| | Under Guin, Shreveport adopted [[fluoridation]] of the municipal water supply, an issue once controversial. The [[John Birch Society]] called it a "form of government mass medication of citizens in violation of their individual right to choose which medicines they ingest."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jbs.org/about-jbs/myths-vs-facts|title=Myth: The JBS considers public water fluoridation part of a Communist mind-control plot|publisher=jbs.org|accessdate=July 25, 2014}}</ref> Opponents claimed that fluoridation creates more long-term health risks than the immediate advantages gained from decreased tooth decay. Hence the issue had been bypassed for more than twenty years by Shreveport municipal officials though adopted in many other cities. In 1977, however, the [[Chamber of Commerce]] and both daily newspapers, ''The Shreveport Times'' and the former ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'', last published by Charles T. Beaird, strongly endorsed fluoridation. Guin sought a $10,000 request from the city council for an engineering study to move toward fluoridation. When his colleagues balked, he pursued a [[referendum]] on the issue. On November 22, 1977, with a 28.3 percent turnout, 12,037 voters (53.6 percent) opposed a ban on fluoridation of the drinking water. Another 10,413 (46.4 percent) favored a ban. Though fluoridation was approved in a back-handed method—one had to vote "No" to approve of fluoridation—the physical process of actually placing the chemicals in the water supply, was not completed until the middle 1980s, long after Guin's tenure as utilities commissioner had expired.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/la/la0100/la0164/data/la0164data.pdf|title=The Fluoridation Controversy|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=lcweb2.loc.gov|pages=148–151|author=Terry S. Reynolds|accessdate=July 25, 2014|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808063923/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/la/la0100/la0164/data/la0164data.pdf|archivedate=August 8, 2014|df=}}</ref> | | Under Guin, Shreveport adopted [[fluoridation]] of the municipal water supply, an issue once controversial. The [[John Birch Society]] called it a "form of government mass medication of citizens in violation of their individual right to choose which medicines they ingest."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jbs.org/about-jbs/myths-vs-facts|title=Myth: The JBS considers public water fluoridation part of a Communist mind-control plot|publisher=jbs.org|accessdate=July 25, 2014}}</ref> Opponents claimed that fluoridation creates more long-term health risks than the immediate advantages gained from decreased tooth decay. Hence the issue had been bypassed for more than twenty years by Shreveport municipal officials though adopted in many other cities. In 1977, however, the [[Chamber of Commerce]] and both daily newspapers, ''The Shreveport Times'' and the former ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'', last published by Charles T. Beaird, strongly endorsed fluoridation. Guin sought a $10,000 request from the city council for an engineering study to move toward fluoridation. When his colleagues balked, he pursued a [[referendum]] on the issue. On November 22, 1977, with a 28.3 percent turnout, 12,037 voters (53.6 percent) opposed a ban on fluoridation of the drinking water. Another 10,413 (46.4 percent) favored a ban. Though fluoridation was approved in a back-handed method—one had to vote "No" to approve of fluoridation—the physical process of actually placing the chemicals in the water supply, was not completed until the middle 1980s, long after Guin's tenure as utilities commissioner had expired.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/la/la0100/la0164/data/la0164data.pdf|title=The Fluoridation Controversy|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=lcweb2.loc.gov|pages=148–151|author=Terry S. Reynolds|accessdate=July 25, 2014|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808063923/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/la/la0100/la0164/data/la0164data.pdf|archivedate=August 8, 2014|df=}}</ref> |
| | Guin served on the council with another Republican pioneer in Caddo Parish, [[George A. Burton|George Aubrey Burton, Jr.]] (1926-2014), who from 1971 to 1978 was the last to hold the former position of municipal commissioner of finance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=george-a-burton&pid=171346250|title=George A. Burton, Jr. obituary|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|accessdate=June 15, 2014}}</ref> | | Guin served on the council with another Republican pioneer in Caddo Parish, [[George A. Burton|George Aubrey Burton, Jr.]] (1926-2014), who from 1971 to 1978 was the last to hold the former position of municipal commissioner of finance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=george-a-burton&pid=171346250|title=George A. Burton, Jr. obituary|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|accessdate=June 15, 2014}}</ref> |