Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 10/21/1968 to 10/27/1968

Head football coach Nick Hyder announced that Jimmy Edwards (who had served as the Chieftains' quarterback in 1967 but had been moved to halfback for the 1968 season) had been tapped to serve as the team's quarterback after Mike Johnson's shoulder fracture in the Marietta game—a fracture that would keep him out for the rest of the season. "The coaches feel like Johnson is one of the most versatile and talented boys ever to play football, and there's no doubt he'll be missed," Hyder said. "He graded out at 85% in the Marietta game before he was hurt, and that's a pretty impressive percentage when you're getting beat!" Coach Hyder stressed that West Rome wasn't a one-man team, though, and praised the performance of  Edwards as well as sophomores Randy Hatch, John Sapp, and Chieftains star Roger Weaver. He also announced that the team was going to short another player going into the Friday game: Randy Brumbelow was out due to illness.

West Rome's new/returning quarterback faced a trial by fire as the Chieftains took on Cartersville's Hurricanes on Friday night, October 25th. Unfortunately, the injuries and roster changes took a toll on the team's performance, and they lost to Cartersville 21-14--their first region loss for the season and their second loss in a row (Marietta, who defeated them the week before, was a non-region team.)

Interest in a Floyd County junior college continued to grow, with the Rome Jaycees, the Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission, the Noon Optimists Club, the Coosa Boosters Club, and the Alto Park PTA all endorsing plans for the construction of a junior college, and encouraged all county residents to support the $3.2 million bond referendum to finance initial construction.

Governor Lester Maddox announced plans to ask for a state sales tax increase from 3% to 4% during the 1969 legislative session. Maddox also announced his intention to seek a tax increase on gasoline taxes, cigarette taxes, and corporate income tax. Maddox's requested tax hike would amount to the first sales tax increase since Georgia first implemented the 3% sales tax in 1951. The personal and corporate income tax rates had been in place without any changes since 1937. Maddox said that he felt it was time for Georgia's tax rate to increase, and that the extra revenue would be shared with local cities and states. (Democratic legislators, who held the majority in Georgia in the 1960s and the 1970s, didn't agree, and the tax increase went nowhere; it would ultimately be another twenty years before Georgia's tax rate increased.

Daylight saving time came to an end on Sunday, October 27th, as the state returned to Eastern Standard Time for the winter. Legislators announced led plans to prevent legislation in 1969 to end daylight saving time (but as we know, those plans went nowhere, and we're still stuck with changing our clocks twice a year).

Piggly Wiggly had smoked ham for 39¢ a pound, grapes for 19¢ a pound, and Sealtest ice milk for 49¢ a pound. Kroger had chicken livers for 39¢ a pound, Campbell's chicken noodle soup for 12¢ a can, and cantaloupes for 49¢ each. A&P had chuck roast for 39¢ a pound, Starkist tuna for 39¢ a can, and tomatoes for 19¢ a pound. Big Apple had fresh whole fryers for 25¢ a pound, bananas for a dime a pound, and Southern Maid biscuits for 10¢ a can. Couch's had sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Poss Brunswick stew for 49¢ a pound, and bananas for a dime a pound.

The cinematic week began with The Stranger Returns (starring Tony Anthony) at the DeSoto Theatre, Rachel, Rachel (starring Marietta's own Joanne Woodward) at the First Avenue, and How I Won the War (starring John Lennon) at the West Rome Drive-In.  The midweek switchout brought Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (starring Shirley MacLaine) to the DeSoto Theatre and Spree (a low-budget drug-addiction crime film starring no one you've ever heard of) to the West Rome Drive-In, while Rachel, Rachel hung around for another week at the First Avenue.

The Beatles held on to the number one slot for another week with the mega-hit "Hey Jude" (which was, at the time, the longest single to ever place in the Top Ten). Other top ten hits included "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (#2); "Little Green Apples" by O C Smith (#3); "Fire" by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown (#4); "Midnight Confessions" by the Grass Roots (#5); "Elenore" by the Turtles (#6); "Over You" by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap (#7); "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash (#8); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (#9); and "White Room" by Cream (#10).