Photo Courtesy of Soren Brockdorf

Photo Courtesy of Ken Jefferson

Photo Courtesy of John Rutherford

Photo Courtesy of Curtis Southerland

Jacksonville voters will turn out March 22 to cast their ballot for Sheriff. Candidates include current Sheriff John Rutherford, Ken Jefferson, Soren Brockdorf, and Curtis Sutherland.

Jacksonville has been known as the murder capital of Florida for over a decade and, for the past two terms the sheriff office has been headed by Republican John Rutherford.

Sheriff Rutherford is a 36-year-old veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. While former Sheriff Nat Glover was serving his terms, Rutherford served eight years as the first ever appointed Director of Corrections. His law enforcement career consisted of his years as a uniformed patrolman, sergeant and lieutenant.

Rutherford would like the community of Jacksonville to study the growth the city has seen as people tend only to look at the bad rather than at how statistically everything has decreased across the board. The plan is to better market to the community to get the message out that there is something being done about the problems at hand.

“We have to find a way to better market what we do, make the people’s perception of us change,” Rutherford said. “We are reflecting numbers that are as low as they have been since 1983. With our past success I’ve learned to hold our officers more accountable and that comes from leadership; that comes from the responsibility of the chief and sheriff. None of the other candidates in this election have held any ranking, knowledge or skill and the abilities of these.”

Democrat Ken Jefferson offers 24 years of experience in the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, was a Federal Program Coordinator, a police recruiter, burglary detective and a sex crimes detective. He has a Master’s Degree in Theology, was the 2006 and 2007 Spokesman of the Year In The State of Florida and won the 2008 Community Crisis Award to list a few of his credentials.

One of the goals Jefferson is emphasizing in this campaign is how he wants to build the trust of community and its police officers, which will hopefully deter the attitude of not snitching.

“There is this kind of code on the streets called don’t snitch, because they don’t trust the police. In the year 2006, 2007 there were 19 police shootings in 18 months. That’s almost one per month, so we have to build that trust back and it’s all about relationships, it’s all about interaction,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson went on to explain the purpose of building those relationships with police officers and how it will better impact the city’s conflicts with crimes.

“All the people see is drive by cops going from call to call,” Jefferson said. “My first priority would be to have them get out of the cars and interact with the community. I will do the same, when time permits; I will drive out to all communities and interact with the people. And crime creates karma, when the crime rate is as high as it is, businesses do not want to come here and that makes less job opportunities.”

Soren Brockdorf, Masters of Business Administration, was a Jacksonville Sheriff’s officer, Clay County Deputy and a Federal Agent. He is also part of the finance committee of Southside Baptist Church.

The message Brockdorf wants voters to get from this campaign is how he plans to make the department more efficient than it is in order to better utilize its resources to ultimately help the community.

“I will make the department 20 percent more efficient, and run like a modern company concerned with costs, eliminate racism and sexism in the department, add 50 new officers to the streets without government grants or additional funds, and drastically reduce the departments costly reliance on fossil fuels,” Brockdorf said.

Curtis Sutherland is the write-in candidate as the other candidates are the only three names listed. Curtis Sutherland is a middle-class business owner and an entrepreneur.
Sutherland plans to make pay cuts as well if elected as Sheriff, with cuts to his position as well.

“I propose a 20 percent pay cut for the salary of Sheriff to show I’m going to do what I say, not just talk like others,” Sutherland said. “I’ll demand the installation of a Civilian Review Board and install all police cars with Dash Cams to prevent abuse and corruption, terminate officers that are corrupt, incompetent, or are a dishonor to the badge while honoring those outstanding members of the force.”

Japanese Discover More Radiation in Food
Japanese officials reported progress Sunday in their battle to gain control over a leaking, tsunami-stricken nuclear complex, though the crisis was far from over, with the discovery of more radiation-tainted vegetables adding to public fears about contaminated food. Pressure unexpectedly rose in a third unit’s reactor, meaning plan operators may need to deliberately release radioactive steam. Along with the food around the nuclear plant tap water, rain and dust are also tainted.

