MARY BRASWELL: Looking Back at February 1974

In 1974, life expectancy was 74 years. Average monthly rent was $185. The top TV shows were “All in the Family” and “Sanford and Son.” See what was making the pages of the Albany Herald in February that year.

• A $200,000 capital campaign was underway for the development of about 35 acres at Chehaw Park for a Wild Animal Park. Donations were being accepted and school children in Dougherty and Lee counties were busy with all sorts of fundraisers. Laska, an Asian elephant, arrived at Tift Park in 1950 where she never left her 137-foot- round concrete enclosure.When completed, she would have a spacious new home at Chehaw.

• Capt. S.G. Gay retired from the Albany Fire Department after serving 31 years under five chiefs. When Gay joined the department, there were 13 firefighters, a number that had reached 136 by the time of his retirement. When asked what he planned to do in retirement, Gay responded, “Just as near nothing as I can.”

• Bennie’s Bootery at 219 Broad Ave. specialized in top quality children’s shoes. The Jumping-Jack was a popular brand and averaged $12 per pair for infants and toddlers. In today’s dollars, the shoes would cost about $55.

• Albany businesses were beginning to question the constitutionality of Georgia’s Blue Laws restricting business operation on Sunday. While “necessity and charitable” business transactions were acceptable, everything else was banned. In actuality, however, the state of Georgia had no official policy for the enforcement of Blue Laws, leaving the counties to handle enforcement issues.

• Mayor James H. Gray Sr. was named campaign chairman for the capital funds drive for the Boys’ Club of Albany. Plans were to expand the program into East and South Albany.

• A truck drivers’ strike in at least 20 states was felt by the 48 contiguous states. Food could not get to the grocery stores, factories were shutting down and violence was erupting. Some of the drivers still on the road had rocks thrown through their windshields from overpasses and were even shot at at times. Strikers blocked truck stop entrances and the National Guard was called in to deliver fuel to police, fire and ambulance units along the coasts of Florida.

• For a second year, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College celebrated Black History Week. Among the activities and programs was a play called “The Devil and Otis Redding.”

• During one Dougherty County Superior Court session, several sentences were handed down. A possession of heroin charge brought a five-year sentence. A jury trial on a burglary charge ended with a guilty verdict and a 10-year sentence. Aggravated assault verdict brought a 10-year probation sentence along with a $100 fine.

• Albany’s Water, Gas & Light Commission expected to have a new facility within 18 months. The Commission planned to let bids for construction on a new building on Front Street facing the Flint River between Whitney and Highland avenues in March.

• The soap opera “Secret Storm” ended its 20-year run on television.

• Brooks County Sheriff Ramsey Renfro reported that the bottom fell out of a beer truck as it traveled on Ga. Highway 33 south of Quitman. Renfro said several hundred people gathered to help in the cleanup — and consumption of — thousands of scattered cans of beer. The Albany Herald headline read: “Big Beer Bust Boggles Brooks.”

• The Dougherty County Hospital Authority approved a payment increase for emergency room doctors at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. The minimum was raised from $40,000 to $45,000-$50,000. The hospital had long drawn on the staff of the Naval Air Station for manning the emergency room on weekends. With NAS being phased out, that resource was soon to be lost.

• A review of old ordinances yet to be repealed in Albany included several interesting entries. One such ordinance stated that retail businesses selling liquor were to have only one entrance and that it was required to open onto a public street. Also, no person was allowed to walk across a city-owned cemetery between sunset and sunrise without written permission from the superintendent of parks and cemeteries. Yet another ordinance prohibited city police officers from carrying an umbrella while on duty.

• Two men robbed the Tip-Top Grocery Store on Clark Avenue in the middle of the day. Taken from the cash register were coins, bills and food stamps. The men, while not disguised, were armed. One carried a broken bottle, the other a tree limb.

• A submission to The People’s Forum suggested that long-haired students at Albany High School were treated differently from those with shorter hair. One such letter said the punishment for being found smoking in an off-limits area a second time was supposed to be three days suspension. Within just a few days of one another, a long-haired student was punished with a 10-day suspension while a student with shorter hair got 10 days detention hall (no out-of-school suspension) for the same offense. The letter further stated that “We are tired of the dean of girls and the dean of boys being the judge, jury and prosecutor.” Note: In 1974, names were withheld from letters to the editor upon request, as was the case with the AHS complaint letter.

• For sale: 227 acres in Sumter County; Paved road; 90 percent woodland, the remainder open, asking $400 per acre

• C.T. Oxford, founder of the largest road building construction company south of Macon, retired after 26 years. Curtis Dixon Oxford, brother of the retiree, purchased the founder’s stock and became its new owner. In the beginning, during the “lean years,” C.T. Oxford recalled serving as the business manager, payroll clerk and common laborer.

• Baker County Sheriff Warren L. (Gator) Johnson closed the county jail. The state condemned the jail in 1973 and, after 14 months of inactivity by the County Commission to make improvements, Johnson closed and locked the doors. The sheriff said the facility “ain’t fit for a hog, much less a human being.”

QUIK QUIZ ANSWER: (b) less than six months

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.