Hog Hunting, Bar B Q and the City of Callahan.

[JaxNative68]

Ahhhh, the days of four wheel drives and kegs of beer at the Regency dunes, what fun and totally irresponsible days those were.

[stephendare]

Ahhhh, the days of four wheel drives and kegs of beer at the Regency dunes, what fun and totally irresponsible days those were.

[urbanlibertarian]

My maternal grandmother grew up in Baker county.  She told us that in her late teens (early 1920's) they would go to Callahan to barn dances.  She probably got there in a horse drawn four wheeler.

[mtraininjax]

Us boys on the southsided did not have to go to Regency for fun, we stayed in the Southside dunes that were on either side of JTB.

[leahfu]

My great-great-grandparents owned a farm behind the Winn-Dixie in Callahan. My great grandfather Kermit Hodges was mayor there at least twice(maybe 3 times??!). He was also Lt. Governor of Florida for one term. I really don't know much about this town and really enjoyed this

[Scarlettjax]

Great article, really captured the feel of the town.

Now y'all have me stuck in a mudhole on memory lane - I misspent most of my youth in the Regency dunes, off JTB and out at Imeson. 

[stephendare]

Wonder if anyone has any old photos of the Dunes?

This is such a great little area, that it was striking to me how the builders out there simply decided to go for the suburban mall look when recreating their town center.

[shanshan1218]

I have heard about those dunes. I hope someone has pictures, that would be great to see.

[stephendare]

Lol.  We just received a persnickety letter from some clearly underworked editor in Callahan.

File this under 'Bee in the Bonnet!"

One of our readers sent us a link to your opinion piece on the town of Callahan: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-jul-hog-hunting-bar-b-q-and-the-city-of-callahan

This opinion (oh damn me with the opinion label!) piece has several major flaws and inaccuracies, but what I'm more interested in is the fact that your writer, Stephen Dare, (that would of course be yours truly) posted one of our copyrighted articles and one of our copyrighted photographs in the comments section. Yes, you provided the link to our site - that part I do not mind. But your writer copied and pasted our story in, giving no credit to the Nassau County Record, and that is unacceptable. You may keep the link, but the text of our article must be removed right away, as I did not, nor do I now, give permission for it to be published on your site. 

Also, for the writer's knowledge, the publication he read was not Callahan's newspaper. You see, there are two publications that are based out of Callahan. There's the Nassau County Record, which has been accurately reporting on the town of Callahan and the surrounding communities of Hilliard, Bryceville and Boulogne for 79 years and is the newspaper in which all legal notices are printed for western Nassau County. Then there's the freebie that's sent out that your reporter chuckled over. And, FYI, the article he referred to in their publication is "Hilliard Doin's" not "Nassau Doin's." (so there!)

Thank you for your time. I look forward to checking back and seeing that our article and photograph have been removed. You are, however, welcome to keep the link that directs people to our site, so they may view the article there.

Amanda Bishop, Editor
Nassau County Record
P.O. Box 609
Callahan, FL 32011
P: (904) 879-2727
F: (904) 879-5155

Well thanks Amanda..... Consider the matter taken care of!

For the record, I thought Hilliard Doin's is a wonderful, charming and touching column.  I know in my own personal historical research that such columns are treasures and worth about a hundred dryly self important news articles.  They certainly tell a lot more about the soul and spirit of a time and place, no matter how laughable Mizzus Amanda thinks it might be.

I didn't see a copy of the Nassau Record when I was out there.  Most folks were reading the 'other callahan newspaper'.  I guess I found the right publication anyhow.

The link, (which was clearly labelled to the offending publication) gave information about the County's lovely blueberry festival and it has been removed.

Even the link.

I sent her back the following email:

Amanda

The link to your site will be removed entirely.

It was included in the comments section of the article, rather than in the article itself, as an informative backdrop for the blue berry festival.

We will not be linking to the Nassau County record in the future, although it is within the boundaries of legally permissible use under the Fair Use Act.

Thanks for your sniping letter in any case.

With Love
Stephen Dare

Hilariously, she immediately responded with the following:

You are always welcome to link, you are correct. But pasting the entire article and our photograph in it is not acceptable under any act.
Thank you for your equally sniping response.

well at least the old mare's got some spunk.

I ended the conversation with the following:

Amanda,

The removal of the link, and the response were entirely my pleasure.

[stephendare]

For anyone curious about the Author of Hilliard Doin's, Ms.  Lorena Franklin, I did find this bio online:

What a sweetheart.     I literally cannot imagine what the editor of the Nassau Record has against this sweet saintly woman.

http://www.lcca.com/article.asp?id=608&title=Local%20newspaper%20columnist%20resides%20at%20Life%20Care%20Center%20of%20Hilliard

Local newspaper columnist resides at Life Care Center of Hilliard
Posted on Tuesday, October 28, 2008

If anyone in the small town of Hilliard, Fla., knows what various community members are up to, it would be 93-year-old Lorena Franklin.

This friendly lady, who is known to some as the matriarch of the town family, recently came to Life Care Center of Hilliard as a resident. But entering the nursing and rehab facility has not slowed her down. In fact, it has simply given her new people to meet and talk to.

Franklin writes a well-read column, "Hilliard Doin's" that appears in the local paper, the Westside News, every other week. In her column, she describes what is going on in her life and in the lives of community members she knows. She reminisces about days gone by and current activities.

"I enjoy people calling me, asking if what they told me will be in the next edition," said Franklin. "I like to let people know what’s going on in the community. I love everybody in this town!"

Frances Gottuso, activities director, added, "She's our most enthusiastic resident and is very involved in activities."

Franklin even talks about the facility in her column, sharing about the latest bingo games and church services, and inviting her friends to come visit her, chat and have a cup of coffee.

"I try to be in everything," said Franklin. "I don't hear too well, but they always seat me next to someone who can help me with games. It also makes it nice that some of my close friends are living here. We eat together, play together and sing together!"

[stephendare]

hmm.

Thats weird.

Here is a link to the Florida State Library's link page that lists the Florida Newspapers.

Its shockingly not up to par.  Not only are neither the Nassau Country Record nor the Westside News of Callahan Florida listed, but Metrojacksonville also fails to appear on this list.

http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/fgils/flnews2.html

[BridgeTroll]

Thats too bad... I wonder how many web hits they will lose not to mention possible visitors to the Blueberry festival.  Ah well... I am sure they have too many visitors anyway.  It is really too bad that a very positive and informative article about Callahan will never seen.

[BigHache]

I haven't been to the Chicken House, but I am rather fond of The Pig across the street. They have some of the best corn nuggets.

The Blueberry Festival seemed to have quite a turn out. But it was HOT.

[stephendare]

Do any of our readers have any pictures of the blueberry festival?

[macbeth25]

I noticed a comment regarding photos of the recent Blueberry Festival in Callahan.  Some of mine showing some of the vendors and activities were published in the Westside Journal.  You may have seen my work if you live in Callahan, Hilliard or Bryceville.  Let me know if you'd like to see some of them here. 
If you like sports, the Dixie Blues are playing a special game at 7 pm Saturday at Bolles High School.  They may be ladies but they sure can play football.  I think they're 8-0 this year.  Check out http://www.myspace.com/jaxdixieblues: