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The 1960s
Sebastian School Plans For Enrollment Increase Headlines have been made by large schools bursting at the seams with an overflow of pupils, but there are small institutions, like the Sebastian school County [sic] near the Brevard County at the north end of Indian River line, are about to face the same problem and which try to cope with it before the saturation point is reached. The Sebastian school is a two-story structure of the vintage of the l920's built for a capacity of l80. Each year brings a greater increase in enrollment and last year's mid-winter peak was l7l. According to John B. Witt, principal, the fall term in September was begun with an enrollment of l65 pupils, l0 more than the previous September. By the time next February rolls around, it is entirely possible, he believes, that capacity will be surpassed. The situation is less than ideal at present even with l65 pupils, according to Walter Riddle, former principal, and at present the teacher of the seventh and eighth grades. Forty-nine seventh and eighth graders share a single room on the second floor of the school and it will be even more crowded next year as the 23 seventh graders this year will be replaced by 26 present sixth graders next year. Both Witt and Riddle become glum when they tell of the bond issue which was defeated last May by the voters. If the issue hadn't been voted down then, plans would have been underway by now, they believe, for three new classrooms and a cafeteria for the school, which would have permitted the use of the present cafeteria for a [text missing] sue," Witt stated. With it, also, goes hope for a library room. A central heating system does seem to be a possibility in the not too distant future, the principal added, and he expects that work to be started before the end of the present school year. Right now the rooms are heated by individual gas heaters, less than adequate for comfort, and the large second floor auditorium, used daily for study hall and extra classroom, has no heat in it whatsoever. Witt's staff is composed of six teachers, a cafeteria manager who doubles as a school bus driver, and two cafeteria helpers. Mrs. Jack A. Power of Sebastian teaches the first grade; Mrs. Denny R. Hendry of Roseland teaches the second grade; Mrs. Ruth Miller of Roseland, a newcomer, and daughter of the James Alexanders of Roseland, is in charge of the third graders; Mrs. Lester Hanshaw of Roseland is the fourth gradeteacher; Jack A. Power has the fifth and sixth graders together in his room; and Riddle rounds out the teaching staff with the seventh and eighth grades. Witt takes care of administration and teaches part time. Mrs. Henry Owens of Sebastian is a busy person with her dual job as school bus driver and cafeteria manager. She makes the morning and afternoon swing through Roseland, north of Sebastian, and down south of town as far as Kenmore Court. Fortunatly, the bus is for the exclusive use of the Sebastian school so schedules can be maintained. In the middle of the day, Mrs. Owens must provide a well-balanced meal for pupils and teachers and supervise her helpers. She has been with the school since l95l. Witt and Riddle both are aware of the impact an increase in population in their city will have on their school and are trying to find a way to avoid double sessions which have plagued the schools in neighboring Brevard county. General Development Corporation [text missing] high school at Vero Beach next June from the Sebastian school. But when one considers that the eighth grade graduation class is exactly double last year's, it gives pause to those deeply concerned with the welfare and education of the city's school children. Since the cornerstone was laid in l927 and early principals gave way to later ones - Miss Hazel Holtzclaw (now Mrs. George Baker of Buffalo, N.Y ); the Reverend Stephenson in l948-50; Riddle from l95l to l959 and the present tenant of the principal's office, Witt. The school has grown steadily - a far cry from the previous building perched on the bluff just west of the railroad tracks and across the street from the Sebastian Methodist Church. Mrs. E.W. Vickers remembers that the first Parent - Teacher Association was started in l932, just five years after the school opened at its present location. Mrs. Vickers was the first vice president of the P.T.A. and its second president. This year's president of the Sebastian P.T.A., Mrs. Henry Cigahn, reports that there are l08 members of the P.T.A. this term.
