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The Summeruille News
The Official Legal Organ of Chattooga County Georgia
WINSTON E. ESPY DAVID T. ESPY, JR. TOMMY TOLES
PUBLISHER GENERAL MANAGER EDITOR
WILLIAM T. ESPY
ADVERTISING MANAGER
G\A &
Vel b A 1987
'9 ST ’fi t Freedom of
O ‘E; a Information
: :' Q. Award
: N’ : Winner
'Qtocw\o i
Espy PublishiniaCompnny. Inc. will not be liable for any error in an advertisement to any
greater extent than the cost of the ?cce the item occupies. Classified advertising rate is 11c
Ber word, minimum $2.25. Card of Thanks, Memoriams, etc. same as classified advertising.
isplay rates given upon request.
Address all mail to: THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS, P. 0. Box 310, Summerville GA 30747
TELEPHONE (404) 857-2494
Our Opinion
We Just Don’t Care
Lawmen in Chattooga County continue
to make arrests of suspected drug dealers
but most residents evidently think that we
don’t have a drug problem among our
young people or adults.
For the second time this year, a com
prehensive drug education program for
adults — particularly parents — was of
fered at Summerville Middle School by the
Northwest Georgia Regional Education
Service Agency (RESA).
One person attended the initial pro
gram. The program was repeated in March
at SMS. Eight people attended the first
week but only three showed up for the se
cond week.
As we indicated after the first session,
the turnout was disgustingly apathetic.
With as much drug abuse as we have in
Chattooga County, a logical person would
think that the middle school would be
overflowing with people wanting to know
what they could do to reduce the extent
of the problem.
How To Aveoid Jail
The letters to the editor section of The
Summerville News has in recent weeks
been filled with a dialogue over the treat
ment of jail inmates.
Some former or current prisoners have
expressed dismay at the views of other
local residents who find it hard to sym
pathize with current jail and prison
conditions.
The prisoners rightly point out that
those writers might feel differently if they
had a loved one in jail. But by the same
token, the prisoners might feel different
ly if one of their loved ones had been robb
ed, assaulted or had valuable items stolen
from their homes.
Contrary to what one letter writer said,
the jail is not filled with legally innocent
people awaiting trial. Most of those now
in the Chattooga County Jail have already
_@hom QurEarlyFiles
44 YEARS AGO
The following are excerpts from the Feb. 15, 1945, edition of The Summer
ville News.
THE AMERICAN Legion will meet Friday night, Feb. 16. This is the regular
meeting of the American Legion Post 129. Every World War veteran No. 1
and No. 2 are asked to come, and let's plan a big meeting for March regular
meeting. Be there at 8 o'clock.
THE WORLD DAY of Prayer is observed every year on the first day of
Lent. The date this year is Friday, Feb. 16. In Summerville, the program will
be held at the Methodist Church at 7:30 o'clock Friday evening. Everyone is
urged to attend this meeting. The theme of the World Day of Prayer this year
is **The Church Universal.”
IT HAS BEEN announced that the University of Georgia, in cooperation
with the Garden Club of Georgia, has completed the organization for the Tenth
Annual Garden School to be held in seven cities in Georgia, beginning Feb.
16 and ending March 2. All members of the Georgia Garden Clubs are urged
to attend these schools. Everyone is cordially invited.
THE TRAINING OF war dogs for the detection of underground enemy
mines has been discontinued by the Quartermaster Corps, it was announced
today by the Headquarters, Fourth Service Command. The training of dogs
for this purpose was started little more than a year ago, when it was determin
ed that the dogs could detect a certain percentage of underground mines.
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Published Every Thursday By
ESPY PUBLISHING CO., INC.
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At Summerville GA 30747
Publication Number SECD 525560
Opinions Expressed By
Editorial Columnists Are Not
Necessarily Those of This Newspaper
But again, the lack of attendance pro
ved that no one really cares whether our
children or adults are hooked on cocaine,
crack, marijuana or a variety of other
drugs certain to ruin their lives and create
further burdens on society.
The fact is that the drug problem isn't
going to be resolved unless the demand for
drugs is reduced. Lawmen can arrest
pushers every day but until the demand
for illicit substances ends, more pushers
will take their place.
So based on the lousy attendance at the
RESA drug education programs, the de
mand for drugs will continue to increase
unabated in Chattooga County, drug
related crimes will skyrocket, more
children will be destroyed by drugs, the
burden on the taxpayers for more law en
forcement will expand in size, and entire
families will be ruined and bankrupted
financially, spiritually and morally.
