The Macon Telegraph from Macon, Georgia • 15

Macon Telegraph News Sun Aug 30 1981 3B Plan Giving Bibb Three Senators Easy An Analysis By Ron Woodgeard Atlanta Bureau ATLANTA Maybe it ought to be called "The Great Three Sena tors Controversy" But whatever called the events leading to the decision to split Bibb County three ways in the Georgia Senate simple They are as subtle and as tangled as 56 members of most exclu sive club can make it When the full Senate voted 30 24 Thursday to give Bibb County three senators instead of two it voted against the wishes of several Macon groups including the Greater Macon Chamber of Com merce It voted against an agree ment reached by three of the four area senators involved When the Senate voted it voted to give the city of Macon and Bibb County a combined four Senate seats Going by population alone Bibb 151085 people are entitled to roughly a senator and a half In previous years the Senate has been able to provide the county with two Senators by employing the populations of several sur rounding counties This year it appears that is not to be While the reappor tionment plan has yet to be acted upon in the House it is virtually certain that the plan will pass or the House to reject the reapportionment plan would mean the kiss of death to its own reap portionment plan UNDER THE SENATE plan Macon and Bibb £ounty combined will have four senators They are Richard Greene and Lee Robinson of Macon Ed Barker of Warner Robins and Culver Kidd of Mil ledgeville Kidd's district includes a portion of Jones County that falls within Macon city limits Events leading up to the Senate vote on Thursday giving the Bibb area this configuration began in mid July when senators first were told about a reapportionment plan being drawn up by Senate majority leader Sen Tom Allgood Augusta While the Senate Reapportion ment Committee struggled most of the summer to obtain a quorum to conduct its hearings Allgood was quietly holding hearings in an Atlanta hotel The chairman of the committee Sen Perry Hudson Hapeville said Thursday that by holding these meetings away from the Capitol Allgood managed to avoid attention Meetings in the Capitol are open to the public and press During his meetings Allgood managed to satisfy enough sena tors with his plans for their dis tricts to pass it It takes 29 votes to pass a bill in the Senate About 10 senators disliked the plan enough to vote against it Hudson appointed to head the committee by Allgood Lt Gov Zell Miller and Senate president pro tern Sen Al Holloway Albany said one reason he had trouble getting enough senators to attend the meetings was because most were aware of efforts After all why should they attend if they knew Allgood was in fact going to be the author of the plan? ALLGOOD SAID HE was aided in drawing up the plan by an Augusta lobbyist named Cheatham Hodges Jr Hodges formerly stated he worked for the Georgia Catholic Conference According to Allgood he now lists a number of clients including a group repre senting nursing homes wife owns a nursing home Like any lobbyist Hodges has incurred the dislike of some legis lators So it came as a special barb to Hudson and others that a lob byist could rise to the position of helping to structure their political fortunes Allgood denied however that Hodges actually helped decide the district configurations Those decisions he said he made him self Allgood said that he intended to pay Hodges $100 or $200 for his services Whj' Allgood found it nec essary to hire a private citizen to draw a reapportionment map is unclear since the House and Sen ate had available the services of professional state paid staff mem bers If Hodges has ruffled feathers in the Senate so has Allgood He was elected by a one vote margin in a bitter contest for the majority position last year Twenty six senators voted against him 27 were for him Robinson and Greene were among those who vote for him Because the balloting was by secret ballot however there is no documented way of determining who voted for whom After Allgood revealed his three senator plan to del egation he agreed to allow them to work with Barker and Sen Lewis McKenzie Monte zuma to come up with an alterna tive plan Meanwhile the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce voiced objections to splitting Bibb County among three senators The main argument against hav ing three senators is a matter of political accountability If two of senators are elected pri marily by residents of other coun ties then they are less likely to feel compelled to heed wishes On the other hand three senators acting together are obviously more powerful in the Senate than one or two THE MACON SENATORS were not allowed to work outside the confines of the four area Senate districts They could not for exam ple shift into district The reasons for this aren't entirely clear However Allgood has enjoyed the general support of Kidd since the reapportionment map was drawn Kidd has denied however taking part in the construction of the map Substantial changes to the All good map at once considered out of the question would have affected the districts of other Allgood allies including reapportionment com mittee member Sen Hugh Gillis Soperton or whatever reasons therefore Greene and Robinson were forced to work within rela tively narrow confines After working with five or six maps Greene and Robinson were able to come up with a plan that suited all four senators and that eliminated one of the three Bibb Senate districts This plan split Upson County into two Senate dis tricts however When political leaders found out about it they stormed into the final reap portionineni committee meeting and expressed loud opposition The committee rejected this plan Another plan was offered This was Greene and second choice It split Peach County into two