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 1963. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Duval County’s new Office of Public Defender Office was expected
to justify its expense by saving on court and jail costs of prisoners.
At a meeting of the Southside Business Men’s Club, Ed Austin, who was serving as the county’s first public defender, said in the first three weeks his office had been operating, it had handled more than 100 felony cases and many more misdemeanor cases.
“This is a tremendously satisfying experience. These people really need help,” said Austin, who was a former assistant County solicitor.
Austin reviewed the history of the 6th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and interpretations of them by the Supreme Court through the years.
He said the 6th Amendment, enacted in 1791, provided that no man shall be tried without right to legal counsel. The high court at first took that to mean in federal cases, he said.
The 14th Amendment was passed after the Civil War and provided that no man can be deprived of his property or other rights without due process of law, Austin said.
Before 1963, the Supreme Court never said the 14th Amendment had anything to do with the 6th Amendment, he said.
Through the years, the court ruled that people accused of capital crimes had to be provided counsel, and later added that under special circumstances those charged with other crimes also were to be provided counsel, Austin told the club.
“Now it says he is deprived of due process unless he has counsel. On March 18 of this year, the court dropped the bombshell – it said if a man is charged with a crime he is entitled to counsel regardless of whether he is able to pay for it,” said Austin.
Following the court’s ruling, the Florida Legislature provided for public defender’s offices and Austin was appointed by Gov. Farris Bryant to the Duval County post.
Austin said that of the more than 8,000 prisoners in Florida, 4,542 were sentenced without having legal counsel.
“I am getting letters from men who have been in for up to 15 years. They are going to get new trials or be turned loose,” Austin said.
• City Council passed an ordinance authorizing an increase in the price of a single-ride city bus ticket by 2.5 cents and the price of weekly tickets by 20 cents.
The ordinance did not increase the regular 25-cent cash fare, transfers or the additional zone fares in outlying areas. It had no effect on school bus fares.
The ordinance authorized Jacksonville Coach Co., the private provider of mass transit, to sell four single-ride tickets for 90 cents, an increase from the previous price of five tickets for $1. Also authorized was the sale of weekly unlimited ride passes for $3.95, up from $3.75.
The ticket price increase was based on a section of the law that allowed an increase if the company’s cost of operation exceeded 96 percent of its gross revenue. Conversely, the company was required to grant a fare reduction if expenses dropped below 94 percent of gross revenue.
• Residents of the Beaches contended that shoreline erosion was caused by the jetties at the mouth of the St. Johns River. Col. R.H. Parfitt, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district director, said it was a possibility.
The question was raised at a public hearing at Jacksonville Beach called by Parfitt as a first step in a government-financed study aimed at finding the cause of beach erosion and recommending remedial action.
About a dozen of the 100 people at the hearing commented about beach problems. Most either blamed the jetties for the erosion issues or criticized the government for not doing more to protect the storm-damaged sea walls.
A similar hearing also was scheduled in St. Johns County. The federal government was to spend a total of $50,000 in Duval County and $45,000 in St. Johns County for the surveys.
“Before Congress will authorize funds for this or any other project, it must be assured that the benefits will exceed the cost of the project,” Parfitt said.
Edwin Eaton, chief of the Corps’ local planning and reporting branch, said the studies would involve beach elevation comparisons, evaluating the energy of waves on the beach, sand material samples, sand fill deposits and economic and recreational potentials.
• The keel was laid at Gibbs Shipyards Inc. for the largest vessel ever built in the United States for the purpose of deep sea oceanographic survey and research work.
The Oceanographer was 303 feet long with a 52-foot beam and a loaded displacement of 3,800 tons. The vessel was designed with welded steel construction and diesel electric and twin-screw propulsion, giving it a cruising speed of 16 knots and a range of 10,000 nautical miles.
The Oceanographer would be strengthened for navigation in ice and equipped with equipment for meteorological, oceanographic and geophysical observations.
(Note: According to the historical archives of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the Oceanographer was in service from 1966-96. On its first voyage, the vessel sailed from the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast via the North Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. It completed its circumnavigation when it returned to the Atlantic Ocean in 1969. In 1980, the Oceanographer was the first U.S. government vessel to be allowed into a port in the People’s Republic of China since the Communist revolution in 1948.)
• An experiment in Jacksonville Municipal Court with a “youth jury” to make recommendations to the judge in juvenile cases attracted nationwide attention.
An article about the program written for Parents Magazine was reprinted in the July edition of Reader’s Digest.
The youth jury system was established by Municipal Judge John E. Santora Jr. in cooperation with Ernest Evans, director of the Jacksonville Youth Council on Civic Affairs.
Members of the advisory panel were drawn from 40 volunteers from the 200-member youth group. They heard evidence in cases involving juveniles and then made recommendations to the judge.
Santora said the system was very helpful to him in arriving at decisions because the young people serving on the jury were “more perceptive of youth problems than an older person.”
He said the verdicts recommended by the young jurors were “impressively just.”
• A U.S. Navy tugboat veered into the path of a Navy destroyer it was escorting on the St. Johns River at Mayport and was rammed and sunk. The eight-man crew abandoned ship
safely moments before the tugboat went to the bottom of the river.
The Navy said only the cook was injured. He sustained a gash in his right arm when he attempted to stuff a mattress into an 8-foot hole in the tug’s hull.
The destroyer Lawe had a 10-foot hole in the bow, but none of the crew was injured.
County Patrolman R.E. King Jr. witnessed the collision and sinking. He said the 101-foot tug turned in front of the destroyer and the larger ship rammed it amidships.
“The destroyer pushed the tug a little way and then backed off. Both ships then drifted with the tide toward Mayport. The tug was drifting stern first and began rolling on its side, so I could see the gash in her hull clearly,” King said.
The Navy said salvage operations would begin as soon as equipment arrived from Norfolk, Va., and an inquiry into the cause of the collision would be conducted.