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.
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