Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 12/30/1968 to 1/5/1969

The Christmas/New Year's holiday break came to an end for West Rome students as school resumed on Thursday, January 2nd. While there were snow flurries on December 31st, all the snow was gone by mid-day on New Year's Day, eliminating any hopes that students might have had of an extra snow-day holiday. It was a cold return to school, though, with a Thursday morning low of 13 degrees.

The Chieftains  boys basketball team defeated Model for the second time this season, 71-49, while the girls team won 47-38. William Shelton was the high scorer for West Rome with 16 points, while both Charles Smith and Mike Day scored in double digits. Debbie Poarch was the leading scorer for the girls with 24 points.

The Rome City Commission kicked off the New Year with warnings that a tax increase was inevitable. One reason: the city school system said that it would need more than $100,000 in extra funds to finance teacher's raises and pensions, as well as covering the cost of new clerical staff as school enrollment increased. The schools were asking for a 6% pay raise for staff. In addition, the Rome City Commission was considering a 10% pay raise for non-school employees, but nothing was finalized at the first monthly meeting of 1969.

The flu was still a major problem in Rome and Floyd Count, so Floyd and McCall Hospitals issued a joint advisory asking that hospital visits be curtailed. The request said that only immediate family members should attempt to visit patients at either hospital, and only a maximum of two people at a time would be allowed to visit. Anyone with any sort of respiratory infection symptoms would be barred from visiting.

Romans got a new choice for pizza this week with the opening of Hal & Val's Pizzeria on Martha Berry Highway.  Among other things, they offered a large House Special (with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, and green pepper) for $3.49.

Kentucky Fried Chicken celebrated the New Year with a $4.15 special that included a bucket of chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, cole slaw, and rolls. They also offered their fish or shrimp dinners for 99¢ each, slightly more than a 20% discount. (I never remember eating seafood at Kentucky Fried Chicken, but apparently it was a big part of their menu back in the 1960s.)

Piggly Wiggly had chicken livers for 59¢ a pound, eggs for 53¢ a dozen, and five pounds of oranges for 48¢. Kroger had round steak for 88¢ a pound, Chase & Sanborn coffee for 49¢ a can, and dried black-eyed peas for 9¢ a pound. A&P had country style ham for 88¢ a pound, Super Suds detergent for a quarter a box, and yellow onions for a dime a pound. Big Apple had pork chops for 69¢ a pound, cabbage for a dime a head, and Van Camp's Vienna sausages for 20¢ a can. Couch's had  sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Shurfresh biscuits for 7¢ a can, and Double Cola for 99¢ a case plus deposit.

The cinematic week began with Hellfighters (starring John Wayne) at the DeSoto Theatre, Bullitt (starring Steve McQueen) at the First Avenue, and a double feature of Coogan's Bluff (starring Clint Eastwood) and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (starring Bob Hope) at the West Rome Drive-In.  The midweek switch out brought The Impossible Years (starring David Niven) to the DeSoto and a John Wayne double feature of Hellfighters and The Desperate Ones to the West Rome Drive-In, while Steve McQueen continued to drive his Mustang around San Francisco in Bullitt, which remained at the First Avenue for another week.

Marvin Gaye held on to the number one slot for the fifth week with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Other top ten hits included "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by Diana Ross & The Supremes (#2); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#3); "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited (#4); "Hooked on a Feeling" by BJ Thomas (#5); "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations (#6): "For Once in My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#7); "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James & the Shondells (#8); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (#9); and "I Love How You Love Me" by Bobby Vinton (#10). 

NBC became the first network to expand its evening newscast to Saturdays with the addition of a Huntley-Brinkley Report at 6:30 on Saturday nights. The name was misleading, though, as both newscasters did not appear on each weekly newscast; instead, Chet Huntley would anchor one week, and David Brinkley would anchor the next. 

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 12/23/1968 to 12/29/1968

Rome and Floyd County students celebrated a long holiday break. Both school systems were closed the week of Christmas and the week of New Years, giving students 16 days in a row out of school. Floyd County non-school employees got all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as a holiday. Rome city non-school employees got the shortest break of all; they had to work until noon on Christmas Eve and then got Christmas Day off.

Rome didn't get a white Christmas, but it did get a cold Christmas, with a low of 15 degrees on Christmas Eve night and a high of 35 on Christmas day. Temperatures warmed into the upper forties later in the week.

West Rome defeated Cedartown 74-56 on December 23rd to advance to the semifinals of the Rome News-Tribune Holiday Festival basketball tournament. William Shelton was the Chieftains' high scorer with 18 points. West Rome then defeated Pepperell 60-51 on December 26th to advance to the finals; Kenny Stephens was the high scorer with 18 points. Alas, West Rome lost 75-49 to the Calhoun Yellow Jackets in the final round of play.

Rome and Floyd County released nine prisoners so that they could enjoy Christmas with their families--but two of them returned to jail on Christmas day because they didn't want to miss the Christmas meal for prisoners, which included baked ham, turkey, dressing, lima beans,  Waldorf salad, cranberry sauce, fresh biscuits, fruitcake, coffee, and tea, along with an assortment of candy, fruit, and nuts. Warden Bill Scoggins said it wasn't unusual for prisoners to voluntarily return to jail. "Most of them can't get a meal this good anywhere else," he said.

Vandals damaged almost every gravestone at the West Seventh Avenue Cemetery in the early hours of Monday morning, December 23rd. According to the Rome Police, the vandals climbed over a fence and entered the cemetery at about 2am, where they used sledgehammers to shatter tombstones and used other implements to tear up the grass on numerous graves. They also scattered all flower arrangements around the cemetery. The vandals were gone by the time the police arrived.

Christmas thieves went looking for their own gifts in the early morning hours of Christmas Day, and found them at Quality Produce Company (where they broke into a safe and stole $400 in cash, $1000 worth of stock certificates, and a bag of old coins), at Hill Truck & Tractor Company (where they stole almost $7000 worth of tools), and at S&S Supermarket (where they stole two hams, a turkey, some cigarettes, and about $100 in cash). Burglary attempts at Big K and the Singer Sewing Center at Gala Shopping Center proved unsuccessful.

Three adolescents (all East Rome students, of course) were found under the Second Avenue Bridge on the night of December 27th, all highly intoxicated. Their beverage of choice? Vanilla extract, which had an alcohol base; they had all drunk several bottles before passing out. The 13 and 16 year olds were released to their parents, but the 12 year old drank so much that he had to be hospitalized.
Piggly Wiggly had hog jowl for 16¢ a pound, Heinz tomato soup for a dime a can, and Coca-Cola/Tab/Sprite for 33¢ a carton (plus deposit). Kroger had five pounds of Dixie Crystals sugar for 39¢, tom turkeys for 28¢ a pound, and oranges for 33¢ a dozen. Big Apple had sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Southern Maid black-eyed peas for a dime a can, and bananas for a dime a pound. A&P had jiffy steak for 89¢ a pound, Irvindale ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon, and golden delicious apples for 12¢ a pound. Couch's had pork roast for 59¢ a pound, collard greens for 25¢ a bunch, and ten pounds of potatoes for 49¢.

Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders celebrated Christmas 1968 very far away from home—farther than any human being had ever been before, in fact. Shortly before Christmas, they became the first humans to orbit the moon (and the first humans to see the dark side of the moon, as well as the first humans to witness Earthrise over the surface of the moon. On Christmas Eve night, while in orbit around the moon, the crew assured those of us who were still earthbound that there is a Santa Claus, after which they read a passage from the book of Genesis. They left lunar orbit on Christmas Day and returned to Earth on December 27th.

The cinematic week began with The Split (starring Julie Harris) at the DeSoto Theatre, Far From the Madding Crowd (starring Julie Christie) at the First Avenue, and Salt & Pepper (starring Peter Lawford) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought  Hellfighters (starring John Wayne) to the DeSoto Theatre, Bullitt (starring Steve McQueen) to the First Avenue, and Coogan's Bluff (starring Clint Eastwood) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Marvin Gaye climbed to the number one slot this week in 1968 with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Other top ten hits included "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#2); "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (#3); "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited (#4); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#5); "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations (#6); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & The Supremes (#7); "Stormy" by the Classics IV Featuring Dennis Yost (#8); "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#9); and "Hooked on a Feeling" by BJ Thomas (#10).

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 12/16/1968 to 12/22/1968

Christmas was approaching fast, but West Rome students were still hard at work, since school was in session the entire week of December 15th through the 20th. And while the weather was seasonably cold, there wasn't even a chance for frozen precipitation delivering a pre-Christmas snow day.

Some students got to stay home, but it's doubtful that they were enjoying the time off. Rome was struggling with a Hong Kong flu outbreak this week in 1968. While the outbreak wasn't bad enough to be classified as an epidemic, city and county schools reported almost double the absentee rate. Six drug manufacturers were working overtime to produce a Hong Kong flu vaccine, but health officials worried that the early onset would run its course before sufficient quantities of the vaccine could be made available to local residents.

West Rome's boys basketball team defeated Model 63-45 in the first round of play of the 15th annual Rome News-Tribune Holiday Basketball Festival. Richard Wood was the top scorer for the Chieftains with 19 points, while Kenny Stephens scored 15 points and William Shelton scored 12 points.

Floyd County detectives and police arrested three men who were running a burglary ring focusing on residential break-ins in North Georgia and Alabama. Floyd County officers recovered cash, firearms, stereo equipment, hunting supplies, radios, and more; they believed that the burglary ring was responsible for more than two dozen break-ins in the past six months.

That wasn't the end to crime in Rome, however: the day after the burglary ring was broken, other burglars broke into Phelps Produce Company and stole produce, office equipment, a cash register with about $25 in cash, and four Christmas trees. That evening, three more men forced their way into a Floyd County home, pistol-whipped one of the residents, and left with $400 in cash.

Governor Lester Maddox came to Rome on Thursday to push his plan to increase Georgia's sales tax from 3% to 4% and to add a 1.5¢ per gallon increase to the gasoline tax.

