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The Official Legal Organ of Chattooga County Georgia
WINSTON E. ESPY DAVID T. ESPY, JR. TOMMY TOLES
PUBLISHER GENERAL MANAGER EDITOR
WILLIAM T. ESPY
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Address all mail to: THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS, P. O. Box 310, Summerville GA 30747
TELEPHONE (404) 857-2494
Our Opinion
Don’t Forget July 4¢th
A large number of Chattooga Coun
tians will head for the mountains and
beaches this weekend in preparation for
several days of vacation fun and
relaxation.
The Menlo Lions Club will also spon
sor its traditional Independence Day
festival Saturday at Menlo Park. It is ex
pected to be the major “‘July 4th” obser
vance in the county.
Independence Day, of course, will fall
on a Monday this year. By that time, most
vacationers will have arrived at their
destination and it will be a near miracle if
they have a single thought about what Ju
ly 4th means to themselves or the United
States.
July 4th has become a near synonym
for summer vacation. That's when many
larger industries close to allow their
employees to enjoy a few days off. Many
smaller Chattooga firms shut down for
that week.
Next Monday will celebrate the date
when 13 colonies declared themselves free
and independent of Englan‘d. Of course, it
took many years, the spilling of much
blood, and the determination of great
leaders to ensure that the brave words
engrossed on parchment would become
More Sunshine Due Friday
Just a reminder. Georgia’'s new open
records and open meetings laws will go in
effect Friday.
Neither revision of existing laws is ex
actly what the news media nor various
government groups wanted. Plans are
already being made by both groups to seek
changes more to their liking during the
1989 session of the Georgia General
Assembly.
The News has copies of the new laws
available for local public officials. Some
have already been distributed as an infor
mational courtesy of the newspaper.
Part of the open records law has been
weakened, especially in regard to the awar
ding of attorney fees and judicial discre
tion in that area. However, it retains most
of the strong points of the former law.
Significant improvements have been
made in the open meetings law. For exam
ple, when a public body decides ta go into
a closed meeting, it will have to declare the
_{d ] From OurEariy Filos
35 YEARS AGO
The following are excerpts from the June 25, 1953, edition of The Summer
ville News.
* * *
THE AMERICAN LEGION Auxiliary is going to have a broiled chicken
dinner Friday night, June 26, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Auxiliary Home. Tickets
are $1.25 and can be obtained from any member. The menu will consist of a
half broiled chicken, corn on the cob, cole slaw, broiled potatoes, sliced tomatoes,
and iced tea.
N
THE FIRST cotton blooms of the season were brought into The News of
fice Tuesday morning. The blooms were found by Thelma Finley on Holland
Taylor's farm, two miles below Lyerly.
2
THREE CHATTOOGA Countians are attending the American Legion
sponsored Georgia Boy's State held in Atlanta last week. Bryant Park Jr.,
Richard Romine and Jimmy Parker are participating in the program of instruc
tion in municipal, county and state government. Three hundred boys from all
parts of Georgia gathered at Georgia Tech for the program. These were selected
on the basis of demonstrated leadership, abilities, character and interest in
government. :
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Opinions Expressed By
Editorial Columnists Are Not
Necessarily Those of This Newspaper
reality.
John Adams, one of our Founding
Fathers, said that Independence Day
should be celebrated with fireworks, bon
fires and all sorts of festivities. At the
heart of his suggestion was the qualifica
tion that Americans recognize the real
reason for the celebration and not merely
engage in an hedonistic frenzy.
There's nothing wrong with taking a
vacation and enjoying some time off on Ju
ly 4th. A serious error of omission,
however, would be to ignore the deeper
meaning of Independence Day or to forget
that thousands have died to preserve the
very freedoms we continue to enjoy today.
Take the time next Monday to reflect,
however briefly, on our heritage and to
give thanks to God that you were born a
free person in our republic.
If July 4th becomes just another holi
day, just another day away from work, we
will be closer to the day when our liberties
are taken for granted and the sacrifices of
our forefathers fade in the graying mists
of time.
