Joe Cury

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Picture in The Florida Times Union[1]
Picture in The Florida Times Union[1]

Joseph H. Cury (November 6, 1928 - January 11, 1977) was a business owner and resident of Mandarin, Florida. He owned the Mandarin Super Market, the people of Mandarin were the soul and pride of his life. Joseph gave generously to the poor and the disadvantaged of Mandarin. "Joe" often referred to the people of Mandarin with love and adoration as "his people", and, they were for the duration of his life and thereafter.


Contents

[edit] Early life

Joseph Cury was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. After the Marines, he became involved with heavy-weight boxing. At one point he won 27 straight fights. After he got married to Betty D. Cury, he settled down and tried to found a hardware store. He was unsuccessful. He then founded a grocery store, Mandarin Super, that was very successful. It was his principal means of business until his death. Joseph and his wife Betty had two children, Charles (deceased) and Pamela.

[edit] Founding of People Outraged With Electric Rates

Cury became alarmed at an electrical bill that he had received from the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) which was double the cost of the month before. He called the company to inquire and they said it was because of the high cost of oil. Later that day, Cury drove up to the JEA offices to talk with a manager. The manager refused to tell him anything. In outrage, Cury founded People Outraged With Electric Rates (POWER), a local advocacy group. The treasurer was Harry Shorstein, now the district attorney for Jacksonville, Florida. When Ralph Nader found out about POWER, he decided to get involved. He came to Jacksonville and became Cury's friend. Joe was so inspired by the visit he changes P.O.W.E.R. to Consumer P.O.W.E.R.

[edit] Politics

He strongly opposed the construction of the Dames Point Bridge, and was the vocal leader of the opposition to the project. His efforts lead to years long delays in the inception of the project. He was also an enemy of the movement to bring an Offshore Power Systems (O.P.S.) assembly facility to the Jacksonville area. In honor of his work in this and other areas, the local Southside Business Men's Club established the Outspoken Citizens Award less than a month after his death. Cury was a large part of the opposition of the Dames Point Bridge movement. His main opposition in this project was Wesley Paxson, the chairman of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA). He was also opposed by Truett Ewton, the chairman of the JEA. At his store, he sold a copy of Ralph Nader's anti-nuke group neswletter, Critical Mass

[edit] Sequence of events

In 1972, two corporate giants, Westinghouse Electric and Tenneco announced they were forming a joint company "OPS", to build floating nuclear power plants. They decided Blount Island would be the location for their production facility. JEA formed a contract to buy the plants, even though it meant going instantly bankrupt. It turned out JEA bought oil from Ven Fuel. Ven Fuel had one customer, JEA. No one knew who exactly who Ven Fuel was. Ven Fuel was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the FEA, and found it illegally did business. The city of Jacksonville (Harry Shorstein as lawyer) sued Ven Fuel which settled for $1.2 million and went out of business. In 1976, the JTA voted in an illegal meeting to build the Wesley C. Paxson Memorial Bridge across the Atlantic ocean. When built, the bridge went from Arlington to "Nowhere." Not a soul lived in Blount Island, not a single business resided there, just a company that was building two power plants. The bridge was going to cost $150 million of taxpayers money that would ultimately never be used.

[edit] The peculiar facts come together

From 1972 to 1976, a number of related events occurred. They all involved Jacksonville's government, price gouging, and suspect reasoning. These were:

  • The JPA (Jacksonville Port Authority) gave OPS 850 acres of choice land on Blount Island.
  • The JPA gave OPS a money-back guarantee.
  • The JTA decided to build a bridge to nowhere, except to the nuclear plant assembly facility.
  • The JEA would buy the plants for $2.2 billion

Why were these happening?

  • The businessmen who ran authorities also had their own businesses
  • They would make a bundle off of OPS
  • Either way, they would make money at the expense of the taxpayer

They were:

  • Wesley Paxson, chairman of the JTA and owner of company that would do electrical contracting for OPS
  • Truett Ewton, chairman of the JEA and fellow who would insure OPS through his company, Gulf Life.

[edit] Exposing the corruption

Cury frequently traveled to Washington D.C., Tallahassee, and the Jacksonville City Council to openly voice his opinions. With the help of his friends, he was a major force in the community. The city council decided not to approve JEA's contract. Tenneco pulled out of OPS, leaving Westinghouse alone with OPS. OPS had a half-built production facility and no customers, so they fired 500 employees and went to Washington to lobby unsuccessfully.

[edit] Effect on the community

Cury's protest resulted in the removal of OPS from Jacksonville, exposed all of the authorities that would harm Jacksonville, and protect the citizens of Jacksonville from government corruption. Cury considered running for mayor of Jacksonville. Hans Tanzler, the current mayor at the time, felt Cury could beat him and told him as much. Cury became known to the community through his publc interest work and was frequently in the local press, including

The TV stations in the area also featured him frequently. A good friend and radio personality was Steve Kroft, who now works for 60 Minutes. Joe became nationally known when Joe Klein, now with TIME magazine[www.time.com], featured him in the Rolling Stone Magazine[www.rollingstone.com], March 25th, 1976/issue no. 209 in a 6-page article entitled "Tales of Jacksonville." Apart from receiving many local awards, there is an award named after him awarded annually in Jacksonville.

[edit] People associated with Cury and his work

Many of Cury's assocaites are notable in their own right. Some are:

At his funeral, people who had never met him came to simply pay their' respects. The crowd was so large it poured into the streets.

[edit] External link

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