Rome City Schools' roller-coaster relationship with the US Department of Health, Education, & Welfare and the US Justice Department took a dip this week in 1969 when the Justice Department filed suit against 83 school systems, including Rome City Schools. The Justice Department's suit demanded that all 83 systems fully implement their desegregation plans by the fall of 1970--one full year earlier than the plans already agreed to by the Department of Health, Education, & Welfare. "The action is intended to try to get the rest of Georgia's school systems that haven't already desegregated moving," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Frank M. Dunbaugh said.
The Chieftains' winning streak came to an end on Friday night when the Cartersville Hurricanes stormed over West Rome for a 20-0 victory. The loss knocked the Chiefs out of first place in Region 7-AA South, putting them behind crosstown rivals East Rome with only two remaining games in regular season play.
West Rome's midget football team defeated Coosa 20-6 to take the senior division midget football championship on Monday, October 20th. Ricky Ramsey scored all three touchdowns with runs of 54 years, 55 yards, and seven yards respectively.
West Rome's JV team pushed its record to 7-0 for the season with a 46-8 victory over Pepperell. Quarterback Johnny Thompkins ran for two touchdowns and threw three touchdown passes to Herbert Sellers in the first three quarters, while quarterback Jimmy Hatch added to the score with a touchdown pass to Sellers in the fourth quarter.
"Don't turn around." Those three words, followed by the click of an armed robber cocking the hammer of a gun, kicked off a nightmarish evening for Dallas Tanner, manager of the A&P on Shorter Avenue. An unidentified armed robber took all the store's daily proceeds shortly after closing on Friday, October 24th. "He told me to put all the money in a bag and that's exactly what I did," Tanner said. Luckily, the robber didn't get all the daily cash, since the assistant manager had already made a bank deposit midway through the day.
Ledbetter Construction announced ambitious construction plans for a site on US Highway 411 near the Ledbetter interchange. The first phase would seethe construction of a 200-unit Ramada Inn with a restaurant that could accommodate 400 people and meeting space that cold accommodate 500 people. The next phase of the construction would include town houses, garden apartments, and a shopping mall. (Needless to say, the latter part of that pie-in-the-sky plan never came to fruition.)
After the first round of bids for construction of Floyd Junior College came in almost a third higher than initially budgeted, the University System Board of Regents voted to reject all bids and to request new bids. Only three companies bid initially, but the Board of Regents was reaching out to other construction companies who had worked on other projects to request that they submit bids for Floyd Junior College in hopes that increased competition might result in lower bids.
Rome returned to Eastern standard time on Sunday, October 26th, giving all of us an extra hour of sleep.
Piggly Wiggly had cube steak for $1.09 a pound, eggs for 49¢ a dozen and oranges for 12¢ a pound. A&P had chuck steak for 59¢ a pound, golden delicious apples for 19¢ a pound, and Ann Page pound cake for 35¢. Big Apple had baking hens for 39¢ a pound, Irvindale ice cream for 49¢ a half-gallon, and Poss Brunswick stew for 49¢ a can. Kroger had pork chops for 77¢ a pound, canned biscuits for 6¢ a can, and apple cider for 77¢ a gallon. Couch's had ground beef for 55¢ a pound, Bama mayonnaise for 49¢ a quart, and Van Camp's chili with beans for 33¢ a can.
The cinematic week began with Run Wild, Run Free (starring John Mills) at the DeSoto Theatre, Ace High (starring Eli Wallach) at the First Avenue, Alice's Restaurant (starring Pat Quinn) at the Village, and Thunderbirds Are Go at the West Rome Drive-In. The weekend switch out brought Some Kind of a Nut (starring Dick Van Dyke) to the DeSoto, Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (starring Tony Curtis) to the First Avenue, and Romeo & Juliet (starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey) to the West Rome Drive-In, while Alice's Restaurant continued to serve moviegoers at the Village Theatre.
Elvis Presley returned to the top of the charts with "Suspicious Minds" this week in 1969. Other top ten hits included "Wedding Bell Blues" by the 5th Dimension (#2); "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies (#3); "I Can't Get Next to You" by the Temptations (#4); "Baby, It's You" by Smith (#5); "Hot Fun in the Summertime" by Sly & the Family Stone (#6); "Little Woman" by Bobby Sherman (#7); "Jean" by Oliver (#8); "Tracy" by the Cuff Links (#9); and "Come Together/Something" (a double A-sided single that was thus credited to both songs) by the Beatles (#10 & 11--that's the way the charts work for double A-sided singles). Meanwhile, the Beatles album Abbey Road sired to the top of the album charts during its third week of release.
Led Zeppelin released their second album this week in 1969; the first single off that album, "Whole Lotta Love," would go on to become Led Zeppelin's best-selling song until the release of "Stairway to Heaven" wo years later.
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