The Progress-Index from Petersburg, Virginia • Page 29

Tri-City News Serving The Growing Virfiaia PETERSBURG Thursday, July 17, 1969 COLONIAL HEIGHTS £7 HOPEWILL Dropping Taxes On Timber Land Causes Concern Hey, Fellows, Give Support DINW1DDIE "Support Your Local Sheriff" says the bumper sticker on car in Dinwiddie County. Whose car is il? That of the himself, A. Hill Burton. Files Notice Staff Photo By Jelf New Emergency Room Entrance At General Hospital Hears Completion Minimum Of $6 At General Hospital Emergency Fee Staying By JOHN FLAMGAN ss-lBdex Staff Writer PETERSBURG The charge ef a S6 minimum fee for using the emergency room at Petersburg General Hospital will be continued, the Hospital Authority agreed yesterday after hearing a recommendation the fee be revoked. The recommendation a vi Multi-Million Plant Planned RICHMOND (AP) A multimillion dollar production plant will be built in lower Chesterfield County by one of the world's largest industrial firms, Gov.

Mills E. Godwin Jr. announced today. The plant, which will be a turbine generator assembly, test and service facility, will be built by Brown Boveri of by Brown Boveri of North affiliate of Brown, Boveri Cie of Boden. Switzerland.

John C. Trackman, president the American sffiliate. said the total investment for the project will exceed $10 million. Construction costs at the Hundred site will exceed million he said. Initial employment is expected to be around 300 persons.

A proposal to from agricultural to industrial almost all of a 600-ecre farm on Presque Isle passed the County Planning Commission unani- mosuly. The cost of the land is estimated at more than two million dollars. The exact price, said a spokesman for Brown, Boveri and Company, win depend upon a land survey under way that wilt determine the exact acreage of from the executive committee of the medical staff and the emergency room committee of the hospital, and was presented by Chief of Staff Dr. Clyde Vick. Dr.

Vick pointed out "there is no justification in charging- a patient for just sitting in a chair when no service is rendered by the hospital." "I think it is re- diculous when a patient comes in, has a doctor look down his throat and prescribes medication and then be charged with an emergency fee." Additional Expense One of the contentions of the physicians, Dr. Vick said, is that when a private patient must pay the $6 emergency room fee as well as the physician's fee it means additional expense to the patient. Churchill G. Dunn, member of the authority, replied that the hospital is not proposing "to provide quarters for doctors to serve private patients." Authority members favoring the minimum fee feit that where the hospital has and is in the process of expanding the emer gency facilities, and where thi cost of the facilities would hav to come, it is best to have 5u own source of income. Hospital Administrator Georg E.

Bokinsky said, "We are trying make this a self-sustaining unit." He pointed out the emer- has gone into 24-hour ser- 'ice and "that means more per- onnel. They want a supervisor, nd that means more money." Je said that all things considered, it has cost the hospital more han $6 for each patient that. used facilities at the emergency center. "I had suggested J7.50 for each patient." Bokinsky said. He also said that if patients are taken care of in the lobby by private physicians, then they are not charged.

But if they require assistance from the personnel then they are registered and charged the The agreement was to continue the S6 fee for all patients who receive sen-ices in the emer gency area at least on a tern porary or trial basis to see how it works out. Convenience Chairman of the Hospital Au thority, William A. Patton. said "I think the public would wan to come here even with the minimum cost since the emer gency area will increased i its convenience." He added "Nothing is going to be more than cost." The emergency room on Jul I was placed on an around-the lock basis of physician staffing nd service. The standardized ee of had been voted in June.

General Hospital will incorpor- te two rulings of the American Cursing Association into their accredited school of nursing, the authority agreed on another mat- r. The standards of the ANA require that the director of a nursing school must have a masers degree, but not necessarily nursing. Also, all faculty members must be working on heir masters degree if they do not already have one. -Adoption of the standards was accomplished with little comment by the Hospital Authority. It will apparently have some effect on the nursing school at the hospital but at present specific future effects have not been indicated.

The school operates courses for students to become both registered and practical nurses. Other business of the meeting included an announcement from Bokinsky that the Soulbside Rescue Squad will donate to the hospital a radio unit so that incoming emergency calls to the Rescue squad can be monitored by the hospital personnel to allow for Emergency Room preparation for the victim. By MARCIA ELLIS Staff Writer DINWIDDIE '-r Dinwiddie County Board of Supervisors Wednesday expressed concern about assessment of timber land and bow taxes paid on such land appear to be dropping, rather than increasing. Sapony Supervisor T. Hope Tunstall of McKenney said 10 parcels of land company's real estate records had been picked at random, in the office of Commissioner of Revenue Rennie Bridgman.

