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The Official Legal Organ of Chattooga County
WINSTON E. ESPY DAVID T. ESPY, JR. WILLIAM T. ESPY
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TOMMY TOLES
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Address All Mail to: THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS, P. 0. Box 310, Summerville, Ga. 30747
Editorials
Fairway Drug Program
Drug abuse, especially among young
people, is a problem that was virtually
unknown to Chattooga County a quarter
century ago. But times change, and not
always for the better.
Like every other community in the
United States, Chattooga County has a
drug problem. Not only is marijuana be
ing used, cocaine and super potent “crack”
cocaine have invaded neighborhoods and
schools in the county.
A six-month undercover investigation
culminated recently in warrants being ob
tained for 16 alleged drug pushers. And
that is likely only the tip of the iceberg.
The main suppliers — most of them based
in Atlanta or in Florida — haven't been
touched to any appreciable degree.
The sad fact is that as long as the de
mand for illegal drugs exists — and smug
glers and pushers constantly push for new
markets — then the supply will remain
relatively constant.
That's why the program sponsored by
The Legislature
“No man's life, liberty or property are
safe when the Georgia General Assembly
is in session.”
So goes the old saw about the efficacy
of our state's legislature. In the past,
residents have had some reason to believe
the veracity of that statement.
Nevertheless, some good things have
come out of the legislature, sometimes
almost in spite of its individual members.
Tort or insurance reform is supposed
to be one of the hottest issues facing
legislators this year. It looks like a battle
royale is shaping up with the insurance
companies, a number of top-ranking politi
cians and a business lobby aligned against
trial lawyers. In other words, everybody
is blaming everybody else for the hike in
insurance premiums.
Indians Victorious
Chattooga High School's Indians won
the Rome Holiday basketball tournament
recently by slashing past the West Rome
-Chieftains.
« Coaches have used the term, ‘‘team ef
fort,” until it has become a cliche.
However, that is an accurate summation
of why the Indians have done so well this
season. Even their practice jerseys have
the following words on the back: “Team —
No Name.” The idea is that the team
comes first, not individual stardom.
The Indians are blessed in that they
FromQurEarlyFil
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2 49 YEARS AGO
WORLD CHAMPION CELTICS TO PLAY HERE SATURDAY AFTER
NOON AT 4 O'CLOCK — Local fans will have their first opportunity to see
the greatest basketball team in the entire world put on its wizardry performance
Saturday. This great team meets the A.C. team in Sturdivant gym. The
“Celtics,’" as this team is best known, has been invading the South for more
than 10 years and has lost only two games to Southern teams. Admission is
25 and 50 cents.
* * *
NEW WALNUT GROVE CHURCH WORK BEGINS — The old church
at Walnut Grove, so long familiar to those who traveled the Chattoogaville
highway, can no longer be seen. The foundation for the new modern church
and Sunday school plant will be laid this week if weather permits. The old plant
was torn down this past week. Montgomery Anderson, prominent architect
of Atlanta, has drawn plans for the new building and the work is well under
way. The interest which has been manifested in the centennial rebuilding of
this historical church has been inspiring.
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parents at Fairway Recreation Center in
Summerville is so important. It seeks to
get parents and their children together in
a common fight against drugs. In essence,
it aims to halt the demand for illicit drugs
by young people by teaching them to say
‘'me.
No program is perfect and there will be
failures in any effort, but the Fairway pro
gram is unique in that it hasn't been im
posed on the community by outside “‘ex
perts.” Rather, local people initiated the
program and involved their families in the
fight.
Mrs. Catherine Strickland is to be con
gratulated for her constancy and dedica
tion to the ideal that youngsters can grow
up without facing the constant danger of
drug and alcohol abuse.
It is to be hoped that other com
munities in Chattooga will develop pro
grams similar to that under way at
Fairway.
As usual, the truth may lie somewhere
in the middle. However, it is revealing that
suposedly ‘‘impartial” studies have in
dicated that insurance premiums won't be
reduced, no matter what type of tort
“reform” is passed. Any reductions are
likely to come only as the insurance cycle
slowly makes its rounds.
But even fewer people like lawyers than
care for insurance companies. Any effort
to impose more regulations on the in
surance industry or to obtain ‘‘full
disclosure” of insurance revenues and
reserves may run into rough sledding.
