A sampling of recent editorials from Colorado newspapers:
NATIONAL:
The Denver Post, July 22, on childhood obesity:
The vision of ever-increasing numbers of overweight kids sitting in front of television sets and gorging themselves on junk food has served as a public call to action on childhood obesity.
So when 11 big food companies—including McDonald’s, Coca Cola, PepsiCo and Kraft—voluntarily agreed last week to curtail the marketing of sugary and fatty foods to children, it seemed like a good thing.
Any move that tempers the collective youth appetite for unhealthy food is welcome. But it’s also clear that the measures, alone, won’t shrink waistlines and were never designed to do so.
“This set of recommendations is really full of holes,” said Boyd Swinburne, director of the World Health Organization’s collaborative center for obesity prevention.
Swinburne said he thought the action was window dressing that would not damage sales too much but might persuade politicians that they don’t need to regulate how food companies peddle their products to children.
That’s an astute observation and underscores the need for the public health community to keep after solutions to childhood obesity.
In 2005, the Federal Trade Commission had publicly raised the issue of childhood obesity and marketing to children. The announcement last week came in advance of an FTC forum to assess the progress food and beverage companies had made in regulating themselves.
According to the agreement, the food makers pledged to stop advertising to children under 12 products that don’t meet certain nutritional standards. The change means General Mills won’t advertise Trix cereal to kids younger than 12, but it will keep marketing Cocoa Puffs to them because the latter has 1 gram less sugar per serving, according to an example cited in a New York Times story.
Furthermore, while they won’t peddle products like Trix during episodes of “SpongeBob SquarePants”—because it’s primarily watched by children—the ban wouldn’t apply to “American Idol,” which is classified as a family show even though it regularly draws 2.1 million viewers ages 6 to 12.
That’s one of the loopholes Swinburne was talking about. It means public health authorities need to keep pushing to change the eating and exercise habits of our children.
The alarming increase in childhood obesity rates over the last two decades must be addressed. Obviously it starts at home, but the move by the 11 food companies in announcing voluntary curtailment of advertising is a step in the right direction. However, the factors that contribute to the near-epidemic are complicated and much work remains to be done.
Editorial:
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Greeley Tribune, July 18, on recent immigration raids at Swift & Co.:
The July 10 immigration raids at six Swift & Co. plants is a good example of what immigration raids should look like. The raids, which resulted in about 20 arrests from six Swift & Co. plants across the U.S., were targeted at specific people with specific charges.
This was a pleasant change from what we saw the last time ICE decided to visit Swift & Co. We admit we were worried about what we saw.
On Dec. 12, 2006, federal agents swarmed Greeley’s Swift & Co. plant, rounded everyone up and questioned them. The ones found to be in the country illegally were arrested and taken away in buses. There were so many of them that the detention facility in Aurora could not hold them all, and many were shipped as far away as Texas. In that case, it took five weeks and a judge’s order for the identities and whereabouts of those arrested to be released.
The raid caused long-term fear in the Latino community, and while all of the people arrested had committed a crime, the arrests seemed to contradict the message we keep hearing from ICE: that the agency aims to target illegal immigrants who have also been responsible for other criminal behavior. The agency said it was just targeting criminals who were also involved in identity theft but statistics from the raid seemed to point otherwise: Out of the 261 arrested in Greeley, only about 20 were charged with identity theft.
That is why we are pleased with the way that ICE conducted these most recent raids. If ICE continues to conduct such raids, we hope the agency uses the July 10 raid as an example of how to proceed.
Instead of the Gestapo-like raid we saw in December, the operation this time around was much more targeted and conducted without the fear and intimidation as was seen last time.
Two of the 20 arrested were from Greeley; one was arrested because he had a criminal conviction that made him deportable, and the other was arrested for an outstanding warrant for traffic violations.
These raids were conducted so efficiently that even the worker’s union, which last time filed suit against federal authorities, agreed that they had been conducted in a humane manner. Officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said the agents didn’t appear to use the “same level of intimidation and overkill.”
We agree.
ICE was doing its job of going after people for whom there were clear-cut charges beyond the offense of being in the U.S. illegally.
This most recent raid proves that ICE can find people who are in the country illegally and also prioritize in terms of who it arrests.
Editorial: 3288050594343
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STATE/REGIONAL:
Fort Collins, Coloradoan, July 20, on the people who attempted to take action before the shooting at the state Capitol:
So many times, we hear of people who fail to notice or even react when they come upon others who are behaving strangely or even in a threatening manner.
