Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It may have been 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 1960. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Duval County’s political veterans were “scratching their heads” over the ease with which Morgan S. Slaughter secured the Democratic nomination for Clerk of the Circuit Court.
Of the 379 Democratic executive committee men and women who were eligible to cast a vote, 339 voted either in person or by proxy at the National Guard Armory. It took only an hour to put Slaughter on the upcoming general election ballot over Richard D. Barker by a tally of 209 to 64. Emory H. Price, former U.S. representative, and former City Council member Robert R. Roberts lagged far behind with 33 votes each.
The consensus was that the landslide victory Slaughter recorded over his three opponents on the first ballot constituted one of the “most unexpected political events in recent years.”
Only 169 votes, a simple majority, were needed and eight voting machines had been provided by the Office of Voter Registration. Four machines were used for the first ballot, with the remaining four expected to be used for subsequent ballots, which were expected to last into the early hours of the next morning.
No one was more surprised at the vote than Barker, who was the chair of the Duval Democratic Executive Committee. He said before the ballot that he was confident of at least 160 votes that had been “double-checked and triple-checked.”
Barker admitted after the vote was over that he was stunned and couldn’t understand what happened to the commitments he thought he had.
“I am disappointed, but not downhearted,” Barker said, and added that in politics, commitments do not always come through.
”You can’t always depend on them because you can’t go into the voting booth with them,” said Barker.
Slaughter had already been appointed by Gov. LeRoy Collins to act as temporary clerk until Jan. 3. He had served 15 years as chief assistant to the late Leonard Thomas, who died Oct. 15.
The nomination assured Slaughter of election on Nov. 8, since there were no Republican opposition.
• Voters in the general election would be asked to cast their ballot on six amendments to the state constitution. The proposed amendments would:
1. Authorize the Legislature to add up to two judges to each of the three-judge District Courts of Appeal.
2. Permit Floridians serving in the military on overseas duty to register and vote absentee.
3. Give the Legislature control over proposed expenditures by the state Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission from the state game fund.
4. Write into the constitution the law by which each of the 67 counties shared in state racing revenues.
5. Permit trial of civil suits in Volusia and Highlands counties in cities other than the county seat.
6. Permit trials of civil suits in Brevard County in cities other than the county seat.
It was noted that even though the election was just three weeks away, there had been little public discussion of the proposed amendments, except for the Game Commission proposal, which was opposed by most organized sportsmen’s groups. Most of the support for curbing the commission came from members of the legislature.
• The Jacksonville Symphony Ball committee had to make a change concerning the headline entertainer booked for the scheduled Jan. 20 gala at the new Municipal Coliseum.
Muffet Corse, Helen Lane, Roxie Merrill, Linda Moseley and Chris Schmidt “sustained a lot of mental wear and tear” when they had to replace Gordon MacRae with Anna Marie. MacRae had to bow out due to being “entangled” with “The Dinah Shore Show” the weekend of the event. Anna Marie had been in “three big TV specials” and had done “guest shots with everybody big in TV, with the possible exception of Huckleberry Hound.”
• The Jacksonville Coach Company’s new “Dreamliner” made its inaugural run, but the trip almost ended in disaster. The air-conditioned bus was carrying local businessmen and government officials when it avoided by inches a collision with a couple of cars on the Jacksonville Expressway viaduct.
Only the quick thinking and reflexes of driver K.V. Johnson kept police accident investigators from compiling what could have been the most distinguished casualty list in Jacksonville’s history.
Passengers on the free ride included State Rep. George Stallings Jr., City Commissioner Lou Ritter, City Traffic Engineer Harry Howard and the managers of many of the city’s biggest stores. All had been invited to go along on the first run for the new bus, which was a prototype of those the coach company would put into service the next week.
The ride in the shiny, $35,000 vehicle was uneventful until the bus was going over the viaduct in its way back to Downtown. Then some cars directly in front of it slammed to a halt in order to avoid a barricade that had been set up to close a lane that was still under construction. Johnson avoided collision by swerving the bus to the left and across the concrete dividing island in the center of the viaduct. Fortunately there was no traffic in the oncoming lanes and Johnson was able to get back into his own lane without further incident.
• The Duval County Budget Commission was advised that a 1955 special law enabled the commission to use $237,000 from the sale of the old County Courthouse for construction funds on improvements to the new courthouse.
County Attorney J. Henry Blount explained that the law gave the commission the authority to put the money in the courthouse and jail special fund rather than the “sinking fund,” which was used to reduce ad valorem taxes.
During the discussion, Budget Commissioner Edward Acosta asked if it was the prerogative of the commission to use the funds for improvements rather than reduction of indebtedness.
Blount said the new courthouse on Bay Street was not complete without parking facilities and additional circuit judge chambers.
The combination of bulkheading for the parking lot and the chambers would cost about $1.2 million, of which the commission had about $700,000. Bonds would be issued for the additional $500,000 and would be paid off from ad valorem tax revenue.
In other business, a request from the Juvenile Shelter for an increase in its budget appropriation to $74,940 for additional personnel and salary adjustments was cut to $51,257, the original sum asked by the shelter.
Also, Sheriff Dale Carson appeared before the commission to present a check for $3,177.72, representing surplus from the previous budget year for his department.
• Fired City Fire Capt. Horace Smith lost an estimated $3,500 he had contributed from his pay into the City retirement fund.
“There are no provisions for any refund from the pension fund,” said City Attorney William Madison.
Madison said Smith, who had been ordered to make restitution of more than $26,000 to the Firemen’s Credit Union, automatically forfeited his pension rights when he was convicted of a felony, stealing money while treasurer of the credit union.
Fire Chief Frank Kelly said he thought it was unfortunate that Smith could not get pension money that had been deducted at a rate of 3.5 percent since the pension law was enacted in 1937.
The week before the forfeiture was declared, Smith had been placed on five years’ probation and ordered to make full restitution of $26,825.17 in shortages in the credit union’s accounts.