SUFFER THE CHILDREN

Judge rules batter-coated, frozen french fries really a fresh veggie

French [or Freedom] fries may be the bane of low-carb diets and obesity foes, but the US Department of Agriculture and a federal judge in Texas have another name for the popular food: fresh vegetable.
US District Judge Richard Schell last week endorsed little-noticed changes by the USDA to federal regulations that govern what defines a fresh vegetable.
The changes were made at the behest of the french-fry industry, which has spent the last five decades pushing for revisions to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.
Amending an obscure USDA rule, a revision has added batter-coated, frozen french fries to the list of fresh produce.

[This harks back to Ronald Reagan's administration in which budget director David Stockman was ridiculed for suggesting ketchup be classified as a vegetable for federally financed school lunches.
Interesting to note then that Judge Schell recently got moved up a notch after Bush authorised a new Federal court in Texas.]

Bush OK's court to alleviate caseload
12/11/2003
After more than a decade of lobbying, a federal court is coming to Plano, helping to alleviate a brimming Denton County caseload in northern-neighbor Sherman.
President George Bush on Wednesday signed legislation authorizing the court in Plano.
Judge Richard Schell, one of three judges in the nearest federal court in Sherman, said he will become Plano's first federal judge.
Magistrate Judge Don Bush would split his time between Plano and Sherman.
Once money is approved, Schell said the district's clerk will identify the court's space needs.
"The first step is that the court put together a formal request for space for a courtroom or courtrooms, space for chambers, space for other offices, space for the marshal's service and space for those who are incarcerated or awaiting trial," he said.
Plano has never housed a federal court, judge, magistrate, clerk's office or grand jury.
The Eastern District of Texas has divisions in Beaumont, Marshall, Paris, Sherman, Texarkana, Tyler and Lufkin. The Sherman division includes Collin, Grayson, Cook and Denton counties.
More than 75 percent of the Sherman court's cases originate in Collin and Denton counties.