The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s newly created health-care council drew 175 people to its first meeting Thursday.

The sector employs one out of six Jacksonville area residents and represents billions of dollars in economic impact a year, experts say. The group is intended to raise the industry’s profile further and encourage more interaction between public and private health endeavors, said Health Council president Travis Webb.

“People don’t think of Jacksonville as a destination for health care when we have so much to offer,” he said, citing the Mayo Clinic and University of Florida Proton Therapy Lab.

Board members of the council include representatives of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Baptist Health, Crucial Care and We Care.

Jeremy Cox/The Times-Union

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's latest strategy in his independent bid for the U.S. Senate seems to be an all-out effort to become the de facto Democratic candidate.

Yesterday, Crist picked up an endorsement from Al Lawson, a prominent African-American state senator who has served in the legislature since the early 1980s.

At the same time, the Crist camp released an internal poll that showed him with a slight edge over Marco Rubio, with Kendrick Meek, the Democrat in the race, trailing well behind.

But his campaign strategy could hurt efforts to hold onto some independent and Republican voters, according to Politico.com.

If Crist’s camp starts to see Democrats corralling around Meek after an advertising blitz, some Republicans suspect he may attempt to cut a deal with Democratic leaders in Washington, who are desperate to put a GOP seat in play in a tough midterm cycle.

But that risky move would also shred the independent mantra Crist has been trumpeting since he left the GOP this spring and hand Rubio’s camp another piece of evidence with which to lambaste Crist as a political opportunist.

(Story here.)

At least five people suffered non-life-threatening injuries after they were shot early Friday morning at a Phoenix Avenue bar and club, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.

Lt. L.J. Gayle said police were called about 4 a.m. to the Ethios club in the 2100 block of Phoenix Avenue. He said police do not know what circumstances led to the shooting but do know there was some kind of dispute by the club.

All of the victims were taken to Shands Jacksonville hospital by civilians. Three people were shot in their legs, and two suffered gunshot wounds to their chests. Gayle added that while all five did not suffer life-threatening injuries, the status of one of the victims who was shot in the chest may change to life-threatening.

A woman told police she was at the club when the shooting happened, Gayle said, but she had gone to the 800 block of Franklin Street. The woman suffered an injury to the shoulder, but the lieutenant said she was not taken to the hospital and that he does not know if her injury is a gunshot wound.

Police do not have information regarding the suspect or suspects, and a detective will speak with the woman.

Bishop Victor Galeone will join celebrations marking the 445th Founder’s Day for the city of St. Augustine and the opening of a new Catholic museum Saturday.

Following morning events commemorating the city’s founding, Galeone will celebrate Mass at 11 a.m. at the outdoor rustic altar near the water’s edge at Mission Nombre de Dios, 27 Ocean Ave. 

At about 11:45 a.m., the casket of Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the city’s founder, will be moved from the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche to the new Mission Nombre de Dios  Museum. The altar, mission and museum are at the same address.

All events are free and open to the public.

The museum was designed by Jacksonville architect Erik Kasper. It features four sections: an exhibits gallery; a reception area; a meeting room; and a grand hallway. The meeting room offers audio/visual capability and can seat 70 people.

The facility will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. After Labor Day, admission will be $2 per person, $4 per family and $20 per busload. Call (904) 824-2809  or e-mail shrine@missionandshrine.org  for more information.

Congregations offer 'Financial Peace' course

Four Jacksonville congregations will begin offering Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University program in September.

The 13-week Bible-based financial literacy training covers topics ranging from debt reduction to paying for college.

The congregations beginning the course this month are:

- First Coast Baptist Church, 7587 Blanding Blvd., Jacksonville, at 5 p.m. Sept. 12. Call (904) 309-5876  for more information.

- First Baptist Church of Mandarin, 3990 Loretto Road, Jacksonville, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 16. Call (904)268-2422. 

- Geneva Presbyterian Church, 1755 Florida 13, Switzerland, at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 15. Call (904) 287-4865. 

- University Boulevard Nazarene Church, 3930 University Blvd. S., at 5 p.m. Sept. 12. Contact Martha Stephens at (904) 737-4755 for more information. 

Fruit Cove Baptist hosts women’s conference

Fruit Cove Baptist Church will host a “Big Girl, Big God” women’s conference from 7 to 9 p.m. Sept. 17 and from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 18.

