• There’s tension brewing between Jags Coach Jack Del Rio and T-U pro football writer Vito Stellino. It’s been subtle until now, but after Stellino’s statement in Monday’s paper that Del Rio is “coaching as if he were playing [the video game] Madden 2004 ...” Del Rio ended his press conference Monday by telling Stellino that his question was confusing, and then walking away. He stopped short of the door and turned to say, “I’ve got to go play my Madden.”
• Happy Birthday to Firehouse Subs, which started nine years ago on a credit card and now has 107 restaurants in seven states. The restaurant, run by brothers Robin and Chris Sorensen, celebrated its birthday last week. The 100th location will actually open in about three weeks on Normandy Boulevard. There will be 450 stores by 2007 — all of them have already been sold.
• New chair at Ch. 7 — Wachovia’s Bob Helms, with FCCJ prexy Steve Wallace next in line.
• J.B. Coxwell told the City they have run into some interference with their contract work on the Lenox Avenue Reconstruction Project. According to a letter sent to interim Chief Operating Officer Lynn Westbrook, Coxwell asked for an increased police presence in the area because: “Equipment and personnel are being shot at with guns, drug dealing is prevalent and other illegal activity takes place on a daily basis.”
• The City has offered Seminole County traffic engineer Bob Zaitooni $80,000 to head its Traffic Engineering Division. Zaitooni is considering the offer.
• Rose Bransford of Rose’s Fine Jewelry on Main Street complained that planned streetscape construction would hurt her business, but the City advised her not to worry. The City is still looking for funding for the project’s second phase, meaning her sidewalks will remain intact, “at least for the time being,” according to Streets and Drainage Chief Jeff Beck.
• Homeowners from Ortega Farms, a waterfront neighborhood about a mile south of the Timuquana Bridge, are taking exception to a zoning request to keep horses on a neighborhood property parcel. The residents have apparently been told the horses kept there will be worth more than their houses, but that doesn’t make them any more receptive to sharing their neighborhood with livestock. “It does not matter how nice the “farm” intends to be or how expensive the horses may have been. A horse is a horse and smell comes with the farm,” said a letter to the mayor from neighborhood residents.
• The Haskell Company is planning to build an eight-foot steel sculpture at the University of North Florida. The $12,000 sculpture will display steel connections and framing systems and will show engineering students the future tools of their trade.