• The Internal Revenue Service has a new Web site aimed at assisting small businesses and the self-employed. It includes an on-line classroom and a free newsletter, the “e-news for small business.” To participate, visit www.irs.gov/businesses/small.
• The guest speaker at the Nov. 16 First Coast Tiger Bay luncheon will be Scott Shine. He is a former vice president of e-commerce at Bank of America, former director of planning and marketing for the Nemours Foundation and Children’s Clinics and former manager of market research for Barnett Banks, Inc. He currently owns and operates his own marketing consulting firm. Shine’s topic will be “election reform.” The buffet luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m. at the University Club and costs $25 per person. For reservations, e-mail: [email protected].
• The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has a new addition. A pygmy marmoset, the smallest living primate, was born there about two weeks ago and weighs only 16 grams (a little more than half an ounce). The animals are native to South America and when fully grown, their bodies can be as small as five inches or as long as 14 inches with tails to match. A pygmy marmoset’s life expectancy is up to 16 years in captivity. Interested in helping sponsor the new baby? Join the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens’ Animal Care Club by calling 757-4463 or e-mail [email protected].
• The recent high surf conditions have given a whole new meaning to the term “waterfront” for many property owners along the coast. The Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has placed crews in the field from Nassau County to Miami Beach to evaluate the effects of the nor’easter and Hurricane Noel. DEP has identified several critical areas, including South Ponte Vedra Beach, that qualify for accelerated permitting assistance for property owners who need to alleviate short-term erosion stresses. For information, call 850-488-7708 or visit www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches/.
“Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales. Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the constant omission of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
– Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. president.