THE HOGANSVILLE HERALD
o tfime ublicali
Millard B. Grimes, Prmddeflt
USPS 620-O4O
MIKE HALE
PUBIJSHER/ADING DIRECTOR
JOHN KArL
AS3CTATE PUBIJSHER/EDITOR
MARION (TED) SMrm
INAGING EDrIDRCAL DIRECIR
WUEgr
BUSINESS MANAGER
Phone (706) 846-3188. Fax (706) 846-2206
P. O. Box 426
Hogae, cor 3oz3o
Official I.'gal O.on. CiO' of Hogansvilk"
H.B. 489
For most of our history no
one has looked very carefully
at the services delivered to cit-
izens by local governments.
1hxpayers who lived in the
cities paid their city taxes and
their county taxes also and no
one paid much attention to what
they were getting for this dou-
ble taxation.
Year before last the Georgia
legislature decided that each
county and the cities within that
county needed to sit down and
examine what services are pro-
vided by each one.
They are not to just look at
them. They are to make adjust-
ments according to what serv-
ice is being delivered by whom.
The basic services to be exam-
ined include fire protection,
police protection, road mainte-
nance, water and sewer servic-
es, recreation, zoning, code
enforcement, building inspec-
tion and similar items.
House Bill 489 set out to
accomplish several things. One
is to change the situation where
a taxpayer is paying both the
city and the county for a serv-
ice but is only getting that serv-
ice delivered by one of them.
Another is to prevent the dupli-
cation of services by both the
county and the city.--Another is
to provide a plan for the future
delivery of services.
In order to accomplish these
goals House Bill 489 requires
the county commissioners and
the city council members sit
down together.
They have to determine
which local government is going
to deliver which service to
which taxpayers, what area will
be covered, what it will cost,
and where the money will come
from.
All these understandings
have to be included in a docu-
ment called the Service
Delivery Strategy (SDS). This
SDS document for Meriwether
has to be approved by the coun-
ty commissioners, by the mayor
and council of Greenville (as
county seat), and by the mayor
and council of two of our four
cities with population over 500
(Greenville, Luthersville,
Manchester, and Woodbury).
Finally, this document must be
approved by the Department of
Community Affairs.
These requirements have
been in place for over a year
now and should be adopted by
the deadline of July 1, 1999,
The legislature decided to
put some teeth into House Bill
489.
The penalty for failing to
have the SDS adopted on time
is the loss of state funding, state
permits, state grants, and so on.
In short, any county failing to
adopt a SDS is crippled.
This is not optional. We have
to do this whether we like it or
Tyron
Elliott
not.
The 1999 legislature did give
counties a chance to opt for a
120-day extension if the July 1,
1999 deadline was not met.
Meriwether County has had to
ask for the extension.
Counties and cities all over
the state are doing the same.
Very few counties have their
plans in on time. With one year
to get ready it might be puzzling
to wonder why this is taking so
long.
An examination of the
impact of any SDS plan done
the way it should be shows, how-
ever, why the county govern-
ments just wish this would go
away.
In the coming weeks this col-
umn will examine some of the
issues involved in the various
services covered by HB 489 and
how they have been treated by
the various proposals for the
SDS plan to be adopted here.
The county recently pre-
pared a proposed plan.The plan
has been approved by
Greenville and Luthersville.
Manchester and Woodbury, in
a remarkable show of unity,
have common serious reserva-
tions about the proposal.
The county could pass a plan
without the approval of
Manchester and Woodbury but
it might not pass muster at the
Department of Community
Affairs so discussions are
underway.
(First in a series.)
THE HOGANSVILLE HERALD is published weekly by the Star-Mercury
Publishing Company, a division of Grimes Publications, at 3051 Roosevelt
Highway, Manchester, Georgia 31816. USPS 620-O40. Subscription rates by
mail: $15 in Meriwether, Talbot or Harris Counties; $20 a year elsewhere. Prices
include all sales taxes. Second class postage paid at Hogansvil]e, Georgia 30230.
FOR SUBSCRWTmNS call (706) 846-3188 or write to Circulation Manager,
Star Mercury. Publications, P. O. Box 426, Manchester, Georgia 31816.
