Favorite Fest?
Which local, area event do you enjoy the most?
Our area has quite a few events each year for residents and visitors to enjoy. Coming up next week, for example, is the Hope Watermelon Festival. It’s been a family favorite for more than four decades.
We want to know your favorite event in Texarkana or the surrounding area. The one you enjoy the most and most look forward to.
Maybe it’s the Four States Fair and Rodeo. Maybe Railfest or Mardi Gras. Maybe the Christmas Parade. Maybe New Boston’s Pioneer Days. There are really too many to list.
So, which event is your favorite? Send your response (50 words maximum) to opinion@texarkanagazette.com by Wednesday, Aug. 7. You can also mail your response to the Texarkana Gazette Friday Poll, at P.O. Box 621, Texarkana, TX 75504 or drop it off at our office, 101 E. Broad St., Texarkana, Ark. Be sure to include your name, address and phone number. We will print as many responses as we can in next Friday’s paper.
Last Week: Veggie Burgers?
Last week’s question was about a new Arkansas law that prohibits food companies that produce plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy products from labeling that uses terms associated with the more traditional items. Do you think this new law was needed? Or do you think it serves no real purpose?
They always “major on the minor” and “minor on the major” things. They’re trying to completely change our language to fit their simple-minded ideas. This will be costly for the companies and passed on to us, the consumers. If it’s beef, call it that. If it’s soy milk, call it that. Are the real genuine words offensive to the “politically correct” crowd?—J.L.T., Texarkana, Ark.
From www.facebook.com/texarkanagazette
This is a law? Somebody spent money and a lot of time to pass this as a law? Is this a joke?
STUPID WASTE OF MONEY… I know some people are dumb but come on.
Well that’s dumb.
It serves no real purpose. Consumers aren’t confused by such labeling.
No useful purpose other than protectionism. Consumers are not so stupid as to be confused by such labeling. Some types of labeling is very confusing and misleading, but that was not addressed. “Heart Healthy” is one. “Organic” is another.
Waste of time and taxpayer money for sure! I am tired of them thinking they need to think for us because we don’t know almond milk is not normal milk. Seriously, who mistakes a veggie burger for a beef hamburger?
Consumers aren’t confused whoever made this law is. A riced vegetables is “shredded” through a gadget called ricer!
Sounds like dairy and meat industry is lining someone’s pockets
Absolutely the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Do we not have more important things to worry about?
I absolutely believe this law was necessary. Most consumers today aren’t willing to determine between fact and fiction when it comes to product labeling, so we must protect our ability to clearly market meat products as meat—edible muscle taken from an animal. This was not a waste of tax payer money, this was a needed defense for one of the largest industries in Arkansas—agriculture.
I would rather they make it a law that tells us whether something has GMO’s, or whether fruits and vegetables are genetically modified. I think the other serves no real purpose!
If someone reads ‘tofu dog’ and accidentally buys that product thinking it’s a hotdog, and eats it, will it harm them? Nope. Next issue! Stupid!
Walmart and Burger King carry veggie burgers and every one I know understands what they are and are not confused!
This is what happens when we are not taught how to question and think. With our instant access to the WWW there is no excuse not to know the truth.
As a parent to a child with FOOD ALLERGIES to milk and egg we have to buy a lot of these alternative products and are grateful they exist. This sounds like one more thing to make them feel different and make it harder for alternatives to have a place in the marketplace. It’s hard enough to find foods they can eat much less worry about the words on the package. Let’s worry about making companies label their ingredients and cross contamination instead.
It’s a waste of taxpayer money that solves a problem that doesn’t exist. Ever heard a complaint I thought I was buying a steak but it was a vegan alternative? Almond milk, soy milk, oat milk they are all labeled. Just another example that our government serves the corporate not the electorate.
Can we finish I-49 through Arkansas before we spend money on this nonsense?
Propaganda—plain and simple. It is also a way to avoid potential lawsuits just as all of the stupid warning labels (do not grab bar when chainsaw is running, do not use hair dryer while in the shower etc) Anyone with an iota of sense would not be confused, and if they were, simply read the list of ingredients. WHY can people fight for things that ACTUALLY need to be fought for?
NO, I am disappointed that Arkansas has done this. The meat and dairy industry needs to chill.
It sounds like a joke. A dumb one. What a stupid waste of time and money!
Not needed. Food allergies exist that helps people SEE alternatives in a busy day
If only it were simple enough to vote out the lawmakers who waste time on this rather than spending it to actually improve life for their constituents.
Honestly if consumers can’t read labels then there are much bigger problems.
Are you kidding me?? People just keep getting dumber and dumber.