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VOLUME CI — NUI" » XLII
REMOVEL" *Y SHERIFF
‘Bomb’ Found At Local Bank
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Staff Photos by Tommy Toles
SHERIFF McCONNELL PICKS UP EXPLOSIVE DEVICE
Janitor George Adams Shown Behind Official
Tax Deadline
May Be Slated
For Jan. 16
Progerty owners in Chat
tooga County likely will have
until Jan. 16, 1987 to pay their
1986 tax bills.
That's because this year's
tax bills probably won't go in
the mail until around Satur
day, Nov. 15, according to
Chattooga Tax Commissioner
Hugh Don Hall. Property
owners must be given 60 days
to pay those bills, according to
Georgia law.
It will be the third con
secutive time that county
taxes will fall due in the follow
ing calendar year.
Marcus E. Collins Sr., com
missioner of the Georgia
Department of Revenue, sent
Hafl an official letter late last
week giving formal approval to
Chattooga County’s 1986 tax
digest, on which the taxes are
based.
COPIES
Copies of the letter to Hall
went to Chattooga Commis
sioner Harry Powe%l and James
Auditor Reduces
Charges To City
The City of Summerville's
current auditor has agreed to
cut in half the amount he will
charge for his services as the
result of a closed meeting with
the city's Mayor and Council
last Thursday morning.
Earl Williamson, (%arters
ville, said after the 45-minute
closed meeting that he would
charge the city $37.50 per hour
from that day forward until his
work is completed, rather than
kis usual $75 per hour fee.
Mayor Sewell Cash, at the
beginninlg of the Council
meeting last week, said the
panel would be discussin
Williamson's work and ga{ ang
some criticisms rm'cght e level
ed at the auditor. Cash said he
felt the Council could discuss
the matter in closed session
under the state’s open
meetings law, if Williamson
desired that it be closed. The
mayor said he deemed William
son ‘‘a city emgloyee" and
therefore covered by excep
tions in the state law.
Williamson indicated that
Darden-Morecraft
--See Page 8-A
- Che Summerville News
Millican, chairman of the Chat
tooga Board of Tax Assessors.
Hall had carried the digest
to the Revenue Department on
Wednesday, Oct. 22, and
received verbal approval at
that time. However, the coun
ty must await written approval
before preparing the tax bills,
Hall indicated.
The 1986 tax rate for unin
corporated (outside the cities)
areas is 23.68 mills, .74 mills
below the 1985 rate of 24.42
mills.
The rate for incorporated
areas (within the cities and
towns) is 26 mills, .47 mills
below the 1985 rate of 26.47
mills.
Although the overall tax
rate is down this year under
1985, that is attributable to a
2.35-mill reduction in school
taxes brought about by a
special purpose local option
sales tax approved by voters
last year.
see TAX, page 14-A
he preferred a closed meeting.
PROTEST
However, The News and
Summerville radio station
WGTA protested closing of the
called meeting, contending
that Williamson was not ‘‘an
employee,”” such as a
policeman or fireman, but
rather that the city had a con
tract with Williamson's firm.
Cash put the issue to the
Council and Councilman Ron
nie Pilcher moved that the
panel hear the issue behind
closed doors. Councilman Ed
ward Bush seconded the pro
f)osal and it passed unanimous
d‘;' Councilman Guinn Hankins
idn’t attend the session.
After returning from the
closed session, Cash said
discussions had centered
around a delay in the city’s
1985-86 audit and extra
charges for time spent working
on the city’s computerized ac
counting system. %eveloper of
the original program was
see AUDITOR, page 10-A
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA — THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1986
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MILITARY EXPLOSIVE
Found On Bank Desk
Powell Ordered
To Repair Road
Chattooga County Superior
Court Judge Jon B. Wood has
ordered county commissioner
Harry Powell to “‘repair’’ Pen
nington Drive, but stopped
short of saying the road past
the home of a former county at
torney must be “‘paved.”
The decision was handed
down last Friday and filed
Monday in the office of Lann
Cordle, Chattooga clerk of
court. It was the result of a
hearing on the issue held last
Sept. 25.
' Former county attorney Ar
chibald A. Farrar Jr., who
represented himself and
neighbor Robert 0.
McWhorter in the case, Mon
day declared the decision ‘‘a
win’’ since Judge Wood had
issued a mandamus requiring
Powell to repair the road as
requested.
Ben Ballenger, the Sum
merville attorney who
represented Powell in the case,
said, ““If justice is done, then
everybody wins.”’ He declined
to say whether he thought
Powell won or lost the case.
30 DAYS
The county has 30 days to
decide whether to appeal Judge
Wood's decision but the com
missioner had not indicated to
him whether any action should
be taken, Ballenger said
Monday.
