Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome: 9/15/1969 to 9/21/1969

Debbie Beard represented West Rome High School at the Miss Floyd County contest held at the Coosa Valley Fair, which took place this week in 1969. In addition to its many rides and contests, the fair also hosted a concert by the Ink Spots on Tuesday, September 16th; a concert by Marty Robbins on Friday, September 19th; and an appearance by Quacky the Clown (no, I've never heard of him, either) n Thursday, September 18th.. The West Rome Band also performed a concert on Thursday, September 18th in the special events arena.

Paula Lane was chosen as West Rome's semi-finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Lane actually finished high school in three years; while at the school, she was a member of the national Honor Society, the Tri Hi Y, the Drama Club, the Watanyah (yearbook) staff, and the newspaper staff.

West Rome lost to the Carrollton Trojans 14-7 on Friday night, September 19th. The Chieftains nearly tied the game when Henry Studyvent rand the ball to the one yard line as the clock ticked down; West Rome tried to quickly start the next play and throw an incomplete pass to stop the clock, but the official ruled that the clock had run out before the incomplete pass hit the ground.

After the Rome City School System drew up a contingency budget with teacher cuts to compensate for the loss of federal funding, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare reversed course and announced on September 17th that they would allocate funds for the school system after all, since they were convinced that the system was making all necessary progress towards total desegregation of the city schools. "It's just amazing," Superintendent Milton S McDonald said. "It's hard to believe that they could be so adamant, and then just turn everything around.

We think that stores rush the Christmas season nowadays, but this week in 1969 Kress Department Store opened their Christmas Toyland for early shopping and Christmas layaways. Meanwhile, Economy Auto announced that they had received their first shipments of the new 24" Philco color TV for $448 each; this was the largest TV made in the US, 1" larger diagonally than the previous largest TV.

Julian Harrison Ford held a special event on Thursday night, September 18th, to unveil the new 1970 Fords. (The cars must have looked pretty impressive, since Susan--who I had just begun dating in the fall of 1969--ended up ordering a 1970 Mustang Mach I as her first car. Appearances were deceiving, though, as it turned out to be the most unreliable car that either of us would ever own; she kept it until 1973, when she traded it in for a semi-automatic VW Beetle.)

Piggly Wiggly had chuck roast for 83¢ a pound, honeydew melons for 69¢ each, and Double Cola for 19¢ a carton plus deposit. A&P had Swiss steak for 75¢ a pound, yellow corn for 8¢ an ear, and Eight O'Clock coffee for 59¢ a pound. Kroger had ground chuck for 53¢ a pound, tomatoes for 17¢ a pound, and Coca-Cola/Tab/Sprite for 23¢ a carton plus deposit. Big Apple had center cut pork chops for 79¢ a pound, Dole pineapple for 25¢ a can, and Parkay margarine for 19¢ a pound. Couch's had lamb roast for 49¢ a pound, Bama peanut butter for 39¢ a jar, and Chef Boy-Ar-Di spaghetti & meatballs for 29¢ a can.

The cinematic week began with Chairman (starring Gregory Peck) at the DeSoto Theatre, McKenna's Gold (starring Omar Sharif) at the First Avenue, Shoes of the Fisherman (starring Anthony Quinn) at the Village, and 2001: A Space Odyssey (starring Keir Dullea) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Maltese Bippy (starring Dan Rowan and Dick Martin) to the DeSoto Theatre, Inga (an X-rated film, believe it or not!) to the First Avenue, and Bridge at Remagen (starring William Holden) to the West Rome Drive-In, while Shoes of the Fisherman continued to hook theatre-goers at the Village.

The Archies (actually, Ron Dante, who was the voice of the Archies on their recordings) took number one for a second week with "Sugar, Sugar." Other top ten hits included "Green River" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (#2); "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones (#3); "Easy to Be Hard" by Three Dog Night (#4); "Little Woman" by Bobby Sherman (#5); "I Can't Get Next To You" by the Temptations (#6); "Jean" by Oliver (#7); "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" by Tom Jones (#8); "Hot Fun in the Summertime" by Sly & the Family Stone (#9); and "Oh, What a Night" by the Dells (#10).

A pair of  fondly rememberedTV series debuted this week in 1969, including Room 222 (September 17th) and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (September 17th).