PCa-MA.S'InR: Send address changes to P. O. Box 426, Hogansvi]]e, Georgia
30230.
STJF
Publisher and Advertising Director .......................................................... Mike Hale
Associate Publisher and Editor ..................................................... John Kuykendall
Managing Editor and Technical Director ................ . ............... Marion fred) Smith
Business Manager ............................................................................. LeeAnn W'dbert
.sociate Editors .............. Billy Bryantfralbotton, Michael Snider/Harris County
Dan Stout/Hogansvil]e, Caroline Yeager/Greenvil]e
Advertising Sales ............................................................. Laurie Lewis, Linch l.ester
Photography ......................................................................................... Michael Snider
Features ...................................................................................................... Lani A. Pike
Composing .................................................................... Valinda Ivery, Melissa Pierce
Legals ....................................................................................................... Valinda Ivery
Receptionist and Classifieds .................................................................... Cleta Young
Pressroom .............................................................. David Boggs, Wayne Grochowski
COnPORATF. OFnCERS
President ............................................................................................... Millatd Grimes
Vice President ............................................................................... Charlotte S. Grimes
Secretary ....................................................................................... Laura Grimes Corer
Treasurer ................................................................................... Kathy Grimes Garrett
Legal Counsel and Assistant Secretary .......................................... James S. Grimes
OPINION
PAGE 4 - HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS - JUNE 17, 1999
If I Can't Be a Hammer, Let Me Be a
"If God can't find a hammer el, hard to forget. I thanked him
He'll use a shoe to drive His cos- for the complimenet and a lit-
mic nail," one of my most spiri- tle later he asked me to dance.
tually-lead friends says, the While we were dancing, he said,
point being, He gets the job "You don't remember me, do
done. you.. 2"
I like that analogy. It makes "No," I replied.
a lot of sense. Some of us are "You used to work in the
hammers. Some of us are shoes, courthouse, in the DA's office,"
...... Lorirl
. Sinn-
Clark
: Columnist
They are
kids are doing all right.
"I would have brought
with me tonight, but she
tired from working all day
told me to go on
Tomorrow is Saturday, that
usually her night." they
nice place to live, he said,
The point is, the work gets done.
And, sometimes, if we are truly
blessed, He reminds us of that.
. .The other night I was blessed
with just such a reminder, while
I was (of all things) listening to
a Zydego band. Feeling like a
worn-out shoe that night (rather
than a hammer), I thought the
music might cheer me up.
I got a drink and listened for
awhile; but, I was only pretend-
ing to have a good time. The
music was hot, but my spirits
were not.
So I headed outside for some
fresh air. On my way a dark,
bearded, Cajun-looking man,
dressed as if he were "in the
trades" stopped me. He said he
reads my column every week
and loves it every time.
"On Mother's Day I called
my mother-collect-just because
of you and that piece you wrote,"
he said. "She's in Louisiana and
was glad to get the call."
His accent was thick and so
Louisiana-sounding, I had a hard
time understanding him. He
sounded almost foreign-unusu-
he said. "Yes," I said, wondering
if I was beginning to smell a rat.
For awhile I had done the
Victims' Assistance Program,
which involved dealing with
people who weren't in the best
times of their lives.
I hoped this man wasn't a
defendant I'd been harsh with
during a family violence case.
I hoped he wasn't about to seek
revenge, blaming me for trash-
ing his life...
Then it hit me--the accent!
I had dealt wit him and his wife-
and it was a family violence
case. I remembered that they
both seemed young and scared,
having just moved from
Louisiana with two small kids.
They were renting. She did-
n't work. He was looking for a
job. They were out of money
and the wolves were howling at
their door. I don't remember if
there was drink involved, but
she got hit. He got arrested, and
a few days later they ended up
talking with me because that
was my job back then.
Something in their story, told
in those deep Louisiana accents,
coupled with the way they
looked at each other-clearly in
love and filled with remorse,
obviously having some real
hard times-touched me. I
remember fighting hard with
my boss the DA for some
lenience with this couple-I did-
n't want him to go to jail or have
to pay.
(One of the reasons I left the
DA's Office was, as the lawyers
were fond of telling me, I got
'oo involved," but for that cou-
ple, I was glad I did.)