The conference will feature Christian singer and two-time Dove Award winner Babbie Mason.  The speaker will be author and teacher Jan Silvious.

Tickets are available by calling Gwen May at the church office at (904) 287-0996 or gwen@fruitcove.com. Visit www.fruitcove.com for more information about the church, located at 501 Florida 13.

Grace Church sponsors 'Pearls of Wisdom'

A women’s conference covering everything from sexuality to grief Sept. 16-18 at Grace Church of Avondale.

The speakers at “Pearls of Wisdom” will include Judith MacNutt, president and co-founder of Christian Healing Ministries, psychiatrist Susan Stanford-Rue, and author and former Miss America coordinator Sandra LeSourd.

Topics include mood disorders, mothering, living single, the power of forgiveness, identity crisis and abortion and miscarriage.

Registration and cost information is available at christianhealingmin.org or by calling (904) 765-3332. The church is at 3519 Herschel St.

jeff.brumley@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4310

If 18 is old enough to lift a weapon in defense of your country, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston says, it’s old enough to lift a cold beer on base.

The Savannah Republican has introduced legislation that would let service members younger than 21 drink beer and wine at post restaurants and clubs.

People as young as 18 may enlist but now must be 21 or older to consume alcoholic beverages on post.

Kingston said he’s thought about the matter as he’s stood on the tarmac of Hunter Army Airfield as soldiers prepared to deploy for combat.

“There they are in their rucksacks,” he said. “And they’re going off to operate Abrams tanks and Black Hawk helicopters and squeeze the triggers on their M-4 rifles.

“We tell them they’re responsible enough to do that and risk their lives, but not responsible enough to have a beer with their steak on post. I think that’s an insult.”

He said most people acknowledge many people under 21 drink even though it’s illegal in most states.

“Society tends to wink at what we know is going on,” he said. “I want us to address the issue responsibly when it comes to our military personnel.”

He said he tried to tack a similar measure onto a measure that authorizes military programs earlier this year, but wasn’t allowed to.

Kingston’s bill applies only to situations where beer or wine is intended for immediate consumption. It would not let personnel buy it at post stores and take it to drink somewhere else.

Kingston spokesman Chris Crawford estimated that, as of March, about 28,000 of the military personnel deployed to Iraq were under 21.

The legislation was introduced and referred to the House Armed Services Committee on July 29, just before Congress recessed. It’s due to reconvene later this month.

So far, Kingston has only one co-sponsor for his proposal, Gene Taylor, D-Miss.

“But we expect that number to increase once we’re back in session,” Crawford said.

Kingston can expect support from Chatham County’s other congressman, John Barrow, D-Savannah.

“I agree with Jack,” Barrow said. “I think if soldiers are old enough to fight alongside their fellow soldiers, they’re old enough to have a beer with their fellow soldiers.”

Barrow’s GOP opponent, Ray McKinney, is also on board.

“It only makes sense that people who are willing to die for their country should be able to have a beer or glass of wine on base, especially in time of war,” McKinney said.

But the bill faces a potential roadblock in Joe Wilson, R-S.C. Wilson is the top-ranking GOP member the Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

“Although I normally see eye to eye with Congressman Kingston,” Wilson said, “I oppose this particular piece of legislation. My concern is that lowering the drinking age for active-duty service members could lead to alcohol abuse.”

Kingston said he respects Wilson’s views but he hopes Wilson will at least help the legislation be considered.

“If people are solidly against it, fine,” Kingston said. “But I really want a debate on it. Let’s bring it to the House floor. I think it’s a proper subject of debate.

“I think we owe it to the people who are helping create our freedom to have a mature discussion about theirs.”

With the University of Florida kicking off another football season Saturday, it seemed like the perfect time to catch up with a former Gator player.

Local kid. Played his high school ball in St. Augustine. Did a little bit of everything in Gainesville, creating a thick scrapbook full of memories, then moved on to even bigger things.

No, this isn't another Tim Tebow story.

Long before Tebow was born - long before Tebow's parents were born - the Jacksonville Journal ran a photo of this local kid. The caption said:

St. Augustine has never provided any superior football material for the University of Florida eleven than it sent to Gainesville in the person of Bobby Johnson.

That was 1939, the start of Johnson's junior season at UF. And if you think it was impressive that Tebow could pass and run his way to a Heisman Trophy and the NFL draft, consider what Bob Johnson did at UF and beyond.

