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[!B UIMMETUTLE INEWUS
b g © Copyright 1987 By Espy Publishing Co., Inc.
VOLUME CII- NUMBER | ®
School, County Controversies Topped 1987 News
(Editor's Note: Following is a month
by-month compilation of happenings in
Chattooga County during 1987. It en
capsulates all the top news of the year
in review form. The story will be perfect
to send friends or relatives out of town
who may not yet receive The News, and
to keep in a scrapbook for future genera
tions. The first six months of 1987 are
covered in the following report. The
months of July through secember will
be published in next week's edition of
the newspaper).
* * *
JANUARY
* Summerville's fire protection
subscription plan went into effect.
* The deficit on Menlo's proposed
sewer system and wastewater treat
ment filant turned out to be $677,000,
much igher than had been expected in
1986. Bids had been opened in
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Staff Photo By Earl McConnell
CHATTOOG/.& RESCUE SQU.AD MEMBERS TIM, LARRY LUALLEN WORK TO REMOVE FATALITY FROM TRUCK
Aided By Deps. Mike Patterson, Sgt. Ken Anderson, Summerville Off. Ricky Van Pelt (See Page 7-A)
Third Attorney Named
Jarrells Gets More Representation; Order Modified
Chattooga County Superior
Court J udge Joseph “Bo"" Log
gins Wednesday afternoon
modified an order he had hand
ed down Monday on a request
by defense attorneys in the
Jarrells case that they be allow
ed to contact the judge without
the knowledge of the
prosecution.
The judge also allowed a
third attorney to enter the case
on behalf of .]y onathen Jarrells,
31, who is accused of slayin
Miss Gertrude Estelle Ef;odg.
Courtroom Proposals
Given To Powell Last September
Judges serving the courts
of Chattooga County told Com
missioner Harry Powell last
September what modifications
they wanted on the second
floor of the courthouse.
Powell had asserted last
week that he had delayed hir
ing an architectural
engineering firm for the project
because he had been unable to
meet with a Superior Court
judge on the renovation
pro%ram.
he State Fire Marshal's
Office on Aug. 25, 1987, in
December, 1986.
* Chattooga County Rep. Johnny
Crawford said tort reform and correc
tions to the Quality Basic Education
(QBE) Act were on tap for the 1987 ses
sion of the Georgia General Assembly.
* Federal approval for a new FM
radio station was announced by the
owner of WSAF AM radio in the
county.
* Chattooga County's intangible tax
collections dropped by over SIO,OOO
from 1985 to 1986, according to State
Department of Revenue officials.
* A Summerville resident was feared
dead in a late December fire but
authorities didn't find any remains in
the house.
* Menlo received some good news
later in the month when Best Manufac
turing Co. pledged a donation of
SIOO,OOO toward the city's sewer and
wastewater treatment system once it 1s
75, last Aug. 27. The Oceana,
W.Va. man is also accused of
assaulting Miss Elrod'’s sister,
Lorraine, and robbing both
women.
PAY FOR TWO
Loggins said Rossville
lawyer Frank Perry, an
associate of lead defense
lawyer Roland Enloe, could
enter the case on behalf of Jar
rells. Summerville attorney
Sam Finster also represents
Jarrells. However, the judge
spected the courthouse and
found 34 violations, some of
them serious. Powell was given
60 days to correct the deficien
cies or to submit a plan to the
state within that period of
time.
OCT. 30
The commissioner wrote
the state in early September
asking for more information
but the marshal's office didn't
respond until Oct. 30, a few
days after The News had con
tacted the state to determine
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA — THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1987
CHATTOOGA COUNTY NEVWS IN REVIEW
told all three lawyers that he
would authorize funds for the
payment of two lawyers and
that the money would be split
three ways.
The jurist also told Asst.
Dist. Atty. Jim Franklin and
defense lawyers that he would
make a tape of the Dec. 22
“Feedbacl?" program on
WGTA radio available to them
next Monday. The tape con
tains comments of individuals
complaining about a purported
poll that was being conrggcted
whether a plan had been sub
mitted. The state said it reach
ed a verbal agreement with
Powell on Oct. 30 that a plan
would be submitted in the near
future.
