Saturday, June 20, 2020

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 6/22/1970 to 6/28/1970

Rome City Schools and Floyd County Schools announced the fall opening of the Coosa Valley Vocational High School, which would be open to tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade city and county students. The Vocational High School would be located on the Coosa Valley Tech campus. The school would begin in August with classes in electrical repair, construction, metal working, drafting, transportation, and cosmetology. Students would be enrolled at their regular city or county high schools, but would be transported to the Coosa Valley Tech campus for two hours of instruction each day. West Rome students would attend classes from 10:30 to 12:30 each day.

Armed robbers decided that the Dari-King was a major retail center, so they targeted it for robbery on Wednesday night, June 24th. The robbers took almost $300 from the Dari-King's register and from the wallets of four employees inside the restaurant, then forced one of them to drive the pair of thieves to their getaway car on Selman Road, not too far from the Dari-King.

Columbia Records country music star Stonewall Jackson came to Gibson's Discount Center in Rome on Wednesday, June 24th, signing records and offering an impromptu acoustic performance. Gibson's said that this would be the first of several signings planned for their new record department.

Piggly Wiggly had chuck roast for 89¢ a pound, cantaloupes for 33¢ each, and milk for 89¢ a gallon. Kroger had fresh whole fryers for 28¢ a pound, whole watermelons for 89¢ each, and Morton frozen cream pies for 23¢ each. Big apple had sirloin tip roast for 99¢ a pound, Coca-Cola/Tab/Sprite/Fresca for 33¢ a carton plus deposit, and bananas for a dime a pound. A&P had taken hens for 29¢ a pound, Farmbest ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon, and yellow or white corn for a dime an ear. Couch's had pork steak for 69¢ a pound, Nabisco saltines for 43¢ a box, and fresh locally-grown tomatoes for 19¢ a pound.

The cinematic week began with Paint Your Wagon (starring Lee Marvin) at the DeSoto Theatre, Women In Love (starring Jennie Linden & Alan Bates) at the First Avenue, Beneath the Planet of the Apes (starring Charlton Heston) at the Village, and 100 Rifles (starring Rquel Welch & Jim Brown) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switch out brought The Hawaiians (starring Charlton Heston) to the DeSoto, the X-rated film The Libertine (starring Catherine Spaak) at the First Avenue, 1932: The Moonshine War (starring Patrick McGoohan) at the Village, and a low-budget horror film fest of Guess What Happened to Count Dracula, Curse of the Stone Hand, The Crawling Eye, and Terror of the Blood Hunters at the West Rome Drive-In.

The Jackson 5 took the number one slot this week with "The Love You Save/I Found That Girl." Other top ten hits included "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" by Three Dog Night (#2); "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" by the Temptations (#3); "The Long & Winding Road" by the Beatles (#4); "Hitchin' a Ride" by Vanity Fare (#5); "Ride Captain Ride" by Blues Image (#6); "Band of Gold" by Freda Payne (#7); "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" by Melanie with the Edwin Hawkins Singers (#8); "The Wonder of You/Mama Liked the Roses" by Elvis Presley (#9); and "Get Ready" by Rare Earth (#10).

This was a busy week for album releases in 1970. New titles available this week included Marrying Maiden by It's a Beautiful Day; Changes by the Monkees; Ecology by Rare Earth; On Stage by Elvis Presley; Runt by Todd Tundgren; and Vehicle by the Ides of March.

No comments: