Published by former Mayor George Gardner August 31 2016
The Report is an independent publication serving our community
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As Tropical Depression NINE follows its expected path into the Gulf of Mexico and across Northeast Florida later this week, St. Augustine officials urge the community to prepare for the "just in case" scenario.
The central location for emergency information is St. Johns County Department of Emergency Management and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) www.SJCEmergencyManagement.org. The site also has a link to the most current Situation Report, a press release with the most up-to-the hour information regarding the storm and its effects on St. Augustine/St. Johns County.
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Horvath, Stafford win primary
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Incumbent Commissioner Roxanne Horvath and Mount Moriah Pastor Ron Stafford will face off in November after topping a field of four candidates in yesterday's primary.
Horvath captured 41% of the cote; Stafford 28%.
In the only city race on the primary ballot, Sandy Flowers and Rhey Palmer were cut in the final results.
Two other commission incumbents will be on the November ballot, first-term Mayor Nancy Shaver and second-term Commissioner Leanna Freeman.
Shaver is challenged by radio station owner Kris Phillips and Freeman by North Davis Shores Neighborhood Association President Susan Rathbone.
Other winners in contested primaries:
Sheriff David B Shoar
County Commission - District 1 Jimmy Johns
County Commission - District 3 Paul M Waldron
(Waldron defeated Cameron by nine votes, 12,468 to 12,459)
County Commission - District 5 Henry Dean
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New Historical
Society director
Magen Wilson, a staff member of the St. Augustine Historical Society since 2011, has been named executive director, replacing Susan Parker.
Parker has been director for nine years. "I resigned from the executive director's position to have more time available for research and writing," she said.
Wilson, who will take over in mid-September, has created exhibits and presentations, served as manager of the Oldest House and Museum Store and currently oversees the operations of the properties, staff and programs.
Images: Wilson and Parker
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Corridor updates begin in October
 When Entry Corridor Guidelines entered the city code a decade ago, a review committee was established to consider any disputes with regulations to protect the historic character of the city's three main entrances - San Marco Avenue, King Street and Anastasia Boulevard. Tweaks last year included a process for review earlier in the design process and establishment of architectural "typologies." Now the city is embarking on a corridor by corridor update, beginning with Anastasia Boulevard. "The simple goal of the update is to make the guidelines clearer, more specific in some ways, and to clarify the approval process," says Planning and Building Director David Birchim. "There are no wholesale changes planned that will radically alter the guidelines. In many ways, the update will make the guidelines easier to read, understand and implement." The update will not deal with mobility but only the appearances of new structures or ones being remodeled or rehabilitated, Birchim says. The updating process starts in October with community meetings including businesses and residents along and adjacent to Anastasia Boulevard. In early 2017, presentations will go through Planning and Zoning and Historic Architectural Review boards to the City Commission to consider adopting revisions. Image: original guidelines introduced in 2000. Three years later they were enacted into law.
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Three three-year seats on the Planning and Zoning Board (PZB) are awaiting applications.
Sarah Ryan and Carl Blow are both eligible for reappointment. Jerry Dixon has reached his term limit so his seat will be open.
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 Fourth grade students in St. Johns County will have a chance to win a 2017 Annual Park Entrance Pass to the Castillo in the student artwork contest, part of the Every Kid in a Park program. The annual pass provides entry for the pass holder and three adult guests (16 or older).
Draw or paint a picture that reminds you of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. If you visited the park, what experiences did you have while enjoying the park? What do you like most about fort?
Entry deadline September 25, with announcement of the winner by mid-October.
Contact Amelia Vela, Education Coordinator, at 904-829-6506 x 279.
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New garden spot available
The Fullerwood Community Garden has a new, raised bed, 5 ft. x 2 1/2 ft., which would be perfect for someone who has bad knees and has a hard time bending over, says garden guru Gina Burrell.
The yearly rental is $50. The garden is located by the Fullerwood Park on Hildreth Drive.
Contact Gina Burrell, 904-825-6746 or gibur32@gmail.com.
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 Play it Forward for youth
Pay it forward is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor.
Wikipedia.com
In a play on those words, Play it Forward, a local non-profit, has provided more than 80 St. Johns County kids over the past four years with instruments and logistical and wellness support to participate in band or orchestra.
"Today we are faced with a wonderful challenge," says PIF President Frederic Smith. "We have grown beyond our means."
"We need the support of local schools, the school board and especially the community to meet the increasing demands of this county," says Smith. "With over 40 students last year there is simply not enough funding or man hours for our limited staff to fill the ever increasing demands of this much needed program."
Play It Forward was developed by a group of local philanthropists including activists Andrea and Bob Samuels, Wells Fargo Banker Wesley Graham and business owner Frederic Smith. Board Member Father Nicholas Marziani is wellness advisor.
The young recipients have to care for their instrument, participate in events like Play it Forward fundraising events and playing carols with the St. Augustine Youth Orchestra.
Academically they must stay in their school music group, attend practices and performances and maintain a minimum 2.0 Grade Point Average.
Learn more about Play it Forward and how you can help here.
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Turning the corner into September
 First Friday Art Walk - Friday, September 2, 5-9 pm.
Book signing - Peter Guinta's Well of Bones, Friday, September 2, 5-8 pm Anastasia Books, 81 King Street
America's Parks Exhibition - Lightner Museum 9 am - 5 pm  daily
National Park Screenings - Corazon Cinema and Café, Friday - Sunday, September 2-4, free, 11:45 am, 1:45 and 4 pm.
Militia Muster and Training at Fort Mose, Saturday, September 3, 9 am - 2 pm, free, with members of the Fort Mose Militia
Drum Runner Series Barrel Racing - Saturday, September 3, St. Johns County Fairgrounds, free, races 4 - 8 p.m.
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History's Highlight
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Catlin - archivist or huckster?
Excerpt from101 Things about Seminole History You May Not Know, Charles Lee Wilson, 2015
[My] likenesses of chiefs and warriors have prompted them to call [me] 'the greatest medicine man in the world' because 'l had made living beings.'
George Catlin
Paradoxically, American Indians resented Catlin's art work as extremely invasive on the one hand but admirable on the other, because of the attention it drew to a "vanishing race" from a nation otherwise "fairly complacent about the treatment of Indians."
The subjects for George Catlin's Indian Gallery in New York City were "the latest Indian attractions" and, as such, he closed his gallery and headed to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, after receiving word that the name of an Indian, in confinement at the fort after his capture under a flag of truce, was becoming a "household word."
Reluctant at first, the Indian whose name was becoming a "household word," Osceola, finally agreed to pose for Catlin, who painted a "clean" "dramatic" portrait of him with a rifle in one hand and the other hand resting on his hip, instead of the way Osceola wanted to be depicted, with a rifle in one hand and a white flag in the other.
Osceola's death shortly thereafter undoubtedly increased the value of a print that Catlin advertised as that of a "Seminole hero" whose rights were being violated by American expansionism. That print would, in the eyes of many including Florida historian Charlton W. Tebeau, secure Osceola's place as the "most romantic, if not the most heroic, figure in the annals" of the Seminole Wars.
Images: Catlin (left) and Nichole Brosch of Ponte Vedra Beach for cover of Wilson's book
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The St. Augustine Report is published weekly, with additional Reports previewing City Commission meetings as well as Special Reports. The Report is written and distributed by George Gardner, St. Augustine Mayor (2002-2006) and a former newspaper reporter and editor. Contact the Report at gardner@aug.com or gardnerstaug@yahoo.com
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