The Coral Gables Times

CORAL GABLES TIMES

2 CORAL GABLES TIMES Thursday, January 3, 1963

BURGIN BORROWS A CHURCHILL TRADEMARK

He Sues, Wins, But Still No Gables License

By MAURICE LABELLE Times Reporter South Miami plumber James Burgin charged last week that the City of Coral Gables is defying the Florida State Supreme Court in refusing him the right to work in the Gables. Burgin threatened to charge a violation of his civil rights in Federal Court if the City persists in blocking him from working despite his recent victory in the Supreme Court. "We're going to see if the courts are going to allow the City to defy the law," said Burgin, former Metro plumber examining board chairman. The veteran of 22 years of plumbing in Dade County appeared in Gables Municipal Court Dec. 27 after his arrest Nov. 28 on charges of doing plumbing with a permit. He's out on $150 bond. He asked for, through his attorney Paul Brinson, and received a continuance to Jan. 15, from Municipal Judge Charles Spooner. Burgin said he applied three times for the permit and was denied each time. In an effort to bring the matter to a head, he took a job at Beth Weber Dress Shop, 6711 Red Rd., and challenged the City to arrest him. It did — on a warrant served in South Miami — but not at the site. How does the Gables apparently continue to defy the law? Not at all, City Attorney Ted Semple contends, who has steadfastly advised City Manager L. W. Robinson Jr. and other City officials to hold their position. Semple said Friday that the City has met the Court's compliance order. "We are proceeding according to State Law," said Semple. General statutes, which supersede County Ordinances, require that exams be taken, said Semple. "We showed cause," said the City attorney. Burgin failed to pass City exams three times back in 1949 but claims "grandfather clause" coverage under County law which does not require an exam for those who had licenses before exams were established by the County. Semple's contention is invalid, Brinson said, because the city does not meet the requirements of state law on exams or examining boards. The City attorney's latest action, though he did not want to characterize as in contempt of court, might lead to an expensive damage suit, Brinson said. He said Semple is attempting to try the case all over again. The case began in 1949 when police arrested Burgin for working without a Gables license. They put him in jail when he refused to make bond, but Burgin bonded himself out after considerable publicity. The case wound up in Circuit Court, was heard twice before the District Court of Appeals, with Burgin winning the second round after being the apparent loser before Metro Attorney Darrey Davis intervened for the county. Semple got the State Supreme Court to hear the case as a matter of great public concern, but lost out. The highest court referred the case to the Circuit Court for disposition. Still unsettled also is who will pay the mounting court and attorney's fees.

Gableites See Cuba Briefly

(Continued from Page 1) came back on the last plane to leave. "I wasn't too keen on staying there overnight," she said. Both girls' relatives are still in Cuba, Gloria said they "shipped me out." "Cuba is no place for a young person; they wanted to get me out of a place like that," she said. Louise left in April and her husband Jorge followed her two months later. She works for the City of Miami and has a little boy, Maurice. The girls, who are first cousins, said they talk to their parents every 10 days or so on the phone. They miss their homes very much, but say they eventually get use to it. Louise said when she left Cuba she was allowed to bring five dresses, two pairs of shoes, one necklace, and one eyebrow pencil. When she and her husband left, they gave up all they had. "If you want to get out, you have to leave everything," she said. That is why more people do not leave, she said. Gloria said when she left she thought she would be back in six months at the most so only brought her winter clothes. That was three years ago. Gloria plans to remain in the United States and will be married next year. Is Louise going back to a free Cuba some day? "On the first flight," she said.

Burglar Is Caught By Alert Lady

(Continued from Page 1) Ponce de Leon Boulevard, she immediately called police. Officer Robert DeKorte apprehended the youth quickly and he was identified by Mrs. Combs. Capt. E. H. McGough and other Gables policemen went to work on the case and turned over the youth's fingerprints to Miami police who immediately linked him with a series of breaks in that town. Miami police chief Walter Headley praised McGough in a letter. According to McGough, the youth was a newspaper vendor. After he would sell his papers at the corner of Ponce de Leon Boulevard and Tamiami Trail, he would cut through residential areas and break into homes. One thing that differentiated Smith from most burglars is that he would break in daylight. Most breaks occur at night.