He was a tailback. But he didn't just carry the football. He kicked it and returned it. He led the Gators in yards and scoring his sophomore season. And his best sport, or at least the one that led to talk about him becoming a pro player, was baseball.

But after he graduated in 1941, he didn't go into a draft. He joined the Marine Corps and became part of "The Fighting Corsairs," a squadron that in World War II shot down 137 enemy aircraft, fourth most in Marine Corps aviation history.

"Flying and the Gators," said Shirley Johnson, his wife of 55 years. "Those are his first loves. It's a tie."

Bob Johnson turned 91 last month. He and Shirley live in south Jacksonville Beach. And one of their neighbors, Cyndi Briggs, suggested we do a story about Johnson, partly because he's such a fascinating man and partly because he's the oldest living Gator football player.

After spending some time at the Johnsons' house, I can confirm the first part of that. He is fascinating. The second part is harder to confirm. Norm Carlson, UF assistant athletic director and historian, says he hesitates to call anyone the oldest living player, for fear that the second you make such a statement you're bound to hear from someone older.

So put it this way: Bob Johnson certainly is one of the oldest living Gator football players.

When he greets me at his front door, the first thing I think is he looks great for 91. The second is that he looks small to be a former Gator player. And when he extends his hand, he makes a quip about how I shouldn't be intimidated by his size.

As a college freshman, he was 5-foot-6 and 160 pounds. And 70 years later, that hasn't changed much. The game, of course, has. When he played, offensive linemen weighed less than 200 pounds. And, yes, they all wore leather helmets.

"This was my face mask," he says, tapping his nose.

He shows me a scrapbook full of brittle, yellowed newspaper clippings. His mother kept it for him. Some of the clips are from his days playing for St. Augustine Ketterlinus. Many are from his days at UF.

A victory over undefeated Boston College. An Atlanta Journal sports section that previewed the start of one college football season and featured photos of three Southern stars, including one Bobby Johnson. A headline from one of the local papers that said, "Johnson Draws Most of Cheers of Gators Fans."

When I pointed to that last one, Johnson said: "I had a good roommate. He got the crowd chanting, 'We want Johnson! We want Johnson!' "

Maybe so. But when they got Johnson, the story says he delivered.

Most of the cheers were for Bobby Johnson, a hard-driving little back who never seemed to stop trying. Even with three or four Sewanee players hanging (on) to him, Johnson would wriggle forward for a few more yards.

His sophomore season turned out to be his best. There was a coaching change and, he says, the new coach wanted bigger running backs. So it's safe to say that some other kids who came out of St. Augustine, including one named Tebow, might have become slightly more famous during their UF careers.

Johnson tells the story of signing an autograph for someone a few years ago - and adds with a laugh that he wanted to keep the autograph because it was the only one he's ever signed.

But he certainly created his share of memories. And not just in the Marine Corps. After retiring from the military, he spent more than 20 years as a social studies teacher and athletic director at Landon Junior High.

"People still stop him in public and thank him," said Briggs, his neighbor. "He's a wonderful role model for my two sons. You'll never hear him or Shirley say anything negative about anybody."

OK, maybe there is some gentle ribbing of a Georgia fan.

After all, he is still a Gator. Until a few years ago, he and Shirley went to all the Gator home games. But 70 years after his final game at UF, he has slowed down a bit. So on Saturday, they'll be watching at home.

Another college football season is here. And Bobby Johnson is ready for it.

"When the national championship game ends, I always have a letdown," he said. "I need football."

A Jacksonville woman was killed Thursday evening after she lost control of her car on Florida 9A near Alta Drive, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Farren M. Carter, 24, was northbound in the inside lane about 7:35 p.m. when she lost control for an unknown reason, the report said. Carter tried to swerve back onto the road from the median but failed to regain control of the Honda Accord. The car began to rotate clockwise as it traveled across both northbound lanes, eventually going down the embankment and flipping over before coming to rest on its roof.

Carter was taken to Shands Jacksonville hospital but died, the Highway Patrol said.

The two Jacksonville children with Carter, 6-year-old Jody Price and 4-year-old Jaden Thomas, were also taken to Shands Jacksonville hospital. They did not suffer serious injuries.

The children were wearing their seat belts while Carter did not have hers on, the FHP said.

Labor Day means a weekend of boating, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has some warnings for boaters this holiday weekend.

