Duval County’s owners of real property voted to approve a 10-mill levy to fund public schools, which would allow funding the $50.7 million budget requested by the school board.
The Budget Commission proposed a budget of only $43.1 million, which led teachers to cancel nonpaid activities, including sports.
“We think the public has expressed that they are with us — and by that I mean the teachers of the county — in demanding that the educational and political climate in Duval County be changed,” said Constance Cason, spokeswoman for the Duval County Teachers Association.
She said football and other extracurricular activities could be restored immediately.
With all 148 precincts reporting, the 10-mill proposal drew 23,829 votes. Another 13,533 taxpayers voted to levy 0 mills for schools and the remaining 1,090 votes were distributed among millage rates from 1-9 mills.
The vote was “most gratifying,” said School Superintendent Ish Brant.
“It is positive evidence that the electorate of Duval County desires quality education and is willing to support it to the fullest,” he said. “The board, school personnel and I express our deepest thanks and appreciation to the many individuals and organizations whose efforts made the results possible on behalf of the youth of our community.”
The Budget Commission’s $43.1 million proposed budget would have capped property taxes at 25 mills — $25 for each $1,000 of taxable property valuation –– with that sum raising funds not only for education, but for all county government functions. The commission contended taxpayers could not afford more than 25 mills.
The school budget would not be finally decided until after a public hearing scheduled Nov. 19 at the Civic Auditorium.
• By a vote of 38,769 to 12,577, voters also approved the Jacksonville Port Authority’s proposed $25 million general obligation bond issue.
The money raised from the bonds would be used to expand and improve the facilities at the Port of Jacksonville.
“It just shows that the people of Duval County are educated to the fact that the port means more than it was ever expected to,” said David Watts, authority chair.
He estimated the first group of bonds would be sold within 30 days. They would cover the cost of replacing Talleyrand docks and terminals and the county’s share of the cost for dredging the Jacksonville harbor.
• Ted David, an executive assistant in the mayor’s office, returned from a “federal aid investigation trip” to Washington, D.C., where he learned of a way to improve mass transit.
He reported Jacksonville commuters’ traffic headaches might be cured by “modern, speedy express buses” from suburban collection points into Downtown.
David said while some cities tackling traffic problems were leaning toward high-speed rail service and monorails, most cities, about 90 percent, were choosing bus transportation.
The plans, he said, included establishing collection areas in the suburbs much like a train depot with parking spaces for commuters’ cars. Express buses would run at frequent intervals into the central part of the city during rush hours.
David also reported a new federal agency, Housing and Urban Development, would take over authority of the Housing and Home Finance Agency and would oversee the Federal Housing Administration.
In order to receive urban renewal aid from HUD, he said, the city was required to have a comprehensive plan projecting population growth, land use and traffic patterns.
• The new parking lot on the river side of the Duval County Courthouse was set to open Nov. 15. Everybody, including county officials and employees, would have to pay to park there.
The Board of County Commissioners decided to charge 35 cents for the first half hour and 5 cents for each subsequent hour or fraction thereof, up to a maximum of $1 per day for a 24-hour period.
A monthly parking sticker, allowing unlimited entries and exits daily would cost $12, except to 42 spaces nearest the building. They would cost $15 a month and be sold on a first come, first served basis.
The lot would be closed from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Monday, except by special arrangement of the board. At other times, the lot would be open and staffed 24 hours a day, with a full crew of attendants from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily and a skeleton crew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.
• Hysterical outbursts by a married couple who had just been sentenced to 18 months in prison for mail fraud transformed a usually sedate federal courtroom into bedlam.
George and Marites Mathis, both 24, of 768 Acosta St., pleaded guilty to charges of acquiring a large quantity of property under false pretense. They joined record clubs, book clubs, camera arts clubs and similar distributing companies and failed to pay for the merchandise.
The scheme began in April 1962 and continued until February 1965 with the couple using at least 30 fictitious names in their illegal enterprise, it was charged.
The couple arrived in U.S. Judge William McRae’s court with their 4-year-old daughter, Marina.
After McRae imposed the sentences, he added arrangements had been made to turn the child over to juvenile authorities. He commented that an investigation conducted by the court’s probation officers indicated Marites Mathis was not a fit mother.
The couple’s court-appointed attorney, Walter Stedeford, said she was a native of Germany. Mathis married her there while he was serving in the U.S. Army and she would be subject to deportation when she finished her prison term.
At that point, Mrs. Mathis began sobbing loudly and collapsed on the floor in front of the judge’s bench. As she fell, her husband joined her in weeping and so did the daughter.
Stedeford picked up the child and tried to comfort her while deputy marshals lifted the woman to a chair.
The bedlam began again when Mathis’ mother, Janell Mathis, came forward from the spectator section to take the child.
“Don’t let her have the child. She’s the cause of all this,” screamed Mrs. Mathis.
At that point, she and her husband were led from the courtroom to the field deputies’ office, where prisoners were held to await transportation to county jail.
She quieted somewhat when a female deputy administered a sedative, but resumed crying and making accusations when the couple was taken to an elevator to begin their journey to jail.
According to postal inspectors, the couple obtained merchandise with a value of about $2,000 during the three-year period.
An investigation of the scheme began when one of the subscription companies, the Book of the Month Club, reported it had received several orders for books from applicants of different names but who gave the same address. The handwriting on the orders was the same, the inspectors said.
• Local philanthropist Loca Lee Buckner made a bequest in her will that would establish a home for unwed mothers in Jacksonville.
She died Oct. 27 in Italy while on a trip. Her will, admitted to probate by County Judge Page Haddock, set up the Thad and Loca Lee Buckner Foundation to establish the home for unwed mothers at Buckner’s $125,000 residence.
The home, to be called the Old Grove Manor Home, was at 700-701 Old Grove Manor. It would be made available at no charge or obligation to its occupants. Buckner gave the foundation $1 million to set up and maintain the house.
She had been a member of the board of directors of the Children’s Home Society, the largest private adoption agency in Florida.
In addition, Florida Southern College at Lakeland would receive at least $7 million of the estimated $10 million estate.
Buckner left $500,000 to St. Luke’s Hospital, $100,000 to Riverside Park Methodist Church and certain pieces of furniture to the Cummer Museum of Art.
The will also included bequests to relatives, friends and servants, ranging as high as $150,000 to several recipients.
• Jacksonville Days, a three-day sales promotion event, began in area stores. It was sponsored jointly by the Downtown Council of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce and merchants who were members of other area councils.
Window show cards and display cards identified the merchants, who stocked extra inventory intended to appeal to holiday shoppers.
Store and shop personnel, from executives and managers to clerks, wore lapel ribbons identifying them as Jacksonville Days hosts and hostesses.
Homer Brunkhorst was chairman of Downtown Council and of the promotion.
“Jacksonville merchants are offering a broad selection of merchandise at what we on the committee consider to be bargain prices. They intend to show Jacksonville as a wonderful place for home folks as well as visitors to shop,” he said.