I know that lots of you who follow Carlene's thread also follow, or are at least familiar with, the 1975 case of the young Lyon sisters, who went missing after a trip to a mall in Wheaton, MD. Linking their threads just below:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?97-Sheila-and-Katherine-Lyon
Hence, you likely know that a big investigation related to the Lyon girls has been going on in Virginia in recent months and press conferences are scheduled for tomorrow and the next day, in Maryland and in Virginia, to discuss developments.
A central figure in the investigation, Lloyd Welch, who is incarcerated and from whose account much of the recent investigation apparently sprung, was in his young days sometimes a carnival worker who traveled to several states on the job.
I don't really suspect that person in any way in Carlene's case -- I believe he would have been too young (before his carnival years, I
think, and also I have not seen any record of him ever traveling to Georgia on that job) -- but all this does remind me of something that I have meant to mention a few times before on Carlene's thread, and that is that there were, from time to time back around the right time frame, small carnivals that would set up in the parking lot at Westgate. They were mostly kiddie rides, with maybe one or two "scarier" rides that would appeal more to older kids or teenagers -- and I think there were a few food booths, etc. Don't know if there was any carnival at Westgate at the time Carlene disappeared, but maybe I can find out. (Seems like it would have been a likely time, at the beginning of the summer, with kids out of school, etc.)
Anyhow -- a carnival worker or someone connected with a carnival: One more "possibility" that has crossed my mind at times.