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Viewpoints
Our loss
Perry, and the agricultural community in
particular lost a good friend last week when
Bill Roquemore of Lakeland died after an
extended illness.
Roquemore, who was
head of a major seed and
sod company in Georgia for
several years, was very
active in the establishment
and opening of the Georgia
National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter during 1990. He
was one of the original
Exposition Authority mem
bers, and served with dis-
tinction for several years until failing health
forced him to step aside.
In honor of Roquemore’s contributions to
the Agricenter, a convention center which
opened four years ago, was named in his
honor.
Roquemore’s interest in the Fairgrounds
continued until his death. His name was
mentioned at every Authority meeting, and
recently some of the members visited him.
He recognized their visit by providing some
family materials which will soon be on dis
play in the Roquemore Convention Center at
the Agricenter.
Bill Roquemore was a good man, a hard
worker, a dedicated person. He did much to
benefit his community and his state, espe
cially that part of the state represented by the
Georgia National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter.
We’ll miss him.
Rally ’round the band
Members of the Perry High School Pride
of the Crossroads marching band have
earned an invitation to a prestigious
Christmas parade during the Thanksgiving
holidays.
Selection to the Brach’s Christmas Parade
in Chicago indicates the progress which the
Perry High band has made under the direc
tion of Joe Hutcheson. The band has grown
in numbers under his direction, and the qual
ity of the music has also improved.
To make that three-day holiday trip possi
ble, members of the band will be conducting
a number of fund-raising projects. One of the
first of those projects will take place this
weekend when band members become car
washers.
They will set up shop at Quincy’s
Restaurant at 1413 Sam Nunn Blvd., in Perry
at 2 p.m. to begin raising the approximately
$60,000 bandsmen need to make the
Chicago trip.
While we know the band members won’t
raise the entire amount in one session, we
also know that a good start will give these
young people encouragement to continue
their efforts at both entertaining the commu
nity and raising the funds needed to com
plete the trip.
This is an opportunity for the community
to rally ’round the band and show support for
something we can all enjoy and be proud of.
See you at the car wash.
The next step occurs
The publication of a legal advertisement
announcing foreclosure on the company con
tracted to own and build the new Perry Post
Office occurs with this issue of the Times-
Journal.
While it is a sad fact that the company has
apparently lost control of its finances, this
step is necessary for the Post Office officials
to move forward with any effort to continue
construction at the present 1400 Macon Road
location.
We hope postal officials can soon resolve
this matter and contract with another firm to
bring the badly needed post office to reality.
Meanwhile, we wait with hopes for a
building to cover the ugly, sandy hole along
Macon Road.
Houston runes -Journal
P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. • Perry, Ga. 31069
(912) 987-1823 • (912) 988-1181 (fax)
e mail jjedit@hom.net
Bob Ttibble President
Jj Johnson Editor and General Manager
John Smalley Advertising Sales
News: Emily Johnstone, Pauline Lewis, Rick Johnstone; Sports: Phil Clark; Classified
Roquemore
Page 4A
Turner Field can’t replace Fulton County Stadium
For our anniversary last Wednesday,
Lisa took me away to Atlanta to visit
“The Ted.” Now for the tragically
unhip among you (don’t worry, that
group includes me as well), “The Ted”
is the informal yet popular name for
Turner Field, home of the National
League King Atlanta Braves.
Now I had taken Lisa and her
younger brother to The Ted earlier in
the year, but it was dangerously cold
and it rained well into midnight. In fact,
it rained so much that we really didn’t
have a chance to see any of the new
multi-gazillion dollar empire. Heck,
much of it hadn’t even been completed
when we went back in early April.
One of the scenes that we 'did get a
chance to check out was the new soft
drink corporate sponsored Sky Field.
It’s a cute little attraction that features
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Round ears and other ’55 memories
Think back with me to 1955. Walt
Disney’s “The Mickey Mouse Club”
had youngsters wearing mouse ears
and chanting M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-
E! Remember?
Other things were making news in
the entertainment world. Eddie Fisher,
who had numerous hit songs in the
early and mid ’sos, married Debbie
Reynolds of “Tammy” fame. The
“Honeymooners”, one of early televi
sion’s most popular shows, came to an
end after 39 episodes. Re-runs were on
the air, though, for decades.
