Gator Bowl sellout soonest in history, Maness rules in obscenity case
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. 14-20, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Gator Bowl officials announced Tuesday that the Jan. 2 game between the University of Arkansas and Georgia Tech was sold out, marking the earliest date in the history of the game that all (42,000) tickets had been purchased.
It was noted that only once before, the Dec. 29, 1956 game between Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech, had the game sold out before the day of the game.
Upon being informed of the sellout Gator Bowl President John Piombo said, “It certainly is great news. Now we can concentrate on also selling out the basketball tournament. Approximately 1,700 two-night tickets have been sold. There are from 250-290 two-night tickets left to be sold. The possibility of selling out both the football game and the basketball tournament for the first time in history is very bright.”
• With slightly less than half of registered voters participating, Atlantic Beach’s alcoholic beverage ordinance was amended in a referendum to extend bar hours.
The change meant bars would be allowed to remain open until 2 a.m. daily and Sunday from 2 p.m.-2 a.m. They formerly had to close at midnight daily and all day Sundays.
Out of the 912 registered voters, 399 cast ballots. The vote was 213 for the amendment and 185 against it. There was one incorrectly marked ballot.
The change in the ordinance made the hours of operation conform with those of Jacksonville Beach and Neptune Beach, except that bars opened at 1 p.m. Sundays in the latter.
• Circuit Judge William H. Maness ruled that 20 out of 26 “arty” magazines sold at a news stand were obscene.
Five were given a clean bill of health as not coming under the test that they “appealed to the prurient interest.” Another which escaped the obscenity test was cited by Maness as being “trash.”
The ruling came in a suit filed by County Solicitor Lacy Mahon Jr. asking the court to declare all 26 magazines as obscene. The case was taken under a 1959 law requiring a Circuit Court ruling on whether published matter is obscene before criminal prosecution could be taken. It was noted that if the 20 listed as obscene were not were not removed from all news stands in Duval County the solicitor’s office could institute criminal proceedings against the vendors.
However, Assistant County Solicitor Hans Tanzler said the ruling was a victory in the fight against distribution of obscene material in Duval County. He said it “gives the solicitor’s office a weapon with which to deal with potential purveyors of similar materials.”
Tanzler also said the majority of the magazines were not regular publications but were published from time to time and stayed on news stands for months until they were disposed of, then new batches were turned out by the same or other publishers.
Maness cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision in making his ruling. As sole tryer of the law and facts in the case he cited the following language in the higher court ruling as the key to determining obscenity: “ . . . whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interests.”
In his ruling Maness also pointed out, “This court is also bound to apply as the law of the case the principle that neither sex nor nudity are synonymous with obscenity and that materials which are considered trash and disgusting to a particular group, or even to this court, may not be ‘obscene’ within the narrowly defined category of materials which are denied the protection of the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.”
The defendant in the case was Jacob Rachleff, who operated Jake’s News Stand at 1116 Julia St.
• The Christmas decorations purchased by the Downtown Council that were installed on every light post were a hit.
They were to be lit each evening at sunset and extinguished ar sunrise until Dec. 26, when the Downtown decorations would be changed to a Gator Bowl theme. The Gator Bowl Association purchased 40 banners at a cost of $2,500 to remind residents and visitors to Jacksonville of the game on Jan. 2. The banners featured a large football with a roaring alligator painted on it and a message welcoming fans to the game.
Hugh Curtis, executive director of the Downtown Council, said comments about the decorations had been passed along to the council from as far away as New York City.
“A representative of the New York City Chamber of Commerce commented that Jacksonville’s decorations were the most tastefully executed he had ever seen,” added Curtis.
• State beverage agents and Duval County deputies raided an illegal liquor operation and had to turn away carloads of customers while arresting four persons.
Ralph Pickles, district director of the State Beverage Department, identified the three men and a woman who were taken into custody as Bertram Bell and Marvin D. Griffin, both 54 and listing their address as 538 Chatham Rd.; James Bell, 33 and son of Bertram Bell; and Dorothy Westbrook, 33, of 4722 Hunt St.
The raiding party hit two buildings at 536 and 538 Chatham St. at about 11 a.m.
Griffin was released under $1,500 bond for selling tax-paid whisky without a license, Bertram Bell was released on $500 bond on charges of selling moonshine. The other two were charged with vagrancy and released on $25 bond each.
An arrest warrant was issued by Justice of the Peace George Harris after the raiding party failed to locate Abraham H. LaPrell, owner of the raided premises.
Griffin and Bertram Bell pleaded guilty in Criminal Court in four liquor cases the week before the raid and Pickles said LaPrell also had four federal liquor cases pending against him.
Several County patrolmen, Chief Criminal Investigator J.C. Patrick and Deputies James Hamlin and Al Rowland teamed with the state agents in executing the arrests which were made on warrants signed by Juvenile Court Judge Marion Gooding. The raiding party confiscated 300 bottles of tax-paid liquor, 200 cans of beer and more than 30 gallons of moonshine. Agents said Bertram Bell dumped a large quantity of moonshine in a sink as officers used sledgehammers and pry bars to break through steel doors which guarded one of the houses.
Also seized was a quantity of material agents said could be used in the making of a still.
At least 40 carloads of prospective customers pulled into the parking area of the premises while the raid was in progress and were ordered to move on by officers.
• James R. Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, stopped in Jacksonville to speak to the local Teamsters Joint Council 85 at the National Guard Armory. He said that anti-labor forces in the nation seek to have the rights of the working man decided in a labor court.
Hoffa also said having such a court would “take away labor’s right to have an organization of its own choosing.”
• The County Commission learned that the estimated cost of building a sewage disposal system for the Ortega-Venetia area had increased by $124,000 since preliminary studies were made two years earlier.
Charles Richeimer, the consulting engineer on the project, said that wouldn’t be a problem because the increased number of homes in the area would balance off the increased cost when sewer assessments were levied on them.
In another sanitary sewer matter that came before the commission the board rescinded a $5 fee requirement on County Health Unit inspections of sewer connections.
The fee had gone into effect Nov. 2 and was charged before County building permits could be issued. Home developers complained the fee was inequitable. Health officials said the fee was needed to raise funds to hire a sanitary engineer to make the inspections. A compromise fee of $3 had been proposed and other means of raising $12,000 to hire the engineer and a clerk assistant were also being explored.
• There was a party at W.V. Crowder’s farm but he wasn’t invited. When Crowder left his home on Landon Avenue and went to his farm at 9380 Phillips Highway he discovered unwelcome visitors had cooked and eaten two turkeys, a hog, two pheasants and assorted other animals.
Investigators found 14 coffee cups and traced them to a Phillips Highway truck stop, where a waitress reported a teenager told her a group was having a party and needed coffee to wash down the feast. Descriptions of several others in the party were obtained by Duval County patrolmen. A large quantity of beer also appeared to have been consumed on the premises.