Have you ever wondered what it was like in Jacksonville 50 years 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 similarities may be, so are the differences. These are some of the top stories from the week of Aug. 17-23, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Perke Robinson Jr. became the third man in the history of the American Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps in Jacksonville to win the annual ocean marathon three times in a row.
The 19-year-old topped a field of 40 swimmers in winning the 1959 race in 2:07:21. He grabbed the lead as soon as the field hit the surf in front of the Jacksonville Beach lifesaving station. Halfway through the 3.5-mile swim Robinson had widened his lead to 300 yards. He joined Walter Liddell and Alex Warden as the event’s only three-time winners at the time. Liddell and Warden had accomplished the hat trick in the 1930s.
• Plans for a second Fall Arts Festival were advanced at a meeting of the planning board of the Jacksonville Council of the Arts. The event would be expanded from a one-fay affair to two days, Oct. 10-11. The program would center around the Prudential festival which was attended by 12,000 people in 1958.
“This year even more people will be able to see and enjoy the festival,” said Robert H. Jacobs, council president.
He also said the council and its 33 member organizations were grateful that the Prudential Insurance Company made its Jacksonville facilities available to enhance the cultural growth of the city. Mrs. Charles A. Mead Jr., festival chair, said the expanded festival would be “a way to see how well a week-long festival will be received here in the future.”
• Attorney H.M. Searcy resigned as chair of the mayor’s Youth Advisory Council. Principal activity of the council since its inception in 1957 had been to make plans for a proposed youth recreation center near the Gator Bowl. Effort to raise sufficient funds for the project had been unsuccessful. Searcy said in his letter that his professional obligations were taking so much of his time that he was unable to continue as chair. Mayor Haydon Burns indicated he would appoint a new chair after receiving the views of committee members. Burns added, however, that he would insist on Searcy remaining a council member.
• Two City jail trustees were found guilty of smuggling wine and razor blades to a prisoner who tried to commit suicide.
Tonie Buster McCray, 44, and Dozier Joyner, 36, were sentenced in Municipal Court by Judge John Santora to 90 and 30 days, respectively. Joyner’s sentence was suspended.
Gordon Willis Cook, 30, who slashed his arms with the smuggled razor blades, arrived at the jail charged with issuing a worthless $20 check and evading a hotel bill of $134. Cook said he paid McCray $2 for two bottles of wine and a pack of razor blades which later slipped through the unscreened jail window to Joyner who gave them to Cook. McCray and Joyner, who were serving terms on minor charges, were transferred to the City prison farm to serve out their sentences.
• It was also reported that Santora discharged 300 parking tickets in July, his first full month in office. The total was well below the monthly average of his predecessor, Municipal Judge Charles Miller. A report from the Parking Meter Department showed that 8,360 tickets were issued during July.
Santora said he discharged 82 tickets either at the request of police officers or because the tickets were issued in error. He said 43 were discharged for City officials on City business and 42 for County officials on County business and five each for state and federal officials on official business.
Ninety-six tickets were discharged on written request of physicians who said tickets were put on cars of patients who were undergoing treatment in their offices. Six tickets issued to clergymen parking in their own church parking zones were discharged.
Santora said 15 tickets were discharged at the request of the Chamber of Commerce, 21 because meters were out of order and 22 because they were issued to other than present owners of the vehicles. The remainder were discharged either because they were unwarranted or involved hardship cases. While Miller was on the bench an average of 800 parking tickets were discharged each month.
• Santora also spoke at the Sertoma Club luncheon at the Seminole Hotel and stressed the importance of decorum and dignity in his court to encourage public respect for the law.
He said the court deals with an average of 150 persons per day six days a week and traffic cases accounted for about a third of the case load. In order to improve traffic conditions, he added, “Violations must be reduced through the apprehension of violators and strictness in court.”
Santora urged more courtesy toward police. He said some people tore up tickets and threw them at a policeman’s feet while telling the officer, “I don’t have to worry about this.” Santora said that type of person would get no mercy in his court.
• An order prohibiting officers from discussing police business with representatives of the city’s news media was issued to all members of the department by Police Chief Luther A. Reynolds.
The no-talk order came down the chain of command from Inspector Robert F. Hobbs to Capt. H.P. Collins who issued it to all headquarters-based officers and civilians on all three shifts.
Hobbs said “newsmen” would be allowed to inspect complaint forms and offense reports but would not be permitted to interview officers working on crimes. Previously, media representatives were allowed to interview officers to fill in details usually omitted from offense reports for more rounded stories.
It was noted that the Jax Police Credit Union embezzlement might not have reached the public for several months if officers hadn’t tipped newsmen off to the record shortage since the first offense report on the crime was filed several weeks after the case broke.
In another instance the “shakedown case” against two patrolmen which ended in their dismissal never was part of official records made available to the newsmen.
Both cases came to light by way of “confidential news sources within the police department.” Hobbs said the order was not meant to be a form of censorship. His explanation for the order was that members of the police department had been misquoted and quoted out of context in recent news stories concerning the operation of the City jail trustee system.
• A Downtown Council subcommittee announced that more than 200 tin foil garlands with red bells would adorn Downtown streets during the Christmas season.
The promotion and development group, meeting at the Chamber of Commerce Building, selected the garland design from among several which had been on display. The poles on which the decorations would hang would be wrapped with silver foil.
Subcommittee chair Leo Jansen said bids would be asked for and he hoped to execute a contract for the decorations within 10 days.
• Burglars peeled and looted a safe of $145. Patrolman C.L. Hutchinson said the safecrackers entered the business firm of Tompkins-Beckwith, Inc. at 2160 McCoy’s Blvd. and peeled back the bottom of a small safe. An employee, C.E. Miller, said the office was ransacked but nothing appeared to be missing.
• An ostrich at the Jacksonville Zoo laid her third egg in as many weeks. With all of the eggs moved to an incubator the first baby ostrich was not expected until Sept. 8 or 10. They were moved there to keep the mother from stepping on them, not to give zoo keepers something to do, it was noted.
The zoo’s acting Director, Newt (Doc) Baldwin, said that although there was no guarantee the zoo would be able to raise baby ostriches from the eggs, he would hide his head if at least one of them didn’t hatch.