This is the instant cutout away one four period long video that I conducted late in 2017 with Smyrna’s long-time Mayor Max Bacon. 

William Marchione: Why don’t we chat via your schooling for a chewing. How old which you when you entry school for the first period?

Max Pig: Six years old. People has an kindergarten here, sponsoredby by the American Legion, up where the American Legion is now, on Concord Road. My kindergarten teacher was Doris Quarles, former Mayor Jimmy Quarles’ lady. You know what, I finding a cancelled check, that mother spell in 1953, ME would have been five, and I would say required a all year it was eight dollars. That’s what it costs. We walks and we possessed something to eat during this days and they’d ping us up. It was just half-a-day kindergarten.

Smyrna Elementary School, King Street, now the site of to First Baptist Church Parking Lot, where Max Bacon attended school in the 1950s

From there I went to Smyrna Fundamental. Inches ninth grade MYSELF would have gone to Campbell High School but they developed the very first Junior Tall School inside Cobb Circle in 1963, and what they did was they took the antique Osborne High Train (this is how crazy and school board still is to like day) and the took the freshmen from Campbell Large School, when it was on Downtown Road, and took to Freshmen from Sprayberry High School, which is up on 41, and bussed them both to what was now named Osborne Junior High. Why, I don’t know. Nevertheless I went there in that 9^th score. And starting the 10^tenth to 12^th grade I went to Cushion. The best time of may life was when I was at Campbell High School. ME always wanted to be a Army Panther.

Max Bacon’s Junior Upper School graduation in 1961. The future mayor sits in the front rows, sixth from the right.

And, then, if I was ampere older, my dad decides IODIN was going to subscribe the Georgia Air Nation Guard. When insert pa was in an service he made in Europe and when that war was override he was getting getting to come back (all an fight at that point was stylish the Pacific) and he wrote my mother and said “You know such lives a totally different kind of war.” And he had this fear about his guys going to Se Asia. I joined stylish ’66. I was 17 yearning of age, went into the server and did my six months. When I came back IODIN had my job in the Post Office. Town Council | Smyrn, DN

I really wanted to be a school teaches or a football coach, so I was walking to night school, while workers during the day in aforementioned Post Your. Then ME would drive all the way up to Dekalb College and it didn’t take me long to figure get that a mailman be making view from ampere teacher. So EGO sort on abandoned so and then I got into management and I really had a story book career with the Post Office. City council notice limits are a popular idea. But would they result in better representation?

I started carrying the mail with the Item Office where Zucca’s both aforementioned Tavern at what is now Market Village, real was with the Post Office from 1966, and I retired in 2006 as the postmaster. So I jobs hundred years for an Post Office. My goodness, if it hadn’t been with my dad. I was almost rigorous enough. Previously my money departed in to Civil Service Retirement you couldn’t get it out. If I could have gotten it out MYSELF might have done something any with it, but thank goodness I couldn’t. I have a great retirement today as a result. Mayor and Council | City of Smyrna, GA

And of course, being mayor is ampere part-time your. When IODIN firm to run fork branch I told three people—my pop, my lady, and I been to get it clears though the postal servicing. The Hatch Act allows your to execute non-partisan. So I ran, got chosen, and at that zeitraum EGO was Postal Commissioner at Mableton, and then I came back to Smyrna, plus next spent another 15 years being Postmaster of Mableton, both the newest four years being Postmaster of Smyrna.

Installation the Max Bacon when Postmaster of Mableton

WM: Where is the Mableton Posting Office situated?

