17th Annual Griffin Bell Quail Hunt - Interview with Judge Bell

Even at age 89, Griffin Bell is still sharp as ever. He's a classic dresser, possesses an engaging wit as well as a staggering wealth of wisdom.

In an interview with the Americus Times-Recorder at his Americus home on Tuesday, the former U.S. Attorney General talked about the Annual Griffin Bell Quail Hunt, slated for Friday and Saturday. The Hunt, named in his honor, and used to promote local economic development, is now in its 17th year. Bell conceived the idea and has participated in every hunt.

But the Hunt was not the only topic of discussion in that interview. Bell is one of those conversationalists who can talk about most any subject, even with a interviewer who jumped from one topic to another in one sentence. He's the type of man who could easily be engaged in interesting conversations for hours on end. He graciously gave the Times-Recorder an hour of his busy, meaningful life.

Of course, being an election year, the topic of politics arose immediately.

"It's good to see it so closely contested for both parties," Bell said. "I don't know if we have the best candidates we could find in the country, but that's all we have, so we've got to live with them."

Bell mentioned the close race between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

"I have an idea Obama's going to beat her," he said. "But I don't have any basis for it. It's hard to imagine he could beat the Clinton machine."  Of Obama, Bell remarked, "He makes a good talk, but he doesn't say much. There's not much to his talk. He hasn't pledged out on what he stands for. He's going to change, but to what?"  Bell says many might cast their vote for Obama, as a vote against Clinton.

"A lot of people are against Hillary; she has high negatives," he said.  And what about the other Democrat: John Edwards? What's he doing?  "I don't know. He's just wasting time," Bell said with a chuckle, revealing his ardent interest in the politics.

Although Bell didn't hear Edwards' speech at Georgia Southwestern State University last summer, he figured it was on the "same subject: poor Americans. He's young; he doesn't remember what being poor was like. Our country's changed a lot since those days ... He's got that man sleeping under the bridge (an example). There's anybody under the bridge. I know a lot about the homeless in Atlanta. Everybody in Georgia sends the homeless to Atlanta. A lot of them are encouraged to go. They're there and most of them wouldn't leave. Most are mental cases ... the drop-outs of society. What they decided to do in Atlanta is just take care of them."

As to the effectiveness of the annual Quail Hunt, Bell commented, " ... For years we entertained the Martin-Marietta people. They merged with Lockheed. After that our whole operation started going down. But that's what happens when these companies merge; you're sort of a victim of the merger. Sometimes you grow. I was on the board at Martin-Marietta when we got this plant down here, and I had it really in mind that as Disney grew in Orlando, our missile operation down there would be crowded out, and they'd have to go somewhere else. So they put this plant here and put one over in South Alabama, which gave them two places they could go, but they never had to leave (Orlando). Somehow or other, the one in Orlando is a big operation. I couldn't imagine it down there in that tourist area ... Lockheed's got their mind on other things. They said they'd have to get a special contract to keep this (Americus) plant open, so for awhile they'd find something for it to do, but apparently it's about closed now. We entertained those Lockheed people even after they merged. One of their guests this time is a former president of Lockheed-Martin, Tom Young. He's been here several times and is a good friend ....

"It (the Hunt) hasn't been as productive as we had hoped ... but about all you can do with the Quail Hunt is to get the people to see the community ... We're not long on selling Americus ... but we do a short version ... We've been heavy on bringing in the Georgia Department of Industry and Trade and the power companies that have departments dedicated to trying to get industry moving in Georgia ... "

Bell also mentioned another guest for this year's Hunt, Charles Loudermilk, who owns Aaron Rents. He said Loudermilk has spoken at South Georgia Technical College and later gave the school a $250,000 race car to use as a learning tool. He considers Loudermilk a good prospect because he's opened two furniture plants in South Georgia, putting about 800 people to work.

"The people we get down here (for the Hunt), a lot of them have potential ... " he said, pointing out Jim Clark, a self-made businessman who has served on the board of the Professional Golf Association for a decade. Since Georgia Southwestern State University is trying to get a professional golf management school, Bell says this contact could be invaluable.

"One year we were hunting, and they were having the Ryder Cup in England. We were hunting down at his (Clark's) place (a plantation in Southwest Georgia) and he had to leave to fly to England ... "

When asked what he had been reading recently, fiction or nonfiction, Bell said he reads "everything." Since he has been on dialysis for the past three months, he says he can sometimes read an entire book during one four-hour session.

Among the books on his coffee table were Steve Berry's "The Alexandria Link," a biography of Ulysses Grant by Jean Edward Smith and Tom Brokaw's latest on the ‘60s. Bell said he was particularly interested to see what Brokaw's take was on Vietnam. Another book on the table was the Times-Recorder's "Path of Fury," a pictorial on the March 2007 tornado.

While he enjoys books of tape from time to time, Bell enjoys feeling the weight of a book in his hands. When asked if he listens to books while driving, he said, "sometimes. I do my best thinking driving somewhere, just driving along. It's one of the few times you have any solitude."

While Bell retired three years ago from the prestigious King and Spaulding law firm, he isn't idle. He was asked to stay on as senior counsel and while he keeps an office and secretary in Atlanta, he said, "I really don't do much work; I'm getting further and further from it."

Bell was asked what needs to happen to spark the economy in Americus and Sumter County.  "I think the Quail Hunt is a very useful thing. Of all the things Americus needs to do to get jobs ... it is a group of things ... the most important is to grow Georgia Southwestern. I think we have a new president that knows how to do that. If we got 500 more students, it would make a big difference. A thousand would be unbelievable. The Board of Regents has in mind doing that. It's spent all this money on those new buildings out there and this is one of the few schools that's not overrun with students. The closer you get to Atlanta, the more students they have. West Georgia and Kennesaw are two big growth areas. They can't take on any more students; the University of Georgia can't take on any more."

But how to attract more students to the GSW campus?

"I think you have to sell, start looking at eighth-graders ... buy the (test) scores, pick out some people ... and start working on them. I think we went a long time without selling. I'm not knocking the former president, but he wasn't here much. This new man we have I think will be able to do that. The second way would be to get transfers from junior colleges ... "

He also mentioned that two Regents are coming to the Quail Hunt: Hugh Carter Jr., a Plains native, now living in Atlanta, and Jim Bishop from St. Simons Island.  "We have about four or five Regents who have taken an interest in Georgia Southwestern," he said. "That's a good sign."

Bell added that South Georgia Technical College is also a great asset to the community.

"We need to get some industry that will use its graduates, because they're all leaving," he said, adding that he has brought industrialist Virgil Williams to tour the SGTC campus

"He was impressed but said, ‘It looks to me like you're training people to go somewhere else.' I said they couldn't find $30 an hour jobs around here. The Gulfstream aircraft plant in Savannah takes everyone who graduates from the aerospace program (at SGTC)," he said. "They teach underwater welding and they all go to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We need something to hire those people who are trained here. They train diesel mechanics for Caterpillar for the whole Southeast. The Caterpillar company ought to put something down here."

What with the closing of Collins & Aikman coupled with the destruction caused by the March 2007 tornado, Bell was asked to comment on the future of the local area.

"It doesn't look as good as it did," said Bell.

But the judge is not one to make an observation without offering a solution ....