Newspaper Page Text
Demons In Carolina
--See Page 1-B
OLUME CIII - NUMBER XLIII
Parker, Van Pelt, Huggins, Bush
Big Winners In Chattooga County
‘Something Rotten,” Wright Charges; Amendments 1, 2 Defeated
Almost 62 percent of Chat
tooga County’s voters went to
the polls Tuesday and over
whelming elected Jim Parker
to be their next county com
missioner. They also voted for
GeorEe Bush for president,
Ralph Van Pelt for tristrict at-
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MR. PARKER
Doughboy Rededication
Special Veterans Day Program Slated Friday
At the 11th hour of the 11th
day of this 11th month, the
sacrifices of all veterans will be
recalled in Chattooga County.
Gen. Jack Blan?ord of -tge
Georgza Army National Guard
will the main speaker at
special ceremonies scheduled
for 11 a.m. Friday at the Chat
tooga County Memorial Home.
A hignhlight of the pro%ram
will be the rededication of the
“Douihboy" monument,
which has been relocated from
the circle park at Trion to the
Memorial Home. Wreaths will
be placed at the monument in
honor of all veterans. American
Legion Post 129, Veterans of
Foreign Wars Post 6688 and
Powell: County Hasn’t
Paved Private Drives
DOT Says Several Aren’t On County Road Map
Chattooga County hasn’t
paved any private driveways
despite misperceptions that it
may have done so, according to
Commissioner Harry Powell.
Five of six roads that have
been the subject of an in
vestifiation by The Summer
ville News this fall have been
on the county system for about
100 years, he added.
But the Georgia Depart
ment of Transportation (IgOT)
doesn’t show all the drives on
the latest DOT map of Chat
tooia County roads and a DOT
sgo esman indicated doubt
that the state would have fail
ed to include century-old roads.
CONTRACTOR
Several ptopert’\l' owners
said, however, that the
thought all or part of the roa(i
ways in question were already
igiflu
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% ©Copyright 1988 Fy Espy Publishing Co., Inc. — All Rights Reserved
torney and incumbent State
Sen. Waymond ‘‘Sonny'’
Hußgins.
emocratic Congressman
George “Buddy’’ Darden won
an easy victory over his
Republican challenger.
Van Pelt and Huggins won
TR }-@w ,
“ .; \‘ b ' i
MR. VAN PELT
Disabled American Veterans
Chapter 49 will post the
wreaths.
Harold Peek, general
manager of Mount Vernon
Mills %liegel Division will for
mally present the monument
during the ceremonies Friday.
Sewell Cash, mayor of Sum
merville and program chair
man, will serve as master of
ceremonies, assisted by D. P.
Henley and Harold Hawkins,
committee members for the
special program.
The award-winning Chat
tooga High School Band will
present patriotic music, begin
ning at 10:30 a.m. Scott Brown
wilF sing the national anthem.
on the countg; maintenance
sKstem when they were paved
this summer. The paving con
tractor involved with the pro
jects said he was told not to
pave any private drives while
working for the county in any
given area.
There is no indication that
any of the propertg owners
have been involved in any
wrongdoing.
The News began its in
vestigation in late summer
after being told by several
anonymous callers that the
county had allegedl¥ paved
i)rivate driveways with county
unds. The newspaper made
photographs of the (fives and
sent copies to Commissioner
Powell, along with a request
that he mfie available any
documents showing that they
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA — THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1988
in their respective districts,
beating back Re{)ublican
ho efu.lgs. Van Pelt will assume
oflfi)ce on Jan. 1 as the new
district attorney in the
Lookout Mountain Judicial
Circuit. Huggins will retain his
District 53 seat.
PR R
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MR. HUGGINS
The public is invited to the
program. Refreshments will be
served by the Legion
Auxiliary.
Duncan and Son Contrac
tors Inc., Trion, moved the
monument early this week
from Trion to the Memorial
Home. The 4,500-pound
pedestal and 1,500-pound base
were gingerly picked up by the
Liverett Crane Service, Rome,
Tuesday morning and placed
on a d;tbed trailer for the
move to Pennville.
The 150-pounid doughboy
had already geen removed by
the Duncans. It was being
cleaned down to its original
bronze finish in preparation for
were county roads.
HOSTILITY
Powell reacted with hostili
ty to the first request but later
responded in more detail to a
second demand for the infor
mation under Georgia's open
records law. He apparently
contacted the indivi(f\,ml pro
perty owners after receiving
the first re?uest and the
photographs from The News.
Several were helpful in attem
ting to clear up Fhe issue whifl;
one was hostile and another
refused to answer questions
about the paving.
*“lt shall ge unlawful
for ... any county or
municipality to authorize the
construction or maintenance of
any private road,” according to
Georgia law.