- Use extra caution and obey manatee speed zone signs as the aquatic mammals move throughout Florida's estuaries and rivers. That means staying in marked channels, wearing polarized sunglasses to improve visibility below the water surface and obeying posted boat-speed zones.

Use poles, paddles or trolling motors near manatees to protect them from harm. And be aware that FWC law enforcement officers will be looking for speed-zone violations because 58 manatees have died in Florida so far this year from watercraft strikes.

- The commission also warns boaters not to drink or take drugs and drive a boat, or they risk hurting themselves or others on the crowded waterways this weekend. Marine officers will be out in force looking for impaired boaters, and anyone caught operating a boat under the influence with someone under 18 is on board faces enhanced penalties.

If boaters see a manatee dead or in distress, or drunken or impaired boaters, report both to the FWC's Wildlife Alert Hotline at (888) 404-3922.

Most offices closed for Labor Day observance

Most non-emergency Northeast Florida government offices will be closed Monday in observance of Labor Day.

Only Express Mail will be delivered. There will be no regular home delivery. Jacksonville Transportation Authority buses will operate on a normal Sunday schedule.

Financial markets, banks and credit unions will be closed Monday.

St. Johns, Baker and Putnam County libraries will be closed Saturday-Monday. Public libraries in Duval County will be closed Sunday and Monday and Nassau and Clay County libraries will be closed Monday.

The Jacksonville zoo, the Museum of Science and History and the Maritime Museum will be open Monday.

Labor Day is the final day the 33 outdoor city pools will be open. The hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

There will be regular solid-waste collection, yard waste and recycling in Duval County and most outlying areas Monday. Appliances will not be collected in Duval County and the Household Hazardous Waste Facility will be closed Monday.

Orange Park will reschedule Monday's trash collection for Tuesday. Monday's Orange Park recycling will be picked up Sept. 13.

If you plan to visit a government office not listed here, call ahead.

ST. JOHNS COUNTY

Drainage work put off due to traffic concerns

The state has postponed planned drainage improvements on St. Augustine's King Street between U.S. 1 and Malaga Street, which were set to begin Tuesday.

The $577,000 Florida Department of Transportation project will be delayed until January after concern that it could impact traffic and pedestrian movement during the holiday season, and the current hurricane season could prolong the project. An ongoing sidewalk project on West Castillo Drive also may have caused traffic impacts.

The King Street project will replace the old drainage system between the King Street Bridge over the San Sebastian River and Malaga Street beginning Monday, Jan. 10. It will take about three months barring weather or findings of historical significance.

For more information, visit www.nflroads.com/goto/king.

ATLANTA - Georgia's state road system ranks among the nation's best in an annual study comparing highway networks released Thursday.

In its 19th annual comparison of states, the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation pegged Georgia's roadways at ninth best in 2008, the year in which it had the most recent data. The nonprofit think tank gave Georgia the same overall rank in 2007.

South Carolina came in at sixth that year. First place went to North Dakota.

For the latest comparison, Georgia ranked first in the quality of its interstate highways, urban and rural roads, although it fell to just 31st in terms of urban interstate congestion and fatalities.

In terms of 2008 spending, Georgia ranked in the bottom fourth or so in the four ways the study looked as disbursements. That was the same year that financial, management and accounting problems were coming to light at the Department of Transportation. Those problems eventually led to a deficit that halted new projects, the replacement of the commissioner and top financial official and a legislative overhaul.

It's not exactly the annual Army-Navy game, but there will be plenty of people from both branches of service tonight in Kingsland when the Army shows up in a decidedly Navy town for the coin toss of a high school football game.

Brig. Gen. Jeffrey E. Phillips will do the honors to open the much-anticipated matchup of the Camden County Wildcats and the visiting Miami Central Rockets. Both teams are perennially among the best in their respective states.

Phillips, the deputy commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division and the senior commander of Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, will conduct a swearing-in ceremony for 35 future soldiers in addition to tossing the coin before the game.

The game, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at Chris Gilman Stadium, is being hosted by the Army Jacksonville Recruiting Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Daniel E. O'Grady.

"Camden County High School has been a school we've been nurturing for a while," said Jacksonville Recruiting Battalion public affairs specialist Cynthia Womack. "It's a school we know to have the potential to produce a lot of leaders."

Also, she added, Camden County coach Jeff Herron has a relationship with the Army, having coached in the Army All-American Bowl in January. The high school all-star game pits the best of the East against the best of the West and is played annually in San Antonio.

