• Sunday’s beating by Indianapolis started a hectic week for Jacksonville Jaguars Coach Jack Del Rio. In addition to the task of getting his team back on track, it’s a big family time: his stepdaughter gets married Friday evening at Amelia Island.
• Jag fans should have known they had a problem. When the officials came on the field, their windbreakers were the same color as those worn by the Colts.
• It’s cleaning up time at the Riverside Ave. YMCA so you’re reminded that it closes Tuesday evening and won’t reopen until the following Monday.
• Undersheriff David Stevens’s job during the ACC Championship game was to escort Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden to the stadium. Stevens is a staunch Gator but said the trip went well “though the coach was a little quiet.”
• The Chamber’s next Cornerstone luncheon brings in two of the state’s most powerful: Florida senate President Tom Lee and House Speaker Allan Bense. It’s at the Hyatt on Jan. 18.
• Correction: Jacksonville U. Athletic Director Alan Verlander went to Samford, not Georgia Tech as we stated Friday.
• Sidney Engelhardt, longtime bailiff for Duval County Chief Judge Don Moran, died last week. Engelhardt retired from the Navy in 1959 as a commander after 20 years of service. He was a veteran of both WWII and Korea, serving as a pilot. The family requests memorials to be sent to the American Cancer Society or River Garden Hebrew Home.
• A Folio Weekly note about City Hall’s plans to spend $150,000 on “Drippy,” the water-drop-shaped mascot of the Environmental Protection Board, has drawn a response from “Drippy” himself. McCormick Agency account executive J. Brooks Terry, the former Daily Record reporter who’s the man inside the costume, said that the Folio item failed to mention that the money would be allocated over five years. Terry also noted that the costume hasn’t been replaced in 10 years. “It smells terrible in there,” he said.
• The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce will address the problem of predatory lenders at its Dec. 15 Housing Roundtable held at the Chamber’s Small Business Center on Norwood Avenue. According to the Chamber, many predatory lenders see the Christmas season as a time to prey on families in financial need.
• Larry Wilson, principal at Rink Design Partnership Inc., was reappointed to the Art in Public Places Commission. The commission helps with the selection, placement, installation and maintenance of art in City-owned buildings.
• Out Christmas shopping? Pick up an extra gift for a child 17 years old or younger who is in foster care. The Jacksonville Youth Sanctuary and Vystar Credit Union are collecting the gifts. There are decorated boxes at each of Vystar’s branch offices accepting donations from Dec. 12-21.