The Macon News from Macon, Georgia • 9

1" f0 -JV- Ji i r- IB Thurs April 22 1 982 THE MACON NEWS i on the air By Steve Bills THffT macon SPIRIT Qwgxatv i EXPLAINING the station's situation President Dan Elliot Heald said never had a dry run" The plan had been to test the operation internally for several days before broadcasting a signal but kept pushing us So on the air during our dry "It's Just like giving birth" added Ken Gerries the station manager "The got to crawl and then got to walk" Gerries said the station would bring local viewers the clearest ABC signal the area has ever had "This was the largest city in the United States only to have two (network) affiliates until last night at 8 o'clock" Macon cabie-TV viewers may notice an additional problem On local cable channel 10 the picture is snowy and the audio is weak WGXA officials said this problem lies with Cox Cable Macon not with them Viewers who receive the signal over the air are having no difficulty they said JIM GAROFALO manager of Cox Cable Macon ac- a studio Gerdes pointed out because most commercials are produced on location using portable equipment and minicameras NEWS operation will not go on the air until August will have a first-class aggressive news Heald promised will be very heavy in sprats and we will be very good in The station is now mounting a nationwide search for a news staff The news department will add as many as IS jobs to present staff of 28 Why the three-month delay? do everything at Heald said new people the new equipment and the new building ate enough for us to get acquainted with without a news department had to go out of fra staff he added "because we want to start a war with our competitors (WMAZ channel 13 and WCWB channel 41) by taking their best people and we only want the best newest television station is still vy much a work in progress WGXA-TV channel 24 (Muted Wednesday night with a welcome from Mayor George Israel before launching into the evening lineup of ABC network programs Today at the Broadway headquarters though workers were busy trying to get ready for full operations Outside asphalt was still going down for the parking lot Inside technicians were busy Ironing out technical glitches in videotape and film machines Much of the expensive equipment remains packed in boxes Other important gear is still on order and arrived The studio has no lights yet Despite the problems WGXA is cranUng out more than 1 million watts of signal to about 400000 potential viewers in a 70-mile radius of Macon Staffers are dearly happy about being on the air knowledged that the able company is still working on problems connected with the expansion of its system but he promised everything would be straightened out a very short He said he was not aware of any difficulty specifically related to channel 24 In any case the $43 million Investment is beginning to pay off The station has 78 local companies lined up to advertise during its first month and it is already producing some of the commercials that will air The station can produce advertising spots without having Fluoride petition approved New voting precincts recommended area and two existing Godfrey District precincts would be eliminated by a realignment of the other districts There also would be extensive realignment of precincts in the East Macon District The changes were recommended to equalize the number of registered voters in each precinct and to follow as closely as poraible new district lines for state House and Senate elections county commissioners Water and Sewerage Authority members school board members and Macon City Council Dews said new district lines for election of county commissioners and Water and Sewerage Authority members have been submitted to the Justice Department for approval But he said qualifying fix-the Aug 10 primary when two Water and Sewerage Authority members will be nominated begins May 26 and the newdistricts may not be approved by that time Justice has 60 days from the date of submission to rule on a change There also may be a problem getting the new precincts approved in time to comply with the law Dews said Notice of a change of voting location must be mailed to voters about June 10 60 days before the Aug 10 primary Dews said he would seek expedited approval of the changes by the Justice Department but if the changes have not been approved in time he will ask instructions from state election offi- rials MSQon Mtwf Writer New voting precincts that would eliminate using the Bibb County Courthouse and Macon City Hall as voting places were recommended to the Board of Elections Thursday Elections Supervisor Henry Dews Jr submitted to the board a realignment that would reduce the total number of precincts for elections in the county from 48 to 44 The Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections set a special meeting for 4 pm Monday to consider the new precincts which must be submitted to the US Department of Justice for approval BOARD MEMBER WM Dickey said he did not question the new voting district lines but thought more consideration should be given to some of the proposed new locations for voting Dews proposed to combine the old Upper City precinct voting at the Courthouse with Vineville 1 voting at the Army Reserve Training Center on Riverside Drive to create a new Vineville 1 He proposed the Dudley Hughes school budding on Forsyth Street as the new voting location for the precinct The old Lower City precinct voting at City Hall would be combined with Godfrey 1 with the combined precinct voting at the new Burke School on Second Street A NEW PRECINCT would be created in the rapidly growing Howard wrrmr A 1980 petition for a referendum on -fluoridation of the local water supply was in compliance" with a 1973 state law the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections declared Thursday The petition filed by the Macon League of Women Voters and others resulted in a referendum on Nov 4 1980 in which voters narrowly approved fluoridation But a staunch foe of fluoridation Mrs Loyd Guy challenged the vote in Bibb County Superior Court and Judge Walker Johnson Jr ruled the 1980 law under which the election was called was unconstitutional The Macon-Bibb County Water and Sewerage Authority was permitted however to proceed to add fluoride to the water under provisions of a 1973 law 0 THE 1973 law required signatures of 10 percent of the voters who voted in -the most recent general election to call a referendum on fluoridation The board asked Elections Supervisor Henry Dews Jr to recheck the 1980 petition to see if it was in compliance with the 1973 provision It was originally checked on the basis of 10 percent of the registered Voters Dews said he found more than 2301 valid signatures under the provision of the 1973 law bn the 1980 petition