Japan is on the ropes. German war crimes trials loom. Bill Mauldin's Up Front is the best-selling book in Jacksonville. The Chicago Cubs lead the National League. Cars are slippin' and slidin' on the Main Street bridge.
City officials demand something be done.
Four persons have died on the bridge since it opened in 1941. Scores of other accidents are attributed to the slippery grate. City Council 2000, just as City Council 1945, wants the state to safety-up a heavily traveled downtown bridge. The new Mathews grate replaced the original center section of the bridge built in 1953. The clamor began immediately.