Police credit union reopens after scandal, Tanzier wins conviction
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 similarities may be, so are the differences. These are some of the top stories from the week of Dec. 7-13, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• The Jax Police Credit Union opened its doors for the first time since July 16 when business was halted as result of an embezzlement scandal which “rocked the city.” The credit union went into operation under drastic restrictions of internal mechanics and safeguards ordered by the bonding company.
Following an investigation headed by State Comptroller Ray E. Green, responsibility for letting shortfalls blossom to $182,000 could not be pinpointed to any individual, group or organization.
• Four automatic toll collectors went into operation on the Mathews Bridge. Similar automatic devices had been operating on the Fuller Warren Bridge for more than year and had proven to be popular with motorists and an effective way to speed up the bridge traffic.
A red light flashed and a siren sounded when a motorist drove through the automatic collector without depositing the 15-cent toll or if less than 15 cents was placed in the hopper. If more than the required toll was deposited, no change was given. In addition to the automatic collection lanes, regularly staffed collection booths were open 24 hours a day to serve motorists without correct change.
• At its annual membership banquet at Le Chateau Restaurant, Secretary of the Navy William B. Franke told members of the Jacksonville Beach Chamber of Commerce that “What this country needs is a good shot of realism.”
He also said, “We are faced with threats – serious threats repeatedly and unmistakably stated by Soviet leaders since 1917 that communism and capitalism cannot coexist. Eventually one must be eliminated and there is no doubt in their minds who will be the sole survivor.”
Franke reviewed the progress Russia had made in space, psychological warfare, economic penetration and subversion as well as the possibility of overt military aggression and added the threat was massive in strength.
“In a time of uneasy peace we must be ready to live in a war economy and the end is not in sight. In fact, we may have to continue to live under present circumstances for many years,” he said.
Franke was introduced to the large crowd by U.S. Rep. Charles Bennett.
• Thurland Sands, a suspended Jacksonville police officer, was convicted on charges of robbery by a Criminal Court jury.
Sands’ brother, Harry, had pleaded guilty in the same robbery case and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment ny by Judge A. Lloyd Layton. Thurland Sands faced up to life in prison on the conviction.
The brothers were charged with taking $427 at gunpoint from Joe Ted Booth, manager of the 3 A.M. Club on Main Street Sept. 25.
Defense attorney Albert Datz built his case around Harry Sands’ testimony denying that he and his brother planned the robbery. Harry Sands said his brother had no knowledge of the fact he was carrying a gun into the club where the two had stopped to buy a bottle of whisky after drinking beer most of the day. Harry said he tucked the gun under his shirt and that it was only after he got into the bar that the idea of holding up the manager entered his mind.
Thurland Sands denied any knowledge of the robbery until after the two had left the bar.
Assistant County Solicitor Hans Tanzler, who was prosecuting the case, said Thurland Sands’ defense was a case of “I don’t know.”
Tanzler slashed at arguments intended to discredit the state’s major witnesses, two men who said they observed the brothers at their car outside the club while Harry Sands put the gun into his shirt.
Datz had argued that the two men had not seen the brothers outside the bar, but had been inside themselves, drinking when they should have been at their jobs.
Tanzler countered by asking if that were the case, how did the men obtain the license number of the car the brothers drove.
Layton gave Thurland’s attorney 15 days in which to file a motion for a new trial and continued Thurland on a $2,000 bond.
• The contract for the lease of 36 new cars for the Duval County Patrol was signed by the County Commission over the protest of the successful bidder.
Byron Folmar of American Auto Rentals, Inc. asked the commission not to insist on the same type cars that were currently used by the patrol. Folmar had submitted the lowest bid and included the stipulation that the company could choose any one of three makes. He later explained that one maker had not given him a price at the time he made his bids and he had subsequently found it would cost him $200 more per car for that model.
Folmar indicated he might forfeit his $1,000 bid bond rather than accept the contract, on which he said he would lose about $3,600. He also told the commission that if the contract went to the second-lowest bidder, Gordon Thompson, Inc., it would cost the County about $20,000 more than Folmar’s bid. The commissioners indicated they would readvertise the bids if Folmar did not take their offer.
• The Duval County Ministerial Alliance petitioned the County Commission not to alter existing regulations governing distances that whisky stores and bars had to keep from schools and churches.
The Duval County Commission had not adopted regulations fixing the distances liquor establishments had to be from schools and churches, but rather had adhered to the general provisions of the State Beverage Code that required 2,500 feet distance.
The petition arose after the commission approved in October a petition from a bar owner on Lenox Avenue to move his establishment around the corner to a new location on Highway Avenue since he was being evicted by the construction of the Expressway.
Protests were received from church groups, residents of the area and the Board of Public Instruction that the relocation of the bar would hurt the neighborhood and that the new location was within the prohibited distance to a school and a church.
The commission took the matter under advisement.
• Margaret Twyman was the guest speaker at a luncheon at the Robert Meyer Hotel during the meeting of the Motion Picture Exhibitors of Florida. She was the director of the Motion Picture Association of America and told the theatre owners they “were not attuned to the wants and nature of women.”
Twyman said women are pretty much the same everywhere and they are all easily offended by bad taste, are for causes that fight evil and want suitable films for their children to attend.
“And women will not give you something for nothing,” she added.
Twyman also told the group, “Women today are extremely well informed, exert a lot of influence and and are responsible for between 60-85 percent of the nation’s $275 billion annual consumer spending.”
• In a report issued by the Jacksonville field office of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Florida led the Southeastern United States and ranked fourth in the nation in number of building permits issued for new dwellings in the first six months of 1959.
Of the 77,168 permits issued in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina, 32,893 were issued in Florida. Valuation of the new construction in the Sunshine State was $515,100,000 which was fifth-largest in the nation.
The Duval County Engineer’s Office reported 1,998 permits for the construction of dwellings issued in the county in the first six months of the year representing a valuation of $14,358,788. Within Jacksonville’s city limits 189 permits valued at $1,565,147 were issued in that period.
• Sixteen thousand pounds of frozen lobster tails, seized by the Food and Drug Administration in September as contaminated, were not worth reclaiming. That’s what the owners told U.S. District Judge Bryan Simpson.
In a motion filed with the court, International Fisheries Corporation, owner of the seized shipment, stated the four lots of lobster tails were inspected and found to be impractical for reprocessing or repackaging. The firm, which was headquartered in New York, stated it was withdrawing its claim against the shipment. Simpson entered a court order directing disposal of the tainted tails.