Sebastian Airport A-Buzz Ending Length Idleness With a chief pilot and experienced mechanic on the job during daylight hours seven days a week and a new airport manager due to take over Jan. l5, the once abandoned airport which serves Sebastian is revving up to activity well beyond what could normally be expected in a town of its size ... a reported 6l8. It seems like yesterday that the runways slumbered in the weeds west of town, left over from the wartime days when a U.S. Navy field was located there. It was only a year or two ago that local teenagers beat a two-track road through the brush from the Roseland Road to the back end of the airport and gathered a crowd on Sunday afternoons to watch drag racing. When interest in the drag racing dwindled out, the airport was forgotten until the city of Sebastian brought it back to life and leased it to Sebastian Aviation, Inc. There was talk of an industry being established there but the steel strike in l959 scotched that, said John G. [Jack] Baxter, present head of the Airport Commission on the Sebastian City Council. A group of enterprising Eau Gallie men took a look into the future of the Sebastian River area, liked what they saw, and took a long-term lease on the airport from the city, forming Sebastian Aviation, Inc. According to Dick Paschal of Eau Gallie, vice president of the corporation, the company began the erection of the present office headquarters, maintenance shop, and hangar on June 23, l959, and it was finished on Sept. 7, l959. The same summer Baxter, who also heads the street and roads department of the city, was busy with a crew cutting through a new road to the airport facility. A blacktop road now leads from Main Street in Sebastian, where it used to deadend at the Sebastian School, and continues west in front of the airport building, made of corrugated steel, or a butler building, with a cement block facade. Inside are a lounge, with service counter, a private office for a communications room, and at the rear the hangar and a maintenance shop. Eventually it is hoped that there will be a more comfortable longe, a sandwich shop and coffee bar, said Paschal. There are now two active hard surface 4,000-foot runways, each l50 feet wide, with room for expansion of runways another 2,000 feet, the Sebastian Aviation executive said. The inactive runways, all a part of the wartime Navy installation, are still in good condition. At a recent city council meeting, the city was petitioned by a group of teenage boys to use the runways again for a drag strip. It is Paschal's belief, and the city council seemed to have the same feeling when the request was made, that insurance requirements would preclude further use of the airport faclities for drag racng. The Sebastian Airport already is being used by area owners of small aircraft, even as far away as Orlando. Few small airports offer fuel service and maintenance on Sundays, as Sebstian's does. Paschal added, "The service to plane owners is personal at our field. They don't have to pump their own gas and wash their own plane windshield as they have to do at many fields even larger than ours. We are geared to service private and business aircraft. The field will accommodate as large a plane as a DC-6 for landings and takeoffs." Radio communication, installation and repair, air taxi service to anywhere with multi-engined aircraft, charter rental, and private instruction in piloting a plane also are available. Chief pilot at Sebastian Airport is Dick Hertzburg, who has moved to Sebastian recently from West Chester, N.Y. He started in aviation with the Navy in l942 at the Banana River Air Station in Brevard County, has been a flight engineer with the Navy, flew with Global Airways in South America as a commercial pilot, was chief mechanic at Roosevelt Field in New York and service manager at the West Chester, N.Y., Arport. Thirty-nine years old and single, Hertzburg is qualified in single and multi-engine aircraft, has an instrument rating, certified flight instructor's rating, aircraft and power plant mechanic's rating, all wrapped up into over 3,000 hours flying time. He is a member of the Aircraft Owner and Plots Assn. and the Audio Engineers Assn. Paschal himself holds the necessary certificates for communications work. Capt. C.J. Goree of Eau Gallie is president of Sebastian Aviation, Inc. With the arrival of William R. Coles of New York city to take over the active management of the Sebastian Airport on Jan. l5. Paschal feels that activity at the airport will be stepped up considerably, even though right now there are men on duty seven days a week. Last Thursday night, there were three planes in the hangar and three more tethered on the field. Who knows? Maybe some day plane owners will be like boat owners - thick as flies, especially on a Sunday afternoon.
Do You Remember? 20 Years Ago l963 - The city of Sebastian has authorized its city clerk to ask for bids for the erection of welcoming signs on U.S. l at both the north and south city limits. A.T. Jordan, Sebastian's city clerk, is proposing this wording for the signs: "Welcome to Sebastian - 687 Friendly People and One Old Grouch." If hard pressed by any Sebastian citizen to say just who that old grouch may be, Jordan is prepared to refer them to his own wife and daughters. "They have to put up with me year in and year out," Jordan is frank to admit.
