In 1971, forty five years ago, there were several interesting articles in the newspaper. A lot of excitement occurred near the state line and officials called it a “western style” shootout. Three people were shot and wounded and they were all from the same family. They were all guests at a club and had some misunderstanding. I guess that is what happens when you drink too much and carry guns on you. My advice would be to stay out of a place like that, but that’s just my opinion.

Two people from Mobile were caught and arrested for stealing 15 pairs of pants from West Brothers. While one of them distracted the clerk, the other one took the pants and hid them in a garbage can he was carrying. They were caught red-handed and charges were filed.

We, at the newspaper, all get a kick out of people who grow huge vegetables and bring them by for us to see. That occurred at the Atmore Advance in 1971 when a man brought in three large tomatoes he had grown. One of them weighed three pounds and together they weighed more than six pounds. I haven’t seen huge tomatoes before, but I have seen cabbages that were two feet across.

Officials took one more step toward complying with a state law setting up regulations for disposal of garbage and trash within the county.

I remember when people out in the county were responsible for their own dumping of garbage. It made for some pretty bad piles of garbage that some would dump just anywhere. There is no excuse for that anymore.

My prices this week came from A&P. Round steak was 99 cents a pound; watermelons were 89 cents and peaches were three pounds for 79 cents.

I went to the grocery store a couple of days ago and paid almost $2 a pound for peaches and watermelons were almost $5. I bought two peaches and put the watermelon back. That is what a budget is all about.

A moving story about the goodness of people was told in the newspaper. Joe Flowers married a lady from Germany while he was a GI and she had not seen her mother since she moved to the United States after her marriage. The good people of Atmore took it upon themselves to make sure that she got the chance to see her mother again. She also carried her son with her for her mother to see for the first time. I thought that was a thoughtful thing for them to do.

The Escambia Academy was set to open for a new school session on Sept. 1. Also, A.E. Trawick was named to be the new principal at Escambia County Junior and Senior High School.