Friday, June 08, 2018

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 6/10/1968 to 6/16/1968

Jesse Laseter was tapped as Rome City Schools assistant superintendent at its June 13th meeting. Laseter was scheduled to begin his new job on July 1st, filling a vacancy that had been empty for the better part of a year while the school board looked for the right candidate. The board also increased substitute teacher pay from $12 to !4 a day; created a second counselor position at West Rome; created an administrative assistant position for West Rome; and created two clerical worker positions for the West Rome library. (All the new positions were necessitated by increased enrollment at West Rome.)

Burglars hit the Western Auto Store in Central Plaza in the wee hours of Monday morning--and when they couldn't get the safe open, they just took the whole safe with them! The door was pried open with a heavy tool, which they apparently used to try to open the safe before lugging the 300-pound box with them, along with a checkbook and a set of keys.

Rome's illegal liquor raids continued this week in 1968 with the destruction of a 1200-gallon whiskey still near the Floyd County-Polk County line. Apparently the still's operators had suspicions the raid was impending, because they were nowhere to be found and the site appeared to have been abandoned for at least a day.

Someone was passing counterfeit $10 bills around Rome; an area bank received one of the bogus bills, while two other counterfeits were found by local businessmen. The police said that the quality of the counterfeits was so good that it would take a trained eye to discern the bill as phony.

Owens Oil Company on Redmond Road near the GE plant entrance held its grand opening this week in 1968, offering regular gas for 27.9¢ a gallon and premium gas for 29.9¢ a gallon. All customers could also get free snow cones for the kids.

The Atlanta Braves held "Rome Night on Wednesday, June 12th--and they ended up winning the game 7-1 against the St. Louis Cardinals, posting their first win of the season. Maybe they should have held Rome night every week!

Boy Scout Camp Sidney Dew had a record pre-camp registration of 523 boys for the summer of 1968. The camp added a new Olympic-sized swimming pool for the summer of '68.

Country House Bar-B-Que on Shorter Avenue expanded its menu with the addition of pizza this week in 1968. The midweek special was a 97¢ large cheese pizza (regular $1.35). (I remember getting barbecue from Country House, but I don't think I ever tried their pizza... and I suspect it didn't stay on the menu for all that long.)

National City Bank of Rome rolled out a list of more than 200 Rome merchants and service providers who would be accepting the new BankAmericard. The Bank stressed the advantage of the new national credit card to both consumers and merchants, urging everyone to contact National City Bank for more information about the card.

Piggly Wiggly had chuck roast for 47¢ a pound, Double Q salmon for 39¢ a can, and watermelons for 99¢ each. Kroger had sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, cantaloupes for 33¢ each, and eggs for 33¢ a dozen. Big Apple had leg o' lamb for 79¢ a pound, Van Camp pork & beans or 14¢ a can, and Irvindale ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon. A&P had perch for 59¢ a pound, blueberries for 39¢ a pint, and yellow corn for 7¢ an ear. Couch's had chicken breast for 49¢ a pound, okra for 29¢ a pound, and Maxwell House coffee for 69¢ a pound.

The cinematic week began with The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (starring Bob Hope) at the DeSoto Theatre, Blue (starring Terence Stamp) at the First Avenue, and Nobody's Perfect (starring Doug McClure & Nancy Kwan) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Shakiest Gun in the West (starring Don Knotts) to the DeSoto, In Cold Blood (starring Robert Blake) to the First Avenue, and Bonnie & Clyde (starring Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty) at the West Rome Drive-In.

Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" held on to the number one slot for a third week in a row this week in 1968. Other top ten hits included "This Guy's In Love With You" by Herb Alpert (#2); "Mony Mony" by Tommy James & the Shondells (#3); "Yummy Yummy Yummy" by the Ohio Express (#4); "MacArthur Park" by Richard Harris (#5); "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell & The Drells (#6); "Think" by Aretha Franklin (#7); "A Beautiful Morning" by the Rascals (#8); "The good, The Bad, & The Ugly" by Hugo Montenegro, His Orchestra, and Chorus (#9); and "The Look of Love" by Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (#10).

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