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We may be in for a protracted recession, but Cupid’s arrows are no less plentiful.

For that reason, local business owners who specialize in gifts for tiffany jewellery Valentine’s Day are predicting the holiday Saturday will make for very good business in the Cedar Valley.

That’s not to say they’re sticking their heads in the sand.

“Business has been slower, I’m not gonna lie about it,” said Marty Hansen, the owner of chocolate and wine boutique Indulgence in Cedar Falls. “The recession is definitely being felt here.”

But Hansen, who is also a marketing and management instructor at the University of Northern Iowa, said he’s already seeing more business in preparation for Valentine’s Day than usual. He thinks that’s because people can’t afford big-ticket items for their sweethearts, and so they turn to smaller tokens of affection.

“Here (at Indulgence) you can get a really nice bottle of wine and a really nice box of chocolates, and be under $50,” he said.

Flower shop Flowerama on Kimball in Waterloo is seeing a relatively normal amount of customers for the biggest flower day of the year.

“It’s a little bit different because (Valentine’s Day) falls on a Saturday, and we’re not silver bracelets quite as busy when it falls on a Saturday,” said Katie Clausen, assistant manager at Flowerama. “So far, we are on track.”

Spending money on a romantic dinner for two is another popular way to spend Valentine’s Day, and Barmuda spokesperson Lori McConville thinks that won’t change this year.

“We don’t expect a downturn at all,” said McConville, noting the sweetheart specials at places like The Stuffed Olive, Bourbon Street and Ferrari’s. “As a matter of fact, we’re expecting a big turnout.”

That’s not a naive view to take, said professor Fred Abraham, who heads the department of economics at UNI. He said there was every reason to believe people would still go out and spend money for Valentine’s Day.

“Whether or not people are holding back a little bit — and, by the way, I think that they might be — there won’t be a decline in spending,” Abraham said. “The savings rate in the United States is starting to creep up, but simply because we save a little doesn’t mean we don’t spend.”

Local businesses also benefit from allegiances people feel to their friends and neighborhood stores, said Wartburg College business administration and economics department chair Kim Folkers. People spending money, and spending it close to home, will better benefit the local economy.

“I think there will still be flowers that will be delivered, dinners that will be had. And that’s not to silver cufflinks say people aren’t struggling,” she said. “People have not just locked themselves inside and not come out. I think people are attempting to come out, and I suspect Valentine’s Day will be one of those holidays.”

Contact Amie Steffen at (319) 291-1464 or amie.steffen@wcfcourier.com.

Investigators said Friday that they’d busted a criminal ring that was running a cockfighting, methamphetamine and marijuana operation at a home near Kapowsin in southeastern Pierce County.

Sheriff’s detectives found an active meth lab and hundreds of marijuana plants on a 4-acre property tucked off Meridian Avenue East, spokesman Ed Troyer said. They also seized stolen property, found two assault rifles and confiscated at least 51 fighting roosters, Troyer said.

Investigators arrested a 38-year-old man after the morning raid in the 32400 block of Meridian Avenue East. He was booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of drug charges, possession of stolen property, animal fighting and professional gambling.

Sheriff Paul Pastor said the operation was an example of how animal abuse and other crimes are linked.

“We found weapons, drugs, stolen cars and cockfighting all in one place,” he said. “We will continue to move against locations like these whenever we find them.”

Detectives were looking for at least one other person and say more arrests tiffany could be made.

“We believe they were manufacturing and selling marijuana and meth and fighting animals,” Troyer said. “Right now, we know who the organizers are. There could be other people that we may go after that were out there gambling, too.”

Officers from the Sheriff’s Department, Seattle police, the state Gambling Commission and the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department spent several hours on the property, documenting evidence, dismantling the drug-making operations and rounding up and removing the roosters. Animal control officers from Tacoma and Lakewood also helped out.

The raid began as a search for illegal weapons, Troyer said.

“It snowballed into this,” he said.

Sheriff’s SWAT and meth lab teams serving a search warrant at the silver bangles property found roosters and chickens, some in cages and others tied to posts. Investigators also found a fire pit and the ring where they believe the cockfights took place.

Illegal cockfighting might have been taking place at the property for some time, according to court documents.

A woman granted a domestic-violence protection order against the man arrested Friday wrote in a sworn affidavit filed in December that he “was planning cockfights in the house” at that time.

The bust was not related to another cockfighting silver rings broken up in the Seattle area this week, Troyer said.

Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268

stacey.mulick@thenewstribune.com

blog.thenewstribune.com/crime

Staff writer Adam Lynn contributed to silver bracelets this report.

Harking back to an era when Jews ruled the ring, two devoutly observant boxers are fighting to make this the best year for Jewish boxing in seven decades.

Middleweight Yuri Foreman, 29, and welterweight Dmitriy Salita, 27 – both undefeated – are poised to battle for world titles this fall.

As they prepare for their championship bouts, the Brooklyn pair say they feel good buy tiffany about their chances of following in the footsteps of such Jewish ring greats as Benny Leonard and Barney Ross.

“I would not be in this sport if I wasn’t confident,” said Foreman, who will meet World Boxing Association junior middleweight champion Daniel Santos in Las Vegas on Nov. 14. “I am confident that I will be successful, God willing.”

Salita, who is gearing up for his WBA light-welterweight title shot against Britain’s Amir Khan in a bout tentatively set for Dec. 5, adds, “I think it’s incredible that Yuri and I made it to the same level at the same time. Hopefully we’ll both be successful.”

Much of the media attention surrounding Foreman and Salita, who are friends Foreman attended Salita’s recent wedding – has focused on their strict observance of Judaism. The pious pugilists refuse to box on Shabbat, and they keep kosher and study Torah in their free time. Foreman is even training to become a rabbi.

“Many people have a stereotype about boxing that you can’t do anything spiritual,” Foreman said. ” silver rings Judaism in many ways helps me in my boxing. It helps me to stay grounded, not to forget who I am and where I am.”

Salita, who studies at a Chabad yeshiva, says his Judaism helps him become a better person and fulfill life goals.

“God wants us to work hard,” he said.

Both Foreman and Salita were born in the former Soviet Union – Foreman in Gomel, Belarus, and Salita in Odessa, Ukraine. Salita immigrated with his family to Brooklyn in his early teens, while Foreman took a more circuitous route, first immigrating to Israel before moving to New York City’s largest borough in 1999 at age 20 to pursue his career.

Their emergence has sparked the imagination of many Jewish boxing enthusiasts fond of a bygone era silver bracelets when there were more Jewish fighters in proportion to their share of the U.S. population than any ethnic group in the country.

“We had a period that people don’t know or appreciate when we had almost 30 Jewish world champions,” said Mike Silver, the curator of an exhibition on Jewish boxing at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia and author of The Arc of Boxing: The Demise of the Sweet Science.

While Silver says he’s doubtful that the emergence of two Jewish boxers heralds a return to the glory days of Jewish boxing, the 1920s and 1930s, “even one fighter is a nugget of gold.”

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