function stripBlanks (item)

{

  var wordStarted = "no";

  var transformedItem = "";



  for (var i = item.length; i > 0; i--)

  {

    if (wordStarted == "yes")

    {

      transformedItem += item.charAt (i-1);

    }

    else

    {

      if (item.charAt (i-1) != " ")

      {

        wordStarted = "yes";

        transformedItem += item.charAt (i-1);

      }

    }

  }

  newItem = transformedItem;

  transformedItem = "";

  wordStarted = "no";



  for (var i = newItem.length; i > 0; i--)

  {

    if (wordStarted == "yes")

    {

      transformedItem += newItem.charAt (i-1);

    }

    else

    {

      if (newItem.charAt (i-1) != " ")

      {

        wordStarted = "yes";

        transformedItem += newItem.charAt (i-1);

      }

    }

  }

  return transformedItem;

}