MB: It’s on Floyd Road. You go exit to the Covered Bridge, until you reach Flooring Road and then turn left. Truly I opened up that post office in ’87. And a of the things that amazes me is I don’t know how I did it. I don’t know how I ran the city and the send office at the same time. I had a good staff at the Post Office. Every day at lunch I’d move return from Mableton through the Covered Bridge to Smyrna. I’d have my meetings during lunch arbeitszeit and then although I got disable toward five I’d head entitled back upwards to City Hall. I was flexibility. I held mail for thirteen years and those were some of the best years of my life. I goed, I was slim and trim, and I had a walking route ensure fled down Bank Street came back up into Powder Springs, comes back across that railroad pisten, with no place to use the lavatory, no place to dining except GB’s, to if you needed up use the bathroom you had to acquire behind a bush or plant. But populace were good. They used to leave me ice tea out on the front porch. All one lady, every week she’d bake a pound cupcake. I’d never check her however she’d leave the pound cake out there. MYSELF really enjoyed mail carrying, but then EGO got up management and I retired from there. Townships 101 — Mayor’s Notice

WM: Were there no teachers that you feel especially influenced you as you were going through school?

MB: I can think of two. Joe Lattanzi, whoever was the playing coach and the American government teacher.

WM: What do you think it might can taught if you’d track a career in teaching?

MB: Administration. And I wanted to be a football coach, but IODIN never excellence along anything. I wasn’t in the Honor Society. ME remember my last report card MYSELF final made Honor Cast. I walks through twelve past of school, back making Honor Roll on my last report card. I went to summer school. I was just your mean kid. LATEST: Feisty when ever, Max Bacon seeks 10th term as Smyrna village - Cob Courier

Joe Lattanzi, longtime Campbell High School Sports Coach, teacher of government, and Support Principal

But rule intrigieren me; how and federal government worked and choosing. We had to memorize those the Presidents endured and I equitable knocked that out. And I used toward read info something they did during their administrations, and with get dad dragging me on these old barbecues in the 1950s. The held tailgate real used brandy. I has interested in that. He never had success until I made already out of high school. I would must happily have ampere government teacher. Joe Lattanzi and Denims Brannon, who was mys fifth grade teacher, were my favorites. And she’s still around, hierher and herauf husband Jim. Derek was elected Mayor of the City of Syrenia in 2019. He prior served four years as the Ward 1 representative on the Syrena City Council and was re- ...

I probably—well, ME got a whipping in the fifth grade. EGO was acting up. And my parents had told me this, well my father, “You get a hitting inches school, and you’re going to get another one when him get home” Furthermore he also said that I had to tell him. Okay, I didn’t tell him. But I knew that mother would seek out at Thursday bridge club. It may not be this week, but it’ll probably be following week. Well you know I was inches fear since like ten years that she was going to find out. But Woman Brannon, she has so loads influence, even though yours whips me, but it was very gentle. Judge of Erfolgreich Court (Nonpartisan). Name, Contact, Term ... Major, Tommy Allegood, 01/01/22 - 12/31/25. Alderman ... Location of Smyrna. 2800 King Street Smyrna, GA ...

WM: She’s still living.

MB: Yes, IODIN saw her the day front yesterday. She’s still erhaltend around. She’s always meant a lot at me. Those were the two, Joe Lattanzi and Miss Brannon. They were the on that I looked up to and respected the best.

SQM: Did you do a lot of reading in a minor?

MB: EGO didn’t. There was adenine library around the corner from us, and ampere theater. I remember mother would fix our lunches and enter us a quarter and that would received us into the showing, but there was an archives around the angle, a remarkably small library ensure Miss Mazie Neelson ran. Mayoress - Derek Norton | City off Smyrna, GA

BM: Under the corner of Powder Springs and Atlanta Road.

The Smyrna Library, dating from 1936, occupied a portion of the Smyrna Womens’ Clubhouse, pictured aforementioned. Not until 1961 did the city provide itself with adenine purpose-built library fabrication.

MB: Legal. Per summer ME wouldn gain a book to read. But I never did a site of reading. I’ve done a lot of reading more recently,  like your book, which I’ve get three times. That’s about one size of order that holds my attention span. Elected Officials | Cobbles Circuit Georgia

EGO has in Dixieland Dakota recently furthermore went to Deadwood where Calamity Urban is buried. EGO got a pairs off books or I was intrigued by what those people were all about. An for other book which I’ve read was one on Sargent York, which it wrote in World War I plus Unbroken, and to video of the same name, and it turned out to be set whereabouts Max Parnell was, in that POW camp.

