West Rome extended its winning streak to eight games on Monday with a pair of victories. They began with an 11-4 victory over Dalton in a regular season game, then followed that up on the same day with a 14-4 win over Armuchee in the Annual Floyd County tournament. The Chiefs looked likely to extend their win to nine games with a victory over East Rome on Tuesday, but a rain storm forced the game to be called in the third inning... too early for West Rome's 5-1 lead to translate into a win. The game was rescheduled for May 12th, but the 24-hour delay did not deter West Rome, with the Chief posting a 7-6 victory. Alas, the win wasn't enough to move West Rome's baseball team into the playoffs; instead, it forced East Rome into a playoff against Calhoun for the Region 3-AA South title. (A mixed early season took a toll that a nine-game winning streak couldn't overcome, unfortunately.)
The Floyd County baseball tournament was held on Thursday, May 13th, with West Rome winning 9-8 over Model. The win wasn't a sure thing, though: Model scored seven runs in the first inning, but West Rome came back to take the game. Alas, the Chieftains' winning streak ended there; the next day, they were defeated 5-4 by Darlington, who took the Floyd County championship.
West Rome's track team defeated the Gladiators on Tuesday with a 87 1/2 point to 85 point win; LaFayette and Calhoun came in a distant third and fourth place. The victory resulted in West Rome taking the sub-region championship and advancing to the Region 3-AA South track and field championship. "I never saw a more determined bunch of guys in my life," Coach Kennedy said. "We trailed to 18 points at one time and the closest I figured we could come to East Rome was six points."
The track team's winning streak ended there, however. Dalton won a decisive victory, scoring 132 points to West Rome's 77, due in large part to Dickie Sapp's injury in a pre-game bicycle incident at the school early Friday afternoon. As a result, Dalton took the Region 3-AA championship.
The West Rome Senior band held its banquet at the Aloha Restaurant (one of Rome's classier restaurants in the 1960s) on the evening of May 12th. Band director Clyde Roberson presented music camp scholarships to Jean Jackson, Pattie Tolbert, and Travis Payne. New band officers were announced, including Travis Payne (band captain), Wayne Dempsey (drum major); Tony Baker (percussion lieutenant); Regina Swinford (brass lieutenant); and Pat Barner (woodwind lieutenant). Barbara Oldham was named solo twirler; Elissa Payne, majorette captain; and Inga Thomas, Connie Wiggins, Dianne Chambers, Sally Ryer, and Terry Holcomb, majorettes. The 1965-66 color guard included Susan Whaley, Jan Drummond, Judy Ross, and Gwen Day.
On Tuesday, May 11th, Rome voters passed a bond issue to finance school additions and recreational facilities. As is all too common, the vote was decided by a small minority of voters--only 1610 of 10,000 registered voters actually voted, with about 75% of those voters voting in favor of the bond issues. Apparently some things never change... and voter apathy remains at the top of the list.
The Rome City School System "decided to decide" in their meeting on May 13th, voting to file an official desegregation plan by June 15th. This was less than the federal and state government had asked for; they had indicated that some federal and state funds might be withheld if the plan wasn't filed by the end of January. Ultimately, both the federal and state governments agreed to continue funding while waiting on the final plan.
Rome's Annual "May Daze" sales event took place on May 13th, 14th, and 15th, with Rome merchants running special sales on all sorts of merchandise; according to the Rome News-Tribune, this sale event was second only to the week before Christmas in the sales volume that it generated each year. (This was a time when the phrase "Black Friday" didn't exist in terms of shopping; while merchants began stocking and displaying Christmas merchandise right after Thanksgiving, there were no special sales events on that Friday. As a result, Christmas sales hit their peak in the days just before Christmas, not the Thanksgiving weekend.) Sales included a 4 quart ice cream freezer for $14.88 at Enloe's Rexall Drugs, Caravelle watches for $10.95 at Brocks, women's coats for $19 at Esserman's, a Hamilton Beach electric hand mixer for $8.88 at Buy Wise, white wall tires for $19.50 each at Sears, sport coats for $7.99 at Millers, bed pillows for $1 each at Redfords, women's shoes for $10 a pair at Higgins, purses for $2.59 each at Millers, a 21" console color television for $396 at Rome TV and Electronics, a four-racquet badminton set for $4.87 at Murphy's, and much, much more.
Piggly Wiggly had sliced picnic ham for 33¢ a pound, frozen french fries for 19¢ a pound, and fresh okra for 39¢ a pound. Kroger had pork chops for 59¢ a pound, grapefruit for a nickel each, and eight-count canned biscuits for a dime. Big Apple had Cudahy all-meat hot dogs for 39¢ a package, ground beef for 37¢ a pound, and Nabisco saltines for 19¢ a box. A&P had cantaloupes for 29¢ each, chicken breast quarters for 39¢ a pound, and A&P Coffee for 73¢ a pound. Couch's had chuck roast for 29¢ a pound, Coca Cola or Tab for 99¢ a case pus deposit, and cucumbers for a nickel each.
The cinematic week began with John Ford's Cheyenne Autumn at the DeSoto and My Blood Runs Cold (with Troy Donahue & Joey Heatherton) at the First Avenue. The midweek switch out brought the bawdy Fanny Hill ("A Female Tom Jones!" the ad declared... alas, today that would only confuse most newspaper readers, who would wonder what a period piece film has to do with a aging pop singer) to the First Avenue and the decidedly not bawdy Beach Blanket Bingo (with Frankie Avalon & Annette Funicello) to the DeSoto. The West Rome Drive-In added a double feature for the weekend—Captain Newman (with Gregory Peck & Tony Curtis) and The Truth About Spring (with Hayley Mills & James MacArthur).
The Beatles returned to number one with "Ticket to Ride," finally bouncing Herman's Hermits out of first place. Other top ten its included "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" by Herman's Hermits (#2); "Count Me In" by Gary Lewis & the Playboys (#3); "Help Me Rhonda" by the Beach Boys (#4); "I'll Never Find Another You" by the Seekers (#5); "Back in My Arms Again" by the Supremes (#6); "Silhouettes" by Herman's Hermits (#7); "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs (#8); "Just One In My Life" by the Righteous Brothers (#9); and "Crying in the Chapel" by Elvis Presley (#10).
Donovan Leitch, better known by his first name only, made his musical debut this week in 1965 with the release of the album What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid in the UK; in the US, the title was changed to Catch the Wind to take advantage of the popularity of the single by the same name. Donovan began as a folk singer in the Pete Seeger-Bob Dylan vein before venturing into pre-psychedelic pop with songs like "Mellow Yellow" and "Hurdy Gurdy Man."
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