Senate districts McKenzie faced with the real pos siblity of having to represent Peach objected to it The commit tee voted that plan down also So in a last gasp effort to come up with an alternative Robinson and Greene offered yet another plan All the senators in attendance at the committee meeting agreed with it Barker thinking perhaps that the plan he had endorsed would be accepted was not at the meet ing Robinson (old the committee Barker was familiar with the plan and would not oppose it The com mittee approved this plan The day before the full Senate would vote on reapport ionmen Barker was told of the committee action He like it WHEN THE ULL Senate con vened the next day Barker sub mitted an amendment to revert back to the Allgood plan for the Bibb County area Barker said he Sen Bichard Greene His District Heart of Bibb Mr i4Wfl a Sen Lee Robinson His Survival Will Be Trickiest iprw BflY I Kp 1 Sen Culver Kidd Denies Taking Part in Map fiiu 7PP a i Sen Ed Barker Didn't Like Committee Action had never agreed to the plan adopted by the committee Allgood announced to the Senate that he sided with Barker amendment was adopted In terms of political survival Robinson's jvosition is trickiest If he seeks re election in 1982 about half of the population of the district in which he lives will consist of people accustomed to voting for someone else Your Legislator Might Be Different on Next Ballot By Ron Woodgeard Atlanta Bureau ATLANTA Under state reapportionment plans approved last week by the Georgia House and Senate thousands of Middle Georgians may find new names on the ballot in November 1982 So to help get acquainted with the proposed new districts here is a description of them along with locations and where applicable names of incum bents SENATE DISTRICTS District 17 now represented by Sen Janice Horton McDonough It will include Henry and Butts counties and a portion of Clayton District 28 now represented by Sen Kyle Cobb Griffin It will consist of Pike Spalding and Coweta counties District 27 now represented by Sen Lee Robinson Macon It will consist of a portion of western Bibb and Crawford Upson Monroe and Lamar counties District 26 now represented by Sen Richard Greene Macon It will consist of the population heart of Bibb County including all of the city of Macon District 18 now represented by Sen Ed Barker Wamer Robins It will consist of the Swift Creek and Rutland sections of southwestern Bibb plus Twiggs and Houston counties District 14 now represented by Sen Lewis McKenzie Montezuma It will include Peach Taylor Macon Schley Sumter Terrell and Lee coun ties District 13 now represented by Sen Rooney Bowen Vienna It will consist of Dooly Crisp Turner Ben Hill Irwin and Worth counties District 19 now represented by Sen Ronnie Walker McRae It will include Bleckley Pulaski Wilcox Dodge Telfair Jeff Davis and Coffee counties District 20 now represented by Sen Hugh Gillis Soperton It will consist of Johnson Laurens Treut len Montgomery Toombs Wheeler and the southwest ern portion of Washington and a slice of northern Appling HOUSE DISTRICTS District 78 now held by Rep Bill Jones Jackson It will include Lamar Butts and a southern portion of Henry counties District 80 now held by Rep Benson Ham or syth It will include Jasper Monroe and the northern half of Jones and a northern slice of Crawford District 79 now held by Rep Marvin Adams Tho maston It will include Upson and the southern half of Pike District 98 held by Rep Bryant Culpepper ort Valley It will include Peach the northern half of Macon and the southern half of Crawford District 99 held by Rep Burl Davis Macon It will include roughly the western quarter of Bibb County District 100 held by Rep rank Pinkston Macon It will include a north central section of Bibb County District 101 held by Rep William Ran dall Macon It will include an area at the center of Bibb County District 102 held by Rep David Lucas Macon It will include a section just to the west and north of District 101 District 103 now held by Rep Kenneth Birdsong Twiggs This district number has been moved to include roughly the western two thirds of Bibb County The district includes incumbent Rep rank Home who will sw'ap district numbers with Birdsong District 104 now held by Rep rank Horne Macon This district includes the southern half of Jones and Twiggs and Wilkinson counties Birdsong is the incumbent in this district District 105 now held by Jimmy Lord Sanders ville This district number has been shifted to include most of Baldwin County while the district in which Lord lives has been given a different number There are two incumbents in the Milledgeville district Reps Wilbur Baugh and Bobby Parham District 106 now held by Rep Randy Karrh Swainsboro This district number has been taken from Karrh who has been placed in a South Georgia district with another incumbent As planned the dis trict will include a majority black population in Put nam Greene and Hancock counties District 107 how held by John David Miles Met ter Miles has been placed in the southern district with Karrh As planned this district includes incum bentjimmy Lord of Sandersville and includes a portion of west Baldwin and Washington and Johnson counties District 112 now held by Rep Ward Edwards Butler It will include Taylor Schley Marion and a portion of Chattahoochee District 113 now held by Rep Ted Waddle Wamer Robins It will include the a portion of the Warner Robins area District 114 now held by Rep RH "Sonny" Wat son Warner Robins It will include a portion of the Warner Robins area District 115 now held by Rep Larry Walker Perry It will include south Houston County and the southern half of Macon County District 116 now held by Rep George Hooks Americus It will include all of Sumter County District 117 now held by Rep Ben Jessup Soper ton It will include Bleckley