A mega-deal in the livestock industry is raising the eyebrows of the IowaPork Producers Association. Rich Degner, executive director of the IowaPork Producers Association, is calling upon Iowa’s Attorney General tocarefully review Smithfield Farms’ purchase of Murphy Family Farms. Hethinks this will endanger competition and increase economic pressure onindependent producers. Iowa law does prohibit meatpackers from owninglivestock, and Degner says the Iowa Pork Producers hope federal law soondoes the same.
Crime victim program wins award
September 4, 1999 By
Iowa’s Crime Victim Compensation program has won a prestigious award fromthe National Organization for Victim Assistance. The award recognizes theIowa program as tops in the nation. The director of the Iowa Crime VictimAssistance program, Marti Anderson says they won award because of theirability to react quickly to the needs of crime victims.Anderson says crime victim assistance in other states can takes months toline up. In Iowa, the average turn-around time is six weeks.Anderson says her staff verifies the crime, the damages and whether thecrime victim is receiving benefits from any other means, like insurance.The crime victim assistance program runs on the court-ordered fines andpenalties paid by criminals.
Brewfest underway this weekend
September 4, 1999 By
Bike riding, beer drinking and blues music are making for an unusualcombination of events for a charity fundraiser in central Iowa this weekend.The 6th Annual Heartland Brewfest gets underway this morning with a bicycle”fun ride” beginning in Des Moines in the Court Avenue area.Mike Marasco (mah-RASS’-coe) is organizer of the Brewfest, where the bigattraction is all types of beers — several of which are made in Iowa.Marasco says some beers are made with oatmeal, strawberries and otherinteresting ingredients. He says at least five-thousand people are expectedto attend the various events. All proceeds go to the Easter Seals campingand recreation programs at Camp Sunnyside.There are several musical groups playing the Brewfest both today andtomorrow, including the headliner, “The Blue Band,” tomorrow night.
Churches and unions work together
September 4, 1999 By
A coalition of Iowa church and religious groups is joining forces with 10Iowa labor unions to talk about their roles in society. Members of variousunions will speak to several churches in central Iowa this Labor Day Weekend.Kathleen McQuillen, a spokesperson for the Iowa Friends Service Committee,says they decided to team up with labor unions after working with them onanother project.McQuillen says the ties between faith and labor used to be much stronger.She says they’re trying to strengthen those ties again.McQuillen says the unions and churches are concerned that everyone talksabout the great economy in the United States, but some 20 to 25-percent ofAmerican children live in poverty.Union members will speak at 16 churches this Labor Day weekend.
DNR disputes reports that lakes are unsafe
September 4, 1999 By
State parks officials are issuing an advisory to Iowans that most “surfacewaters” in Iowa are safe to swim in. Michael Carrier, administrator of Iowa’s Parks, is critical of a Friday DesMoines Register article which concluded some waterways — including BlackHawk and Big Creek Lakes — are unsafe for Labor Day weekend swimming.Carrier says there is insufficient data to determine the waters are unsafe.Carrier says Labor Day is the third busiest weekend in state parks.Carrier says state officials have received no reports of swimming-relatedillnesses this year.