In all 10 cases, Tunstall said, the taxes for 1967-68 went down instead of being higher than those for the previous year. Acreage in the random samples ranged from 549.8 to 15.5 acres. The 1966 tax on the largest acreage was 5268.05 contrasted to the next year's of $206.10. Taxes on the smallest acreage dropped from $1:5.95 to $12.60. "I can't see why values are Coming down.

What guidelines (for assessment purposes) are used in arriving at the figures?" Tunstall questioned. Echoing Tunslall's concern was Paul F. Myers, mayor of MeKenney, who said he thought Dinwiddie County was "probably losing $25,000 a year in that kind of taxes." It was his suggestion that Committee Appointed Dog Warden Gets Dinwiddie Study from 50 to 100 more parcels be spot checked. A committee, composed of Tunstall, Milton I. Hargrave Jr.

and Executive Secretary A. Terrell Baskerville was appointed by Chairman A. Mitchell Smith to do this and make further study. S. E.

Winn said, "The object of reappraisal, is to get it equal, regardless of what it is." The commissioner of revenue said appraisal is "most unequal than ever before." He said in four districts there was a conservative appraiser and in one (Rohoic) the appraiser had been liberal. The executive secretary said he thought only way to correct the "unequality" before the 1973 tax year would be to have a full time assessor for Dinwiddie, which he thought is the only county in te Tri-City area without one. "I argue with the principle of making a drastic change in the basis" of assessment, said Hargrave. It was his contention such a change might upset the economy of the small landown- was not gettinge much forestry er. He noted that Dinwiddie was not getting much forestry industry because there was "no productivity." DINWIDDIE A committee was appointed Wednesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting to study the entire operation and financial policy concerning the work of A.

W. Chappell, dog warden. Named by Board Chairman A. Mitchell Smith to serve on the committee are S. E.

Winn, Darvills supervisor; Garland Watkins, Namozine supervisor; Executive Secretary A. Terrell Baskerville, as well as Chappell. This action came during a discussion on Chappell's request to purchase a new truck for his work use. The warden aiso wanted a salary increase because "It has cost me more than I've gotten out of it, by far." Chappell is now paid $5,000 a year and he provides his own transportation. Watkins suggested the operations be conducted in "a little more businesslike way" by having an established number of working hours, but the warden said il is a "full time job." Gloomy Altitude Supervisors took a somewhat gloomy attitude of the present picture.

Rowanty Supervisor Alii- Appeal Set By Roberts ed. "There's nothing happy about this situation, from he- ginning to end." Winn said, "There's something wrong with this and it ought to be corrected. I don't know the answer I wish I did." By FRED VAN'. DEVENTKR Progress-Index Staff Writer PETERSBURG George H. Roberts, convicted May 23 in Hustings Court for the killing ot his wife Shirley Jean, has filed notice of appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

The appeal to the Hustings Court was composed by Roberts and mailed to (he court on June 20. In it he said he was unable to pay an attorney. Judge Willis nied the almost unbelievably brutal beating of the woman, which caused her death. Roberts frankly confessed from the witness stand he had been having an affair with Mrs. Jane Yarborough, and had in fact been with her until about 12:30 a.m., at her home at 1923 S.

Westchester on the morning of the murder. who presided over his trial, im- After the jury found Roberts guilty of murder in the second degree. Judge Bohannan sentenc- Bohannan, I ed Roberts to 20 years in pris- The income each year from mediately appointed Morton B. the sale of dog tags is from $9,500 to $10,000. Chappell said there are about 5,000 licensed dogs in the county and "God knows how many not licensed." Five Calls Daily Living near Carson, the warden said he averaged about five calls a day and many of them came after he returns home for the day, and on weekends.

Chappell said in neighboring Prince George County a man and a truck are furnished by the county which doesn't have the "people and miles we have in Dinwiddie." The committee is to meet before the next supervisors meeting and report back on the situation. In other on. the maximum sentence permitted. ton I. Hargrave Jr.

comment- business, the board Child Saved From Fire, 2nd Floor in a second floor bedroom of his smoke-filled home at 318 S. Boulevard today, little David Jordan, 3, was rescued by Capt J. C. Brantley of the Walnu Hill Fire Department. The master bedroom of the residence of Mr.

and Mrs. T. Jordan was ablaze apparently from the air-conditioner, and a maid ran screaming from the downstairs into the front yard. Officer J. E.