Japan Disaster Death Toll To Top 18,000
Police officials estimate that the toll from Japan’s massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami will exceed 18,000 deaths. One of the hardest-hit prefectures, Miyagi, estimates that the deaths will top 15,000 in that region alone. Police in other devastated areas declined to estimate eventual tolls, but said the confirmed deaths in their areas already number nearly 3,400. The total number of bodies collected so far stands at 8,649, while 12,877 people have been listed as missing.

South Carolina Bill to Make Facebook a Crime for Prisoners
The proliferation of cell phones smuggled into prisons has some inmates routinely updating their status from the inside, and South Carolina is considering becoming the first state to make that a crime. The measure will add 30 days to a prisoner’s sentence if he or she is caught interacting on social networking sites via cell phone. The bill goes further by making it illegal for anyone to set up a page for a prisoner, which legal experts say violates inmates’ free speech rights even if they are using contraband cell phones.

Coast Guard Investigating Reports of Oil Spill in Gulf
The U.S. Coast Guard says there is some sort of substance in the water in the Gulf of Mexico, and officials are collecting samples to determine what it is. A press release sent Saturday night said the Coast Guard was investigating reports of an oil sheen in the Gulf. The Coast Guard says there is a substance in the water, though officials have yet to determine what it is. Nearly one year after the BP oilrig explosion, a pilot flying over the area reported a sheen of about a half-mile long and a half-mile wide. Another caller reported a much larger sheen of about 100 miles long.

U.S. Steps Up Assault on Libya
The U.S. fired four additional Tomahawk missiles at Libya air defense systems Sunday, bringing the grand total to 124. The initial cost of the strikes is approximately $71 million. Anti-aircraft erupted in the Libyan capital Sunday night, with volleys of tracer fire arching into the air, marking the start of a second night of allied strikes on the country. The U.S. and its allies continued to fight against targets of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, who on Libyan state radio said the raids were “acts of terrorism”. Qaddafi added that all of the country’s people were now carrying weapons to defend the nation.

Egyptian Constitution Changes Pass in Referendum
The elections commission chief says constitutional changes were approved in Egypt’s landmark referendum, with 77 percent of the vote in favor according to final results. The changes eliminate restrictions on political rights and open the way for parliamentary and presidential elections within months. Opponents argued that the timeframe was too quick for political parties to organize.

Obama ‘Failed to Lead’ on Spending Cuts
Freshman Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin accused President Obama of sitting on the sidelines, Tuesday, while Congress debated very different budget bills that are probable to fail. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer responded by saying Obama is the point person for the budget negotiations. Manchin battled persistent criticism during his campaign that he was too close to the White House. He said that the Democrats’ proposal doesn’t do enough to address the deficit problem and the Republicans’ proposals were too sweeping and harsh.

South Carolina Considers Alternate Penalties for Speeding
South Carolina is considering a bill that would allow police to slap $150 tickets on motorists caught driving less that 10 mph over the limit, but let them skip reporting the tickets to shield low-speed offenders from higher insurance premiums. Revenues would be spilt between the state and the towns or cities that issue tickets. It is not clear how much money the proposal would raise. The state faces an $800 million-plus budget shortfall.

Cost of Gas is Not the Only Factor in Tapping Oil Reserve
The White House said Monday that officials are still considering whether to tap into the strategic oil reserve but stressed that any decision would not be based solely on the price of gas. Lawmakers are no doubt eyeing the $4-per-gallon mark as they call on the administration to take action. Pressure to tap into the strategic petroleum reserve has come mostly from Democrats while Republicans instead call on Obama to permit more domestic oil drilling.

Governor’s Budget Goes Far Beyond Just Unions
The showdown over collective bargaining rights for public employees is just the first step in a contentious debate over how to solve Wisconsin’s budget woes, with newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker also seeking to dismantle an array of social policies enacted under his Democratic predecessor. The two-year budget proposals are early release programs for prisoners, in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, mandatory insurance coverage of contraceptives, college financial aid for high school grads who are good citizens and public financing for Supreme Court campaigns. All were enacted under former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

Group Calls for Libyan Envoy’s Removal From Post as U.N. Investigator of Human Rights Violations
A watchdog group is asking the U.N. to immediately remove a Libyan envoy from her post as an investigator on human rights violations by mercenaries saying that as a mouthpiece for a regime that’s deploying hired guns to massacre its own people, it’s outrageous to have her in that position. Among other things the group was established to monitor mercenaries and mercenary-related activities around the world, create proposals to further the protection of human rights against threats posed by mercenaries and to draft international principles to encourage respect for human rights by companies offering mercenary services.

