Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 10/6/1969 to 10/12/1969

Rome became the site of a "battle of the band instrument providers" this week in 1969 as Ken Stanton Music accused the Rome and Floyd County school systems of shutting them out of the band programs in their schools, in favor of Don Everett and his business The Music Room. Stanton had worked with Everett for years; a business disagreement led to Everett's departure from Ken Stanton Music, at which point he started his own company. "We have been excluded from parent meetings and are not listed as a rental site for band instruments, even though our prices are often lower than our competitors," Stanton said. "We've tried to get into the schools, but we never know when band directors have set up their recruitment meetings and can't get a return call." Stanton had even offered to provide sixth-grade music students in the Rome City Schools with free instruments for a year, but when he attempted to deliver those instruments to West End, the principal refused to meet with him or to allow him to leave the instruments. "We have no personal objection to Ken Stanton or his company," West Rome band director Johnny Shook said. "We just believe that The Music Room offers the best recruiting system [for students interested in joining the band]." Shook explained that The Music Room would meet with students and parents and let the student try out every instrument until he found the one that suited him, while Ken Stanton asked that parents and students fill out a form indicating their preferred instrument first.

After the prior week's blowout victory over Cass, the Chieftains took on Cedartown on October 10th. The Bulldogs proved to be much more of a challenge than the Colonels were, but West Rome nevertheless posted a 21-13 victory. Henry Studyvent scored two of the Chieftains' touchdowns, while Randy Hatch's pass to David Watkins gave West Rome their third touchdown.

Rome's burglars were back in action this week in 1969, with break-ins at the Partridge Restaurant (cash was stolen from the register); Williams, Schweitzer, & Barnum Engineering on Redmond Circle, where cash and equipment were taken; the Town House on East second Avenue, where cash and merchandise was stolen; Joyce's Beauty Shop in Central Plaza, where cash ws stolen; Red Ace Petroleum Company on Redmond Circle, were 432 packages of cigarettes were stolen; United Insurance Company on East Second Avenue, where offices were ransacked but nothing was stolen; and Roman Chemical Corporation on East Second Avenue, where offices were ransacked but nothing was stolen. That's a lot of burglaries on one night!

Home Federal pushed interest rates to 5.25% for six month CDs this week in 1969, an eighth of a point higher than any other bank in Rome--and about three times what most banks are paying today.

A morals decency group, The Movement to Restore Decency, was organized in Rome this week in 1969. According to chairman Dr. Richard Gray, their primary goal was to prevent the distribution of adult magazines in the city, but they also expressed concern that "one theater" (which was the First Avenue Theatre--not sure why they didn't say that) had begun showing X-rated films in Rome. Of course, one of the two X-rated films they showed was Midnight Cowboy, which would go on to win an Academy Awards. The group also objected to any plans to bring sex education to the public schools.

Governor Lester Maddox, of all people, spoke out in favor of women in leadership positions in government this week in 1969. Maddox said that he was "all for" a woman President. "I believe that a woman who is used to living on a budget might be able to get our national finances straightened out and reduce our shameful national debt," Maddox said. "And certainly any woman could take control of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and make improvements there." (Of course, Maddox had ulterior motives: it was reported that his wife was considering running for governor when Maddox's term expired.)

Piggly Wiggly had rib steaks for 98¢ a pound, Atlanta Dairies ice milk for 3¢ a half-gallon, and five pounds of oranges for 59¢. A&P had pork sausage for 59¢ a pound, Bartlett pears for 25¢ a pound, and Van Camp's pork & beans for 18¢ a can. Kroger had fresh whole fryers for 27¢ a pound, Maxwell House coffee for 73¢ a pound, and Aqua Net hairspray for 37¢ a can. Big Apple had leg o' lamb for 89¢ a pound, Stokely tomato sauce for a dime a can, and Campbell's tomato soup for 11¢ a can.  Couch's had Oscar Mayer olive loaf or liver loaf for 49¢ a pack, Aristocrat ice cream for 49¢ a half-gallon, and Libby's tomato ketchup for 29¢ a bottle.

The cinematic week began with Thoroughly Modern Millie (starring Julie Andrews) at the DeSoto Theatre, Midnight Cowboy (starring Dustin Hoffman) at the First Avenue, The Lion in Winter (starring Katharine Hepburn) at the Village, and The Love Bug (starring Dean Jones) at the West Rome Drive-In. The weekend switchout brought Castle Keep (starring Burt Lancaster) to the DeSoto, The Rain People (starring James Caan) to the First Avenue, A Place for Lovers (starring Faye Dunaway) to the Village,  and True Grit (starring John Wayne) to the West Rome Drive-In.

The Temptations took the number one slot this week in 1969 with "I Can't Get Next To You." Other top ten hits included "Hot Fun in the Summertime" by Sly & the Family Stone (#2); "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies (#3); "Jean" by Oliver (#4); "Little Woman" by Bobby Sherman (#5); "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley (#6); "That's the Way Love Is" by Marvin Gaye (#7); "Wedding Bell Blues" by the 5th Dimension (#8); "Easy to Be Hard" by Three Dog Night (#9); and "Tracy" by the Cuff Links (#10). What interesting here is that singer Ron Dante had two songs in the top ten this week, even though his name didn't appear on either one of them. Dante was the voice of the Archies, so that's his vocals you hear on the lead on "Sugar, Sugar." He's also the voice of the Cuff Links, so that means that it's Ron who's multi tracking all the voices on "Tracy."

The progressive rock band King Crimson released their first album, In the Court of the Crimson King, this week in 1969. This was also the week that the Richard and Karen Carpenter released the first Carpenters album, Ticket to Ride.