Shortly after dealing with
them I chanl[ed jobs and never
heard what happened to them.
I thought of them occasionally
and hoped their story was one
of the few that actually turned
out all right.
And, now, here he was-that
young wife's beloved, troubled
man-dancing with me. I asked
him how it was going; and, he
told me that it had turned out
okay. The counseling helped, he
said. "I still go every week!"
"the money, well, it comes
The best part about it
way you could see it in his
when
still in love," he told me.
I look at her my bones melt!'
He said he wanted to
me for the role I'd
ing that troubled time.
helped give us a chance
"You helped save us all
And, you know what? I don't
her no more. Not
time. I broke the cycle,
father hit my mother and
brother hits his e. But
boys, the
a better life."
We danced a while
then he went home to his
I had the impression they
going to have a sweet,
night. I left feeling like
more successful
from the Zydego music and I
knowledge that I'd
made a differnece in
body' life. It'd be a nice to
the er, but sometimes'
also mighty fine just to
be the shoe.
FDR Discovers the Springs' Healing
(Sixth in a series).
Creek Indians discovered
the healing properties in the
warm mireral waters that
gushed from the side of Pine
Mountain in southwest Georgia.
Their white supplanters found
the waters and the mountain
more suited to relaxation..than,,
therapy.
For nearly 100 years before'
Franklin Roosevelt made his
first visit to Warm Springs, the
community had been a summer
vacation resort.
Its elevation (over 1,200
feet) and the thick pine forests
that gave the mountain its name
made for pleasant tempera-
tures even in the dog days of
deepest summer.
A town grew up around the
resort and was incorporated as
Builochville in 1896 (named
after Eleanor Roosevelt's
father's mother's family).
The hotel that Roosevelt
would see (but never stay in)
was the Meriwether Inn, built
in 1889 to replace a hotel which
had burned down.
It was a three-story ram-
bling green, yellow and white
Victorian monstrosity, with
eccontrm turrets and verandas.
It had two tiny enclosed pools
for men and women and an out-
door pool 150 feet by 50 feet,
large by the standards of the
day.
By the end of World War I,
the resort had fallen on hard
times. The owner, Charles
Lamar Davis, seemed to have
lost his grip on the enterprise.
A newspaper editor from
Columbus, Thomas W. Loyless,
remembered the hotel at the
turn of the century, and thought
its grandeur could be restored.
He leased the property from
Davis, with an option to buy, in
1919 or 1920. He paid Davis
$9,000 aye
He was seldom able to fill
the 46-room hotel and its 1S
small cabins for the summer
season.
In a 1937 talk to patients at
Warm Springs, Roosevelt put it
this way: "The old place had fall-
en on rather thin days and when
I came down here in the fall of
1924, they had a very poor sea-
son, and the man who ran the
hotel -- well, he was in the red
and most of his knives and forks
had disappeared and most of the
crockery had been broken."
In 1923 Loyless met George
. Foster Peabody who was also
from Columbus. Loyless had
gone to New York to augment
his summer income from the
hotel.
He told Peabody about his
efforts and about a young man
who claimed to have been
"cured" of polio by swimming
in the waters at Warm Pine
Mountain.
Peabody expressed interest have swum his way bacg
in joining Loyless in the enter- The health.
prise. He had Loyless ask the Roosevelt questioned
young man, Louis Joseph, to Squ|re closely about his lameness
write a letter to Roosevelt, Of Warm progress, his exercises
describing his experiences, much he attributed his
Peabody conveyed the letter to SDlng$ to Warm Springs. Joseph's
Roosevelt, invited him down to By Theo . cess was what
the resort. . .... :b - n,,nr alwayshopedŁorhimsetŁ
He gave Loyless money,to . Upl.. al=T Joseph could
paint the inn and spruce up the ........ assistance, and
grounds a little, home, but he
Roosevelt, Eleanor, Mar- one cane.
guerte (Missy) LeHand, his per- of a robust man with legs "like After a chat with
sonal secretary, and Irwin spaghetti."
