Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

3070 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSthe session of 1914 Mr. Heath introduced and championed the bill providingfor the abolishing of the distinction between day laborers and other wageearners in the garnishment law of the state. He also took a specially activeinterest and zealous part in supporting the Fullbright bill for the exemptingfrom taxation endowments for colleges and other educational institutions, andhe lent his energies also, and that most earnestly, in support of the legislationfor state prohibition of the liquor traffic. Mr. Heath is author of the billcreating State Highway Commission for Georgia, which enables the state toobtain her pro rata share of federal appropriations for improvements of roads,and is also author of a bill establishing a state wide system of juvenile courtsfor the State of Georgia. Both laws were enacted at the 1916 session of theGeorgia General Assembly.Mr. Heath is a member of the Georgia State Bar Association, and in connection with his substantial law business he is attorney for the First NationalBank of Waynesboro, the Peoples Bank of Sardis, and the Bank of Gough,all in Burke County. He is affiliated with the lodge, chapter and commanderybodies of York Rite Masonry, is a Shriner affiliated with the Alee Temple atSavannah, Georgia. He is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, theModern Woodmen of America, and theAlpha Tan Omega college fraternity.Through inheritance Mr. Heath has large and valuable landed interests inBurke County and thus is closely concerned with the advancement of agricultural industry in this section of the state. The principles and policies ofthe democratic party find in him an effective exponent, he is vital and progressive in his civic attitude, and holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. On November 1,1916, Mr. Heath marries Miss FlorenceFulcher, of Waynesboro, Georgia, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Fulcher,also of Waynesboro.WATTS POWELL. With twenty years of practice to his credit as a lawyer,Watts Powell bears a name which has been honored in the legal professionand in general, citizenship in Dooly County for a great many years. Hisfather before him was a successful attorney at Vienna, and by his own vigorouspersonality, hard work and loyalty to the interests entrusted to his charge,Watts Powell has added not a little to the distinctions associated with thename.Born in Macon County, Georgia, September 19, 1878, Watts Powell is ason of John F. and Martha (Burnam) Powell. His parents were both born inGeorgia and John F. Powell practiced law for many years at Vienna. Duringthe war he was a Confederate soldier and enlisting from Macon Countybecame an officer in the army, and participated in many of the great engagements of that period but was never wounded. He died at Vienna, November19, 1903, aged sixty-four. His widow is still living at Vienna at the age ofseventy-four. To their union were born eight children, two of them nowdeceased, while Watts Powell was the seventh in order of birth. The othersare briefly named: John W. Powell, of Nashville, Georgia; J. R. Powell, ofLakeland, Florida; Miss Annie, of Vienna; Prof. R. 0. Powell, of Atlanta; andMrs. J. Summer Smith, of Atlanta.Watts Powell secured his early education in the public schools of Vienna,and after graduating from high school entered the law office of his father andpursued his study under that able preceptor with characteristic energy untiladmitted to the bar January 4, 1897. He was admitted at Oglethorpe, butimmediately returned to Vienna to begin active practice. He was associatedwith his father until the latter's death, and has since handled a large businessthat has accumulated by steady development on account of his successfulmanagement.For the past six years Mr. Powell has been solicitor of the City Court.He is a director of the First National Bank, a member of the Dooly County