• Florida Coastal School of law has a visiting professor for the spring semester. He’s Rafael Guzman, who teaches criminal law at the University of Arkansas.
• The Otis Smith Foundation is having a photo contest for shots of its manatees that are all over town. There are separate divisions for adults and children and prizes include digital cameras. The deadline is March 1, 2005 and entry forms are available at www.seacowsforkids.com/photo.html.
• Who’s to thank for Jacksonville’s successful Super Bowl show? According to several pieces of pending legislation in City Council, the list is long. Bills have been filed honoring the Host Committee, the Sheriff’s Office, the Port Authority, the Fire and Rescue Department, Wayne Weaver, JTA, JEA, JEA, the City’s Public Works and Parks and Recreation Divisions and the Office of Special Events.
• Jacksonville University’s employee of the month also was a factor in the Super Bowl parties. He’s Mike Bobbin, the school’s director of purchasing who also owns a company called The Light Connection, which does lighting for special events.
• The blessing that preceding last week’s Fraternal Order of Police luncheon could best be described as fitting. The priest addressed the room full of officers, saying that prayers before meals are best kept short ... especially when the crowd is armed.
• One of the State’s most influential lobbying groups is coming to Ponte Vedra. The Florida Council of 100, a group of Florida business and political leaders with a direct line to the governor’s office, will hold its spring meeting May 5-6 at the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club. The Council made local headlines in 2003 when it advised Gov. Jeb Bush to take away local control of Northeast Florida’s fresh water supply.
• The Fire Department was busy Super Bowl week, but it wasn’t as busy as we said in a City Note Friday. The department didn’t work 562,000 hours of overtime, it spent $562,000 on overtime.
• Maine Sen. Susan Collins presented on the Senate floor last week an impassioned defense of an air base in her home state that could help NAS Jacksonville avoid upcoming Pentagon cuts. Collins said the Pentagon needed her Brunswick Naval Air Station open because the fleet of P-3 Orion planes it houses will be necessary to detect weapons of mass destruction approaching the east coast by sea. NAS Jacksonville also features a P-3 base and both are necessary to prevent WMDs from entering the country she said.
• Friday, Feb. 18 at the U.S Courthouse at Jacksonville, Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association Members are invited to a district-wide congressional breakfast and reception. At the reception, judges and congressional members will meet via video lineup at all of the Federal Courthouses in Florida’s Middle District. Be sure to RSVP by Tuesday, Feb. 15.
• Stan Kasten, former president of the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Braves, was in town last week speaking at Florida Coastal School of Law’s Sports Law Symposium, which was sponsored by several local law firms. Kasten was the keynote speaker at the event, which discussed current and pressing legal issues in the sports industry. Other speakers included Mark Mariani, the president of CBS Sportsline.com, and Ray Anderson, executive vice president of the Atlanta Falcons. The event was held at the PGA Tour Media Center.
• Orlando Circuit Court Judge James Henson is in danger of being booted off the bench for taking cases on the side. He says he did the work when he was between terms as a judge.
• If you see Underwood Jewelers President Clayton Bromberg today, congratulate him on his golf game. He was part of the foursome that won a preliminary event to the Northern Chapter PGA Cup matches being played today and Tuesday at Timuquana.
• A well-known local name is in the hunt for the athletics director job at Jacksonville U. Alan Verlander, whose grandfather co-founded the American Heritage Life Insurance Company, is among the contenders. He’s now an assistant athletic director at an Alabama college.
• The New York Times devoted almost three full pages to an obituary of 89-year-old playwright Arthur Miller and his companion of three years, 34-year-old Jacksonville artist Agnes Barley, got one sentence. Their relationship had been big news in the Big Apple.
• Big religious gathering coming March 27. The “Jacksonville Citywide Crusade” will be at the Arena and the promoters are giving away cars and free beauty treatments as enticements to attend. They’ve placed full-page ads in national religious magazines.