And speaking of taxes, the social security ta rate was set to increase from 4.76% to 4.8% at the first of the year, and the federal government was warning taxpayers not to be surprised at the new rate. Social security taxes were still only payable on the first $7800 of earnings.

The political editor of the Jacksonville, Florida newspaper wrote a column describing Rome as "the prettiest town in the entire Southeast" and "worthy of a visit." He praised the beauty of the downtown area, the charm of the area's hilly terrain, the impressiveness of Berry and Shorter College, and the thriving economy of Rome as reasons why it was such a standout community.

RCA began rolling out its color televisions with Automatic Fine Tuning (AFT), which locked in stations automatically and eliminated the need for viewers to play with the fine tuning knob. The feature added about $100 onto the price of a color television, but Rome Radio Company assured potential buyers that it was worth the extra expense. "Just turn to the channel you want, sit down, and enjoy--no more fiddling with the fine tuning knob," the ad stressed.

Big K pushed shopping to new extremes when they announced plans to stay open until 11pm from December 15th through December 23rd (except for Saturday night, when they would stay open until midnight, and Sunday night, when they would close at 7pm). This made Big K the first Rome area business to push the season shopping hours past 9pm. Today, we're accustomed to stores staying open late (and in some cases, staying open 24 hours a day), but in the 1970s, the idea of staying open later that 9pm was a novelty--and many businesses still closed at 6pm or 7pm. In response, Sears announced plans to stay open until 10pm on Friday, December 20th, and until 11pm on Monday, December 23rd.

Piggly Wiggly had hen turkeys for 37¢ a pound, pumpkin pies for 27¢ each, and tangerines for 33¢ a dozen. A&P had chuck roast for 37¢ a pound, strawberries for 35¢ a pint, and Brach's cream drops for 39¢ a pound. Kroger had rib roast for 89¢ a pound, five pounds of sugar for 39¢, and oranges for 29¢ a dozen. Big Apple had tom turkeys for 33¢ a pound, shredded coconut for 59¢ a pound, and golden delicious apples for 19¢ a pound.  Couch's had smoked hams for 59¢ a pound, Blue Plate mayonnaise for 49¢ a quart, and sweet potatoes for a 12¢ a pound.

The cinematic week began with The Big Gundown (starring Lee Van Cleef) at the DeSoto Theatre, Monkeys Go Home (starring Dean Jones) at the First Avenue, and The Ugly Ones (starring Richard Wyler) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Split (starring Julie Harris) to the DeSoto, Far from the Madding Crowd. (starring Julie Christie) to the First Avenue, and Deadfall (starring Michael Caine) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Marvin Gaye held on to the number one slot on the Top Ten with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Other top ten hits included "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#2); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & The Supremes (#3); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#4); "Stormy" by the Classics IV featuring Dennis Yost (#5); "Abraham, Martin, & John" by Dion (#6); "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by Diana Ross & The Supremes and the Temptations (#7); "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#8); "I Love How You Love Me" by Bobby Vinton (#9); and "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations (#10).

Peter Tork announced his plans to leave the Monkees this week in 1968.

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 12/9/1968 to 12/15/1968

After months of discussions about consolidating Rome's high schools into one inconveniently-located-for-everyone Rome High, the School Board unanimously rejected the plan on Monday evening, December 9th, voting instead to continue to use the existing West Rome and East Rome High Schools and the construct two new junior high schools. The board cited easier transportation, smaller class sizes with better student-teacher ratios, more individualized attention, more community involvement, more neighborhood unity, and a sense of local pride. Rome Superintendent M.S. MacDonald spoke out against the two-school plan stating his preference for one central school, but admitted that neither the board nor the citizens of Rome were in favor of the plan. The superintendent and the board did caution citizens that the decision would most likely mean a small school tax increase for 1969.

While West Rome's absentee rates were running about average this week in 1968, our crosstown rivals weren't doing so well; an outbreak of flue cases pushed East Rome High's absentee rate to about double the normal, and even 15% of the teachers were out sick by the end of the week.

Coosa headed very slightly east for the Coosa-West Rome basketball game; normally, the game was played at the Memorial Gym, but schedule conflicts forced them to move to one of the high school gyms, and West Rome won the coin toss. West Rome's boys also won the game 56-51, while the girls won 53-32. William Shelton was the high scorer for the boys team with 18 points, while Debbie Poarch was the high scorer for the girls with 37 points.

Georgians learned this week in 1968 that their average ulitity bills would be increasing almost 2% beginning in 1969. Just how much did that amount to? Well, according to Georgia Power, that would be an average increase of 19¢, meaning the average electric bill was $9.50 a month; gas bills would increase 17¢ a month on average, meaning the average gas bill was $8.50 a month. Adjusted for inflation, that would equal about $66 and $59 respectively--and I think every one of us would be thrilled to have average utility bills that ran that low!

Rome began pushing once again for funding assistance to construct a four-lane highway from Shorter Avenue along Lavender Drive and Redmond Circle to the Alabama Road; while the Appalachian Regional Commission and the state committed almost $416,000 to the project, the federal government's freeze on highway funds left the project on hold. As far as we know, the state money is still there," City Manager Bruce Hamler said. If the money were to come through, the city was ready to begin construction immediately and had all right of way agreements in place.

Romans dealt with a very cold December as temperatures fell to 15 degrees in the early morning hours of December 9th, setting a new low-temperature record.

Rome's rash of burglaries continued as people were apparently looking for extra Christmas cash. On Monday, burglars broke into a soft drink machine at Taylor's Food Store and made off with about $9 in change; they broke into a soft drink machine at Garden Lakes Service Station and stole about $22;  and they broke a window at Interstate Life Insurance Company and raided the vending machines, making off with about $30. On Tuesday, police got a lead in the case, and by Wednesday they had three East Rome teenagers under arrest and were searching for a fourth.

Piggly Wiggly had chicken livers for 59¢ a pound, Chuck Wagon bacon for 53¢ a pound, and grapefruit for a dime each.A&P had sirloin steak for 88¢ a pound, Poss Brunswick Stew for 49¢ a can, and strawberries for 35¢ a pint. Big Apple had picnic hams for 37¢ a pound, Bailey's Supreme coffee for 55¢ a pound, and Kraft cheese for 59¢ a pound. Kroger had pork roast for 29¢ a pound, three pounds of Hungry Jack pancake mix for 59¢, and yellow corn for a dime an ear. Couch's had store-ground sausage for 39¢ a pound, JFG mayonnaise for 49¢ a quart, and a 13-ounce box of Brach's chocolate-covered cherries for 49¢.

The cinematic week began with The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (starring Alan Arkin) at the DeSoto Theatre, For the Love of Ivy (starring Sidney Poitier) at the First Avenue, and Live a Little, Love a Little (starring Elvis Presley) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Big Gundown (starring Lee Van Cleef) to the DeSoto, The Family Band (starring Walter Brennan) to the First Avenue, and Villa Rides (starring Yul Brynner) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Marvin Gaye held on to the number one slot this week with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Other top ten hits included "Love Child" by Diana Ross & The Supremes (#2); "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#3); "Abraham, Martin, and John" by Dion (#4); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#5); "Stormy" by the Classics IV featuring Dennis Yost (#6): "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#7); "Both Sides Now" by Judy Collins (#8); "I Love How You Love Me" by Bobby Vinton (#9); and "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#10).

NBC made music-television history this week in 1968 when they aired TCB, a Motown musical review produced by the Laugh-In production team of George Schlatter-Ed Friendly. The variety special was the first musical show aired on American television to feature an entirely African-American cast; performers included Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations.

This was also the week when The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus was filmed on a makeshift circus stage in England. The idea was to sell the concert as a television special, and it would have been well received considering its lineup, which included the Stones, John Lennon, the Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithful, and others. The special marked Lennon's first non-Beatles performance; he,  Yoko Ono, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Mitch Mitchell performed as The Dirty Mac, doing (among other things) Lennon's "Yer Blues' from The White Album. The whole thing ended up getting shelved after filming, and the footage wasn't officially released for almost twenty years.

Blood, Sweat & Tears released their second album, the eponymous Blood Sweat, & Tears, this week in 1968. The second album was actually more successful than their first album, producing four big hits—"And When I Die," "Good Bless the Child," "Spinning Wheel," and "You've Made Me So Very Happy."

Fifty Years Ag This Week in West Rome - 12/2/1968 to 12/8/1968

Santa paid a visit to Rome on Monday night, December 2nd, to lead the annual Christmas Parade. The parade, which began at 6pm, started at Barron Stadium, headed down Second Avenue, then up Broad Street.  More than 20,000 people showed up for the parade,

Workers began moving the overpass structure near the Marine Corps Armory this week in 1968. Plans called for the removal and lane widening to take approximately three months. When completed, lanes would be widened from 9 feet per lane to 12 feet per lane, and a third  lane would be added for traffic heading into town from West Rome; this lane would channel traffic onto North Second Avenue, past Barron Stadium, and into the downtown area.

West Rome had another bout of snow flurries on December 3rd, the second of the year. Once again, though, the little bit of snow wasn't enough have any impact on local travel, and school remained in session.

Local election runoffs made history for Rome as three Republicans won positions on the City Council  for the first time in history. The Republican wins took place in North, South, and East Rome; West Rome remained solidly Democrat into the 70s.

Burglars did their Christmas shopping early on Monday night. First, they broke into the Central Plaza Super Discount store, where they stole about $130 worth of merchandise. Then thieves broke into Blanton Plow Company, but they found nothing they wanted, so they left empty-handed. The same night, thieves broke into the Holiday Laundromat, where they stole some change and a few packs of crackers from a cracker machine.  On Tuesday night, armed men tried to carry out an armed robbery at Hogan's Service Station, but the station owner turned on the robbers and pummeled them until one of them hit the owner in the head with the butt of his pistol, then fled. On Thursday night, burglars broke into Glidden Paint company and stole $163 in cash; Dari-Chief, where they were unsuccessful their attempts to open the safe; Horton's Laundry, where a small amount of change was stolen; and East Rome High School, where a snack machine was ransacked and the offices were trashed.

