People Want Butter at Restaurants!! Put a Knife in it.

This maybe the last story I'll do on the repeal butter law in Wisconsin, but the story below deals with the point I was trying to make when this topic was first reared its ugly head. The dairy industry and restaurant owners will have the final word:

Marshfieldnewsherald: Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, introduced the bill to repeal the margarine restrictions and said the law is a "classic case of big government."

Roy Heilmeier, co-owner of 2510 Restaurant on Wausau's west side, said he goes through five or six times as much butter as margarine. Darryl Rapolz, owner of The Airport Restaurant & Lounge at Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, said it never even crossed his mind not to serve butter, because that's what most customers want. "Most people will take the butter over everything," he said. "If I put out margarine, they won't touch it."

But Kooyenga's bill has struck a nerve with some people in the Dairy State, "It's a bill that's misguided," said Brad Legreid, executive director of the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association. "It shows a total lack of support for Wisconsin's dairy industry." One of Kooyenga's arguments is that the law inhibits the free market … Trevor Wuethrich, co-owner of Greenwood-based Grassland Dairy, said the idea that the law affects the free market is tough to believe. Wuethrich and restaurant owners said it has a symbolic meaning that is important to Wisconsin.

The obscure law is a connection to Wisconsin's rich dairy culture. "I think as a restaurant person, you'd be pretty foolish not to support such an important industry in our state," Heilmeier said.