If we lose our appreciation for July 4th
and its true meaning, we will be in danger
of losing the freedoms that it symbolizes.
specific purpose of the session and have a
vote on the issue. It also tightens the
attorney-client provision for closed
meetings, as well as the real estate
provision.
In the future, anytime a public board
or council or agency is receiving evidence
or hearing arguments in regard to a public
employee or official, the meeting must be
open. Deliberations by the board or agen
cy may still be closed after the information
or evidence is presented in a public
meeting.
There may be some confusion about
provisions of the law in the near future but
we hope local agencies, boards, councils
and authorities will construe the law
liberally so as to provide more open
government for all citizens.
The law, after all, is designed with the
public in mind. The news media doesn’t
have any more rights than a single citizen.
3 ;
PlO ook
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Dodd, L’Amour Gone
“DODD’'S LUCK,” they called it. He
was the coach who always figures out a
way to win the big ones, especially bowl
games.
And Louis L'Amour made the ‘““old
West’’ come alive for millions of
youngsters and adults.
Now, both are dead.
* * *
I GUESS I'm really getting older.
Friends, relatives and people I admire are
starting to die.
For someone who never attended
Georgia Tech, I consider myself one of the
Yellow Jackets’ biggest fans. It all started
when I was no taller than a jackrabbit, I
suppose. When we lived at Alpine, we'd go
to Menlo almost every Sunday morning to
get The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I
was mostly interested in the comics but
somehow found myself beecoming a fan of
Tech and Bobby Dodd through the sports
pages.
* * *
OVER THE YEARS, I'd listen to Tech
on WGTA each Saturday whenever I had
the opportunity. I recall listening to Tech
wallop Duke while I was at the home of my
grandparents, the late Rev. and Mrs. Jim
Sentell, New Moon, Ala.
Once, with a portable radio, I listened
to one of Tech’s better basketball teams
while hidden under the covers at the
Celanese home of my uncle and aunt, the
late Mr. and Mrs. Hinton Baker.
I SAW TECH play at Grant Field (now
named for Dodd) on a few glorious fall
afternoons.
For some reason, Bobby Dodd
Potpourri
By Rich Jefferson
Liberty: A Manifesto
I FREQUENTLY read parts of the
Declaration of Independence, but reading
the great document around the Fourth of
July is especially poignant. It is still a ring
ing manifesto for those who love true liber
ty and hope they are brave enough to
fight, if necessary, to remain free.
The signing of the Declaration official
ly kicked off a war that had started earlier.
Our war was not like the revolutions of
France in 1789 or Russia in 1917. We
revolted because our ruler would not sub
mit to a higher law, a law that governs
even those with civil power. The European
rebellions tried to establish man, par
ticularly in the political realm, as the
measure of all things.
* * *
IN AMERICA, we can't tell the dif
ference anymore between our revolution
and the other two because public educa
tion has made us cultural illiterates con
cerning our history and our freedom. We
no longer know what the language of the
Declaration means and we don’t know how
to read it.
In the first paragraph of the Declara
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Viewpoint
By Tommy Toles, Editor
fascinated me. I never met him, which I
regret, but he was a football genius. He
could “‘psych out’’ opposing coaches and
teams better than Vince Dooley on his
best day. As for his vaunted ‘“luck’ he
believed in making his own luck by play
ing the percentages and waiting for his op
ponent to make the mistakes. It usually
worked. He was a gentleman, but a lot
tougher as a coach than most people
suspected.
Tech has fallen on hard times in foot
ball in recent years. And now Bobby Dodd
is gone. I'll miss him just being around
Tech. It won't be the same anyone.
* * *
LOUIS L’AMOUR was one of the
country’s best storytellers. He wrote
everything from westerns and detective
stories to science fiction, but he was best
known for his books about the American
frontier. As L’ Amour once said, he could
write sitting in the middle of a freeway.
Because he upheld the traditional vir
tues of rugged independence, family, honor
and the right to keep and bear arms, he
fast developed into one of my favorite
authors. It wasn’t unusual for him to be
working on three or four books at one time.
