Thursday, February 27, 2020

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 3/2/1970 to 3/8/1970

The Rome Board of Education submitted its school integration plan for the 1970-71 school year on March 2nd, which met the deadline imposed by a district court in December.  The plan allowed city students to choose what high school they wanted to attend, but Superintendent MS McDonald said that the plan called for the elimination of Main Junior High School, with students being sent to West Rome and East Rome Junior High Schools.

Floyd County District Attorney Larry Salmon said that now that county "blue laws" requiring non-essential business to close on Sundays had been ruled constitutional, he was recommending that the business licenses of all violators be revoked. The city of Rome, however, issued a statement that the law had "built-in pitfalls which make it practically impossible to enforce effectively." Sheriff Joe Adams said that, since the city was located within the county, he intended to enforce the law and cite all businesses that were not selling gas, groceries, and/or drugs.

Gibson's Discount Center held its grand opening on March 2nd, with Governor Lester Maddox on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony. The Rome store was the first of eight new retail locations scheduled to open in Georgia; its 132,000 square feet of shopping space was complemented by twenty check-out counters at the front and five additional check-out counters at various departments in the store.

West Rome junior Tommy Hardin was elected chairman of the Northwest Georgia High School Distribute Education Clubs; he would be responsible for overseeing and coordinating activities of fourteen other DE clubs in conjunction with DE advisor Jerry Jarrard.

West Rome Junior High teacher Thomas Edward Mann was selected as Georgia's 1970 Region One Teacher of the Year.

The Chieftains girls basketball team defeated East Rome 46-42 on Tuesday, March 3rd, which propelled them into a sub-region playoff with Cartersville. Debbie Poarch was the girls' top scorer with 12 points. Alas, West Rome fell to Cartersville on Wednesday night 35-25, ending their hopes for a region victory.

Piggly Wiggly had Chuck Wagon bacon for 69¢ a pound, Merita bread for 35¢ a loaf, and potatoes for 6¢ a pound. Kroger had pork roast for 39¢ a pound, Chase & Sanborn coffee for 55¢ a pound, and in-store-baked angel food cakes for 45¢ each. Big Apple had Cudahy Bar S hot dogs for 59¢ a pound, Van Camp's pork & beans for 25¢ a can, and Irvindale ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon. A&P had chicken breast quarters for 39¢ a pound, carrots for 15¢ a bunch, and Coca-Cola/Tab/Sprite/Fresca for 33¢ a carton plus deposit. Couch's had leg o' lamb for 79¢ a pound, JFG tea bags for 89¢ a box and Stokely creamed corn for 23¢ a can.

The cinematic week began with Darby O'Gill & The Little People (starring Sean Connery) at the DeSoto Theatre, De Sade (starring Senta Berger) at the First Avenue, Cactus Flower (starring Walter Matthau) at the Village, and The Witchmaker (starring no one worth remembering) at the West Rome Drive-In. The midweek switch out brought Gaily Gaily (starring Brian Keith) to the DeSoto Theatre, Chastity (starring Cher) at the First Avenue, and Planet of the Apes (starring Charlton Heston) at the West Rome Drive-In, while Cactus Flower continued to bloom at the Village.

Simon & Garfunkel held on to the number one slot this week in 1970 with "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Other top ten hits included "Who'll Stop the Rain?" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (#2); "The Rapper" but the Jaggerz (#3); "Rainy Night in Georgia" by Brook Benton (#4); "Ma Belle Amie" by the Tee Set (#5); "Give Me Just a Little More Time" by the Chairmen of the Board (#6); "Tbank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin/Everybody Is a Star" by Sly & the Family Stone (#7); "Hey There Lonely Girl" by Eddie Holman (#8); "Het Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by the Hollies (#9); and "Evil Ways" by Santana (#10).


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