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The Summerville News
The Official Legal Organ of Chattooga County
WINSTON E. ESPY DAVID T. ESPY, JR. WILLIAM T. ESPY
PUBLISHER GENERAL MANAGER ADVERTISING MANAGER
TOMMY TOLES
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Address All Mail to: THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS, P. 0. Box 310, Summerville, Ga. 30747
Editorials
Hire Financial Manager
If there was one consistent theme run
ning through the recommendations hand
ed down by Chattooga County's auditors,
it was the need for better financial accoun
ting in county government.
“An adequate system for comparing
actual expenditures with budgeted expen
ditures is not available,” the auditors said,
adding, “‘an accounting system should be
developed and maintained that would
enable comparisons of budgeted and ac
tual expenditures and receipts on a mon
thly basis.”
They also pointed out that the county's
checkbook hasn't been reconciled with
bank statements monthly.
Clearly, significant changes need to be
made immediately. As it now stands, it is
virtually impossible for any county official
to know whether he is within his budget
at any time, or the actual status of the
county's finances.
County government has grown in com-
DOT Hearing Today
Chattooga Countians, especially those
with property fronting on U. S. Highway
27, should show up for today's public hear
ing in Trion on the widening of that
highway.
The Georgia Department of Transpor
tation will sponsor the 4 to 7 p.m. hearing
at the Trion Community Center. Maps and
descriptions of the proposed widening of
U. S. 27 from Highway 156 in Floyd Coun
tv to downtown Summerville will be
Sum-Nelly Successful
Organizers of the annual Sum-Nelly
festival in Summerville have a great deal
to be proud of this year. The recent event
drew several thousand people to the Sum
merville Recreation Center, where the
festival was located. More than 100 craft
smen and exhibitors participated.
Initial reports indicate that almost
$16,000 worth of goods was sold by ex
hibitors, most of whom were Chattooga
County residents. That doesn't count the
School Luneh Week
This week is **School Lunch Week' na
tionwide and many schools in Trion and
Chattooga County are taking note of the
special week.
School lunches have long been the butt
of jokes and many students prefer not to
eat in school cafeterias. In past years, a
reputation for unpopular meals may have
been deserved in some areas of the
country.
But just a quick look at the menus
puhliched in The News most every week
Words From The Past
Reprinted without comment:
“I feel that the people of Chattooga
County demand and deserve more infor
mation than we are receiving concerning
their tax dollars.”
“With the opportunities that Chat
tooga County offers, we should have at
least one new industry per year. Look at
the other counties around us and see for
vourself.”
plexity in the last 30 years and it is no
longer possible to operate it out of one’s
back pocket.
One can be ‘‘penny wise and pound
foolish.” This now seems to be the case
with county government. It is highly like
ly that a highly qualified — and well-paid
— Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or
financial manager could save more than
his salary by developing adequate com
puterized or manual financial controls and
bookkeeping services and providing mon
thly reports to the county commissioner
and other county officials on the county’s
revenues, expenditures and indebtedness.
Chattooga County's commissioner
should give strong consideration to
employing a CPA as the county's financial
manager and authorizing him to set up an
adequate accounting system, as recom
mended by the county's own auditors.
Such a move would be a step in the
right direction.
available for viewing. The same informa
tion will be available on the proposed
widening of the highway from Trion to
LaFayette.
The DOT is pushing ahead with im
provement plans for U. S. 27 and if Chat
tooga Countians want their views to be
heard on the issue, they should show up
at today's hearing or submit written
statements to the DOT by Oct. 27.
dollars spent in the area by visitors and
tourists who attended Sum-Nelly.
Not only has Sum-Nelly become an im
portant fall “event” in Northwest Georgia,
it has also boosted the local economy by
drawing those visitors to our beautiful
county.
Sum-Nelly coordinator Pam Echols
and her helpers deserve applause for their
hard work and for making the festival such
a success year after year.
will provide evidence that tasty, attractive
meals are being offered to local students.
Many cafeterias serve basic and
nutritious meals, along with items that
might be labeled ‘‘junk food” but is
nutritious nevertheless. Salads are often
provided for youngsters who feel they are
getting a bit heavy.
The school lunch has come a long way
in recent years and this week is a good
time to draw attention to that fact.
