Home And Garden Show… nearly everything for your home in or out
It doesn’t matter if you’re building a new kitchen or just restocking your old one, you’ll find plenty of ideas at this weekend’s 16th Annual Florence Home and Garden Show. Every spring since 1997 the Florence Events Center has been the site of several landscaping displays, booths featuring home improvement ideas and plenty of merchandise for the home and kitchen.
Show director Jon Thompson says the primary focus each year is on local vendors, but the show isn’t limited just to those in Florence. That provides for a broad mix of services represented. The Lane County Extension Service and Oregon Construction and Contractor’s Board will be on hand once again with information, education and demonstrations.
There will also be several chances for show visitors to win hundreds of dollars in prizes from show vendors. The gates are open Friday from two to seven pm, then again on Saturday from ten to six. Things wrap up Sunday from eleven to three. Admission is $2 for adults, but Thompson says many of the participants have free tickets to distribute or you can get a half-price coupon at Bi-Mart… he said there’s also no charge from four to six pm on Saturday only.
Legislative Log Jam Loosening?
The Oregon Legislature finally took the first official step yesterday toward enacting legislation that has been stalled for weeks, but there was still no agreement on advancing the budget or one of Governor John Kitzhaber’s two education priorities. A legislative panel advanced two of the governor’s initiatives yesterday… one that would streamline early childhood education programs; the other would establish health insurance exchanges.
But, a separate proposal requiring school districts, colleges and universities to sign achievement compacts with the state is still being negotiated. Lawmakers also advanced three other measures intended to help financially struggling counties. The session began February 1st and is legally required to end by Tuesday, March 6th. A two-thirds majority of both the House and the Senate would be required to extend that deadline by five days.
Three Parked Cars Damaged
Nobody was injured in a chain-reaction crash on Highway 101 in downtown Florence Wednesday afternoon. But, four vehicles were damaged. Florence Police say 72-year old Johnny Hawks Sanchez was driving southbound between Sixth and Rhododendron Drive when the steering on his Dodge pickup became disabled and he struck the back of another pickup that was parked next to the curb. The second truck in turn slammed into the rear of a Toyota Prius which then struck the rear of a Chrysler 300.
Emergency Food Demand Up
DC this week for a national conference on fighting hunger. While they were there they spent time with lawmakers talking about nutrition programs; the new farm bill; and food assistance programs. Beverlee Hughes, the executive director of Food for Lane County was pleased to find that congressmen on both sides of the aisle agree that hunger is a growing problem.
Hughes – “People did believe that hunger was apolitical; that the ways to fight it and the solutions and costs were all under negotiation. But the knowledge that so many people in our country are in trouble right now seemed to be understood by very many people. And I was pleased to hear that.”
She says the demand for emergency food boxes in Lane County are up 16 percent over a year ago.
