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The Official Legal Organ of Chattooga County Georgia
WINSTON E. ESPY DAVID T. ESPY, JR. TOMMY TOLES
PUBLISHER GENERAL MANAGFR EDITOR
WILLIAM T. ESPY
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Address all mail to: THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS, P. O. Box 310, Summervijlle GA 30747
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Editorials
Best Sets Example
Best Manufacturing Co., head
quartered in Menlo, has broken new
ground in education and business by
establishing an in-house adult education
program for its employees.
After noting that Chattooga County
had the highest dropout rate in Georgia,
officials at Best got together to see what
they could do to help their community and
their business.
Not only did they sign a certificate to
encourage young people to stay in school
until graduation before looking for fulltime
work, they set up classes in the plant for
employees who hadn’t finished high
school. :
Best hired Martha Thomas, who also
teaches adult education classes at Chat
tooga Library and Chattooga High, and
made space available in the plant for a
classroom. The classes were tailored to the
most convenient times for most Best
employees.
To the surprise of Best officials, 22
employees who had not graduated from
high school completed their studies and
passed a test to obtain their high school
equivalency diploma. The company would
have been gratified had one or two
employees taken and passed the test.
Let’s Help Shriners
Chattooga County Hospital is $20,000
richer this week, thanks to the generosity
of local residents and the organizational ef
forts of the Rome Shrine Club.
The money was raised at the annual
Chattooga Telethon sponsored by the
club, which is headed by Summerville resi
dent Lamar Gregg. The Shriners also owe
some $40,000 to Shrine hospitals for the
care of local youngsters since Jan. 10 of
this year. And the annual telethon and
parade cost about $4,000 to $5,000 to put
on annually.
Less than $60,000 was raised during
Join Reading Club
“Sail Away With Books,” the Chat
tooga County Library’s summer reading
club, got under way with several special
programs this week. It will continue
through the end of July and be culminated
with a big skating party for all the
participants.
Gone are the days when the term
“‘reading club’’ meant only reading a cer
tain number of books during the summer
months. The club now offers movies,
special programs on a wide variety of in-
31 YEARS AGO
The following are excerpts from the June 13, 1957, edition of The Summer
ville News.
* * *
A LARGE GROUP of children of the “Childhaven Home,” of Cullman, Ala.,
will present a program at the Northside church of Christ Thursday evening.
“*Childhaven’’ is a home for homeless children, sponsored by the church of
Christ. Everyone is invited to come and hear them. B
ORDER BLANKS for forest tree seedlings grown by the Georgia Forestry
Commission are now available to the Chattooga County Forestry Unit, accor
ding to Ranger J. B. White. A revised blank has been drawn up by the Georgia
Forestry Commission’s Reforestation Department, but this won’t cause any
headaches, Ranger White added, because an instruction booklet has been
prepared explaining how to fill out the new blanks. The instruction booklet,
a seedling price list, and the order forms may be picked up at the unit at no cost.
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Opinions Expressed By
Editorial Columnists Are Not
Necessarily Those of This Newspaper
A full-fledged graduation program was
held in a local church and the proud
graduates and their families were honored
in an appropriate manner.
Obviously, Best’s motives aren't en
tirely altruistic, but in this case, there's ab
solutely nothing wrong with that. Better
educated people will mean better and more
productive employees who will be able to
deal with the technological advances fac
ing the glove industry. That'll help Best
— and more power to that concept.
Their employees will also be more in
volved and informed members of their
communities. They will be better able to
explain the value of education to their
children, grandchildren, other relatives
and their neighbors. The 22 employees
who have passed the GED test will be a
marvelous influence in efforts to reduce
the county’s school dropout rate.
Under such circumstances, no one
loses. And that’s the way it should be.
Best deserves five gold stars for its
responsible, public-spirited involvement in
bettering the educational level of our
citizens. It has set a shining example that
other companies in Chattooga County
should emulate.
the telethon but the first $20,000 did go
to the financially beleagured Chattooga
Hospital — as had been promised.
Now, the residents of the county need
to dig deeper in their pockets and send ad
ditional donations to the Shriners, P. O.
Box 652, Summerville. The money will be
used to help pay for the medical care
received by local children who have suf
fered horribly from burns or disabling
diseases.
The Shriners have done their part. Now
it’s time for us to do ours. .. again.
terests, discovery days featuring different
subjects weekly, storytime reading and, of
course, reading books.
