BRIDGE

t Council approves

resolution to name

span after Bob Oke.

CONTINUED FROM A1

“I personally don’t see any public benefit, so I will be voting against it,” Chang said before the approval.

Oke has a Web site collecting online signatures of support for the bridge naming, found at www.bridgebob.org.

In other council business, the council approved an allocation of funding for the planned Cedar Cove Days event following a presentation from the event’s executive director, Cindy Lucarelli, and Councilman Jerry Childs two weeks earlier.

The event, scheduled for August 2009, celebrates stories written by local author Debbie Macomber, which are loosely based on Port Orchard’s geography.

Childs and Lucarelli showed a presentation they gave to Macomber’s Canadian publisher, Harlequin Publications. They hope to bring “heads to beds” with a regional festival on par with others of the same ilk, such as the Lavender Festival in Sequim, or the Mitford Days in Blowing Rock, N.C. based on the popular Mitford series by Jan Karon.

The council approved the allocation, with a minimum of $8,600 to a full amount of $11,500.

The event will request funds again in the new fiscal year.

Councilman Fred Olin saw the allocation as a good investment for Port Orchard, drawing in tourism dollars.

“They’re asking us to contribute 4 percent of their cost, but we’re getting more than 4 percent benefit,” he said. “We’re going to get a lot of bang for our buck.”

The allocation comes from the city’s hotel tax revenues.

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