Fifty Years Ago in West Rome - 1/20/1969 to 1/26/1969

West Rome defeated their down-the-road rivals, the Coosa Eagles, 50-43 on Friday night, with Kenny Stephens the top scorer at 18 points. The girls team also won, 59-33, with Debbie Poarch accounting for 33 of those points (which means that she scored as many points as the entire Coosa team!).

The Rome Jaycees announced plans to collect petition signatures to call for a referendum on the legal sale of alcoholic beverages in Rome and Floyd County. "The Rome Jaycees take no position either for against the legal sale of alcoholic beverages," the group said in its statement of support, "but does feel that the present situation calls for a current statement of public policy by the taxpayers and citizens in the form of a referendum."

Gibson Discount Center announced plans to open a store on Highway 27 north of Rome, near the Georgia State Patrol headquarters. The company said that they envisioned the new store as being 20% bigger than Big K in West Rome, which was at the time the largest store in Rome and Floyd County. The store expected to hire 200 full and part-time employees once it opened.

Fairbanks Manufacturing announced plans to add 20,000 additional square feet to its West Rome plant. Fairbanks was Rome's oldest continuously-operating industry, dating back to 1887. The expansion would also lead to the creation of 60 new jobs.

General Electric also set a hiring record this week in 1969, with 1812 people employed at the plant located just up the road from West Rome High School. Nearly 200 new employees were hired in 1968 and the first week of 1969, making GE the largest single employer in the entire Northwest Georgia area.

Nowadays, if we want to talk to someone anywhere in the country, we just grab our mobile phone and give them a call—but it was entirely different back in the late 1960s, when the person-to-person daytime rate for a call from Rome to New York was more than a dollar a minute! To save on that cost, Southern Bell began pushing their Long Distance Direct service, which meant that you dialed the number rather than asking the operator to connect you to a person. The advantage? It was 40% cheaper. The disadvantage? If someone answered but the person you wanted to talk to wasn't there, you still had to pay for the first minute (with person to person calls, you only paid from the moment you began talking to the specific person you were trying to call). And the rates dropped an additional 25% if you called Long Distance Direct after 7:00 pm, which mean you could talk cross-country for as low as 40¢ a minute (that's almost $3.00 in today's money, adjusted for inflation)!

Piggly Wiggly had chicken breasts for 49¢ a pound, Oreida tater tots for 38¢ a two-pound bag, and a 35-ounce box of Fab detergent for 19¢. Big Apple had sirloin steak for 99¢ a pound, Bailey Supreme coffee for 55¢ a pound, and Irvindale ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon. Kroger had perch filet for 39¢ a pound, Appian Way frozen pizza for 33¢ each, and tomatoes for 29¢ a pound. A&P had beef liver for 35¢ a pound, Poss Brunswick stew for 49¢ a can, and Amour Treet for 55¢ a can. Couch's had Oscar Mayer wieners for 59¢ a pound, Duncan Hines cake mix for 33¢ a box, and Van Camp's chili with beans for 33¢ a can.

The cinematic week began with The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (starring Dean Jones) at the DeSoto Theatre, Barbarella (starring Jane Fonda) at the First Avenue, and a double feature of Thunderball and From Russia With Love (two James Bond films starring Sean Connery) at the West Rome Drive-In. Both The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit and Barbarella hung around for the remainder of the week, but the West Rome Drive-In traded James Bond for The Fox (starring Sandy Dennis).

Tommy James & the Shondells scored a number one hit with "Crimson and Clover" this week in 1969. Other top ten hits included "Everyday People" by Sly & the Family Stone (#2); "Worst That Could Happen" by Brooklyn Bridge (#3); "Touch Me" by the Doors (#4); "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye (#5); "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Temptations (#6); "I Started a Joke" by the Bee Gees (#7); "Hooked on a Feeling" by BJ Thomas (#8); "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited (#9); and "Build Me Up Buttercup" by the Foundations (#10).

Neil Young released his eponymous first solo album this week in 1969... sort of. The album was released for a couple of days in November 1968, but a manufacturing error resulted in an album that sounded so bad that Warner/Reprise records recalled all copies and redid the album for a January release.