Farrar and McWhorter had
sought to show in their original
lawsuit filed in late August
that Powell should pave the
road in front of their home in
compliance with a state con
tract. They asked for a man
damus, or order, from the court
to force Powell to repair the
roadway.
Ballenger had asked for a
jury trial on the mandamus
issue. However, Judge Wood
denied that request in his
Halloween Caution
--See Page 3-A
A live explosive device was found on a desk at the First
National Bank in Summerville Wednesday morning, caus
ing law enforcement officials to evacuate the facility's
employees and block off traffic entrances to the banK.
However, after the bank'’s
janitor said he had noticed the
device in the bank for the last
several years, Chattooga Coun
ty Sheriff Gary McConnell
fiicked it up gingerly with one
and, carried it out of the bank
and tossed it in a fenced vacant
lot on Economy Street.
BOMB SQUAD
A bomb squad from the
U.S. Army’s 13th Ordnance
Detachment, Fort Gillem, ar
rived about two hours later and
identified the device as an ex
f{losive simulator. M/Sgt. Tony
itchie said it was “live” and
had it been activated, could
have blown out windows in the
bank office, caused hearing
damage to anyone in the im
mediate vicinity and perhaps
flash burns.
Sergeant Ritchie and S/Sgt.
David Peters took the device
back with them to Fort Gillem,
Forest Park, shortly after noon
Wednesday. -
The device, which was
about two inches in diameter
and eight inches long, was
found shortly after 9 a.m. by
order. '
“If we can get to it,”’ Powell ]
replied during the Sept. 25
court hearing when asked by 1
Farrar if he intended to pave !
see POWELL, page 10-A |
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Trees Downed Across North Commerce Street
Two huge trees were downed on North
Commerce Street, starting around 3 p.m.
Wednesday, as part of the widening of
U. S. Highway 2?. Utility company crews
lowered%ines at the site, permitting the
huge trees to fall across the street. The
work was done by James H. Mashburn,
| Sue Hurley, a bank executive.
It was lying atop her desk.
Summerville (folice Chief
Arlen Thomas said he, Lt. J. R.
Johnson and officers Monroe
iMathis and Larry Bennett
received a call to the bank
! moments after Mrs. Hurley
found the device.
EVACUATED
Upon arrival, they noted
that it apieared to be an ex
plosive with a detonator sitting
:l‘&iggyback" on the cylinder.
ey immediately evacuated
the bank and contacted
McConnell's office, Thomas
said.
Initially, it appeared that
the device may Eave had a
mercury-type detonator,
Thomas and McConnell in
dicated, which would have
meant that it could have ex
ploded if moved even slightly‘
However, George Adams,
the bank's janitor, who works
fulltime during the day at
Riegel Textile Corp., Trion,
was called to the bank. It ap
peared that the device had
see BOMB, page 15-A
40 PERCENT VOTE POSSIBLE?
Voters To Decide
Proposal On Board
An estimated 40 percent of
Chattooga County's 9,421
voters is expected to go to the
polls in next Tuesday's general
election. .
The main issue of local in
terest is expected to be a
referendum on whether the
county will change its form of
government from a sole com
missioner to a five-member
board and professional county
manager. i
However, citizens will also
vote on a U. S. senator, U. S.
congressman, governor, two
Public Service Commission
posts, 10 unopposed judges,
nine constitutional amend-
LaFayette. A huge traffic jam was caus
ed in downtown Summerville and north of
the city as crews worked feverishly to cut
u?l the trees so traffic could pass freely.
The photo was made as the tree was
halfway to the ground. (Staff Photo).
$5,900 Ring Stolen
--See Page 9-A
COMMISSIONER POVWELL PRESENT
Editor Threatened,
Pushed By Workmen
Two emgioyees of Chattooga County
Tuesday afternoon pushed around the
editor of The News and threatened to leave
him “layienf in them bushes over there' in
an isolated area of Lookout Mountain.
Commissioner Harry Powell was pre
sent during the incident but made no ef‘f)ort
to control his employees.
The News had gone to State Line Road
atop Lookout Mountain to take
photographs of paving work performed by,
or for, the county. It was not known that
Powell or county work crews would be on
the scene.
ONE PHOTO
One photo was taken at State Line
Road’'s intersection with Alabama
Highway 117 (a continuation of Georgia
Highway 48). It shows a sign which said,
“Road glosed 1500 Feet.” However, the
roadway was not closed 1,500 feet further
north and no other signs were noted. The
roadway, except for a short stretch just
south of Gilreath Mill Road (County Road
234), had been traveled previously by
traffic.
A county work crew was found to be
sEreading gravel a short distance south of
the roadway’s northern end. And another
crew was completing work on the last few
feet of State Line Road at Road 234.
