West Liberty seeks winning restaurant

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WEST LIBERTY, Iowa A nationwide contest to open a restaurant somewhere in small-town Iowa has selected West Liberty as the site for that restaurant.

"We were basically in a competition to host a competition," said Shannon McNaul, executive director of West Liberty Economic Area Development, or WeLEAD, the city's economic development organization.

Iowas Best Bite Restaurant Challenge is giving away more than $117,000 in cash and incentives to help someone interested in setting up a restaurant at the former Iowa State Bank Building, 100 E. 3rd St., which also was the former home of the New Century Grill. No restaurant has operated there since the Grill closed in 2011, but the building did temporarily house the West Liberty Library while its regular building underwent major repairs, which have since been concluded.

Opposable Thumbs, a marketing agency in State Center, has been sponsoring the Best Bite contest for the past two years and is on track for a third round this year. Angie Schultz, an organizer for the contest and owner of Opposable Thumbs, said West Liberty got the nod over several other, larger communities because of the unique nature of the restaurant space and what they say is tremendous potential.

In a news release, Schultz said, West Libertys cool, historic downtown, location near major metros and very diverse population make it a hidden gem for the right restaurateur. Add in the fact that the location is a spectacular historic bank building that has all of the equipment and inventory ready to go this is a really rare opportunity.

The challenge encourages would-be restaurateurs to study the town of nearly 4,000 people and submit their vision of the ideal restaurant, along with a business plan. The contestants are narrowed to a group of four who visit the city for in-person interviews. The final two contestants will present their vision and cook for a group of community judges, with the winner becoming the citys newest restaurant owner.

West Liberty is very vibrant and progressive," said Shannon McNaul, executive director of WeLEAD. This contest is just one way to showcase why were a great place in which to live and open a business.

The prize package includes $2,500 in startup capital, more than $70,000 in restaurant inventory, six months free rent and reduced rent for another 30 months, website design and hosting, free marketing, as well as food inventory from a local meat locker and fresh produce donations from local farmers, as well as other items designed to make starting a new restaurant easier.

In previous years, the competition was held in Oskaloosa and in Grinnell. The winning concepts in both communities are open and doing very well, Schultz said.

"We realized that this could be a model for the rest of the state," she said.

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West Liberty seeks winning restaurant

WOW MUST SEE George Galloway vs. Libertarianism : Ron Paul " MLK day is hate whitey day " ! – Video

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WOW MUST SEE George Galloway vs. Libertarianism : Ron Paul " MLK day is hate whitey day " !
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WOW MUST SEE George Galloway vs. Libertarianism : Ron Paul " MLK day is hate whitey day " ! - Video

Islands Trust Fund releases results

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February 17, 2014

Environmental scientists took to the waters last fall for the second year of a three-year initiative to map eelgrass in the Islands Trust area.

The study will provide baseline information that marine scientists and conservation organizations can use to monitor marine habitats of the Salish Sea.

The projects partners the Islands Trust Fund, SeaChange Conservation Society and Seagrass Con-servation Working Group released the results of that mapping last week.

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a flowering marine plant that provides critical habitat to fish, shellfish, birds and mammals. Eelgrass meadows serve as nursery habitat, providing food and protection for more than 80 per cent of the regions commercially important fish and shellfish species at some point in their lifetimes. Sometimes called salmon highways, eelgrass habitat is essential to the survival of all species of salmon along our Coast. Eelgrass, also dubbed blue carbon, sequesters carbon at a much faster rate than the equivalent area of forest.

When its contributions towards fisheries and carbon sequestration are taken into consideration, the plant can be considered to have a significant economic value.

According to the David Suzuki Foundation, the estimated natural capital value of eelgrass is estimated to be between $21,000 and $80,000 per hectare per year, said Kate Emmings, ecosystem protection specialist with the Islands Trust Fund. If this was extrapolated to the estimated extent of eelgrass in B.C. 40,000 hectares that number would be somewhere between $1 billion and $3 billion per year.

The areas the Islands Trust Fund and its partners have mapped so far include the Ballenas-Winchelsea archipelago, Bowen, Denman, Gabriola, Galiano, Gambier, Hornby, Lasqueti, Mayne, Pender and Thetis Local Trust areas.

If enough funding is found for 2014, the Islands Trust Fund hopes to complete the mapping for Salt Spring and Saturna Island Local Trust areas.

Eelgrass habitats are particularly sensitive to docks, mooring buoys and anchor chains, hardened shorelines and contaminated or silty runoff from land. The Islands Trust Fund aims to use the eelgrass mapping to focus voluntary conservation efforts on the shorelines and watersheds that have the greatest impact on eelgrass meadows. Local governments and island communities may also use the maps when considering community education programs, land use plans and development applications along the shoreline.

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Islands Trust Fund releases results

Universal health care is a necessity

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Written by: Yamini Piplani on June 1, 2009.

Health care should be matter of logic, not politics

Illustration by Jorge Labrador

Most of us wouldnt need to glance at the plethora of available statistics to agree that the health care system in the U.S. is in a sad state.

This is because so many of us have either personally experienced or have seen someone we know being failed by our health care system. It is unfortunate that health care reform has been a matter of politically-biased debate for years, as the health of American citizens should be the first and foremost priority of any political party.

People are suffering across party lines whether Republican, Democrat or something else, stories of people being ill-served by their insurance or being denied treatments, to the detriment of their long-term health, are overly common.

Though I am one of the 46 million Americans lacking health insurance, until now I had been fortunate enough not to have had any horrible experiences with health care. I had only read in articles, learned through research or heard strangers horror stories about our handicapped health care system.

Recently, my grandmother was told by an ophthalmologist in the U.S. that she needed cataract surgery, but that it would be two weeks until her next eye exam, a few more days until she got her results back and then her surgery would be scheduled a couple weeks later. In all, it would take about one month for her to regain her vision.

But in three weeks my grandmother was going to India she had already booked a flight a couple months ago. Her doctor here told her the surgery wasnt an emergency and that it could be done when she returned or, if my grandmother preferred, she could have her eye surgery done in India.

When she landed in India, she set up an appointment with an eye doctor for the next day. Her basic check-up along with all her exams were done within a few hours, she had her exam results back in another two hours and her eye surgery was scheduled for the next morning. Within 24 hours of her first visit, she had her vision back quicker and much cheaper.

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Universal health care is a necessity