Police had their hands full with crosswalk enforcement; City Council offers naming rights; and Justice Court amnesty program ending soon.

Police had their hands full with crosswalk enforcement…

Already this year five pedestrians have been injured in separate incidents as they tried to use crosswalks on Highway 101 in Florence. That’s one reason why police targeted two different crossings last week, one at 15th street, the other at eighth. During a two hour stretch Wednesday, with an officer in civilian clothes acting as a decoy, they ticketed 15 drivers and handed out the same number of warnings. Police chief Maury Sanders said the action was so heavy at times that officers couldn’t keep up and weren’t able to get to all the offenders. Even a casual observer should have been able to tell something was going on. A half-dozen patrol vehicles were staged a block away on either end, several officers were on the sidewalk or in nearby parking lots observing and recording the action with a video camera. Statistics revealed three-quarters of the citations were given to men and half were written to Oregonians. The majority of tickets or warnings went to non-residents of the Florence area… only a quarter of those went to people with a Florence address.

Florence City Council President Nola Xavier said her reaction was shock when she found out that bids for a new Senior Center were $100-thousand over estimates.
200 – “If we lose this and we lose the grant it will be very difficult to recover from that kind of loss.”

The council has until August 12th to accept or reject the low bid or lose an $800-thousand Community Development Block Grant that will pay the lion’s share of the $1.2-million project. One method they’re using to raise money is by offering naming rights to the center for a single donation of $250-thousand. In addition to funding the shortfall, it would also provide many of the extras that senior center backers had thought they would have to do without.

Lane County Justice Court has been offering an amnesty program for back fines and fees since February of this year, but it’s all coming to an end this week. Charges stemming from court actions before 2003 are eligible and all interest charges will be waived. West Lane Justice of the Peace Cindy Cable noted that it’s been somewhat successful. Over the past six months they’ve collected about $200-thousand throughout the entire system. She says it all comes to an end this Friday.

TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:

Northwest League Baseball:

The Eugene Emeralds went one-and-two with the Boise Hawks over the weekend… Winning Friday evening 5-1 at Civic Stadium. Saturday, the Hawks overcame a three run deficit in the top of the ninth to win 10-9. Yesterday, the Hawks took the lead in the fifth inning for good and held on for a 7-4 win. The two teams wrap up their five game series tonight at Civic… the Emeralds head out on the road again tomorrow where they’ll open up a five game stretch in Spokane.