Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 12/30/1968 to 1/5/1969

The Christmas/New Year's holiday break came to an end for West Rome students as school resumed on Thursday, January 2nd. While there were snow flurries on December 31st, all the snow was gone by mid-day on New Year's Day, eliminating any hopes that students might have had of an extra snow-day holiday. It was a cold return to school, though, with a Thursday morning low of 13 degrees.

The Chieftains  boys basketball team defeated Model for the second time this season, 71-49, while the girls team won 47-38. William Shelton was the high scorer for West Rome with 16 points, while both Charles Smith and Mike Day scored in double digits. Debbie Poarch was the leading scorer for the girls with 24 points.

The Rome City Commission kicked off the New Year with warnings that a tax increase was inevitable. One reason: the city school system said that it would need more than $100,000 in extra funds to finance teacher's raises and pensions, as well as covering the cost of new clerical staff as school enrollment increased. The schools were asking for a 6% pay raise for staff. In addition, the Rome City Commission was considering a 10% pay raise for non-school employees, but nothing was finalized at the first monthly meeting of 1969.

The flu was still a major problem in Rome and Floyd Count, so Floyd and McCall Hospitals issued a joint advisory asking that hospital visits be curtailed. The request said that only immediate family members should attempt to visit patients at either hospital, and only a maximum of two people at a time would be allowed to visit. Anyone with any sort of respiratory infection symptoms would be barred from visiting.

Romans got a new choice for pizza this week with the opening of Hal & Val's Pizzeria on Martha Berry Highway.  Among other things, they offered a large House Special (with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, and green pepper) for $3.49.

Kentucky Fried Chicken celebrated the New Year with a $4.15 special that included a bucket of chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, cole slaw, and rolls. They also offered their fish or shrimp dinners for 99¢ each, slightly more than a 20% discount. (I never remember eating seafood at Kentucky Fried Chicken, but apparently it was a big part of their menu back in the 1960s.)

Piggly Wiggly had chicken livers for 59¢ a pound, eggs for 53¢ a dozen, and five pounds of oranges for 48¢. Kroger had round steak for 88¢ a pound, Chase & Sanborn coffee for 49¢ a can, and dried black-eyed peas for 9¢ a pound. A&P had country style ham for 88¢ a pound, Super Suds detergent for a quarter a box, and yellow onions for a dime a pound. Big Apple had pork chops for 69¢ a pound, cabbage for a dime a head, and Van Camp's Vienna sausages for 20¢ a can. Couch's had  sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Shurfresh biscuits for 7¢ a can, and Double Cola for 99¢ a case plus deposit.

The cinematic week began with Hellfighters (starring John Wayne) at the DeSoto Theatre, Bullitt (starring Steve McQueen) at the First Avenue, and a double feature of Coogan's Bluff (starring Clint Eastwood) and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (starring Bob Hope) at the West Rome Drive-In.  The midweek switch out brought The Impossible Years (starring David Niven) to the DeSoto and a John Wayne double feature of Hellfighters and The Desperate Ones to the West Rome Drive-In, while Steve McQueen continued to drive his Mustang around San Francisco in Bullitt, which remained at the First Avenue for another week.

Marvin Gaye held on to the number one slot for the fifth week with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Other top ten hits included "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by Diana Ross & The Supremes (#2); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#3); "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited (#4); "Hooked on a Feeling" by BJ Thomas (#5); "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations (#6): "For Once in My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#7); "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James & the Shondells (#8); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (#9); and "I Love How You Love Me" by Bobby Vinton (#10). 

NBC became the first network to expand its evening newscast to Saturdays with the addition of a Huntley-Brinkley Report at 6:30 on Saturday nights. The name was misleading, though, as both newscasters did not appear on each weekly newscast; instead, Chet Huntley would anchor one week, and David Brinkley would anchor the next. 

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 12/23/1968 to 12/29/1968

Rome and Floyd County students celebrated a long holiday break. Both school systems were closed the week of Christmas and the week of New Years, giving students 16 days in a row out of school. Floyd County non-school employees got all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as a holiday. Rome city non-school employees got the shortest break of all; they had to work until noon on Christmas Eve and then got Christmas Day off.

Rome didn't get a white Christmas, but it did get a cold Christmas, with a low of 15 degrees on Christmas Eve night and a high of 35 on Christmas day. Temperatures warmed into the upper forties later in the week.

West Rome defeated Cedartown 74-56 on December 23rd to advance to the semifinals of the Rome News-Tribune Holiday Festival basketball tournament. William Shelton was the Chieftains' high scorer with 18 points. West Rome then defeated Pepperell 60-51 on December 26th to advance to the finals; Kenny Stephens was the high scorer with 18 points. Alas, West Rome lost 75-49 to the Calhoun Yellow Jackets in the final round of play.

