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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Dec 17, 1976
Page
1
Doctors expect convicted killer Gary Gilmore to recover from a second phenobarbital overdose and be well enough to face a firing squad on Jan. 17. Utah prison authorities and sheriff's investigators opened a probe into how he obtained enough pills to render him unconscious for the record time in 30 days.
Atlanta edition protests national articles that depict Southerners as speaking with a drawl. Dick Green of The Atlanta Constitution sends a reporter to New York to sample how residents speak. The piece features taxi drivers and store staff, highlighting a cross regional language clash.
The Morgan County Board of Education voted to seek legislation to abolish the 2 percent gross receipts tax in Decatur and Hartselle and replace it with a countywide 2 percent sales tax to be shared among municipalities and the county school system. The plan, pushed by Hoyt Johnson, aims for a referendum, with districts outside city lines paying up to 6 percent and residents in city limits paying 5 percent. Local lawmakers voiced mixed support, citing bond obligations and revenue distribution concerns. The proposal would keep Decatur and Hartselle’s current receipts similar, with any extra going to the county schools.
On this date in 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the first successful airplane flight near Kitty Hawk North Carolina. Weather data notes highs in the upper fifties and lows in the mid thirties with a Saturday forecast around sixty. It ends with a Tennessee Valley loyalty line.
Transportation Secretary William T. Coleman authorized the nation’s first offshore superports off Texas and Louisiana to handle oversized oil tankers. He imposed economic and environmental limits and required non discriminatory access, with oil to be pumped ashore via pipelines.
Senate committee staff are examining activities of South Korean, Chilean and Iranian intelligence agencies in the United States to determine if operations occur with the committee’s knowledge and consent. A full committee vote is needed to initiate the probe. Inouye letter referenced.
A Decatur woman describes her marriage to a violent husband and her escape, detailing the physical and mental toll. In a Sunday interview with Daily staff writer Mary Jack Rainey, she follows up on last Sunday's study “The Beaten, The Silent.”
Boston AP report on the 1976 list of the 10 Worst Toys, warning they can harm or kill children. Edward Swartz, author of Toys That Don’t Be, criticizes lax federal safety rules and urges safer design and labeling. The piece notes industry responses and cites Bazooka Blaster and Wham-Wads among the unsafe examples.
The Tennessee Valley Authority will lower its monthly fuel adjustment by 97 cents per 1,000 kilowatthours for January. The typical residential bill for 1,000 kWh drops to 23.47, from 23.43 last January and 26.18 in September. Heating weather could raise bills in January despite lower per kWh costs. TVA notes a $2.19 total cut over four months tied to Browns Ferry nuclear plant resumption. Browns Ferry reactors produced 2.58 million kilowatts, a record output for the facility.
Moulton resident Booker T. Alexander, 71, is a master of split oak basket weaving. He learned by watching family and now produces sturdy picnic and cotton baskets. He declined a Smithsonian folk art invitation due to health, though several of his works are displayed there. He weaves two small baskets a day, three for larger cotton styles, using water-soaked slats cut with hammer, wedge, mallet, and knife.
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