Mutt ‘n’ Strutt benefit changes location

The Lawrence Humane Society’s Eighth Annual Mutt n’ Strutt will be at 9 a.m. today at Southwind Twelve theaters, 3433 Iowa.

The fund-raising event originally was scheduled for Sunflower School but was moved because of tornado damage near the school.

Participants and their pets can walk for a $25 minimum pledge. The event also will feature informational booths, vendors, giveaways, contests and prizes. Mayor David Dunfield will kick off the event, and the Rev. Charles Polifka from St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church will bless animals.

For more information, call the shelter at 843-6835.

Drugs, drapes top county meeting agenda

Drugs and drapes will be on the minds of Douglas County commissioners Monday morning.

Commissioners will meet at 9 a.m. to mull a series of business items, including a contract for providing pharmaceuticals to inmates at the Douglas County Jail and a proposal to buy new draperies for the Douglas County Courthouse.

Also on the agenda for the meeting at the courthouse, 1100 Mass.:

• Consider a proposal for negotiating a contract for long-distance telephone service.
• Review a private plan to resurface East 900 Road, north of U.S. Highway 40 Highway.
• Discuss sewage issues and related topics involving lots in Lone Star Lake Park.

Foster parents sought

Kansas needs more foster care parents, and officials with the Kansas Children’s Service League hope publicity this month about foster care will increase the number of parents.

May is Foster Care Month, designed to raise awareness of the need for foster parents and in Kansas to recognize more than 2,600 of them. There are about 6,000 foster children in the state.

“All kinds of people can and are foster parents” said Sandra Dixon, KCSL vice president.

Those interested in being foster parents go through a background check, a home-study and a 30-hour class called Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting.

To learn more, call 877-530-5275 or visit the Web site, www.cominghomekansas.org.

Presidential candidate Dean visits Fairway

Fairway — Presidential candidate Howard Dean told fellow Democrats on Thursday that they needed to take back their party from moderates who Dean says have not stood up to President Bush.

Dean, visiting the area for the first time since announcing his candidacy, attended a $50-per-person fund-raiser in this Kansas City suburb early in the evening before heading to another home for a $250-per-person fund-raiser.