Rome and Floyd County released nine prisoners so that they could enjoy Christmas with their families--but two of them returned to jail on Christmas day because they didn't want to miss the Christmas meal for prisoners, which included baked ham, turkey, dressing, lima beans,  Waldorf salad, cranberry sauce, fresh biscuits, fruitcake, coffee, and tea, along with an assortment of candy, fruit, and nuts. Warden Bill Scoggins said it wasn't unusual for prisoners to voluntarily return to jail. "Most of them can't get a meal this good anywhere else," he said.

Vandals damaged almost every gravestone at the West Seventh Avenue Cemetery in the early hours of Monday morning, December 23rd. According to the Rome Police, the vandals climbed over a fence and entered the cemetery at about 2am, where they used sledgehammers to shatter tombstones and used other implements to tear up the grass on numerous graves. They also scattered all flower arrangements around the cemetery. The vandals were gone by the time the police arrived.

Christmas thieves went looking for their own gifts in the early morning hours of Christmas Day, and found them at Quality Produce Company (where they broke into a safe and stole $400 in cash, $1000 worth of stock certificates, and a bag of old coins), at Hill Truck & Tractor Company (where they stole almost $7000 worth of tools), and at S&S Supermarket (where they stole two hams, a turkey, some cigarettes, and about $100 in cash). Burglary attempts at Big K and the Singer Sewing Center at Gala Shopping Center proved unsuccessful.

Three adolescents (all East Rome students, of course) were found under the Second Avenue Bridge on the night of December 27th, all highly intoxicated. Their beverage of choice? Vanilla extract, which had an alcohol base; they had all drunk several bottles before passing out. The 13 and 16 year olds were released to their parents, but the 12 year old drank so much that he had to be hospitalized.
Piggly Wiggly had hog jowl for 16¢ a pound, Heinz tomato soup for a dime a can, and Coca-Cola/Tab/Sprite for 33¢ a carton (plus deposit). Kroger had five pounds of Dixie Crystals sugar for 39¢, tom turkeys for 28¢ a pound, and oranges for 33¢ a dozen. Big Apple had sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Southern Maid black-eyed peas for a dime a can, and bananas for a dime a pound. A&P had jiffy steak for 89¢ a pound, Irvindale ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon, and golden delicious apples for 12¢ a pound. Couch's had pork roast for 59¢ a pound, collard greens for 25¢ a bunch, and ten pounds of potatoes for 49¢.

Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders celebrated Christmas 1968 very far away from home—farther than any human being had ever been before, in fact. Shortly before Christmas, they became the first humans to orbit the moon (and the first humans to see the dark side of the moon, as well as the first humans to witness Earthrise over the surface of the moon. On Christmas Eve night, while in orbit around the moon, the crew assured those of us who were still earthbound that there is a Santa Claus, after which they read a passage from the book of Genesis. They left lunar orbit on Christmas Day and returned to Earth on December 27th.

The cinematic week began with The Split (starring Julie Harris) at the DeSoto Theatre, Far From the Madding Crowd (starring Julie Christie) at the First Avenue, and Salt & Pepper (starring Peter Lawford) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought  Hellfighters (starring John Wayne) to the DeSoto Theatre, Bullitt (starring Steve McQueen) to the First Avenue, and Coogan's Bluff (starring Clint Eastwood) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Marvin Gaye climbed to the number one slot this week in 1968 with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Other top ten hits included "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#2); "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (#3); "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited (#4); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#5); "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations (#6); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & The Supremes (#7); "Stormy" by the Classics IV Featuring Dennis Yost (#8); "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#9); and "Hooked on a Feeling" by BJ Thomas (#10).

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 12/16/1968 to 12/22/1968

Christmas was approaching fast, but West Rome students were still hard at work, since school was in session the entire week of December 15th through the 20th. And while the weather was seasonably cold, there wasn't even a chance for frozen precipitation delivering a pre-Christmas snow day.

Some students got to stay home, but it's doubtful that they were enjoying the time off. Rome was struggling with a Hong Kong flu outbreak this week in 1968. While the outbreak wasn't bad enough to be classified as an epidemic, city and county schools reported almost double the absentee rate. Six drug manufacturers were working overtime to produce a Hong Kong flu vaccine, but health officials worried that the early onset would run its course before sufficient quantities of the vaccine could be made available to local residents.

