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.
• U.S. Sen. Spessard Holland delivered the commencement address to the 1963 graduating class at The Bolles School. He described traits in the makeup of "the most successful and most useful" people he had known.
Holland advised the graduates to develop an "avid thirst for more knowledge" and to make their store of knowledge more complete.
He said a sense of humility was a trait of successful people. "Instead of being proud of how much they know, these individuals are humble because of the unlimited vastness of things which they do not know," said Holland.
He said the possession of a "wholesome sense of humor" was a valuable trait because it "keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously."
Other desirable traits Holland described were having tolerance for the viewpoint of others, the love of beauty in its many forms and the willingness to adopt a hobby.
• The Duval County Budget Commission delayed its study on the county assessor's 1964 salary budget pending a review of the salary accounts by R.W. Gordon, the commission's accountant.
Gordon was directed to investigate the accounts after commission Chairman Joseph Sessions said it showed $38,000 of $40,000 appropriated in 1963 for extra clerical help had been used to raise the salaries of some employees in the office.
The commissioners said they wanted an itemization of any plans on tax equalization before they proceeded on the budget.
• Speaking before the Jacksonville Board of Realtors, architect Taylor Hardwick said work on the new Downtown library would be under way by late summer.
Hardwick said designs for the building were complete and it would be ready for bids by contractors in about a month. Construction would take 18 months.
He illustrated his presentation with color slides showing sketches of the exterior and interior of the building that would be built at Adams and Ocean streets.
Hardwick said he designed the library to "serve as the center of intellectual activity in the city."
• A safe containing an estimated $15,000 in checks, most of which were non-negotiable, and a small amount of cash was stolen from Oak Crest Hatcheries at 5899 Ricker Road.
County detectives F.K. Petty and William Moseley said company officials reported the safe contained about $200 in cash and most of the checks were made out to the firm and marked for deposit only.
The officers said the burglars broke into the building through the front door then rolled the safe outside and into a waiting vehicle.
• An advertising executive who also was president of community television station WJCT-Ch. 7 was seriously injured when his automobile collided with another car and overturned along the expressway near Park Street.
William Edward Scheu, 47, of 4313 Forest Park Road, was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital for treatment.
The driver and passenger in the other vehicle were not injured.
Scheu had left the station's annual auction shortly before the accident occurred. City patrolmen said Scheu was attempting to change lanes when he lost control of his car, struck a guard rail and collided with the other vehicle.
Fire department vehicles were called because it was feared that Scheu's car, which was smoking, would catch fire.
• A gasoline price war spread through the northern and western sections of Jacksonville, but areas south of the St. Johns River were not affected.
The decrease in prices quickly spread among service stations and most oil company officials said they would remain competitive even if the price war spread to other areas of the city.
Regular gasoline was being sold in the north and west sections for 26.9 cents per gallon and premium was being sold for 31.9 cents per gallon.
• The Duval County Highway Beautification Association was disbanded out of deference to the April 24 death of its founder and lifelong president, May Austin Mann Jennings.
"Because of the loss of May Mann Jennings, and because of the feeling by members of the Duval County Highway Beautification Association that no one can take her place, the association disbands, its activities and accomplishments being left as a tribute and memorial to her memory," stated a resolution adopted by association members.
• Roger Strickland set four Jacksonville University baseball batting and pitching records in the 1963 season.
Strickland also was a Little All-American basketball player at JU. It was noted the graduation loss of Strickland "would be felt as much on the diamond as on the hardwood next year."
Strickland's batting average, .404, was the best in JU history. His other records included most hits in a season, 40; total bases in a season, 50; and most career wins, 16. Strickland also tied the records for most shutouts in a season with three and most wins in a season with six.
JU finished the season with a 10-18 record, including a Florida Intercollegiate Conference record of 7-8. It was JU's second losing season in only seven years.
• In Tallahassee, the Florida Supreme Court, in a lengthy advisory opinion, said that a cigarette manufacturer could be held liable if a person's death was caused by smoking the company's product.
The court, in answering a request by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, said the American Tobacco Co., could be held responsible in the death of Edwin Green Sr. of Miami.
Green died in 1958 from lung cancer and his family filed suit for $250,000 in personal damages against the company. The family charged that the cigarettes caused the disease and Green's subsequent death.
The opinion, written by Justice E. Harris Drew, said the company would still be liable even if did not realize, through "reasonable application of human skill and foresight," that the cigarettes were having a harmful effect on the smoker.
Earlier decisions rendered by the appeals court and the U.S. District Court in Southern Florida said the company could not be held responsible if ignorant of the fact that smoking was endangering the man's health.
The Florida Supreme Court opinion held that a company assumed liability when it placed a product on store shelves for sale. It added that display of the product implied it was fit for human consumption.
The advisory ruling also said the Florida law imposed on the manufacturer and distributor of the cigarettes absolute liability for breach of the "implied warranty" or guarantee that such items were fit for human consumption. That applied even though the manufacturer could not have known a user would be in danger of contracting lung cancer, the court said.
The district and appeals courts agreed that the cigarettes caused Green's fatal cancer.
However, they dismissed the suit, which was filed soon after Green's death, on grounds the company was not able to determine that the cigarettes were harming Green's health.