9 August 2013
With Hope We Reach for the Stars…
It’s all about hope this weekend during the 14th Florence Relay for Life. That’s according to event co-chair Karen Earnshaw. She’s a 30-year cancer survivor. Earnshaw has hope that cancer will move from being treatable to curable… and even to being preventable.
Over the past 13 years the Relay for Life in Florence has raised more than one-million-dollars for cancer research. This year’s goal is $95,500. As of earlier this week they had just over half that in the bank.
One portion of Relay that will help move them to their goal is the Luminaria. More than two-thousand paper bags, each with a flickering candle inside and the name of a cancer victim or sufferer on the outside, will line both sides of the walking track at Miller Park beginning at nine tonight.
Each also represents a five-dollar donation.
Even if they don’t hit the target by noon tomorrow, Earnshaw says they still have a good chance to reach their goal. The books remain open through the end of the month.
The opening ceremony gets underway at noon today with a lap for cancer survivors only… then the regular teams take over from there.
Fire Threatens John Day
Containment efforts on the complex of fires in southern Douglas and Northern Josephine counties are making headway. But a series of thunderstorms and dry lightning in Central Oregon this week created new challenges for firefighters.
Winds changed course yesterday causing flames to redirect toward the community of John Day. The Grant County sheriff’s office issued ‘pre-evacuation’ orders for homes in three neighborhoods north of town but no homes have been damaged as of yet.
Oregon Department of Forestry crews worked through the night to build fire lines on the Grouse Mountain Fire.
Amber Alert Still Activated
Oregon State Police say more than 130 tips have been received from the public after an alert was issued in the hunt for a man wanted in a California killing and kidnapping. But, so far there have been no confirmed sightings.
Police issued Amber Alerts Wednesday in Oregon and reported possible sightings of James Lee DiMaggio’s blue Nissan Versa in northeast California that day; then later in Lakeview in south-central Oregon.
DeMaggio is suspected of abducting a 16-year old California girl and killing the girl’s mother and possibly her brother as well.
