ORNION
PAGE 4 - HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS - OCTOBER 14, 1999
THE HOGANSVILLE HOME NEWS
Millard B. Grimes, PreScient
USPS 620-040
MI IiA
PUBLISHER]ADVERTISING DIRFLTOR
JOHN KUVKENDALL
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER]EDITOR
MAroON (TED) SMrm
MANAGING EDITOR/TECHNICAL
DIRECTOR
I,EEAnN WaaEr
BUSINESS MANAGER
Phone (706) 846-3188. Fax (706) 846-2206
P. O. Box 426
tlogansville, Georgia 30230
Offwial Legal Organ, City of Hogam'vilk,
Old Hotels Never Die
We pass it everyday on
Main Street. Probably very
few give it more than a glance,
but there must be some who
remember and I am one of
those. You see, I lived there,
with my family, in 1925. The
place was then "The
Commercial Hotel." It is now
"The Grand Hotel" and has
received several face lifts, but
I remember the old girl as she
was many years ago.
First, I must say, my mem-
ory is not the best. Sometimes,
I might forget to get up in the
morning if it were not for my
wife, who will remind me it is,
indeed, another day.
Mrs. Collier ran the hotel
and she had a firm grip on the
whys and wherefores. The
meals were served boarding
house style and large hungry
crowds would vie for the food.
Being young and timid, I some-
times came out on the short
end.
The boarding rooms, as I
recall, were on the second
floor and several times, to
demonstrate how weak I was
from hunger, I would crawl up
the stairs to our room. Mrs.
Collier did not take kindly to
such demonstrations and let it
be known to one and all, espe-
cially my parents.
Allan Dee
Dodson
have ever eaten. I always
thought, however, she put less
on my plate tan she did on oth-
ers.
Mr. McKinnon, who owned
the lumber mills, stayed at the
hotel. One day, my brothers
and I investigated his room
and found what we thought
were large chestnuts. We bor-
rowed a few and tried to eat
them. Found out a bit later they
were buck eyes. Never eat a
buck eye! We paid dearly for
our sin.
Across the muddy street
were the drug stores-
Shackleford and Daniel. At
"Shacks" you could buy eski-
mo pies. I had never had any
and, without doubt, they must
have come direct from heav-
en, or at least Mount Olympus.
Perhaps I owe my life to eski-
mo pies.
At Daniels, you could get a
fount coke. I thought then, and
TJaporC, bx@dthe , think now, that fount cokes
west side'- well were far better than bottled
as over the front as now. cokes. It's been a long time
Vines grew on the porch and
with great care, and a lot of
puffing, they could be smoked.
Your tongue became very sore
and you got a little sick, but it
was smoking. You see, very lit-
tle vine smoking these days. I
doubt if there is one in all of
West Georgia.
On warm evenings, about
half of Hogansville would
gather on the sidewalk and
front porch to discuss every-
thing from preachers to poli-
tics. I never discussed any-
thing except how hungry I
was.
Mrs. Collier had a son
named Minton and for us, it
was hate at first sight. We
enjoyed many a fight. I
remember once we were hav-
ing a rock battle and he hit me
a good one right above the
right eye. I bent down to
secure a missile to return the
compliment and when I pre-
pared to deliver, he hit me
another good one right above
the left eye. I ran to my moth-
er, with blood streaming. Mrs.
Collier said I shouldn't have
put my head in the wrong
place, and that "little Minton"
meant no harm. I still have the
scars, and I still hate "little
Minton."
Mrs. Collier, sometimes
would freeze ice cream and
sell it for ten cents a dish. I
still remember it as the best I
since I've had one. I remem-
ber Flowler Daniel as a fine
man who later on was to help
me with my reading-and
helped others.
We didn't stay there long,
but I will always remember
"The Commercial Hotel" and
how hungry I was. A few years
later, up around 1930, I could
look back on the boarding
house meals as "high on the
hog."
Some may remember the
Western Union was in the
hotel. Miss Weems was, as I
recall, the operator. It seems
to me you got 35 cents to deliv-
er a telegram, but it must have
been less. Whatever it was, it
went for eskimo pies and fount
cokes.
Last week, we told you how
helpful it was to read The
Hogansville Herald. We are
fortunate to have such a good
library in Hogansville and to
have such a wonderful librar-
ian as Mrs. Overton Magnum.
If she doesn't have the book
you want, she will get it for
you if it has been printed.
She has helped me get talk-
ing books. What a wonderful
way to read a book, fiat on your
back. You don't have to be as
blind as a bat to qualify. Why
not stop by and see Overton.
She'll help you, too.
See you next week, Lord
willing.
THE HO6ANSVn HO NEws is published weekly by the Star-Mercury Publishing
Company. a division of Gfins Publications, at 3051 Roosevelt Highway, Manchester.
Georgia 31816. USPS 620-040. Subscription rates by mail: $15 in Meriwether, Talbot
or Hams Counties; $20 a year elsewhere. Prices include all sales taxes. Second class
postage paid at Hogansville, C_gorgin 30230.
FoR suscawnoss call (706) 846-3188 or write to Circulation Manager. Star
Mercury Publications, P. O. Box 426, M.che¢, Georgm 31816.
Pos: addxeu changes to P. O. Box 426, Hogansville, GA 30230.
SrJr
Publisher and Advcfdsing ..................................................................... Mikc Hale
Associate Publisher and Editor ................................................................ John Kuykendall
Managing Editor and Technical ........................................... Marion fred) Smith
Business Manager ....................................................................................... LeeAnn W'dbert
Assocmtc Editors .......................... Billy BanCralbomm, Miclmel $nider/Hams County
Bryan GctedHogamvi]le, Caroline Yeager/Greenville, Lee N. Howell
Staff Wfimr ......................................................................................................... J. Dan Stout
Assistant Advertising Manager ....................................................................... laurie Lewis
Advertising Sales .............................................................................................. Linda Lcster
Photography .................................................................................................. .Michael Snider
Composing ................................................................................... Valinda lvery, Green
Legals ................................................................................................................ valmda lve/
Receptionist and Classifieds .............................................................................. Cleta You'a
Pressroom ...................................................................... David Boggs, Wayne Gmcwski
CoemT Omoms
President ........................................................................................................ .Millard
Vice President ........................................................................................ Omrlotte S.
sm,y .............................................................................................. J.aura c, times Corer
Treasurer ...................................................................... : ....................... Kathy Grimes Gar
Legal Counscl and Assistant Secretary .................................................... James S. Cremes
Hospital Errors Kill 120,000 Annually
Norman Carter told a story
about an operation he once had
at Emory University. He said
his doctor came to see him
every morning, and one morn-
ing he stayed an unusually
long time. When he left he
said, "I sure did enjoy talking
to you this morning. All my
other patients are in a coma."
Don't know if that is a true
story or not but it kinda sets
the stage for what I want to
relay to you this week. I have
never liked hospitals and thus
far in my life have never had
to spend the night in one as a
patient.
And after reading the fol-.
lowing headline in a daily
paper not long ago, I even dis-
like them more. "Study:
Hospital errors kill one of
every 200 patients."
Now does that bother you
or not? Read on. Dr. David
Hash, associate dean and
director of the Office of
Health Policy and Clinical
Outcome at Thomas Jefferson
University said, "The facts
are, we commit thousands of
errors every week national-
ly." Bertrand Bell, a profes-
sor at Albert Einstein College
of Medicine in New York adds,
"People get killed every day
in hospitals. This goes on in
every hospital in the United
States. The public doesn't see
it at all." Bothersome words,
huh?
One death by error out of
every 200 hospital patients
equates to one-half of one per-
cent, which is a small per-
centage.
Yet the seemingly small
percentage adds up to one mil-
lion people being injured by
errors in hospital treatment
every year and 120,000 peo-
ple dying as a result of those
injuries.
My aunt, the late Maggie
Hull, was in a Columbus hos-
pital a number of years ago
receiving treatment for a back
problem.
One morning bright and
Bob
Tfibble
Former
early nurses came to her
room, put her on a stretcher
and wheeled her out the door
towards the operating room.
Ms. Maggie tried to tell the
nurses that her doctor had not
told her anything about an
operation.
At first they would not lis-
ten to the mid-seventy year
old lady. Finally, after much
bickering from Ms. Maggie,
the nurses reviewed their
charts and discovered that
they had the wrong patient.
The correct patient to be
operated on that morning was
Ms, Maggie's roommate.
You Get It
By Ray King
My college-
educated son
has got us
selling
methane
made from
our dairy cow
wastes. He's
become a real
'entt'£-
manure.--. .......
I
According to the report, 48
percent of the errors result-
ed from surgical treatment.
Had Ms. Maggie not strongly
protested the operation that
morning she could have been
among the above percentile.
Studies have shown that
only five to ten percent of all
medical errors are reported
to hospital administrators,
with the remaining 90 to 95
percent going unreported.
Chances are no one Was ever
told about Ms. Maggie being
carted out of her room early
that morning for an "unsched-
uled" operation.
Reports on industrial qual-
ity point out that a 99.9 per-
cent profic'iency rate was
unacceptable in most indus-
tries.
It would result in two
unsafe airplane landings a day
at busy airports, 16,000
of lost mail every hour,
32,000 checks deducted from
the wrong bank account every
hour.
Assuming that rate could
be achieved in health care
would still leave thousands
patients dead each year as the
result of medical error.
The stud3
of the medical errors report-
ed, only 24 percent of the
patients' families are
abolttthem by hospital exec-
utives.
These executives face
business pressures to deny the
occurrence of medical errors,
lest the hospital be sued and
have to pay.
Nash concluded,"What do
hospitals do with their risli
management reports? Wei
bury them as fast as possible."
Finally, a man walked i
the hospital one day and
a nurse he had the shin
The nurse said, "Go back
the room, put on a gown an
the doctor will see you in a
minutes," The doetoreuae"
went to the room,
the man and'said, "I d6tft
anything wrong with
where are the shingles?"
man replied, "They're
there on my pickup truck."
Have a good day!