The Army will bring in a static display of security vehicles along with the Jacksonville Battalion's Rock Climbing Wall, and the game itself promises to be close, Womack said.

Miami Central comes in boasting a No. 2 national ranking by USA Today, and Camden is rated as the No. 1 team in Georgia's Class AAAAA.

It may not be much of a stretch to call it a high school version of the annual Georgia-Florida game.

JESUP, Ga. - Tears flowed freely as murdered municipal Judge Glenn Thomas Jr.'s loved ones told jurors who will decide whether his killer lives or dies that the slaying has devastated their family.

At least one man and two women on the jury dabbed their eyes Thursday as Thomas' widow, his three children and his granddaughter sobbed while testifying that Bobby Rex Stribling killed not only a devoted family patriarch, but also a man whose community service made him "an icon in Wayne County."

The jury that will decide whether Stribling gets death or life in prison without parole had a day earlier found Stribling guilty of malice murder in the beating death of Thomas, the 74-year-old retired district attorney who had prosecuted cases in the same courtroom.

Teresa Thomas Aitkens noted the bitter irony of testifying in the same courtroom where her father proudly introduced her to practice when she became a lawyer in 1986.

"I have lost my mentor. I have lost my friend. I have lost my Dad. ... He's been the rock of my life and he's no longer here," she said.

Aitkens recounted the last time she spoke with her father was at the hospital right after he was found beaten with severe head wounds.

"I'll never forget his last words to me, 'Don't worry, sugar, I'll be fine.' But my dad wasn't fine and I never talked to him again. I can't describe the pain I felt when I watched my dad draw his last breath. It is devastation, pure and simple," Aitkens said.

Stribling lowered his head slightly but otherwise showed no expression as Aitkens' testimony launched the penalty phase of his trial.

The jury decides

The nine-woman, three-man jury of Coffee County residents had also found Stribling guilty of armed robbery, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.

In Georgia, only a jury can impose death and only by a unanimous decision.

The jury could begin deliberating Stribling's fate today, a week after his trial began at the Wayne County Courthouse, which is across the street from where Thomas was attacked three years ago.

On Thursday, Ina Thomas testified that her slain husband was her life partner, her confidant and best friend. He loved his family more than himself and lived by a gentleman's code of honor and integrity, she said.

"He was the knight in shining armor for people who needed an advocate," she said.

Earlier, special prosecutor Rick Malone told the jury that Thomas' murder warrants death because of its brutality.

"This was an outrageous, wantonly vile act ... and the circumstances show it involved a depraved mind," Malone said.

Stribling struck Thomas in the head at least 15 times with an unknown object during a lunchtime robbery at his law office on June 25, 2007, police investigators and medical examiners testified in the trial.

Thomas died two weeks later at a Savannah hospital.

Malone told jurors that Stribling is a longtime felon whose crimes began in 1986 and gradually led to "the ultimate crime."

Before calling Thomas' family to testify, Malone detailed Stribling's 34 prior felony convictions for burglary, theft and first-degree forgery.

Stribling's lawyer, Gerald Word, offered jurors another interpretation of his client's criminal history. Stribling is a slave to his addiction to crack cocaine and has stolen from family, friends and strangers to satisfy his craving, he asserted.

"Until now, there has never been a crime of violence committed by Bobby Rex Stribling," Word said.

It was unknown whether Stribling will ask the jurors to spare his life. Word, however, listed 18 witnesses, including Stribling's relatives, prison guards and drug addiction experts, that he intends to call.

Sentencing Stribling to life without parole is the appropriate punishment, Word said.

"There will always be a person with a gun and a wall between Bobby Rex Stribling and society. ... He can be a contributing member of society inside prison walls," Word said.

After the beating, Stribling rifled through Thomas' pockets and stole his wallet, $1,350 in cash and keys to his pickup truck. Stribling drove Thomas' pickup to Brunswick, where he traded it for crack cocaine.

Officers tracked down Stribling via a global positioning system chip embedded in Thomas' cell phone and arrested him at a Brunswick motel.

teresa.stepzinski@jacksonville.com, (912) 264-0405

Jennifer Carroll's replacement will be selected by local, not statewide, party leaders.

In an earlier post, we said that the Republican Executive Committee would fill the vacancy, as dictated by state law. But because the Republican Party of Florida's rulebook governs the selection, state election law does not have jurisdiction over the pick.

