The unsuspected life of the party

A copy of a 45-year-old community newspaper was given to me recently with my attention drawn to a specific article.

The newspaper was printed in 1976 and to set the stage this occurred in a very small town, which 45 years later is still a very small town.

According to the article, the town’s police chief was in attendance at the woman’s club meeting and brought marijuana to the meeting.

It is likely the police chief was showing the women what marijuana plants look like. There have been cases where marijuana plants were planted by nefarious characters in the gardens of unsuspecting people. I can attest to his happening as many years ago I covered such a case.

Of course, those attending the meeting might have been shown marijuana harvested and ready to sale. The women would have learned what to look for in their teenagers’ bedrooms, cars or other hiding places.

Then again, the marijuana might have been used to make the meeting a more memorable event. We’ll just leave that thought hanging.

IT IS hard to believe how much has changed since 1976.

I was in my second year of college. My hair was a lot longer and darker, and I was about 25 pounds lighter. Today, the hair is shorter, mainly gray, and a 25-pound weight gain over 45 years is not bad.

In 1976, marijuana use on college campuses was rather widespread. One could often stroll past some dorm rooms and smell it being smoked. There were also areas on campus that some students would gather to smoke marijuana, well out of sight of the local police.

Forty-five years later and times have changed. Marijuana has become legal in a number of states and the effort continues to legalize it in others. Today the law enforcement community still targets recreational drugs but it is a losing battle as those who really want drugs for recreational use will find them.

In some respects similar to today’s young people, in 1976 we paid little attention to what was going on around us and believed too much of what was being said without doing our own research.

With the end of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War three years earlier, many of us had breathed a huge sigh of relief and ignored what was going on around us.

It would be in 1976 that Georgia native Jimmy Carter would defeat incumbent Gerald Ford to become President of the United States, and that led to the Iran hostage crises and the misery index.

In 1976, the United States celebrated its bicentennial—the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with widespread celebrations across the country. Today, there is precious little understanding of, or appreciation for, that document or the Constitution.

In 1976 a gallon of gasoline was less than 60 cents. Bread could be purchased for about 50 cents a loaf and a dozen eggs cost 79 cents. Of course people were making a lot less money in 1976. As unskilled labor, I earned a whopping $1.60 an hour – just over minimum wage.

IN 1976, the police chief of a small Georgia town takes marijuana to a woman’s club meeting.

Life was a lot different then and whatever happened at that meeting, didn’t happen, or might have happened, I bet a good time was had by all and the chief was the life of the party.

That’s my opinion.

A columnist in community newspapers for nearly 30 years, Andy Kober can be reached at andykober@hotmail.com.

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