GEM DRUG ROBBERY

Drugs and other merchandise valued at more than $1,500 were reported stolen in a break at Coral Gables Drugs store, 130 Ponce de Leon Boulevard Friday. The goods stolen from the store ranged from small items to valuable drugs and other merchandise.

Found Out on Muscle Beach Which Is Heavier: God's Word Or 300 Pounds? George Knows

By RAYMOND LANG Times Reporter George Hunter III, a seminary student who can hoist a 300-pound bar bell over his blond crew-cut, carried God's word last summer and found the going tougher. For eight weeks, Hunter sifted through the human driftwood of beatniks, homosexuals, prostitutes, school drop outs and others who congregate at Muscle Beach, outside Santa Monica, Calif. He moved among them. Waited for their conversation to tilt toward religion. And it was then he did what he could do best, talk about the role God and the church should play in their lives. "I guess it was among the beatniks I had my most fruitful and enjoyable experiences," Hunter said, "because they were the most interested in new ideas. "You could walk into any place they frequented, say an art gallery or coffee shop, and start a discussion... because all they liked to do was sit around and discuss political and philosophical subjects. "But," added Hunter, "you also found with them, psychologically, the greatest barrier because the beatnik, in some way, has been beaten." Hunter, wrapping up his third and last year at Emory University, was on assignment by the Methodist Board of Evangelism. He was among 25 seminary students wishing experience who had been sent to religion-hungry areas. He was talking about his summer last week while visiting his parents, The George Hunters II, at their 316 Candia Ave. home during the Christmas holiday. Hunter said many beatniks believed they had been jolted severely in life, either by the church or a love affair. Two afternoons a week, he went to a bar patronized by homosexuals. He talked to them and he talked to prostitutes. Hunter says both feel they face a hostile world, a world that wants no part of them. Dressed casually in an olive green T shirt and brown shorts, he explained last week that he didn't judge these people. He tried to understand them, why they chose their way of life and how he could put the church and God on their team. There were failures, especially among the school drop outs. But there were also successes. "There was an old man I remember," Hunter mused, "a small-time peddler, coat hangers, razor blades. "And I was the only one from the church who had shown any interest in him and he started reading his Bible and going to church regularly for the first time in his life" Hunter said with pride. Hunter's startling contrast. With glasses on an angular face and a close hair cut he looks—and is—scholarly. At 18, the six-footer began lifting weights. When he shakes your hand, you can't help but notice the powerful arms on this 184-pounder, whose broad shoulders taper like an inverted triangle to a narrow waist. Hunter, who left Sunday for Emory, plans later to get his Master's Degree at Princeton. After that, he hopes to be assigned as a Methodist minister to a church in Florida. For eight weeks this summer, he tried to give hope to the hopeless. Does he feel they benefited? "I feel I benefited the most," he said, adding that he felt he also helped. "I was able to work with people in a more difficult situation. "And it helped me to see what the real issues are today and what questions people are asking, and it helped me to gear myself to communicate with them." LOOKING at the Bible, around which his life centers, is muscular George Hunter III, the weightlifting seminary student who worked this summer at Muscle Beach, near Santa Monica, Calif. That's his mother, Mrs. George Hunter II, of 316 Candia Ave. (Times photo)

At Stockdale Party Not 8 Tiny Reindeer, Just 1 Helicopter and O'Donnell

A helicopter bearing a presidential assistant landed at Granada Golf Course Friday night so that its passengers might attend a party at the home of Grant Stockdale, 611 North Greenway Drive. He is the former U.S. ambassador to Ireland. Stockdale expressed surprise at the incident. "I didn't know he was coming that way," Stockdale said afterwards. The event was a party for Kenneth O'Donnell at the home of Stockdale. O'Donnell is one of Kennedy's chief aides. There was no connection between the event and President John F. Kennedy's appearance in the Orange Bowl the following afternoon to address the Cuban invasion prisoners and Cuban exiles, Stockdale said. O'Donnell was accompanied by Matty Mathews, senate Democratic force leader. The two men left the helicopter and joined a party of 40 persons, including Rep. Dante Fascell; former Gables mayor John Montgomery; Bill Baggs, Miami News Editor; John McDermott Miami Herald Political columnist, and several national business and commercial people.