Pulaski Wilcox and a portion of Turner County District 118 now held by Rep Terry Coleman Eastman It will include the southern half of Laurens the northern half of Telfair and all of Dodge County District 119 now held by Rep Roy Rowland Dublin It will include the northern half of Laurens District 120 now held by Rep LL "Pete" Phillips Soperton It will include Treutlen Wheeler Mont gomery and a portion of Toombs District 135 now held by Rep Howard Rainey It will include Dooly and Crisp counties District 136 now held by Rep Earleen Sizemore Sylvester It will include the western half of Turner Worth County and a portion of Lee County District 137 now held by Rep Paul Branch itz gerald It will include Ben Hill and Irwin counties Issue of Beer Sales Revived A II aWMiw Local Government MUM rSim To keep you up to date on what is happening in your local government the Macon Telegraph and News will publish this column each Sunday The column will tell you in brief what happened last week and what to look for this week CITY GOVERNMENT BEER SALES: Public Properties Committee this week revived the issue of allowing beer sales at the Macon Coliseum and City Auditorium The committee approved by a 3 2 vote a resolution to allow beer sales at some public events Local ministers said they would fight the plan GARBAGE STUDY: A new study by Don Scalf chief administrative officer says apartment complexes should not be charged for garbage pickup The study says a private firm should pick up garbage at the complexes But it says the city should pay the bill The study also recom mends city trucks continue once per week garbage pickup at single family homes COUNTY GOVERNMENT REGISTRATION SITES: The controversy over addi tional field voter registration sites intensified last week when the Bibb County commissioners split on the issue and the election board agreed to consider more sites Courthouse and Properties Committee members voted 2 1 Tuesday against recommending that the Macon Bibb County Board of Elections submit a list of additional sites to the US Justice Department for consideration The matter is scheduled to come before the commission for action Tuesday But the board is expected to split 2 2 on the issue Commissioners Edd Wheeler and Larry Justice oppose the idea while William Randall and Albert Billingslea support it Chairman Emory Greene miss meet ing because of business commitments may have to break the deadlock in a later meeting He remains uncommitted But he said leaning toward the Randall and Billingslea position TRASH IRM: The national firm preparing to assume garbage collection services in Bibb County was one of four waste management businesses indicted on federal price fixing charges in Atlanta last year A federal judge in Atlanta dismissed the indictment against Browning erris Industries of Georgia Inc in March because of technicalities in the composition of the grand jury But the decision is on appeal to the ifth Circuit Court of Appeals Browning erris plans to merge with the parent com pany of Ace Trash Collection Service of Macon county officials said Guy Sidney ried vice president of Ace Trash recently negotiated a five year contract with the commission to collect garbage in the unincorporated areas of Bibb County for $450 a month per customer County officials say they plan to proceed with the con tract if some minor details in the wording can be worked out and a background check of Browning erns is satisfac tory Oglethorpe Man Among Weekend atalities By Th Asioclolod Prtsi At least four people have been killed in Georgia accidents so far this weekend including two young men who were struck by vehicles in separate incidents while the youths were lying in the road officials said The Georgia State Patrol said Walter Hicks 25 of Oglethorpe was lying in the road 82 miles north of his Macon County hometown on Georgia 128 when he was struck by a vehicle early Saturday Troopers said they had not determined why Hicks was lying in the road Phillip Nesmith 20 of Darien was struck by two vehicles and killed while he lay in the road inside the city limits of St Marys on Georgia 40 early Saturday in Camden County troopers said It also had not been determined why Nesmith was lying in the road the patrol said Concerts rom Page IB Members of Magic Touch had good cause to congratulate each other Win ning the Macon division of Search III gave them an appearance on a one hour show produced by WMAZ TV eight hours of recording time with Capricorn Sound Studios a car stereo and the chance to compete in the state Search III finals The state competition will take place Sept 25 in the Macon City Audito rium DOOLITTLE PICKIN a Warner Robins group took second place Prizes included eight hours of rec ording time at Mark Durden Studios and a $50 gift certificate for a Macon music store Third prize winner Pat White also of Warner Robins will receive six hours of recording time in Stu dios and a $25 gift certificate for a Macon music store The 12 other Middle Georgia bands that win prizes could take encouragement from the words of a song written and performed for Search III by Carly Hamsley: "If I win I promise not to be sore get ready for Search Number our" And for the Lighthouse Bible Train ing Center's outdoor concert always next year too has so much Christian tal Holmes said after the concert "Even if we got rained on or there was a small crowd we need Christian con Happy irst Birthday Kasey Leigh Can ady Aug 30 1980 daughter of DeRanna and Thomas Canady 5093 Hartley Bridge Road Macon 1ZJ Richard Rob bins Jr Aug 30 1980 son of Mr and Mrs Richard Rob bins 1815 Ridge Ave Tifton fl Matthew Benja min Varnell Aug 30 1980 son of Rev and Mrs Benjy Varnell Lakeview Road Powersville Renata Ruth Har grove Aug 30 1980 daughter of Mr and Mrs Lorenzo Har grove 2155 erguson St Apt 1 A Macon I ii:.