Here's how the selection process will work:

There are six votes in play, with each of the two state committee members from Clay and Duval, along with those county's party chairs, getting a say.  

Because Duval represents about 54 percent of the district, however, their votes are proportionally worth more. Basically, if the Duval members vote together they select the replacement.

This is good news for Jacksonville City Councilmen Daniel Davis, who is the only candidate to publically throw his hat in the ring.

Cindy Graves, a Duval state committeewoman, did say that geography is not her only concern.

"The most experienced candidate will get my vote," she said.

It appears Jacksonville City Councilman Daniel Davis could be the front-runner to fill the seat being left by state Rep. Jennifer Carroll, who is running for lieutenant governor.

Davis, the current chair of the council’s finance committee, is the first to throw his hat into the ring, and is positioned well because Duval County Republicans will have a big say in who fills the seat.

“I just think I can continue to serve the citizens of Northeast Florida in Tallahassee,” said Davis, who is term-limited. 

Republican Party rules stipulate that local party leaders decide who will fill the vacant seat. The two state committee members from Duval and Clay, along with the party chairs from those counties, will each get a vote.

But because Duval represents roughly 54 percent of the district, that county’s votes will be proportionally worth more than Clay’s.

 Rob Bradley, a Clay County attorney, said he had been approached about the vacancy, but will not seek Carroll’s seat.

“The timing is just not right for me, for my family, or for my law firm,” he said.

Clay Commissioner Doug Conkey said Wednesday he is focused on his current re-election bid but has not completely ruled out seeking Carroll’s seat. Conkey is also Clay County’s state committeeman. 

Lenny Curry, chairman of the Duval Republican Party of Florida, said he is still waiting to hear from party officials about exactly how the process is supposed to work.

He said he is unaware of any “short list” of candidates from Duval and called Davis “an excellent community leader.” 

Leslie Dougher,  head of the Clay County Republican Party, said until a process is finalized she is not sure how many people will line up for the vacant seat.

“Until we understand exactly what’s next, it’s just kind of hard to tell,” she said.

Duval County state committeewoman Cindy Graves said that geography is not the only thing she will consider.

“The most experienced candidate is what I am looking for. They will get my vote,” she said.

Dougher said she hopes that the eventual appointee is from Clay County. 

“We have four other representatives that don’t live in Clay County,” she said. “Rep. Carroll was the only one who actually lived here.”

Times-Union reporter Abel Harding contributed to this report. 

matt.dixon@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4174

Kenneth Wayne McLeod left his waterfront home in St. Johns County and steered his black Hummer into the rush hour traffic heading north toward San Jose Boulevard.

He had a 9 a.m. appointment in Jacksonville with some government lawyers, but texted them 10 minutes before he was due.

“I will not make it this morning,” he wrote. “I have decided that death was a better option. I am truly sorry for all the harm I caused.”

The big SUV would be found before noon in a Mandarin park. McLeod, a gregarious financial adviser accused of bilking clients out of $34 million, would be dead from a single gunshot. 

During the last morning of his life, the 48-year-old CEO tapped messages on his BlackBerry carrying farewells, apologies and instructions on dismantling his business, police reports obtained by The Times-Union show.

The reports from sheriff’s offices in Jacksonville and St. Johns County shed new light on McLeod’s last hours and describe a police search that ended minutes too late to stop McLeod’s death. Last week, a medical examiner ruled his June 22 death was a suicide.

Regrets, gratitude and worry about his family’s future run through notes from the founder of Federal Employee Benefits Group Inc., a company that handled retirement investments for federal law enforcement agents and other government workers.

Days earlier, officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami told McLeod he and his company would face charges for a string of securities violations for running a years-long Ponzi scheme.

At 8:47 a.m., McLeod sent a message to “dissolve the corporation ASAP,” a note apparently intended for the company’s senior vice president, Ron Rountree.

“Please watch over Susie [McLeod, his wife] and the kids for me! I love u and ur family and I am so sorry this happened! Thanks for all your support and friendship over the years,” McLeod wrote.

The same note talked about making plans for managing any customers of a second McLeod company, F&S Asset Management Group, that stayed with the firm. Some money from that should go to his wife, he wrote.

McLeod’s wife and his father, Billy McLeod, both declined to be interviewed Thursday.

