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.
• Sheriff Dale Carson was sternly reprimanded by Circuit Judge Albert Graessle, who ordered a continuance of at least two months in the first-degree murder trial of two men charged with killing a Florida Highway Patrol trooper on Oct. 26.
The continuance was granted on the motion of Zach Douglas, attorney for DeWitt Addison. Douglas complained that his client and Rudolph John Pavlas, co-defendant in the case, had been exposed to prejudicial treatment through a television news program.
Douglas said, the program contained film and comment on a polygraph test administered at the County Courthouse by agents of the FBI.
Douglas was joined in the motion for continuance by Lacy Mahon Jr., attorney for Pavlas.
Mahon said the first he knew of the test was about 5 p.m. the day the report was broadcast, when an FBI agent telephoned to inform him that the test, given in connection with another crime in another state, had already been administered.
Douglas said he had been asked a month earlier by an FBI agent if he would consent to such a test being given to his client. Douglas said he told the agent to go ahead and set up the test and that he would advise his client to take the test since it would be to his client’s advantage to be cleared of suspicion of another crime.
Douglas went on to say he “took it for granted” he would be notified when the test would be given, but that he heard nothing more about it until his associate on the case, attorney Joe Miller of Palatka, informed him after Miller had witnessed the television program.
Douglas maintained that in all probability, many of the prospective jurors had also seen the program and that the pictures and comments broadcast would tend to bias them against his client.
Graessle asked Carson about the matter and the sheriff said his chief investigator, J.C. Patrick, was more familiar with what had occurred.
Patrick said that at the request of the FBI, the two defendants were brought to the County Courthouse under guard and the test was administered by the FBI, using the federal agency’s equipment.
Patrick said that neither State Attorney William A. Hallowes, nor the attorneys for the defendants, were notified by him the test was to be given, but that he understood “everything had been cleared.”
Graessle commented that he was aware of similar instances in that case and in other cases where doctors, business associates and other people in no way concerned with the cases of defendants had been allowed to spend time with them without the presence of a deputy or other official.
Saying he was “deeply perturbed,” Graessle told Carson, “I hope this has been a real object lesson to you.”
• Government attorneys declared that Florida-Georgia Television Co. had improperly tried to influence the Federal Communications Commission and recommended that the firm be stripped of its 5-year-old license to operate television station WFGA-TV, Ch. 12 in Jacksonville.
The attorneys, representing the public at hearings before an FCC examiner, also said the channel should be withheld for the same reason from the other two applicants which had competed for the license.
The other applicants were the City of Jacksonville and Jacksonville Broadcasting Corp.
The recommendations came in a 113-page case summary presented to James Cunningham, the commission’s chief examiner.
Florida-Georgia was awarded the license in 1956 and began operating the station in 1957.
In 1958, a House subcommittee developed evidence of irregularities in the award and the FCC reopened the case for further hearings to determine whether the award should be canceled.
Richard A. Mack, who was a member of the FCC in 1956, was sharply criticized in the report submitted to Cunningham.
“The record is clear that former Commissioner Richard A. Mack, privately and on an ex parte basis, sought and received information with respect to the qualifications of the parties,” said the report.
It said Mack also “received or accepted contacts with personal friends and former associates who were actively interested in influencing the commission’s decision on behalf of one or another of the applicants.”
The government said the evidence showed that Miles Draper, a friend of Mack and a lawyer from Tampa, had received $5,000 from Dillon Kennedy, then Jacksonville City commissioner, to help the City of Jacksonville in its attempt for the channel.
The FCC attorney said Draper, at the time, was not an attorney of record in the case and did not participate in any proceedings before the commission but frequently contacted Mack and “attempted to justify his fee on the basis of his being able to walk into the White House and the Republican National Committee to discuss matters with people.”
Mack also was charged with conspiring to influence an FCC award in a similar case involving Channel 10 in Florida. His first trial ended in a hung jury and doctors later pronounced him unable to stand another trial because he had become a bed-ridden alcoholic.
Four other persons were named in the report as having attempted to influence the decision on behalf of Florida-Georgia and five on behalf of Jacksonville Broadcasting Corp.
Those identified as acting for Florida-Georgia were Lester Foley, an old friend of Mack; C.C. Spades, then Republican national committeeman for Florida; Jacksonville insurance broker Guy Simmons; and Randall Chase, a businessman from Sanford.
Named by the government as advocates for Jacksonville Broadcasting were J.J. Daniel, a former associate of Mack; Charles Murchison, a business associate of James R. Stockton, president of Jacksonville Broadcasting; Washington attorneys Bailey Walsh and Richard Doyle; and Kenneth Royal, an attorney from New York City.
There was no immediate indication of how long Cunningham would weigh the recommendations before issuing an initial decision to the full commission.
• A defendant in Criminal Court learned that honesty does pay after all.
Appearing before Judge William T. Harvey on a plea of guilty to driving while intoxicated, the defendant volunteered that he had consumed five cans of beer from a six-pack when a highway patrolman stopped him on a foggy road the night of Dec. 16.
“They usually claim they’ve only had two cans, but the officers can’t find the other four,” said Harvey.
“Since you’ve been so honest about it, I’ll give you $2 credit for each of the five cans and reduce your fine from the usual $75 for a first offender to $65. Consider that I’m paying for your beer,” Harvey said.
Evidence also showed that the defendant was driving 20 miles an hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone.
• Approximately 1,000 U.S. Navy personnel and Jacksonville residents signed a telegram sent to astronaut John Glenn pledging to participate in the 1962 “Freedom Bond Drive.”
The telegram was delivered to Glenn in Washington, D.C. congratulating him on his historic three orbits of the Earth on Feb. 20.
Lt. Cmdr. John D. Exum Sr., commanding officer of the USS Noa, the Mayport-based destroyer that plucked Glenn and his “Freedom 7” spacecraft from the ocean after his flight, said he was confident all 260 officers and sailors on the vessel would take part in the drive by committing to purchase an extra U.S. Savings Bond.
The text of the message read: “Citizens of Jacksonville, Fla., gateway to the space age, proudly salute you for your outstanding achievement in starting a new chapter in history. As a demonstration of our everlasting faith in America, the undersigned citizens of this city pledge to buy one extra United States Savings Bond during the national ‘Freedom Bond Drive.’ God bless you and God bless America.”
• Jacksonville Beach officials met with the Duval County Commission to discuss some of the problems facing the resort which they thought the County could help solve.
The issues included asking the County to convince the State Road Department to rebuild South Third Street and the County sharing the cost of policing the resort and keeping it clean.
The state several years earlier reconstructed Third Street from Beach Boulevard to Atlantic Boulevard at a cost of about $1 million. The South Third Street improvements would cost about $800,000, according to a preliminary study.
Officials had described South Third Street as “no more than a rural country road” and along with Chamber of Commerce leaders and Beaches organizations and businesses, had been requesting improvements for some time.