Heard on the Street

HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

For any small business owner who needs help through a maze of government gobbledygook, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has a solution. RegAssist is a free service on the chamber's Web site where e-mailed questions about government rules and regulations can be answered. ChamberBiz, the Web site, can be found at www.chamberbiz.com/government/regassist.cfm.

LACTATION DISCRIMINATION?

More than half of the legislatures in the United States have statutes concerning breastfeeding in public, and Missouri is one of them. The rights of new mothers to breastfeed at work, however, has been cited by the Missouri Lawyers Weekly as the next battleground for employment discrimination. Missouri's statute, found at subsection 191.918, permits breastfeeding in public or private in places where new mothers are lawfully found, which would include their workplaces. The statute states that nursing must be done with "as much discretion as possible," a phrase the La Leche League International believes could be restrictive. A recent study by Ross Laboratories found that 66 percent of women who work full-time and 70 percent who work part-time nurse their children. Missouri's statute at 191.915 requires physicians to advise new mothers about the health benefits to the child which come with breastfeeding. That statute also requires the Department of Health to disseminate information about breastfeeding. Changes in Missouri came in part from St. Louis County resident Marlene Pennekamp, who was arrested for indecent exposure when police, searching for a shoplifter, saw her nursing in a public area. Her indignation caused St. Louis County officials to amend their laws to allow breastfeeding in public in the county.

DON'T HOLD THE MUSTARD

National Pretzel Day on April 26? Why not? In a country that loves its snack food, it makes sense to celebrate a culinary goodie, especially one that rewards prayer. According to a news release from Auntie Anne's, which sells hand-rolled fresh-baked soft pretzels, about 10 years into the fifth century, when monastery students would pray with folded arms, an enterprising monk took leftover bread dough, twisted and shaped it to represent folded arms, and baked it. He gave it as a "pretiola" or "little reward" to the students. Reportedly, pretzel makers helped to save the city of Vienna in 1510. Legend has it that the invading Turkish army, digging a tunnel at night, was detected by pretzel bakers working on the next morning's products. They alerted the Venetian army and the Turks were surprised. Since then pretzels have been developed with many shapes and sizes thick sticks, scrawny sticks, large twists, tiny twists, fresh baked and soft twists even some that are mustard-covered to save consumers the work of actually dipping. Like Pilgrims, pretzels supposedly traveled to America's shores on the Mayflower. The first pretzel bakery, however, opened in the 1860s in Lancaster County, Penn.

DUCK SEASON APPROACHES

Don't put your hunting gear on. The fowl in question are the Ozark Mountain Ducks, who play their first home game May 23 against the Amarillo 'Dillas. Games are held at Price Cutter Park in Ozark. The first game will be on the road against the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings on May 15. The WhiteWings are the Texas-Louisiana League's defending champions. For more information call 417-581-8342.