THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - VOL. 84

GOLDWATER BACKER - On October 19, 1964, United States Senator William F. Knowland of California spoke to a luncheon audience on behalf of presidential candidate Barry M. Goldwater.  Senator Knowland was a former majority and minority leader in the United States Senate. Dublin Courier Herald, October 20, 1964.

HEPZIBAH’S MAIN MAN - On February 21, 1997, the Georgia House of Representatives honored the life and memory of William Roscoe Coleman.  Coleman was born in Laurens County on February 10, 1911.  He was a son of William C. Coleman and Pansy S. Harralson.  Coleman, a prominent farmer, served as mayor of Hephzibah, Georgia from 1945 to 1946.   He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1949 through 1950 and in the Georgia Senate in 1951 and 1952.  Coleman served on the Georgia State Board of Education from 1958 to 1965.  For many years he served as the Chairman of the Tenth District Chairman of the Republican Party.  House Resolution 355, 1997.

DUBLIN DESIGNER  - Dublin contractor Jim Warren won a national contest and national recognition for the most creative use of a facade in a design contest.  Warren took a vintage 1903 building and completely gutted the interior and front of the building, soon to be the law office of Leon Green.  The facade design was based on designs which Green’s wife, Martha, had seen in Savannah.   Warren nearly duplicated the floor plan of Green’s former office, which stands next door. American Home Style and Gardening Magazine, June-July, 1997, p. 34.

HOOKED ON CABLE - Today we are used to sixty-plus channels on our cable or satellite television.  On July 26, 1979, Dublin homes entered the space age in cable television viewing with the airing of the Christian Broadcasting Network.  Within several months Home Box Office debuted on local cable. Courier Herald, 7.27.1979. 

MRS. JUSTICE - Mrs. W.O. Prescott was the first woman in the history of Laurens County to serve as Justice of the Peace.  Mrs. Prescott, whose husband had previously served in that capacity, was appointed Justice of the Peace of the 86th (Buckeye) Georgia Militia District on May  2, 1940, by the Laurens County Grand Jury. Dublin Courier Herald, May 2, 1940.

WORKING AT THE CAR WASH - The first electro-mechanical car wash in Laurens County was opened on August 16, 1969, on Central Drive in East Dublin.  The Auto-Teria, owned by Howard L. Cordell, Sr., and his brother, Clayton Cordell, could wash a car in two minutes.  The far car to be washed was that of East Dublin mayor, Hugh Wood.  Dublin Courier Herald, August 16, 1969.

BIG MAN ON THE SIDELINES - On Friday night, Nov. 20, 1959, the region 2-B football championship was played on Battle Field in Dublin.  The game was played between The Emanuel County Institute Bulldogs and the Perry Panthers.  The Panthers were coached by Herb St. John, a former star lineman for the Georgia Bulldogs, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Chicago Hornets of the All-American Football Conference.  Perry squeaked by E.C.I, 28 to 27.  Dublin Courier Herald, 11/20, 11/21/1998, Pro Football Encyclopedia, 1997.

OLD BEULAH CHURCH - In April of 1917, G. H. Williams deeded a tract of land in the forks of the current day Ga. Highway 257 and the Old Eastman Road to the Beulah Missionary Baptist Church.  The church is no longer in existence. Deed Book 39, page 13, Laurens County Deed Records.

OLD HIGHWAY 80 - Originally Highway 80 left the present western city limits of Dublin and ran along Ralph Wood Road and circled around to the present site of Hobbs Sporting Goods.  On the eastern end of the route through Laurens County, the highway maintained it present course just before reaching the Snell’s Bridge Road and came back into the present highway just before the old Graham place near Graham Memorial Nazarene Church.  A few hundred yards down the road the original road followed County Road No. 742, a dirt road, and returned to the present highway near Pugh’s Creek.