Piggly Wiggly had sirloin steak for $1.09 a pound, Maxwell House instant coffee for 79¢ a jar, and Coca-Cola/Tab/Sprite for 33¢ a carton plus deposit. Kroger had chuck roast for 35¢ a pound, Del Monte pickles for 29¢ a quart, and Double Cola for 99¢ a case plus deposit. A&P had pork roast for 55¢ a pound, d'Anjou pears for 19¢ a pound, and a two-pound fruitcake for $1.79. Big Apple had fresh whole fryers for 25¢  pound, Chicken of the Sea tuna for 33¢ a can, and bananas for a dime a pound. Couch's had lamb shoulder roast for 49¢ a pound, Van Camp's chili for 33¢ a can, and tangerines for 49¢ a dozen.

The cinematic week began with Coogan's Bluff (starring Clint Eastwood) at the DeSoto Theatre, Live a Little, Love a Little (starring Elvis Presley) at the First Avenue, and The Boston Strangler (starring Tony Curtis) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (starring Alan Arkin) to the DeSoto Theatre, For Love of Ivy (starring Sidney Poitier) to the First Avenue, and The Boba (starring Peter Sellers) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" climbed to number one this week in 1968. Other top ten hits included "Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (32); "For Once in My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#3); "Abraham, Martin, & John" by Dion (#4); "Hey Jude" by the Beatles (#5); "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#6); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#7); "Stormy" by the Classic IV Featuring Dennis Yost (#8); "I Love How You Love Me" by Bobby Vinton (#9); and "Magic Capet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#10).

A big week for album releases, with the Monkees' quirky LP Head, the Rolling Stones' powerful Beggar's Banquet, James Taylor's eponymous Apple debut album, and Stevie Wonder's For Once in My Life all released during this week in 1968. Big album releases like these, so late in the year, made it a bit easier for many of us to put together Christmas lists for our parents...

Elvis Presley's career-remaking television special Elvis (known to many as the 1968 Comeback Special) aired on NBC on December 3rd; it marked Elvis's return to live performances after seven years of stressing movies over music. The special was so popular that it launched the second wave of Elvis's music career.

Dark Shadows made its jump from television soap opera to comic books this week in 1968 with the release of Gold Key's Dark Shadows #1. This was also the week that Jim Steranko's final Captain America story arc began in Captain America #111; Steranko's bold graphic design sense and fast-paced storytelling made him a fan favorite.

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 11/25/1968 to 12/1/1968

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.

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 11/18/1968 to 11/24/1968

West Rome kicked off its basketball season on November 23rd with an away game against Cartersville, and Coach Randall Kent was cautiously optimistic. "I think the boys are tired of losing," Kent said. "The boys are seniors now and they realize that this is the last time for them to prove themselves. "The biggest thing we have going for us is that the boys feel like they've got to win now or never, so they're really hustling." All that hustling paid off with a 56-54 win to kick off the season, with Kenny Stephens scoring 18 of those 56 points on his own.

Rome burglars were back in action... but they were not particularly good at the "craft." On Monday night, burglars broke into the Rome Beauty School on Broad Street, but were unable to find anything that was worth stealing (there was no cash at all in the school). The next night, burglars broke into the Gas Light Restaurant--but once again, they stole nothing because all the cash had been deposited the night before.

The Rome Housing Authority received two loans totaling $4.5 million to finance construction of more than 300 housing units for low income families--some for the elderly and some for families on public assistance. A number of the low-income homes were to be built on a fifty-acre West Rome Site bounded by Fortune Street, Georgia Avenue, and Battey State Hospital.

After having reached an agreement with Southern Railway earlier in November, Rome crews began preliminary work on the removal of the Shorter underpass this week in 1968. The work was expected to take at least a month. "Some blasting will have to be done, and we prefer to do it ourselves," city manager Bruce Hamler said. "We want to be very careful to protect the property owners around the underpass."

Rome got the news that a new fiber plant was scheduled to open in April near the former Anchor Rome Mills property in South Rome. The plant was expected to create 40 new manufacturing jobs once it opened. Romans also learned that ABC Industries was expanding their carpet printing facility on Redmond Court and adding another twenty jobs.

The 1960s--a time when cross-dressing was merely silly entertainment. A "womanless wedding" was held at the West Rome High auditorium on Saturday, November 23rd. The fundraising event was sponsored by the Youth of Trinity Methodist Church; tickets were available at Candler's Drugs and Garden Lakes Pharmacy.

Now here's a toy I remember: Super Discount Stores (known to most of us as "Super D") had Mattel Thingmakers for $6.92 a set. These toys, which could be used alone or in conjunction with Mattel Vac•U•Form machines, enabled kids to make their own plastic toys. Of course, they were more expensive than just buying ready-made toys, but what's fiscal logic to a kid?

TV prices continued to come down, with Rome Radio & TV offering a 23" table-top television for $449 and an RCA 23" console TV for $499--the first time that name-brand consoles had fallen below the $500 mark (if only by a dollar).

Norwood Griffin, Rome's "catalog showroom" store that took orders for merchandise from customers who could then pick up their orders a few days later, expanded its product line for Christmas 1968, adding a larger selection of giftware, tableware, toys, jewelry, musical instruments, television sets, stereos, and cookware. Their ads stressed, "We have no inventory to pay for, so we can sell at dealer cost!" A decade later, stores like Service Merchandise would follow a similar model, putting the locally owned catalog stores out of business.

Piggly Wiggly had Cudahy ham for 39¢ a pound, celery for a dime a bunch, and Borden's ice cream for 69¢ a half-gallon. A&P had cubed steak for 99¢ a pound (a lot of money for touch steak beaten into submission), Ritz crackers for 37¢ a box, and fresh cranberries for 29¢ a pint. Kroger had baking hens for 39¢ a pound, angel food cakes for 39¢ each, and yams for 25¢ a pound.  Big Apple had sirloin steak for 89¢ a pound, Dole pineapple for 33¢ a can, and Luzianne coffee (with chicory!) for 55¢ a pound. Couch's had Butterball turkeys for 49¢ a pound, Hormel chili for 33¢ a can, and fresh coconuts for 19¢ each (don't fall for it--I got my parents to buy one once, and it was less tasty and more trouble than I had imagined it would be).

The cinematic week began with The Boston Strangler (starring Tony Curtis) at the DeSoto Theatre, Helga (starring Ruth Gassmann and featuring, "for the first time on the American screen, the complete birth of a baby") at the First Avenue, and The Hell With Heroes (starring Rod Taylor) at the West Rome Drive-In.  The midweek switch out brought West Side Story (starring Natalie Wood) to the DeSoto Theatre, Prudence and the Pill (starring David Niven) to the First Avenue, and The Killers Three (starring Robert Walker) at the West Rome Drive-In.

Diana Ross & the Supremes' "Love Child" took number one this week in 1968, ending the Beatles' nine-week hold on the charts as"Hey Jude" fell to #2. Other top ten hits included "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#3); "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (#4); "Abraham, Martin, & John" by Dion (#5); "Who's Making' Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#6); "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#7); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#8); "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash (#9); and "White Room" by Cream (#10).

William Shatner & Nichelle Nichols shared the first interracial kiss on US television on November 22nd; the kiss was part of the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren."

The Beatles, also known as The White Album, was released this week in 1968, and you can be sure it was on a lot of Chieftains' Christmas lists. This was also the week that Elvis, the soundtrack to Elvis Presley's 1968 TV Special, was released (the special wouldn't actually air until early December).

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 11/11/1968 to 11/17/1968

Romans awoke to surprise snow flurries on Monday morning, November 11th, and continued off and on through the day and into the early evening. Minor accumulations of up to 1/2"  were reported in some parts of Floyd County, and there were no cancellations or travel advisories--but there were a few minor traffic accidents caused by the light snow on wet pavement, and one Roman slipped and fell while attempting to gather enough snow to make snow cream.

Roger Weaver was once again tapped as the Rome News-Tribune's Player of the Week for his outstanding performance in the East Rome game. The paper referred to this as "Weaver's finest hour...  There's no doubt that he was the sparkplug that enabled West Rome to end its season on a  winning note." He carried the football 34 times during the game and gained 291 net yards, the best single-game performance by any area back during the season.

Kippy Scarborough and Janice Crider represented West Rome in the Rome Junior Miss Pageant, held on Saturday night at the Rome City Auditorium--and Scarborough was the winner, assuming the title of Floyd County June Miss. Scarborough, a senior at West Rome, was a majorette for four years, a solo twirler for two years, and a member of senior band, Student Council, Tri-Hi-Y, and Drama Club. She was also convention chairman for the Georgia Association of Student Councils.

If you grew up in West Rome, you became very familiar with the "fragrance" of Georgia Kraft (now Inland Container). Their rotten-egg smell of the paper mill frequently wafted across the area when the winds were right, and pretty much no air filtration could keep it out of West Rome homes and businesses. Georgia Kraft insisted that their four recovery units, designed to minimize emissions from the plant, actually reduced the smoke and stink by at least 80%--and to demonstrate how effective it was, the facility turned off just one of the four recovery units on Thursday, November 14th, for about an hour. The immediate result? The light white smoke emitted from the stacks was replaced with a dark, heavy smoke, and the smell increased dramatically. Apparently "See? We could be even worse" was the closest thing to clean air that West Romans could hope for...

After almost a decade of planning and construction, the final segment of the East Rome Interchange was completed. This link extended from Maple Road to Walker Mountain Road, a distance of 2.9 miles, and it cost almost $1.2 million to construct. The interchange, greatly improved traffic flow from Rome to Cedartown--and to the soon-to-be-constructed Floyd Junior College.

With the bond issue a done deal, the Georgia Board of Regents gave official approval to the contract for the construction of a junior college in the Rome area. Plans called for the school to be finished by the fall of 1969.

