Secretary Aragon comes out in support of shared-use agreement bill

Oklahoma's Secretary of Veterans Affiars, Gen. Rita Aragon, authored a column in today's Tulsa World in support of clarifying liability laws as they relate to shared-use agreements.

Shared-use schools can help battle obesity

by: RITA ARAGON
Friday, November 11, 2011

As a proud member of our nation's military, enlisting in the Oklahoma Air National Guard in 1979, and as a volunteer for the American Heart Association, I am deeply concerned about the obesity epidemic facing America's young people.

Recently, an organization of retired senior military leaders issued a report warning Congress that obesity had become so severe in the United States that it was hampering military recruiting. At least 9 million 17- to 24-year-olds are too fat to serve in the military.

Otherwise excellent candidates are repeatedly turned away by military recruiters because they are too fat to fight.
Within a 10-year period ending in 2008, the number of states with 40 percent or more of their young adults overweight or obese went from just one state - Kentucky - to 39 states.

You can read the rest of the article here. http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?subjectid=65&articleid=20111111_65_A19_CUTLIN699086