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Flagg Design Studio LLC and Robert Pietrzyk
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The University of North Florida announced Oct. 7 it received a $2 million donation that will pay for the completion of the soccer and track stadium on campus.
The stadium will be renamed Hodges Stadium in recognition of the donation from George and Kernan Hodges.
The donation has already been matched 100 percent by the state, according to UNF President John Delaney, which brings the total sum to $4 million. The money will be used to build an eight-lane, 400-meter competition track and install outdoor TV-quality lighting, which will allow evening events and seating for 10,000, he said. Bench and chair-back seating will also be installed.
Construction of the stadium was funded by the state and started in the mid-90s, said Tom Strother, assistant athletic director of media relations at UNF. For six or seven years, the stadium was constructed piece by piece, he said.
The stadium currently has concrete seating for approximately 9,800 and a soccer playing surface. It is also home to the Arthur "Buster" Browning Athletic Training and Education Center and the Cerebral Palsy of Northeast Florida Lab according to a UNF press release.
"The structure is there but the amenities are not," said Strother. "The original intent was to build an Olympic quality track facility, it's just not perfectly complete."
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Parking council decision causes stir
By Matt Coleman
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
The appointment of a faculty member to the traditionally student-held position of vice chairman of the parking council has caused concern among some students at the University of North Florida.
Mike Trotter, senior store keeper/receiving clerk and president of the University Support Personnel System at UNF was selected to be vice chairman of the parking council during the council meeting Sept. 29.
Nick Peres, a senior financial planning major, Student Government attorney general and member of the parking council, was in attendance for the meeting in which Trotter was appointed vice chair.
"I'm upset about the outcome because the faculty decided to nominate another faculty member," Peres said. "Everett Malcolm was the only member of the council to vote for the student nominee, Corey Trent, unlike the rest of the committee. As students, we are the largest consumers of parking on campus and we deserve to have a majority voice on the council."
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Mayor discusses murder rate with new council
By Ace Stryker
MANAGING EDITOR
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Ace Stryker 
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Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton stands with members of the city's volunteer outreach programs Oct. 5. Peyton gave a speech about the importance of education in reducing crime rates in the city.
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Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton said early literacy should be one of the city's major focuses in driving down crime in an Oct. 5 speech to city officials, project volunteers and members of the University of North Florida's Community Outreach Council.
Peyton met with the group at UNF to discuss the city's unusually high homicide rate this year. In his presentation he cited a core contributor to violent behavior as outlined by Dr. Michael Hallett, chair of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice - weak social bonds - and expanded on responses the city has undertaken to combat the swelling tide of violent crime in Jacksonville.
"Education, long-term, is our single best weapon," Peyton said. "This crime and murder situation is unacceptable."
The UNF Community Outreach Council hosted the session to announce four new initiatives it's launching with city agencies aimed at encouraging city youth to envision college education in their futures.
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