, various
people interested in the project
¥ ¥ ¥
Parade Kicks
Off Telethon
The North Georgia Crisis
Pregnancy Center will kick off
a three-day fund-raisin
telethon at 6 p.m. today witfi
a parade along Commerce
Street in Summerville.
The telethon will be shown
Fridag, Saturday and Sunday
on cable channel’G.
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CENTER DIRECTOR MARTHA BLANSIT (SEATED)
Counselor Coordinator Jean Gauld
p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, when
she spotted something she first
thought was a large dog on
Highway 100 between Kincaid
and Simms Mountains.
It was down on all fours,
Ms. Lamb said, and she hit her
vehicle's brakes to avoid hit
ting the creature. But it stood
up on two feet and *‘snarled” at
her as her car passed at about
10 mph within three or four
feet of the creature.
“It looked like something
you'd see in a horror movie,”
said the 21-year-old Ms. Lamb.
LONG HAIR
The creature had long hair
and the rifht side of its face
was puffed out ‘‘like it had a
knot on it,"” she said. There also
agpeared to be a swelling on
the back of its neck extending
down its back a short ways, she
said.
It had lor:ig hair, no shoes,
and appeared to be wearing
“ripped up and nasty’
clothing, said Ms. Lamb, who
works at a Rome department
store. The shirt appeared to be
green in color whifie the pants
were brown, although she
couldn’t tell if the co%or was
due to dirt.
Ms. Lamb, who thinks what
she saw may have been a
deformed human rather than
an animal, said the pants didn't
extend below the Enees.
She drove on to her home
around 1,200 feet north of the
sighting and got her mother,
Mrs. Herschef C. Lamb, and
her brother, Randall, 18, and
they returned to the location
but didn't spot anything.
Whatever she saw was
“just real ugly, scary looking."
SKETCH
Ms. Lamb said she hadn't
got together to obtain more
specific information, and
discuss legal aspects of the
organization, funding sources
and other matters so necessary
to the organization of any
enterprise,
150 GIRLS
By March, 1985, the pro
gram had a desk, typewriter
and phone, but not much else.
But it served its first client
that April. Since then, around
150 to 200 girls, most of them
teens, have been in contact
with the center for ?regnancy
testing, counseling or
assistance.
By the fall of this year, the
Center had at least five chur
ches of all denominations that
support it on a regular basis
plus others that contribute
periodically. Three Sunday
school classes are now sponsor
indg a weekly ad in The News
advising teens about the
Center's services. Chattooga
businessmen and other groups
have also contributed to its
finances. A telethon last year
on local television channel 6
raised around $20,000 in
money and pledges for the
year. The goal for this year’s
telethon is $40,000.
Operating exgenses now
amount to around $1,200 per
see TEEN CRISIS, page 8-B
seen the Sept. 18 edition of The
News when she made the
sighting. “We don’t get our
paper 'til Saturday,” she said.
That particular edition of the
newspaper featured a sketch of
Bigfoot as described by Sum
merville resident David Brown,
who said he saw the creature
on Taylor's Ridge the morning
of Aug. 24.
The creature or human she
saw was larger than any
member of her family, Ms.
Lamb said, and she has a
brother who is 6 feet.
Her father works in Atlan
ta during the week and returns
home on weekends, she said,
and when she told him about
the sighting, he insisted that
she report the incident. She
drew a sketch of what she saw,
Ms. Lamb said, and her mother
then came in and showed her
the Sept. 18 edition of The
News. The News' sketch is
similar to what she drew, Ms.
Lamb said.
PROBE
Sgt. Dan Young of the
Chattooga County Sheriff's Of
fice investigated the sighting,
she said, but no footprints or
tracks were found. I) wish it
had been . . . rainy and muddy
and maybe we would have
found some tracks,” she said.
She spotted the hairy
creature about a half-mile
north of the county line, she
said. Her mother speculated
that it may have been a
deformed human livin§ in the
mountainous area and living
off scraps, Ms. Lamb said.
The reported siihting took
il)‘lace south of the end of
aylor's Ridge in an area
bounded by I%incaid, Simms,
Bogan, Heath, Lavender and
Turnip Mountains.
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‘Li < H ;
PREGNANCY CRISIS CENTER LOCATED IN FORMER RESIDENCE
Offices In House On North Commerce Street, Summerville
SAYS ACCOUNTANT
Tax Bill ‘Confusing’
The tax bill just passed by
the U. S. Congress was describ
ed Monday as ‘‘sweeping,’
“virtually unprecedenteg."
