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.
• State Sen. John Mathews Jr. said the Duval County Civil Court of Record would be abolished as soon as possible after the opening Tuesday of the 1963 session of the Legislature.
Plans to do away with the 42-year-old civil court were announced by the Duval County Legislative Delegation as it rushed to prepare local bills to be introduced during the session.
Incumbent Civil Judge Tyrie Boyer said the court was created to relieve an emergency situation, but the time had come for a change.
Although the court had “performed a great service,” he said, “it has served its purpose and its abolition will result in saving many thousands of dollars of the public’s money.”
The court had jurisdiction in cases for civil damages ranging from $300-$3,000 and heard more than 2,000 such cases each year.
The introduced legislation proposed to increase the jurisdiction of the Duval County Small Claims Court to $600.
All civil cases involving claims of more than $600 would be heard by the 11 judges on the Duval County Circuit Court.
Boyer estimated that 40 percent of the cases handled in civil court in 1962 and 1963 were claims of less than $600 and the balance for claims more than $600.
It was estimated that about 50 percent of the cases in civil court were dismissed for lack of prosecution or resulted in default judgments when no defense was submitted.
Of the 2,176 cases filed in civil court in 1962, only 157 went to trial.
The civil court previously had been proposed to be abolished in 1959, when the Legislature sought to eliminate it by amendment.
The action was appealed in a test case and the Florida Supreme Court voided the 1959 abolition law. The Supreme Court ruled the Civil Court would have to be abolished by a special act.
• The Duval County Legislative Delegation announced Jacksonville’s 1937 police and firemen’s pension fund law would be amended to increase employee and City contributions and raise the age limit for retirement.
The proposed legislation would raise the amount paid into the fund from 4 percent to 5 percent and would affect all members of the fund.
The amendment set a new minimum age of 50 and provided for an increase from 20 to at least 25 years of service before retirement.
The changes would affect only new police officers and firemen coming into the fund after the amendment became law.
The bill also eliminated disability pensions for employees injured on jobs that were not part of their regular City employment.
• A Jacksonville man who contended he did not have the money to pay for a lawyer at his aggravated-assault trial lost his bid for freedom.
It was the first habeas corpus action brought in Duval County since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled March 18 that indigent defendants charged with crimes were entitled to legal representation.
Charles Bevels had entered a guilty plea in Criminal Court on the charge Sept. 21, 1961, and was sentenced by Judge William Harvey to 31/2 years in the county jail, where he had been serving his sentence.
Circuit Judge Frank Elmore denied Bevels’ hand-written petition, ruling the defendant did have benefit of counsel at his trial.
At the hearing, attorney Releford McGriff was called to testify by County Solicitor Edward M. Booth.
McGriff said on the day Bevels was sentenced, he was requested by Harvey to confer with Bevels and did so. He said Bevels was charged with assaulting a woman with a knife with intent to murder her, but he advised Bevels to plead guilty to the lesser offense of aggravated assault, which he did.
“This was my sister’s idea. I told her to let it go, that I was doing alright. Let’s just leave it as it is,” Bevels said after the ruling.
• The City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee deferred action on a $13,800 fund request from Mayor Haydon Burns for an administrative and organizational review of the Jacksonville Police Department.
Burns wanted the appropriation for a $23,800 study to be conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. There was $10,000 in the City budget for the survey.
Burns said a similar review was conducted in 1955 and 90 percent of the recommendations had been implemented.
Council member John Lanahan said a new survey was not needed and the proposed expenditure was wasteful.
He was running against Burns in the 1964 race for mayor and had made charges of improper management of the police department.
Lanahan said changes in the department recommended in the study made in 1955 largely had not been followed.
In a brief discussion of Burns’ request, Council member Brad Tredinnick said he thought the $13,800 amount was “ridiculous” and said he would favor a smaller amount of no more than $5,000.
• Mrs. Nelle Bostwick paid $4,250 for a 17-acre parcel of state-owned land at the bottom of the St. Johns River.
Bostwick said she had no immediate plans for the submerged land located near the mouth of the Trout River at Reddie Point. The underwater tract was adjacent to 77 acres of land Bostwick already owned.
Bostwick had urged the state to drop the price from $250 to $150 an acre. Her son, attorney William C. Bostwick, said the lower price would be “a more realistic appraisal.”
Trustees of the state Internal Improvement Fund disagreed, however, and went along with a staff recommendation that the price be set at $250 per acre.
“I have not decided definitely what the property will be used for. I considered it in my best interests to purchase the property now rather than to wait,” said Bostwick.
• The Jacksonville Beach City Council ordered the closing of the City-owned “Teen Town” building and the dissolution of the advisory board that managed the facility.
Mayor William Wilson said the Council took the action after hearing a police report that he said “indicated the operation of Teen Town was not in the least bit satisfactory.”
Wilson said the report showed that “rowdyism and vandalism” in the building appeared to be out of control. He said the action was taken “in the best interests of the youngsters and of the City.”
The City erected the Teen Town building in the late 1950s along Lions Club Road near Second Avenue North. Katherine Duncan was hired by the City in 1962 to serve as chaperone.
Teenagers paid a $2 annual membership fee to belong to the organization and were permitted to invite guests. There were 125 members when the organization was dissolved.
Wilson said the order to shut down the teen club was supported by City Juvenile Officer William Giles and Municipal Judge Raymond Simpson.
• John E. Tilford, professor of English and acting dean of the faculty, was named Jacksonville University’s outstanding professor of 1963-64.
Tilford’s selection was made from a ballot of his colleagues. He succeeded John Sweigart as the school’s outstanding educator.
Frank Slaughter, local novelist and a member of the university’s board of trustees, was the keynote speaker at the ceremony.
Slaughter defended the privileges of writers and scholars to argue their convictions.
“They have the right to be wrong,” he said.
Slaughter said that as a trustee of the university he would continually defend the right of expression and inquiry on the part of scholars at JU.
“Colleges and universities traditionally are and must be nests of people who dare to think for themselves,” he said.
Charles W. Campbell, vice president in charge of Prudential Insurance Co.’s South-Central home office, presided at the luncheon.
The award was announced by Benjamin Rogers, JU vice president. Tilford received a silver bowl presented by Donald Ayliffe, manager of Jacobs
Jewelers, who donated the trophy.