The Santa Bowl King and Queen were crowned at the Santa Bowl Mite & Pee Wee game held at Barron Stadium. While the winners weren't Chieftains, two students from West Rome almost made it: Joy Cantrell of West End was the first runner up for Queen and Eddie Alverson of Elm Street was the first runner-up for King.
West Rome's basketball teams won both games against Cave Spring on Wednesday night (yes, they played basketball the night before Thanksgiving!). The girls won 43-40 and the boys won 56-34; Debbie Poarch was the high scorer for the Chieftain girls with 25 points, and Kenny Stephens was the high scorer for the boys with 14 points.
And speaking of Thanksgiving: Rome City Schools students got a three-day holiday, with schools holding classes Monday and Tuesday; teachers had a work day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
A Floyd County man who had been making obscene phone calls apparently called the wrong person: a woman who received one of his calls told him to come over--and when he did, her husband was waiting for him, gun in hand. The irate husband fired six shots through the windshield of the suspect's pickup truck, but the caller was not injured. He was, however, arrested by county police officers and charged with making obscene phone calls; apparently the shooter was not charged at all.
Three prisoners at the Floyd County Works Camp were released on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday. All three were only three months away from their normal discharge date and had no demerits for bad behavior during their time at the works camp. Their good behavior discharge meant that all three men got to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with their families. Alas, it didn't go as well as hoped: one of the three was arrested and charged with burglary after he was caught inside a supermarket just before midnight (and this was a time when grocery stores did not stay open much later than 9pm). He said he didn't have enough money to pay for Thanksgiving dinner for his family, so he was trying some after-hours shopping instead.
The Partridge Restaurant on Broad Street had quite a deal on a Thanksgiving Dinner: for only $1.85, they offered roast turkey, cranberry sauce, beverage, and a choice of three vegetables from a list that included potatoes, green peas, candied yams, buttered rice, creamed cauliflower, salad, and pineapple salad with grated cheese and mayonnaise; and dessert from a list that included pumpkin pie, apple cobbler, or mincemeat cobbler. Children six and under could eat for only a dime.
Toshiba televisions are apparently much older than I thought: Camera and Craft in Central Plaza had a 23" Toshiba color tabletop television for $339.95 ($60 less than most other brands) and a 19" table-top color television for $299. Both televisions had all the bells and whistles that 1968 shoppers could expect: VHF and UHF tuners, built-in rabbit-ear antennas (which were useless in Rome, unfortunately, since we were too far away from both Atlanta and Chattanooga), and a fine-tuning knob to allow for tiny adjustments when the click-stop channel changer wasn't quite accurate enough.
The US Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division offered people across the country a grace period to register "super-destructive weapons" as part of the 1968 Gun Control Act--and you'd be surprised at what Romans registered. Bazookas, airplane machine guns, mortars, sawed-off shotguns, a submachine gun, and even a cannon were all registered by residents in Rome. The registration and permitting, which allowed residents to keep the weapons, was conducted on a "no questions asked" basis, so the agency had no idea where the owners acquired these weapons or why they had them.
Piggly Wiggly had Butterball turkeys for 45¢ a point, oranges for 33¢ a dozen, and Coca-Cola/Sprite/Tab for 33¢ a carton plus deposit. Big Apple had hen turkeys for 33¢ a pound, Sunshine pickled peaches for 39¢ a jar, and Chesapeake Bay oyster for $1.69 a pin. Kroger had smoked hams for 39¢ a pound, large eggs for 49¢ a dozen, and Luzianne coffee for 49¢ a can. A&P had salad shrimp for $2.29 a pound, bananas for a dime a pound, and celery for 15¢ a bunch. Couch's had baking hens for 39¢ a pound, Ocean Spray cranberry sauce for 23¢ a can, and Aristocrat ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon.
The cinematic week began with West Side Story (starring Natalie Wood) at the DeSoto Theatre, Prudence and the Pill (starring David Niven) at the First Avenue, and St. Valentine's Day Massacre (starring Jason Robards) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought Coogan's Bluff (starring Clint Eastwood) to the DeSoto, Live a Little, Love a Little (starring Elvis Presley) to the First Avenue, and The Boston Strangler (starring Tony Curtis) to the West Rome Drive-In.
Diana Ross and the Supremes held on to the number one slot for a second week with "Love Child." Other top ten hits included "Hey Jude" by the Beatles (#2); "For Once in My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#3); "I Heard It Through he Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye (#4); "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#5); "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#6); "Abraham, Martin, and John" by Dion (#7); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#8); "Stormy" by The Classics IV featuring Dennis Yost (#9); and "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (#10).
The supergroup Cream played its final concert this week in 1968. Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker would go on to front a new group, Blind Faith, while Jack Bruce would pursue a solo career. The group would not play together again until 1993, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Noteworthy new releases for the week included Astral Weeks by Van Morrison, I've Gotta Be Me by Sammy Davis, Jr., Promises, Promises by Dionne Warwick, and The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands by... well, you can figure it out.
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