• Michele Querry, Mayor John Peyton’s City Council liaison, has accepted a position as director of finance for the Republican Party of Florida. “Michele is a very talented individual who has been an integral part of our team,” said Peyton. “While we’re sorry to see her go, we all know she’ll be an enormous asset to the Florida Republican Party and we wish her the very best. She will be missed.”
• Remember Brenton Butler, the teen falsely accused of killing a Georgia tourist and who was later the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary? His family has formed the Brenton Butler Foundation for the Wrongfully Convicted/Accused.
• City Council vice president Elaine Brown is the speaker at the Jan. 29 Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association luncheon. It begins at noon at Sterling’s Downtown. Cost is $15. RSVP to Eileen Dolaghan at 389-5580 before Jan. 26.
• If downtown seems a little more crowded this week, about 2,000 members of the Church of God in Christ are in town for a leadership convention at the Adam’s Mark Hotel.
• The Children’s Miracle Network will host a hot air balloon festival May 22-23. Balloons will take off from Herlong Field, hope to pass over downtown and race across Jacksonville.
• Marks Gray has added another associate, Judith Guthrie, to its Southbank law firm. Guthrie is a recent Florida Coastal School of Law graduate.
• The communications manager for the Caribbean Mercy ship said the crew took away positive memories of Jacksonville from their November visit. Virginia Speiser, the Mercy’s communications director, told Mayor Peyton the crew was telling the media in Mobile, Ala., their current port, about the tree–lighting ceremony and the fireworks display they witnessed while moored near the Landing.
• The City Council has passed a resolution commending the volunteer efforts for Builders Care, a local home building company.
• As the City continues to prepare its defense against potential base closings, Mayor Peyton last week visited VP-30, the “Pro’s Nest” at NAS Jacksonville. VP-30, the largest squadron in the U.S. Navy, has 1,300 members in Jacksonville. They provide aircraft-specific training for pilots, Naval flight officers and enlisted air crews before they report to the fleet. The mayor visited with personnel in the squadron and took a familiarization flight over Jacksonville in one of the squadron’s P-3 aircraft.