Rare Treasure Chest New Real Eight Find
Sebastian Inlet - Real Eight treasure hunters, perhaps the most successful in modern history, have uncovered a rare, almost intact treasure chest from the site of the "silver ship" south of here. Favored by calm weather, the diver recovered remains of a wood chest filled with blackened silver coins. It was the first such chest to be discovered. It had been buried by sand for the past 250 years since the Spanish treasure fleet bound from the New World to Spain was smashed against the reefs off the Florida Coast July 3l, l7l5. Also recovered this weekend were solid silver plates, unusually well-preserved pewter plates and bowls, about 200 silver coins, iron and steel artifacts and a Spanish axe, part of its wood handle still intact. "Records indicate the coins were shipped in chests," they explained, "but this is the first time we have been able to find proof of it." The remains of the chest, parts of the wood still intact, were discovered under about five feet of sand a couple hundred feet from shore. They estimatd the heavily encrusted chest, with its contents of blackened silver coins, weighed more than 200 pounds. It took some five men to carry the chest from the boat to the truck at the end of the dock. Also considered unusual was the clump of silver coins was black. Clumps of pieces of eight found previously on the site were covered with a green oxide. It had taken the divers most of Saturday to free and bring up the chest. That day also brought more than l00 silver coins and numerous iron ship fittings and cannon balls before the water became too muddy to work. The small axe, part of its wood handle intact, was also the first such implement they had found and was considered of great historical value. Divers believe it was of steel with carbon pounded into it. Along with the axe Sunday were found several silver plates and pewter plates and bowls, numerous iron and steel fittings. One such artifact encrusted with shell and barnacles might turn out to be a pistol because of its general shape. Their concern for historical information was evident in that they brought up everything they could find, regardless of any monetary value. The divers almost did not get a chance to work yesterday because the water was so murky when they first arrived on the site. The outgoing tide from the Sebastian Inlet early in the morning had muddied the site so badly that even the help from the unusual dredge used by the group was not sufficient to clear the area until the water cleard somewhat about noon. This dredge, invented by members of Real Eight and of Treasure Salvors, is the main reason the divers can work at all on the wrecks. It will clear away sand over a thirty-foot area, divers will work this spot, and then the dredge will be moved to an adjacent area. The dredge is attached to the side of the ship and powered by an auxiliary engine. Because of this, the ship must be anchored firmly with four anchors, one at each quadrant, so the ship will not move. Then when they want to move the dredge, they let out on two anchor lines and reel in the opposite lines. Because so much area must be covered, Real Eight officials estimate it will take them two or three more years to finish salvaging this one wreck. Although only a relatively few gold coins have been found here so far, they estimate this wreck might be of even greater value than the previous one that yielded $l.6 million in treasure. No real value has been placed on their discoveries of recent weeks. To help them value their finds, they call internationally known experts from the United States and Spain.
