• A new Bay Street night spot is now officially open. Eclate - a jazz club located across the street from the Courthouse - was the site of a grand opening party on Friday night. The party took place inside and outside and two lanes of traffic were closed to make room for the crowd.
• What’s up with these Jags? After a dismal start, they’ve won their last three home games - Sunday’s 27-0 stomp of Houston was the latest - and they’re now in the top five in the national Football League in defense. “There must have been a turning point, but I didn’t mark it down,” said Coach Jack Del Rio. “Everyone seems to have figured things out.” More, page 5.
• New stoplights went in over the weekend in front of City Hall.
• To answer a reader’s query: yes, the crossword puzzle (see page 5) gets more difficult each day. The New York Times puzzlemaster says you’re “average” if you can get the Tuesday puzzle most of the time.
• The local bar association lost a pal with the death of James Pearthree, who was better known as an aide to Rep. Charlie Bennett but who also was active in legal affairs here.
• You’ll remember Dan Quiggle as the guy who challenged Ander Crenshaw for Congress a few years back. He’s since gotten involved with the mainstream Republicans and obviously has settled in; he just paid $1.1 million for a house in Ponte Vedra.
• The Publix-anchored shopping center in Riverside is a hit and here’s an indication. A developer offered $600,000 for a house close by. It was worth about half that. Will the owner sell? Not yet ... for a million, maybe.
• The Chamber’s Downtown Council gave its biggest civic award to The Suddath Companies. It’s the Downtown Enhancement Award and goes those who have made a significant contribution on the downtown area. Past winners of the prize include the Tri-Legacy Group for the Shipyards Development and Downtown Vision, Inc. for the Ambassadors Program.
• A grand old lady’s facelift is almost complete. The Broadview Towers, one of our town’s spiffiest addresses (it’s in Riverside next to Memorial Park,) has new paint and ne stucco in some of the bare places.
• Next stop for Sharon Ashton, former Mayor John Delaney’s press officer, may be UNF. She was briefly with a Beach p.r. firm.
• Back in town: sportscaster Barry Milligan, who had been in Tallahassee. He’s freelancing until something permanent turns up.
• The mayor’s office is starting to look a lot like Christmas. Front desk assistants Latheria Shavers and Alice Newman spent last week decorating a ceiling-high tree and dispersing 45 poinsettas throughout City Hall’s fourth floor. Speaking of Newman, we misidentified her high school graduation year in a Thursday profile. Newman graduated from Wolfson High School in 1976, not 1967.