Shackleford turned in an alarm, which the Walnut Hill department answered. Three-year-old David did not panic, but remained at the upstairs window, Irom where he was saved by Capt. Brantley. tabled, until the next meeting, a request from Sgt. Jacob Manley for a special use permit that would allow a 25-unil trailer court on Turkey Egg Road in Rowanty District.

Plan To Inspect The 27-acre site west of U.S. 1 is in an area presently zoned Spero to perfect the appeal. Spero's fees will be paid by the court, along with expenses for the transcript of the long trial. Spero said Wednesday he had not prepared Roberts' appeal to the court, but had talked with him since he was removed from the City Jail to the penitentiary in Richmond. Spero said he has applied to the appeals court for an extension of time in which to perfect the appeal, but that it has not yet been granted.

He said if it is granted, he does not expect a further file in the case before December. A preliminary hearing on the appeal before a segment of the Supreme Court would then not be expected before Spring. If the court grants a hearing after that preliminary, it will take still more time before briefs and arguments are presented to the entire court. Spero said Wednesday he docs not expect to ask the Supreme Dr. McGehee Explains Not A New Disease Rare Amoebic Meningitis Is Not Contagious By JAMES ROBERTSON Staff Writer CHESTER The death of two young Chester residents earlier this week was due to a rare form of Confusion amoebic meningitis.

and misinformation The tract, which runs from State Route 618 north and east lo the James River borders American Tobacco Company on the west, is in close proximity to Bermuda Hundred, one of Chesterfield's most outstanding historic landmarks. In announcing the new plant, Godwin said that was the major new industrial facility he referred to as considering entry Into Virginia's industrial community during the recent Virginia trade mission to Europe. The governor said members of his Advisory Board on Industrial Development and officials of the Division of Industrial Development spent three days conferring about the project with Brown Boveri executives in Switzerland. "The final decision by one of the world's largest manufacturing firms to locate a plant in Virginia is a direct result of the recent trade and industrial development mission to Europe," Godwin said. Trackman said construction of the plant is expected to begin about the disease have been the source of worried concern which has been exaggerated into ludk- rous rumors warning of a widespread epidemic.

Tern- Varbrough, 14. was ad-" milled to the Medical College of Virginia Hospital on Thursday, July 10. The following Saturday night Woodrow D. Murray, 22, was also admitted. Both were diagnosed as hav- the afternoon ing bacterial meningitis, more ray's death.

commonly known as spinal meningitis. doctors in charge soon discovered their diagnosis was incorrect and the disease whkh was inflicting the pair was due instead to amoeba. On Monday of this week Terry Yarbrough died, followed on Tuesday night by the death of Murray. Both of the patients at MCV Hospital gave histories of swimming at Lake Chester, a public facility located approximately 12 miles north of Petersburg on U. S.

Route 1. When informed of this srtua- tior by officials of MCV, Dr. W. P. Wagner, director of the Chesterfiekl Cwmty Health Department, ordered the lake closed and tests of its soil and water until those tests are completed to the satisfaction of Dr.

Wagner. Meanwhile, those who recently swam et the lake and ttwse who came in contact with the two people inflicted with the disease have been flooding the switchboards of MCV, local doctors, and even newspapers to ask information on the subject. Dr. Reed McGehee is in a position to answer their questions. He has worked with other amoebic meningitis cases and was the doctor treating Woodrow Murray before his death on Tuesday night.

In an interview conducted on preceding McGehee Mur early in with completion two years later. The principal market in the United States for Brown Boveri generators is with electric utility companies. One of the company's power generators was recently purchased by the Virginia Electric Power Co. for its Mount Storm statkM in West Virginia. made.

Lake Chester will not re-open "Amoebic meningitis is verj unusual. There have probably been no more than 40 or 50 cases reported, all of which have been along the East Coast. And most of those have occurred in either this area or in Florida." he said. "The most difficult thing about diagnosing this type of meningitis," said McGehee, "is that there is no clinical way to tel. it apart from the traditional bacterial in i i s.