“massive,” ‘‘mind-boggling,”
and ‘‘a confusing mix oF provi
sions.”
Those were the opinions of
Brice Holland of the Chat
tanooga accounting firm of
Holland, Knowles and Peter
son. He exi:ressed them, along
with some known details of the
bill, at Monday's noon meeting
of the Summerville-Trion
Rotary Club at The Tavern,
Trion.
Some aspects of the bill can
be anticipated immediately
while other parts will be un
folding for years to come,
Holland said.
MISLEADING
It was sold to the public on
the basis of simplicity, fairness
and reduced tax rates, but it is
not simple, many people feel it
is not fair and the rates most
often quoted are misleading
and likely will be raised very
soon anyway, Holland said.
Proponents claimed the bill
would %e “revenue neutral’
and not raise taxes, Holland
said. A $l2O-billion tax cut for
Old Graves Unearthed
The Georgia Depart
ment of Transportation
(DOT) is redesigning turn
lanes at the entrance to the
new Summerville Middle
School after grading last
week revealed several
graves at the original
location.
A.W. Headrick of
Headrick Construction Co.,
Summerville, said his crews
were grading the east side of
Highway 100 on either side
of the entrance to the school
when the graves were
discovered.
NO IDEA
Headrick and Ron Hess
of the Georgia DOT, Rome,
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GRAVES UNEARTHED BY GRADING EQUIPMENT NEAR SCHOOL
New Lanes To Be Moved West On Highway 100
individuals would mean a
$l2O-billion tax increase for
corporate business, he said it
was explained. Holland pointed
out that businesses must main
tain a certain profit margin to
stay in business and when
costs go ui) — such as taxes —
they simply raise prices.
The federal government, in
essence, will be putting money
in one taxpayer pocket and tak
ing it out of the other
indirectly.
The bill shouldn't be looked
on as permanent, Holland said,
pointing out that in recent
years, a major tax bill has been
passed on an average of each
18 months. The frequency of
such bills and the magnitude of
the changes they make in the
tax structure are increasing.
884 PAGES
The bill itself is 884 pages
long and the explanation of
fered by the staff of a Congres
sional committee is 1,100 pages
long. Virtually every part of
the tax code is affected, he
fiaid, but no one knows all the
ill contains.
Rather than providing for
simrlifi.cation, the bill should
be labeled the ‘‘tax accoun
AT MIDDLE SCHOOL
said the grading was well
within the surveyed boun
dry. Several marked graves
just outside the Bollin,
Road right-of-way line hag
been noted by the DOT and
Headrick but crews had no
idea there were unmarked
graves within the right-of
way, Hess and Headrick
said.
Headrick said his crews
realized immediately that
they had struck graves and
halted work immediately.
The DOT was then con
tacted to await further in
structions, he said.
Hess said the graves
were either unmarkecfil;r the
markers had become
tants and lawyers relief act”
because they will be working
overtime to figure it out,
Holland said.
When politicians talk about
a ‘“‘slight” tax increase they
usuallK mean around S2OO a
year, he said, and when they
talk about a ‘“‘tax cut,” they
generally talk about 30 cents a
year.
BRACKETS
The new tax rososal is
‘“‘blended” for intgvi uals in
1987, he said. Officially, there
will be two brackets in 1988 —
15 percent for those who make
up to $29,750 and 28 percent
for those who make over that
amount. That's only for mar
ried taxpayers filing jointly,
Holland said, adding that there
are different brackets for single
taxpayers or head-of-household
filers.
Under existing law, a per
son had to make $32,270 to
reach the 28 percent tax
bracket, he said, gut under the
new law, the ‘‘breaking point”
is $29,750. If a person makes
exactly $29,750, he would
“save’’ $77 a year, which is not
enough to make up for his loss
see TAX BILL, page 7-B
covered with six inches to a
foot of soil over more than
a half-century.
VAULT TOP
Marking flags have been
placed at four ‘iwl:ssible
grave sites, including one
where a marble vault to
and sides had been partiat
ly exposed by the %:ading.
An inspection of the area
revealed two more places
that may contain graves.
Two tombstones are visi
ble in weeds, vines and
brush at the edge of the
roadway. One says: ‘‘Strap
Brown, Born Dec. 10, 1848,
Died July 17, 1914.” The
see OLD GRAVES, page 7-B