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 1962. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• In U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, the Brahma Restaurant in Ocala surrendered unconditionally to a legal attack against its practice of serving blue cheese to customers who ordered Roquefort cheese from the menu.
The suit seeking to enjoin the restaurant and its employees from continuing that practice was filed by Community of Roquefort, Societe Anonyms de Caves and des Producteurs Auxilaire de I’Agriculture and de I’Industrie du Sud-Quest de la France.
The surrender came in the form of a stipulation for entering a consent judgment against the restaurant. The restaurant operator admitted the allegations of the Roquefort cheese manufacturer and agreed that whenever in the future a customer ordered Roquefort cheese, that would be exactly what was served.
It was contended in the complaint that Roquefort cheese was produced only from the milk of ewes, was aged in caverns near the community of Roquefort in France, and was a better product and more expensive to produce than blue cheese, which resembled Roquefort in some respects, but was made from cow’s milk.
No money damages were included in the judgment.
• It was confirmed that attorneys who had been admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida would not have to reapply for admission to practice in the new Middle District of Florida, which came into existence Oct. 28, 1962.
Julian A. Blake, clerk of the court for the Middle District, said an order signed by all of the judges in the district directed that all attorneys eligible to practice in the Southern District be included in a new roster of lawyers eligible to appear in courts of the Middle District.
The order of admission was applicable to all divisions of the Middle District, including Jacksonville, Orlando, Ocala and Tampa.
• Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. led a delegation that visited Jacksonville and toured City Hall, the Coliseum and the new Civic Auditorium.
“Your auditorium is out of this world. Architecturally, it is beautiful. Functionally, it is near perfect. The foyers and approaches are the most beautiful I have ever seen in any municipal building anywhere,” said Allen
“It is exactly what we need in Atlanta. Our present auditorium is 30 or 40 years old and has been remodeled many, many times. We need a new one badly,” he said.
Allen said the purpose of the trip was to bring into focus for representative Atlanta citizens the need to keep Atlanta competitive in the area of municipal projects such as sports and entertainment facilities.
“We cannot expect to compete in the entertainment, cultural, civic, recreation and business world with other cities which provide facilities for such activities more adequate than our own unless we meet this challenge,” Allen said.
“Atlanta always has wanted to sit at the head of the table and to be first class and up to date with its civic and municipal attitude. Our present limited auditorium facilities in no way can compare or compete with those provided by sister cities such as Nashville and Jacksonville,” he said.
• The groundwork was laid for the first test of a Duval County Civil Service Board ruling that all clerical employees of the County’s justices of the peace and constables were protected by civil service regulations.
On advice of its attorney, John S. Cox, the board voted to request that Justice of the Peace Robert R. Roberts furnish the board with the prescribed form showing his reason for discharging Helen Maxine Richards, a bookkeeper-docket clerk, Oct. 20.
The action came after Richards appeared before the board and stated she never received a formal discharge notice as required by civil service rules.
Cox advised the board that it could not recognize the discharge at that time and that Richards would have the opportunity to contest it after Roberts filed the necessary paperwork
Cox said if the board ruled that the purported discharge was without good cause, Richards would be entitled to reinstatement with full back pay.
Cox had previously completed a study of the civil service laws and advised the board that under the statutes, all clerical employees of the nine JPs and nine constables in Duval County were under civil service protection. They never had been granted that status in practice previously.
In view of Cox’s opinion, the board ruled Aug. 9 that the employees did have civil service status and voted to so inform the JPs and constables.
• Evelyn Waybright was honored as the first person ever to win both the woodland and wildlife conservation awards of the Duval County Soil Conservation District.
The annual awards had been presented to two people in the past, said Conservation District Supervisor I.H. Owen.
Waybright received the awards at the annual Kiwanis Club of Jacksonville’s farm-city luncheon at the George Washington Hotel. Her husband, Circuit Judge Roger Waybright, was in the audience.
• Lucius Buck resigned as chairman of the Citizens Expressway Advisory Committee. He criticized a proposal that an additional $25 million in expressway bonds be sold to finance improvement of state and secondary roads which fed the expressway system.
In his resignation letter, Buck stated the future of the highway system was “seriously endangered” by the bond-issue proposal made by Bob Harris, chairman of the Board of County Commissioners.
Buck charged the proposed bond issue would deprive the County of gas tax funds to improve secondary roads for years to come.
The day after Buck resigned the Jacksonville Expressway Authority and the County Commissioners passed a resolution in support of the bond issue.
The resolution formally pledged the County’s share of state gas tax as security for Expressway Authority bonds to finance a $54 million expansion of the expressway system and $25 million in improvements to secondary roads.