Thirty years ago, in 1985, news happening in Atmore included an Atmore man who was charged with the murder of one woman and seriously wounding another. The case was still under investigation.

As I do not know the result of the investigation, I did not note any names.

A prominent Atmore Legionnaire, James E. Wearren, 62, died after an extended illness.

Students at Escambia County High School were given permission from the city of Atmore to paint Blue Devil pitchforks on the streets leading to the stadium and around the school. A little bit of intimidation of visiting teams never hurt and a row of pitchforks could do the job. I don’t know if they continue to be painted 30 years later, but if not, maybe they should.

Ads included in the newspapers during this time included the news that the Clyde Beaty-Cole Brothers Circus was coming to Mobile. Tickets were rather reasonable at that time with adult tickets going for $7 each.

Plans were being made to tear down the old Rachel Patterson Elementary School to make way for a civic center.

Announcements were made in the paper that a number of doctors and medical services from visiting doctors were being offered. This would give patients the opportunity to see a specialist in Atmore, rather than traveling to Mobile or Pensacola, Fla. This is a practice that has continued making a visit to the doctor a lot easier for patients.

Richard Shelby was on the campaign trail. He compared campaigning to farming by saying “campaigning is like the crops you pray for but keep on hoeing.” This does make a lot of sense.

The Atmore Council of the Arts had a membership drive underway, trying to raise the membership so that more and better events could be planned for the community.

Last, but certainly not least, was the announcement that McDonald’s was going to be built on South Main Street. What would we all do without having McDonald’s doing the cooking?

I was telling one of my coworkers just yesterday that I can remember living in a small town in southern Alabama where we had milk delivered to the door and Mama would call and order our groceries to also be delivered. Of course I also remember before the popularity of sliced “light bread” when the bread we had at home was the old fashioned biscuits Mama cooked. I thought we were living high on the hog when we were able to get bread that was already sliced.

Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to bore you with tales of long long ago. But, on the other hand, I hope that people do share their childhood memories with their families. If they don’t, all that information goes when the person dies. It goes back to what I have said many times before.

Every old person that dies without sharing their memories is like losing a good book. The problem is, that one can’t get it back.

Just a thought.