Pelican Island Gardeners Are Active
The Pelican Island Garden Club of Sebastian was organized Jan. 23, l96l, as the Gardenia Garden Circle of Sebastian and was accepted into the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs after the probationary year. Mr. John S. Milligan acted as temporary chairman until April l96l, when Mrs. John Duff Stradley was electd president. The gardenia was selectd as the club flower, club colors were green and white and the following slogan was adopted, "If it interests you, grow it. If you're succesful, show it. If you have surplus, share it." On Nov. l4, l963, Pelican Island was designated a National Wilflife Refuge and was recognized as a national historic landmark. Before the turn of the century, Paul Kroegel of Sebastian was named an Audubon society warden because of his interest in the birds on Pelican Island, and, on March l3, l903, by the first executive order of its kind, Pelican Island was set aside as a wildlife refuge by President Theodore Roosevelt. This presidential order was a milestone in America's conservation movement. The late Mr. Kroegel, who made his home across the river from Pelican Island in Sebastian, was the country's first federal wildlife warden. A bronze plaque was given to Sebastian inscribed with information concerning the refuge. The city council asked Mrs. John Channel, president l962-64, to select a site for the plaque. She and her committee decided the plaque would be erected at the south end of the Sebastian bridge on U.S. l. Dedication took place October l964, with all garden club members actively participating in the dedication ceremony. Mrs. Bradford Allin, president l964-66, obtained an original pelican drawing through the courtesy of the Jay N. Darling Foundation of Des Moines, Iowa. The artist, an American cartoonist, received the Pulitzer prize for the best cartoon published in l923. This art has become an estabished part of the year book cover. For 2l years, a special pine tree in the Sebastian City Park on U.S. l has twinkled yule greetings from strings of colored lights. Many children have smiled at the tree, which adds inches to its height each year, and even those adults busily engaged with holiday errands pause to appreciate the message the gaily-bedecked tree shares. The tree is a perpetual gift from the Pelican Island Garden Club of Sebastian. During l976-77, members participated in the American Land Trust, a two-year national program for the acquisition and conservation of America's significant and threatened land areas. The area selected for preservtion in Florida is Tiger Creek, located in the center of Florida near Lake Wales. The club met its goal of $260 for one acre of Tiger Creek and on March 8, l978, a club tour was made to this area. A Deed of Gratitude was presenteed to the club in April l978, for this accomplishment at the FFGC Spring District Conference held in Boca Raton. This project, A Gift for Future Generations, is still supported in order to ensure that this crystal-clear stream is an enduring legacy of America's unspoiled land. During l980-8l, Environmental Shopping, a program sponsored by the American Paper Institute, endorsed by the National council of State Garden Clubs and adopted by FFGC, was introduced by Mrs. John Ethridge, the FFGC reclamation-recycling chairman. A contest was held and Mrs. Andrew Wiener, winner of the environmental shoping contest, received a floral crown and an all-exense paid tour April 4, the date of the Garden club tour to the Florida State Flower Show in Tampa. A 20th anniversay Open House-Tea was given Jan. l7, l98l, and recognition was given this club's charter member, whose faith and guidance brought the Pelican Island Garden Club into being in l964, when this name change was effected due to certain historic events with federation approval. Three active charter members are Mrs. John S. Milligan, Mrs. Gregory Dillon and Mrs. Emery DeVane.
Her Store a Place Where Kids Leave Notes In The Bread Box
Roseland - Mrs. R.C. Holtzclaw was standing behind a counter counting pennies as I entered the little grocery store. "A preacher left these," she said, raking the pennies into a drawer with the side of her hand. "He sure must have a mighty poor congregation." I was in the midst of introducing myself when a telehone rang and Mrs. Holtzclaw excused herself and stepped back to answer it. "I'll tell Gopher to pick you up if I see him." she said impatiently into the telephone. "All right. Don't worry. I'll get somebody." She returned to the counter just as a dozen school children -- boys and girls from seven to l7 --crowded into the store. "J.W.'s motor bike's broke down in Vero Beach," Mrs. Holtzclaw announced to the group. A moan was chorused. "He wants Gopher to pick him up at the Royal Castle. Anybody seen Gopher?" The kids looked at one another. Nobody had seen Gopher. "Why doesn't J.W. ride the school bus like the rest of us?" a youth of about l7 said. "He's had nothing but trouble with that motor bike. I guess I'll go