“If you would like for your tax dollars
to be more of a benefit to you in Chattooga
County, such as more support to fire
departments, recreation, mental health,
libraries, day care centers and the other
necessary institutions that have been
neglected, think before you vote.”
— Harry Powell
August, 1984
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Viewpoint
By Tommy Toles, Editor
Visit To Disney World
Walt Disney World and central Florida
know how to throw a party! And how to
get plenty of favorable publicity in the
process.
I was one of several thousand jour
nalists from all over the world to be invited
to Disney World and the Orlando, Fla.,
area a couple of weeks ago — with all ex
penses, including airfare, being paid.
Reason for' the press junket was
twofold: celebration of Disney World's
15th anniversary in connection with the
200th anniversary of the U.S.
Constitution.
Former Chief Justice Warren Burger,
chairman of the U. S. Bicentennial Com
mission, was billed as the main speaker
but American newsman Nicholas Daniloff,
just freed from the Soviet Union, was a
surprise guest.
At the special program in the Orlando-
Orange County Convention and Civic
Center, Disney World President Frank
Wells spoke about the greatness of the
Constitution and Disney's decision to tie
in its observance with the historical event.
He was followed by Justice Burger, who
was supposed to be the main speaker.
However, Burger introduced Daniloff,
who had just been set free by Moscow
after being charged with being *‘a spy.”
Daniloff was impressive because he
acknowledged that the United States had,
indeed, swapped him for suspected Sov
viet spy Gennadiy Zakharov and Soviet
dissident Yuri Orlov. The Reagan ad
ministration had tried to disclaim that a
swap had taken place.
Daniloff said he would have tried to
make his ‘‘spy' trial a farce, if it had come
to that. He would not have cooperated
with his communist captors in any man
ner, the U. S. News and World Report
magazine reporter said.
His was a rather brave stance, con
sidering the Soviet disregard for human
life.
From Our Early Fil
ey ——U——-
%
39 YEARS AGO
The following are excerpts from the Oct. 16, 1947 edition of The Summer
ville News.
* * *
EXTENSION OF CITY SEWER SYSTEM APPROVED BY CITY; TO
COST $97,000 — An extension of the sewer system in Summerville, which will
more than double the present system and which will cost approximately $97,000
has been approved by the city council. The new sewerage system will extend
as far north as the railroad crossing north of Summerville on U. S. Highway
27, and will go as far south as the intersection of Washington Street and U. S.
Highway 27. The entire cotton mill village in South Summerville will be ser
viced under the new plan.
* * *
ONE HOUR PARKING EFFECTIVE NOV. 1 IN SUMMERVILLE —
Beginning Nov. 1, a one-hour parking ordinance will go into effect on the
business section of Commerce Street in Summerville according to action taken
by the City Council in a meeting Friday.
* * *
TWO NEW SCHOOL BUILDING ARE PROPOSED FOR COUNTY —
A petition is being circulated in Chattooga County asking the Board of Educa
tion to call an election for bonds for the building of two additional grammar
school buildings in the county, School Supt. C. B. Akin disclosed yesterday.
Mr. Akin said that if these bonds are voted in and sold, a seven-room school
building will be built at Pennville and another at an undecided location for the
upper part of the county to serve the Welcome Hill, Myers and Hanson
communities.
* * *
COUNTY FAIR GETS UNDER WAY — The Chattooga County Fair was
getting well under way yesterday afternoon, the first day of the annual occa
sion. For the first time in the history of the Chattooga County Fair, it will have
a permanent location of its own.
G ‘?
2
Needless to say, Daniloff was an im
mediate hit with the crowd. He received a
standing ovation, along with his two
children and wife, who also attended the
opening Disney ceremony. Dozens of
reporters who had intended for the trip to
be nothing more than a junket found
themselves racing for the door to find the
nearest telephone, many of which had been
thoughtfully provided by Disney.
Daniloff's appearance made at least
one national television newscast that night
and the front pages of several daily
newspapers around the country.
There was enough entertainment and
food to swamp anyone. Entertainers in
cluded Dolly Parton, Jerry Reed, Reba
McEntire, The Four Tops, The Tempta
tions, Mac Davis, Crystal Gayle and
many, many more. Accommodations were
luxurious.