Disneyland opened in \naheim,
Calif., in 1955, and after nearly a year
of development, no-iron dacron hit the
market. Everybody had to try it. Wash
it and wear it!
Television games like the “64
Thousand Dollar Question” were pop
ular in 1955, and because of the popu
larity of the hit song “Cherry Pink and
Apple Blossom White”, Americans of
all ages were learning the mambo and
the cha-cha-cha. Bill Hayes’ “Ballad of
Davey Crockett” had ldds clamoring
for “coonskin” caps!
Cover records continued to flourish
in 1955, with pop and rock singers like
Pat Boone, Gale Storm and Perry
Como covering R&B hits by Little
Richard, Fats Domino, Ivory Joe
Hunter and the Penguins. This fad
began in mid-1954 with cover songs by
Bill Haley, The McGuire Sisters , the
Crew Cuts and Kitty Kallen, who cap
italized on the popularity of rhythm
and blues hits like “Shake Rattle and
Roll”, Sincerely”, “Tweedle De Dee”
and “Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight.”
Major record labels like Mercury,
Decca, Capitol and RCA Victor were
beginning to see a challenge by small,
unknown labels who would sign just
one or two acts in the new rock ’n roll
format. The smaller labels took the
lead in the sale of rock ‘n roll, and
maintained it for several years until the
Ads and Composition: Chad Lewis; Circulation and Photography: Eric Zellars;
Bookkeeping: Paula L. Zimmerman.
Our Policies
Unsigned editorials appearing in larger type on this page under the label of Our Views
reflect the position of the Houston Times-Joumal. Signed columns and letters on this page
(and elsewhere in this newspaper) reflect the opinions of the writers and not necessarily
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- Wed., Feb. 26 1997
Chad
Lewis
Staff Writer
things like picnic areas, water sprin
klers to cool you down, ATM machines
to offer you more cash to spend, and
some guy named Murray who will pro
fess that the end of the world is coming
next Friday (for your sake, I hope
Murray isn’t still one of the attractions
when you visit Turner Palace).
But what fascinated me more than
any other attraction last Wednesday
was the view from Sky Field. It was a
picture-perfect view of the former
home of the Braves, Atlanta-Fulton
Phil Clark
Reminiscing
majors begin signing stars like Elvis
Presley (RCA).
The movie “Blackboard Jungle”
featured Bill Haley’s “Rock Around
the Clock” at both the beginning and
end of the movie. The song had been
released in 1954 but met little success.
Decca rushed to re-released it, though,
after the popularity generated by the
movie and by Haley’s own hit “Shake,
Rattle and Roll.” So technically,
Haley’s first release became his second
hit!
The RCA signing of Elvis took
place on Nov. 22, 1955 when the label
bought the rights from Sam Phillips of
Sun Records. Phillips reportedly got
$35,000 for the complete Presley
library, and Elvis himself got a bonus
of $5,000! The deal was negotiated by
Presley’s new manager, a former carni
val barker named Tom Parker,
i President Eisenhower conducted the
first televised presidential press confer
ence in 1955, and he was also hospital
ized for three weeks because of a heart
attack. The U.S. Supreme Court
ordered school desegregation to pro
ceed "with all deliberate speed’.” It
took more than 10 years. The Interstate
Commerce Commission also ordered
desegregation on interstate trains and
busses.
The AFL and CIO labor federations
merged in 1955 and Dr. Jonas Salk per
fected the polio vaccine. John
Schneider was bom on April 8. His
biggest claim to fame, I suppose, was
his role as Bo Duke in “The Dukes of
Hazzard”, still seen in syndication.
Movie actor James Dean and baseball
Houston lines-Journal
County Stadium.
The old round baseball/football
/tractor-pull stadium was scheduled to
be blown to piles of rubble a few days
later; every piece of evidence would be
gone as they clear the way for a shiny
new parking lot named “The Murph.”
During the long drive home, I kept
telling Lisa that if she wanted to truly
appreciate how nice Turner Field is,
she would have had to experienced the
tragedy we called Fulton Cos. Stadium.
Stadium nicknames came rushing to
my head as I reminisced with her: The
Launching Pad, the Chop Shop, the
Open-Air Bomb Shelter. Perhaps one
of the worst professional sport stadi
ums built by mankind, this stadium was
a symbol of what happened when peo
ple with a tight budget, no experience,
and a strict deadline could produce.