The winners of all the ranting and rav
ing about insurance companies and
lawyers?
You can bet it won't be individuals or
small businessmen.
have two full teams of talented players.
The platoon system keeps the team on the
hardwood fresh and it also pushes each
player to do his best.
The lady Indians, who have won the
tournament for the last two years, lost a
tight battle to the Model Blue Devilettes
in overtime of the championship contest.
The girl's and boy's teams are to be
congratulated for their fine showings and
for putting Chattooga County on the map
in a positive fashion.
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Viewpoint @
By Tommy Toles, Editor ..@
Regurgitate Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda's latest contribution to the
world of film, *'The Morning After," isn't
exactly setting box office records, accor
ding to recent accounts. Even some critics
don't like the film, which is supposed to
be some sort of murder mystery involving
a promiscuous, aging alcoholic actress.
Guess who plays the drunk?
Such dismal reports about one of Fon
da's projects does this aging conser
vative's heart good. 1 still remember her
anti-Vietnam war protests in the late
1960 s and early 19705.
A photograph of Jane Fonda sitting on
a North Vietnamese communist anti
aircraft gun and wearing a military helmet
still sticks in my mind . . . and in my craw.
American boys were being shot down dai
lv by those same guns and I suspect that
more than a few are still being held as
secret prisoners of war by the communists
in Southeast Asia.
Yet, this same Jane Fonda traveled to
Hanoi to praise that repressive dictator
ship, the Viet Cong and communism in
general. At the same time, she was con
demning American soldiers and our
government as being a danger to world
peace.
She married Tom Hayden, another
radical Leftist, and set about getting him
elected to state office in California —the
“granola state.” You know, the one with
all the fruits, flakes and nuts. He's now a
On The Funny Side (=1
By Gary Solomon vs
Preacher Or Writer?
Two weeks ago I celebrated my first
anniversary as a-newspaper columnist.
Now don't get upset. You didn't miss
anything. There was no parade down main
street or front-page photo of me shaking
hands with the mayor. It was too close to
Christmas for another parade, I'm sure,
and the mayor’s hands stay so sore from
shoveling dirt at new store openings that
it would be too painful for him to shake
mine.
No, when you bare your soul to the
public every week, they may not honor you
with a parade. But they do often let you
know what they think of your writing. Of
course, one always wishes for more open
praise and adulation, but any feedback at
least shows that people are reading.
One of the more memorable comments
I received came in response to an article
recalling my family's all-night drives to
grandma's house every summer when I
was a child, and how during one of them
I got sick on tuna sandwiches and threw
up on my brother. Not long after the story
appeared, the registrar for a local election
saw my name on the voting card I handed
her and loudly exclaimed to a co-worker,
“He's the one who threw up on his
brother.”” Not exactly what I want to be
remembered for, but I suppose it's a start.
In another column, I told about my
wife and I being turned away from a col
lege basketball game because we lacked
two cents toward the admission fee. Later
that morning, two different people hand
ed me the pennies I needed, and a third
person offered to do the same. Who says
state assemblyman, the equivalent to our
General Assembly.
Their corporation, financed mainly by
Fonda's movies and weight reduction
books and video tapes, is designed to fur
ther their far left political agenda.
Amazingly enough, the women of this
country continue to buy her products in
record numbers, perhaps not realizing that
every dollar goes to advance political
causes designed to destroy this republic.
Some of the women probably are married
to veterans of the Vietnam War, some
disabled and some pilots who flew over the
very anti-aircraft guns Fonda sat in for
that infamous photograph.
My view remains that Jane Fonda was,
and is, guilty of treason and she should
have been duly tried and executed long,
long ago.
At the very least, fat and out-of-shape
women should stop buying her video tapes
and books and stop going to any movie in
which she is involved.
They would get better exercise by
walking to the cemeteries of patriots who
died for our liberty.
* * *
FOOTNOTE: I'm indebted to a reader
for providing the title and name of the
author of the piece I reprinted in my col
umn last week. It is entitled ‘‘Desiderata”
and it is by Max Ehrmann. Thanks.
writing is a low-paying profession? Not
me.
