Have you ever wondered what stories made headlines 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 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 June 8-14, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• The County Budget Commission deleted a $10,000 request from the County Commission budget proposal to cover the cost of a survey on the desirability of home rule form of government for Duval County. The board’s action followed pleas by the heads of two organizations which had been fighting the proposed survey.
Cora Allen, president of the Duval County Democratic Woman’s Club, Inc., asked that “not even a dime” be budgeted for such a survey. William Catlin, vice president of the Duval County Federation for Constitutional Government, also voiced opposition to the survey.
In other action the commission reduced to $80,000 a County Commission request for $130,000 to construct concrete bridges over the Trout River at Dunn Avenue and over McGirts Creek on Collins Road.
• A man named Goodyear was sentenced to serve 18 months in County jail for breaking in to a Firestone store.
Thomas Goodyear Jr., 33, of 133 W. Fifth St., was sentenced by Criminal Court Judge William T. Harvey after pleading guilty to breaking and entering the Firestone Stores, Inc. building at 1850 Main St. to commit petit larceny.
Assistant County Solicitor R. Hudson Oliff said Goodyear gave a statement saying he was just passing by on the way home when he went to the rear of the store, broke a glass out of the door, reached through and unlocked it to gain unlawful entry.
“My purpose for this was to get some money because I had been unemployed about one month and a half,” Goodyear’s statement said.
Harvey also sentenced Louise Boone Wood, 51, of 8537 Cocoa Ave., to serve 30 days in County jail for contempt of court for being intoxicated when she appeared for trial on drunk driving charges.
The judge said Wood created a scene in front of prospective jurors who could have decided her guilt or innocence on charges that she was driving a pickup truck while intoxicated. She was also charged with reckless driving, damaging property and leaving the scene of collisions with two other vehicles.
In view of her condition the case was reset for June 19.
• “Veteran City Councilman” James Peeler blocked passage of a Council resolution that he said was “an improper attempt to create a new job” in the municipal taxicab inspector’s department.
Peeler acted under a Council rule which prohibited passage of a resolution appropriating money on the night it is introduced if a single Council member objected.
Peeler declined to name the person for whom the new job was intended. He said the only authorized jobs in the department were those of the taxicab inspector and one assistant and added, “You can’t create a job by a resolution. You’ve got to have an ordinance setting it up. This is premature. I objected on the principal of the thing.”
• A gunman robbed the Toddle House restaurant at 529 Riverside Ave. and left the scene with $50. The manager, Charles Edwin Fulgham, said the man about 23 years of age walked into the restaurant at 2:25 a.m., pulled a pistol and ordered him to the rear of the restaurant.
Fulgham told patrolman R. E. Miller the robber took the money from the cash register and jerked the telephone from the wall before escaping in an automobile.
• A Regulus 1 “operational war missile” was drafted into peacetime service for a history-making delivery of U. S. Mail from a submarine 250 miles at sea to the Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Mayport.
The launching of the missile at 9:10 a.m. was not announced in advance but its successful landing at Mayport 22 minutes later led to a hurriedly called press conference to acclaim the successful delivery of 3,000 letters.
“The United States today began experimental exploration of a major new technique of communication that is of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world,” declared Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield. “These developments are a reaffirmation by the United States of its humanitarian aims, as eloquently emphasized by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, that the scientific achievements of our people shall be used as a rich legacy of progress for mankind.”
• The day after the launch and recovery, it was announced that effective July 1 the Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Mayport would become Naval Station Mayport. It was noted the change was “in line with the expanding importance of the facility which now supports a growing number of Navy fleet units.”
• Two City patrolmen exchanged gunfire with the driver of a fleeing automobile in a wild chase that began Downtown and ended when the driver abandoned the vehicle in the county.
Patrolmen James Luman and James Branch said they spotted a speeding car at 2:30 a.m. being driven in a reckless manner at the corner of First Street and Florida Avenue (now A. Philip Randolph Blvd.) and gave chase after the driver ignored the siren and red light on the patrol car.
The car knocked down several barricades and ran red lights and stop signs during the chase through the east side of the city. At Eighth and Phoenix the driver stuck his arm from the car window and fired one shot at the police car. At the intersection of 26th and Moncrief Road the driver fired two more times missing the patrol car with all shots. The patrolmen began firing back and shot out the rear window of the fleeing car.
The chase continued on Old Kings Road and then down a dirt road through the woods when the driver abandoned the car and his female companion. The officers attempted to pursue him on foot but lost track of him in the darkness.
Sought as the driver of the car was Robert Lee Brown of 912 Ocean St. The passenger, Erma Brown of 1570 Franklin St. was held for investigation on a charge of vagrancy.