West Rome's boys basketball team lost to Cass 79-77 in the Region 7-AA tournament. That was a much better showing that most expected from the Chieftains, who had a lackluster season and just barely made it into the tournament at all. The Chiefs actually pulled into the lead early on and posted an incredible first half, outscoring Cass 46-32. Alas, things went downhill in the third quarter and fell apart in the fourth quarter as both Floyd Miller and Randy Hatch fouled out--and since Miller was the team's leading scorer with 24 points up until that point, his absence really set the team back.
The West Rome Science Fair was held on February 27th and 28th in the school cafeteria. More than 100 science projects in more than a dozen divisions, prepared by both high school and junior high school students, were on display.
The US Supreme Court refused to rule on a challenge to Georgia's blue laws (that is, laws requiring all but non-essential businesses to close on Sunday), which left a lot of local and state officials unsure what to do next. The case responsible for all this didn't involve Rome businesses; instead, Marietta Zayre and Kresge stores were challenged under the law, which said that only drug stores and small grocery/convenience stores could remain open. Many smaller retailers pushed to keep the law active, since they said the extra staffing costs to stay open on Sunday would exceed anticipated profits, so they wanted their big-box competitors to be forced to close as well. The biggest Sunday opening store in Rome in 1970 was Big K, which had been open every Sunday since the store first came to Rome.
The census kicked off this week in 1970, and rome census takers were working hard to determine just how much Rome had grown over the prior ten years. Five crew leaders and sixty census enumerators were assigned to Rome, with an addition ten on standby if early counts indicated sufficient growth to need extra counters. The early estimate was that Rome and Floyd county's population might have grown as much as 10% since 1960.
Piggly Wiggly had round steak for 89¢ a pound, eggs for 49¢ a dozen, and grapefruit for a dime each. Kroger had ground beef for 53¢ a pound, Maxwell House coffee for 79¢ a pound, and tomatoes for 27¢ a pound. A&P had fresh whole fryers for 27¢ a pound, lettuce for 19¢ a head, and Coca/Cola/Sprite/Tab/Fresca for 33¢ a six-pack plus deposit. Big Apple had Wicklow sliced bacon for 59¢ a pound, Merico canned biscuits for a dime each, and mixed nuts for 64¢ a pound. Couch's had in-store-ground sausage for 59¢ a pound, Royal Sun orange juice for 39¢ a gallon, and bananas for 12¢ a pound.
The cinematic week began with Happy Ending (starring Jean Simmons) at the DeSoto Theatre, Goodbye Columbus (starring Richard Benjamin) at the First Avenue, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (starring Natalie Wood) at the Village, and Number One (starring Charlton Heston) at the West Rome Drive-In. The weekend switch out brought Darby O'Gill & The Little People (starring Sean Connery) at the DeSoto, De Sade (starring Senta Berger) at the First Avenue, Cactus Flower (starring Walter Matthau) at the Village, and The Fastest Guitar Alive (starring, of all people, Roy Orbison!) at the West Rome Drive-In.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel held on to the number one slot for another week with "Bridge Over Troubled Water. Other top ten hits included "Who'l Stop the Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (#2); "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin/Everybody Is a Star" by Sly & the Family Stone (#3); "Rainy Night in Georgia" by Brook Benton (#4); "Hey There Lonely Girl" by Eddie Holman (#5); "Ma Belle Amie" by the Tee Set (#6); "The Rapper" by the Jaggerz (#7); "Give Me Just a Little More Time" by the Chairmen of the Board (#8); "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" by BJ Thomas (#9); and "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by the Hollies (#10).
The Beatles' Hey Jude album (also titled The Beatles Again) was released this week in 1970. If you're wondering why you don't remember this album that came out between Abbey 'Road and Let It Be, there's a good reason: the album is actually just a compilation of various tracks that had not been released on Capitol's US albums, some ranging all the way back to 1964.
Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams made comic book history this week in 1970 with the release of Green Lantern #76, the first "relevant" issue of the series. O'Neil and Adams brought Green Arrow into the mix and sent the two heroes on a traveling odyssey to get to know the true America and refocus themselves as heroes.
When I first opened my comic book store in Massachusetts, (back about 40 years ago!) the state still enforced Blue Laws prohibiting most stores from opening on Sundays. I read the law and found a loop-hole....stores could open IF they sold daily newspapers....so I'd stop at a grocery store on my way to my store each Sunday and bought a few Sunday newspapers. I put them on my counter as if they were for sale. That way, if the Blue Law enforcers came in, I'd be okay.
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