Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It was a different era of history, culture and politics but there are often parallels between the kind of stories that made headlines then and today. As interesting as the differences may be, so are the similarities. These are some of the top stories from this week in 1963. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library's periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Speaking before the Exchange Club of South Jacksonville at the Town House Restaurant, City Council President Brad Tredinnick said the savings on the refinanced City utility tax revenue bonds should not be split equally among the five City commissioners to help fund their departmental duties.
He said the City's most important needs were sewers and streets and that most of the money should be used to meet those needs.
Tredinnick was referring to $4.3 million saved through the refinancing of the City's 1958 bond issue. The savings would amount to about $140,000 per year over the 30-year life of the new bond issue.
Tredinnick was seeking election to the office of City finance commissioner against incumbent Dallas Thomas and claimed credit for initiating the refinancing program, a claim disputed by Thomas.
Thomas said he worked on the technical details of the refinancing program for many months before he presented it to the City Commission and City Council for their approval and action.
• Members of the University Council of Jacksonville University reported 130 contributions or pledges had been received amounting to $42,225 in the campaign to raise $100,000 for the university's endowment fund.
John Durrett, general campaign chairman for the council, urged members to make the campaign a success by completing their contact lists as soon as possible.
He said if a member realized they would not be able to complete his list, turn over the contacts to another member who could follow up with the prospects.
"I realize with most of you that your time is your money, but I don't have to tell you of our great need. Obviously we don't have the alumni – we only have about 575 (four-year graduates since 1959) – so we can't turn to them. Therefore we must turn to the business leaders of our community to help us," said JU president Franklyn Johnson.
• At a political rally sponsored by the City Democratic Executive Committee, Mayor Haydon Burns charged challenger and City Council member John Lanahan was engaged in improper political tactics in the campaign for mayor in the 1964 election.
"The greatest miscarriage of truth and justice ever perpetrated on a candidate," Burns said of a series of advertisements placed by Lanahan's campaign.
The ad's headline read, "Crime pays somebody" and the copy included excerpts from a television program about moonshine operations.
The ads implied that members of the police department, which was under the direct administration of the mayor's office, were taking payoffs from moonshiners.
Burns said there were several entities involved in apprehending and prosecuting makers of illegal whiskey including federal and state agencies, the County Solicitor's Office, justices of the peace and constables.
"If Lanahan is suggesting the police department is taking payoffs, no less the mayor's office, then he is suggesting they all have been taking payoffs," said Burns.
Burns said he had instructed his attorney to put Lanahan and the publications that ran the ads on notice that unless the statements were retracted, he would sue each individually for $250,000 under the state libel law.
In addition, Burns said he turned the matter over to Duval County Solicitor Edward Booth to investigate the possibility of violation of the Florida criminal libel law.
• Circuit Judge William Maness imposed a revised prison term of 15 years on a young Massachusetts man for the rape of an 82-year-old woman at her home in Jacksonville Beach.
David Phillips Jr. of Worcester, Mass., during his trial in Circuit Court, entered a plea of guilty to a rape charge. Maness sentenced him to an indeterminate term of from six months to 30 years in the state prison.
An analysis of Florida law showed that an indeterminate term could not be imposed in the case of a crime punishable by death. In an indeterminate term, the parole commission decided how much time the prisoner served.
Under the prevailing rape statute, a defendant pleading guilty could be executed in the electric chair, or be sentenced to a term of years or life in prison at the discretion of the judge.
Probation could not be decreed by the judge, but the parole commission could consider a parole within six months.
Assistant State Attorney Nathan Schevitz, the prosecutor, presented evidence to show that Phillips broke into the victim's home at about 4 a.m.
When she awoke, he threatened to kill her if she made an outcry, and then raped her twice.
Phillips was quoted by police as saying he intended to rob the woman, but found no valuables.
Officers said Phillips had been talking to a young woman in the neighborhood earlier in the evening, but she had repelled his advances during the night.
Phillips had no prior criminal record. He was represented by attorneys Edward Robinson and Gordon Lee.
• Jacksonville Postmaster James Workman Jr. announced the appointment of Arthur Whittier Sr. as assistant postmaster.
Whittier was promoted from the post of administrative assistant to the postmaster and acting chief of administrative services, a position he had held since Aug. 9, 1962.
Whittier, a Jacksonville native, began his post office career as a temporary clerk in the local postal transportation terminal. He interrupted his postal career to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II. He was assigned mainly to postal clerk duties, but participated as an infantryman with the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade in the assault on Guam in 1944. He was discharged as a sergeant at the end of the war.
When he returned to Jacksonville, Whittier served at the West Bay Annex Distribution Unit and in the Murray Hill Classified Station before temporarily moving to Atlanta to work in the regional office of the Post Office Department.
On his return, he was foreman of mails before being named assistant superintendent of the Lakeshore Branch Post Office.
Whittier was brought back to the main office in July 1961 to organize and promote the Nationwide Improved Mail Service program and was subsequently promoted to administrative assistant to the postmaster.
Workman said Whittier qualified for the post through competitive civil service examination.