Harvest Festival Days took place from Thursday through Saturday, offering an array of shopping bargains from stores across Rome and Floyd County, with a particular emphasis on Christmas season shopping. Every retail store on Broad Street announced special sales to commemorate the event, reminding readers that even with large discount department stores coming to Rome (read "Big K"), Broad Street still offered the best selection and great bargains.

Piggly Wiggly  had chuck roast for 39¢ a pound, Maxwell House coffee for 50¢ a pound, and Coca-Cola for 33¢ a 6-bottle carton (plus deposit). Kroger had Cudahy Bar-S bacon for 49¢ a pound, bread for 18¢ a loaf, and oranges for 8¢ each. A&P had sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Ann Page salad dressing for 49¢ a quart,  and large eggs for 49¢ a dozen. Big Apple had ground beef for 49¢ a pound, Duke mayonnaise for 49¢ a quart, and a five-pound bag of Dixie Crystals sugar for 39¢. Couch's had chicken livers for 49¢ a pound, Bama jellies for a quarter a jar (and you could use the jar as a drinking glass when you finished up the jelly!), and bananas for a dime a pound.

The cinematic week began with The Paper Lion (starring Alan Alda) at the DeSoto Theatre, The Fox (starring Sandy Dennis) at the First Avenue and Young Runaways (starring Brooke Bundy) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Boston Strangler (starring Tony Curtis) to the DeSoto Theatre, Helga (an adults-only film starring unknown Ruth Gasseman) to the First Avenue, and Five Card Stud (starring Dean Martin) to the West Rome Drive-In.

The Beatles' "Hey Jude" held the number slot for the ninth week in a row, while Diana Ross & the Supremes' "Love Child climbed to #2 this week in 1968. Other top ten hits included "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (#3); "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#4); "Abraham, Martin, & John" by Dion (#5); "White Room" by Cream (#6); "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash (#7); "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#8); "Little Green Apples" by OC Smith (#9); and "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#10).

On Sunday, November 17th, NBC broke away from the Oakland Raiders-New York Jets football game at 7pm, with less than a minute to play in the game, to begin their much-advertised TV movie adaptation of Heidi. Unfortunately for NBC, the Raiders managed to score two touchdowns in that final minute and thus won the game--and none of the TV viewers got to see it. The game became known as "The Heidi Bowl," and as a result, non-sports viewers have had to put up with their TV shows being pushed back by slow-play sporting events ever since...

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 11/4/1968 to 11/10/1968

Just as is the case this year, the election of 1968 also drew a record turnout of voters in Floyd County and in Georgia. Of course, the 1968 election was also a Presidential election pitting Democrat Hubert Humphrey against Republican Richard Nixon, and the dichotomy of the two candidates motivated voters on both sides to come out and cast a ballot. That was good news for the Floyd Junior College initiative,  since the strong voter turnout led to the bond issue passing with an overwhelming 74% majority.--and that meant that Floyd Junior College was officially a GO!

Roman felt a minor earth tremor near noon on Saturday, November 9th. The quake, which registered 5.5 on the Richter scale, was actually centered near New Madrid, Missouri, but the tremors were felt in Rome, Lafayette, Gainesville, and Macon. WRGA reported receiving 35 calls within the first five minutes after the tremor; while there were no injuries, there were some reports of broken dishes and one report of a broken window caused by the tremors.

At long last, Rome reached an agreement with Southern Railway to remove the railroad underpass on Shorter Avenue, clearing out a traffic bottleneck that had existed as long as there was a West Rome. The agreement meant that Rome no longer had to pursue the expensive legal action against Southern Railway that had been threatened. The city agreed to pay the cost of warning signals at two other intersections in exchange for the removal of the underpass; Rome also agreed to cover the cost of any re-grading of the road bed that might be necessary after the underpass was removed and the site was leveled.

The Sunday paper carried the news of the engagement of Chieftains Barry Hunter and Kathy Christian; the wedding was planned for December, when Barry was set to return home from Fort Lee, Virginia, where he was stationed in the Army.

A late note for last week's Fifty Years Ago... column: Claudia Williams was crowned West Rome Homecoming Queen during a halftime ceremony at the West Rome-Pepperell football game on Friday, November 1st, receiving the crown from the prior year's Homecoming Queen, Penny Slaughter. (As we noted last week, however, unfortunately the Chieftains were unable to deliver a win to commemorate the homecoming event.)

The season-ending football game was an ever-popular match of crosstown rivals as West Rome took on East Rome. East Rome, with fewer injuries and a better season record, was tapped to win the game, "it's tough to continue after winni8ng six and then losing three hard battles," Coach Nick Hyder said, "but our boys have been working as hard as ever. They've shown a lot of character under the present conditions." The hard work paid off as West Rome proved the prognosticators wrong with a 14-6 victory to close out their season. In spite of the win, West Rome was already statistically eliminated from advancing to region playoffs; in spite of the loss, East Rome was guaranteed a region playoff spot the next wek. Still, it was an inspiring end to a turbulent season for the Chieftains.

Piggly Wiggly had fresh whole fryers for 22¢ a pound, sweet potatoes for a dime a pound, and a three-pound can of Crisco for 49¢. Kroger had ocean perch filets for 49¢ a pound, bananas for a dime a pound, and glazed doughnuts for 19¢ a half-dozen. A&P had pork loin roast for 49¢ a pound, Poss chili for 29¢ a can, and a 16-ounce can of Dole sliced pineapple for 25¢. Big Apple had sirloin steak for 98¢ a pound, Parkay margarine for 19¢ a tub, and Banquet frozen dinners for 35¢ each.  Couch's had ground beef for 43¢ a pound, corn for 7¢ an ear, and Heinz tomato soup for a dime a can.

The cinematic week began with The Ugly Ones (starring Richard Wyler) at the DeSoto Theatre, a double feature of From Russia With Love and Thunderball (starring Sean Connery as James Bond) at the First Avenue Theatre, and Petulia (starring Julie Christie) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switch out brought The Paper Lion (starring Alan Alda) to the DeSoto Theatre, The Fox (starring Sandy Dennis) two the First Avenue, and The Dirty Dozen (starring Lee Marvin) to the West Rome Drive-In.

The Beatles' "Hey Jude" held on to the number one position for the eighth week in a row. Other top ten hits included "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (#2); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (#3); "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#4); "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash (#5); "White Room" by Cream (#i6); "Little Green Apples" by OC Smith (#7); "Who's Making Love" by Johnny Taylor (#8); "Abraham, Martin, & John" by Dion (#9); and "Elenore" by the Turtles (#10).

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 10/28/1968 to to 11/3/1968

The West Rome football team went into the week one game behind crosstown rival East Rome in Region 7-AA... and that meant that West Rome had to win the Friday night game against Pepperell if they had any hope of advancing to post-season play. Coach Nick Hyder tapped senior Jimmy Edwards to take the quarterback position (replacing Mike Johnson, who fractured his shoulder two weeks earlier against Marietta) in hopes that his prior experience would help to offset the loss of Johnson. Alas, it was not to be: in spite of a great performance by Edwards, West Rome lost to Pepperell 26-14 as Pepperell methodically took advantages of weaknesses in West Rome's defense. West Rome dominated the first half and began the third quarter with a 14-6 lead, but Pepperell simply outplayed the Chieftains in the second half

We take the concept of school lunches for granted nowadays, but this time fifty years ago, there was no requirement that schools offer any sort of lunch program. Amendment Four was written to require the school lunch program to be considered a vital, essential, and mandatory part of any Georgia school. Georgia had higher than average school lunch program participation at 73%, while Rome City Schools' school lunch program participation was even higher than that at 80%. The proposed amendment would require schools to offer a lunch program and to subsidize lunches for students who were unable to afford the cost of a prepared lunch every day. "The price and availability of a school lunch determines whether some children can have any lunch at all or not," Mrs. Anne McDonald, president of the Georgia Food Association, said.

Rome businesses were pushing hard for the bond referendum for the construction of the proposed Floyd Junior College, with the Chamber of Commerce coming out strong in support of the referendum, along with all Rome radio stations.

Shorter Avenue had the dubious distinction of serving as the site of three of Rome's ten most dangerous intersections, determined by the number of accidents that occurred there in the prior year. The intersection with Redmond Circle (at the corner where West Rome High School stood) was the "winner," with the Burnett Ferry Road intersection coming in at #4 and the Division Street intersection coming in at #7.

Murphy's got the jump on Christmas by announcing plans to have Santa at the store every Saturday from November 2nd through Christmas. Big K actually brought in Santa one day earlier on Friday, November 1st, but that was just for one day, not for every weekend, so it was Murphy's for the win!

Kroger had fresh whole fryers for 29¢ a pound, Kroger white bread for 18¢ a loaf, and a five-pound bag of oranges for 59¢. Piggly Wiggly had Chuck Wagon bacon for 49¢ a pound, Lady Alice ice milk for an ultra-low 29¢ a half-gallon, and Brach's Pic-a-Mix candy (I have always loved their chocolate covered peanuts and their malt balls!) for 49¢ a pound.  Big Apple had veal cutlets for $1.19 a pound (which may be why we never once had veal when I was growing up), Mrs. B's frozen pizza for 59¢, and (get ready for it) six-foot tall aluminum pom-pom Christmas trees with 48 branches for only $3.97 each! A&P had rump roast (admit it, you still snicker at the name, don't you? Well, I do, anyway...) for 99¢ a pound,  Golden Rise biscuits for 6¢ a can, and a 2 pound Jane Parker fruitcake for $1.79. Couch's had three-pound Armour Star boneless hams for $2.79, Maxwell House coffee for 69¢ a can, and Bama jelly for 25¢ a jar.

