West Rome senior Kippy Scarbrough was honored with a "farewell and good luck" party at the high school on Thursday, April 24th, at 8:15 AM, prior to her departure to compete in the National Junior Miss Contest. Guests at the party included David Harvey of the Rome City Commission; Senator Sam Doss; and Charles Eberhart, president of the Rome Jaycees (the sponsors of the contest).
Rome was hit by a late April cold wave this week in 1969, with lows falling to 34 on Tuesday night and 35 Wednesday night, with a heavy frost across West Rome both nights.
The Rome Board of Education voted to re-evaluate their policy of allowing county students to pay tuition in order to attend city schools. The board said that overcrowding at East Rome and West Rome were the primary reasons to re-evaluate the tuition policy; there were 50 tuition students at East Rome High and 30 at West Rome High, which was would have qualified the school system for three new high school teachers--except that tuition students could not be included in the count for student allotments. The Board did vote to cap tuition students at West Rome, since population growth was much more robust on the west side of town. The tuition remained at $32.50 per month per student, which Superintendent McDonald said barely covered the cost of educating the students even if new teachers did not have to be hired.
"The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!" Southern Bell delivered new telephone directories across Rome this week in 1969; in those pre-internet days, the phone book was actually a pretty important source for information. (To this day, I maintain a reference library--unfortunately incomplete--of Rome phone directories from the 1950s through the 1990s; they are a great reference tool for information regarding new businesses in the area, as well as address info on Rome residents.)
For once, a Rome burglary was thwarted, nothing was actually stolen, and the thief was jailed even before the victims knew they had been robbed! When Edward Kirk of Alabama tried to "punch" open the vault in the Courthouse Annex, he set off a burglar alarm, which inspired the would-be thief to cut short his robbery attempt. He was arrested on suspicion of burglary, but it wasn't until the next morning that the courthouse staff discovered the damage caused to the safe by the robbery attempt. Ironically, the thief would have gotten nothing, since the Courthouse had quit leaving money in their vault after an unsolved 1964 burglary resulted in the loss of almost $10,0000 in cash.
A number of local business owners approached the Rome Chamber of Commerce to express their concern about the number of stores that were breaking the "blue laws" in Rome by opening for business on Sunday. While the law allowed grocery stores, drugstores, and restaurants to open on Sunday, it specified that "anyone who pursues a business or work of ordinary calling on Sunday is guilty of a misdemeanor." While no one was officially naming names, it was pretty clear to everyone that Big K was the subject of the business owners' ire; some complained that a "business newcomer" was taking business from them by opening on Sundays. A few businesses responded by opening their businesses on Sunday, but they said they'd rather go back to being closed again. The Chamber of Commerce took no action on this, but agreed to look into the issue over the next few weeks.
Rome's efforts to save the manned weather station at Russell Field failed to persuade the Federal government. Maurice Stans, the Secretary of Commerce, sent Rome a formal denial, saying that the reinstatement of the weather station was "not justifiable." The government would replace the manned station with automatic recording and reporting equipment.
West Rome hosted the General Education Development Test (GED) on Saturday, April 26th. Test-takers had to be eat least 20 years of age; those who passed the test would be awarded a certificate by the State Department of Education. West Rome teachers administered and supervised the test.
Piggly Wiggly had pork chops for 69¢ a pound, Swift's Vienna sausage for 23¢ a can, and lettuce for 23¢ a head. Kroger had chuck roast for 48¢ a pound, Kellogg's corn flakes for 25¢ a box, and carrots for a dime a bunch. Big Apple had sirloin steak for 89¢ a pound, Campbell's pork & beans for 13¢ a can, and grapefruit for a dime each. A&P had ocean perch fillets for 99¢ a pound, Blue Plate mayonnaise for 49¢ a quart, and Irvindale ice milk for 45¢ a half-gallon. Couch's had chicken breast for 49¢ a pound, Poss Brunswick stew for 49¢ a pound, and bananas for a dime a pound.
The cinematic week began with The Wrecking Crew (starring Dean Martin) at the DeSoto Theatre, Elvira Madigan (starring Pia Degermark) at the First Avenue, and Rachel, Rachel (starring Joanne Woodward) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switchout brought Swiss Family Robinson (starring john Mills) to the DeSoto, Charge of the Light Brigade (starring David Hemmings) to the First Avenue, and Bullitt (starring Steve McQueen) to the West Rome Drive-In.
The 5th Dimension held onto the number one slot for the fourth week in a row with "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In." Other top ten hits for the week included "It's Your Thing" by the Isley Brothers (#2); "Hair" by the Cowsills (#3); "You've Made Me So Very Happy" by Blood, Sweat, & Tears (#4); "Only the Strong Survive" by Jerry Butler (#5); "Time Is Tight" by Booker T & the MG's (#6); "Sweet Cherry Wine" by Tommy James & the Shondells (#7); "Hawaii Five-O" by the Ventures (#8):=; "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel (#9); and "Galveston" by Glen Campbell (#10).
Joe Cocker released his debut album, With a Little Help From My Friends, this week in 1969. Little did he know that he was about to provide comedian John Belushi with one of his greatest comedic imitation, and that decades later he would provide Youtube with one of its funniest lyrics transcriptions. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z2yFekaPRs ) The Chicago Transit Authority also released their eponymous debut album this week in 1969; by the time of their second album, they would shorten their name to Chicago.
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