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 1961. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• County Commissioner Bob Harris described Tax Assessor Frank Osborn’s last-minute budget request to the commission for revaluation funds a “sneaky political maneuver.”
Harris’ comment came as the commission voted to prohibit any further exchanges between the board and the assessor on the revaluation question. Commission Vice Chair Lem Merrett moved that further correspondence on the matter be filed for information without comment.
“It is lowering the dignity of the board by getting into a name-calling deal with the assessor. We’ve taken a stand on it and let’s leave it at that,” said Merrett.
Merrett made reference to a speech made a week earlier by Osborn in which he said tax-dodging landlords and “paid political mouthpieces” were opposing the first revaluation of property in Duval County in 25 years. Osborn was seeking a $644,700 appropriation to cover the cost of the revaluation.
Harris’ reference to the last-minute request as sneaky and political was because, Harris said, when Osborn originally submitted his budget request to the commission on March 28, there was no reference to the appropriation.
Harris said Osborn’s request came in a budget amendment filed with the commission April 21, a few days before the board adopted its proposed 1961-62 budget.
Osborn said he referred to paid lobbyists as the political mouthpieces, not the commissioners.
• Three University of Florida football players were in trouble over a prank and two of them were from Jacksonville.
University President J. Wayne Reitz said halfbacks Bob Hoover and Dick Skelly, both from Jacksonville, and end Billy Cash from Tallahassee had been put on disciplinary probation for a year.
They were found guilty by a faculty disciplinary committee on charges of picking a fight with Albert, the university’s 29-year-old, 12-foot alligator mascot.
According to testimony during a four-hour hearing before the committee, fraternity brothers of the trio bet them they could not pull Albert out of the water and hold him on land for five minutes. Albert was accidentally nicked on the tail by a hatchet that was carried along for protection.
Campus police arrested the three April 24 after receiving a call that someone was trying to chop off Albert’s tail.
“Under the regulations of the university, these students may continue their studies, but are not eligible for participation in intercollegiate activities. A probation is subject to review from time to time and may be modified in light of the individual’s academic progress and personal conduct,” said Reitz.
Hoover was an All-Southeastern Conference sophomore halfback in 1960 after gaining 302 yards and scoring three touchdowns.
Skelly was the top freshman in the SEC in 1959, but injured his knee in the 1960 season. At the time of the incident with Albert, Skelly looked “very impressive” and was the No. 2 halfback behind Lindy Infante.
Cash, called “The Toe from Tallahassee,” kicked four field goals and eight extra points in 1960. His 47-yard field goal, which beat LSU 13-10, was one of the longest kicks of the 1960 season.
• More reptile-related news: the County Commission came to the conclusion there was little it could do about snakes after hearing protests from property owners in areas snakes were considered to be abundant.
Commissioners Julian Warren and Lem Merrett, who both had received complaints from constituents, pledged every effort to alleviate the situations. However, cooperation of landowners in the affected areas would have to be obtained first, they said.
One solution was to obtain permission from owners of wooded, swampy areas near homes to have the State Forestry Service cut fire lanes through their property. The commission had no power to go onto private land to clear it or drain it, nor did it have the funds for the purpose, said the commissioners.
The recommendations of County Agricultural Agent James Watson were suggested as safeguards.
One solution offered was to get a dog. A dog, Watson said, would flush a snake and give warning of its presence or chase it away.
Another suggestion was to place a low metal guard a few inches high around fenced property. Watson said snakes would not crawl over such a barrier.
• Small Claims Judge W. Shannon Linning took steps to curb what he called the illegal use of court-type documents by bill collectors.
Linning issued an order to operators of a local printing firm to appear before him to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court.
Linning said testimony of witnesses made it appear that the firm, Mendolson Printing and Office Supply at 725 W. Adams St., had printed and distributed court-type documents used for bill collections in violation of the law.
The forms used by the bill collectors and carrying the copyright of the printing company contained the following language:
“Ultimatum. Final notice before suit in Small Claims Court, Duval County, State of Florida.”
Linning said the documents appeared to be court papers and were so regarded by many recipients. He said it was a violation of the law to print and distribute such papers.
In his show cause order, Linning said it appeared to the court “that such acts are offenses against the authority and dignity of this court.”
• Late in April, County and federal moonshine agents raided a still near University Boulevard and Fort Caroline Road and chopped holes in the pot and drums.
A few days later, State Beverage Agents Ed Bullock and Curtis Routsong, after detecting a strong odor in the woods, found the still had been repaired and was again in operation. They took no chances on letting the moonshiners get back in business again.
The patched-up 350-gallon capacity pot, 45 large drums, 2,250 gallons of mash and 10 gallons of illegal liquor were blown up with dynamite.
• Astronaut Alan Shepard was in the news, having become on May 5 America’s first man in space.
It was revealed that three weeks prior to his historic suborbital flight, he and his wife were in Jacksonville. On April 16, they stopped on their way to Cape Canaveral to visit Shepard’s cousin, Donald K. Hawes, of 4955 Ortega Forest Drive.
Hawes and his wife took the Shepards to dinner at Timuquana Country Club, which had a large Sunday night crowd, “but we stayed to ourselves and didn’t introduce him to anyone,” said Hawes.
Hawes said when Shepard was in Jacksonville, he didn’t know he had been selected for the space flight, “and we didn’t press him for information.”
It wasn’t the first time Shepard had been in Jacksonville. After World War II, the Naval Academy graduate was stationed at Jacksonville Naval Air Station. He lived on the Southside and commuted to NAS on a Navy launch.
• Jacksonville, because of its diverse commerce and industry, was selected by the Florida Industrial Commission as a pilot city for a program to improve the state’s job finding services.
Commission Chair A. Worley Brown said the agency expected to have the program in place in less than a month and “we think it will mean more aggressive job promotion throughout Florida.”
The Jacksonville pilot program, said Brown, would explore new methods of establishing closer contact between companies with job openings and people looking for work.
“It should not only result in better services to employers and employees, but also should serve to combat recessionary conditions when we have more than 128,000 unemployed in Florida,” he said.
Duval County’s unemployment was up in March 1961 to 8,000 as compared to 6,100 in March 1960. At the same time, however, total employment gained slightly, with 141,000 people employed in March 1961 and 140,500 with jobs in March 1960.