June 11, 1968

44 Years Ago

*In the wake of Martin Luther King’s assassination, columnist Charlie Gregory complains about the “overboard” mourning the country was engaged in. “You don’t see the flag flying half-staff when a young American, regardless of his color or nationality, is killed on the battlefields of Vietnam protecting his country from aggression.”

*There was a Q&A piece with J.W. Taylor, the president of Citizens Bank, entitled ‘What’s Happening to Our Money?’ It was intended to answer some local concern over the upsurge of gold buying in Europe, and deteriorating confidence in the dollar. Taylor explained the dangers of cutting gold backing on the dollar and assured readers that a second Great Depression was unlikely. He suggested that to strengthen the dollar, government “must cut back on federal spending and enact an income tax increase of at least 10 per cent…”

*Several Macon County students were named honor roll inductees at Tennessee Tech University—Linda McClanahan, Virginia Smith, Larry Walker, Phyllis Birdwell, Barbara Wilson, and Pamela McCoin. The Times article explained “quality point marks,” a system in which 4.0 was a perfect grade. Students had to have at least a 3.1 quality point average to make the Honor Roll.

*A new poster child was chosen for NARC, the National Association for Retarded Children: Joey Belge of Syracuse, N.Y. “This cheerful, blond, blue-eyed eight-year-old symbolizes what can be done for the retarded through combined family, voluntary and governmental efforts,” said Mrs. Jack Clark of the Macon County NARC chapter. The article closed with “among Joey’s seven normal brothers and sisters are a set of twins.”

*Houchens Markets advertised Philadelphia Cream Cheese for 39 cents, Super Suds for 19 cents, and bacon for 69 cents a pound.

April 12, 1990

22 Years Ago

*Lafayette City Council voted unanimously to raise garbage rates from $4 to $5 a month. Trucks were having to haul to the Red Boiling Springs landfill after the close of the Lafayette landfill and costs were higher.

*The Times ran a picture of Jacky Barber’s chicken-shaped sweet potato. “Then again, it may look more like a seal than a chicken. You be the judge.”

*The trial date of the ‘Westside Nine’ was postponed. These were nine persons charged in connection to an assault on teachers and a bus driver at Westside Elementary School, which had allegedly taken place in January 1990.

*Seven people filed to run for three council seats in Lafayette: Page Durham, Georgia McClard, J.D. Knight, Will Colter, Arlis Gene Patterson, J.G. Dallas, and Jerry Walker.

*The Macon Drive-in Theater was showing a double feature of Steel Magnolias and Lord of the Flies.

*The evening of April 12, about a dozen grave markers were overturned and other acts of vandalism were allegedly committed by two young boys at the Green Grove Cemetery. The boys, 8 and 9, were scheduled for an appointment in the Macon County Juvenile Court.