Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 7/29/1968 to 8/4/1968

West Rome junior Steve Blad won first place in the Georgie State Science Fair for his project on isolating molds from soil samples to test for antibiotic qualities. As a result, Steve won a trip to the 10th National Youth Conference on the Atom, to be held in Chicago in November. Steve credited the encouragement of his science teacher, Graham Stevens, with motivating him to enter the science fair to begin with. 

Chieftains Theresa Deleski, Katherine Edwards, April Garrison, and Dorothy Flowers were chosen as winners of State Teacher Scholarships, which were awarded to outstanding Georgia high school students who planned to go into teaching after college; scholarships ranged from $300 to $1000 for an academic year (and this was at a time when Berry College's quarterly tuition was only $380, which made this a pretty substantial scholarship). 

We're so accustomed to calling anywhere in the country for no extra charge that most of us forget that we used to have to pay long distance rates for almost any call that crossed the Floyd County line--and those rates were pretty darn expensive! They got a little bit cheaper this week in 1968, though, when Southern Bell announced a 5 to ten cent reduction in cost for the first three minutes of long distance. 

For instance, Romans could call the West Coast for $1.70 for the first three minutes; prior to this reduction, the cost was $1.75 for the first three minutes. (Remember, with an inflation multiplier of 7.24, that's the equivalent of spending $12.31 in today's dollars to talk to your California friends for three minutes!)

Georgia's tax surplus continued to climb: new figures revealed this week in 1968 showed an $86 million surplus, up $16 million above the previous surplus estimates. "I'm confident hat we'll be able to go with expanded educational programs without a tax increase," House Speaker George L. Smith said. Senate Appropriations Chairman Lamar Plunkett said that there was a chance that the surplus might top $100 million by year's end (and remember that 7.24 inflation multiplier--it would make that surplus almost three quarters of a billion dollars in today's dollars). 

Georgia Kraft Company unveiled plans for a multi-million dollar addition to their Rome facility. PF Holt, chairman of the Kraft Board of Directors, said that this was a further example of the company's commitment to its Rome facility. 

Rome continued its practice of distributing surplus food to any Rome residents. This week in 1968, the list of available food included corn meal, dry beans, flour, dry milk, butter, rolled oats, chopped meat, cheese, scrambled eggs mix, grist, dehydrated potatoes, split peas, fruit juice, and canned green beans. Residents whose last named began with A-H could pick up food on Tuesday; I-P on Wednesday, and Q-Z on Thursday. They urged residents to bring containers for bulk food items and boxes/bags for canned and packaged goods.

Piggly Wiggly had chuck roast for 59¢ a pound, pineapple for 25¢ a can, and seedless white grapes for 33¢ a pound. Big Apple had rib steaks for 99¢ a pound, Armour Vienna sausage for 20¢ a can, and RC or Diet Rite Cola for 29¢ a carton plus deposit. A&P had corned beef for 59¢ a pound, lemons for 49¢ a dozen, and cantaloupes for 33¢ each. Kroger had fresh whole fryers for 29¢ a pound, Fleetwood coffee for 49¢ a pound, and Kroger white bread for 20¢ a loaf.  Couch's had pork chops for 49¢ a pound, Armour pickle & pimento loaf for 29¢ a package, and Aristocrat ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon. 

The cinematic week began with The Green Berets (starring John Wayne) at the DeSoto Theatre, Bandolero (starring Dean Martin) at the First Avenue Theatre, and Rosemary's Baby (starring Mia Farrow) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought Boom (with Elizabeth Taylor) to the First Avenue and Caprice (starring Doris Day) to the West Rome Drive-In, while The Green Berets held their territory at the DeSoto for another week.

Jeff Beck released his album Truth this week in 1968. The album united the former Yardbird with two musicians making their record debuts: guitarist Ronnie Wood and vocalist Rod Stewart. Stewart had actually been invited to join Jimmy Page's new group Led Zeppelin, but he had already signed on with Beck by that time, so Led Zeppelin approached Terry Reid, who also turned them down. It was Reid who would recommend the relatively unknown Robert Plant as Jimmy Pages's vocalist, and rock history would be made...

This was also he week when Buffalo Springfield released their final album, Last Time around.  By the time the album was released, the group was functionally disbanded; the five original members only appeared together on a single track, "On the Way Home."

Steve Ditko's enigmatic, faceless hero the Question starred in his own full-length comic, Mysterious Suspense #1, released by Charlton Comics this week in 1968. The Question would return a month later in Blue Beetle #5, which would mark his last appearance for a decade (and when he did return, it would be without the involvement of Ditko).