Forty years ago, 1976 was winding down. People had Christmas on their minds with a new year looming on the horizon.

There were two different businesses in Atmore that were burglarized with the burglars getting away with cash, televisions and tires. Both Goodyear and Bell Ford were robbed overnight with the loss of $2,300 in cash from Bell Ford and several TVs and tires from Goodyear in professional type robberies. Later on, The Atmore Advance announced that a man from Robinsonville had been charged with the theft.

The Birmingham University Ballet visited Jefferson Davis Junior College to perform “Peter and the Wolf” as part of the arts council’s series. Usually, we think of Christmas as the time that “The Nutcracker” is presented.

There was a group organized by Three Rivers Resource Conservation and Development Project to launch a cleanup of Oak Grove Gully using federal, state and local funds amounting to $76,000. This was to clean up a place that dumped tons of sand into the Escambia River and Little Pine Barren River and on into Pensacola Bay. This was to be the first of several clean up areas.

Some last minute gifts were offered by West Brothers. They had Thumbelina for $9.88; a BB gun for $14.88; a Tonka Dune Buggy for $5.49; and a crock pot for $13.88.

Big Bear had Star-Kist tuna for 49 cents; sugar for 29 cents and Pepsi for 9 cents.

TG&Y had Rub-a-Dub dolls, Don’t Cry Baby dolls and Baby Alive, all for $9.99 each. They also had a Huffy Bike for $59.88.

The Adult Training Union Department at First Baptist Church celebrated the season with a progressive dinner.

Now if you don’t know what this is, let me tell you, my neighbors and I had one of these many years ago. It was very entertaining.

There were about seven or eight different families involved and we all met at one house. After we had our salad, we walked across the street to have our soup. Then we walked to another house and had our entrée. We walked to each of our neighbor’s houses and ate one course at each house. We finished with dessert at another house. (I think that one was mine, but it’s been too long ago for me to be sure.)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I don’t know why we never did it again.

The Atmore Advance was awarded the Blue Ribbon Newspaper Award near the end of the year.

There was an article in The Atmore Advance about a group of inmates at Fountain Correctional Facility who were helping Santa get ready for Christmas.

There is something about Christmas that brings out the nice in people. It’s a shame it can’t go on all year long.

Finally, there was an announcement by Martha Kirkland that the Easter Seal and Pulmonary Disease fundraising had reached a new time high.

I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. May Santa be good to you all and just remember the real reason for the season, the birth of our savior, Jesus.