• The Daily Record conducted a random poll of people on the street Thursday and asked the question: Do you think a City Council member should be required to live in the district he or she represents? By a wide margin, 86 percent to 14 percent, said Council members should live in the same area as the voters who elected them.
• The 2007 Festival d’Vine presented by Catholic Charities is scheduled for 6:30-9:30 p.m. Nov. 3 in San Marco Square. Themed “Starry Nights,” the event will feature a host of wines to taste as well as food from San Marco merchants Morton’s, Matthew’s, Cafe Carmon and St. John’s Steak and Seafood, among others. Tickets are $75 per person, and proceeds benefit Catholic Charities’ community service programs to assist families in crisis. For more information, call Katie Santilli at 354-4846, ext. 227.
• Council member Stephen Joost has been named to represent Jacksonville on the Florida League of Cities Board of Directors, filling a three-month vacancy left by former Council member Elaine Brown. In a letter to the League, Mayor John Peyton said Joost is a firm advocate for home rule and would be an asset to the League and its work.
• Lemon Bar in Neptune Beach adjacent to the Seahorse Motel is shutting down for the year Halloween night. The oceanfront bar has drink specials starting Oct. 27: $2.50 drafts and $4 anything else all the time. The bar traditionally closes every year for the cooler months.
• The leadership of The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund has formed the Now and Forever Endowment Campaign. Board member Gary Chartrand and Campaign Steering Committee member Tom McManus have contacted civic and business leaders to meet with and explain the program. The campaign will create a permanent funding mechanism for the Jay Fund, which helps children in the Jacksonville area diagnosed with cancer.
• Springfield Preservation & Revitalization Council (SPAR) is holding its “Nightmare on 9th Street” fundraiser next Saturday from 7 p.m.-2 a.m. The event features music from Triclops I, food from Burrito Gallery, a B-movie horror screening and more. All proceeds benefit SPAR Council.
“I know what I have done, and Your Honor knows what I have done…. Somewhere between my ambition and my ideals, I lost my ethical compass.”
– Jeb Stuart Magruder, former chairman, Committee to Re-elect President Nixon