Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 6/26/1967 to 7/2/21967

West Rome residents living on and near Watson Street picketed Minge Inc. to protest the presence of a Minge-owned concrete mixing plant adjacent to their homes. The residents asserted that a concrete mixing plant should qualify as heavy industrial, while the area where the plant was located was only zoned for light industrial. Part of the problem was that any suit had to work its way through the legal system in Rome, and one of the owners of Minge Inc. was none other than Judge Jerry L. Minge, who had very unflattering things to say about the residents and their protests. He stressed that he was speaking only as a company owner and not as a judge… but oddly enough, he had no trouble finding judges who were willing to help him work the legal system against the homeowners. The case was supposed to be heard in the May term of the court, but for unknown reasons, that case number was never brought up (gee, I wonder how that happened?). Homeowner W.C. Patterson submitted photos showing piles of gravel within seven feet of a Watson Street home, explaining that the continual noise and dust was destroying the quality of life for the Watson Street residents and negatively impacting property values. Patterson said that the Rome City Commission and the courts “have given us the runaround—they’ve put off everything." 

Summer school students were complaining about the heat in their summer school classes at East Rome High School. “It’s hard to focus when it’s so hot,” one unnamed student said. Of course, we all knew exactly what they were talking about, since neither West Rome nor East Rome High School was air conditioned; the only cooling came from the banks of windows that could be tilted open,but that did little good during summer heat or humidity. Needless to say, the complaints seemed to have generated little sympathy in the community… (I remember being very pleased when I found that one of my classes was held in one of West Rome’s trailers—because the trailers had air conditioning!)

Work on the second phase of the East Rome Interchange, which would extend the interchange connector from East Rome to US 27 at Walker Mountain Road, got underway this week in 1967, with road grading and other construction scheduled from June ’67 to the spring of 1968. Eventual plans called for four-laning with a median all the way to Cedartown (but anyone who drives that area now knows that eventual plans never came to pass—while some widening has been done, the four-lane-with-median plan was abandoned).

Piggly Wiggly had lamb shoulder for 29¢ a pound, JFG mayonnaise for 39¢ a quart, and Shurfine peanut butter for 33¢ a jar. Kroger had Swiss steak for 69¢ a pound, Country Oven potato chips for 39¢ a bag, and whole watermelons for 47¢ each. Big Apple had spare ribs for 47¢ a pound, cantaloupes for 49¢ each, and Chase & Sanborn coffee for 59¢ a pound. A&P had ground beef for 39¢ a pound, Marvel ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon, and large grapes for 39¢ a pound. Couch’s had chicken breast for 45¢ a pound, okra for 19¢ a pound, and large eggs for 35¢ a dozen.

The cinematic week began with Double Trouble (starring Elvis Presley) at the DeSoto Theatre, A Man for All Seasons (starring Paul Scofield) at the First Avenue, and Caper of the Golden Bull (starring Steven Boyd & Yvette Mimieux) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought the new James Bond film You Only Live Twice (starring Sean Connery) to the DeSoto Theatre, Hawaii (starring Julie Andrews and Max Von Sydow) to the First Avenue, and A Fistful of Dollars (starring Clint Eastwood) at the West Rome Drive-In.

The Association took number one this week in 1967 with “Windy.” Other top ten hits included “Groovin’” by the Young Rascals (#2); “Little Bit O’ Soul” by the Music Explosion (#3); "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” by Scott McKenzie (#4); “She’d Rather Be With Me” by the Turtles (#5); “Respect” by Aretha Franklin (#6); “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli (#7); “Let’s Live For Today” by the Grass Roots (#8); “Come on Down to My Boat” by Every Mother’s Son (#9); and “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” by Petula Clark (#10).

This week in 1967, Leonard Nimoy made his first venture into the field of recorded music with Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock’s Music From Outer Space. The album combines Nimoy’s Spock-like narrations with sound effects and music. The album, which includes such tracks as “Music to Watch Space Girls By,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Earth,” “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” and “A Visit to a Sad Planet,” actually climbed to 83 on the Billboard album charts.

 Daredevil was one of the Silver Age Marvel heroes to earn his own annual, but at long last Daredevil Annual #1 was released this week in 1967. The lead story forced Daredevil to confront Electro and his Emissaries of Evil (think of them as Daredevil’s five-man version of Spidey’s Sinister Six—the Emissaries consisted of Electro, Stilt-Man, the Matador, the Gladiator, and Leap-Frog) in a story written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Gene Colan.