get him." By this time every child had raided the cold drink box, the candy jars and the shelves of crackers. They milled about in confusion. "Who's got what so that I can put it down?" asked Mrs. Holtzclaw with pencil poised over a credit book. She allows the smaller kids a quarter credit and the older ones with Saturday jobs a dollar credit. The children began to call out what they had bought and Mrs. Holtzclaw wrote it down. But one boy handed her a $2 bill with the four corners torn off. After about l0 minutes the children began to leave, and they vanished almost as suddenly as they had stormed the place. "I've raised three generations of 'em," Mrs. Holtzclaw said shaking her head. "Who's J.W.?" I asked. "Just a boy with a busted motor bike," she said. "When they get in trouble they call me." The Holtzclaws operate the only store in Roseland. "It's just a convenience to people. when they've forgotten to buy bread or milk at the supermarket," Mrs. Holzclaw said. "And it's a meeting place for the kids. They're always leaving notes from one another in the bread box in front of the store. She has sold The Miami Herald for over 40 years. On rainy mornings customers find the paper in the bread box. Mrs. Holtzclaw's grandfather, Capt. David P. Gibson, settled on Indian River, at the mouth of the Sebastian River, in the l880s. She produced a Melbourne newspaper which had a story about her grandfather, describing him as "a brawling, fun-toting pioneer who built a six-sided blockhouse to practice polygamy." "Can I use this?" I asked. "I don't care," she said. "I thought about suing the Melbourne paper because the story is a lie. My grandfather was a rounder, al right, and maybe he toted a gun and raised a little cain - and maybe he liked women, too. But he didn't have several wives, like that story said. Lord, you don't need a six-sided blockhouse to practice polygamy." Mrs. Holtzclaw has lived her entire life in Roseland. Her husband, who came in to join us, arrived at Roseland in l9ll from Western North Carolina. Roseland is a quiet, picturesque town, its bungalows set among sandpines that lean away from the coast. But there was nothing quiet about Roseland on the night of Nov. l, l924. That was the night that Florida's most notorious bandit, John Ashley, and three companions met their deaths at a road block here. Both Mr. and Mrs. Holtzclaw remember hearing the shots that killed Ashley, Hansford Mobley, Ray Lynn and Bob Middleton. "I was sitting on a porch," Holtzclaw said, "when suddenly there was this shooting - bang, bang, bang, bang. You thought that they never would stop shooting. I got in a Model T Ford with my father and we drove down the old causeway on the Sebatian River. They had the four bodies laid out when we got there." It was the biggest event in Roseland, before or since. President Grover Cleveland is said to have spent a night here before the turn of the century, but Mrs. Holtzclaw said there's nothing to the story. "I knew a woman who worked in the hotel during the only year that it was ever open, and she said emphatically that no president stayed there," Mrs. Holtzclaw said.
$l50,000 Sportsmen's Lodge Set For Sebastian
Sebastian - Plans were revealed Thursday for the building of an elaborate $l50,00 sportsmen's lodge in Sebastian. The lodge will be built on land now occupied by the old Sebastian Inn, near the bank of the Indian river. Orvis and Alice May Coursey, l009 Orange Ave., Fort Pierce, who purchased the property this week from James Ball and R. "Stu" Swing of Vero Beach, said the old inn, which had been condemned, would be torn down. The Courseys have hired the Flesher Hauling and Excavating firm of Sebastian to start demolishing the old building Aug. l5. Coursey said he hoped to start construction on the new lodge buildings near Sept. l. He said the new lodge will include l6 efficiency cottages, a recreation hall, offices and refreshment center and a two-story dwelling. There also will be boat docks and boat rentals for visiting sportsmen, he added. The Sebastian Inn, a romantic and scenic landmark in its heyday, was built about l925 and was a popular spot on the Indian river shore for many years. Earl Roberts, one of the former owners and who now operates Earl's Bar in Sebastian, said during the World War II the old inn served as a barracks for the U.S. Naval radar team stationed in Sebastian. The property borders the Indian River near the south edge of downtown Sebastian and is just east of old U.S.l.
Sebastian Inlet Jacke Forte operated the concession stand at Sebastian Inlet from l959 to l97l. He says that in l968, 38 boats capsized in the inlet waters. One Saturday four boats capsized within a 7 hour period. Forte says that marine charts to this day read "this is not a navigable waterway" concerning Sebastian Inlet. According to Forte, the Sebastian Inlet bridge, completed in l965 is the first cantilevered bridge in the world built of pre-stressed concrete. Forte was the first to cross over the bridge when it was completed.