West Rome's boys basketball team defeated Model 63-45 in the first round of play of the 15th annual Rome News-Tribune Holiday Basketball Festival. Richard Wood was the top scorer for the Chieftains with 19 points, while Kenny Stephens scored 15 points and William Shelton scored 12 points.

Floyd County detectives and police arrested three men who were running a burglary ring focusing on residential break-ins in North Georgia and Alabama. Floyd County officers recovered cash, firearms, stereo equipment, hunting supplies, radios, and more; they believed that the burglary ring was responsible for more than two dozen break-ins in the past six months.

That wasn't the end to crime in Rome, however: the day after the burglary ring was broken, other burglars broke into Phelps Produce Company and stole produce, office equipment, a cash register with about $25 in cash, and four Christmas trees. That evening, three more men forced their way into a Floyd County home, pistol-whipped one of the residents, and left with $400 in cash.

Governor Lester Maddox came to Rome on Thursday to push his plan to increase Georgia's sales tax from 3% to 4% and to add a 1.5¢ per gallon increase to the gasoline tax.

And speaking of taxes, the social security ta rate was set to increase from 4.76% to 4.8% at the first of the year, and the federal government was warning taxpayers not to be surprised at the new rate. Social security taxes were still only payable on the first $7800 of earnings.

The political editor of the Jacksonville, Florida newspaper wrote a column describing Rome as "the prettiest town in the entire Southeast" and "worthy of a visit." He praised the beauty of the downtown area, the charm of the area's hilly terrain, the impressiveness of Berry and Shorter College, and the thriving economy of Rome as reasons why it was such a standout community.

RCA began rolling out its color televisions with Automatic Fine Tuning (AFT), which locked in stations automatically and eliminated the need for viewers to play with the fine tuning knob. The feature added about $100 onto the price of a color television, but Rome Radio Company assured potential buyers that it was worth the extra expense. "Just turn to the channel you want, sit down, and enjoy--no more fiddling with the fine tuning knob," the ad stressed.

Big K pushed shopping to new extremes when they announced plans to stay open until 11pm from December 15th through December 23rd (except for Saturday night, when they would stay open until midnight, and Sunday night, when they would close at 7pm). This made Big K the first Rome area business to push the season shopping hours past 9pm. Today, we're accustomed to stores staying open late (and in some cases, staying open 24 hours a day), but in the 1970s, the idea of staying open later that 9pm was a novelty--and many businesses still closed at 6pm or 7pm. In response, Sears announced plans to stay open until 10pm on Friday, December 20th, and until 11pm on Monday, December 23rd.

Piggly Wiggly had hen turkeys for 37¢ a pound, pumpkin pies for 27¢ each, and tangerines for 33¢ a dozen. A&P had chuck roast for 37¢ a pound, strawberries for 35¢ a pint, and Brach's cream drops for 39¢ a pound. Kroger had rib roast for 89¢ a pound, five pounds of sugar for 39¢, and oranges for 29¢ a dozen. Big Apple had tom turkeys for 33¢ a pound, shredded coconut for 59¢ a pound, and golden delicious apples for 19¢ a pound.  Couch's had smoked hams for 59¢ a pound, Blue Plate mayonnaise for 49¢ a quart, and sweet potatoes for a 12¢ a pound.

The cinematic week began with The Big Gundown (starring Lee Van Cleef) at the DeSoto Theatre, Monkeys Go Home (starring Dean Jones) at the First Avenue, and The Ugly Ones (starring Richard Wyler) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Split (starring Julie Harris) to the DeSoto, Far from the Madding Crowd. (starring Julie Christie) to the First Avenue, and Deadfall (starring Michael Caine) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Marvin Gaye held on to the number one slot on the Top Ten with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Other top ten hits included "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#2); "Love Child" by Diana Ross & The Supremes (#3); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#4); "Stormy" by the Classics IV featuring Dennis Yost (#5); "Abraham, Martin, & John" by Dion (#6); "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by Diana Ross & The Supremes and the Temptations (#7); "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#8); "I Love How You Love Me" by Bobby Vinton (#9); and "Cloud Nine" by the Temptations (#10).

Peter Tork announced his plans to leave the Monkees this week in 1968.

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 12/9/1968 to 12/15/1968

After months of discussions about consolidating Rome's high schools into one inconveniently-located-for-everyone Rome High, the School Board unanimously rejected the plan on Monday evening, December 9th, voting instead to continue to use the existing West Rome and East Rome High Schools and the construct two new junior high schools. The board cited easier transportation, smaller class sizes with better student-teacher ratios, more individualized attention, more community involvement, more neighborhood unity, and a sense of local pride. Rome Superintendent M.S. MacDonald spoke out against the two-school plan stating his preference for one central school, but admitted that neither the board nor the citizens of Rome were in favor of the plan. The superintendent and the board did caution citizens that the decision would most likely mean a small school tax increase for 1969.

