Nashville High School - Scrapper Yearbook (Nashville, AR)

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Keeping Pace With Tomorrow The word progress was always associated with Nashville, and in recent years, it became a household word as Nashville's people and businesses moved forward and continued to grow at a rapid rate. Howard County continually made news with its low unemployment rate. At times, it was the lowest in the entire nation. More often, the rate was the state's lowest. Certainly, the other towns in the county contributed to the low unemployment rate, but Nashville, the county seat, was at the heart of it. The abundance of jobs meant that Nashville's small businesses, large businesses, and industries were prospering. Because of this fact, many were able to remodel, expand, or build at a new site. Remodeling was limited primarily to Main Street businesses. Some establishments, such as Tollett's Auto Parts and Tim's, chose to give their exteriors facelifts. Others, including Robison's and Mr. Jim Bob Steel, attorney, deemed it necessary to redo the interior of their buildings as well as the exterior. Neeley's DX bricked their existing structure and added a car wash facility. Mr. J. C. Dyer, real estate agent, built yet another new office building Nashville's industries boarded the expansion wagon. Beaird Poulan's chain saw plant was expanded by 100,000 square feet to provide room for the production of weed eaters. Tysons built two huge grain silos off the Mineral Springs highway with the intention of enlarging its operation. New buildings for existing businesses were not uncommon. Hart Two concrete grain silos off the Mineral Springs highway near the Toland Center enable Tysons to enlarge its operations in the booming southwest Arkansas chicken industry. A record high in air traffic to and from Nashville called for the resurfacing and widening of the airport road. Workmen move water, telephone, and electric power lines to make way for the reconstruction. 18 $ludent life

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By 1980, music experts were predicting that disco would soon go the way of the Susan B. Anthony coin and the $2 bill. Roller disco hung on long enough to inspire the movie “Roller Boogie and the remodeling of the local skating rink. Disco was also a huge factor in the popularity of such movies as Saturday Night Fever, Grease, and The Wiz. There were even more horror films than disco-oriented films; producers turned out horror flicks as if by assembly line and movie geers apparently loved it. The Exorcist, Omen I and II, The Amityville Horror, and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, like most other horror films of the 70's, dealt with the supernatural, as compared to the monster movies of earlier decades. One of the 70's stranger fads was 1979's The Rocky Horror Picture Show which showed nightly at midnight in the theaters of some larger cities. The movie's popularity was based largely on ritualistic audience participation with moviegoers. Some dressed as the movie characters and did whatever the actors on the silver screen were doing: dancing to The Time Warp, throwing toast, rice, water, etc. Beginning with the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran by Iranian terrorists in November, it became very popular for Americans to dislike and criticize the Ayatollah Khomeini. The months-long captivity, which had not ended by June 1980, sparked fads such as Ayatollah Khomeiniac dartboards. Ayatollah toilet tissue, slogans such as Let's Put a Hole-ah in the Ayatollah, and a cartoon take-off on the movie The Jerk, starring Khomeini in the title role of The Jerk and a Half. The use of slang was not so popular in the late 70's as it had been earlier in the decade. In the later 70's, usage of Can you dig it?, Check it out, and slanguage had all but died out. Only an occasional fox, hunk, It's the pits, That's the breaks, nerd, dork, and semi- anything were much in use. Whether the style was an idea left over or revived from an earlier decade or unique entirely of the 70's, fads had a. definite impact on the 70's lifestyle. During activity period on a cold winter day, Lee Boozer and Andy Lyons engage in a friendly backgammon game. Suzan Pile checks Lee's reaction to his roll of dice as Sandy Garner watches idly. Andy shakes her cup in preparation for her throw. For about a month, backgammon was the hottest fad on campus. Pick-up games could be found in most every nook and cranny of the courtyard at activity period among experts and beginners alike. Student Life 17

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built on the Murfreesboro highway in the summer of 1979. Fred's built a large new store on South Main which was completed in March, 1980. The Fred's store employed many high school students. )udy's Pharmacy and Paul's Furniture Store, two new businesses, located in existing buildings on South Main and North Main, respectively. Citizens State Bank brought perhaps the most innovative and intriguing example of progress to Nashville. Max 24, an around-the-clock computer banking service, was established in the South Park Shopping Center. As Nashville grew, the school system was forced to make changes. In 1974, a new primary school was constructed to accommodate children from kindergarten through the second grade. A new junior high school facility was scheduled to begin its first year in August of 1980. Construction was not limited to buildings, however. Due to an increase of air traffic at the airport and, consequently, the airport road, improvements were implemented at the air field and the road was to have been completely reworked and enlarged. Progress at Nashville, at first glance, might have seemed limited to the adult world. However most of it directly or indirectly affected the people of NHS. The new Nashville Junior High School offers the most modern and convenient educational facilities available. The structure is to be ready for occupancy in August of 1980. Citizen's State Bank's computer banker. Mas 24, is lowered onto its concrete foundation by workmen with the assistance of a large crane. Student Life 19