30 September 2014
City Candidates To Answer Questions
A proposed fuel tax; regulating medical marijuana dispensaries; the Rhododendron Drive Multi-Use path; and economic development strategies are just some of the topics that will be addressed tomorrow during a candidates forum on the radio.
KCST’s Our Town will air live from the Florence Events Center in an expanded broadcast that will focus on the six Florence City Council candidates and three mayoral hopefuls.
The forum, which will provide direct access to the candidates by audience members, is co-presented by the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber President Brian Castleman said it’s important that not only chamber members, but all residents of the city become familiar with the candidates and their views.
One topic that is very important to Castleman is economic development. He wants to know what each of the nine would propose doing to help the local economy and create jobs.
Tomorrow’s Our Town airs from four to seven PM, it’s free… you can listen on 106.9 FM, or attend in person.
Food Backpacks for Kids
Two years ago the women at Crossroad Assembly of God Church began a program that provided food to 20 “at-risk” kids at Siuslaw Elementary School. Every Friday, the 20 students would be discretely called to the office where they would receive a bag with food and snacks to get them from the weekend.
You see, many of those children live in households that are “food insecure” and don’t have enough to eat.
Marilyn Barba is one of those Crossroad women. She said in the past two years, the effort has grown to meet most of the current need… about 70 students at Siuslaw and ten more in Mapleton.
The success of “Food Backpacks for Kids”, or FB4K as she calls it, has been largely because of help from the administration at Siuslaw School District… as well as their volunteers at Crossroad.
It has also been successful because of the generosity of the community. The program is fully funded for the current school year, and is already busy raising money for next fall.
One donor, John Hardison, pledged $2,000 but only if the community would match it. Mapleton’s “Singing Loggers”, Craig and Terry, will perform at Crossroad Friday, October tenth in a fundraiser that hopes to match that donation.
Public Power Week
October 5th through the 11th is Public Power Week… when the more than two-thousand community owned, not-for-profit electric utilities across the nation are recognized and celebrated.
Central Lincoln PUD is one of those. It’s been providing reliable and relatively low-cost electricity to residents on the central coast since 1943.
PUD General Manager Debra Smith says publicly owned utilities like Central Lincoln put customers first. Public Power Week is a time for them to tell their story about the advantages.
Smith and other Central Lincoln PUD officials will be making outreach stops at the Newport, Reedsport and Florence offices next week. Monday and Tuesday, the 6th and 7th they’ll be in Florence. Wednesday the 8th will be set aside for Reedsport, then they’ll finish the week the next two days in Newport.
