• The Board of Trustees of the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund have elected new board officers for 2008. Lt. Bobby Deal, a 28-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, will serve as board chair following his 2007 term as board secretary. Former Jacksonville Sheriff Nat Glover, a Trustee Board member since 2006, will serve as the fund’s 2008 board secretary.
• Gov. Charlie Crist has appointed Daniel Corn from Jacksonville to the Pilotage Rate Review Board. The 48-year-old is a retired unlimited master with the United States Merchant Marines and will serve through Oct. 31, 2011. The seven-member board, part of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, is responsible for investigating and determining whether a requested rate charge for pilotage will be fair, just and reasonable.
• The State of Florida Drug Paraphernalia Abatement Task Force will meet Jan. 8 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Beaver Street Enterprise Center Event Hall at 1225 W. Beaver St. The group will discuss various issues related to controlling access to drug paraphernalia including the regulation of businesses that sell items that may be used as paraphernalia. Public comment will be heard from 4-5 p.m. For more information, call (850) 922-0867.
• Jackson, Cindy and Baby Face are three chimpanzees that used to live at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. They were transferred to the Oklahoma City Zoo last November in order to improve the quality of the chimps’ social life and create more space in Jacksonville for bonobos, a highly endangered species. According to Jennifer Davis, supervisor of great apes at the Oklahoma City Zoo, the newcomers from Florida have bonded with their new group and are on the way to becoming “one big happy family.” Jacksonville Zoo Executive Director Dennis Pate said updates and photos of the chimps in their new home will be posted at www.jacksonville.org.
• The Florida Division of Forestry has released its annual report from July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007. According to the report, there were 82 wildfires in Duval County during that time that burned a total of 998 acres. “Unfortunately, the majority of these fires were human caused,” said the report. Of the 82 fires, only 14 were not caused by humans.
• Richard Burton, a senior member of the NAACP’s National Board of Directors, has offered to facilitate a town hall meeting in Jacksonville that would coincide with the mayor’s anti-violence campaign. One catch: Burton wants $20,000 to run the meeting. That cost does include, however, refreshments for 200 people.
• The Jacksonville Waterways Commission meets for the first time this year Thursday. It’s at 9 a.m. in City Council Chambers.
“Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues like we play, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.”
– B.B. King, U.S. blues guitarist.