While West Rome's absentee rates were running about average this week in 1968, our crosstown rivals weren't doing so well; an outbreak of flue cases pushed East Rome High's absentee rate to about double the normal, and even 15% of the teachers were out sick by the end of the week.

Coosa headed very slightly east for the Coosa-West Rome basketball game; normally, the game was played at the Memorial Gym, but schedule conflicts forced them to move to one of the high school gyms, and West Rome won the coin toss. West Rome's boys also won the game 56-51, while the girls won 53-32. William Shelton was the high scorer for the boys team with 18 points, while Debbie Poarch was the high scorer for the girls with 37 points.

Georgians learned this week in 1968 that their average ulitity bills would be increasing almost 2% beginning in 1969. Just how much did that amount to? Well, according to Georgia Power, that would be an average increase of 19¢, meaning the average electric bill was $9.50 a month; gas bills would increase 17¢ a month on average, meaning the average gas bill was $8.50 a month. Adjusted for inflation, that would equal about $66 and $59 respectively--and I think every one of us would be thrilled to have average utility bills that ran that low!

Rome began pushing once again for funding assistance to construct a four-lane highway from Shorter Avenue along Lavender Drive and Redmond Circle to the Alabama Road; while the Appalachian Regional Commission and the state committed almost $416,000 to the project, the federal government's freeze on highway funds left the project on hold. As far as we know, the state money is still there," City Manager Bruce Hamler said. If the money were to come through, the city was ready to begin construction immediately and had all right of way agreements in place.

Romans dealt with a very cold December as temperatures fell to 15 degrees in the early morning hours of December 9th, setting a new low-temperature record.

Rome's rash of burglaries continued as people were apparently looking for extra Christmas cash. On Monday, burglars broke into a soft drink machine at Taylor's Food Store and made off with about $9 in change; they broke into a soft drink machine at Garden Lakes Service Station and stole about $22;  and they broke a window at Interstate Life Insurance Company and raided the vending machines, making off with about $30. On Tuesday, police got a lead in the case, and by Wednesday they had three East Rome teenagers under arrest and were searching for a fourth.

Piggly Wiggly had chicken livers for 59¢ a pound, Chuck Wagon bacon for 53¢ a pound, and grapefruit for a dime each.A&P had sirloin steak for 88¢ a pound, Poss Brunswick Stew for 49¢ a can, and strawberries for 35¢ a pint. Big Apple had picnic hams for 37¢ a pound, Bailey's Supreme coffee for 55¢ a pound, and Kraft cheese for 59¢ a pound. Kroger had pork roast for 29¢ a pound, three pounds of Hungry Jack pancake mix for 59¢, and yellow corn for a dime an ear. Couch's had store-ground sausage for 39¢ a pound, JFG mayonnaise for 49¢ a quart, and a 13-ounce box of Brach's chocolate-covered cherries for 49¢.

The cinematic week began with The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (starring Alan Arkin) at the DeSoto Theatre, For the Love of Ivy (starring Sidney Poitier) at the First Avenue, and Live a Little, Love a Little (starring Elvis Presley) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Big Gundown (starring Lee Van Cleef) to the DeSoto, The Family Band (starring Walter Brennan) to the First Avenue, and Villa Rides (starring Yul Brynner) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Marvin Gaye held on to the number one slot this week with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Other top ten hits included "Love Child" by Diana Ross & The Supremes (#2); "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#3); "Abraham, Martin, and John" by Dion (#4); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#5); "Stormy" by the Classics IV featuring Dennis Yost (#6): "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#7); "Both Sides Now" by Judy Collins (#8); "I Love How You Love Me" by Bobby Vinton (#9); and "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#10).

NBC made music-television history this week in 1968 when they aired TCB, a Motown musical review produced by the Laugh-In production team of George Schlatter-Ed Friendly. The variety special was the first musical show aired on American television to feature an entirely African-American cast; performers included Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations.

This was also the week when The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus was filmed on a makeshift circus stage in England. The idea was to sell the concert as a television special, and it would have been well received considering its lineup, which included the Stones, John Lennon, the Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithful, and others. The special marked Lennon's first non-Beatles performance; he,  Yoko Ono, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Mitch Mitchell performed as The Dirty Mac, doing (among other things) Lennon's "Yer Blues' from The White Album. The whole thing ended up getting shelved after filming, and the footage wasn't officially released for almost twenty years.