Sebastian Inlet Dr. B. Q. Waddell, Indian River County commissioner, said this morning that right-of-way for a connecting road and bridge over the Sebastian Inlet is being acquired, but no commitment of primary road funds can come before a March meeting with State Road Board members. Waddell said that a tentative route has been engineered for about seven miles of road necessary to connect the proposed new bridge with existing highway in Indian River County and existing State Road AlA in Brevard County. Preliminary work on the proposed route has been underway since November, l959, when a narrow strip of land belonging to Brevard County on the south side of Sebastian Inlet was given to Indian River County in a special referendum of the voters of both counties. The land was given to Indian River county because it pledged to build the bridge and connecting highway to complete another link in State Road AlA.
Sebastian Inlet A contract for the first phase of the Sebastian Inlet dredging work - to cost more than $l00,000 - may be negotiatd within the next two weeks, it was announced July 29 by Harry Goode, chairman of the Sebastian Inlet Commission.
Inboard Claimed by Inlet Sebastian - A 32-foot inboard boat owned by Lester Webb of Orlando, broke up and sank outside the mouth of the Sebastian Inlet yesterday morning, but all hands were rescued safely. The exact number of persons on the boat at the time of the accident and their names were unavailable from any source this morning. The report of the incident went to the Florida Highway Patrol at 9:05 yesterday morning and, in turn, was relayed to the Brevard County Sheriff's Dept. The sheriff's boat was out of commission at the time and Conservation Agent Jim Adkins, was dispatched to the scene. He reported back at 9:25 that his patrol boat was too small to handle the job and word was sent for a Coast Guard boat from Ft.Pierce. The Coast Guard craft arrived and was able to get the people off the boat, crippled due to a broken rudder and loss of an anchor. Officials at the Coast Guard station this morning were only able to supply the name of the boat owner. Their report indicates the boat became disabled inside the inlet and by the time they arrived it had cleared the inlet and was on the ocean. They reported it was battered by waves until it broke to pieces and sank.
Dredging Starts to Deepen Sebastian Inlet to l2 Feet Sebastian - Engineering work has been completed and all dredging equipment is at the Sebastian Inlet as the $229,500 dredging job there progresses on schedule according to Harry Goode, Sebastian Inlet commission chairman. Goode said that some 42,000 cubic yards of rock and more than 200,000 cubic yards of sand will be removed in making the inlet channel l2 feet deep and 200 feet wide at the ocean side and l50 feet wide at the inland side. On the inland side there will be a sand trap some 900 feet wide dredged out to insure that the channel will not fill up with sand in the forseeable future. Goode confirmed reports that the new channel depth of l2 feet will not extend to the channel of the inland waterway in the Indian River. He said the new dredging will extend only 4,200 feet and will leave probably more than a mile between the end of the new work and the inland waterway channel. He did say, however, that the backwater from the new inlet channel will raise the depth across this distance to about eight feet. Goode explained the rock will be removed from the new channel bottom by blasting with underwater charges. He said the small charges will be placed at seven foot centers and fired to break up the rock, then a large clam shell bucket lowered from a boom on a dredge barge will pick up the shattered rock as the dredges move through the channel. Asked if there was a possibility that the rest of the existing channel from the end of the new work to the inland waterway might be deepened, he said he hoped it would be done in the future. There is a possibiity that the U.S. Army Corps of Engneers or other agencies connected with the inland waterway might take over the project according to Goode. He said he did not know if the Inlet Commission would be able to do the job according to law and stated further that they would not have the funds to complete the job even if it were permissable under law. "During the past year," said Goode, "we have had a lot of correspondence with Sen. George Smathers and NASA people hoping they might be able to work out some way to complete the channel, but to date there seems little they can do on the project." All indications to date are that the current project will be completed on schedule.