There's something good available to
every youngster in the county at the
library. We congratulate the library on its
innovative, imaginative and interesting
programs, and encourage parents
throughout the county to get their
children enrolled in the club if they haven't
already done so.
3 p 1 § -;@j
s 3
A ‘h-.
Water Line To Gore
THE PHILOSOPHY of the federal
government seems to be that enough
money will cure any ill or social problem.
That's not true on the national level, or the
state level. And it’s certainly not true on
the local level.
But it's equally unrealistic to think
that progress can be made without spen
ding money judiciously, whether by local
governments or by the state government.
That's why our Founding Fathers bless
ed us with a republic, so that states could
experiment with different ways of doing
things. What might work in Georgia could
fail in Oregon. And vice versa.
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS can often
accomplish more with cooperation than
with vast sums of money. But that takes
teamwork and planning ahead for more
than one month or day at a time.
The odds are, for example, that U. S.
27 will be widened at some point in the
relatively near future. It may be done as
quickly as many of us had hoped, but it
will likely be done. The next step calls for
the stretch from Russell Airport to
Highway 156 at Armuchee to be widened.
A couple of years after that, it should be
widened from Highway 156 to Taylors
Ridge.
THE PROJECT could probably be
speeded up if Chattooga Countians would
form a joint delegation with Floyd Coun-
e
School ‘Daze’ Over
I NEVER THOUGHT about writing a
column before. But I've always loved to
talk. So, on the suggestion of the ‘‘chief,”
I thought I'd give it a shot.
There's only one subject I could
possibly talk about right now, because it
is weighing most heavily on my mind.
I CAN'T believe that the end of my
high school ‘‘daze” is over. Graduation
brought feelings I'd never experienced
before.
When 1 graduated from Lyerly
Elementary School it was a sad occasion.
I still love to remember my days at Lyerly.
I REMEMBER all the teachers I had
at Lyerly like Mrs. Mae Lackey, Mrs.
Teresa Pewitt and Mrs. Katherine
Strickland. My class must have been a lit
tle rough because we went through about
five PE teachers including Ralph Wallen,
“Lefty”” Norton, Miss Esh, Mrs. Terri
Evans and Miss Therrel, ;
We also went three principals including
Charles McCleod, Mike Poole and the pre
sent principal, Dale Willingham. I also
remember, Mrs. Jo Ann Lundy, who still
believes she’s 10 years old; Mrs. Carolyn
Jones, whom I got to work with again last
year in the Follies; and Robert Ellis. Now,
he was a really good teacher, a little
unusual, but a good teacher.
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.., MR OVER ZOO MILLION AMERICANS SOLD A RILL OF GOODS
Viewpoint
By Tommy Toles, Editor
Cheri’s Copy
By Cheri Teague
ty and go see Hal Rives, director of the
Georgia Department of Transportation
(DOT). The delegation could find out what
things both counties could do to help the
DOT speed the process. It would also pre
sent a united front of cooperation to Rives
and the DOT.
Even further down the line, the com
missioner of Chattooga County could ap
proach the Floyd Board of Commissioners
to determine if some sort of agreement
could be reached to supply the southeast
side of Chattooga with ‘“‘city water.” Floyd
has a water main running along U. S. 27
as far north as Crystal Springs, just a
short distance from the Chattooga-Floyd
line. It has also beefed up its water capaci
ty in that area due to the Rocky Mountain
electric generating project.
IF A LINE could be run as far north
as Gore, it would open up the U. S. 27 cor
ridor to commercial and industrial develop
ment well before the year 2000. Future
projects could include consideration of
sewerage service for the area. Utilities in
that area would also speed up residential
development and improve fire protection
services.
It would be costly, to be sure, but it
wouldn’t hurt anything now to begin tak
ing a preliminary look at the issue and to
determine if Floyd County would be in
terested in some sort of joint venture.
OF COURSE, I remember good ol' Bob
Dover, who didn’t know just how close he
was when he made my eighth-grade pro
phecy as follows: ‘‘Twenty years from now,
Cheri Teague will be the writer, producer,
and star of her own autobiographic film,
‘Too Many Irons in the Fire." "
I have been really busy since then. I
wonder if Mr. Dover knew something that
I didn’'t?
