Saturday, March 14, 2015

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 3/15/1965 to 3/21/1965

The Chieftains wrapped up the final weeks of spring practice fifty years ago this week, preparing for the W Day varsity and junior varsity that culminated the three-week spring practice. A total of 86 students were scheduled to take part in the two games. Coach Paul Kennedy said he was really putting the new players through their paces. "We're young and inexperienced and have the same schedule as last year. We have to expose these boys to such strong competition this quickly, but we have no other choices."

The West Rome Senior Tri-Hi-Y took first place in the Rome-Floyd County YMCA Club of the Month competition, while the Junior Tri-Hi-Y came in second. The West Rome Senior Tri-Hi-Y sponsored twenty different projects during February, which included such activities as taking gifts to the children at Battey Hospital, stocking the sick room at West Rome, helping on Civic Youth Days, sponsoring a teacher appreciation breakfast, and working on school site cleanup.

Judo and karate were very much in vogue in the mid-1960s, which explains why the YMCA was offering  an eight-week judo course on Tuesday nights beginning in mid-March. The course was taught by Hugh Hardison, Georgia State Patrol self-defense and judo instructor.

Rome was joined by the Adairsville and Kingston in asking that the proposed route for I-75 be redrawn to move the interstate west of Cartersville rather than to the east. We know now that the plan failed--but oh, what a difference it might have made if the interstate had gone right through Kingston, with a direct interchange on 411 approximately 15 miles outside of Rome!

Trend Mills ramped up production at its new Redmond Road location this week in 1965, adding more than 150 new jobs to the Rome area. Plans called for Trend to eventually create more than 300 new jobs by the time the facility was opening at full capacity.

Auto inspections were new in 1965, and apparently a lot of people weren't paying attention to the law--which is why the law was modified in March to give motorists an extra few months to get their car inspected. The new deadline of October 31st gave motorists an extra four months--which seemed like a good idea, since fewer than 5% of all residents with registered cars had taken their vehicles in for inspection by mid-March!

West Rome got another restaurant choice with the opening of Country House Barbecue at 516 Shorter Avenue, offering barbecue pork, beef, and chicken, along with Brunswick stew and a smoked country burger. For their grand opening, they offered a country burger and a Coke for only a quarter, or a choice of barbecue beef, pork, or chicken, along with a cup of stew and a Coke, for only 65¢.

Meanwhile, far, far away from Rome in New York City, TGI Fridays opened its first restaurant on March 15th.

Interest rates to die for: Home Federal was paying 4.6% interest on a six-month certificate, while both Rome Bank & Trust and National City Bank were advertising 4.5% interest paid for a six-month deposit at their banks. With rates like that, savings actually paid off!

Piggly Wiggly ("your modern supermarket!" according to their advertising slogan) had ground beef for 49¢ a pound, Mueller's spaghetti for 15¢ a box, and a half-gallon of Sealtest ice milk for 39¢. (In case you're too young to remember ice milk, it's the 1960s version of what we now call low-fat ice cream). Kroger had pork chops for 49¢ a pound, Del Monte English peas for 15¢ a can, and large eggs for 39¢ a dozen. Big Apple had Coca Cola or Tab for 27¢ a six-pack (plus deposit), carrots for a dime a bunch, and tom turkeys for 35¢ a pound. A&P had beef liver for 29¢ a pound, strawberries for 33¢ a pint, and Eight O'Clock Coffee for 67¢ a pound. Couch's had chuck roast for 29¢ a pound, five pounds of Dixie Crystal sugar for 39¢, and Swift's premium bologna for 33¢ a pound.

The cinematic week began with Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (with Bette Davis, Olivia deHaviland, & Joseph Cotten) at the DeSoto and Love has Many Faces (with Lana Turner & Cliff Robertson) at the First Avenue. The midweek switch out brought Strange Bedfellows (with Rock Hudson & Gina Lollobrigida) to the DeSoto and Why Bother to Knock? (with Elke Sommer) to both the First Avenue and the West Rome Drive-In.

The number one song this week in 1965 was "Stop! In the Name of Love" by the Supremes. Other top ten hits included "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat?" by Herman's Hermits (#2); "The Birds and the Bees" by Jewel Aikens (#3); "Eight Days a Week" by the Beatles (#4); "King of the Road" by Roger Miller (#5); "Ferry 'Cross the Mersey" by Gerry & the Pacemakers (#6); "Shotgun" by Jr. Walker & the All-Stars (#7); "Goldfinger" by Shirley Bassey (#8); "My Girl" by the Temptations #9); and "This Diamond Ring" by Gary Lewis & the Playboys (#10).

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