Sebastian Inlet Bridge Sebastian - Delivery of rights-of-way for State Road AlA in Indian River county have been guaranteed by the state for an eight mile stretch south of the Sebastian Inlet improving prospects of a bridge spanning the inlet and a straight shot on AlA from Fort Pierce to Cape Canaveral. The status of the bridge is stil a question mark, but it is estimatd that half a million dollars will be needed for its construction. A plan to raise funds through a proposed special tax district seemed to fall by the wayside and no current plan to finance the bridge has been divulged by the Indian River commissioners. In the last proposal it was proposed that Brevard and Indian River Counties split the cost, but county Commissioner, Lee Wenner of Cocoa said Tuesday "we honestly thought when we gave them the land they would build the bridge - we might share the upkeep." Wenner said Brevard funds for the bridge are not available and that if it is to be built, "It will have to be financed from that road district down here." The extension of the road will cost an estimated $750,00 because many sections are now under water and need filling. Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund decided to provide the right-of-way necessary to fill the gap in AlA from The Sebastian Inlet to the beach at Wabasso. The road path runs behind the holdings of waterfront property owners and assures them they will not lose their rights to buy and fill submerged land. Property owners concerned will be qualified to buy beyond the trustees. Indian River County commissioners were reported to be jubilant over the news. Commission Chairman Robert Graves said the county had been snagged in its dealings with property owners over the riparian rights question. Completion of AlA is one of the top projects for Indian River County's road programs. Commission members plan to ask the State Road Department to place the project on its l96l-63 building schedule in Fort Lauderdale March l6.
Three Pulled From Inlet, Boat Sinks Melbourne - Three fishermen were themselves fished out of the water last night after their boat hit an unlit buoy and sank in Sebastian Inlet. The trio, a man and two teenagers, was rescued when John Cassady of Indialantic and Jim Ballard of Melbourne heard their screams for help. Relating the incident, Cassady said he and Ballard were anchored in the channel fishing when they heard the motor of the other boat and then the cries for help. The three, whose names the rescuers did not get, had struck a large, unlit metal buoy located in the center of the channel. Their fiberglass boat, gear, provisions and new Mercury outboard motor were lost in the l2-foot deep channel. One boy was believed to be the son of Henry Thomas, owner of a fishing camp on the south side of the inlet, Cassady added. Cassady quoted the victims as reporting they could not see the buoy because they were blinded by a light in their boat. Anchored off a dragline barge, the buoy is one of five in the channel, all unlit, Cassady said. Queried about the unlit buoy, Mr.B. Shirley, engineer for Hardaway Dredging Co., explained the buoys mark anchors, cables and other equipment the Columbus, Ga., firm is using to dredge the inlet. "There is no way to light an anchor buoy," he continued, "because they turn over and over as the tide and currents change." The company's understanding when it accepted the job was that the inlet was not a boat channel, Shirley said. Furthermore, the public has been warned to exercise caution there because of the work going on, he reported. When dredging is completed late in August, a l2-foot channel will extend from the inland waterway to the ocean. The engineer warned all boaters to use caution in the area. In addition to the buoys and dredging equiment, he said large rocks in many places are only six inches below the surface. While the company puts lights on all floating equipment, he concluded, the channel may have to be closed entirely to boats if it beomes dangerous.
Sebastian Inlet Bridge Bids for construction of the Sebastian Inlet bridge linking Brevard and Indian River Counties will be taken July 30. When the bridge and stretch of State Road AlA in Indian River county are completed - as expected by fall of l964, motorists will have a scenic route running from Cape Canaveral to Stuart. SRD District Engineer Clarence Davidson estimated the bridge, at an estimated $600,000 cost, would be completed in a "little over a year." Plans call for a graceful high-rise span fitted with catwalks for fishermen.
Sebastian Inlet Bridge The bridge spanning the Sebastian Inlet may be named after Indian River County Commission Chairman Robert Graves. Indian River County Commissioners have asked their Brevard County counterparts to approve their suggeted name for the $750,000 high rise bridge. Brevard Commissioner Lee Wenner predicted the name would be given formal approval in a resolution up for consideration possibly at tomorrow's meeting.