Hall of Famers Honus Wagner and Cy
Young died in 1955. “Marty” was the
picture of the year, and earned an
Oscar for Ernest Borgnine, while Anna
Magnani was best actress for her role
in “The Rose Tattoo”. Since it was the
mid ’sos, it was just assumed that the
Yankees and Dodgers would be in the
World Series. They were, with the
Dodgers winning four games to three.
Cleveland won the NFL championship
with a 38-14 thrashing of the Los
Angeles Rams.
Although rock ’n roll was making
it’s mark, the best songs of the year
still included “Cherry Pink and Apple
Blossom White”, “Hearts of Stone” by
the Fontaine Sisters, “Let Me Go
Lover” by Joan Weber and Les
Baxter’s outstanding instrumental ver
sion of “Unchained Melody”.
Proposed celebration
set for the wrong year
Editor:
The only problem I see with usher
ing in the new century is that the year
2000 is the “last” year of the old cen
tury rather than the first year of the
new century.
A celebration on Dec. 31, 1999
would be ushering in the last year of
the 20th century. A celebration on Dec.
31, 2000 would usher in the new (21st)
century which starts on Jan. 1, 2001.
There is a lot of confusion about
this and celebrations around the world
are being planned for both dates
Maybe the Agricenter could do
both! Do they not already do a New
Year’s thing anyway? Those two years
could just be bigger and better than the
usual celebrations.
Carol Reese
Perry
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Yes, it was truly a sight to hide from.
Lisa looked a little surprised when I
told her about the old days at Atlanta-
Fulton County. You probably remem
ber those days as well. I remember my
dad and me walking up on game day
and buying a couple of $2 upper deck
tickets and strolling down to dugout
level by the third inning. Amazingly,
everyone else in the stadium did the
same thing. In fact it was believed by
many that the safest place to hide was
the upper deck of the stadium because
no one, and I mean no one, ever went
up there. In fact, they didn’t even both
er putting vendors up there for fear
they would jump to their death due to
the feeling of extreme isolation.
Yes, a “near-capacity crowd” of
(See CHAD, Page SA)
From
Where I Sit
Bob Tribble
President
There is good
news in the paper
Sometimes when reading our daily
newspapers we are blessed with the
bad news, and many times the
immoral news, in what seems to be an
effort by some to change, in our minds
at least, the fact that wrong is still
wrong and right is still right.
But also, if you will read past the
front pages of the sections, you can
usually find buried on the inside pages
some good moral decisions being
made across this world by many of the
world leaders. Let me give you exam
ples of three things I ran across
recently.
Every state in these United States
has decided to apply for federal
money to promote abstinence and
only abstinence, to cut teen pregnan
cy. The law that was passed by
Congress to make $250 million for
abstinence education available to the
states has some pretty strong direc
tives. Here are a couple of them.
V The law directs that the education
promotion stress that sex outside mar
riage is likely to have harmful psy
chological and physical effects.
V The law bars any discussion of
birth control or tact approval of teen
sex.
Supporters of the law say you can’t
tell teen-agers that sex is a bad idea
while showing them how to use con
doms.
We’ll all have to wait and see
how strictly the states abide by the
law after the federal money is
received.
Another good piece of news came
when Russia’s Preside* t Boris Yelstin
rejected a bill which would have placed
tighter restrictions on many religious
groups in Russia including evangelical
Christians and Roman Catholics.
The bill had drawn strong opposi
tion from the Vatican and the United
States Senate, which had threatened to
cut off aid to Russia if it became law.
The law would have officially rec
ognized the central role of the
Orthodox Church in Russia’s history
and culture, and pledged respect to
Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and other
traditional religious.
It also would have imposed rigid
curbs on other religions, forcing them
to register with the government, and
barring them from owning property or
conducting public worship[ for 15
years after registration.
And finally, the other piece of good
news from the moral standpoint is that
federal employees who want abor
tions will have to continue paying out
of their own pockets for most of them
under a measure the U.S. Senate
approved as part of a $25.2 billion
spending bill.
The amendment approved by the
Senate will permit federal employee
health plans to cover abortion only in
the cases of rape, incest and threat to
the life of the mother.
Allowing federal health insurance
(See TRIBBLE, Page SA)