• Yet another college football game here? It’s more than possible as the National Collegiate Athletic Association approved a 12th game for colleges starting in 2006. The Gator Bowl Association has been negotiating with Notre Dame to play the extra game here, pending approved from the NCAA. It’s likely it would be in early September to add to the other big games: Georgia-Florida (late October,) the Atlantic Coast Conference championship (early December) and the Toyota Gator Bowl (early January.)
• John Wood, the United States Ambassador to New Zealand, sent Mayor John Peyton a letter thanking him for a great time in Jacksonville. He also said he was pleased to hear that Peyton is interested in a trade mission to the Kiwi nation, citing aviation and biotechnology as common interests.
• After reading Ron Littlepage’s column in Thursday’s Times-Union in which he suggested that trimming the staff in the mayor’s office could easily pay for renovations to make the old Fuller Warren bridge in a pier, straws were drawn in the mayor’s office to see who got to call Littlepage and give him some grief. So who drew the short straw? Chief of Special Initiatives and Communications, Susie Wiles, who claimed she wanted to make the call and knew which straw to pick.
• City Council President Elaine Brown may be out of the country for a week or two, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be reached. Thanks to her new cell phone, Brown’s been accepting calls, though keeping them somewhat brief.
• Council Vice President Kevin Hyde said downtown redevelopment will remain a prominent issue after he is elected president in a few months. Making good on that promise, he recently circulated a newspaper clipping from the Wall Street Journal that detailed the uprising of downtown Oklahoma City. “If anything I think that illustrates that it’s possible for any downtown community to rebound even if they are overcoming significant obstacles. With all of the buzz surrounding our downtown right now, I think that’s food for thought.”
• Speaking of Hyde, while he hasn’t yet signed off on plans to open a used bookstore in the new Main Library, he’s intrigued by the idea. “I love used bookstores,” he said. “If I could I’d move Chamblin (Bookmine) down here today.” The bookstore is a fixture in the Ortega area near Hyde’s Riverside home.
LATE SCORES
Southern League
Mobile 7
Jacksonville 4