A culture of fear—of reprisal, legal action or intrusion—is obvious. It’s easier not to get involved, some believe.
That wasn’t the case July 16, when Aaron R. Snyder, a 2005 Colorado State University graduate, was shot and killed at the state Capitol by a state trooper after he refused to put a gun down.
Although the troubled man with mental illness issues was killed, others in the Capitol were unharmed, in large part, because of the quick-thinking actions of that trooper.
Such tragic incidents are often followed by accounts of people who said they noticed odd behavior but did not report it or take action by calling authorities. That doesn’t appear to be the case with Snyder.
From available information, it appears that Snyder’s parents were aware of his mental illness and responded by securing treatment for him.
Early July 16, Snyder sent a bizarre message to a co-worker at Advance Energy in Fort Collins in which he proclaimed himself “the emperor.” The co-worker wisely contacted supervisors, who also appropriately responded by alerting all employees of the situation and telling them not to allow Snyder back in the building.
Later that morning, the young manager of the Mister Neat’s Formalwear shop in Northglenn was astute enough not only to take note of Snyder’s erratic behavior, but also smart enough to call police after he left. Her description of him was radioed to law officers in the Denver metro area who began alerting those who could come into contact with Snyder.
Although this situation concluded with Snyder’s death, the incidents surrounding the shooting offer a cautionary tale that mental illness is not an issue to be whispered about, but one in which awareness can lead to treatment or even the prevention of violence.
Meantime, the Colorado State Patrol is reviewing security measures at the Capitol. Given the isolated nature of Snyder’s actions, the State Patrol is encouraged to study this issue with balance in mind. While some changes may be necessary, the state Capitol is the people’s building—a place where the workings of state government is accessible. It should remain so.
Editorial: 00325/1014/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
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Rocky Mountain News, Denver, July 22, on state security:
Six months into his term and nearly six years after the 9/11 attacks, Gov. Bill Ritter made a move that should have happened long before his election: He put a single official in charge of overseeing the state’s homeland security efforts. The appointment earlier this month of retired Colorado National Guard Maj. Gen. Mason Whitney as homeland security coordinator is welcome, and timely.
The system Ritter inherited was disjointed, with accountability for homeland security programs dispersed among several state agencies.
In 2003, the legislature made matters worse when it passed a well-intended bill that shielded virtually all homeland security documentation from the state’s Open Records Act. The idea was to make it more difficult for the bad guys to get the operational details of security plans. But because agencies could not be compelled to disclose how they were spending those funds even when disclosure could not conceivably jeopardize security, the law also facilitated fiscal mischief.
The Rocky reported, for instance, that some money allocated for homeland security was spent on fitness equipment and for other purposes that had little to do with protecting the public from terrorist attacks.
In 2005, federal auditors stepped in and confirmed that the state had mismanaged those grants; the next year the feds demanded that the state return $1.5 million to Washington.
State residents and other federal taxpayers who are funding these programs deserve a direct line of accountability for them. The appointment of Gen. Whitney makes it clear where the buck stops.
Whitney will have a fresh set of grants to work with. Colorado just landed $26 million from Washington for homeland security programs and emergency radio operations.
The radio funds are long overdue. Since the communications chaos that surrounded the Columbine crisis, law enforcement officials have pleaded for an emergency radio system that first responders from any jurisdiction in the state can easily tap into.
This “interoperable” network has not been completed, even though millions have been spent to upgrade equipment over the past several years. Here’s hoping this infusion of cash can finish the job.
Meantime, Denver received an additional $7.8 million from Washington, up from last year’s $4.4 million. The money will be used primarily to buy equipment that would protect first responders from a chemical or biological attack and to improve anti-terrorism training.
The city and state will almost certainly qualify for additional money for security as the Democratic National Convention draws closer.
As Denver’s former district attorney, Ritter undoubtedly understands that public safety is an essential component of a healthy civic life. “We concluded that a central coordinator, reporting directly to me as governor, was the best way to ensure that our programs are effective and efficient,” Ritter said.
With Whitney in charge of homeland security operations, the public should expect better management of these essential programs, along with a clearer strategy for how agencies prepare for potential threats and respond to real ones.
Editorial: ,2777,DRMN—23964—5 640432,00.html