McDuffie, his valet, took a train His wheelchair was loaded valet to the
down from New York, arriving in with the other baggage, and a private dressing room
at Bullochville's small station off the party went to the Hart drapes of canvas in the
on October 3. cottage, murmuring proper house.
The "season" was over, but appreciative remarks about the Roosevelt may have
a small staff remained at the clean air and handsome pines, with Joseph that mornin
hotel, including Louis Joseph. ignoring the signs of rural did, either that day or the
The pool was still open. southern poverty in the town and discussed the
When the train arrived at and on the clay road to the resort effects with Joseph's doctoJ
dusk, Tom Loyless was there to area, several hundred yards James Johnson of the
greet Roosevelt. So was Miss away. textile town of Manchester.
Georgia Wflkins, Davis's niece. The Roosevelts settled in at FDR's first dip, solo
Theyhad a direct interest in the the Hart cottage. Years later, accompanied, was on
visitor. Roosevelt's fame as a reminiscing about that first 4, 1923, and brought
leading Democratic party night, FDR said he was kept mation that he had never
leader attracted also the mayor, awake by tle sounds of squir- any water so pleasant.
E.B. Doyle,.a farmer; the town's rels running across the roof. he was able to lift his
one physician, Dr. Neal The next morning, he wait- the stronger one.
Kitchens; the Columbus couple ed at the cottage for Louis Roosevelt could
whose cottage Roosevelt would Joseph. Joseph was a 26-year-
stay in, the Harts; and a num- old engineer who had been feet of water. Perhaps he
ber of others, over 50in all. Most stricken in much the same fash- have done that in any water.
were just curious, ion Roosevelt had in 1920. He the Warm Springs water
Roosevelt was lifted from had been paralyzed from the have
the Pullman platform by waist down. - double molecules of
McDuffie and a young black When ke had recovered sium and calcium- that
man Loyless had brought with enough to travel, he left his New a higher specific gravity
him. The celebrity's braces had York home for his father's cot- most spring water. It
been locked so that he could rage on Pine Mountain in 1921. according to the therapists'
walk to the piatform from inside He stayed two years there and came there to work in
the Pullman car. in Columbus. lowing years, the most
Once aground, he walked on He spent a lot of time swim- freshwater they had
crutches again to a waiting car. ruing in the warm waters. He encountered.
One observer, Ruth Stevens, could not walk when he first (Next week:
later recorded her impression came down, but he seemed to name change.)
Summer Reading Club ChiUin'
The accumulation ................................................................................... Ellison, Potomac fever
snowflakes at Hogansville :,.. _. Henry Horrock, The right
Public Library did not slow the uuraly news of evil by John Saul.
activity at the CHILL OUT . to our large print
WITH BOOKS Summer include: fiction - A cat
Reading Club programs on own by Lydia Adamson,
Thursday June 10. The Arctic Jane Cheatham Gottshall, by Joe Gores
scene mural in the lobby has Branch Manager of night by
accumulated ninety-seven Addition,,
snowflakes. Each snowflake Bulfinch's Mythology
displays the name of a child who , Thomas Bulfinch,
has registered in the Summer assisted Ms. Powell in the craft haunts form the
Reading Club. activity, foothills stories and
Yvonne Bledsoe, our Youth Registrations for this year's (edited by) James V.
Librarian, presented the story Summer Reading Club will be How is my first grader
"Blood on the Ice" by Jim accepted through the end of school? by Jennifer
Kjelgaard from Boys' Life June. Introduction to
Treasury to the children aged Arctic and. Antarctic anf- Ronald Pearsall, The end
12andup. mals is the t0piat our next pro, dream by Ann Rule,
Frankie Neighbors Wiggins gram on June 24. Jean Crocker, build your own
delighted the forty-five chip retired teacher, presents the home by Ray G. Scott,
dren attending the morning pri- PrimaryProgram foragesthree Shakespeare •the
mary program, to seven at 10:30 a.m. works and American
Trish Powell, a new member Additions to our adult col: ment by James Q. Wilson.
to our library, demonstrated lection in[lude: fiction reference books include:
how to make a snowman's face Dangerous kiss by Jackie fabulous century by the
on a paper plate. Dana Austin Collins, Juneteenth by Ralph of Time-Life.
t
