Posted on 07/05/2002 6:25:02 AM PDT by SheLion
A group of dedicated health specialists met again this week to fine-tune its plan to encourage every school in Maine to get rid of sodas, chips and other non-nutritional items.
They have put together an information packet warning against soda and chips as major causes of a current epidemic of obesity and tooth decay throughout the country but especially in Maine. The packet includes research articles and fact sheets designed to persuade students, parents, teachers and school administrators that the campaign is one tangible, practical means of improving health and heading off future disease. The committee has met with vending machine companies and obtained assurances of cooperation.
The next step will be to develop a strategy presentation for individual school districts. Pilot projects in several Maine communities are scheduled to start March 1, 2003, After evaluation of the results, the statewide campaign is slated for the school year starting in September 2004.
One question that arose in this week’s meeting was how best to get the students to realize that it is up to them to control their own diet and escape from the vending-machine monopolies in many schools that promote consumption of the big-name drinks that are heavy on sugar and caffeine.
A nutritionist suggested permitting a choice between healthful and unhealthful items. Others believe that, if given a choice, many students will take the junk.
Another question is how the vending companies may respond to the campaign. Milk and plain water must be carefully defined or some vendor may come up with a pricey new variation. How about Coke-flavored milk?
The committee is preparing for the day when it will seek wider publicity. It is drafting model news stories and news releases. One suggestion, unanimously approved, was that they drop the technical term “dental caries” in their fact sheets and refer simply to plain old “tooth decay.” That was a step in the right direction.
Have we met?
That is a ridiculous statement and totally irrelevant to the disussion at hand. Selling pornography and drugs to children is already illegal in all 50 states. Soda pop and chips are legal products.
I'll make your argument for you in a less hysterical manner.
I think public schools should get out of the lunch and snack business and get back into the business of educating our children. If it were up to me, there would be no food or drinks of any kind served in school. Students can "brown bag" their lunches from home. That way, the parents can pack their own lunches for their own kids and the schools can just worry about the academic cirriculum. Trestle tables can be set up in the gymnasium or some other suitable place where the kids can get a half hour or so to quickly consume their bag lunches and then get back to their lessons.
This is really the best way. No more controversy over junk food being served to kids. No more silliness over kids being allergic to peanut butter. If your kid is allergic to peanut butter, make him a cheese sandwich instead or something.
Maybe we should. There are actractive attributes other than decency. You certainly are feisty and witty.
Larry Kennedy strikes again.
A great compliment.
At my age, lurches forward or grasps at straws would be more accurate.
What nonsense. I don't buy that lame excuse. Nobody needs to be "educated" that being an alcoholic is a dangerous thing. The dangers of drinking too much have been common knowledge since almost the beginning of civilization. Certainly they were aware of it during ancient Greece and Rome.
I don't need to be "educated" that jumping off a tall building, putting my hand in a fire, or drinking myself into oblivion every day are dangerous things. And neither do you or anybody else.
You are a caution, Larry!
OK, it's a deal. You bring the "decency" and I'll bring the Constitution.
Lunch is on me, burgers, fries, beer and cigarettes.
I'll have my people call your people.
Yeah, and they all come back, don't they? Maybe they don't like being paid 1% of what they are worth either.
Ever seen "Out of the Past" (Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer. 1947)? It's one of my favorites and I'm not alone.
Besides, I know your secret:
Jacques and Madame Dufarge are the presiding genii of the Faubourg St. Antoine, and chief instigators of many of the crimes committed by the Red Republicans in Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities."
Busted.
Never saw the movie, my husband has, like it a lot.
All that aside, knit, knit, purl, purl.
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