• One of the top men at the local FBI office is retiring. Robert Cromwell, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Jacksonville division, will be honored at a buffet lunch Dec. 7 at the Sea Turtle Inn.
• The Jacksonville Urban League is holding an open house for its Head Start Jacksonville Job Corps Center Wednesday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
• In lieu of recent concerns over who “sponsors” City Council meals before regular Council meetings and the motives surrounding such, a few simple rules have been instituted. One, the name of the group catering the meal must be posted. Two, the group cannot have any legislation pending before Council. Three, no lobbying Council members during the event.
• Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver said he and Mayor John Peyton worked out their differences over advertising revenue in the nick of time. The financial assistance offered by the City in exchange for advertising rights inside Alltel Stadium will give Weaver some needed financial leeway as he negotiates with big-market owners for greater revenue sharing. Weaver said changes need to be made by next March to keep small-market teams competitive and said the climate might finally be right to make those changes. “For the first time, the player’s union is on our side,” said Weaver.
• Speaking of Weaver’s negotiations with Peyton, the Jaguars owner handled them so artfully that Jacksonville Bar Association members were asking for his assistance handling another City impasse during Weaver’s appearance at the JBA luncheon. Circuit Court Judge Bernard Nachman asked Weaver “if you might be available to discuss the County Courthouse with us?”
• Susan Daicoff, Florida Coastal School of Law professor and author of “Lawyer, Know Thyself” told the Jacksonville Bar Association’s Judicial Symposium that lawyers are not keeping especially good company in terms of public perception. Only about 25 percent of the public thinks that lawyers are ethical and professional, she said. That ranks the profession just below newspaper reporters but just ahead of building contractors.
• The U.S. legal system takes its share of abuse, but Talbot D’Alemberte, former president of the American Bar Association and Florida State University doesn’t think that’s entirely fair, given this country’s influence on emerging legal systems in Eastern Europe. D’Alemberte was at the forefront of an initiative to bring Western-style legal systems to the region following the collapse of the Berlin Wall. His experience there convinced him that America’s courts are the envy of the world. “I spoke to the defense attorney for [Czech revolutionary] Vaclav Havel and he wasn’t allowed to make a defense for him,” said D’Alemberte. “Basically, all he was allowed to do was bring cigarettes to him in jail.”
• Holiday driving had City Council member Lad Daniels in a chatty mood Tuesday. Asked by a reporter how much time he had to talk, Daniels replied, “I’m 190 miles into a 400 mile trip, how long do you want to talk?”