Tgle‘ Georgia attorney
McCalmon Elected
--See Page 18-A4
AMENDMENTS
Chattooga Countians also
defeated controversial propos
ed Amendments 1 and 2 to the:
Georgia Constitution. Amend
ment 1 would have changed the
post of state school superinten
dent from elective to a m
tive. Amendment 2 woulg ve
given state legislators four
year terms, starting on Jan, 1.
Voters statewide also
defeated both proposals. The
defeat of Amendment 1 was
seen as a slap in the face of
Gov. Joe Frank Harris, who
pulled out all stops to ensure
its passage.
78 PERCENT
Democrat Parker received
4,745 votes or almost 78 per
cent of those cast to handily
defeat Republican candidate
Fondren Wright in the race for
county commissioner. Wright
received 1,341 votes, sparking
chiarges ‘that there - wat
“‘something rotten” about the
election. 4
Parker easily defeated in
cumbent Commissioner Harry
Powell and David Tidmore,
another Democratic challenger,
being placed atop the pedestal
at the Memorial Home. It had
acquired a greenish cast since
being dedicated on April 26,
1934 by Georgia Sen. lgichard
B. Russell.
The crane lifted the marble
base onto a new concrete foun
dation near the flme at the
Memorial Home. ile it was
being squared on the founda
tion by Duncan crews, the
crane started lifting the heavy
marble ;}:‘edestal as though it
were light as a feather. The
crane operator placed it square
ly atop the base on his first try.
The monument, which
honored Chattooga Countians
see DOUGH BOY, page 8-A
general in an official opinion in
1976 said a county cannot
scratpe a private driveway even
if a fee is collected for the work.
A 1985 court decision said the
law *‘‘does not prohibit a coun
ty from performing grading
work on private property with
county equipment and
materials at rates established
in a published schedule.” No
such schedule has been found
in Chattooga County.
ENFORCEMENT
‘lt shall be the duty of all
state and local law enforcement
officers to enforce any provi
sion . . . which states that any
act or omission is unlawful,”
the law adds.
One of the roadways in
volves about .3 mile of paving
see POWELL, page 16-A ‘
during the Aug. 8 primary.
Parkegr receivedg 57 pg-cent of
the vote in that election.
“ROTTEN"”
“I feel like there's
something rotten here,”
Wright said Tuesday night
when it became apparent llzgat
he had lost the election.
*“ ... There's something wrong
and I can feel it. I don’t want
to be sour grafi:es or anything
but I just feel like something’s
wrong. If I'm wrong, then I'm
wrong. ; 4 &,
Referring to the poll
workers in the courthouse,
Wright continued, ‘. . . these
people are all relatives, they're
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Commissioner
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U.S. Congress
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Georgia Senate Dist. 53
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District Attorney :
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Public Service Commission
Bovey Rowan (0 o] [ 10] 179 0 s [ et ] e s
Jerry Brittingham (R) mmmm 1694
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Public Service Commissioner
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Bl Gotam 11|11 1] <[ 1] 71] 3] so[ o 58] o o
Calvin Peterson (NAP)| 4] 1| o| 2| 1} o 8 2/ o| 1| 30| 5{ 14| 1} 64
Democrats . . . these people are
all buddies, friends, andp work
mfi for these people. And they
did that four years ago and
there’s just something rotten
about the whole works.
Something’s rotten somewhere
and it has been for years here
in this cpurthouse.’
The Republican candidate
first indicated Tuesday night
that he might challenge the
election results. He asked Jon
Payne, election sulgerinten
dent, to lock ugoall the voting
machines and boxes angd:;lost
guards on them until Wednes
ay mominj to give him time
to seek legal counsel.
Whiskey Still Raid
--See Page 10-4
“FAIR PLAY”
Payne agreed to the request
after conferring with Parker.
Payne pointed out to Wright
that he didn’t have to agree to
his request but was doing so
“in the interest of fair play.”
Whrjfiht appointed his ne%l;ew.
Phillip, to watch over the boxes
while Parker named Dale
Housch, his brother-in-law.
Dep. Bill Blackwell was also
designated to guard the boxes.
Wright spent part of the
evening conferring with at
tomeiw)' Sam Finster. When the
Regu lican candidate returned
to the courthouse around 11:45
p.m. Tuesday, he said the
PRICE 25°
guards wouldn't be necessary
and that he would take Payne's
“word as a gentleman’ that
the boxes would be safe over
night. Everyone then went
home.
Payne said a recount may
be granted only if the results
for each candigate are within
one percent, or if there is an ob
vious discrepancy on the
ballotin%
Wright had not challenfied
%}Vl:;x‘:ssu(llts in court as tg te
esday morning, Payne
said. The ballots were expected
to have been certified
Wednesday.
Parker, meanwhile, declined
see PARKER, page 11-A