Romans awoke to surprise snow flurries on Monday morning, November 11th, and continued off and on through the day and into the early evening. Minor accumulations of up to 1/2" were reported in some parts of Floyd County, and there were no cancellations or travel advisories--but there were a few minor traffic accidents caused by the light snow on wet pavement, and one Roman slipped and fell while attempting to gather enough snow to make snow cream.
Roger Weaver was once again tapped as the Rome News-Tribune's Player of the Week for his outstanding performance in the East Rome game. The paper referred to this as "Weaver's finest hour... There's no doubt that he was the sparkplug that enabled West Rome to end its season on a winning note." He carried the football 34 times during the game and gained 291 net yards, the best single-game performance by any area back during the season.
Kippy Scarborough and Janice Crider represented West Rome in the Rome Junior Miss Pageant, held on Saturday night at the Rome City Auditorium--and Scarborough was the winner, assuming the title of Floyd County June Miss. Scarborough, a senior at West Rome, was a majorette for four years, a solo twirler for two years, and a member of senior band, Student Council, Tri-Hi-Y, and Drama Club. She was also convention chairman for the Georgia Association of Student Councils.
If you grew up in West Rome, you became very familiar with the "fragrance" of Georgia Kraft (now Inland Container). Their rotten-egg smell of the paper mill frequently wafted across the area when the winds were right, and pretty much no air filtration could keep it out of West Rome homes and businesses. Georgia Kraft insisted that their four recovery units, designed to minimize emissions from the plant, actually reduced the smoke and stink by at least 80%--and to demonstrate how effective it was, the facility turned off just one of the four recovery units on Thursday, November 14th, for about an hour. The immediate result? The light white smoke emitted from the stacks was replaced with a dark, heavy smoke, and the smell increased dramatically. Apparently "See? We could be even worse" was the closest thing to clean air that West Romans could hope for...
After almost a decade of planning and construction, the final segment of the East Rome Interchange was completed. This link extended from Maple Road to Walker Mountain Road, a distance of 2.9 miles, and it cost almost $1.2 million to construct. The interchange, greatly improved traffic flow from Rome to Cedartown--and to the soon-to-be-constructed Floyd Junior College.
With the bond issue a done deal, the Georgia Board of Regents gave official approval to the contract for the construction of a junior college in the Rome area. Plans called for the school to be finished by the fall of 1969.
Harvest Festival Days took place from Thursday through Saturday, offering an array of shopping bargains from stores across Rome and Floyd County, with a particular emphasis on Christmas season shopping. Every retail store on Broad Street announced special sales to commemorate the event, reminding readers that even with large discount department stores coming to Rome (read "Big K"), Broad Street still offered the best selection and great bargains.
Piggly Wiggly had chuck roast for 39¢ a pound, Maxwell House coffee for 50¢ a pound, and Coca-Cola for 33¢ a 6-bottle carton (plus deposit). Kroger had Cudahy Bar-S bacon for 49¢ a pound, bread for 18¢ a loaf, and oranges for 8¢ each. A&P had sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Ann Page salad dressing for 49¢ a quart, and large eggs for 49¢ a dozen. Big Apple had ground beef for 49¢ a pound, Duke mayonnaise for 49¢ a quart, and a five-pound bag of Dixie Crystals sugar for 39¢. Couch's had chicken livers for 49¢ a pound, Bama jellies for a quarter a jar (and you could use the jar as a drinking glass when you finished up the jelly!), and bananas for a dime a pound.
The cinematic week began with The Paper Lion (starring Alan Alda) at the DeSoto Theatre, The Fox (starring Sandy Dennis) at the First Avenue and Young Runaways (starring Brooke Bundy) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Boston Strangler (starring Tony Curtis) to the DeSoto Theatre, Helga (an adults-only film starring unknown Ruth Gasseman) to the First Avenue, and Five Card Stud (starring Dean Martin) to the West Rome Drive-In.
The Beatles' "Hey Jude" held the number slot for the ninth week in a row, while Diana Ross & the Supremes' "Love Child climbed to #2 this week in 1968. Other top ten hits included "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin (#3); "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#4); "Abraham, Martin, & John" by Dion (#5); "White Room" by Cream (#6); "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash (#7); "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#8); "Little Green Apples" by OC Smith (#9); and "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#10).
On Sunday, November 17th, NBC broke away from the Oakland Raiders-New York Jets football game at 7pm, with less than a minute to play in the game, to begin their much-advertised TV movie adaptation of Heidi. Unfortunately for NBC, the Raiders managed to score two touchdowns in that final minute and thus won the game--and none of the TV viewers got to see it. The game became known as "The Heidi Bowl," and as a result, non-sports viewers have had to put up with their TV shows being pushed back by slow-play sporting events ever since...
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