. .. All because we obviously just don't
care...
been convicted or have pled guilty to
crimes and are awaiting transfer to a state
penal institution.
Currently, the odds are that most
criminals sentenced to prison will serve on
ly a few months — if that long — of their
sentence before being released by the
State Board of Pardons and Paroles due
to overcrowding problems. Then they'll be
back on the streets.
Truly, it is “‘hell” to be confined. But
it is also "‘hell”” to suffer from an assault,
a robbery, a burglary or a multitude of
other crimes. Perhaps criminals should
consider the “‘hell” of jail before they com
mit the crimes that land them in small cells
for extended periods of time.
After all, no one forced them to break
the law.
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End Oof An Era
CONGRESSMAN Larry McDonald
would have been 54 years old last Satur
day, had he not been murdered by the
Soviet Union five and one-half years ago.
And if he had lived, Larry would probably
have been one of Georgia's two U. S.
senators.
In shooting down Korean Air Lines
flight 007 on Sept. 1, 1983, the Soviets
silenced the only effective anti-Communist
voice in the U.S. House of Represen
tatives. Their only “‘mistake’” was in think
ing that conservative Sens. Jesse Helms
and Steve Symms were also aboard KAL
007. Instead, Helms and Symms were on
KAL 015, just behind KAL 007.
ONLY THE VIRULENT anti-
McDonald factions still doubt that Con
gressman McDonald, who had represented
Chattooga County and Northwest Georgia
for almost a decade, was the prime target
of the Soviets on that dark morning more
than 30,000 feet above the Sea of Japan.
All sorts of magazine articles and
books have been written in an attempt to
excuse the murderous action by the
Soviets. But none has been convincing in
hiding the fact that the Communists
murdered in cold blood, not only their
most effective and vocal enemy, but also
268 more innocents, including children.
A LOT OF TIME has passed but it
seems like only yesterday that Larry and
AN § ]
R AN !
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Horror Of Shiloh
IT WAS DAWN over Pittsburg Lan
ding, Tenn., on April 6, 1862. The Union
troops encamped near the small Shiloh
Church were consuming their morning
meal. For more than 13,000 of the soldiers,
it would be the last breakfast they would
eat.
Two months earlier, the Federals,
under the command of Gen. Ulysses S.
Grant, had captured the Confederate-held
Forts Henry and Donelson in North Ten
nessee. Grant moved his troops south and
headed for Corinth, Miss., a vital railroad
center.
5% 8
BEFORE ARRIVING in Corinth, the
troops were to combine with 25,000
soldiers commanded by Gen. Don Carlos
Buell, who was moving west from
Nashville. Grant arrived at their rendez
vous first and set up camp on the Ten
nessee River at Pittsburg Landing.
What Grant didn’t know was that Con
federate Gen. Albert Johnson was aware
of his movements and planned to attack
before Grant could advance to Corinth.
And the calm of that Sunday morning was
broken by a surprise Rebel attack.
. ¥ =
MOST OF THE soldiers in both armies
at that time were still in their teens, and
some had not even been taught how to fire
their rifles properly. Such was the case of
a 19-year-old Union private from
Viewpoint
By Tommy Toles, Editor
Commentary
By Buddy Roberts
I were riding through Chattooga County
on his last whirlwind town hall meeting
tour.
Politically, he was just about in
vulnerable in the Seventh District so most
of the things he did in the district weren't
necessary from an election standpoint. He
did them for the people of the district.
* * *
I WISH HE had been here this past
weekend to celebrate his birthday. We
would have made sure that he had plenty
of his mother’s fried chicken to eat, as well
as gallons of iced tea. This summer, he
would have enjoyed visiting the farmers’
market in Chattanooga, Tenn., and pick
ing out dozens of the best watermelons to
take home with him. And I expect he
would enjoy catching a few bass or crap
pie out of James H. “‘Sloppy’’ Floyd Park
lake about this time of the year. He always
carried a compact ‘emergency’’ fishing
rod for such occasions.
Such a tragedy for his family and
friends . . . but most of all, for his country.
But our government's officials continue to
play “‘kissy-face”” with the criminals in the
Kremlin.
* * *
I ALWAYS THOUGHT that the only
good Communist is a dead Communist.
That feeling was reinforced on Sept. 1,
1983 and on each succeeding anniversary
of the atrocity, as well as on Larry’s
birthday.
Michigan.
When the firing began, the sergeants
yelled orders, and the privates began scur
rying for their weapons. There was no time
for musket instruction now.