Sebastian Inlet Fire Injures l Sebastian Inlet - An early morning fire here yesterday sent one person to Brevard hospital with severe burns and destroyed five cottages, several which could have been saved according to area residents - had there been a working telephone near the inlet. In the hospital with second degree burns is Mrs. Hilda Moritz who was reported in satisfactory condition by hospital attendants yesterday afternoon. Several residents of the area and owners of the destroyed cottages were extremely critical yesterday of the telephone company for disconnecting the toll telephone at a store near the inlet. They said the phone had been disconnected about two weeks and claimed that a local store owner was being charged a monthly charge to keep the pay station at the inlet. Fire broke out in the Moritz cottge at about l:05 a.m. Saturday morning and it was more than 35 minutes later before help arrived since it required a drive almost half way to Melbourne Beach to call firemen. Mrs. Moritz was taken to the hospital in a pickup truck since her injuries were not known when the original call was made to the firemen and no ambulance was summoned. The five cottages that were destroyed - along with all contents - were located north of the inlet and east of SR AlA. They were owned by Mr. and Mrs. Mortiz, William Webb, Clifford McNulty, R.P. Sullivan Jr. and a man named Ware from Kissimmee. The Melbourne Beach Fire Department answered the call but arrived on the scene too late to attempt to save anything of the properties involved in the blaze. John Wilson, Southern Bell Telephone Co. manager in Melbourne, said he had been unaware that the semi-public phone in the area located at a store owned by Jack Forte had been disconnected until he was advised of the fact Friday evening by Carl Moritz, husband of the injured woman. Wilson said that he checked into the situation yesterday and found that it had been disconnected but added that it was not disconnected by the telephone company on its own initiative. "We realize the need for a public phone in the inlet area and the telephone compay plans to install a completely public phone in the area in the near future." said Wilson.
Rezoning Requests Received Cocoa - With the opening of the new Sebastian Inlet bridge slated for early February, county zoning officials are taking a long look at the zoning in the area north of the inlet along SR. AlA. Presently zoned for high class residential development, the zoning board split yesterday on whether the area should stay as presently zoned or be opened for motels, apartments and commercial use. Long a dormant area development-wise, the south beach area is expected to come alive with new development as soon as the new bridge is opened and in fact several developers are already showing a great interest in the area. A land use plan developed for the area several years ago calls for residential use of the area, but this plan did not take into account the new bridge. The issue was brought to the forefront for the county zoning officials when two requests were submitted to them to allow change of zoning on two large tracts in the area for general retail and wholesale business. A third group is known to be planning a large marina for the area if it can obtain the proper zoning change. Two of the requests came before the board yesterday and the board split on what action should be taken. The inlet has long been a favorite fishing grounds for area residents and special fishing walkways under the bridge roadway are expected to draw even larger crowds of fishermen to the area.
Telephone Hooked Up At Inlet Sebastian Inlet - Telephone service to the inlet has been re-established according to an official of the Florida Public Utilities Commission. Service has been changed from a semi-public pay station to a completely public pay station at the same location at the inlet and a dispute over billing has been settled to the satisfaction of all concerned, according to the utility commission official. Wilkins Linhart, utility engineer from Fruitland Park, said yesterday that the phone was re-connected Tuesday afternoon at the store operated by Jack Forte at the inlet and that no charges will be made to Forte for having the telephone at his store. In fact, instead of making a charge to Forte for the booth, he will be paid a l5 percent commission on the money collectd from the telephone. Another complaint residents of the area had voiced recently was that the coin box of the telephone would fill up and put the phone out of sevice for weeks at a time before telephone company workmen would show up to empty the coin box. Linhard said yesterday that the telephone company has agreed to empty the coin box more frequently.
Sebastian Inlet Key to creation of a state park at Sebastian Inlet remains the question of clear title to marshlands formed by fill dredge out of the inlet over the years. According to Wey C. Landrum, dirctor of the Outdoor Recreational Planning Council "....the Internal Improvement Fund has indicated that there is not sufficient land of recreational quality clearly in public ownership to warrant development of a state facility."
Jetties Steps will be initiated this summer toward construction of $400,000 worth of jetties at the Sebastian Inlet.
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