With flu season in full swing, an eastern Iowa inventor is launching a product soon which he says may help people in a variety of professions keep their hands clean. Mike Barber, a 52-year-old from Coralville, says he’s marketing the small item called “Trip Personal” to a nationwide audience. It’s a one-point-two ounce bottle that contains any of three different types of liquid — a hand sanitizing gel, a sunscreen or an insect repellent with the chemical DEET. He says the bottle attaches to a 23-inch long retractable belt clip, so you can clip the bottle onto your belt, backpack, beach bag, diaper bag or golf bag. This time of year, Barber says, many people are concerned about keeping their hands clean to avoid the flu or a cold. He says the trouble with hand sanitizing is the product is not usually where you want it to be. He says his product stays right with you. Barber says just having a bottle of hand sanitizer isn’t convenient enough for some people, since they’d have to lug it along. This product is small enough, he says, for it to be carried right on their person. He hopes it’ll be a hit for people who work in hospitals, daycares, nursing homes and in food service.Barber hopes to have the three versions of Trip Personal available in stores across Iowa and in several other states by mid-January. Prices will vary from around three-dollars for the hand sanitizer to 4-75 for the insect repellent. They’re available now via “www.trippersonal.com”.
Close of Meskwaki Casino has impact on state coffers
The State of Iowa is apparently benefiting from the recent shut down of the Meskwaki Casino in Tama. The Meskwaki Casino was shut down in May of 2003 and didn’t reopen until December 31st as the tribe wrestled with a leadership dispute. Gambling revenue at the state-licensed casinos was up over nine-percent in the last six months — part of which may be attributed to those gamblers who would’ve gone to Tama. The state likely gained from the Meskwkai closure too. Records from the State Racing and Gaming Commission show the state took in 101 million dollars in tax revenue from the casinos in that six month period. The Meskwaki Casino does not pay taxes to the state, so the state is benefiting from gamblers who went to state-licensed casinos while Meskwaki was closed.
Grassley doesn’t like part of President’s immigration policy
Iowa’s Republican Senator, Charles Grassley, does not support the main part of President Bush’s proposal to offer legal status to illegal immigrants working in the U.S.Grassley says the President is moving forward in an area which needs changes, but Grassley says he’s moving “in the wrong way.” Grassley says it’s perfectly legitimate to give American businesses the ability to hire skilled workers from other countries if they can’t find enough workers with those skills here, which is part of Bush’s proposal. But Grassley says the President is wrong to allow people who have already broken immigration laws to get here to simply register and gain legal status.Grassley says “we want people coming to America who have respect for our laws, ’cause we are a government of law, and without abidance by the law, we obviously have chaos.” Grassley says in the 1950s and ’60s, employers applied to the government and asked for permission to import workers. Bush, however, hopes Congress extends a three-year, renewable “guest visa” to help fill low wage jobs and treat immigrant workers with “compassion.”
Ames election raises ethics concern
A case in Ames that’s drawn attention from the state ethics board to highlights the state’s rules on identifying who pays for political ads. Charlie Smithson is executive director of the state ethics board, and explains that before a public vote on a recreation center, a local group ran ads that ran afoul of the rules. Someone had purchased newspaper advertisements without adequately describing who’d paid for them. Smithson says groups that buy commercials hoping to sway voters must register and file the names and contact information for one or more people in the group, with the ethics board. The law states that the public has a right to know who’s financially influencing the outcome of elections. Most often with local candidates or issues, Smithson says there’s no underhanded motive, just a group of local people who support or oppose one side and want to get their message out, unaware of the regulations on public disclosure.He sees “very little” of people maliciously trying to circumvent campaign laws, just those who haven’t realized that once involved in political activity they’d better take a look at the laws. The ethics board website has details of what advertisers have to file and make public in a campaign commercial, print or broadcast. Go to the state of Iowa website at www.state.ia.us and click on “state government” and then the link to the Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.
Alsaska business buys stake in Mt. Pleasant firm
An Alaskan-owned company has purchased 51-percent interest in a Mount Pleasant plastics molding facility. The Sealaska company purchased Nypro Iowa, a move that Nypro president Sam Landol says should give them a boost.He says they think it’s positive news as sales have been stagnant. He says they’ve gotten indications that the new relationship will take sales to new levels. The two companies will produce plastic molding for cell phone, computer and auto companies. He says they’ll keep the management in place and manage it as if it were a Nypro Company. He says the move allows the Sealaska to diversify and grow within the U.S. Sealaska has over 16-thousand native Alaskan stockholders. Dan Butcher is the plant manage in Mt. Pleasant.He says they’re all very excited as this is a great opportunity for the company. He says business has been stagnant for the last three or four years, and they see this as an opportunity to expand the business and workforce. Nypro opened its Mt. Pleasant plant in 1989.
Creston mayor fires police chief, no reason given
The new mayor in the southwest Iowa town of Creston has fired the city’s police chief but will not say why. Mayor Mike Tamerius met with Creston Police Chief Bill Heatherington on Monday, and the Mayor says “the decision was made that he would not return as police chief.”The mayor refuses to reveal the reasons behind the dismissal. Heatherington has worked in the Creston police department since 1974. He’s been the town’s chief of police since 1996. Tamerius began his term as mayor on January 1st.
Edwards talks race relations
North Carolina Senator John Edwards sprinkles talk of race relations in the speeches he delivers in Iowa, a state with a population that’s about 93 percent white. There were no latinos and just three African Americans in the Des Moines audience Edwards spoke to earlier this week, yet Edwards spent a few minutes talking about civil rights and he promised to erase the racial dividing lines that he says still exist in America.Edwards said he grew up in the “segregated south,” and remembers his sixth grade teacher walking into the classroom and announcing he would not be teaching the following year because the school would be integrated, and the teacher refused to teach in an integrated school.Edwards said we still live in a country with far too many barriers. Edwards said he’ll take steps to bring real equality to America, like appointing judges who will enforce civil rights laws. Edwards said he feels “a huge personal responsibility” to “make sure children are no longer divided by the color of their skin.” Edwards, who is a trial lawyer by trade, said he would maintain affirmative action programs to ensure minorities get a fair shot at college and jobs. In November, Edwards chided front-runner Howard Dean after Dean said he wanted to be the candidate for southerners with confederate flags on their pickups. Edwards says the “stars and bars” is an offensive symbol that no one should embrace. Just over two percent of Iowans are black according to the U.S. Census. Latinos are now the largest minority group in Iowa; just under three percent of Iowa’s residents are latino.
