church burnings coverage, rountree editorial 9.13.1962

8/12/2019 Church Burnings Coverage, Rountree Editorial 9.13.1962

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' : : > p ~ l r ; U V a lSraeJ;VassarGOo e, Terrell County an SouthwestG.eorgia are witLewisPreSeottandJackSpeir.. n e s s ~ n g ; I n f a c i , 1 guess It is the first time-in Interment was in the Bron'. the. l o J i ~ a n . d .proud historyofthis.countyandwOod City Cemetery: .. ..Mr;Gammage'16vedhiscom"; section that. such .inthuaeiesand"carrying-onstnunity, and Ii lanyexpressions between the two races haveevel'been publicly.ofsynipathy.hifvebeen extended observed.' . . . . . . .. ... .the. familyin their bereavement. . Ofcou;se, this is disturbing, to the good. The son . n i n former and.w.hite people living together as we of theyears. For thelastseveral years, white race. ,with his sister, MissMaryGam' .One of the.three white boys has been inmage.he had.liveq.quietly iii .Bronwood:. . our city and,county riowseveral weeks, HeHewas amemberancldeacon h,lilsf.rom :lassllchuseHs.The two .others are

o the BrornvoodBaptist Church relativenewcomers: One oi them i s a Britishandt l member of theWoodmen subject wlJo, according to poliee,.entered thethe Wol'id. . . United States in earlyJuly. The other is aSunivin,!! are a bro.th. e.r, E. C. .~ y j u n g m a n f r o m Vermontwho came.to the cityGammage ofCocoa Beach, Fla.; only last week. .threesisters . . :\iiss Mary .Gammage. and :lissEIlaGammage All three boys areadmiUedly members ofofBronwoodandMrs. J. N.Hal'- the Student Non-ViGlent .Coordinating Comi'is Qf Comnlerce,and a. number mittee. This, as I have sa id , i sa militant orof nieces and nephews. ganization which seelts to break down segrega

t ionin the SOuth and destroy the customsandVandiver


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, , \ , , ~ ~ : ; U U _ I . . ~ 1 1 ; , ~ ~ ~ _ ~ ~ ' > _ U,UH.. U ~ _ J J . l l l ' O _ t e -, oVVU-~ ~ b f , 6 u i .county'. and. ' section. I t

' . i s a f l l a t t ~ r ; Q f i r a v e c 0 1 H e r n to the resPon'element ofthe)legro corn.munity; Negroof amalgamation whichgroups as represented by these threeOOys froin outside of Ge


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, l l V n ' t , ; ~ t , ; ~ . , . ..V .. u ~ , \ , ; ~ ~ c a ~ t ; I .WU,which burned in our county earlyHi s . no .. mere c o i n c i d e n c ~two churches loeated some three or four.apart could .havej (;cidenthlly caught firethe same time and burned to the. . . .the mOrlumt, no one, not.evenhasl>eenable to definitely

t h e c a u ~ e .the.outside forces .. which haveinto our county immediately claimedthe burning of these churches .was partof an insidious attempt to'intiminegroes and to haIt their.activities. Theyina manner of speaking, toThey have even, called upon theof the United States. to act.charges have been given wide pub

the rel; ult that in some quarterswhite people-of our city and countyhave been charged, tried andnewspaperman, I attended . some of

voter-registration meetings atGrove and Mt. .Olive churches. I nevera meeting at Mt. Mary.and accurate accounts of those meet

attended were published in my newsunder my .by-line.Copies of those edi-.available to the public. The meetingscontroversial, especially amongmembers of the churches involved. Thoseclaimed the churches were being desea meeting on the night of August 4 at

G r o ~ v e , for example, use of the churchwas the princiof discussion and a young negroteacher who said he was fired from hisit exto deliver himself of a long defense of

meeting places.last the churches are being used forgood anrl. wo.rthwhile. Some preachtrying to tell us we're ahead of ourand are using churches for wrong pur

preachers are riding .around inand robbing our people. But we'redQsomething about it. The young

are going to straighten {JUt one churchthis very same meeting a young whiteof Englewood, New Jersey, called on

register and vote so they could electsheriff, county commissioners and mayors.a negro man, said:are going to put people in the United

Senate who understand our problems

northern lind eastern press i f theH' "movement" W ; r u ~ ~ - t r i ~ ~ u o i t y , passed awayremains alive and. the money to finance their at St. Francis Hospital in CoacUvitiesconUnues to pour in. lumbus Tuesday following a critI t . is' significant, too, and a . matterof no ical illness of two week.s. HeJittlemoment that there has been a.1ot of had been in failing health fostrangers i n our midst, both from within and.without Georgia and that .efforts have beenmade in the past few'. d a y s ~ u n s u c c e s s f u l l y Im i g h t a d d ~ t o reactivate in our county and. .section an organlz.ation. which served its purpose.

many, many years ago.

