Gomers -- What's going wrong

PARK TURF BILL: Occupy-movement protesters did clean up their site at College Green Park in Iowa City before leaving by Thursday, the city's deadline. However, the protesters declined to pay for an estimated $2,300 in damage to grass areas in the park. The repairs are expected to take a month or two. The city attorney says the group can't be fined because it's an unincorporated entity. So, taxpayers apparently are left with the bill.

We still support the group's free-speech rights and the way the city handled the occupation overall, but protesters should have made a good-faith offer to at least help pay for turf repairs.

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MISSION NEEDS: The Mission of Hope in Cedar Rapids is one of several organizations that provide free meals and a food pantry for many of our community's neediest residents. And like others since the flood of 2008 and national recession, demands for their services are up. Funding and space are both running short. Mission of Hope previously received some funding from a federal grant. Facing modified federal rules, it stopped applying for that grant, so it could continue as a faith-based mission.

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