Category — Southern Life

Today is such a good day. I sent the payment for my new computer… I should get it in the mail by Tuesday! Then I will have time to stay online and catch up on everyone’s progress. I miss blog reading. Its a lovely hobby.

Oh yeah, and tonight MEMPHIS will beat Tennessee. GO TIGERS! (Can you tell I am excited?)

My southern neighbors are crazy, it is official.

Three legislators in Mississippi want to make it illegal for restaurants to serve obese customers in Mississippi.

House Bill No. 282, which was introduced this month, says:

Any food establishment to which this section applies shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health after consultation with the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management established under Section 41-101-1 or its successor. The State Department of Health shall prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese, and shall provide those materials to all food establishments to which this section applies. A food establishment shall be entitled to rely on the criteria for obesity in those written materials when determining whether or not it is allowed to serve food to any person.

The proposal would allow health inspectors to yank the permit from any restaurant that “repeatedly” feeds extremely overweight customers.

The bill, written by GOP Rep. W. T. Mayhall Jr., was referred to the Judiciary and Public Health committees, but is not expected to garner much support. Hopefully it will be turned down and a REAL solution to the state’s obesity problem.

More than 30 percent of Mississippi’s population is considered obese, so this bill will affect the entire state negatively. Overall 66.7% of the state’s population is considered overweight or obese (compared to Tenessee’s 65.3% haha). Discrimination against the obese will continue to negatively affect Mississippi residents.

Honestly, I just don’t understand this bill. It is NOT HELPFUL at all! It will cause the state’s restaurants to lose tons of money. It doesn’t encourage obese people to lose weight, it just punishes them for being overweight to begin with. Ridiculous! I always thought everyone in Mississippi thought backwards, and now I know they do.

A few other bloggers, here and here, have already weighed in on the subject. I am interested in hearing what everyone else thinks of this proposed law. Let me know!