diff --git a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/servlets/format/menus/LeftMenu.java b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/servlets/format/menus/LeftMenu.java
index 3b8953b..00cc15c 100644
--- a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/servlets/format/menus/LeftMenu.java
+++ b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/servlets/format/menus/LeftMenu.java
@@ -62,12 +62,24 @@ public class LeftMenu implements ComponentRender
 
   static class Separator implements ComponentRender
   {
+    private ComponentRender cr;
+
     Separator()
-    { // do nothing
+    {
+      this.cr = null;
+
+    } // end constructor
+
+    Separator(ComponentRender cr)
+    {
+      this.cr = cr;
+
     } // end constructor
 
     public void renderHere(Writer out, RenderData rdat) throws IOException
     {
+      if (cr!=null)
+	cr.renderHere(out,rdat);
       out.write("<BR>\n");
 
     } // end renderHere
@@ -80,7 +92,7 @@ public class LeftMenu implements ComponentRender
    */
 
   private static Category logger = Category.getInstance(LeftMenu.class);
-  private static final Separator separator_singleton = new Separator();
+  private static final Separator separator_singleton = new Separator(null);
 
   /*--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    * Attributes
@@ -117,13 +129,13 @@ public class LeftMenu implements ComponentRender
 	else if (n.getNodeName().equals("text"))
 	{ // add a text item
 	  DOMElementHelper h = new DOMElementHelper((Element)n);
-	  menu_items.add(new TextItem(h.getElementText()));
+	  menu_items.add(new Separator(new TextItem(h.getElementText())));
 
 	} // end else if
 	else if (n.getNodeName().equals("link"))
 	  menu_items.add(new LinkItem((Element)n));
 	else if (n.getNodeName().equals("image"))
-	  menu_items.add(new ImageItem((Element)n));
+	  menu_items.add(new Separator(new ImageItem((Element)n)));
 	else
 	{ // menu definition has an unknown item
 	  logger.fatal("unknown element <" + n.getNodeName() + "/> inside <menudef/>");