A court-appointed receiver reported to a federal judge last month that all 1,100 clients of the second company had been urged to move their $43 million in investments to other financial advisers and seemed to have done so.

That left almost nothing of McLeod’s businesses. The receiver reported he had frozen accounts at two banks in McLeod’s name and the company names, as well as accounts with an investment firm. 

But between them, they totaled only about $92,000.

“It appears that McLeod’s Ponzi scheme was suffering severe liquidity issues at the time it was discovered,” receiver Michael I. Goldberg wrote.

None of that was on people’s minds June 22, though. Instead, a St. Johns deputy sent at 10 a.m. to McLeod’s home on Wentworth Avenue was focused on tracking the missing executive, whose wife said he was depressed and routinely kept a 40-caliber Glock pistol in the Hummer.

The deputy, Thomas Bickhart, had dispatchers call McLeod’s cell phone service, which described him making calls in the Mandarin area, just over the Julington Creek bridge from his home. Jacksonville police were called in to hunt for him.

At 10:19 a.m., McLeod texted Rountree: “I’m already gone … this is just better then [sic] me in jail for the rest of my life.”

At 10:57 a.m., officers found the Hummer in a woodsy part of a park on Mandarin Road. They found the Glock on the floorboard and a bag of hollow-point bullets.

Seven minutes earlier, McLeod had sent his wife one last text.

“Goodbye my love.”

steve.patterson@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4263

You can cross one name off the short list of candidates looking to replace Jennifer Carroll.

Rob Bradley, a Clay County attorney, has said that he was approached, but will not seek the now vacant seat.

"The timing is just not right for me, for my family, or for my law firm," he said.

Jacksonville City Councilmen Daniel Davis appears to be the front runner, but Clay County Commissioner Doug Conkey's name has also been mentioned.

A Northside Jacksonville man with a violent criminal record told investigators he was forced to stab a drug dealer half his age to death for fear of his own life.

But police didn’t buy the self-defense story after investigating a chain of events that started with the victim being accused of selling drugs from inside the man’s apartment.

Police announced Thursday that they’d booked David Eugene Crawford, 62, on murder and evidence-tampering charges. He is in the Duval County jail without bail.

He’s charged in the death of Ronald Jerome Youmans, 30, whose body was found Wednesday morning behind Crawford’s home at Capri Villa apartments in the 4800 block of North Main Street.

Lt. Larry Schmitt said a trail of blood led investigators into Crawford’s apartment, where they found more blood stains on the floor, television and walls.

Crawford’s arrest report says he initially told investigators he was sleeping and did not hear anything. Then he said a man broke in and attacked Youmans. Hours later into the interview, the report says Crawford told investigators he had been living in fear of Youmans, so he stabbed him around 3 a.m. Wednesday and pushed him through a window into a grassy area by the apartment.

Police found Youmans in the same place several hours later.

Thursday afternoon a small memorial had been placed where the body was found. There was a teddy bear and a cross that had the words “God,” “Love” and “You” written on it.

A nearby resident said Youmans, who was known as BJ in the neighborhood, was well-respected despite his choice of work.

“He just hustled. We all hustle here. There’s no work in Jacksonville,” the man said.

Duval County court records show Youmans has been in and out of jail on marijuana, cocaine and resisting arrest charges since at least 2004. Crawford’s record in Duval County contains battery, weapon and theft charges and dates back to the 1980s.

Schmitt said Youmans was selling drugs from Crawford’s apartment although they weren’t actually roommates. He said he couldn’t say precisely how long but said it had been going on long enough that Crawford should have called the police well before the stabbing.

“He had plenty of opportunities to ask for help, but he chose to kill him,” Schmitt said.

Police spokeswoman Melissa Bujeda said of numerous service calls to Capri Villa, she couldn’t find any in recent history that would have directed officers to Apartment 17, the eventual scene of the murder.

david.hunt@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4025

The Beaches have a representative on the Jacksonville City Council again.

And, again, it’s Dick Brown.

Gov. Charlie Crist announced the appointment Thursday afternoon to fill the seat first vacated when Crist suspended Councilman John Meserve in January. Meserve was accused of making illegal land deals and was charged with a felony.

The seat has changed hands four times in a little over a year, with Art Graham serving two of those stints.

Meserve won a special election in 2009 to replace Graham, who resigned to run for state Senate, which he lost.

Crist appointed Graham to replace Meserve, then appointed Graham last month to the Public Service Commission, forcing Graham to resign again.

