• The Jacksonville Suns season starts next Thursday and along with their returning promotions is a new promotion just for kids. Each game held on a Sunday will feature a kids-only giveaway. Some of the items include bobbleheads, replica jerseys, wristbands and coloring books. Kids will also be able to run the bases after every Sunday home game.
• Another new promotion that is just for adults is Humpday Wednesday where fans can enjoy half-priced beer on selected Wednesday nights.
• For those of you who may have forgotten the Suns promotions, here is a quick rundown: Fifty-cent Family Feast on Tuesdays, Thursday Night Throwdowns when Buds are just a buck and the NAPA Friday Family Fireworks after every Friday night home game.
• The ladies’ tennis tournament is at Amelia next week and the person doing all the real running around is the local coordinator, Sandy Kavanaugh. You knew her father: the late civic leader and tax collector Lynwood Roberts.
• Jacksonville has been known as the “River City” and “the Bold new City of the South.” Might “DogTown USA” be next? It’s a possibility after Jacksonville was nominated for Dog Fancy magazine’s annual contest to find the dog friendliest city in the country. To win, the mayor’s office must fill out a questionaire with questions like: “Is there a dog ‘champion’ in your community?” and “Do restaurants serve biscuits or special dishes to dogs?” Dog Fancy chooses the winner. Last year’s winner was Chicago. Hopefully, the City won’t be docked points for its recent mistreatment of State Attorney Harry Shorstein’s dog “Pigpen,” which Animal Care and Control mistakenly labeled as “dangerous.”
• Mayor John Peyton has taken the “interim” label off Kerri Stewart and appointed her as the new executive director of the Jacksonville Housing Commission. Stewart took over the Commission in December and has also been conducting Peyton’s organizational effectiveness review.
• Jacksonville Area Legal Aid says sponsorship is way down for this year’s April 13 Breakfast of Champions. The breakfast at the Hyatt is JALA’s largest fund raiser. Last year, local firms bought 47 tables at $500 a piece. So far this year, only 13 tables have been sold. Mayor John Peyton is the keynote speaker. Contact Christa Figgins at 356-8371 for ticket information.
• Ever feel like your mail arrives late? Try 34 years late. That’s what happened to Hank Haynes at Haynes, Peters and Bond Company a few years back. The insurance brokers sent out a benefit check in 1957, and it was returned to them in 2001 with “insufficient postage” written on the envelope. Haynes said he thinks the item was caught in a mail slot and then redirected because the company moved. The precise sequence of events remains a mystery.
• In its attempts to bring an NHL exhibition game to Jacksonville, the JEDC’s Sports and Entertainment Division recently tried to enlist the help of Ron Duguay, Barracudas coach and former NHL player. But Duguay apparently didn’t return the JEDC’s phone calls. “Maybe he’s in hiding after the season he just had,” surmised Sports and Entertainment Director Mike Sullivan. The Barracudas finished the 2006 season in March at the bottom of the Southern Professional Hockey League standings.
• The floor-by-floor sale of the Greenleaf Building on Laura Street is going pretty well, according to Addison Commercial Real Estate Inc., the company managing the building. One tenant that is expected to sign within the next 60 days and Addison has received “warm leads” after its open house two weeks ago. Sources do say that a few more tenants would really kick off the campaign.
• Downtown Vision Inc. Executive Director Terry Lorince isn’t sure what kind of national media coverage Jacksonville is receiving, but she told an audience listening to a Downtown Development Project update that in the last three weeks, six different developers from firms out of the area came into DVI’s office looking for information on what’s happening Downtown. “We’re in a good cycle right now,” she said.
• Developer Mike Langton continues to advocate for the City to offer public subsidies for workforce housing. He asked Lorince if there was anything being done to push the City to help developers. Lorince said her board has not advocated one way or another. Langton replied, “Well, you should.”
• The Dalton Agency announced the addition of five new clients. Adamec Harley-Davidson, FMA Physicians Advantage, GRO-WELL Brands, Inc., Imagine Orthodontics and Catholic Charities Bureau Jacksonville.