Fifty Years Ago Today, October 13, 1965

Voters Swell Poll Sites

A heavy swell of Columbus voters--7,192 altogether--went to the polls before noon today to cast ballots in the city's second mixed drinks referendum in less than two years. The early heavy turn--out indicated that the total vote might exceed 50 percent of the 32,088 registered and eligible voters.

Racial Clauses

The Birmingham City Council, stung by the death of a Negro man apparently abandoned by a white ambulance driver, struck all racial clauses Tuesday from contracts with ambulance companies. The council had launched a full-scale investigation in the wake of the death of Joe Bruce, 63--year--old Negro man whose legs were severed when a car jumped a curb and crushed him against his own vehicle last Wednesday.

Succession Bill

The Alabama Supreme Court hasn't indicated when it might rule on whether the Senate cloture rule is constitutional as applied to the proposed succession amendment. Administration leaders in the Senate have said that they would probably be able to pass the amendment to allow Gov. George Wallace and seven other state officials to succeed themselves in office if the court rules that the cloture rule requiring 24 votes to stop debate isn't constitutional.

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Fifty Years Ago Today, October 13, 1965 ."