Nation: Carter: A Friend Is in Need

Lance indicted for conspiracy

Thomas Bertram Lance started work, after dropping out of the University of Georgia, as a $90-a-month teller at the Calhoun First National Bank, run by his wife's grandfather. Seven years later Bert Lance and his friends bought control of the bank, and the hulking (6 ft. 4 in.) country slicker from Young Harris (pop. 544) helped turn the area into a prosperous carpet center with his high-risk loans to local small businesses. He soon parlayed his bank connections into a paper empire, tried unsuccessfully to succeed his friend Jimmy Carter...

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