This was 10 percent of the 20010 who voted in the 1978 general election A petition for another referendum filed in March 1982 by Mrs Guy was checked under the 1973 provision and found short of the number of valid signatures needed The board then found it was insufficient to call an elect ion Mrs attorney' Phillip Brown argued however that the 1973 law should be interpreted to require only the number of valid signatures of registered voters equivalent to the number who voted in the last general election and not signatures only of those who actually voted i THE BOARD has requested an opinion on the question from the state attorney general but no response has yet been received Board members -voted Thursday to await the opinion of the attorney general before deciding whether to recheck Mrs petition and determine whether to call another referendum Barbara Knight of the League of Women Voters who was active in the pro-fluoridation campaign asked the Board of Elections to declare a paper she signed to become a deputy registrar of voters null so that she might be eligible to run for public office this year Mrs Knight was sworn in a year ago as a volunteer deputy registrar for the League of Women Voters But she said she was not needed and never actually registered any voters THE STATE election code makes deputy registrars ineligible to run for piiblic office unless they resign at least six before a primary or election in which they are a candidate The board delayed action on Mrs Knight's request until Dews can confer with state election officials and seek an opinion from the state attorney general Mrs Knight did not say what office she would like to seek but she reportedly is interested in running for the -District 3 post on the Macon-Bibb County Water and Sewerage Authority in the Republican primary Aug 10 She is the wife of attorney Ronald Knight who is chairman of the Bibb County Republican Party Busbee vetoes bill on name reporting it'0 CURTIS MYBasMacM tows Rose Hill waterfall Recent rain filled yards and streets and in down over the stones into a drainage ditch at these photos created a waterfall as it poured Rose Hill Cemetery ATLANTA (AP) Gov George Busbee today vetoed a proposed anti-pornography bill which also would have prohibited the publication or broadcast of names of juvenile victims of crimes without the prior consent of their parents Busbee said the multifaceted bill posed clear violations of First Amendment rights and probably would have been struck down by the courts The rill originated in the Senate during the 1961 legislative session as an effort to prohibit the publication or broadcast of names of crime victims under 17 years of age unless their parents give written consent The rill reached the House on the last day of the session and was amended to include proposed legislation restoring a state law struck down by the courts last year which banned the display or sale of obscene materials to minora BUSBEE SAID the rill was "a mixture of constitutionally impermissible substantive and procedural legal concepts which taken as a whole results in a rill which I cannot The ban an publishing names "would infringe on the right of the freely publish matters which are of legitimate public he said "This is clearly an infringement an the right to freedom of the press in violation of the First Amendment and I feel the courts if this were signed into law would so declare He said the proposed ban on displaying or selling obscene materials to minors was a effort to protect minors but said "is dearly a prior 'restraint on free exercise of speech of adults in violation of the First i HE SAID the measure also violated the state prohibition against the inclusion of more than one subject matter in legislation Busbee also vetoed imposed legislation that would have: a Allowed trial lawyers to obtain postponements of cases as a matter of right if they have to appear elsewhere on another case oEliminated the mandat retirement age of 70 after Nov Busbee said the effect of that proposed legislation could have been profound Established a state bracing coifr mission to authorize and regulate boxing in Georgia Flu hasn't been bad but it's still not gone By Cheryl Panel won't agree to bureau cutbacks influenza didn't rear its Aftan Mila uwr In case missed influenza rear its often this By David Beasley this year's familiar bug "Until we have another mutation there be a serious outbreak had 11 confirmed cases in Georgia fills Smith only significant outbreaks were reported in musing DONT LET this news fool you however As soon as a mutation (an altered form of the same virus) forms most of population will fall prey Smith warned -Bibb and neighboring counties were alkxed 6350 doses of influenza vaccine this season according to Health Department statistics Please see FLU 2B the sniffles ugly headache very year Yet it entered the smallpox category of near-extinction either relatively mild 1981-82 flu season may have been due to the acquired immunities according to one health official Basically the same strains of influenza virus have been around fra three or four years according to Dave Smith epidemiologist with the State Department of Human Resources Thus a certain portion of the population is immune or not likely to catch The reductions are possible city officials say due to the decrease during the last several years in the amount of construction and a realignment of the duties of building inspectors Under the proposal more inspectors would be trained as as opposed to specializing in a particular field of construction such as plumbing or wiring STEVE SKALKO director of the department told the committee Wednesday two clerical positions are simply not needed due to decline in building The reduction in the number of employees could save the taxpayers $58000 annually officials said One of the two inspectors could be placed in a-position currently vacant in the department Skalko said Another might be planning to retire he said Committee Chairman Theron Ussery said he thinks there is a good chance the clerical workers could be placed elsewhere within the city government "Ever since been down here there has been a real high turnover among clerical he said HOWEVER officials Concede that this two workers Would be la id off if no vacancies occur before the beginning of the new fiscal year July 1 i i i After Alderwoman Delores Brooks expressed concern over the possible firing of two city clerical workers a City Council committee Wednesday (ailed to endorse a plan reducing the number of employees in the Bureau of Inspections and Fees Under the plan considered by the Community Resources and Development Committee the Bureau of Inspections and Fees would employ two fewer building inspectors and two fewer clerical workers beginning sometime next fiscal year.