• Baptist Health System and its CEO Hugh Greene will be the recipients of this year’s National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s 2007 Hope Award for “outstanding civic and community service.” The award presentation is Sept. 11 at the Omni during the organization’s Dinner of Champions.
• Dura Automotive Systems on Florida Mining Boulevard announced its plans to close its Jacksonville location. According to Dura Human Resources Manager Art Wilson, the closing will affect 233 employees. Layoffs begin in early November and run through August 2008.
• Looks like the City Council Recreation and Community Development committee will have to go at least three deep to find a chair for its first meeting of the new Council year. According to RCD Chair Art Graham, both he and Vice Chair Stephen Joost are excused from the July 17 meeting. Council President Daniel Davis has appointed Council VP Ronnie Fussell to chair the meeting.
• Drew Prusiecki has been elected chair of the board of directors of the Northeast Florida Chapter of the American Red Cross for a third term. Prusiecki is the general counsel for Jacksonville-based Acosta Sales and Marketing Company.
• Children’s International Summer Villages is seeking nominations for the 2007 “Peace Builder Award” to recognize persons who build a more peaceful and tolerant community. The 2006 CISV Peace Builder Award was presented to Wally Lee, president of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce. The 2007 winner will be announced Oct. 4 at the Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk Hotel. Deadline for nominations is Aug. 15. Guidelines and forms are available at www.jax.cisvusa.org.
• It may be a few months away, but teams are already forming for the 2007 First Coast Start! Heart Walk. The Heart Walk is Sept. 15 at Metropolitan Park. To register your team please call 739-0197 or visit www.firstcoastheartwalk.kintera.org. This is the American Heart Association’s signature fund-raising event.
• JCCI Forward is hosting a social from 5:30-7:30 p.m. July 26 at Inside Golf on San Marco Boulevard. The new Executive Committee for JCCI Forward for 2007-08 will be there. The Chair of this year’s committee is Michael Connolly, manager of commercial finance for CSX. The social is free and open to the public. To RSVP please call Sandra at 396-3052.
• According to Police and Fire Pension Fund Executive Director John Keane, everything is going well at the Haverty’s Building, which the Fund is remodeling as a new City Hall Annex. The designs are done and Keane will soon seek contractors for the construction.
“The price of running for the Senate today is spending more time than you’d like to spend asking people for more money than they’d like to give.”
– Harriett Woods