Only through microscopic examination of extractions from the patient's spinal fluid can you tell the difference." Included in those clinical similarities which the doctor mentioned are symptoms, which consist primarily of a headache sometimes accompanied by unusual taste or smell. "In all the cases that I've seen," said-McGehee, "the headache rapidly progressed to a coma which was followed by death, all within the space of a few days." At the time of this interview, Dr. MCGehee understandably would not discuss the fate of his own patient, although he gave little hope to anyone stricken with the disease. "A number of drugs have been tried, but at present there is no effective treatment," he ssid. McGehee continued, "Many people think this is a new disease, but it is not.

It's just that amoeba were never thought to carry disease and they were not studied intensely until recently." The point which McGehee emphasized most strongly was that amoebic meningitis "is not contagious from person to person. We know of no way in which people transmit them to one another." He added this characteristic of the disease assures fee safety of the doctors who treated the two patients and all those who came in contact with the pair. Dr. McGehee said almost all of the cases of amoebic meningitis he knew about were preceded by the patient's swimming in fresh water. "We're pretty sure that it plays a role in who gets the disease and who doesn't." The amoeba hi question thrive in fresh water in which there is a lot of organic material.

"Chlorination will prevent them, from growing, so I don't think that people should complain Killed By Dogs DINWIDDIE The Board of Supervisors voted to SS chickens and a little pig, killed by dogs, according to A. W. Chappell, dog warden. For the chickens, in payment authorized, white $15 for the weeks aU pig, ttlbv, Prime Gripe Dear Prime Gripe: My Prime Gripe about your newspaper is that the pictures aren't in color. I'm 14 years old and I have begun to read the almost every day.

I think It's interesting but I think it would be more interesting if the pictures were in color. Patsy Wood Petersburg about having to swim in chlorinated water," said McGebee. The doctor added one of the big questions which remains unanswered is why the only known cases have occurred in this area and in Florida. "The amoeba can be found all over the country, so the only explanation I can offer is that the intensive research going on in these of the country has alerted doctors to the pesetice of this strain of meningitis and they are able lo recognize it more easily." he said. Much of the research which McGehee mentioned is being carried on at the Medical College of Virginia.

The hope those engaged in this work is that they will soon be able to discover a cure to one of the deadliest and most bafflins of for agricultural purposes (A-2). Although he had told Baskerville he would attend the meeting, Manley. did not show up to support, his request. Supervisors said they would like to inspect the property before taking action. The supervisors also voted to furnish the Dinwiddie Ambulance and Rescue Squad with a two- way radio, insurance, gas and oil for a second vehicle the organization is intending to purchase in the future.

Ted Baxter, squad operations manager, said during the first 30 days in operation, the squad had answered 42 calls. Baxter estimated in one month's time the rescue vehicle had traveled about 3,600 miles. Ruritan.s To Assist Currently the organization has $7,200. Earl H. Gwaltney, captain, thought a second vehicle, equipped (not with radio), would cost around $8,400.

Some of the county's Ruritan clubs have agreed to assist the squad in asking for donations to the fund drive. Supervisors also discussed the water supply set up for the new Dinwiddie County jail. Members expressed concern about this and said they wanted to be sure the jail would have an adequate supply. It was decided it would be best to first hook into the existing pipeline and see how Court for bail for Roberts pending a decision on the appeal. Commonwealth Attorney J.

Thompson Wyatt, who prosecuted Roberts, is expected to represent the stale in the appeal. Roberts was convicted afte 1 four days of lurid and sometimes torrid testimony by an ar- Sandoe Faces Aug. 7 Trial PETERSBURG Carmen A. Sandoe, a suspended city policeman, was indicted by the July Hustings Court Grand Jury today on two charges of statutory rape and trial was set for Aug. 7 before a jury.

Sandoe was one of six persons indicted by the grand jury which was composed of J. A. Uzzle A. Lanier, Dodsworth Brown, E. Preston Howerton, Clifton Bowles, James J.

and J. Keath Graves. Others indicted si July term of the court opened were: Maxine Mabry, charged with malicious wounding; Percy Smith, charged with statutory burglary; Claude Patterson, charged with rape; Arby Abraham Brown, charged with implication in the numbers games; Arby Bruce Gates, also charged as a result of a recent raid by state and city police on the num- brs game. Sandoe was held to the grand ray of witnesses, including the defendants' two minor daughters. One of them, little Stacy, told the jury she had seen her father chasing her mother from the living room of their home at Walton into the kiteh- Roberts told police and later the jury (hat he found his wife dead on the kitchen floor about 4 a.

when he returned home from a restaurant he then oper- jury after a preliminary hearing in Juvenile Court. He is charged with two against a 14-year-old girl. Sandoe odd the court he was unable to employ an attorney, and Judge Willis W. Bohannan appointed il. F.