MY HIGH SCHOOL teachers became
equally important to me. Not only have
they been my respected instructors, but
they have also become my friends. Some
of these include Mrs. Wylene Selman, Miss
Martha Ann Copeland, Mrs. Gwen Col
well, Miss Ann Evett, Rodney White, Mrs.
Judy Hair, David Snow, Jinmy Barnes,
Carlton Andrews, Miss Elaine Allred and
Freddy Dowdy.
You don’t have to have a person as a
teacher to get attached to them. I think
very highly of Jack Herring, Rodney
Allred, Coach Buddy Windle, Carl Shealy,
the officed personnel, and the janitors, who
are often taken for granted.
I KNOW THAT Ron Becton and Alan
Perry think I forgot them, but I couldn’t
do that.
Mr. Becton becomes almost like a se
see CHERI'S COPY, page 5-A
g . X .‘m‘
4
Commentary
It Doesn’t Get Better
WELL, TUESDAY evening has come and gone, and
I am no longer a high school student. I returned and
visited the school again early this week, though, and one
of my old teachers referred to me as an alumnus. When
she said it, it sounded strange, because I had never
thought of the situation as being that.
It may sound stupid, but I never really thought
graduation day would come. I remember that when this
year started I didn't give much thought to the end of the
year, because at that point, graduation still seemed an
eternity away. Eternity ended all too quickly.
* * *
I RECALL the first day of my senior year, Aug. 24,
1987, as if it were only yesterday. And yet when I think
about all that's happened since that day, it seems like a
million years ago. I'm the same way about the day I
started school, way back in 1976. A very important and
integral part of my life is coming to an end.
Everyone seems to say that the senior year is the most
enjoyable year of high school. I don’t know if it indeed ap
plies to all, but it did to me. I've enjoyed this year more
than any other, and it’s been filled with special memories
that I'll always carry with me. Some of these memories
are quite humorous, as it turns out, and I'd like to share
a couple of them with you.
THE FIRST that comes to mind is that of the Medieval
Banquet. The banquet is sponsored annually by the Stu
dent Publications staff and senior English literature
classes. Since I was a member of both, I had a rather ex
tensive share in the banquet.
I had enjoyed previous banquets I'd worked with, and
I was looking forward to this year’s. Things all started
when I was assigned to write the play, one of the main
features of the banquet. In addition to a play set in
medieval times, medieval music and cuisine are part of the
evening.
IT TOOK ME a while to concoct an idea to center the
play around, but I finally decided on Robin Hood and his
Merry Men. Borrowing the title from the classic Erroll
Flynn movie, I called it ““The Adventures of Robin Hood,"
incorporating elements from Sir Walter Scott’s *“lvanhoe”
in the storyline. When casting was done, I landed the role
of Maurice Deßracy, a mercenary knight hired to capture
Robin Hood.
While the play was still in production, I also made the
dreadful mistake of volunteering to be master of
ceremonies for the evening. I figured it might be fun, but
little did I realize that before the banquet was over, I'd
be pulling my hair out backstage.
* * *
A FEW HOURS before the banquet started, I helped
with decorating the school cafeteria. My friend Joe Mar
butt and I went around attempting to tape huge banners
to the wall. There were about eight of them to put up, and
after finishing, we went to put on our costumes for the
festivities.
Joe wore this authentic-looking wizard's outfit, and I
had thrown together a costume for my role in the play.
We arrived back in the cafeteria, only to find that most
of the banners had fallen off the wall. From that point,
until immediately before the banquet began, a wizard and
a knight were running constantly around the room, cat
ching falling banners and taping them back to the walls.
I'D BEEN relatively calm until about five minutes to
seven, when the banquet began. I'm a nervous person by
nature, and I was glad I was holding up, especially when
the large crowd came pouring in. But suddenly I fell apart
and didn’t recover until the night was over. I was too ner
vous to even eat.
I was out of my mind by the time the play was to be
resented, but it went well, despite my pacing around
Eehind the scenes and questioning my sanity. But that was
one of my favorite times all year.
ANOTHER, of course, would have to be the GSPA con
vention in Athens a few weeks back. Sure, 1 enjoyed it
because the staff won 16 awards at the awards luncheon,
but several other incidents took place to really impress the
outing on me.
Lane Hosmer, our Indian Lore humor columnist, has
already told you about these events, but I'm going to
rehash them, anyway. We lost one member of our motor
cade on the way to Athens, though we met him at the hotel
By Buddy Roberts