The cinematic week began with Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (starring Shirley MacLaine) at the DeSoto Theatre, Bill Wallace of China (starring Gregory Walcott--and no, I've never heard of it, either) at the First Avenue, and A Covenant With Death (starring George Maharis) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switch out brought The Ugly Ones (starring Richard Wyler) the the Desoto Theatre, a double feature of Thunderball and From Russia With Love (two James Bond films starring Sean Connery) at the First Avenue, and The Shuttered Room (starring Carol Lynley) to the West Rome Drive-In. Fifty years later, it still baffles me that, in a town with only two indoor theatre, one of them would feature a double feature of a three-year-old and five-year-old film rather than actually showing something new...

This week in 1968, the Beatles maintained their hold on number one with "Hey Jude." Other top ten hits included "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (#2); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & The Supremes (#3); "Little Green Apples" by OC Smith (#4); "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash (#5); "White Room" by Cream (#6); "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#7); "Elenore" by the Turtles (#8); "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (#9); and "Midnight Confessions" by the Grass Roots (#10).

Did you remember a time when soap operas were only fifteen minutes long? We'll, if you watched The Guiding Light or Search for Tomorrow prior to this week in 1968, you do! Both soaps went from a fifteen-minute format to a half-hour format this week in 1968, marking the end to fifteen-minute-long network programming.

Fifty years ago this week, the first solo Beatles album was released: Wonderwall Music by George Harrison. The album blended classical elements, Indian music, and a dash of experimentalism; guest musicians included Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton. Since Harrison did not include himself on the list of contributing musicians, many assumed that Harrison just produced the album, but he actually played keyboard and guitar on many of the tracks.

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 10/21/1968 to 10/27/1968

Head football coach Nick Hyder announced that Jimmy Edwards (who had served as the Chieftains' quarterback in 1967 but had been moved to halfback for the 1968 season) had been tapped to serve as the team's quarterback after Mike Johnson's shoulder fracture in the Marietta game—a fracture that would keep him out for the rest of the season. "The coaches feel like Johnson is one of the most versatile and talented boys ever to play football, and there's no doubt he'll be missed," Hyder said. "He graded out at 85% in the Marietta game before he was hurt, and that's a pretty impressive percentage when you're getting beat!" Coach Hyder stressed that West Rome wasn't a one-man team, though, and praised the performance of  Edwards as well as sophomores Randy Hatch, John Sapp, and Chieftains star Roger Weaver. He also announced that the team was going to short another player going into the Friday game: Randy Brumbelow was out due to illness.

West Rome's new/returning quarterback faced a trial by fire as the Chieftains took on Cartersville's Hurricanes on Friday night, October 25th. Unfortunately, the injuries and roster changes took a toll on the team's performance, and they lost to Cartersville 21-14--their first region loss for the season and their second loss in a row (Marietta, who defeated them the week before, was a non-region team.)

Interest in a Floyd County junior college continued to grow, with the Rome Jaycees, the Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission, the Noon Optimists Club, the Coosa Boosters Club, and the Alto Park PTA all endorsing plans for the construction of a junior college, and encouraged all county residents to support the $3.2 million bond referendum to finance initial construction.

Governor Lester Maddox announced plans to ask for a state sales tax increase from 3% to 4% during the 1969 legislative session. Maddox also announced his intention to seek a tax increase on gasoline taxes, cigarette taxes, and corporate income tax. Maddox's requested tax hike would amount to the first sales tax increase since Georgia first implemented the 3% sales tax in 1951. The personal and corporate income tax rates had been in place without any changes since 1937. Maddox said that he felt it was time for Georgia's tax rate to increase, and that the extra revenue would be shared with local cities and states. (Democratic legislators, who held the majority in Georgia in the 1960s and the 1970s, didn't agree, and the tax increase went nowhere; it would ultimately be another twenty years before Georgia's tax rate increased.

Daylight saving time came to an end on Sunday, October 27th, as the state returned to Eastern Standard Time for the winter. Legislators announced led plans to prevent legislation in 1969 to end daylight saving time (but as we know, those plans went nowhere, and we're still stuck with changing our clocks twice a year).

Piggly Wiggly had smoked ham for 39¢ a pound, grapes for 19¢ a pound, and Sealtest ice milk for 49¢ a pound. Kroger had chicken livers for 39¢ a pound, Campbell's chicken noodle soup for 12¢ a can, and cantaloupes for 49¢ each. A&P had chuck roast for 39¢ a pound, Starkist tuna for 39¢ a can, and tomatoes for 19¢ a pound. Big Apple had fresh whole fryers for 25¢ a pound, bananas for a dime a pound, and Southern Maid biscuits for 10¢ a can. Couch's had sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Poss Brunswick stew for 49¢ a pound, and bananas for a dime a pound.

The cinematic week began with The Stranger Returns (starring Tony Anthony) at the DeSoto Theatre, Rachel, Rachel (starring Marietta's own Joanne Woodward) at the First Avenue, and How I Won the War (starring John Lennon) at the West Rome Drive-In.  The midweek switchout brought Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (starring Shirley MacLaine) to the DeSoto Theatre and Spree (a low-budget drug-addiction crime film starring no one you've ever heard of) to the West Rome Drive-In, while Rachel, Rachel hung around for another week at the First Avenue.

The Beatles held on to the number one slot for another week with the mega-hit "Hey Jude" (which was, at the time, the longest single to ever place in the Top Ten). Other top ten hits included "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (#2); "Little Green Apples" by O C Smith (#3); "Fire" by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown (#4); "Midnight Confessions" by the Grass Roots (#5); "Elenore" by the Turtles (#6); "Over You" by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap (#7); "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash (#8); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (#9); and "White Room" by Cream (#10).

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 10/14/1968 to 10/20/1968

A study of the Rome City Schools told us what a lot of us already suspected: the schools on the west side of town fared better than schools in other parts of Rome, both in the condition and maintenance of the facilities and in the qualify of the education. Only two schools--Fourth Ward and Elm Street--were reported to be in need of significant renovations; the committee recommended closing Fourth Ward entirely and moving the students to other area schools, while they agreed with the system's plan to largely rebuild Elm Street. West End Elementary earned particularly high praise as "an excellent facility in a growing population center." They also recommended that West Rome High School and West Rome Junior High "be maintained as a permanent educational facility for the community." Oh, if only the school board had remembered this recommendation sixteen years later...

Roger Weaver was tapped as the Rome News-Tribune's Player of the Week for his outstanding performance in the Cedartown game. The newspaper lauded Weaver's 127 net yards on the ground, which helped to put West Rome in scoring position, as well as his game-winning field goal kick and his kickoff returns.

West Rome turned its attention to Marietta for its sixth game. While Marietta's 2-2-1 record was much less impressive than West Rome's 5-0 record, Marietta had proven very capable of holding the line against their opponents on defense (but less good at holding the ball on offense--fumbles had led to both of their losses). Alas, there no Chieftain-friendly fumbles on Friday night, as Marietta scored 24 points to deliver West Rome's first loss of the season--and adding injury to insult, they also took out West Rome quarterback Mike Johnson, who suffered a broken shoulder during the 24-0 loss.

West End Elementary's PTA Fall Festival was held from 5:30 until 9:30 pm at the school. Highlights of the event included a sweet shop, a country store, a fish pond, a dart game, a spook house, a movie, and an auction to raise funds for the school. I remember these fall festivals very well; one of the reasons I attended was to pick up some used comic books for a dime--it seemed like the country store always had used comic books! The sweet shop, featuring baked goods made by parents, was also a highlight of the event.

October heat waves are nothing new: this week in 1968, Rome was dealing with 80°+ temperatures every day, with Tuesday hitting 88°. The warmer temperatures held on through the weekend, which meant (as the Rome News-Tribune noted) "no football weather in the offing yet."

Piggly Wiggly had fresh whole fryers for 29¢ a pound, grapes for 19¢ a pound, and Nabisco Shredded Wheat for 25¢ a box. Kroger had Cudahy Bar  bacon for 49¢ a pound, iceberg lettuce for 19¢ a head, and Kroger brand white bread for 15¢ a loaf. A&P had chuck roast for 49¢ a pound, Eight O'clock Coffee for 49¢ a pound ,and carrots for a dime a bunch. Big Apple had smoked ham for 39 a pound, sweet potatoes for 15¢ a pound, and Poss Brunswick stew for 45¢ a can. Couch's had store-made sausage for 49¢ a pound, Pop Tarts for 35¢ a box, and bananas for a dime a pound.

The cinematic week began with Never a Dull Moment (starring Dick Van Dyke) at the DeSoto Theatre, The Bible (starring Stephen Boyd) at the First Avenue, and The Sweet Ride (staring Tony Franciosca) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Stranger Returns (starring Tony Anthony) to the DeSoto, Rachel, Rachel (starring Joanne Woodward) to the First Avenue, and Twist of Sand (starring Richard Johnson) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Television viewers around the world watched the first live broadcast from a spacecraft in orbit this week in 1968, as the crew of the Apollo 7 mission sent back six short broadcasts during their eleven-day space mission.

The Beatles held on to the number one slot for another week with "Hey Jude." Other top ten hits included "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (#2); "Little Green Apples" by OC Smith (#3); "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (#4); "Girl Watcher" by the O'Kaysions (#5); "Midnight Confessions" by the Grass Roots (#6); "Over You" by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap (#7); "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley (#8); "Elenore" by the Turtles (#9); and "I've Got to Get a Message to You" by the Bee Gees (#10).

The Guardians of the Galaxy made their premiere in the pages of Marvel Super-Heroes #18, released this week in 1968. However, it's not the Guardians that film viewers have come to know: while the concept was similar, this comic by Stan Lee & Gene Colan featured a totally different cast of characters, including Major Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Yondu, and Martinex. It would be many more years (and multiple lineup changes) before the team found any measure of success.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience's third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, was released this week in 1968, as was Three Dog Night (also known as One), the debut album by the group that featured Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron on very distinctive lead vocals.

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 10/7/1968 to 10/13/1968

Rome City Schools received Headstart Program approval for the current school year. The approval came almost two months after the school year began because of red tape in Washington, even though all required state and local forms were filed ahead of deadline. Rome qualified for $140,000 in federal funds for the program, which was about 90% of the funding that they requested. The program was designed to assist preschool children who are educationally and socially unprepared for first grade classes.