The class gift of 2011 is a structure that will act as a canvas for student messages.

Two juxtaposed letter J’s that shape a U from the front angle will compose the 4’x4’x6’ steel structure to be placed in the center of the fountain space outside of the Kinne Center.

“It’s a high profile, high traffic area that is right in the center of student activity,” said Karen Jackson, professor & chair of biology and marine science at Jacksonville University and advisor for Green Key Honor Society. “It’s a place where students can send a message for an event; a movie, a show, a game, whatever it is.”

Jackson said that the goal is to have the gift in place by spring graduation. They are currently awaiting approval from Jacksonville University’s Physical Plant to proceed with the construction.

The campus organization traditionally responsible for choosing the class gift is the Green Key Honor Society.

Jackson said that students will be able to use the structure as a graffiti wall to advertise campus events and ideas and that there are options to break the surface into sections or parts.

“It is big, impressive, and has lots of room to add your event,” Jackson said. “It could be especially useful during Homecoming.”

Jackson said that it is possible that a small charge may be issued for users to supply the paint for the messages. They are considering different finishes for the structure that would support certain paints.

The society is working with the office of campus activities to set policies for using the structure to avoid First Amendment issues.

“We want to keep it appropriate since everyone will be seeing it,” said Bryan Coker, Dean of Students at Jacksonville University.

Space for using the structure will be reserved for certain periods of time through the office of campus activities.

Coker said he did not want for a student to spend time and effort on a beautiful message only for it to be covered by another one the next day.

“We’ll organize and put in a system to ensure that it is fair,” Coker said.

Each senior is asked to contribute $20.11 for the gift to pay for the materials and construction.

A JU student, Matthew Ward, junior, has designed and will build the gift.

A plaque at the base of the structure will detail what it is, that it is from the class of 2011, and the artist’s name.

Other campuses have a similar display for students to use. Coker used to work at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville where there is a boulder that students paint as an open forum for messages.

“I hope that it will have the same impact that it has on other schools,” Coker said.

“Great for school spirit, a great conversation piece, and a great tradition.”

Photo by Lorna Kelso

Goals are being met at the Marine Science Research Institute with their ongoing educational project that includes the younger generation of the local community. Jacksonville University students are working with 30 Terry Parker High School students to study organisms in the St. Johns River.
“The whole idea is for JU students to get experience mentoring,” said Dan McCarthy, associate professor of biology at JU. “And for high school students to learn more about science and get a feel for college life.”

The students are studying different sized reef balls to assess how animals in the wild use them. Reef balls are concrete semi spheres with little holes all around them that sit at the bottom of the ocean floor to provide homes for animals such as fish, crabs, and shrimp.

At the end of February they recovered the reef balls and were able to identify and count the animals that were living on them to see which reef balls were more effective.
“With science you are doing something you’ve never done before so there is a different thought process,” McCarthy said. “You do not know what is going to happen next.”
Rachel Rhode, one of the leaders of the project, said she helped come up with different observations for the high school students to discover. Last year she and two others put the reef balls out in the St. John’s River. They ensured that the balls were in the correct placement for the organisms to use them.

“Over the course of last year and most of this year I regularly went out to observe the environmental impact on the reef balls noting any drastic changes,” Rhode said via email exchange.

The college students explained what was happening with the reef balls to the high school students and lead them through the process.

“We assisted them in rinsing off the reef balls and collecting all live marine organisms to preserve later on,” Rhode said.

The student leaders learned how to maintain a yearlong project and set it up so that others could see the results.

“I also gained skills in communicating with younger students and letting them experience what they may be doing in the future,” Rhode said.

Rhode said that the project impacted her life in more ways than one.

“Obviously this project will be noticed by future employers,” Rhode said. “But I also gained a better understanding of what is in the river and how something as simple as a reef ball can bring life to a lifeless object.”

The MSRI’s objective of helping the community learn more about the waterways and how to work to improve them helped Rhode benefit from giving back.

