• The Jacksonville Area Legal Aid is recruiting attorney volunteers to teach Credit Abuse Resistance Education, known by the acronym JALACARE). Teachers are needed for the coming school year and there’s a training class Tuesday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Info: April Charney, 356-8371 ext. 352.
• Jacksonville attorney Cleveland Ferguson III has been appointed by the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors to the Florida Legal Services Board of Directors. The two-year term begins Tuesday.
• Jean Mangu has been named a shareholder in the law firm of Edwards, Cohen, Sanders, Dawson & Mangu.
• The ballot is out for the ‘08 class for the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame. Ten from each school are listed and the top two from each will be inducted on Oct. 31, the day before the football game. Gators nominated include Jag running back Fred Taylor and local banker Andy Cheney, who was a receiver on the 1969-71 teams. Bulldogs on the list include quarterbacks Fran Tarkenton and Eric Zeier. Voting is being done by a panel of local sports figures.
• Attorney Tom Page points out that the IRS optional standard mileage rate will be 58.5 cents effective starting Tuesday. The figure we gave here last week expires today.
• Ronnie Fussell close friend Gator Bowl Association President Rick Catlett was the emcee at last week’s City Council installation ceremony.
• The new President faces surgery soon, possibly this week, for a gall bladder problem. Fussell attended last Thursday’s Council Installation Ceremony after being released from the hospital earlier in the day and was weak following the event, according to his Council aide, Mina Hosseini. Though it’s never a good time for surgery, Fussell is fortunate to have the City Council summer break, June 30 until July 11, in effect.
• While many city offices Downtown will be locked up tight Friday for Independence Day, if you forget to bring a cigar to smoke while you watch fireworks, you won’t be out of luck. The Tobacco Shop on Ocean Street near Forsyth will be open all day and into the evening.
• Speaking of Independence Day, debris from fireworks makes it one of the messiest holidays of the year. The City of Jacksonville, Keep Jacksonville Beautiful and the Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol are coordinating the annual July 5 Beaches Cleanup and they’re looking for volunteers. At 7 a.m. Saturday go to where Atlantic or Beach boulevards or 18th Avenue South meet the ocean and you’ll be issued a trash bag and a pair of gloves. Participants must be at least 18 years of age or accompanied by an adult and should bring drinking water.
• Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters is in the Midtown Center and is open for business. It’s next door to the local Democratic Party offices.
• Whiteway Deli owner Sam Salem says closing his place on Saturdays will be a “lifestyle change,” adding, “My lifestyle.”