Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 3/25/1968 to 3/31/1968

The Rome City School System managed to eke out a “standard” rating from the State Board of Education. However, Most of Rome’s 19 schools actually earned an “unclassified” rating, which means that the visiting committees were unable to make sufficient conclusions about those school to determine if they were truly standard or not. The primary problems were inadequate facilities (too few classrooms, inadequate equipment, etc). West Rome High and West End Elementary both earned standard ratings; West Rome Junior High and Elm Street Elementary were both rated as unclassified. The only other school that earned a standard rating was Anna K. Davie Elementary; every other school in the Rome system, including East Rome High School, was unclassified. The state board had the authority to withhold funds from the unclassified schools if they did not improve by the next evaluation.

Janice Crider, Dianna Hose, and Jenny Fowler won third place in the girls vocal trio at the Region 6AA literary meet held at Berry College. 

Rome’s burglars remained busy: in the early hours of Monday morning, March 25th, burglars broke into the Johnson School gymnasium, where locker rooms were ransacked; Culp’s Upholstery Shop in Shorter Avenue, where tools and some cash were taken; and B&K Block Company, where $75 in cash and some tools were taken.

WROM won awards for excellence in editorial commentary and for sports coverage at the 23rd Annual Georgia Press Broadcasters Association awards ceremony held in Atlanta on March 25th. 

Home Federal Savings and Loan was paying 5.25% interest on 36-month certificates of deposit this week in 1968—an interest rate unheard of today, and a rate that was .25% higher than most other banks in the area. 

Sears kicked off its once-a-year album sale this week in 1966, with all single albums on sale for $2.44 each, and singles on sale for 77¢ each. Of course, $2.44 sounds incredibly cheap, but once you adjust for inflation, that’s the equivalent of $17.46 in today’s dollars (that’s a $7.15 multiplier, for those who like to do your own math). 

Kroger had pork chops for 49¢ a pound, Starkist tuna for 30¢ a can, and cantaloupes for 50¢ each. Piggly Wiggly had Hydrox cookies (the real chocolate sandwich cookie, which predated Oreos) for 31¢ a package, whole fryers for 27¢ a pound, and carrots for a dime a bunch. A&P had rib steaks for 89¢ a pound, strawberries for 33¢ a pint, and store-baked peach pies for 33¢ each. Big Apple had sliced liver for 19¢ a pound, Showboat pork & beans for 15¢ a can, and a large box of Fab for 25¢. Couch’s had ground beef for 39¢ a pound, Blue Plate barbecue sauce for 37¢ a bottle, and turnip greens for 15¢ a pound. 

The cinematic week began with Wait Until Dark (starring Audrey Hepburn) at the DeSoto Theatre, Sol Madrid (starring David McCallum) at the First Avenue, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (starring Clint Eastwood) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought Will Penny (starring Charlton Heston) to the DeSoto, To Sir With Love (starring Sidney Poitier) to the First Avenue, and Reflections in a Golden Eye (starring Elizabeth Taylor) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Otis Redding posthumous hit “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” held on to the number one slot for another week. Other top ten hits included “Love Is Blue (L’Amour est Bleu)” by Paul Mauriat & His Orchestra (#2); “Valleri” by the Monkees (#3); “Simon Says” by the 1910 Fruitgum Co. (#4); “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone” by Aretha Franklin (#5); “La-La Means I Love You” by the Delfonics (#6); “Young Girl” by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap (#7); “The Ballad of Bonnie & Clyde” by Georgia Fame (#8); “Lady Madonna” by the Beatles (#9); and “(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls” by Dionne Warwick (#10). 

“Hey Hey We’ve Been Cancelled.” The final episode of The Monkees aired this week in 1968, although the group would continue to record several more albums.

The first issue of Beware the Creeper, a DC series produced by Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko (with the help of scripter Dennis O’Neil), was released this week in 1968. Ditko had played a pivotal role in launching the Marvel Age of Comics; while he had continued to work for Charlton Comics during much of the time he was working at Marvel, this would mark his first Silver Age work for DC. Alas, the series would prove to be less successful than DC hoped, leading to its cancellation after only six issues.