the .past year.The son of the late W. J. RDavis and. Jannie Odelia WHIiams Davis, the deceased wasborn in Terrel.l County AUgU.sI, 1896, and he had many friendsthroughout the county who deWe are living in an enlightened.age. , ..plore his death. He was a dea time of change: .. and tbe Durning of voted member of Beulah Primichurchesfsnot a part of it The good white tive Baptist Church. people of TerrellCounty will have no a r ~ o f it. Surviving are his wife, theThey deplore the burning of the ehurches. former M.iss Wilma Lain.; aMy associates inei tygovernment and my .da,ughter, Mrs. George Perkinsof DawsDn; two sons, Geralgood friends who serve Terrell County inoffi- Davis of Dawson and Williamcial capacities join me, I .am snre, in deploring E. Davis of Ft. Belvoir, Va.

theourningoi the churches.everything within their. powerfacts and those reSponsible.The good white people ofdeserve a better opinion of

They are doing one brother, J. A. Davis of Dawto uncover the son, and five sisters, Mrs. C. EKelly and Mrs. W, I PowelTerrell County of .Macon, Mrs. Emmett LeveretGeorgians andAmericans than certain elements of the pressand the negro movement would have thembelieve.The indictment of them by a negro baseball Hall of FameI'. who just happened to bea visitor in A1bany over the week-end to createnew life in the movement serves no goodpurpose. Neither does 'the comment of other ducting the rites in the pres"visitors" to our county and section.With our country beset on all sides byforeign antagonists, this is no time to createstrife and discord among the peoples of Amer

ica to divide them.I t 1Stro time, in my judgment, for a centralizedFederal Government to try to compeland force our people to join in im amalgamatedsociety, religiously, educationally, sociaJly, morally and otherwise..Those who preach the. loudest about it and

advocate i t the strongest are those who do notpractice it.The people of Terrell County are good,law:abiding, God-fearing people. I t is not intheir hearts or minds to do such a con temptible thing as burning a Church.I ask again:Who had the most to profit-to gain-bythe burning of. these churches? .When we. have the answer to that question,we Will have the answer to many others.ThenegToes know their churches were old.They know that they are going to be rebuiltlarger and better.Let us hope that these new churcheswiIl.be used for the purpose fDr which they are

i n t e n d e d ~ t h e worship and glorification of God: ngt the villifica-tion o f -man.

of Parrott, and Mrs. C. C. Edwatds and Mrs. S. J. Bigham DDawson. Two gramlchildrenMark and Pam Perkins, also survive. Funeral services wcre heldthis afternoon at Beulah Primitlve Baptist Church, with EldeB.F. House of Columbus conence of a large numbel' of sor-rowing relatives and friends.Serving as pallbearers werehis nephews, James Davis, Jr.George Davis, Grady LeverettDavid Edwards, Warren Davisand Rudolph Moncus. Intermentwas in the churchyard cemetery conomically Times. . :;.G d n .Coun ty AS0 ITax Payments howTimes are good in thec o ~ ~ ~ ~ is reflected in a 1 e

port from Tax CommissionerJohn Senn that a lot of prop-erty owners already have paidtheir 1962 taxes.Statements. were mailed outseveral days ago and Mr. Sennsaid at least 100 taxpayersha've cleared their current ac. counts with combined payments totaling several thousand dollars.December 20 is the dead-'line fotpayment of currentstate and county taxes without penalty.


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: . _ -_-,- _ -- __ - _ , - - __ ' V Y ' . U - j . _ , P _ ~ ~ v : L ~ A . - u _ ' f : . u ~ _ ~ Q _ . l 1 t : I __ ~ Q ~ ~ ~ ~~ ( l n G C h l l d r e n , [men. were saId.. tp,be m on e. Itween Jimmy .BenW' y and Brucea l s o s ~ r ' n i g b t o f t h ~ kllhngbelongedto IEdwards. Incumbent ZackCra. >1 a human or not. . . ..... '. f_'~ ~ - ' - _ . . . , . - ~ ~ ~ ; ' _ - . . , _were , ~ e l 1 Accordipg to ,Brazeal,he, w a s c n ~ H t c H ' ' S C ~ O O L .RALLYPrnDI- i toIdby t i le ( ~ a r . operator tbat .. A ChurchScho{)lral1yw m.bewlth:gld:er :the bJood th , ; 1 t ofa dog he I held. atPierceiChapel Methodist(had sh?t '. ,translJorte


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1113I1Y yeatsly vrereland purehasedNegroactive in\\ieeks, in(ivHiesfires aE> work of arsonists.They ,!ppealed to PresidentKennedy to stop "tlJisNaziJikereign of terror:' in the COlllltv,Officis')s who i1m?siif(ateci (hefires while embers stilT smould-ered, sHid they could find 110 evidence o T l 1 ( ~ y \VHle tomake i invcsUg l t ion; i f tcrtile ashes il,ld cooled::lfL 0]) , [pubJiejze-d of he two chnrci1{:5,

~ ' ~ : . s Joeaf{'d' on iJJJOl1t tlle 0JStEne of lie TO\\ 11 ()fSDSS{ L SJlnrt d i ; s ~ l J l ( , C awnyto tho is Higtlway H2

\V1tlJin Jess than lOll feet oflives the Col'lleU.