“I think the best part of this whole project was seeing the faces of the high school students make when they saw all of the organisms they collected,” Rhode said. “I don’t think they were expecting to find so much stuff.”

McCarthy said that the group expected to find a lot of little crabs but actually found polychaete worms.

“Tons of them,” McCarthy said. “Most people might be like, ‘eww worms,’ but they are very important because they are a source of food for other animals in the water.”

McCarthy said that their findings could suggest that the reef balls are promoting a diverse community of organisms.

“It may indicate that we are putting something there that might not have been there otherwise that serves as a good home for these organisms.”

FBI Warns Fertilizer Purchases for Explosives
The same day federal authorities announced the arrest of a Saudi Arabian man in Texas on charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, ABC News attained a letter sent by the FBI to businesses across the country, warning them to watch for anyone who might be planning a terrorist attack using fertilizer, chemical or pesticide-based explosives. FBI officials maintain that an imminent terrorist attack is not likely. The letter is a nationwide program known as “Tripwire” which is to keep open dialog between businesses and federal, state and local law enforcement.

Largest earthquake in Arkansas for 35 Years
Greenbrier, a central Arkansas town has been overwhelmed for months by hundreds of small earthquakes, and after being woken up by the largest quake to hit the state in 35 years residents said they are unsettled by the increasing severity and lack of warning. The 4.7 magnitude earthquake occurred at 11 p.m. Sunday, just northeast of Greenbrier. It was the largest of more than 800 quakes to strike since September. The quake was felt in Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi.

Russia Splurges $650 billion in Rearmament Plan
Russia’s military is launching its biggest rearmament effort since Soviet times, including a $650 billion program to procure 1,000 new helicopters, 600 combat planes, 100 warships, and 8 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin last week announced the unprecedented new outlays, which will see a massive re-equipping of Russia’s strategic nuclear deterrent as well as its conventional forces. The “modernization drive” will begin this year with the deployment of new generations of air defense and antimissile weapons by Russian ground forces.

Two-Week Spending Bill Speeds Toward Passage
Stopgap legislation that would prevent a partial shutdown of government at the end of the week is speeding toward passage as the House was expected to vote Tuesday and Senate two days later. Democrats preferred a 30-day spending bill, but Republicans reject the idea. The measure would keep the government running for two weeks to buy time for the House, Senate and the White House to try to reach agreement on longer-term legislation to fund the government through the end of the budget year. Republicans want to cut $60 billion-plus from agency budgets over the coming months, but are settling for just $4 billion in easy cuts as the price for the two-week stopgap bill.

Bernanke: Oil Price Hikes an Inflation Risk
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Tuesday that a prolonged rise in oil prices would pose a danger to the economy. A more likely outcome is a temporary and modest increase in consumer prices, not runaway inflation. Bernanke has expressed confidence that economic growth would increase this year, but not strong enough to lower the unemployment rate. Rising gasoline, food and other supplies could prompt Americans to spend less. Inflation will not take off because the job market is still weak and many factories are not at full capacity, but a prolonged rise in the price of oil could threaten the economic growth.

Rutgers’ Housing Program Accommodates Gay Students
New Jersey’s largest university will offer a gender-neutral housing program in three dorms that aims to make the campus more inclusive for gay students. Starting fall 2011, gay, lesbian and transgender students at Rutgers University’s New Brunswick campus can choose either male or female roommates under the pilot program. Heterosexual students will also be permitted to live in rooms with students of the opposite sex. Men and women will share bathrooms. The plan in the effect after Rutgers drew inquiry when freshman Tyler Clementi killed himself.

The Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy (FARE) hosted a meeting in the Davis College of Business on Thursday to discuss initiatives to improve Florida’s economy through energy efficiency.

“Businesses from all walks of life who recognize the need for renewable energy are coming together with a unified voice to say ‘We want this to move forward,”’ said Mike Antheil, executive director of FARE.

The meeting was a part of the FARE tour that has traveled to over 10 cities this month and will continue the beginning of the March legislative session.

Antheil said that their purpose was to create jobs in Florida through incentives and efforts for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

FARE plans to propose a system where all producers of renewable energy such as solar power are able to finance their own solar power and sell any excess energy to other customers or power utilities.