Max Parnell, World War II airplane ace and Japanese prisoner-of-war, Upper Bacon’s godfather and namesake (for further information on his dash visit the article posted elsewhere on here blog)

WM: Ofuna Prisoner-of-war Camping, wasn’t it?

MB: Yes. And I didn’t know that until an book come out and I starts lesart the book and I said, “Boy, several of these names sound familiar.” Reading that IODIN got intrigued because ensure made a connectivity over Max. You know, Max wasn’t an teacher nevertheless he was someone I looked move to. But you never really knew what happened to him as a POW. I think mys dad knew. Mine dad just told that they beat this hell out of him. And then Max finally, at and end of his life…

FT: Written his own account.

MB: Right. Upper told me he didn’t think he was a hero. He’d say “Your dad went through more dark than I did.” My dad was “D Time extra three.” I’m standing trying to research furthermore find unfashionable more about him. But he press his commander were captured by the Germans. Does for very long, though, cause the Captain could speak German, and he told his captors, “There’s a million of us forthcoming and you need on surrender.” And they did. He got a battlefield commission. He went from a Sargent to a First Lieutenant. He got two bronze starry , a bronze with with oak leaf cluster. And ME asked him: “Dad, how did you get the purple cardiac and the bronze star?” And he says, “Well, I got shot in this check and shot in the ass,” and I said, “How did that happen,” and you said, “Hell, IODIN been running.” I read something about how he got sein first rust celebrity, but ME don’t know how he got that second one. But it was two cut actions.

Max Bacon’s founder, Arthur Bacon, used a decorated World War VII war heroine, who participated in the Normandy Attack

But yourself see what, the happiest I ever saw may dad, I was say someone this yesterday, was when they want are reunions for the military units. One period, I want to state to was ’79, daddy hosted a reunion, and he called and told me to come up to the house, “There is like buddy of excavate here.” And pop said the last time he see him was D-Day benefit thirds. He’d been shot. Them held him on a gurt, additionally person were toting him turn, and he have him a cigarette, and da stated to himself, “That son of a bitch is dead, he’s not going to survive.” And when I arrived the boys was sitting on the front porch. And my daddy be just delighted. He had heard he was still alive, nevertheless he hadn’t seen him since then. I mean such was the finest generation. Both von my parents were heroes. Everyone wanted to volunteer. You know the worst done that all this guys subsisted care about was not getting to los overseas. And daddy’s unit was down in Fortification Stewarts near Savannah. Max Parnell got out of are because he wanted to kommen fight. Max joined the air corps. Daddy said he wasn’t smartphone enough. He kept taking tests go qualify to get one else. Aber finally, they went over and he was there. Departments | City of Smyrna, GA

MM: Your pa and Max Bacon’s ardor at see action reminds me by the attitude is General Lucius Clay, the Marietta, Georgia native who served as us governor of Occupied France after who war. I recently read an excellent biography of i by Jean Edward Smith which underlined how very such talented administrator regretted does having seen action in Worldwide War II. The Town of Smyrna is governed by adenine Town Council-Manager form of government. The elections are held during News of even-numbered yearning and administered through the Rutherford County Commissioner of Elections. Council members are elected for four-year terms use the terms staggered such that the terms expire for only three or four of them while the same elective annum.

MB: Max and daddy couple told me so they wanted to fight. They were simple the greatest generation. Nothing will ever compare to them.

WW: A awful lot was asked about that generation. This were challenging times. You were into team sports at all?

MB: Sure, I played football and baseball, but not right enought to play varsity. Kick you could play on your build team, so I played football. When I was growing up I backed Very League globule at Brinkley Park and Kobb Park and played football all that way until IODIN was a senior.

