• Want to get four tickets to the 2009 U.S. Open golf tournament, two tickets to the movie premiere of “Old Dogs” starring John Travolta, Kelly Preston and Robin Williams, ski accommodations in Beaver Creek, Colo., including airfare, or two tickets to the Super Bowl in Tampa? The Sulzbacher Center can help. See page 4.
• School superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals is looking for a new boat. He and attorney Ham Cooke have shared a vessel and it needed repairs, so it went to the shop. “The repairs would cost more than the boat was worth, so we signed it over to the mechanic,” said Pratt-Dannals.
• The local builders association will hold its annual gala and they say business isn’t very good. “We can have a good time in bad times, too,” said one of the organizers, Richard Dostie. It’s at the Hyatt on Oct. 17 and they’ve cut the cost from $125 to $100, plus they’re going casual instead of formal.
• Former T-U exec Richard Allport is in the restaurant business. He’s helping his son with the Bungalow on Park, a converted house just west of Park and King.
• Tonight the Gator Bowl Association committee has its first fall meeting. It’s at the stadium and they’ll be pushing tickets for the Sept. 27 Colorado-FSU game here.
• Second Harvest Food Bank is looking for a few helping hands in its food shortage. Donations were down 30–40 percent in August, which resulted in 385,000 pounds of food distributed to local agencies during the month – down from 656,000 pounds in July and 601,000 pounds in August 2007. Second Harvest Communications Manager Tom Strother cited poor economic conditions leading to fewer donations. In response, Winn-Dixie stores and VyStar Credit Unions (including the Downtown branch) have set up collections bins for nonperishable foods. “It’s a need, but Jacksonville has always stepped up,” said Strother.
• The University of North Florida has kicked off a $30 million drive to improve its athletic facilities.
• There’s nothing like a big meal to prepare men for battle: Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Jack Del Rio had his his coaching staff over for a barbecue catered by Bono’s earlier this week.
• The Beaches Division of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce is holding a Beaches Mixer Tuesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. “It’s a monthly networking event that we do and normally has about 120 people in attendance,” said Misty Barnes. Other than networking, the event will celebrate the grand opening of the Holiday Inn on Beach Boulevard across from Publix. Admission is $5.
• Quick work: the crew at Mayport’s Hanna Park got the trees and branches removed from the biking trails on the lakeside of the park for the Labor Day weekend. Tropical Storm Fay knocked down a substantial amount of trees and they still could be seen laying across the trails on the ocean side of the park. Crews now have begun clearing the oceanside trails.