This ‘distributed energy’ is proposed to create more jobs and a more stable solar market than the current system that is dominated by large utilities.

“‘Distributed energy,’” Antheil said. “That is the key phrase they want rolling off of people’s tongues.”

Details of how the system would work have not yet been revealed, but FARE hopes that utilities could sign contracts with the renewable producers that include long-term set prices to create an incentive for the new producers to expand.

According to the Florida Solar Energy Center, if Florida developed 1500 megawatts of solar power, up to 45,000 direct jobs and 50,000 indirect jobs would be created.

“It is uncertain so investors do not want to invest in it,” said Tom Larson, Florida Energy Policy Manager.

Larson said that there is not a policy for investors to understand the opportunities that are available.

“We want to help people to understand the opportunities for energy efficient and renewable energy,” Larson said. “It will serve us all by saving money and avoiding risks and costs of a fossil fuel dependent future.”

Courtesy of Alvin Brown

Jacksonville University alumni, and Davis College of Business executive-in-residence, Alvin Brown is running for mayor. The former Clinton staffer and senior advisor for urban policy under Vice President Gore is focused on creating jobs in Duval County.

Alvin Brown was born in Beaufort South Carolina and moved to Jacksonville with his family in 1981. He attended Edward Waters College and JU, receiving both his B.S and M.B.A. here in 1985 and 1989 respectively.

Since then Brown has been very busy. According to Jacksonville.com and the Florida Times-Union, Brown has been on or involved with boards related to the Chamber of Commerce, Families of Slain Children, and Jacksonville University. He served as the supervisor of elections post the 2000 presidential race controversy and, under President Clinton, directed the White House Community Empowerment Board. Brown was also a senior urban advisor to then Senator Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign.

Support for Brown’s candidacy ranges far from Jacksonville and is not limited to former White House occupants. BET founder and self-made billionaire Bob Johnson has thrown his support behind Brown, even visiting Jacksonville recently for a fundraiser.

The mayoral hopeful, in addition to his university and community ties, is a member of the National Black MBA Association, demonstrating his commitment to education and advancement.

Job creation is a priority according to Brown, but other issues facing the city are the economy and crime.  Inter-related as those issues are, a broader focus for the candidate includes downtown revitalization and improvements to the cities parks and community areas. A key component to addressing these issues is one that might otherwise stand alone: education.

According to his campaign website, Alvinformayor.com, the “About Alvin” section states that Brown is a husband, father, mentor, and public servant. A long list of former positions and accomplishments are listed beneath his mission statement and proclamation of things to come should he be elected.

Given his education and work experience it seems Brown would be qualified for the job, but some concerns amongst voters remain. In January a situation arose in which $16,000 in contributions were unaccounted for by Brown’s campaign expense reports.  Concern lingered for a week beginning with the Florida Democratic Parties’ report of the contribution and culminated in Brown amending his report to show that the funds went to travel and expenses.

According to Jacksonville.com the report that initially omitted the donation covered the final three months of 2010 and that campaign spokesman Dave Roman assured the matter would be rectified, which it was.

Times-Union political contributor Abel Harding wrote, Mar. 1, that Alvin Brown and rival candidate Duval County Tax Collector Mike Hogan have both been “conspicuously absent” from forums and engagements.  The article charges Brown with missing 11 of 18 such forums in just 45 days and Hogan with missing 10.  Judging from the amount of clubs, organizations, neighborhood associations and religious groups that invite these candidates to speak, there is no way any of them could attend each and every one.

Speculation has also arisen, though refuted by both candidates, that republican hopefuls Hogan and former city General Counsel Rick Mullaney have been working to keep Brown in the race to either keep him from joining republican Audrey Moran’s campaign or to split votes in their own favor.

Moran, president of the Sulzbacher Center for the homeless, was quoted by Jacksonville.com in January saying that she did not believe party politics have a place in local campaigns.

Regardless of the opposition, averting potential finance scandals and the given combative climate of politics throughout the nation, Alvin brown is obviously committed to staying in the race and running a strong campaign. Upcoming events include a Duval County Democratic Black Caucus Meeting Mar. 1 and consecutive Think.Vote Jacksonville Candidate Debates Mar. 3 and Mar. 7, both at WJCT Studios and each from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.