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.
• Five new members and two new officers were elected by the Jacksonville University board of trustees.
New members of the 41-member board were Louis S. Kimball, president of Southern Packaging Services; U.S. District Court Judge W.A. McRae; citrus grove owner Luke Sadler; William M. Mason, president of Mason Lumber Co.; and Florence Davis, wife of J.E. Davis, Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. board chairman. Florence Davis was the first woman elected to JU's board.
The board elected Prime Osborn III, vice president and general counsel of Atlantic Coast Railroad, and Thomas R. McGehee, president of Jacksonville Paper Co., as vice chairmen.
• The Duval County Budget Commission deferred action on a $12,000 request for three months' operations by the new public defender, pending a study of his office staff salary accounts by the Civil Service Board.
Edward Austin Jr., named as state public defender for the 4th Judicial Circuit, requested $12,000 for operations through Sept. 30.
The law creating the public defender would go into effect July 1.
The public defender's annual salary was set at $13,000, with the state paying $9,000 and the County paying the remainder.
Austin was authorized six assistants, one of whom would be paid entirely by the state.
• The City Council earmarked the new 3-cent cigarette tax increase exclusively for new streets and sewers.
The tax hike, enacted in 1963 by the Legislature, was expected to generate more than $600,000 a year for the City.
The increase was to take effect in January and all revenue realized was to be used for capital improvements including streets, curbs, gutters, sanitary sewers and storm drains.
• Mayor Haydon Burns' $750,000 libel suit against former City Council member John Lanahan was dismissed on technical grounds, but an amended complaint could be filed within 10 days.
Circuit Judge A.W. Graessle Jr. dismissed the original complaint on the ground it failed to meet the state law requiring a libel suit to contain an allegation the alleged libelous matter was published "of and concerning the plaintiff."
Graessle's order said amendment of the complaint would be necessary to state a cause of action which would clear the way for testimony in the case.
The suit stemmed from a full-page newspaper advertisement Lanahan had published April 3 during his election campaign to oust Burns as mayor.
Burns later won the election by a decisive margin to win the Democrat party nomination for mayor-commissioner. Lanahan had resigned from Council to run for mayor.
Statements made in the advertisement that Burns claimed were libelous included, "Yes – crime does pay – somebody." and "Bootleggers tell of payoffs to mayor's office."
Burns was represented by attorney Martin Sack. Lanahan's lawyer was Walter G. Arnold.
• Burglars ransacked a Riverside home and then set six fires in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence of the crime. Damage to the home and its contents was estimated at $7,000.
The home at 1854 Elizabeth Place was owned by James R. Stockton Jr.
Detective Lt. J.W. Greene said the Stocktons were having difficulty determining the exact loss through theft, but seven rifles and shotguns were known to have been stolen.
Greene said household items such as chinaware and clothing were stacked as though the thieves had planned to take them. Every room was ransacked.
Fire officials said fires were started with an unidentified flammable liquid in the living room, den and two hallways. Both the upstairs and downstairs were heavily damaged by fire and smoke.
Stockton, a real estate executive, and his family were staying at their home in Ponte Vedra Beach when the Riverside fire was reported by a neighbor at about 2 a.m.
• An escaping convict was shot in the leg by a resident after the convict refused to heed the man's order to halt.
James Winters, who was serving a term of six months to five years for burglary, was taken to the hospital at the Raiford State Prison for treatment of a .22-caliber bullet wound to his left leg.
Duval County Patrolman E.E. Thorburn said Winters was shot with a revolver by Venus Altman of 6429 Manotak St. as Winters ran through Altman's yard.
Thorburn said Altman told him he knew prisoners had been doing road work in the area and went outside his house with his pistol after a neighbor telephoned his wife that the convict was running down the street toward Altman's house.
Altman said he saw the man, dressed in a gray prison uniform with a white stripe down the side, dash across his yard heading for some woods.
"I yelled for him to halt, but he wouldn't, so I shot at him three times and one of the bullets hit him," Altman said.
• A 10-week survey began to determine who parked Downtown and whether more parking places were needed.
Conducted by the City in cooperation with the Downtown Council of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, the survey included all blocks between Liberty and Broad streets and between Beaver Street and the St. Johns River.
To be inventoried were all curbside parking spaces, auto garages, parking lots and multistory garages.
Summer employees under the direction of City Parking Engineer Harry Howard filled out cards on every automobile that parked within the survey area from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Drivers were asked where they came from, where in Downtown they were going, why did they come Downtown and their home address.
"The purpose of this project is to give a clear picture of parking conditions Downtown. We are trying to find out the demand for parking in each block," said Howard.
"A real need exists for this type of information," said Downtown Council Parking Committee Chairman Richard Brooke.
"We have had several inquiries from firms interested in putting in new Downtown stores or businesses and they want to know the parking situation and whether additional facilities are needed," he said.
• A new plan intended to speed up traffic flow on the Fuller Warren and Mathews toll bridges was implemented.
Roving "change makers" were stationed at both bridges. They moved down the line of backed-up vehicles, giving drivers correct change and directing them to the self-pay lanes, which generally were not congested, even during rush hours.