FDR Bought Farmland in Meriwether
(Another in a series)
Franklin Roosevelt had
always been a farmer in his
heart. His father had cattle
and timber on his Hyde Park
land. He took the boy on
inspection tours.
Franklin joined the Grange
as a young adult, after he had
begun practicing law in
Manhattan.
When he served briefly in
the New York State
Legislature before becoming
Assistant Secretary of the
Navy, he specialized in agri-
cultural and conservation
matters.
And when he was Governor
of New York he gave high pri-
ority to farm matters.
For instance, he set up an
Agriculture Advisory
Committee which reduced
-taxes on farms and increased
spending for education in
rural areas.
• He liked to boast about his
knowledge of farm problems,
even before he had firsthand
knowledge of them, and he
liked to tease his city friends
about the growing gap
between city and rural life-
styles. "Look, Grace," he said
to his secretary Grace Tully
once on a trip, pointing out the
train window. "That's a cow."
At least as early as 1926,
or within about a year and a
half after his first visit to
Warm Springs, Roosevelt
began buying farmland and
woodland in Georgia.
He bought some land from
the Harts, the Columbus peo-
ple whose cottage he occupied
on his first trips to Warm
oSfrings, and bits and pieces
other holdings.
Land was cheap in Georgia
in the mid-1920s. According
to Roosevelt's ledgers, he
bought one 100-acre parcel on
the side of Pine Mountain for
$350. This was worthless by
the normal standards of the
day, but it was adjacent to a
favorite spot of his, Dowdell's
Knob, which offered a breath-
taking view of Shiloh Valley -
the Shenandoah Valley of the
South, locals termed it. He got
road built to the Knob.
Farmland was cheap, too.
There is some confusion in
records and memories about
the exact details of his acquir-
ing the centerpiece of what
came to be known as Roosevelt
Farms.
That was the Pine
Mountain farm owned and
run, when Roosevelt first
arrived, by E.B. Doyle. Doyle
apparently got into debt and
sold his fwm to Roosevelt
after an earlier arrangement
between the two didn't work
out.
Roosevelt's acquaintance
with Doyle was another of
those involvements that gave
him a close-up look at what
economic depression could do
to its victims.
The Doyles were educated
people from a middle-class
background.
Mrs. Doyle's father had
been a small-town merchant,
who lost his business when the
boll weevil ruined his farmer
customers. Ed Doyle's trou-
bles were caused by - or at
least complicated by - a small-
town bank's failure, also
induced by crop failures.
Whatever the details
between the two, Roosevelt's
ledger shows that as of
December 31, 1927, his assets
included the "Hart farm" of
unspecified acreage and the
"Doyle farm" of 310 1/2 acres.
He valued the former at
$4,074.33 and the latter at
$s,o7s.
He added a couple of other
parcels in 1927, one of approx-
The
Squire
of Warm
Spdngs
, Theo
imately 50 acres and the other
of approximately 60 acres.
Each cost about $50 an acre.
He added to this again and
again. Soon his total acreage
was over 1,100 acres in
Meriwether County and 1,600
in adjoining Harris County. In
both counties, the overwhelm-
ing majority of the land was
in woodland or forest range.
Probably never more than
300 acres were actually culti-
vated. Almost all of that was
in the Meriwether County part
of the farm, near the founda-
tion and the cottages. The
farmhouse and barn were also
in Meriwether.
Doyle ran the farm for
Roosevelt as resident manag-
er, living on in the house there.
It was actually a tenant's
house that Doyle had taken
over when his own burned
down. Later he moved into
town to make it easier for his
children to go the school.
Meriwether County was a
cotton-and-peach agriculture
center. Those two crops were
mainstays of Georgia's econ-
omy. But for Meriwether's
1,500 farmers in the middle
1920s, as for all Georgia cot-
ton growers, cotton was risky
business. The average
Georgia cotton farmer lost
money from 1925 through
1930 - and things got worse
after 1930.
As for peaches, their
return on investment and
labor had dwindled to the
that one Meriwether
pulled up half his
Doyle wrote Roosevelt
what they ought to do
uproot all of theirs.
Eventually, (but
Doyle left), there was no
orchard of commercial
This was in a county that
"the Peach State" in
duction through the
1930s.
It was cotton
Roosevelt wanted most to
away from in Georgm.
believed that the
endemic poverty would
be solved as long as so
of its farmers - owners.
ants and sharecroppers
looked to King Cotton. In
20% of all Georgia's
was devoted to cotton.
Later, when he
President, Roosevelt
ed programs that would
farmers to limit sharply
amount of cotton planted.
But before that, and
ing his presidency, he
sought to demonstrate
Georgia farmers that
were better ways to farm
that a good living could
made from other practices.
He was interested in
ber as a cash crop, in
in grapes, in goats, in a
ety of vegetables, in
thing. He was es
interested in cattle.
The whole point of his
ership of a Georgia farm
to demonstrate
ers that a farm could be
itable.
He was not one of
"gentleman farmers" pick
up cheap farmland and
cheap labor, in Georgia
elsewhere, to enjoy a
ly part-time life "on the
(New Week:
Cattleman.)