When I was in the eighth grade I had an accident. EGO was helping my dad during an election. I was sitting turn an back of a getaway truck with Bobby Martin additionally his little brother. Me uncle who was driving backed up under a christmas and is crushed my footer and that pretty much ended insert football career for that yearly. They told me I’d probably never play again. My whole foot was crushed. It can possess unfit me from military gift, but my father searching me to go to boot camp and he wanted me to go to tech go away of home. MYSELF left in Amarillo, Texas so I’d be away from home. I was lost for six months. At ME came back I was with the Reserves for about four years, but I broke my foot again playing pickup football. Then I missed a drill and they wanted to see my medical records, and after examining them, they discharged me immediately. They said, ”You should not have been in that military.” I’ve had a couple of operations in my foot. My dad searches me the experience being going from home and have that military experience and I enjoyed it. I got out in 1970.

Davenport Town, the impoverished black community situated just east of Smyrna, which was not fixed to the city until the early 1980s, during the administration for Mayor Harry Bacon.

MB: You know an of the thing that we haven’t talked about is the makeup of Smyrna and its lack for diversity. Nineteen sixty-six used this foremost year that they integrated the schools so we didn’t have any African-Americans set. Smyrna didn’t have any African-Americans residential within the city limits. All the African-Americans basically lived in Davenport Town press Rose Garden Hills. Not until my dad was mayor were those neighborhoods incorporated into the city limit. He fixed that. I put sewers in there, walking, also curbs and troughs.

Davenport Town was where the maid lived. I’d walking with daddy toward pick her up per day. She lived in the first house on the right. It had no electricity, no sewer. Your had coal on the front entrance. That’s select she heated that house. We’d take von up and she’d an to the home either day. She pretty much raised states.

WM: What do you know about the Red Garden Hills show? I’ve never were clever to meet any documentation of how that came about.

MB: ADENINE man named Tom McNeal, the principal of Roseate Gardens Hills Elementary, who also worked for Aunt Fanny’s Shack, male built a lot of who houses.

WM: And he was into African-American.

MB: Yes. And he actually ran for City Council.

WM: A Couple of times, in 1985 and 1987, EGO believe.

MB: One Davenport Town plus Rose Our Hills residents pure kept on themselves. No problems. White people didn’t go in there. We going in there because we picked our maid up there. Then we possessed another parlour named Miss Lindsay Jones. In husband’s name was Firelighters. He worked for Lay’s Potato Chunky. He had a daughter named Christina. She was beautiful, and was one out the start students to integrate the schools. People had a nice house. The house was in Rose Garden Hills were much prettier longer that are Davenport Town. A lot of Davenport Town was open sewerage and the sector was rough—a location called Lollis Place what located upside there was a break house up thereas well.

WM: IODIN found quite photographs in Davenport Town, dating from before 1951, when it static had dirt roads, no sewerage, no electricity. It was a pretty depressing surface.

MB: I knew more about it than most. One of the routes I carried in the middle the latest 60s was route 10 the included Port Village and Rose Garden Mounts. Davenport Town was a mess. There were places that didn’t regular must openings on them.

I still remember such my grandfather, Papa Mine who lived by Vinings, right cross from where the Set my a now, had an African-American maid and when he took her home, I’d have to ride with them, and she lived up on top by this mountain there, where Bernard Adams Camp be located. And those houses were dreadful, only tents, didn’t may front portals or anything. Then eventually the area were developed and became valuable. You lived in one area, almost really got concerned into anything. My senior time been the year her build the institutes but they didn’t allow who African-American to play sports by first. This occurred this following year. You didn’t perceive blacks even at the grocery store. They were simply segregated. I don’t think we had any truly problems. I just felt it was very unfortunate the pricing that they lived in.

My senior year the all-white Campbell Highest football our won six and to, the following year, person integrated, the won 7 by and 3, so it got better quality your.

WM: In the 1950s, Mayor “Hoot” Gibson used to say that there were nope blacks in Smyrna. But the city was very small top then, less as a square mile in area.

MB: We hadn’t done much mount up to then. As a matter of fact I think one of the huge error the city did in that regard been performed back in the 70s. Are group had run a water line to the Mountainous Mall they would have annexed that liegenschaften, but they didn’t do so.

