Martin Sack, general counsel for the state Road Department and an attorney in Jacksonville since 1926, was appointed by Gov. Haydon Burns to the North Florida District Court of Appeal.
He would succeed the late Judge Wallace Sturgis and be invested July 15, either in Tallahassee, the court’s headquarters, or in Jacksonville.
Sack would serve until January, but would have to run in a special election to be set by Burns. If he was successful, Sack would continue to fill Sturgis’ unexpired term, which would end in January 1969.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Sack was a graduate of New York University Law School.
After graduation, he moved to Jacksonville and was admitted to The Florida Bar. He began his career with the firm of Baker and Baker.
In addition to his legal career, Sack over the years served as director and vice president of the Civic Music Association and as president of the Little Theatre and Beauclerc Country Club.
In 1966, he was a trustee of the Jacksonville Symphony Association.
Sack and his wife, Sabina, had two sons, Martin Jr., an attorney in Jacksonville, and Michael, a certified public accountant and Jacksonville resident.
• Mayor Lou Ritter and the other four city commissioners were again called to appear before the Duval County grand jury investigating city government affairs.
State Attorney William Hallowes issued subpoenas for the mayor and Commissioners Dallas Thomas, Claude Smith, Henry Broadstreet and George Mosely.
It would be their second appearance before the panel.
Also subpoenaed were Norm Davis, a member of the WJXT TV-4 news staff, and W.G. Jewett from the State Tractor and Equipment Co.
Hallowes said the investigation likely would continue through summer. Grand jury proceedings are secret.
• The largest coffee factory in the Southeast planned to get into the can-making business in the fall when the Jacksonville plant of the Maxwell House Division of General Foods Corp. completed its expansion program.
Harold Golle, plant manager, said manufacturing coffee cans would add 26 full-time employees to the plant’s existing 325 and increase its $2 million annual payroll by about $200,000.
The can-making facility would be located east of the roasting and grinding plant on East Bay Street on property purchased from the former Georgia Supply Co. Demolition of one of Georgia Supply’s buildings was in progress.
Cost of the expansion would be more than $1 million, Golle said.
Reynolds, Smith and Hills was the architect for the project.
• The Office of Civil Defense approved a $47,000 grant for Jacksonville to develop a community plan for shelter protection against a nuclear attack.
The federal funds were the first to be approved for a Florida city to establish an area network of bomb shelters.
More than 200 shelters were anticipated to be constructed. The units would accommodate about 430,000 people out of the county population of more than 455,000.
A civil defense system calling for a central warning point to alert residents of an attack also was part of the plan.
• The owner of a St. Johns River cruise vessel was interested in operating ferry service between Ortega and Downtown.
Under a law dating to 1877, the Duval County Commission was asked to approve a franchise permitting the Moon River Queen to transport commuters between 3376 Lakeshore Blvd. on the Ortega River and the Northbank near the Civic Auditorium, now the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts.
Attorney James Cobb presented the petition on behalf of Jack Becker, president of St. Johns River Line Inc.
Cobb said the vessel would be able to carry 60-90 passengers.
Operation of the ferry was being considered due to planned construction along the roadways between Ortega and Downtown.
The trip from Lamb’s Boatyard to the auditorium docking site was expected to take about 30 minutes.
Since no exclusive franchise was involved, thus permitting other responsible operators to set up similar service, County Commissioner Julian Warren said he had no objection to the franchise.
But Commissioner Bob Harris insisted on scheduling a public hearing the following week at the board’s meeting.
• Construction with a total contract value of more than $5 million was underway, in the design stage or just completed at more than 100 Duval County Public Schools.
Work included construction of new schools, additions to existing schools, remodeling, drilling of water wells and construction of playgrounds.
Also included was repair of fire damage at Darnell-Cookman Junior High School, damaged in April.
One room was nearly destroyed and a long hallway was damaged by smoke and water.
Because school officials felt the sagging ceiling of the room might collapse and bring the walls down with it, the ceiling was removed.
A $12,000 contract was expected to be awarded for the repairs, which were covered by insurance.
From the financial point of view, the largest single project was construction of Nathan Bedford Forrest Senior High School on Firestone Road.
It was being constructed with 61 rooms under a $1.8 million contract.
The school was scheduled to open for the 1966-67 term and the existing Forrest High School would become a junior high school.
The second-largest project was Eugene Butler Junior-Senior High School at 900 Acorn St., north of Beaver Street near the viaduct.
It was a 59-room building and cost $1.6 million.
Also under construction was a 24-classroom, $418,000 elementary along Gregory Drive between Old Middle and Ricker roads in West Jacksonville.
• The Board of County Commissioners denied a request to reduce the distance required between churches and schools and liquor licenses.
The Loyal Order of Moose requested a waiver to construct a $250,000 lodge building with a private club liquor license on St. Johns Avenue between Roosevelt Boulevard and Hamilton Street.
To do so, however, the club would be operating within the 2,500-foot distance from a church or school, which was forbidden by state law, unless the county commission approved an exception.
Commissioners expressed their sympathy but said they were reluctant to make the exception, fearing it would bring on similar requests for other variances.
Joe Wilkinson Jr., a Realtor with Colmery-Wilkinson Inc., said the tract of land in question had been sold on the condition the Moose lodge could obtain the license.
He told the board the club’s 1967 national convention could be secured by Jacksonville if the proposed building could be constructed.
The board recommended the club find another location for the lodge outside the 2,500-foot limit.
• A student pilot and a friend who helped coax the aviator in after more than an hour of aerobatics above West Jacksonville were taken to the county jail after the aircraft finally touched down at Herlong Field.
A large crowd watched as the light plane was repeatedly brought in for what appeared to be a landing, but then roared skyward again.
Once, following a touch-and-go, the plane sharply banked at a low altitude toward a group of people, sending them scurrying for cover, police said.
Low on fuel, the plane finally came in for a landing as the pilot’s wife, child and another man standing beside the runway called for the man to stop.
Pilot Mark Morgan, 48, of 3866 Walsh St., was charged with intoxication after he exited the plane and, along with another man, dashed toward a waiting car.
County patrolmen blocked off exits at the airfield and rushed toward the getaway car just as Morgan and his accomplice were about to escape.
When sprinting officers called out to the driver to not move the automobile, Charles Schultz of 4509 Ortega Farms Circle yelled back at them: “Wait a minute. All you can do is ask him for his license.”
Police exerted their authority by arresting Schultz as well as Morgan. Schultz was charged with interfering with an officer.