* * *
THE PRIVATE wished he could
remember at least part of the brief instruc
tions he was given when he joined the
Union army. He thought of his parents, his
home, his friends, and the way his life us
ed to be only a few short weeks ago. So
many thoughts were going through his
head that he felt it might explode.
How did that go? The powder in first,
then the minie ball, then packing? Or was
the minie ball first? He just couldn’t
remember.
* * *
FINALLY, he loaded the rifle as best
he could, and prayed it was the right way.
Maybe if it was, he could keep alive, if on
ly for a few moments.
Gunfire rang out all around him, as his
comrades fell dead beside him. He raised
his musket to fire, and another gunshot
sounded. The explosion was final and fatal.
¥ % N
THE YOUNG MAN dropped his rifle
and slumped to the ground, a Confederate
bullet in his chest. He would never know
if he loaded his rifle correctly.
The battle raged on for the remainder
see COMMENTARY, page 6-A
o
By Rich Jefferson -
’ & /
Tally-Lou Gets Her Men
At Chattooga BOE Meeting
A report from The Next Chattooga BOE Meeting:
ALMOST NO ONE regularly attends the meetings of
the Chattooga County Board of Education. No one, that
is, but the superintendent, members of the board, and one
or two reporters. But sometimes there are crowds and it
is revealing why the biggest crowds show up. They have
not protested a lack of action on the dropout crisis, neither
have they complained that the Quality Basic Education
Act requires too much bureaucratic record-keeping and
cuts into the time teachers actually teach their children,
or that QBE gives the state too much control over local
boards of education. Any of those issues would have war
ranted a crowded board room.
The largest groups have been at board meetings to pro
test coaching changes, or to ask that the board hire more
black teachers, or to find out about an alleged sex-scandal
or the non-renewal of a principal. Do you remember the
rumor going around a few months ago that some of Chat
tooga County’s leading businessmen and law enforcement
officers had been busted for cocaine possession? At first,
the rumors said that these men had been arrested in Atlan
ta for possession of a few thousand dollars worth of the
drug, but eventually the story grew. Soon, these men had
at least S4O-million in cocaine when they were arrested in
Miami, or Chicago, or New York.
* * *
THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS, of course, was accus
ed of covering this up. The paper even received a telephone
call from a television station in Chattanooga. Their news
department wanted to know where these men were detain
ed. Not surprisingly, all rumors proved false.
But what happens when a reporter from a Chattanooga
TV station comes to Summerville to find out about a
suspected scandal in the school system? The reporter
might get confused about all the stories they had heard
about Chattooga County. You might see a riveting report
on the evening news.
Imagine that it is pitch black, and the bright televi
sion lights make the reporter look ghostly white. Her hair
is blowing in her face as the wind gusts, and the camera
is tilted just enough to induce viewer vertigo. Her report
is interspersed with cuts to the superintendent, the board,
and various protest groups inside and outside the central
office. :
* * *
“GOOD EVENING. This is Talley-Lou Fryer reporting
from Chattooga County’s Board of Education offices in
Summerville, Georgia. The embattled superintendent of
Chattooga County Schools finds himself tonight in a
precarious posture, but he has no comment.
“He did say that he hopes his staff will not walk out
as threatened. The staff plans to protest the use of school
system fog horns at the KKK'’s rally here next month.
“He said he had no comment, but intimated his staff
might have to oversee in-school suspension at Chattooga
High School.
“Right now, as you can see, the meeting is over but
it's only 8:23. The meeting starts at 8 p.m. A small group
of vocal protestors has just arrived here; they have just
been at the Summerville City Council meeting. The city
council meets the same night of the month as the county
school board, but an hour earlier. They say they are pro
testing the school system’s promise to lend the KKK
school system fog horns for the upcoming rally.
“The superintendent said he had no comment. But he
did say that the high school principal, whose contract was
not renewed at last month’s meeting, knows where the fog
horns are. The principal said earlier today he does not
know where the fog horns are. He said the superintendent
should make a statement.
“While this discussion was going on, a small vocal
group of students stood out in the hallway from the board
room and chanted ‘We wanna bet.’ One of the things the
principal may have done to earn his non-renewal was to
eliminate penny pitching in the boy’s restrooms.
“There was also a group of women saying things in the
board room. In the middle of a discussion on the budget,
they kept saying ‘We want to see the farm animals.’ I ask
ed if these were parents of FFA students, but no one seem
ed to know.
“And I've just talked to a journalism teacher who said
he would have had his students here to cover this event,
but that it was a school board function and had nothing
to do with the school itself.
see POTPOURRI, page 5-A