The snow and ice that kept Romans indoors on Saturday and Sunday miraculously cleared by Monday morning, which meant a normal school and work day (much to the dismay of students who were undoubtedly certain that the ice would linger long enough to give them a snow day to start the week). Floyd County representative John Adams said that the bill would "open the door to an 18% interest rate, like they charge in Brazil." Apparently he underestimated the greed of credit card companies, who shot way past 18% as soon as usury laws were abandoned...
West Rome's own Sycondia Gammon was chosen as Miss Valentine by the Rome Teen Club Valentine's dance; the dance was postponed until Friday, February 21st, because of the icy weather that moved in on Valentine's evening. DW Bowman was chosen Mr. Valentine.
West Rome swept past Cedartown 65-52 on Tuesday night in the Region 7-AA Boys Tournament; Mike Day was the leading scorer with 19 points. The victory advanced the Chieftains to the Wednesday night semifinals, where they faced off against East Rome. Alas, things didn't go as well for the Chieftains in that game, as they fell to East Rome 65-43; Kenny Stephens scored 18 of West Rome's 43 points.
Burglars broke into the Shorter Heights Drive-In at 414 Shorter Avenue in the early hours of Monday morning, whereupon they ransacked two vending machines and stole a penny jar. The owners said that the thieves made off with approximately $50 from the vending machines and about $1 from the penny jar.
A fire broke out in the back room of the Ideal Service Station on Shorter Avenue on Thursday afternoon; considerable damage was done to the building, but firefighters were able to stop the flames from reaching the gas tanks, which could have been catastrophic. Two cars parked behind the building were totally destroyed.
Anyone who pays exorbitant credit card interest rates might be surprised to hear that the maximum legally allowed rate in Georgia was 8% in 1969--although a bill proposed in the state senate would allow that rate to climb all the way to 9%.
Piggly Wiggly had Oscar Mayer bologna for 39¢ a pound, Atlanta Dairies ice milk for 19¢ a half-gallon (the lowest price I've seen for ice milk in the 7 years I've been doing this column!), and bananas for a dime a pound. Big Apple had 3 pound Armour canned hams for $2.49, Luzianne coffee for 49¢ a pound, and RC or Diet-Rite Cola for 33¢ a carton plus deposit. A&P had chuck roast for 69¢ a pound, Alcoa Wrap for 69¢ a 200-foot box, and large temple oranges for 59¢ a dozen. Kroger had fresh whole fryers for 29¢ a pound, Fab detergent for 30¢ a box, and a 16-ounce jar of Miracle Whip for 19¢. Couch's had Hormel Little Sizzlers for 49¢ a pound, Gorton's fish sticks for 29¢ a box, and sweet potatoes for a dime a pound.
The cinematic week began with Angel in My Pocket (starring Andy Griffith) at the DeSoto Theatre, Candy (starring Richard Burton) at the First Avenue Theater, and Prudence and the Pill (starring David Niven) at the West Rome Drive-In. The weekend switchout brought Stalking Moon (starring Gregory Peck) to the DeSoto and Berserk (starring Joan Crawford) to the West Rome Drive-In, while Candy hung around for another week at the First Avenue. (Astute readers may note that I said "weekend switchout" rather than "midweek switchout": beginning this week in 1969, Rome's theaters changed new movie day at the theaters from Wednesday to Friday.)
Sly & the Family Stone held on to the number spot for another week with "Everyday People." Other top ten hits included "Crimson & Clover" by Tommy James & The Shondells (#2); "Build Me Up Buttercup" by the Foundations (#3); "Touch Me" by the Doors (#4); "Proud May" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (#5); "You Showed Me" by the Turtles (#6); "This Magic Moment" by Jay & the Americans (#7); "Baby, Baby Don't Cry" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (#8); "Worst That Could Happen" by Brooklyn Bridge (#9); and "Dizzy" by Tommy Roe (#10).
The Beatles held both the number one and the number two positions on the album charts this week in 1969 with The Beatles (aka The White Album) at number one and Yellow Submarine at number two. Of course, Yellow Submarine wasn't a true Beatles album per se, but a soundtrack to the animated film that consisted of mostly previously-released tracks with a couple of new songs for contractual reasons. Another group had two albums in the top ten this week in 1969: Iron Butterfly, whose new album Ball climbed to number seven, while their history-making In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida fell to number ten on the charts (the 33rd week the album had charted!). Ball would be the final studio album with this group lineup; young guitarist Erik Brann would leave the group soon after the album's release, and would be replaced by two guitarists for the group's next album. Alas, the magic sound was gone, and the group's brief shot at rock super-stardom came to an end (although In-A-Gadda-da-Vida would remain one of rock music's best-selling albums).
This week in 1969, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan recorded together in Nashville, Tennessee. Alas, only one song from those sessions--"Girl from the North Country"--would be released.
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