The Rome City Schools system also announced plans to request a $1 million bond referendum to raise money for classroom construction, including major new wings at Elm Street Elementary, new classrooms at West End Elementary, and the construction of two new junior high schools in East and West Rome, with the space currently devoted to junior high turned over to high school use instead.

Two West Rome students—Beverly Hall and Michael Witte—were named as semifinalists in the 1968-1969 National Merit Scholarship program. That meant that they advanced to the second step in the competition for about 2900 scholarships valued at more than $8 million.

The West End Mites defeated Alto Park 6-0 on Tuesday afternoon at the Boys Club Field. David Sapp scored the six points with a 21-yard touchdown run in the 2nd quarter.

West Rome was eager to extend its 5-0 season record with another win as they faced off abasing Cedartown in a 7-AA South headline game. "It'll take our finest effort," Coach Nick Hyder said. "Cedartown has always been ready for us, and it'll certainly take a better effort to win than we've put forth in the last couple of weeks. The game was made more challenging by injuries that sidelined Gerald Tucker, one of West Rome's defensive stars; Alan Carrington, who was out for the season after injuring his shoulder; and Johnny Rimes, who suffered a bruised kidney. In spite of all these setbacks, West Rome went on to win the game 16-14, thanks for a Roger Weaver field goal late in the second half; Weaver also racked up more than 127 yards on the ground during the game, making him the star player for the Chieftains.

The Floyd County Public Works Camp continued to be a rather porous operation: two more prisoners managed to walk away from a work detail this week in 1968. Their "vacation" from their 20-year prison terms was rather short-lived, though, as they were apprehended following a chase that began on the Alabama Highway outside of Rome and ended in Alabama.

Two juveniles, ages 11 and 14, were arrested and charged with vandalism, theft, and burglary after they stole bicycles from Sears, broke windows at Trammel Welding, and broke into the Trammell offices. The boys were also suspected in the theft of ties from Second Avenue Baptist Church and the theft of more than two dozen hubcaps.

Rome police officers petitioned the Rome City Commission for Social Security coverage at the Monday night commission meeting. In 1968, an officer with 25 years of service did NOT receive Social Security, since the city had opted out of social security participation (local governments were allowed to do this until the 1980s), but they did receive a pension of $100 per month, along with an additional $4 per month for every year of service over 25, up to a maximum of $152. That means that 38 years or more of service earned a city policeman $152 a month in pension benefits (even adjusting for inflation, that's equals only $1085 in today's dollars).

Coosa Valley Tech continued to grow with the addition of a practical nursing course. All applicants had to have completed at least the 10th grade in high school and had to pass an aptitude test. (Today, it's hard to imagine that someone with only a tenth grade education could qualify for any sort of nursing certification, but that's all that was needed in 1968!)

Kay's Kastles decided to take on Candler's Drugstore by cutting the price on their milkshakes to 29¢ each--only 4¢ more than Candler's 25¢ milkshake price. They also added a 27¢ 3-scoop cone to their menu--that made it larger than Candler's two-scoop cone, but Candler's cones were only a dime each, so you could buy two 2-scoop cones and a 5¢ one-scoop cone for less than the price of Kay's Kastles' 3-scoop. Ah, the wonders of an ice cream war!...

Piggly Wiggly had fresh whole fryers for 25¢ a pound, Humpty Dumpty salmon for 69¢ a tall can, and Maxwell House coffee for 69¢ a pound. A&P had spare ribs for 65¢ a pound, red delicious apples for 15¢ a pound, and Showboat pork & beans for 17¢ a can. Big Apple had chuck roast for 37¢ a pound, Sealtest ice cream for 49¢ a half-gallon, and white seedless grapes for 29¢ a pound. Kroger had pork chops for 89¢ a pound, Parkay margarine for 25¢ a tub, and bananas for 12¢ a pound.  Couch's had Armour Star sliced bacon for 59¢, Heinz tomato soup for a dime a can, and locally grown turnip greens for 15¢ a pound.

The cinematic week began with The Pink Jungle (starring James Garner) at the DeSoto Theatre, The Bible (starring Stephen Boyd) at the First Avenue, and Von Ryan's Express (starring Frank Sinatra) at the West Rome Drive-In. the midweek switchout brought Never a Dull Moment (starring Dick Van Dyke) at the DeSoto, Rachel,Rachel (starring Joanne Woodward) at the First Avenue, and The Mini Affair (starring Georgie Fame) at the West Rome Drive-In.

The Beatles held on to number one for a fourth week with "Hey Jude." Other top ten hits included "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (#2); "Little Green Apples" by OC Smith (#3); "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley (#4); "Girl Watcher" by the O'Kaysions (#5); "Midnight Confessions" by the Grass Roots (#6); "My Special Angel" by the Vogues (#7); "I've Got to Get a Message to You" by the Bee Gees (#8); "Over You" by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap (#9); and "Say It Loud—I''m Black and I'm Proud (Part 1)" by James Brown (#10).

Bea Benaderet, star of Petticoat Junction, died from lung cancer the week in 1968, shortly after the start of the show's sixth season. The show would continue without her, limping along for the remainder of the sixth season and a seventh season, but ratings declined significantly in her absence.

Gray Rocks

Erin Gray once came to my house and gave me a piece of the moon. 

Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but it's true! Gray is most fondly remembered for her role as Wilma Deering on the Buck Rogers TV series. In the early 80s, she also made a film called Six Pack, which starred Kenny Rogers and was filmed in part in Kennesaw, where we lived at the time. In addition, she had participated in some sort of NASA educational outreach program; NASA enlisted her because of her role in a popular SF film that involves space travel. Well, my good friend Wes McCoy, who taught with me at North Cobb High School, was also involved in NASA's educational outreach program (I'm sure there's a very specific name for the program, but I don't recall what it was). 

Wes was supposed to get a small lucite-encased piece of moon rock to use in a presentation he was making some where; Erin has the sample he needed because she had used it in a prior presentation somewhere, and they had asked her to take it to Kennesaw so that Wes could get it there. Well, it turned out that Wes wasn't going to be in town at that time, so he asked if it would be possible for someone to leave this small piece of the moon with me so that I could then give it to him when he got back into town. I presumed that some low-level second assistant to the third assistant to the director would bring it by my house; imagine my surprise when Erin Gray showed up at my door with the lucite-encased moon rock! The conversation was amiable but brief, and she left the rock with me. 

As an incident, it's pretty mundane--but the line "Erin Gray once came to my house and gave me a piece of the moon" has a pretty good ring, doesn't it? (And I'm the only person I know who had a piece of the moon in his house for several days!)

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 9/30/1968 to 10/6/1968

Now this is fast-tracking: just a week after the Board of Regents approved the proposal for a junior college in Floyd County contingent on the county funding the initial campus development, the Floyd Board of Commissioners announced plans for a November 5th bond issue to approve $3.215 million in bonds for land purchase and facilities construction. That's right at six weeks from first public mention to bond issue! $2 million would go for building construction, $$175,000 for land purchase, $800,000 for site development/preparation, $190,000 for connection to the city sewerage system, and $50,000 for extension of existing water lines. The county estimated that it would take a year from approval to completion.

West Rome faced off against the Cass Colonels on Friday, October 4th. While Cass had three losses and one win for the season, Coach Nick Hyder warned that it would be wrong to assume that the game was going to be an easy win for the Chieftains. "This is the best Cass team in years," Hyder said. "I hope our players don't take this game too lightly." Turned out there wasn't that much to worry about, though: West Rome won 24-7, with Johnny Rimes throwing two touchdown passes and Roger Weaver scoring on a  58-yard punt return. This was one of the few Thursday night games on the 1968 football schedule; every area school had one Thursday night game because of the number of schools trying to share the Barron Stadium facilities.

A Garden Lakes man was arrested after he went on a shooting spree with a shotgun at a Rome textile plant on Wednesday, October 2nd. The man took four hostages at Klopman Mills and held them for several hours before eventually releasing them and turning himself over to the police.  The shooter brought his six-year-old son with him for the shooting, giving his son a bag of shotgun shells that he handed to his father as he needed them. (It's nice that the family found something to do together...) Thankfully, there were no injuries--pretty amazing, really!

Dwyatt Dempsey, the Rome real estate businessman who was charged with arson regarding a fire that destroyed the King's Inn restaurant, was acquitted after a two-day trial. It was actually Dempsey's second trial; the first trial in May resulted in a mistrial, but in this case, the jury returned a not guilty verdict after eight hours of deliberations. While the police were able to prove that his pants were wet with a flammable liquid, they were not able to show any sign of the flammable liquid on his shoes. Dempsey's lawyers effectively argued that, if he had splashed flammable liquid around, some of it would have gotten on his shoes as well. Apparently the jury agreed.

Seventh District Representative John Davis unveiled plans for construction of 75 more low-rent housing units in Rome. The plans called for a 36-unit project near the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds; a 64-unit project in North Rome, and a new high-rise apartment complex for the elderly to be constructed in the rear of the existing North Fifth Avenue project. Rome already had 800 residents living in low-rent housing; they estimated that the 75 new units would add another 240 Romans to the low-rent housing roster.

A Roman was quite busy this week in 1968: the same man broke into the Pure Oil Station on Calhoun Avenue, Troy's Barbecue on Calhoun Avenue, a Citgo station Turner McCall Boulevard, and the EZ shop on Shorter Avenue. He primarily stole cigarettes, cigars, candy, gum, and whatever cash was available. He still had most of the stolen items when he was caught at his home.

Big K premiered one of my personal favorites this week in 1968: their 23¢ giant-sized bag of freshly made caramel corn. I used to think that the aroma of their popcorn was hard to resist, but once I walked in and smelled that caramelly-sweet goodness wafting through the store, I had a new favorite. I think I must have bought a bag of the caramel corn almost every time I went to Big K for years afterwards--and in demonstration of my poor judgment, I sometimes ate the entire bag by myself!

