Rome City Schools Superintendent Milton S. McDonald confirmed that on Monday, September 22nd, he receive a phone call from a representative of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare confirming that Rome's 1969-1970 desegregation plan had been accepted and the system would get its full federal funding. McDonald pointed out, though, that this news was supposed to have been shared with the school system in late July or early August; when they heard nothing, they began implementing cuts to educational programs and staff due to the expected absence of federal funds. Now that the money was forthcoming (including retroactive funds for August and September), McDonald said that the system would look at the feasibility of restoring programs that had been cut, but he warned that some of the staff who had been let go had already found jobs in other systems, so it might not be possible to restart all cut programs. McDonald also said that the school system's 1970-1971 desegregation plans, which had previously been approved by HEW, were now being designated as problematic and there might be another federal funding issue for the next school year. The plans called for the total elimination of Main High by the 1970-1971 school year, with all students attending either West Rome or East Rome, along with the construction of two new junior high schools large enough to handle a fully desegregated student body. McDonald said that he had no idea what part of the previously-accepted proposal was now seen as problematic.
Georgia Kraft, Georgia Power, Celanese, and Klopman Mills stepped up to sponsor the four Junior Achievement companies set up to teach Rome and Floyd County students the ins and outs of the free enterprise system. Georgia Kraft's student-runs company planned to offer storage containers; Klopman's student-run company, peg games and fire accessories; Georgia Power's, coasters and magnetic bulletin boards; and Klopman's, novelty photograph holders. Student participants were expected to sell stock in their companies to raise operating capital, and then to sell the products once manufacturing was completed.
US Plywood acquired Trend Mills this week in 1969. Trend and US Plywood assured Romans that they had no plans to cut any jobs, and in fact were looking to expand operations in late 1969 and again in 1970.
West Rome's Chatman brothers--Fred, Jimmy, Joseph, and Dennis--were the focus of a feature article on September 24th. Fred and Jimmy played on the varsity football team, while Joseph and Dennis were members of the freshman team. "I don't think we've ever had this many brothers in our program at one time," head coach Nick Hyder said. "They're all really good boys and certainly will help us."
West Rome took on Chattooga in a region game on Friday, September 26th, at Barron Stadium. This would be West Rome's first home game of the season. The Chieftains thrilled the home fans with a 21-0 victory, giving the Chattooga Indians their first loss of the season for the second year in a row. John Sapp scored all three of West Rome's touchdowns, while Henry Studyvent was the Chieftains' top gainer, powering his way to 109 yards rushing. Mark Brewer added three of the team's twenty-one points with a fourth quarter field goal.
Dodge unveiled its 1970 Challenger this week in 1969, promoting it as "the only new entry in the spots compact field... designed to compete with the pony cars." Of course, by today's standard, it doesn't seem very compact at all, but the 60s were a different automotive time...
Piggly Wiggly had fresh whole fryers for 29¢ a pound; four pounds of golden delicious apples for 49¢; and a six pack of Coca-Cola/Tab/Sprite in new no-deposit cans for 59¢ (which was almost 20¢ more than the cost of the bottles, so even if you paid the deposit and never took the bottles back, you'd still save 15% over the cost of the cans!). A&P had beef loin for 89¢ a pound, Cool Whip for 59¢ a tub, and Bartlett pears for 19¢ a pound. Kroger had ground beef for 53¢ a pound in chub packs (even the name makes the product sound fatty, doesn't it?), Morton cream pies for 28¢, and bananas fr 15¢ a pound. Big Apple had sirloin steak for 89¢ a pound, Irvindale ice cream for 49¢ a half-gallon, and JFG coffee for 59¢ a pound. Couch's had young hen turkeys for 43¢ a pound, Bama peanut butter for 39¢ a jar, and sweet potatoes for 12¢ a pound.
The cinematic week began with The Maltese Bippy (starring Laugh-In's Dan Rowan and Dick Martin) at the DeSoto Theatre, Inga (an X-rated film with no recognizable stars) at the First Avenue, Young Billy Young (starring Robert Mitchum) at the Village Theatre, and Around the World in 80 Days (an oldie starring David Niven) at the West Rome Drive-In. The weekend switch out brought The Italian Job (starring Michael Caine) to the DeSoto, Midnight Cowboy (another X-rated film, but this one a major Hollywood release starring John Voigt and Dustin Hoffman that would go on to win Academy Awards) to the First Avenue, Pop! (starring Alan Arkin) to the Village, and a double feature of The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly and Hang 'Em High (a pair of spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood) to the West Rome Drive-In.
The Archies held on to number one for a third week with "Sugar, Sugar." Other top ten hits included "Jean" by Oliver (#2); "Little Woman" by Bobby Sherman (#3); "Easy to Be Hard" by Three Dog Night (#4); "I Can't Get Next To You" by the Temptations (#5); "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones (#6); "Green River" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (#7); "Everybody's Talkin'" by Harry Nilsson (#8); "Hot Fun in the Summertime" by Sly & The Family Stone (#9); and "Oh, What a Night" by the Dells (#10).
The Beatles released their magnum opus, Abbey Road, this week in 1969. You have to feel a little sorry for the Guess Who, Al Stewart, Love, the Vanilla Fudge, Savoy Brown, and the Bob Seger System, all of whom also released albums this week only to be totally overshadowed by the most brilliant album of the Beatles' musical career.
The new TV season continued to roll out this week in 1969, with Marcus Welby MD, Medical Center, and The Brady Bunch all premiering (on ABC, CBS, and ABC respectively).
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