But one of the most amazing things of
the whole junket was the incredible
organizational skills demonstrated by the
Disney World people. Buses were timed
down to the minute, virtually every event
started on time and no one had to wait on
meals or for the entertainment. No small
task when between 5,000 and 11,000
reporters, editors, writers, newscasters,
television personalities and disc jockeys
were involved.
The precision with which Disney World
handled the entire four-day event made
more than one person wish that the
organization could be hired to run the
federal government and a lot of city and
county governments. It would be done ef
ficiently and in a first-class manner, and
at less cost.
It was an enjoyable trip — which is
what Disney World and central Florida
had intended — and a lot of jaded jour
nalists found that the area has an almost
magnetic appeal.
I wouldn't have missed it.
Guest Column
Crisis A Sham
It is time for all of us to ask whether we want a jury
of our fellow citizens to give us full justice and compensa
tion for injuries or whether we want those who represent
the interests of potential defendants and who have to pay
for their misdeeds, to decide if, when and how we are to
bring to trial those who are guilty of wrongdoing, killing
and maiming our friends, neighbors and loved ones.
What the insurance industry and their allies, including
certain business and professional groups, want to do is
limit our rights to full justice and compensation and
thereby to achieve their real, yet hidden, goal of immuni
ty from accountability for their wrongdoing and that of
their insureds.
In my law practice, I have seen and represented the
crushed and maimed victims of industry’s neglect, of
drunken and negligent drivers, of incompetent physicians
and of soulless corporations driven only by the desire for
profit, not care and attention for their innocent victims,
customers and employees.
All of us hope that such tragedy never comes to our
door, but if it does, why should we be deprived of the right
to have a jury of our fellow citizens decide the amount of
compensation to be awarded for the harm done to us or
our loved ones by the defendant? Certainly we should not
be deprived of that right because of the so-called “in
surance crisis’” which has been recently exposed by Con
sumer Reports to be a “Manufactured Crisis.”
According to *‘Consumer Reports,” the non-profit Con
sumer's Union publication, which for the past 50 years has
reported without fear or favor to the American public on
the value of various products, “*The ‘crisis’ is of the in
surance industry’'s own making."
Ralph Nader and National Insurance Consumers
Organization have compiled stacks of studies that prove
the true cause of insurance rate hikes that have burdened
us all is insurance companies’ attempts to recoup losses
from their own mismanagement in the past years.
Statistics from the Georgia Insurance Department prove
that the reason for the sudden series of rate hikes was a
decrease in investment income caused by declining interest
rates and the insurance companies have tried to make up
for seven years of inflation and five years of cutting
premiums so that they could get more money in to invest
— all in two years at our expense. Now they seek to blame
the civic justice system and strip away the rights of inno
cent victims, which is nothing more than a sham and fraud.
The General Accounting Office —the watchdog agen
cy of Congress and the most reliable source of in
vestigative information available — reports that insurance
companies have exaggerated their anticipated losses to
justify increased premiums and to escape taxes. That same
office reports that the property and casualty insurers,
those leading the fight to destroy your right to a trial by
jury, made $75-billion from 1978 through 1984 and paid
no taxes, indeed they got refunds because of preferential
tax treatment.
Profits for the nation's leading medical malpractice in
surer, St. Paul, went up 814 percent in the first quarter
of 1986 alone. Georgia's own physician-owned medical
malpractice insurance company has doubled its assets
every year of its existence.
Do not let your right to have your neighbors decide
through a jury verdict how much justice you or your lov
ed ones should receive be destroyed by the greed and lies
of insurance companies and their allies! Contact your
legislator now and tell him to oppose this attack on your
civil justice system!
(William Ralph Hill Jr. is a partner in the LaFayette
law firm of Hill and Henry).
News Clips
SAFEST
The safest rule for predictions is to be indefinite about
the date. Sooner or later almost anything can happen. —
Labor
* * *
HOW FORGETFUL
Perhaps if we could forget our troubles as easily as our
blessings we would live better. — Oskaloosa (la.) Tribune
Wi o
LATE LESSON
All too many of us wake up along about midway in our
lives to a realization that it’s one of those do-it-yourself
deals. — Mason City (la.) Globe