It wasn't until mid-
November that the commis
sioner received the names of
three firms with experience in
courthouse renovations. They
were supplied by the Coosa
Valley Area Planning and
Development Commission.
Powell told The News last
week that he hadn't contacted
completed.
* A Lyerly man and a Pennville cou
ple narrowly escaped death in two fires.
* Chattooga Bommissioner Harry
Powell remained in a Rome hospital un
til mid-month after being hospitalized
in late 1986.
* Rep. George ““Buddy’’ Darden of
Georgia’'s Seventh District announced
he would oppose a $50,000 raise for
senators and representatives.
* Members of the Summerville
Recreation Board continued to discuss
the possibility of fees for non-citfi
residents because Commissioner Powe
had not pledged county funds for recrea
tion services.
* Repairs to the Chattooga County
Public Library were sought by the
Library Board).’
* Lyerly's oldest continuous
business, operated by W. H. Smith Jr.,
closed. It was a printshop.
at that time on Jarrells behalf.
- Loggins hinted that the poll
issue may come before the
court during another hearing in
the Jarrells case next Mongay
afternoon.
MODIFIED
In another issue that took
up most of the time during
Wednesday's three-hour hear
ing, Loggins modified his Mon
day order that required Jar
rells’ attorneys to file a public
see ATTORNEY, page 14-A
the firms because he had been
unable to arrange a meeting
with Superior Court Judge
Joseph *‘Bo" Loggins to deter
mine what Loggins wanted on
the second floor of the cour
thouse. The commissioner also
said he didn't expect any
renovation work to begin until
after the Jonathen Jarrells
murder case had been com
pleted. The trial has been set
tentatively for Feb. 22, 1988.
However, The News learn
ed this week that a letter was
see COURTROOM, page 15-A
* An expected confrontation bet
ween Chattooga School Supt. Don
Hayes and the county board of educa
tion failed to develop at the panel’s mon
thly meetin%. It had asked Hai'{es to
resign in December, 1986. Hayes
refused.
- - el;lans wer: revealed for conslfruc-
At of a new shopping center on Lyer
i{ %at lgome Boulevardy in
; tooga County received
B}, Jandllion from the one percent local
dplion sales tax for roads and bridges
in 1986, the state revealed.
* A controversy arose over specifica
tions for a proposed new Chattooga
school superintendent’s building.
* Eula Amos was elected chairman
of the Summerville Industrial Develop
ment Authority.
* A brief flareup of labor unrest hit
Chattooga Hospital after the Authori
No Local Proposals
Planned By Solon
\A?Budget, Public Meetings Novt OnAgenda
Chattooga County Rep. John Crawford doesn't plan to
introduce any local legislation to clarify county and state
budget laws or to penalize county officials who fail to abide
by existing budget laws.
Crawford mafie the comments during an interview with
Tommy Toles, editor of The News. The Georgia General
Assembly will convene on Monday, Jan. 11.
The veteran representative added that he doesn’t plan
to introduce any legislation to require quarterly public
meetings of the county's sole commissioner, quarterly
financial reports, or public reports on official action taken
in a past quarter.
STATE LAW
He also said local legislation couldn’t require local
boards of education to seeil sealed bids on major construc
tié)é] ;()irojects. That would require a change in state law, he
added.
The Democratic solon said he thought the intense in
terest by legislators in tiie paperwork problem resulting
from the Quality Basic Education (QBE) Act would cause
the Department of Education to resolve the matter.
In other matters, Crawford said:
* Until use of James H. “‘Sloppy”’ Floyd State Park
picks up, no cabins will be built at the facility.
CATCH 22
* A “Catch 22" problem involving drivers licenses and
insurance will be resolved by legislators in 1988.
* He favors the principle of strengthening the state’s
**sunshine law.”
* A state health corps probably wouldn't solve the
Ehysician shortage in rural parts of the state, including
hattooga County.
* The Nationa{Park Service's plan to reduce the speed
limit through Chickamauga National Military Park will be
counterproductive.
* He favors state participation in building a new
domed football stadium in At}l)anta.