The district includes the Beaches and parts of the Southside, including Deerwood.

Brown, 72, served on the council from 1991 to 1999 and then served two terms as mayor of Neptune Beach.

He was among five applicants for the opening and said he will not run for the seat when it is on the ballot next spring.

If Meserve’s legal issues are resolved, he could be put back on the council, replacing Brown.

One of Brown’s first tasks will be to vote on a budget this month that includes a 9 percent property tax rate increase.

Brown said he’s followed the budget from a distance and thinks it’s the wrong time for that much of an increase, especially after the council approved doubling the garbage fee this spring.

matt.galnor@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4550

Though she does not use Rick Scott's name in this video shot weeks before the Aug. 24 primary, Jennifer Carroll makes clear that selecting anyone but Bill McCollum as the Republican nominee for governor would be a mistake.

McCollum, she says, is the lone candidate in the race who does not lack vision. She also notes that someone should not learn how to be governor as governor.

Rick Scott, the candidate who just selected Carroll to be his running mate, has never held public office.

A yearlong audit of the company running Jacksonville’s sports and entertainment venues found some contract and oversight issues but not the “ripping off the taxpayers” the former local general manager said was there.

As a result of the report, made public Thursday, SMG reimbursed the city $22,000, more than half of which was for costs of employees who were paid for by the city but worked on non-city projects. Of that, about $7,700 was for travel allowed in the SMG contract but against the city policy.

Bob Downey, the former Jacksonville general manager for SMG, said he was forced out earlier this year for blowing the whistle on SMG’s attempt to make an extra $80,000 off a concession subcontract.

SMG has said Downey resigned for personal reasons.

The audit proves that Downey is just a “disgruntled former employee” and the company will weigh legal action if he continues to make public accusations against SMG, spokesman Michael Munz said.

“The audit clearly shows that all the things he’s throwing out there don’t stand up,” Munz said.

SMG runs operations for EverBank Field and other sports facilities, as well as the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts. The company bills the city for the actual costs of operating and staffing the venues, plus $1.2 million for management fees and incentives for keeping expenses down. The city makes money from ticket sales, parking and concessions.

The contract runs through 2013 but, beginning next fall, the city can pull the plug at anytime with two months’ notice.

The audit recommends the city continue to tighten the contract and that it should be opened to bids when it expires, rather than simply renewed with SMG as the city has several times since the company started here in 1992.

The food contract Downey questioned is with Savor, a company that has the same parent company as SMG.

The city needs to look at SMG’s concession contract with Savor because of the “inherent conflict of interest,” the audit said. Any concessionaire contract should be between the city and that company with SMG overseeing it, unlike the SMG contract with Savor that’s in place now.

Inspector General Pam Markham said the contract looks like a good one but the city needs provisions such as audit rights to make sure taxpayers are protected.

Downey said Thursday he was told most of the work on the audit had been finished by the time he left in May to work as a consultant for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, an event that starts this month.

“They were cleaning up all the things they could and letting time pass,” Downey said of the city.

Markham said there was no intentional delay and the city routinely tries to work with the vendor or department being audited so there’s an improvement plan when the report is issued.

Downey said he initially had been told he’d get to review the audit because he was in charge of SMG at the time. Markham said she decided not to do that, saying it was SMG’s responsibility — if they needed answers from Downey to clarify the audit, they could contact him.

The audit began a year ago as the Inspector General’s second review of high-dollar city contracts. The first, a look at the company managing the Ed Ball Building, found a longtime city official did not act on warnings of mismanagement and it cost him his job.

 matt.galnor@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4550

As Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott officially announced state Rep. Jennifer Carroll as his running mate Thursday, questions about when he chose the Fleming Island legislator and the experience she feels she brings to the ticket were left largely unanswered.

During a campaign stop in Jacksonville a week after the primary, Scott said that the running mate decision had "pretty much" been made and that he had been vetting the person he selected for a "long time."

Carroll had been the head of Bill McCollum's African-American outreach program for the Republican primary. McCollum, who has yet to make an endorsement in the race, was Scott's chief opponent during the brutal race and has said he still has questions about Scott's past.

Read more

Scott wouldn't say whether he contacted Carroll before the primary as he introduced her outside Jacksonville Naval Air Station Thursday morning.

"I don't want to talk about everything we did throughout the process," he said.