PARKED
The editor parked his car on Road 234
ments and a statewide referen
dum. Voters may also write in
their choices if they are
dis%leased with the Democratic
or Republican nominees.
No local candidates are on
the ballot.
REFERENDUM
The proposal to change the
county's form of government
after the 1988 elections has
drawn interest during the last
several weeks. A committee
favoring the measure has been
placing ads in The News and
signs around the county, ask
ing voters to vote “‘yes.”
No organized opposition to
out of the way of the crews. As he got out
of his car, he noted Powell walking away
from a duml? truck on State Line Road
toward a pickup truck parked on the north
side of Road 234. Without making any
comments to Powell, the editor walked to
the center of Road 234 and started taking
photos of the surface treatment work on
State Line Road.
“We don't need no ---damn pic
tures . . . "’ shouted one crewman who later
identified himself as Billy Willinlfiham. The
editor didn’'t respond to Willingham’s
remarks.
Willingham and a tall, stocky crewman
who continually refused to identify himself
then walked toward the editor, as did
Powell. Law enforcement officials later
identified a picture of the tall man as
Calvin Parris.
“NO PICTURES”
“Get the hell outta here,”” Willingham
told the editor, adding, at various times,
“We don’t need no pictures...” “We
didn’t call you for no pictures” and “it ain’t
yer road.”
They were told that anyone had the
right to use a public roadway and no one
had to “‘request” or “‘ask” for photos of a
public project, such as a roadway.
The short, stocky man was then asked
to identify himself. He said he was Billy
Willingham. He had previously called the
see EDITOR, page 10-A
the measure had surfaced by
mid-week although the issue
has been debated by in
dividuals in recent weeks.
Chattooga County had a
five-member board until
September, 1956, when it was
replaced by the current sole
commissioner format. Unlike
the proposal to be offered next
Tuesday, the boards of over 30
ears ago were not required to
iire a county manager and did
not do so. Rather individual
commissioners handled the dai
ly affairs of the county at that
time.
ADVANTAGES
Proponents of the sole com
missioner form say that it
allows decisions to be made
quickly and concentrates
authority in one person. Op
ponents say that the format
allows too much power to be
placed in the hands of one in
dividual, opening the way for
possible abuses. They also say
that it's hard to get qualified
individuals to run for the
fulltime position.
Those favoring the five
member board with manager
say that more (Lualified in
dividuals would likely run for
district commissioner since
those 'Fositions would be ;l)art,-
time. They say new state laws
and a requirement that the
board hire a county manager
would tend to eliminate future
problems of the sort that
plagued the boards of over 30
years ago.
Opponents say, however,
that the board-manager format
is less efficient than the sole
commissioner and would be
more costly. Some have also
claimed that it is aimed
fl)ecifically at Comissioner
arry Powell, although it
wouldn't take effect until the
70-year-old Powell's term ends
in 1988.
U.S. SENATE
Voters will also face a
choice between incumbent
U. S. Sen. Mack Mattingly and
his Democratic chalfenger.
Atlanta Congressman Wyche
Fowler.
Mattingly has hammered
awgy at Fowleé’lsn absenteeism
in Co ss and his o t's
Hbera?lgsrg. Fowler, onptfie other
PRICE 20c¢
hand, said Mattingly has been
ineffective in the Senate and
once tried to kill the nation’s
peanut program.
See Sample Ballot
On Page 4-B
In the race for U. S. Con
firess, incumbent Democratic
ep. George ‘'‘Buddy’’ Darden
is being challenged by Joe
Morecraft, a Republican.
Darden began his congres
sional career in late 1983,
defeating widow of the late
see VOTERS, page 10-A
Teen Killed
Accidently
By Gunshot
A 13-year-old Trion Rte. 1
girl was killed instantly last
Friday night when she was ac
cidently shot, according to the
Chattooga County S%\eriff's
Office.
She was identified as
Christie Yvonne Wells, 13,
daufhter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy
Wells, Trion Rte. 1.
The tragic incident was in
vestigated by Dep. Richard
Gifford and Investigator Greg
Latta.
A spokesman for the
sheriff's office said a 15-year
old boy was holding a .12
filauie pump shotgun when it
ischarged accidently, striking
Miss Wells in the face.
No charges were filed in
connection with the incident.
The accident occurred
around 9:30 p.m. in the
bedroom of a residence in the
Teloga community, officers
said.
Funeral services for Miss
Wells were held at 2 F.m. Sun
day at New Bethel Baptist
Church, Trion. The teen-ager
was a student at LaFayette
Junior High School. She was
also a member of the ol'lmior
Sunday School class of New
Bethel Baptist Church.