* The state needs to be cautious about its bonded
indebtedness.
The interview follows in full:
* * *
Q. What are some of the main issues that will come
before the legislature?
A. I think probably one of the biggest problems is
always the fun(fin of education. Of course, we have a pro
blem with the QB% laws. It's in the implementation, the
nit-picky things such as unnecessary paperwork. I feel like
it’s with the Department of Education, though, with the
implementation of it rather than the law itsel?. We've got
to get some kind of understanding there.
Last year at the budget hearings I talked with the state
school superintendent about it again and he assured me
that it would be less paperwork than more. I've had more
complaints this year tl;an I*ever*have.
Q. Do you think the QBE will be fully funded this year
or is it fully funded?
A. I don't know whether you can really say it's going
to be fully funded. It's fully funded because the state's pick
ing up so much and the local governments the rest of it.
I feel?ike that we need to put more state money into QBE.
It is costing the local taxpayers more. We're Kaving alot
of problems, I guess, that we really didn’t foresee in the
recft)lced teacher-pupil ratio. Local people are having to build
a lot more classrooms. I think we all realized there'd have
to be some building but didn't realize the extent of
it ... There is more money being sgent in education than
ever in Georgia schools. I éel there has been some progress
made. I know some educators question whether we're get
ting anything for the money or not. I think that we are mak
ing some progress.
My main concern with the QBE law is that the paper
ty turned housekeeping chores over to
a Rome-based private comqlany.
* Sheriff Gary McConnell asked for
dismissal of a lawsuit against him ?Iy his
former chief investigator, Tony
Gilleland. The action was filed in federal
court in Rome.
* The News revealed that Chattooga
County’s dropout rate was the highest
in Georgia.
* The Georgia House of Represen
tatives ap&:‘oved funds for a new state
prison in Chattooga County. A total of
$23-million was involved in the decision.
* Chattooga's Board of Education
decided to seek bids on a superinten
dent’s building and to hire an architect
to draw plans for the structure.
* Lyerly's City Council decided to
buy a new fire truck.
* Commissioner Powell sought bids
for the second time on meals for inmates
of the county jail. The initial advertise-
work not just everybody bogged down where they can’t
teach.
* * *
Q. What are some of the other things you think the
legislature will consider?
A. Probably developmental highways. I think there'll
be an effort this year to fund the developmental highway
system with a gas tax. I don't think we'll pass the gas tax.
And quite frankly 1 have some real questions about the
whole concept of developmental highways. We've got some
roads that there’s no traffic on them now. I don’t think that
just because you have a highway that it’s goinF to bring
prosperity into a community. Interstate 16 and I-75 below
south of Atlanta, there's not a whole lot of development
there. If you want to bring prosperity to a community,
there's no one thing that does it .. .
* * *
Q. In connection with that, do you think that there’s
any chance that Hiihway 27 will ever be four-laned into
Summerville from the south?
A. Oh yes, when we have the traffic to justify it. We've
already got the commitment to three-lane it now and I think
somewhere around 9,000 cars a day use it now. I think it
will eventually be four-laned?
* * *
Q. What do you see as the timetable for a bypass around
Summerville?
A. I've asked that question several times and never been
see NO LOCAL, page 16-A
i e ; »
% :P- 5\ { . ,
%g r o
STATE REP. JOHN CRAWFORD, LYERLY
Legislature To Convene On Jan. 11
ment for bids was improperly drawn by
Powell's office.
* Some $73,000 in cash was seized in
a drug-related raid in Summerville and
a local resident was arrested by the
Chattooga Sheriff's Office.
* Residents at Oak View Nursing
Home enjoy The News each week in a
special ‘‘paper day" get-together.
* The first meeting of the Chattooga
County Historical Society was held at
Summerville Presbyterian Church.
* A massive snowstorm duncxped up
to a foot of snow on Chattooga County.
Old-timers said it was the most since
1940.
* A wreck on Highway 27 south of
Summerville was fatal to an Alabama
woman.
* Dr. Hugh Goodwin resigned and
Director Donnie Fowler either resigned
or was fired from the Chattooga Am
see SCHOOL. COUNTY. page 8-A
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