Sunday, Feb. 17, 1963

Is anything blacker’n black cat in dark?

Do you remember the nonsensical, slightly crude childhood jingle, “Where was Moses when the lights went out”

Down in the cellar with his shirt tail out!”

Well, where were you the other night when an automobile bowled over a utility pole, disrupting the flow of electricity throughout Lindale?

One Lindale father reports he was replacing a burned-out bulb in his son’s reading lamp when the power failed.

His wife immediately yelled, “Now see what you’ve done, you’ve blown a fuse and knocked out every light in the house.” This mistaken conjecture was happily corrected in a few moments when a friend telephoned to inquire, “Are your lights out, too?”

Another Lindalean was entering his living room with a heavy piece of wood for the fireplace when the curtain of darkness fell. He stepped on the household pet, a black cat. The startled feline climbed the left leg of the wood-carrier and clung there with his fish-hook claws. Attempting to pry the cat loose, he lost his grip on the piece of wood, which thudded on his right foot. In anguish, he blindly sought support, knocking over a sofa-side table and lamp in the process. His spouse, who could hear but could not see the commotion, queried, “What in the world are you doing?” A stream of invectives was the answer.

What is the first thing most people do when their electric lights flicker once, then go off? Isn’t it to run to a window or door to see if the neighbors have been blacked out, too?

A confirming peek up and down the street proves the truth of the adage, “Misery loves company!”

Monday, Feb. 18, 1963

Housewife measures distance traveled during normal day

ATLANTA (AP) – How far does a housewife walk during a normal day’s work?

The question was bound to be asked during all this physical fitness business and 50-mile hikes.

“Oh,15 at least,” said Ted Simmons, an Atlanta Constitution reporter. “My wife Pat is an average housewife (well, almost average) and to hear her tell it she does a good six or eight miles before lunch.”

Simmons was talked into getting a pedometer or walking meter and finding out how much ground she covered during a normal day in a relatively small duplex apartment occupied by themselves and their three small children.

“I could tell she was worried right from the start,” he wrote. “By 11 a.m. she had only done two and a half miles, and she insists she usually travels that far just trying to get me out of bed. …

“As a matter of fact, she implied that I got up considerably more quickly than usual just to cut down on her mileage. This I denied , with the usual results.”

Simmons checked the meter at noon and it registered two and three quarter miles and Pat explained she’d been having a coffee break. At 2 p.m. the photographer came to record the experiment and half an hour later the reporter left for the office. The meter read just over three miles.

“Anyway, the gist of it is, she fell considerably short of the 50-mile mark,” he wrote. “I called about 10 p.m., from work, to check again and she said six and a half miles, wise guy. …

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t control the roar of laughter that followed. Unfortunate for me, that is.

“That’s about the story. Sorry it didn’t turn out as planned. Six and half miles is pretty good in a small duplex, I guess.

“Anyway, I hope no one mentions physical fitness to me again soon. It’s kind of hard to exercise in a doghouse.…”

Thursday, Feb. 21, 1963

Lady Glads nip Ringgold, 37-33; Ramblers trim Chiefs, Rockmart girls coast

LAFAYETTE – Region 3-AA South girls dominated action in the quarterfinals of the yearly tournament as Rockmart and East Rome won out in Wednesday’s action, while the West Rome Chieftains fell before the LaFayette Ramblers and Dalton clipped Chattooga County.

Sandra Ray, a blistering shooter from the outside, outscored the entire West Fannin sextet in guiding Rockmart to

a 55-36 victory, while the East Rome girls battled to a 37-33 win over Ringgold.

Coach Ralph Beeler’s troops slowed down the pace during the first half in hopes of knocking LaFayette off their pedestal, but the Chiefs couldn’t withstand the rambler attack.

The two squads registered only six points between them in the opening stanza with the Ramblers holding to a 4-2 lead that suddenly developed into a 15-7 frontage at the midway point.

Trailing by eight points, West Rome came out in the third period for a brief rally and closed the gap to 23-18, but LaFayette stormed back in the final quarter for the victory.

Denny Abney led the assault for LaFayette with 19 points, 10 of which came in the final period of play as LaFayette thawed the freeze. Terry Burns was runnerup in the scoring department for the Ramblers with 10 markers.

West Rome’s Jimmy Walden clipped the net for eight markers for scoring laurels, while teammates Wesley Jenkins and Gerry Law aided the futile cause with six tallies each.

East Rome’s Judy Johnston produced 22 markers to pace the Lady Glads to their victory over Ringgold, 37-33, and an opportunity to meet the LaFayette-Calhoun winner Friday.

East rome’s defensive play in the first half proved to be the difference in the final outcome as they held the Ringgold lassies to only 12 points.

The Lady Glads grabbed a slim 5-4 lead as the first quarter ended but came back in the second stanza for 10 markers and a 15-12 intermission lead. They duplicated their second period output in the third quarter, while Ringgold “pitched” in 11 markers to close the gap.

However, East Rome regained their point spread in the final period of play for the decision.

Ringgold’s Faye Howell captured scoring honors for the game with one point more than Judy Johnston. Marge Johnston chimed in with 10 tallies for the Lady Glads.

In the opening contest of the afternoon, Rockmart measured West Fannin with ease as Ray set the nets afire with 46 points in only three periods of play.

The sharpshooting redhead made up most of the Jackettes scoring punch during the first three quarters of play, but the winning troops were just as strong in the final period with reserves taking over much of the action.

Rockmart jumped into a 9-6 first quarter lead and the erupted for a 23-point effort in the second frame for a 32-17 halftime lead to completely kill all chances for the West Fannin girls to come back.

The Jackettes “cooled-off” in the third period with only 13 points to their credit, while they garnered 10 in the final

quarter of play.

Vickie Price was high for the losers with 26 markers.

In the final afternoon game, Loren Carter paced Dalton to a 38-36 victory over Chattooga County with 12 points.

Jerry Sims was high for the losers with 13 markers.

In today’s action, Calhoun and LaFayette girls will meet at 3:30 followed by the Rossville-Ringgold boys’ contest at 5 p.m. In the night session, Rockmart and Cedartown girls will collide at 7 p.m. and North Whitfield meets Dalton at 8:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 22, 1963

Coosa commissioners inspect trade school

Continued progress in both planning and industrial development throughout Northwest Georgia was reflected in reports at the monthly meeting of the Coosa Valley Area Planning and Development Commission held here Thursday.

Chairman Bernard Storey presided at the meeting, which was followed by a tour of the new Coosa Valley Vocational-Technical School here. Commission members from eight of the 11 counties within the commission, along with a large number of visitors, attended the commission meeting and later joined in touring the vocational school.

Plans were discussed for rotating the monthly meetings between various counties in the region, in order to enable members to view the progress being made under the Coosa Valley planning program and the Georgia Tech regional industrial development program.

Chairman Storey reported that technical planning by the Coosa Valley and Georgia Tech staffs is beginning to pay off in the organization and location of new industry and in plans for expansion by existing industries within the area.

At the technical school, Director Maurice Culberson explained the goals and operation of the facility to commission members, showing them the many thousands of dollars in the latest equipment which aids instruction.