A famous author was part of a local court case, in 1966

In early 1966, author John Howard Griffin spoke in La Crosse about his experiences posing as a black man in the South, as described in his book “Black Like Me.” While in the city, Griffin was served with a subpoena by the La Crosse Sheriff’s Department, ordering him to appear locally in court as part of a lawsuit. A La Crescent family claimed that their 13-year-old boy was emotionally damaged by reading “Black Like Me,” which some people considered obscene. Legal wrangling went on for weeks over whether Griffin would have to return to La Crosse to testify at a trial.

Many young people may have read the book “David Copperfield” in local schools in ’66. That year, David Copperfield became the sheriff of Monroe County. Copperfield moved up from undersheriff, after Monroe County Sheriff Arden Oss resigned to run his construction business full-time. The magician David Copperfield was only nine years old at the time, and wouldn’t become famous until the 70’s.

Afternoon TV in June of ’66, on La Crosse’s Channel 8, included soap operas such as “The Edge of Night” and “General Hospital.” There were reruns of “The Mickey Mouse Club” from the 50’s and “Dobie Gillis” from the early 60’s. For game shows, you had “To Tell the Truth,” “Password,” and La Crosse’s version of “TV Bingo,” where viewers played on free cards distributed by IGA stores and Mobil gas stations. “TV Bingo” ended a five-month run on July 1st, when the state banned games of chance on local television, arguing that they gave the businesses handing out the cards an unfair competitive advantage. It was time for Bingo to go in 1966, 52 years ago, yesterday in La Crosse.