Piggly Wiggly had round steak for 79¢ a pound, Sealtest ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon, and apples for 12¢ a pound. Kroger had Cudahy Bar-S bacon for 49¢ a pound, Maxwell House coffee for 55¢ a pound, and corn for 6¢ an ear. A&P had pork chops for 69¢ a pound, potatoes for a dime a pound, and Nestle's chocolate chips for 49¢ a bag. Big Apple had rib roast for 79¢ a pound, grapes for 19¢ a pound, and Tater Maid frozen french fries for 15¢ a bag. Couch's had ground beef for 45¢ a pound, Poss Brunswick stew for 49¢ a can, and bananas for a dime a pound.

The cinematic week began with Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (starring Doris Day) at the DeSoto Theatre, Gone with the Wind (starring Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh) at the First Avenue, and The Green Berets (starring John Wayne) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Pink Jungle (starring James Garner in a film that I don't remember at all) to the DeSoto, The Bible (starring Stephen Boyd) to the First Avenue, and Von Ryan's Express (starring Frank Sinatra) to the West Rome Drive-In.

The Beatles held on to number one for a third week week "Hey Jude." Other top ten hits included "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley (#2); "Fire" by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown (#3); "Little Green Apples" by OC Smith (#4); "Girl Watcher" by toe O'Kaysions (#5); "Midnight Confessions" by the Grass Roots (#6); "My Special Ange" by the Vogues (#7); "I've Got to Get a Message to You" by the Bee Gees (#8); "Over You" by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap (#9); and "Slip Away" by Clarence Carter (#10).

Merle Haggard released his seventh album, Mama Tried, this week in 1968.The album's title song would go on to be the best-selling single in Haggard's career. While the album wasn't a theme album as such, many of the songs were prison songs, including "Green Green Grass of Home," "Folsom Prison Blues," and "I Could Have Gone Right."

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 9/23/1968 to 9/29/1968

The week began with only three undefeated high school football teams in this part of Northwest Georgia: West Rome, Trion, and Chattooga. That was destined to change, though, since West Rome and Chattooga faced off against each other on Friday night, September 27th, in Chattooga. Turned out that it was West Rome that remained undefeated, as they posted a 21-7 victory, making them 4-0 for the season. Trion also lost, which left West Rome the only undefeated team in the area.

Chieftains quarterback Mike Johnson was named the Rome News-Tribune's Player of the Week for his outstanding performance in the Carrollton game; Johnson's 77-yard touchdown run was pivotal to the team's 10-7 victory.

The Doug Sanders Scholarship Fund benefit golf tournament took place in Rome on Sunday, September 29th; the celebrity golf tournament brought a number of well-known personalities to Rome, including Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Danny Thomas, Pat Boone, Phil Harris, Keely Smith, and (of course) Doug Sanders. The event began on Saturday evening with a benefit show at the Rome City Auditorium, followed by a reception at Callier Springs Country Club, with the 18-hole golf tournament taking place at the Coosa Country Club on Sunday afternoon. (I have wonderful memories of this event. Mom loved to listen to Dean Martin; I can still hear her melodious voice singing along to the many Dean Martin albums that she owned. My mom's full name was Emma Dean Leming Biggers; she sometimes joked about being named after Dean Martin, even though we knew that she really wasn't, since she was born before anyone had ever heard of Dean Martin. We all got to meet him prior to the benefit show, and then Mom and Dad had dinner with him at the reception later that evening--a reception that children were not allowed to attend. I did get to caddy for him for nine holes at the Sunday tournament, though, and remember him as remarkably witty and friendly. Why only nine holes? Because organizers switched out volunteer caddies after the first nine holes to give as many Romans as possible a chance to experience a "brush with greatness.")

The Rome Council on Human Relations, a multiracial local group that emphasized racial harmony in the Rome area, presented a proposal that the Rome City Schools system keep Main High School open as a third city school to serve the community more effectively,  but Superintendent MS McDonald revealed that the closing of Main High was mandated by the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. "It is not money," the superintendent said, "but the numbers of students which are involved." HEW said that Main High was too small to provide the educational opportunities available at a larger school like East Rome or West Rome. Further complicating the situation: the actual Main High physical facility was owned by Floyd County, not the city of Rome, and any attempt to revitalize the school as a city school would require the sale of the land and the building by the county.  The superintendent was instead in favor of a plan to close all three area high schools and replace them with one Rome High School that was located well away from the site of any of the three schools. (As we know, it took a quarter of a century, but the Rome City Schools system ultimately implemented exactly this plan, to the dismay of Chieftains and Gladiators past and present.)

The Board of Regents finally revealed their choice of locations for the proposed Floyd Junior College. The 200-acre tract was located on US Highway 27 South near Six Mile, almost directly across the street from the Cedar Valley Drive-In Theatre. The existence of a  recently-completed four-lane interchange near the property made it a particularly desirable location. The Board of Regents said that it was up to the county to pay for the initial $2 million for site development and facilities construction; once that was done, the state would cover all operational costs, including staff salaries. (Of course, we know that this would indeed become the site of Floyd Junior College, now known as Georgia Highlands College.)

Volkswagen was touting their newest innovation: an automatic transmission. Up until the 1969 model year, VW had offered only manual transmissions--but beginning in September 1968, drivers could purchase an optional automatic transmission on the Volkswagen Squareback and Fastback. The Beetle was destined to remain manual transmission only for a while longer, although beginning in 1968 they did offer an "autostick" transmission (a form of semi-automatic that required the driver to change gears as always, but without a clutch pedal--the car automatically engaged the clutch when the gear shift was moved, and then engaged the transmission when the driver let go of the stick shift).

Drivers who wanted to buy a new Volkswagen (or pretty much any other car) could apply for a car loan at National City Bank's Auto Loan Department, where the going annual interest rate was 4.95% (which was, ironically, almost exactly the same rate that National City was paying on a three year certificate of deposit!).

Chevrolet introduced an offbeat (and short-lived) option on some of its 1969 vehicles as they debuted this month in 1968: "liquid tire chain." If the phrase doesn't explain itself, here's what it means: the car was equipped with a spray bottle "space age polymer solution" designed to increase traction in icy conditions. Press a button on the dash  and both rear tires were spritzed with this solution. Sounds great, but it turns out that in practice id did pretty much nothing except encourage people to sue Chevrolet for false advertising, so it was quickly discontinued.

James Franklin DeJournette, one of the founders of Rome's Gibson-DeJournette wholesale grocery distribution business, passed away on September 24th following a lengthy illness. Many of us who grew up in Rome in the 1950s and 1970s are likely to remember the Gibson-DeJournette trucks that made daily deliveries to pretty much every Rome grocery store (with the exception of Kroger and A&P, which used their own distribution system). On Fridays, the Gibson-DeJournette trucks would often run two deliveries to Big Apple and Piggly Wiggly to ensure that their shelves remained full.

Piggly Wiggly had beef brisket for 39¢ a pound, sweet potatoes for 12¢ a pound, and Florida Maid frozen orange juice concentrate for 10¢ a can (add three cans of water to make a quart of orange juice). A&P had smoked hams for 35¢ a pound, Poss Brunswick stew for 49¢ a can, and carrots for 15¢ a bunch. Kroger had Tennessee Pride sausage for 39¢ a pound, and strawberries for 39¢ a pint. Big Apple had sirloin steak for 87¢ a pound, Sealtest ice cream for 49¢ a half-gallon, and red delicious apples for 19¢ a pound. Couch's had Oscar Mayer hot dogs for 59¢ a pound, locally grown large eggs for 59¢ a dozen (a price that sounds pretty high by today's standards, since it would translate to about $4.50 a dozen in 2018 dollars), and a 10-ounce jar of Maxwell House instant coffee for $1.59. (I remember instant coffee being A Big Thing in the 1960s: my best friend Gary Steele always had instant coffee at his house, and we would often make a cup of instant coffee with breakfast when I stayed over at his house on a Friday or a Saturday night. It wasn't all that coffee-like, but we discovered that if you added a half a teaspoon of Nestle's Quik to the mix before you added the hot water, you got a pretty good beverage. I guess we were inventing our own form of mocha, but we weren't smart enough to know it back then.)

The cinematic week began with With Six You Get Egg Roll (starring Doris Day) at the DeSoto Theatre, Gone with the Wind (starring Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh) at the First Avenue, and The Green Berets (starring John Wayne) at the West Rome Drive-In. The lineup stayed the same for the second half of the week at the two indoor theatres, but Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (starring Doris Day) replaced The Green Berets at the West Rome Drive-In.

The Beatles held on to the number one position on the Billboard Top Ten charts for another week with "Hey Jude." Other top ten hits included "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley (#2); "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (#3); "Little Green Apples" by OC Smith (#4); "Girl Watcher" by The O'Kaysions (#5); "Slip Away" by Clarence Carter (#6); "People Got To Be Free" by The Rascals (#7); "I've Got to Get a Message to  You" by the Bee Gees (#8); "1,2,3, Red Light" by the 1910 Fruitgum Co. (#9); and "I Say a Little Prayer" by Aretha Franklin (#10).

The fall season kickoff continued this week in 1968, with several new shows debuting, including:
•Here's Lucy, Lucille Ball's third sitcom on CBS (September 23rd)
•The Doris Day Show on CBS (September 24th)
•The Mod Squad on ABC (September 24th)
•60 Minutes on CBS (September 24th)
•Here Come the Brides on ABC (September 25th)
•Hawaii Five-0 on CBS (September 26th)

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 9/16/1968 to 9/22/1968

The 20th annual Coosa Valley Fair kicked off its six-day run-on Monday, September 15th; the vocal group the Ink Spots took part in the opening ceremonies (one of three performances by the Ink Spots scheduled for fair week).  Attendees cold look forward to a livestock judging, a flower show, a Miss Floyd County beauty contest, an Officer Don show, a Happening Times concert, a football kicking contest, a Willis Brothers concert, a Bob Brandy show, a horse show, and a Num Num Hunky concert. And of course, it wouldn't be a Coosa Valley Fair without a West Rome Band concert, which was scheduled for Thursday at 6:30pm.