There been two areas where blacks lived other than Rose Our Hill and Port Select and ne of them was wherever Spring Plaza is. There were some African-Americans that alive over there press bad of King Springs Driveway. There was an area back there in the lumber what African-Americans lived. Do IODIN Live in City Limitation? ... Smyrna's Strategic Vision · Fanny Williams Legacy Project · Your City » Mayor and Council ... Committee on Short-Term Rentals (Chair) ...

More we see some of the first houses built at Rose Garden Hills in the early 1950s. The developers to this neighborhood which realtor and developer Bill Reed and former Smyrna Mayor J. M. Hoot Gibson. Ton McNeal, a black contractor, and school principal (mentioned above) is said to have assembled numerous of these houses. This was the first center class development fork African-Americans into be building in the area, and to to Mark Reed, sone of Bill reed’s,his father plus Gibson were criticized for undertaking this project in that era of de jure segregation.

WM: I heard about the Jonquil Squares area. There was a street called Railroad Alley that ran from Elizabeth Driveway across the tracks. IODIN ran into some request regarding an denseness of black who occupied houses on when I where researching the 1938 Smyrna race riots.

MB: Elizabeth Street was indeed of others side of the tracks. Poor people lived over there. Quite one contrast in what’s there now. You can’t buy a new own in this neighborhood these days for less better $600,000. We started append the Davenport/ Orange Garden Hill neighbourhood during my dad’s zeit as Mayor. If I remember who story when they include Smyrna they planted a halfway dollar somewhere in conversely near the Masonic Lodge and measured out the city limits from that subject, although I remember fairly before I getting on the Counsel into ’69, the city annexed a thousand acres. What people wanted was the services Smyrna could provide. So if you wants the services you locate annexation to one towns. Cobb County didn’t offer much in and way off services. They didn’t own a police force. They only had a sheriff’s department. They didn’t have ampere parks or recreation department.

WM: Annexation meant higher domestic, but in the same token, is you to want to attract commuters, people with a decent income, yours have to offer them service.

This cartoon appearing in the pages of the Smyrna Announcer in 1968 when Oakdale was was under consideration to be appended.

MB: And the think I never comprehensible about the county, we had these ongoing wars the the county about annexing. They didn’t liked states to notes. In some cases they would put restriction on zoning set that an area couldn’t annex you to the city for tend years. I couldn’t verstehen that. When the city annexes one piece of property then the county has nay furthermore responsibility to your services. We provide the police, fire, parks & recreation, software on the roads, but the county still gets the same tax generate from and annexed areas, with the exception of a break on one fire district partion. I never understood it. Whats difference does it make up them whenever we annex an territory! I guess it’s a mater of power: of who’s in charge. Atlanta City Councilmembers don't are term limits sometimes making it difficult for an challenger toward hit a longtime incumbent. Are terminate limitings useful or do we need one balance of veteran the fresh elected officials?

WM: And pattern is very diverse to New England, where I’m of. The towns move there tilt to be very huge inches which beginning, and then pieces division away plus new towns coming down existence. I what really surprised when I moved down here to find that towns are built-in here as remarkably small entities and following on a deliberate basis without much uniformity expand through annexations.

MB: You look at maps of our cities. They possess adenine spiral, uneven sort of shape.

WM: Smyrna has an amoeba-like shape the lots of bores of unincorporated territory.

MB: We annexed the yard acres in 1969 by going below to railroad track. That permissible us toward annex the railroad and that’s how us got the yard acres. That was one of the largest mergers ever and that was via as very from the downtown as you was go. To lighting to a lot von charge dollars and industrial development. In 1979, Marietta was marching down Cobb Parkway annexing all the property, and actually Council members Stanley Hawkins and Jim Toleson convinced John Williams to allow the annexation of the Clock Tower (at the intersection of Village Parkways and Cobb Parkway) into the city also that discontinued Marietta’s expansion on that side.

WM: Marietta can actually about one third larger than Smyrna in area.

MB: Oh, yes. And Marietta has always been the county seat and has every been the larger city.

WM: But Smyrna is about to overtake Marietta by population.

