Saturday, November 25, 2017

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 11/27/1967 to 12/3/1967

Rome manufacturing growth continued with Trend Mills announcing plans to triple their West Rome facility space and add 150 new jobs. The manufacturer planned to spent $3 million to expand the facility; with all work to be completed by mid-1968.

Was Rome a hotbed of crime when I was a kid? it certainly seems that way, although I wasn’t aware of it at the time. In the early morning hours of November 27th, burglars ripped open a walk-in vault at the Berry College comptroller’s office and made off with more than $1150.00 in cash. This came just two months after  a Berry College student stole more than $10,000.00 from the comptroller’s office. Apparently Berry needed a more secure comptroller's office!

Rome’s annual Santa Claus parade took place at 6pm on Monday, November 27th. The parade began at West Third Street and Second Avenue, then turned onto Broad Street and headed up Broad to the City Auditorium, where Santa greeted the crowds. Both the West Rome Band and the West Rome Junior High Band participated in the parade.

And in a brilliant strategic move, Big K at Gala Shopping Center hired the Santa Parade’s Santa to go straight from the parade festivities to Big K, where he would listen to children’s Christmas lists until midnight! Not sure who was keeping their little kids up until midnight on a school night, though…

West Rome’s girls started the basketball season off with a 54-20 win over Lafayette, but the boys performed less effectively in their game, losing 55-43. Both Debbie Poarch and Elaine Underwood scored enough points individually to win the game for West Rome (22 and 21 points respectively). Coach Brendel Cox said that the boys team was “simply outplayed” by LaFayette, although he did note that they played to a tie twice in the first half and were briefly ahead before the game fell apart for the Chiefs in the third quarter.

Roger Weaver was named Back of the Year  by the Rome News-Tribune for his outstanding performance during the 1967 football season. Weaver gained more than a thousand yards during the season and more than 2600 yards during his three years of Chieftains football. He also scored 70 points during the season on 11 touchdowns, an extra point, and a field goal. 

Piggly ‘Wiggly had sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Toast’em Pop Ups for 39¢ a box, and blackberries for 39¢ a pint. Kroger had pork roast for 39¢ a pound, Maxwell House coffee for 57¢ a pound, and Kroger doughnuts for 19¢ a dozen (that’s less than 2 cents a doughnut!). Big Apple had perch fillet for 39¢ a pound, red delicious apples for 15¢ a pound, and Sealtest ice cream for 49¢ a half-gallon. A&P had fresh fryers for 25¢ a pound, tomatoes for 29¢ a pound, and five pounds of Dixie Crystals sugar for 61¢. Couch’s had Chuck Wagon bacon for 59¢ a pound, Castleberry’s beef stew for 59¢ a pound, and bananas for a dime a pound. 

The cinematic week began with Clambake (starring Elvis Presley) at the DeSoto Theatre and the West Rome Drive-In and Grand Prix (starring James Garner) at the First Avenue. The midweek switchout brought Point Blank (starring Lee Marvin) to the DeSoto, Jack of Diamonds (starring George Hamilton) to the First Avenue, and Panic in the Year Zero (starring Ray Milland) to the West Rome Drive-In. 


The Beatles released their album Magical Mystery Tour this week in 1967, a soundtrack to the film of the same name. Well, they released the album here in the US, but in the UK, it was an EP. Capitol Records turned it into an album by including songs the band’s 1967 singles on the album’s B side. Other big releases included Steve Wonder’s Someday at Christmas (one of the finest contemporary Christmas albums ever recorded, with a brilliant title song that really deserves a place in more Christmas playlists), Love’s Forever Changes, and the Chambers Brothers’ The Time Has Come.

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