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den('e or,nsotl . They were tomake" "l i l ler ' investigiJ!iooi.f!el'thee. ashes 'had coolc(L . .~ 1 t . O I J v e Cburell,:)lC'I'liIiI'S the01 S(lllt!1 H i g h \ \ a y B ~ ; .

Within lOti feel ofIhe.churn, til(! ('orill'lL'lallo''. ' ' a .wooden

f r ~ l l l w h o l l S ( , : the '('hurchb l l i l d j l \ ~ , i i i s (lId,Ll ln ' }Iallory ~ a i d : . she dis(:oven:(i!llP fire;lb(iut2 01' 2: 15,a,lIl. ' , tndthal sh(' "didn't hear rllins smouldcred.. . . two whi te boys andali) ' thingol ' sce anybody." . associated .in negro vo e r . r e g i s t r a t i o n ' a c t i v i t i e s i ~ the .county posedThe S;lsser Fil'e Dt'purtment for, camerameTl at the site of. ~ 1 L OliveChur eh in Sasser Sunday morni l1g .The white boyrespundcdto analarmbl\! when at the left is, John Chatfield o f BradJord. Orange Cotmty, .vermont, The. other . l s ' Ralphi t arrived on the .scene aoo\lt AllenofMassaehllsetts, The. boys live'. a t t he home.of Cal'olyn. Dail iel in .Dawsonwho .is2:3.0 a,m.th biJildin,C(WHseh' :;hown !ltAllen's . left. The negro woman at j he\reme It.is PI'athia Hall.ofPhiladelphia.\dop\ 1il [tanH's, Tlleyoluntcer f i n> t l l l I l ' IhencolH'f'ntr;.ted S ll t oo lives' at the D'aniel home: The negro at the extreme right is unidentified. Peeping5u('('essful.ly on5a\'ln.c;th( ' :\I;ll between Allen' anuthe .Danie lwomail isLuci lis Ho))oway. 'cmployc'd at the Dawson Postlor\' home. . Ofiice. 1';1I1el bottom'. shows the slllollldel'itIg-J'uins of :\1\. Mary Church, C h i e k a ~ a atchce.ILlpl1}lal1ory, a SOil of thencgro"co\lple, ,;;lid he and h i ~brothers 'were tr:lveling on llitih- j MISS MARY DEll MccAIN WRITESw ~ l y H2 ~ i b o H i 2 a.ll1. enroute,f lOl l l \ 1hinn' t () D;i\\',,61l. l ie~ a i d :;(> n(\t-i('etl 110 .,sign of ;1fi,'c ;rt the church at tl];!t time LOW"nd' pi,jd no ,l1!


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withlalita, said herei l lgan inspection ofthat he could findevidence of. arson.Someone, heto the .site. andtei'ed the ashes to such an extent that it. was impossihle to

case out f theburnings.l\Ir. \-','heeler said itobviollS th at theset afire buf so farI any phy:;ical evidenceit i.5 ahsolutely impossible

The state offieial said he isreportin,:,; the fire as undeter-mined.:'II)'. Wheelervisited the si;",neto make anyruins because (heysmouldering.

Virgil Puckett, TTell farmerof the. Chickasawhatchee section,has heen released under $5,000bond on a charge of assaultingan officei' of the Federat Bureauof. Investigiltion.He waived hearing hefore theU. S Commissioner in Alhany

is alleged to haveinvesti,gatingeJlul'ches inincident' report-occlllTed at Mt. Marynear Pucketrs home lastshorll.\' after the cllllrchThe Terl'ell fantler wastakcnto Albany jilil. and held over

night. He returned homeexhib-i t i ~ l g a swollen and black eye

- : 7 ~ ~ + - ' ' ' ' ' - ' : : - ~ - - , . . ' ' ' : ' ; : : : - ; ' = , , , ~ : ' : ' ; ; ' ; ' : ' ~ - ~ ~ ' ' ' ' - ' - 1 BaptiMee

with ; slight cut jllst above it. CARD OFIli.s shirt had ~ ~ n ripped open To our. de,i!'in tile back. so good to usreavement,we a r ~ indeed grate"Iul, especially for.. the. lovelyflowers, th.e cfood.and othercc.tric

Augusta;. College,Turner, NorthCollege, Dahlonega;Jean Waddl,. Georgia South-western College, Americus;

Andy Wall, North Georgia College, Dahlonega; Linda Willis,Gl'eenleafBusiness School, Atlanta; Jack and Andy Mathis,Middle Georgia College, Coch-

PreferredFashion i

~ I r sto memday ScBaptistbel' mSeptemTheeers fowill feRobert

RETURMrs.turned.pital aleai'n sly.

church burnings coverage, rountree editorial 9.13.1962

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