HE VISITED Atlanta a year or so ago
to autograph his latest book. I started to
go meet him. I didn’t make it. Now, I wish
I had.
He and Dodd both died of lung cancer.
Ironically enough, they didn’t smoke.
Two honorable men worthy of admira
tion — now they’re gone. And there's no
one on the horizon to succeed them.
tion an appeal for freedom is made on the
basis of ‘‘the laws of nature and the laws
of nature’s God.”” Any ruler, whether in
the executive, legislative or judicial bran
ches of government who did not submit to
the primacy of these laws was considered
a tyrant.
Tyrants should be replaced with so
meone who did recognize the primacy of
those laws. That is part of the Declara
tion’s message.
¥ 9
THE DECLARATION was written in
1776. In the language of the 18th century,
the laws of nature referred to the will of
the Creator, and the laws of nature’s God
spoke of the Creator’s “‘revelation,” which
explained the will of the Creator.
According to one 18th century legal
writer, man alone cannot discover the laws
of nature without the laws of nature’s God
(the Bible) because man'’s reason became
corrupt. Man’s reason is not, “as in our
first ancestor (Adam) before his transgres
sion, clear and perfect.”
. see POTPOURRI, page 6-A ;
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Charlie In Bahamas
IT WAS MY sister’s fault that I didn't have a column
last week. I left it for her to type and turn in, but she didn’t
get around to it. I'm just kidding, Carla.
I had a great time in Kansas. I'll tell you about my
adventures out there next week. Right now, I want to tell
you about a different trip.
* * *
MY PARENTS went on a trip to the Bahamas. I
couldn’t believe it. My parents had never spent a night
away from home since I've known them, except for time
they spent in the hospital.
The really weird thing is that my mama, whose motto
is, “Don’t leave home unless you have to,”” was already
making plans for another trip later this summer before
they even left for the Bahamas.
5 * * *
THEY HAD a great time, especially daddy (Charlie).
Mama had her hands full just trying to keep him straight,
and trying to keep him from driving the natives crazy.
On the morning they left, we had a family breakfast
at Shoney's. As we started to leave, I got the idea for my
brother, Chuck, my sister, Carla, Maw-Maw, and myself
to make mama think that we had left without saying
goodbye.
* * *
BEING THE mischievous person she is, Maw-Maw
loved the idea. So, we got in the car and moved behind
Shoney’s.
When mama came out, we could hear her saying in her
voice that I could pick out of a crowd of a thousand, “That
just goes to show you how much they care.” At this, I
cracked up! We got her.
* * *
OH WELL, now they're home, I'm home, and
everything is back to normal at the Teague home, if you
could really call us ‘‘normal.”
Guest Column
By Dr. Kay Shurden
Reacting Wrong Response
A WOMAN telephoned the marriage counselor about
her husband, who was drinking too much. What could she
do to make him stop drinking? Nagging didn’t work! If
he didn’t drink, of course she wouldn't nag. He, on the
other hand, argued that his drinking was in response to
so much nagging on her part. She drove him to drink!
Family members often see themselves reacting to each
other. They explain their own behavior as happening on
ly because their spouse or parents, or children cause them
to act that way. An adolescent fails in school as a reac
tion to parents’ over-concern about grades. A parent ‘lec
tures” to her daughter not because she wants to, but in
reaction to her daughtfr's permissive behavior.
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A HUSBAND develops a “stingy”’ attitude about
finances in response to his wife's irresponsibility about
money. A wife develops an increasing number of friend
ships in response to her husband’s controlling attitude
about her time and attention. He becomes more jealous
in response to her actions; she, more friendly in response
to his.
Does this seem like a never-ending spiral of action and
reaction? Where does it end? ,
** * .
PEOPLE IN-relationships, like in a family, often re
act instead of act. They let another person determine their
behavior. They gripe, complain, control, manipulate, drink,
nag and “‘distance” in response to someone else’s behavior.
They feel like victims.
If you are unhappy with your life, examine it to see if
you are allowing yourself to be shaped into someone you
don’t like because of someone else’s behavior. Reacting is
See GUEST COLUMN, page 6-A 3