Blood, Sweat & Tears released their second album, the eponymous Blood Sweat, & Tears, this week in 1968. The second album was actually more successful than their first album, producing four big hits—"And When I Die," "Good Bless the Child," "Spinning Wheel," and "You've Made Me So Very Happy."

Fifty Years Ag This Week in West Rome - 12/2/1968 to 12/8/1968

Santa paid a visit to Rome on Monday night, December 2nd, to lead the annual Christmas Parade. The parade, which began at 6pm, started at Barron Stadium, headed down Second Avenue, then up Broad Street.  More than 20,000 people showed up for the parade,

Workers began moving the overpass structure near the Marine Corps Armory this week in 1968. Plans called for the removal and lane widening to take approximately three months. When completed, lanes would be widened from 9 feet per lane to 12 feet per lane, and a third  lane would be added for traffic heading into town from West Rome; this lane would channel traffic onto North Second Avenue, past Barron Stadium, and into the downtown area.

West Rome had another bout of snow flurries on December 3rd, the second of the year. Once again, though, the little bit of snow wasn't enough have any impact on local travel, and school remained in session.

Local election runoffs made history for Rome as three Republicans won positions on the City Council  for the first time in history. The Republican wins took place in North, South, and East Rome; West Rome remained solidly Democrat into the 70s.

Burglars did their Christmas shopping early on Monday night. First, they broke into the Central Plaza Super Discount store, where they stole about $130 worth of merchandise. Then thieves broke into Blanton Plow Company, but they found nothing they wanted, so they left empty-handed. The same night, thieves broke into the Holiday Laundromat, where they stole some change and a few packs of crackers from a cracker machine.  On Tuesday night, armed men tried to carry out an armed robbery at Hogan's Service Station, but the station owner turned on the robbers and pummeled them until one of them hit the owner in the head with the butt of his pistol, then fled. On Thursday night, burglars broke into Glidden Paint company and stole $163 in cash; Dari-Chief, where they were unsuccessful their attempts to open the safe; Horton's Laundry, where a small amount of change was stolen; and East Rome High School, where a snack machine was ransacked and the offices were trashed.

Piggly Wiggly had sirloin steak for $1.09 a pound, Maxwell House instant coffee for 79¢ a jar, and Coca-Cola/Tab/Sprite for 33¢ a carton plus deposit. Kroger had chuck roast for 35¢ a pound, Del Monte pickles for 29¢ a quart, and Double Cola for 99¢ a case plus deposit. A&P had pork roast for 55¢ a pound, d'Anjou pears for 19¢ a pound, and a two-pound fruitcake for $1.79. Big Apple had fresh whole fryers for 25¢  pound, Chicken of the Sea tuna for 33¢ a can, and bananas for a dime a pound. Couch's had lamb shoulder roast for 49¢ a pound, Van Camp's chili for 33¢ a can, and tangerines for 49¢ a dozen.

The cinematic week began with Coogan's Bluff (starring Clint Eastwood) at the DeSoto Theatre, Live a Little, Love a Little (starring Elvis Presley) at the First Avenue, and The Boston Strangler (starring Tony Curtis) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (starring Alan Arkin) to the DeSoto Theatre, For Love of Ivy (starring Sidney Poitier) to the First Avenue, and The Boba (starring Peter Sellers) to the West Rome Drive-In.

Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" climbed to number one this week in 1968. Other top ten hits included "Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (32); "For Once in My Life" by Stevie Wonder (#3); "Abraham, Martin, & John" by Dion (#4); "Hey Jude" by the Beatles (#5); "Who's Making Love" by Johnnie Taylor (#6); "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell (#7); "Stormy" by the Classic IV Featuring Dennis Yost (#8); "I Love How You Love Me" by Bobby Vinton (#9); and "Magic Capet Ride" by Steppenwolf (#10).

A big week for album releases, with the Monkees' quirky LP Head, the Rolling Stones' powerful Beggar's Banquet, James Taylor's eponymous Apple debut album, and Stevie Wonder's For Once in My Life all released during this week in 1968. Big album releases like these, so late in the year, made it a bit easier for many of us to put together Christmas lists for our parents...

Elvis Presley's career-remaking television special Elvis (known to many as the 1968 Comeback Special) aired on NBC on December 3rd; it marked Elvis's return to live performances after seven years of stressing movies over music. The special was so popular that it launched the second wave of Elvis's music career.

Dark Shadows made its jump from television soap opera to comic books this week in 1968 with the release of Gold Key's Dark Shadows #1. This was also the week that Jim Steranko's final Captain America story arc began in Captain America #111; Steranko's bold graphic design sense and fast-paced storytelling made him a fan favorite.