Shrek Jr. Takes the Stage in Florence
He’s green, he’s huge, and he has a problem.
He’s Shrek and he’ll be on stage with a host of other cast members beginning tonight at the Florence Events Center.
It’s the CROW presentation of Shrek Jr., the stage adaptation of the 2001 movie featuring a green ogre who rescues a beautiful princess. He then falls in love with her. But, he doesn’t know she has a big secret.
Lacey Sheeley is a junior at Siuslaw High School. She plays the lovely Princess Fiona and says it was hard to focus when they first started reading through the play several weeks ago.
Lacey Sheeley – “This show is so funny I could not keep a straight face when we were trying to run through it the first couple weeks. You will die laughing. I love it so much.”
Tickets are still available for this weekend’s four performances at the Florence Events Center… tonight and tomorrow at seven; then tomorrow and Sunday afternoon at two.
Endangered Sea Turtle dies
One of two Mexican sea turtles rescued off the Oregon coast last winter and taken to SeaWorld for rehabilitation has died.
The olive ridley sea turtle named Thunder was found dead at the San Diego facility Tuesday. The cause of death has not yet been released. Lightning, the other turtle, remains in stable condition.
Both animals were hypothermic and starving when they were found in December. They were taken to the Oregon Coast Aquarium before being flown to San Diego, where they had been undergoing rehabilitation to be released back into the wild.
More warm water turtles have been venturing into northern Pacific waters in recent years.
Jim Burke with the Oregon Coast Aquarium says his team will continue efforts to save the endangered animals.
Prison escapee quickly recaptured
It was a brief foray into the outside world yesterday for 34-year old Jason Alley. He was reported missing from the Shutter Creek Correctional Institution in North Coos County at about 7:20 last night. Authorities apprehended him about 2 ½ hours later just a short distance away from the prison. Alley, from Lane County, had entered the Oregon Department of Corrections custody in January of this year on one count of burglary. His earliest release date was May of 2018.
Shutter Creek is a minimum security prison that houses approximately 265 male inmates that are within four years of their release. It serves as a transition and re-entry facility and inmates work on the institution site in a variety of jobs. Some outside crews work with the Oregon Department of Forestry as trained wildland firefighters.
City Council meets Monday
The Florence City Council will discuss a potential development agreement concerning the Highway 126 “East Florence Gateway” Monday evening. The figurative gateway, between city limits and Quince Street on Highway 126, is targeted for possible esthetic upgrades in the next few years.
Also on the agenda for councilors… they’ll be asked to approve the final submission of a grant to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department that would provide a large part of the funding for a new riverfront park on Rhododendron Drive near the City’s Waste Water Treatment Plant.
Public Works Director Mike Miller will also present a summary and update on the city’s biosolids management program at that same facility.
The council meets at city hall, six pm, Monday night.
Tall Ships set to arrive in Coos Bay
Tall ships the Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftan will be making their annual Coos Bay port call May sixth through the 16th. The two ships based in Grays Harbor, Washington will offer “walk on tours” while the ships are moored several times during the stay. There will also be five different sailing tours in the bay during the stay.
The visit in Coos Bay begins Saturday, May 7th with a “reconciliation ceremony” with local tribal elders.
The wooden hulled Lady Washington has appeared in several movies and TV shows, including the Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Trek: Generations.
The Hawaiian Chieftain is steel hulled. It specializes in hands-on educational programs for young people.
