• Lonnie Miller Jr. of the sheriff’s department is on the ladder to become state president of the Fraternal Order of Police. He was elected second VP during the state meeting here recently.
• Good news for the disabled who have found it difficult to get into City Council Chambers. Jack Gillrup, the City’s Chief of Disabled Services, and Cheryl Brown, City Council director, have gotten together to find the funding to install an automatic door at the entrance.
• The Harbor Companies and Watson Real Estate Corp. are giving a sneak peek at the Berkman Plaza 2 project next Thursday. It’s at the Berkman Plaza 2 info center from 6-8 p.m. and there will be cocktails, food and jazz.
• Big doings for 40 kids in the Take Stock in Children program Thursday. Several Jacksonville officials will be on hand when the kids gather at Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s Advanced Technology Center where they will meet with their mentors from Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church. The kids will get full four-year college scholarships in return for signing an agreement to stay off drugs, stay out trouble, maintain a 2.5 grade point average and exhibit positive behavior.
• The Governing Board of the Jacksonville Port Authority has selected new board officers for the 2007 fiscal year. Tony Nelson will serve as board chairman, Ricardo Morales Jr. was elected vice chairman, Marilyn McAfee was elected secretary and William C. Mason III, Ed. D., was elected treasurer. The new group will assume their responsibilities Oct. 1.
• There’s a new, but familiar owner for the silver, 1950s diner at 100 Malaga St. in downtown St. Augustine. George Chryssadis, owner of Athena Cafe near the historic plaza, has opened George’s Diner in the spot that was once home to a Greyhound bus station. The diner will be open 7 a.m.-9 p.m. and breakfast will be available all day.
• The Fashion Group International of North Florida and Carla Shoes & Accessories will host a luncheon at 11:30 a.m.on Sept. 20 at Epping Forest Yacht Club. The luncheon will feature an exclusive viewing of FGI’s fall/winter fashion trends DVD and informal modeling of fashions from local boutiques. It costs $35 and reservations can be made with Susan Lahti at 519-0200.
• Clarification. In a story Tuesday about Federal Judge Gerald Tjoflat, a sentence should have read: The divorce rate multiplied and the illegitimate birth rate “went out of sight.”
• Gold’s Gym Downtown has added two personal trainers from Gracor Fitness to the staff. They will offer training guidance and nutritional counseling and are certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
• Martin and Ginger Readion have sold the London Bridge Pub at Adams and Ocean. New owners took over last week. No major changes are planned at this time beyond possibly a new juke box.
• The Jaguars unofficial dance team, the Phat Cats, held their first practice Tuesday night, but the practice was closed to media so organizers could weed out who was serious and who wasn’t. The Phat Cats is a “fat man dance group that dance during Jags games,” said local radio personality Moon Pie. The Phat Cats are planning to dance at four games this season: Sept. 18, Nov. 5, Nov. 20 and the Christmas Eve game against the New England Patriots.
• Radio talk show host Andy Johnson is back on the air. His “Down to Business” show airs on Mondays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1240 out of St. Augustine. Johnson says there’s an “excellent” signal in St. Johns, Flagler and southern Duval County.
• Florida Community College/Jacksonville has been awarded $774,993 in SUCCEED Florida! grants for career education. The grants will fund new and expanded programs in the fields of nursing and allied health, manufacturing, automotive technology and teacher certification. The largest award was $226,259 to help expand the nursing program to FCCJ’s Deerwood Center.
• The holidays are a long way off, but the Salvation Army is already recruiting bell-ringers for the season. Volunteers will ring bells and collect donations in red kettles starting Nov. 17. Contact Captain Jamie Bell (yes, Bell) at 366-9222 to volunteer.
• Diana Wilkin is the new vice-president and general manager at TV-30/47. She came from a CBS affiliate in Fresno, Calif. where she held the same position for the past three years. Wilkin started Tuesday.
• Columbia College-Jacksonville will officially open its second Jacksonville campus next Thursday. Joe Snowberger — you remember him being with Downtown Vision, Inc. — is the school’s director.
• City Council offices seem a little empty this week? Good reason for it. It’s a fifth week — no committee meetings and no full Council meetings.
• The City’s “Consolidator” employee newsletter is now an online only publication. It can be found on the public information page of the City’s Web site.
• There’s a new branch of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville. Rotoract is a beaches club with about 35 members. The club’s first big fundraiser is its Endless Summer Ball Sept. 23 at the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach. The funds raised will go to Dreams Come True and the first recipient will be a 17-year-old with Hodgkin’s disease the club is sending to Hawaii in March.