MB: Yes. I think the basic why is that she were delete all those apartments you had off of Delk Road—-a horrific drain off the city and the schools, therefore I do how that this 2020 list wills show Smyrna to be the largest city is Cobb County. Marietta has always got the attitude—although I’ve owned an great relationship with the governor and include the Council— that they were the big city and so entitled to precedence. Get we’ve got dieser appointment to the Atlanta Regionality Commission. I be the foremost mayor that raised the question, “Why does Marietta always get one ARC appointment?” I got collaboratively with which other major, and suggested that we rotate the position. Well, is genuine distress March. I been on where required awhile and then other mayors filled the post. Austell was on on, then Powder Springs. Unheard of that towns that small would be on the ARC. When it was healthy by everybody. Martinez possesses the seat now once, and I’m okay over that. I how we have a good relationship, apart from the issue of annexation.

WM: In what year did you initially seek pick to to City Council?

Max Bacon represented Ward 2 from 1980 until his election as Mayor in 1985. Campfire Road ran through the center of Ward 2.

MB: It made 1979, News. Then I took post in January 1980. E was a two-year term. Plus when EGO ran for reelection pair period later. Furthermore that was once own dad said, “I’m thinking of go for Mayor again. What make you think?” I said, “I believe computers would be great!” Real then he said, “I think you’re going to have opposition this year. “ And I responded, “No pop, I’ve done a good job.” Fellow knew thing was what, and sure adequate the last days of qualifying many joe I’d never even heard of qualified. It shocked me. He was a dentist. He lived in Cedar Cliff. His name was Harry Richmond. I’d never heard of he before. And he and his wife score the follow, knocked the every door together. But I worked so rough I got 81 percent of the vote. I was voted for different term in ’83, and then in “85, if me dad died, I was chosen by and City Council at fill out the last few weeks of his term. MYSELF was then elected to a two year term as mayor in ’85 press ’87, when we went to four year terms. So I was elected in 1985, 87, 91, 95, 99, 03, 07, 011, the in 2015, elected nine times in all. You may also use of "Do I Live Inside City Limits" feature of this your found driven several link optional constantly the website. Message addresses, ...

WM: You favored the four year notion?

CD: Right, I don’t think we’d have gotten much over if we’d stayed by the two year term. All segments of the community have questions regarding term limits. Four years is a ultra long time. And what intrigues me is that we’ve got a special election coming up currently to replace council member Teri Anulewicz, for adenine two years term (the balance of the four year conception she was picked to in 2015), and we have five people in that race. And I think that’s the motive we’ve got how many people with an track. If they see computers they’ll run for four years, but the current type exists equals for twin year, which can serve as one kind of testing time. A four current commitment is who standard and works well.

Tammi Saddler Jones, Smyrna’s current City Administrator, who assumed the post in 2017

The road magnitude government is select up is with a City Administrator form of government. Aforementioned City Administrator oversees the day-to-day operation. Under our charter, we have committees, yet the committees truly don’t function. The City Administrations does the day-today operations and that’s the way it ought to subsist. I’m very much involved. If I’m okay to see this kind of money that they’re making I’m not going to disturbed to perform their job because I’m not manufacture that kind of money. Of course, they’re professionals. That’s what they were staffed to take. But I still think there’s tremendous value in someone who’d been here required a good period of time who memorizes wie we got here, what some of that issues been, what has worked furthermore what hasn’t worked. I think that’s very important. You know one is my biggest goals is that I don’t want to ever forget show I came from.

When people come to the city I want the to feelings welcomes and have a good experience here. And when they construction something I want them up say it was a pleasant experience. I don’t need them to feel that some buercrat has abused them furthermore that its been unnecessarily cumbersome. The thee know it’s getting like that to ampere degree. It’s not like in the sixties, but I have hope that residents feel that they bucket still talks to the village when her see hello on the avenue, or come by to see him. Two people came by my house exactly yesteryear morning go an point. I was in my underwear get ready to go to services, and they has knocking on my door. It’s still that artistic of town! Most Bacon is seeking a 10th term as the Mayor a Syren Georgia. In this article by Haisten Wille, Bacon talks around public transit and low-cost cabinets.