That same day alady called to say she
just wanted me to know ‘‘there are still
some good guys around.” Seems she
works at a local department store and had
recently helped a youngster buy a
Christmas gift by pitching in enough
money to pay for it when the child came
up short.
Surprisingly enough, the greatest
response in terms of sheer number came
to an article I wrote about the utter
stupidity of television's *‘Divorce Court."
When I wrote the story, I wondered how
many folks would even know what I was
talking about. A lot did, and the decision
was unanimous: we should nuke the show
and its cast before it does any further
harm to the human race. Which just goes
to show you that people do care about
pressing social issues.
The top reaction of them all, however,
came from a middle-aged woman at the
jogging track one day in September.
When I nodded to her and said hello,
she stared for a moment and then said,
“Pardon me, aren't y0u..."
I swelled to my full height, my chest
thrown forward with pride over finally be
ing recognized by an adoring public. Ah,
fame, I embrace you with open arms!
‘... the new minister of education at
Tabernacle Baptist Church?”
Fame, as we all know, is fleeting. And
for some it may never come. But I've en
joyed writing this column just the same.
Thanks for reading.
Guest Column
By Robert H. Rowland
No Free Lunch
The federal government has just announced the deficit
for Fiscal 1986, which ended Sept. 30, was $222.7 billion.
This means that much more was spent in a single year than
was paid in taxes.
There is a great difference of opinion among economic
analysts as to the significance or lack thereof of budget
deficits, but whatever it may mean the deficit will have
consequences which will affect all of us. Because it does
we should have a general understanding of what is
involved.
In round numbers here are the deficits for the last six
years: 1981, $79 billion; 1982, $l2B billion; 1983, S2OB
billion; 1984, $lB5 billion; 1985, $212 billion; and 1986,
$223 billion. That is a total of some $1,863 billion over a
six-year period, an average of $207 billion a year over the
last four years.
It is this final revelation that disturbs most people.
That we are spending yearly now about S2OO billion more
than we are paying In to government.
This disturbed those in the recently adjourned 99th
Congress so much that they passed the Gramm-Rudman-
Hollings Act in an attempt to get a grip on federal spen
ding, which of course is the key to solving the deficit
problem.
The overall objective of Gramm-Rudman is to reduce
federal spending over a period of five years so that the
budget will be balanced by 1991.
The way it is supposed to work is that the federal
deficit cannot exceed certain limits in each fiscal year, 1986
through 1990. If it were to do so, spending would be reduc
ed by impounding funds to bring the deficit down to the
mandated limit. :
Gramm-Rudman had a laudable purpose, but we are
afraid it will never work. Because it is a creature of the
Congress it can be changed by the Congress, and probably
will be.
There are several facts to support this conclusion:
First, the “mandated’” maximum allowable deficit under
the bill for Fiscal 1986 was $171.9 billion. As previously
noted, it came in at $222.7 billion, and no funds have been
impounded.
Second, the courts have found key provisions of the.
bill to be unconstitutional. And third, the results of the
recent election places the Senate as well as the House
under the control of the ‘‘big spenders.”
Which brings us to the most significant fact about
understanding federal budget deficits: They are a conse-,
quence, not a cause.
Although they have no active role in the economy, they
do reflect the failure of both the administration and the
Congress to bring government spending programs under
control.
These huge deficits have damaging economic conse
quences, however, and Gramm-Rudman is both a recogni
tion of this and an attempt to do something about it.
It would appear, however, that our budget process has
become so politicized that we will be faced by these huge
deficits continuously for some time to come, until the
American people finally recognize ‘‘there is no such thing
as a free lunch,” and make the appropriate changes in
Congress.
(Robert H. Rowland is executive director of the Na
tional Education Program, Oklahoma City, Okla.).
®
News Clips
THEY DON'T
Some people speak from experience. Others from ex
perience, don't speak. — Great Lakes Antenna
* * *
A DIFFERENCE
The trouble with many of us is that we would rather
be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. — Worcester
Telegram
oo 8 o
CHANGING WORLD
In youth we want to change the world; in old age we
want to change youth. — Columbia (S. C.) Record
! * * *
IT'S SO
Inflation blows up everything a white collar worker has
to buy, but leaves his pay envelope as flat as ever, — St.
Louis Times