The year of 1972 was off to a good start with good sales going on.

Every year when I see such good prices before Christmas, I try to remember that stores will be open after Christmas.

I took a walk around Wal-Mart the other day and almost all of those “ugly Christmas sweaters” were gone. I had planned on getting some new ones, but I was too late. First of all, I don’t think they all are ugly. I try to wear the ones I have as much as I can because the season is not very long. So, if you stroll by me anytime between

Thanksgiving and Christmas and I am wearing my sweater, don’t laugh at me.

I did notice that Thompson’s had a good price on men’s suits. You could buy two suits for $30. Today it takes that much to buy a shirt.

A&P had Eight-o’Clock coffee on sale for 69 cents a pound; a 4-roll pack of toilet tissue for 49 cents and steak for $1.19 a pound.

Kwik Chek had fryers for 29 cents a pound and bacon for 59 cents a pound.These are all pretty good prices and if I could get deals like that, I would be shopping.

In news, an eight year old was injured and an 18 year old was arrested for shooting the boy, apparently as he stood looking out the window.

The boy was standing on the couch peeking out the window as the shooter fired, hitting him by mistake.

The news programs and newspapers are very familiar with drive-by shootings these days but 45 years ago, it didn’t happen very often.

That is a change that none of us want to see happen.

Bidding was about to begin on four-laning Alabama 21 from Atmore to Interstate 65.

I may or may not have told you this, but my father and brother both worked on building Interstate 65 and they lived in Atmore for some time while working there. In fact, my brother married someone from Walnut Hill. For years, my dad would tell us about a place that he ate in Atmore. One time we were on our way to Mobile and he took us to the cafe. I have never been so embarrassed in my life as that day when he led us into the cafe. made a u turn and right back out again. We didn’t know what was going on. When I asked him, he said he had made a mistake and that was not the same place. My daddy did some hilarious things. One time I rented a video camera to use at my mother’s birthday. I laughed so hard when I was pointing the camera at him and he sat very still. He just looked at me and finally told me to go

ahead and take the picture. He didn’t know I was using a video camera.

He lived in the past. Little did I know that by the next birthday, my daddy would be gone and my mother would be partially paralyzed from a stroke.

Lastly, two men went into Earle’s Jewelry Store and while one acted like a customer, the other stole more than $800 worth of diamond rings out of the case. I don’t know how many rings that was, but in 1959 my wedding rings cost only $200, so it must have been a hefty sum.