• The Jessie Ball duPont Fund has named the Rev. Eddie E. Jones Jr. as its new clerical trustee of the $315 million Jacksonville-based charitable trust. Jones is vicar of St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church where he’s been since August of 2005. Jones succeeds Right Rev. Stephen H. Jecko, former Bishop of Florida, who died in June. His appointment will be effective Jan. 1.
• The next campaign reports for 2008 candidates for office are due Jan. 10. Also, federal and judicial candidates can qualify April 2-May 2 while state and county candidates must qualify June 16-20. The presidential preference election is Jan. 29, the primary is Aug. 26 and the general election is set for Nov. 4.
• Residents near Craig Airport and the Jacksonville Aviation Authority are butting heads over the proposed runway expansion at Craig. Now, the City’s Planning Department is also involved. Planning and Development Director Brad Thoburn recently issued a report on the issue that included a three-page cover letter to the Planning Commission. “I believe that the Planning and Development Department’s role in an issue like this is not to simply provide a sound recommendation based on the best available data, but to provide thorough and thoughtful background information, data and analysis so you can make a sound decision,” said Thoburn. “In fact, I think the latter is far more important.”
• Deno Hicks, of engineering firm England, Thims and Miller, was recently appointed as a board member of the Florida House, the state’s embassy in Washington, D.C. Florida is the only state with such a facility.
• Tracey Westbrook, a board member of The Community Foundation, has been named to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation Jacksonville board of directors. Westbrook takes the place of Dr. Richard Skinner, Jr. as The Community Foundation’s representation to LISC Jacksonville. The Community Foundation is one of the lead donors to the nonprofit, which helps to provide safe, affordable and family-friendly neighborhoods through technical expertise, grants and financing to housing providers.
• The Museum of Science and History will open a new Aquarium exhibit Jan. 12. There will be five fish-filled tanks that include three different coral reef tanks — a Red Sea tank, Pacific Ocean tank and Caribbean/Florida tank, and two freshwater tanks — a freshwater spring cave tank and a freshwater cypress swamp tank. The exhibit will be included with general admission.
• The costs of the Jacksonville Symphony Players’ Association lockout is continuing to add up, according to a letter from the association to Council President Daniel Davis. The letter states that the estimated revenue lost to the city’s economy since the start of the lockout five weeks ago is more than $3.69 million, with that total reaching more than $7.38 million by Jan. 7.
“The only means of strengthening one’s intellect is to make up one’s mind about nothing—to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts. Not a select party.
– John Keats, British poet.