Winners

Somebody give the guy a Powerbar! With a national obesity rate that is tipping American scales, a new bill by Iowa's Sen. Tom Harkin to require restaurants to disclose nutritional information is healthful for everyone. Harkin is already at the forefront of recent attempts to de-Twinkie school vending machines, and to limit sugary snacks in school cafeterias. Now he's taking on the fast-food empire. Our supersized citizenry, which gleans about one-third of its total caloric intake from dining out, might rethink that McDonald's Deluxe Breakfast if they were required to come face-to-face with its 1,190 calories and 61 grams of fat each time they stepped up to the counter. The Menu Education and Labeling bill would require restaurants with 20 or more franchises to post nutrition info for all menu items. Unsurprisingly, the restaurant association opposes the legislation, complaining that the industry already publishes nutrition data online and in brochures. Really, the only the surprising thing here is that such requirements weren't put in place long ago. Everything we buy in grocery stores (even water) is labeled for nutritional value, and perhaps more importantly, obesity-related healthcare is reaching the crisis point. A full 65 percent of Americans are now classified as "overweight," and fighting fat is a $100-billion-per-year battle. Fast-food chains worried they'll lose business once consumers know the truth about what they're stuffing into their pie-holes should have thought of this before they injected those chili-cheese fries with more fat and calories than some people eat in a day.

Losers

A Linn County district court judge will not allow into evidence a videotape that shows 10-year-old Jetseta Gage answering questions about the repeated sexual abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of James Howard Bentley. Attorneys for Bentley, who is standing trial for the assaults, apparently convinced the court that the video would violate Bentley's right to face his accuser. Well, that's because she's dead. Bentley's sex-offender brother, Roger Paul Bentley, is accused of murdering the girl in March. The video is the only testimony available from Jetseta, and prosecutors have said it is among the most conclusive evidence they have against James Bentley. Without the tape, Jetseta, like so many other assault victims, will be left completely voiceless, and her (and her family's) right to confront her abuser, destroyed.

In the latest in a string of corporate closings and lay-offs in Iowa, Rubbermaid announced last week it would shutter its Centerville factory, leaving the facility's 500 employees jobless. The Atlanta-based Rubbermaid, which counts more than 31,000 employees worldwide, is moving its Iowa operations to Kansas, and has offered its Centerville workers the enticing opportunity to completely uproot their lives and relocate to the exciting state that ranks number one in sorghum-grain production. Like Newton, which is still struggling with how to survive the closure of its Maytag factory, Centerville (population: 6,000) faces some tough economic-direction decisions in the months ahead. And contrary to Traveling Tom Vilsack's cure-all, the answer doesn't involve tossing 'em a wad of cash as a consolation prize.

Ames may get its mall, after all. Despite intense opposition from a large segment of the community and justified concern that a new big-box would pull business away from Main Street and Campustown, city council members Jim Popken, Matthew Goodman and Ryan Doll said they would support a massive mall located just off Interstate-35 if Tennessee-based developer Bucky Wolford would include and fund incentives like a "welcome center" and some trails in the package, this latest development could spell the end of a protracted and heated battle - a nasty fight that has spurred hundreds of citizens to attend certain council meetings, been a deciding factor in several city council races, and gotten the city enmeshed in legal skirmishes with Wolford's company. Wolford has already indicated his willingness to meet the city's demands. Bring on the Baby Gap. CV

Tell us what you think. E-mail your letter to editor@dmcityview.com or post your rant and rave at www.dmcityview.com/rant.

Comment on this story | Return to top