The State Department of Education surprised the Rome City Schools system with $1.75 million in unexpended funds from a 1967 state bonds issue. Superintendent MS McDonald said that, if the system received the unexpected fund, they could begin building new classrooms "between now and Christmas" without having to wait for the passage of a local bond issue. Elm Street and West End were both slated for new classroom construction to relieve overcrowding caused by rapid residential growth in the West Rome area. The Board also unveiled plan for a measles vaccination program set to begin in the Rome City Schools system on September 30th. All primary grade students were required by state law to have a measles vaccination unless they had doctor's certification explaining why they should not be vaccinated.

Coosa defeated West End 20-90 in the opening game of the Pee-Wee football season on Tuesday evening, while Elm Street posted a 27-0 win over Glenwood. In the opening Mite games, West End defeated Garden Lakes 13-12 while Armuchee edged out Elm Street 7-6.

West Rome took on Carrollton in a home game on Friday, September 20th. Readers may remember that Carrollton trounced West Rome 26-0 in their 1967 face-off, so the Chieftains were looking to settle a year-old score. And that's just what they did--not with a 26-0 score, but a 10-7 win was still a win, and that's what the Chiefs wanted. Mike Johnson scored a touchdown with a 77-yard run, Mark Brewer kicked the extra point, and Roger Weaver kicked a 40-yard field goal to rack up the Chieftains' ten points.

The West Rome Baptist Church announced a youth fellowship to be held immediately after the West Rome-Carrollton game. All young people were invited to attend.

With the new television season just about to launch, Sears had a 23" Silvertone console color TV for only $369 and a 20" Westinghouse color TV for only $249.  Home Mart had a Zenith 23" TV for $379 and a Zenith home entertainment center with TV, AM/FM radio, and turntable with built-in stereo speakers and an oak console cabinet for $549.

Kay's Kastles launched their football season special: a deluxe hotdog for only 25¢ on Friday and Saturday (that was a 2¢ discount off the regular 27¢ price). They also offered 25¢ off a half-gallon of Kay's Kastles ice cream on Friday and Saturdays as well.

Piggly Wiggly had chicken livers for 49¢ a pound, grapes for 19¢ a pound, and Kellogg's corn flakes for 21¢ a box. Kroger had Hormel bacon for 49¢ a pound, iceberg lettuce for 19¢ a head, and Banquet pot pies for 15¢ each. A&P had sirloin steak for 89¢ a pound, Eight O'Clock coffee for 49¢ a pound, and Bartlett pears for 19¢ a pound. Big Apple had whole fryers for 27¢ a pound, sweet potatoes for 15¢ a pound, and tall cans of salmon for 69¢. Couch's had lamb roast for 49¢ a pound, Jif peanut butter for 39¢ a jar, and ten pounds of russet potatoes for 49¢.

The cinematic week began with Five Card Stud (starring Dean Martin) at the DeSoto Theatre, Gone With the Wind (starring Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh) at the First Avenue, and Valley of the Dolls (starring Susan Hayward) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought With Six You Get Egg Roll (starring Doris Day) at the DeSoto and The Green Berets (starring John Wayne) at the West Rome Drive-In, while Gone With the Wind hung around for a fifth week at the First Avenue.

The Beatles took number one with "Hey Jude" this week in 1968. Other top ten hits included "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley (#2); "People Got to Be Free" by the Rascals (#3); "Hush" by Deep Purple (#4); "Fire" by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown (#5); "The Fool on the Hill" by Segio Mendes & Brasil '66 (#6); "1,2,3,Red Light" by the 1910 Fruitgum Co. (#7); "I've Got to Get a Message to You" by the Bee Gees (#8); "Girl Watcher" by The O'Kaysions (#9); and "Slip Away" by Clarence Carter (#10).

Diahann Carroll's sitcom Julia--the first network sitcom to star an African American woman in a non-stereotypical role--premiered on NBC on Tuesday, September 17th. Adam-12, the popular police series, premiered on NBC on September 21st (yes, a Saturday--back in the 1960s, Saturdays were actually big TV nights, with a number of major series on the Saturday night schedule). And the short-lived-but-fondly-remembered Land of the Giants made its ABC premiere on Sunday, September 22nd.

Life in Four Colors Sidebar - Believe It Or Not...

I love comics. That's no secret. I've owned tens of thousands of comics in my lifetime.

What may be surprising, though, is what I have not owned. Here are a few comics I've never owned:

1 - Any Showcase issues featuring the Flash. Sometimes that even surprises me, considering how much I love the Flash and how long I've been collecting the series, but at no time has my collection ever included Showcase #s 4, 8, 13, or 14.

2 - EC Comics. I've owned the EC reprint paperbacks of the 1960s, I've owned Russ Cochran's EC Library, I've owned Gemstone reprints, I've owned EC Archives--but I've never owned even one original EC Comic.

3 - Any Captain America comic prior to his 1960s return. Never owned a Golden Age Captain America, never owned a 1950s comic starring Captain America.

4 - 2000 AD. My friend and CSN partner Ward Batty once had a massive collection of these, but I never have picked up even  single issue of the long-running British comic.

5 - Bugs Bunny. I have never felt the slightest inclination to buy a Bugs Bunny comic. I've always thought that it was the verbal humor and the snappy patter that made Bugs work, and I couldn't see how that would translate to comics.

(Note: This does not mean that my comic shop, Dr. No's, hasn't owned copies of these for resale purposes. I have just never owned any of these books personally. Some, like the Showcase books or the Golden Age Caps, I'd love to have. Others, I still have no real interest in.)

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 9/9/1968 to 9/15/1968

It was midterm primary time this week in 1968, but apparently no one noticed: the vote turnout was estimated at only 8%. Local officials blamed the poor turnout on the fact that there was nothing particularly newsworthy about the election, so most people chose to stay home. (Isn't that the excuse that most people give every year?) Romans voted for Senator Herman Talmadge almost 4-1 over newcomer candidate Maynard Jackson.

The Chieftains took on their west-side-of-town rival Coosa on Friday, September 13th, in a non-region football matchup. The Chiefs were the odds-on favorite to win the game, and that's just what they did, posting a 10-7 victory over Coosa. That gave West Rome two wins and no losses for the fledgling 1968 football season, but Coach Nick Hyder warned that the team shouldn't let it go to their heads, because "the toughest games of the season are coming up, beginning with next week's game against Carrollton."

Local news was in short supply this week in 1968 due to a problem at the Rome News-Tribune's printing and processing facility. According to the newspaper, "Local news coverage remains light while the Rome News-Tribune staff tries to restore its photo processing and typesetting equipment to full working order. Until that time, the paper will offer very little local news."

Showing how unpredictable local shopping could be, Star Jewelers was running a special on (get ready for it) a Martin 12-gauge shotgun for only $49.99--and that included a padded gun case and a 20-piece cleaning kit!

Rome City Schools budgeted a study to determine the feasibility of purchasing their own school buses. For many years, the Rome school system had relied on the Rome City Bus system to provide bus service for students, The meant that Rome was one of the few systems where students did not ride "big yellow taxis." Instead, they rode the same city buses that were used for city-wide transportation the rest of the day (and that meant that the buses actually were slightly more comfortable than typical school buses).

Big K made its first push into cornering the music market in Rome, lowering the price of new albums to $2.97--and they were charging the same  price for mono or stereo records. The going price at Redford's, Murphy's, and most other department stores was $3.49 (mono) and $3.99 (stereo); the Record Shoppe on Broad Street generally charged $3.99 (mono) and $4.99 (stereo). Likewise, Big K was advertising 77¢ singles, while most other stores were charging 99¢ for singles.

Piggly Wiggly had Cudahy Bar S ham for 49¢ a pound, Double Q salmon for 49¢ a can, and white grapes for 19¢ a pound. A&P had chicken breasts for 49¢ a pound, Eight O'Clock Coffee for 49¢ a pound, and Marvel ice milk for 45¢ a half-gallon. Big Apple had sirloin steak for 87¢ a pound, Banquet 12 ounce chicken pot pies for 15¢ each, and cantaloupes for 33¢ each. Kroger had center cut pork chops for 89¢ a pound, Hormel potted meat for 12¢ a can, and bananas for 11¢ a pound. Couch's had Chuckwagon sliced bacon for 59∞ a pound, winesap apples for 12¢ a pound, and Van Camp's chili with beans for 33¢ a can.

The cinematic week began with The Secret Life of the American Wife (starring Walter Matthau) at the DeSoto Theatre, Gone with the Wind (starring Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh) at the First Avenue Theatre, and Hang 'Em High (starring Clint Eastwood) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switch out brought Five Card Stud (starring Dean Martin) to the DeSoto Theatre and Valley of the Dolls ·(starring Susan Hayward) to the West Rome Drive-In, while Gone With the Wind continued its hold on the First Avenue Theatre.

Jeannie C. Riley shot to number one this week in 1968 with the soap-opera-turned-song "Harper Valley PTA." Other top ten hits included "People Got to Be Free" by the Rascals (#2); "Hey Jude" by the Beatles (#3); "Hush" by Deep Purple (#4); "1,2,3, Red Light" by the 1910 Fruitgum Co. (#5); "Light My Fire" by José Feliciano (#6); "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf (#7); "The Fool on the Hill" by Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (#8); "I've Gotta Get a Message To You" by the Bee Gees (#9); and "The House That Jack Built" by Aretha Franklin (#10).

More Saturday morning rollouts this week in 1968. First, Archie and the Riverdale gang came to TV in The Archie Show (known by most viewers simply as The Archies); then Bugs Bunny teamed up with Wile E. Coyote's perpetual prey for The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. Both shows were part of the CBS lineup; Bugs Bunny came to CBS in 1968 after several years on ABC-TV.  CBS had aired Road Runner episodes since 1966, but 1968 marked the first year that the two animation favorites were joined in one hour-long program.