It’s not being billed as a debate, but City Council members Suzanne Jenkins and Lynette Self are hosting a community forum on the Cecil Field referendum Thursday from 7-9 p.m. at Calvary Christian Fellowship on Southside Boulevard. Representatives from the Office of General Counsel will be on hand to present facts about the referendum, which will be on the ballot for the Nov. 7 election. Invitations to the forum have been extended to both the Better Westside Project (against the referendum) and Vote Jacksonville (for the referendum). The meeting is open to the public and a question and answer session will follow the presentations.
• The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida recently named Riverplace Capital Management’s Ronnie Belton the new chair of its board of directors for the next year. Five others, most notably University of North Florida men’s basketball coach Matt Kilcullen, were named as new board members.
• Golf Course architect Bobby Weed and his company, Weed Design, have been selected to renovate the Lagoon Course at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. The renovation will culminate a 10-year renovation of the entire resort that began in 1998 when Weed remodeled the Inn & Club’s Ocean Course.
• The Sales and Marketing Council of the Northeast Florida Builders Association will hold its first annual benefit auction Nov. 10 at the Jacksonville Marriott. Tickets are $20 for SMC members, $25 for non-members. Call Portland Stuart at 725-4355 for more information.
• St. Augustine’s annual Nights of Lights’ “flipping of the switch” will be at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 18. The city’s downtown plaza will be decorated with thousands of little lights. The waterfront view won’t be the same this year, however. The aging Bridge of Lions is being restored and a temporary bridge has been built right next to it.
• Our condolences to Eugene Glover’s loved ones. The brother of former Sheriff Nat Glover and fiancee to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Sarah Fowler passed away Tuesday. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Stephen’s AME Church on Davis Street.
• According to J. Leander Boyd, chairman of the committee charged with finding the next president of Edward Waters College, almost 40 people have applied for the job and he’s expecting more over the next two weeks. The initial list will be pared to a dozen.
• The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens set a new attendance record for the 2005-06 fiscal year. General admissions increased 15 percent over the previous record year with 709,502 visitors through the gates. Membership was also up 24 percent while corporate and private catered events increased 27 percent. The number of teachers trained also went up to 686, a record 65 percent increase.
• Two announcements Thursday from the University of North Florida: President John Delaney said the school received a $1 million donation for coastal engineering research by Taylor Engineering, Inc. at Sisters Creek Marina. Also, the Coastal Biology Program has been selected as the University’s fourth and latest flagship program. The gift from Bruce Taylor and the new Coastal Biology flagship designation puts UNF in the forefront of environmental research in the region, said Delaney.
• The Athlon Sports college basketball preview is on the newsstands and it’s good news for Florida Gators fans. The magazine is picking the Gators to play for the national title again — they beat UCLA last year for the school’s first basketball title. Unfortunately, the magazine is picking the Gators to lose to the North Carolina Tar Heels.
• Jacksonville developer David Hutson has a keen interest in next Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup World Championship horse races at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. the home of the Kentucky Derby. Hutson owns Pomeroy, which will run in the Sprint Division of the Breeders’ Cup.
• The deadline to file local bills with the Duval Delegation is a week from today. According to Delegation secretary Susan Stewart, as of Wednesday no bills had been filed.