Patridge as his counsel Patridge told the court after a conference with his client that he would ask for a jury trial, and the case was set for hearing Aug. 7. There was some indication the two indictments ated on U. S. 301 South.

He de-1-would be tried together. 'Footprints On Moon' Commemorates Epic this works out. City Holiday Is Assumed PETERSBURG City Manager Lewis Z. Johnston said today he assumes the city of Petersburg will follow the example of President Nixon and Gov. Godwin and declare Monday a legal holiday for all city em- ployes.

However. Johnston said this is diseases which has confronted a prerogative of Mayor Arlie G. A inrJ rxl Vi rti- er Even while America's space men are soaring to the moon, the first chapters of a magnificent new close-to-the-news book on the whole project will be printed for the readers of this newspaper. The book is called "Footprints on the Moon" and will contain more than a hundred of the most sweated to make man's greatest enterprise succeed. And it is the story of the promise the effort promise that men may at last know where the earth, moon and sun began, and where life began, and where it exists, and whether man is unique In the universe.

man. staff 1'hnlo Hv Mr. ftterf McGefoe Of MCV Now Registering At 1 Prince George PRINCE GEORGE Mrs. George Waymack registrar or Prince George County, said oday the county's registration woks would open untul July 9. Mrs.

Waymack said that the Virginia State Electoral Board ordered the books open for those wishing to register for the November elections. She emphasized that only those who reg- stered for the July 15 Democratic primary would be permil- leed to vote in the Aug. 19 runoff. Registration is at the Prince George County courthouse Weather Stays In 90s Friday PETERSBURG Fair, hot weather is expected to continue for the next few days, the U.S. Weather Bureau said today.

The low tonight will be 68 to 76, the high Friday 88 to 96. Friday will be partly cloudy with the chance of a shower. Andrews and other members of the City Council and that because the mayor is in a closed meeting in Richmond he has been unable to reach him. Johnston said that the school system would follow whatever decision the mayor and council reach. Superintendent of Schools John D.

Meade said quite obviously everyone will want to watch the 2 a.m. walk on the moon, and that the schools will follow whatever action the council takes. However, he said that if next Monday is declared a school holiday, the time will have to be made up. He said summer school in the elementary grades will be extended through Tuesday. Aug.

5. instead of closing Aug. 4 as planned. The summer school will make up the lost day on July 26, a Saturday. All federal offices in Petersburg will close, including mail deliveries, but at noon today no decision had been reached by retail merchants and banks on whether or not to close.

Conferences are being held la- tor today, but leaders indicated most merchants expected to remain open, and that the presidential action came too quickly to make closing posstWt, JOHN BARBOCR The success of the astronauts will be more than a national vir- tory. It will be a victory for all 3 mankind, and no other moment will seem as big until man reaches beyond the moon for other planets, other stars. How did it happen? It started with a little thing. The world's two most powerful nations were facing each other on a hundred subtle battlefields when the one that everyone deemed less ingenious and knowledgeable and powerful suddenly hurled into space first man-made satellite, weighing only 184 pounds. The other great power, America, and its young President, look up the challenge.

A dozen years and 25 billion dollars later, their acceptance, stemming from the appearance of a tiny sputnik, will yield man's finest hour. Two men will walk the lunar surface and others will follow. And all of man's past exptora- ramatic color photos ever taken, as well as a 70,000 word text by ohn Barbour. an Associated 'rcss space specialist. He will complete the task as soon as the astronauts return from the mission with their precious pictures.

It's a big volume, 9 i by 12 nchcs, with 224 pages bound nandsomely in blue cloth enclosed in a colorful dust jacket. You can reserve your copy now of the first edition by sending $5 to "Petersburg, Progress-Index, Box 5, Teaneck, N. 07666." "Footprints on the Moon" is, no mere recital of the obvious events. It is being written by one of the most sensitive and knowledgeable reporters lo cover the development of the space age. He is giving us the story of how America won its race to Ihe moon, the itory of tha mea who died and tte Uons, all of his attainments, will seem frail.

For the first time his fool is to leave prints on en- other heavenly body. And this is only the beginning..