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
 

Oklahoma lands at the bottom of the list of healthiest U.S. cities.

The annual American Fitness Index, from the American College of Sports Medicine, was released this week and puts Oklahoma at the bottom of the list of healthiest U.S.cities. Reasons for our poor showing include obesity rates, the percentage of people who exercise and availability of parks and walking trails. The American Heart Association is currently working with lawmakers to pass a law that would limit liability for schools that choose to open their recreational facilities to the communities. This will hopefully encourage communities to take advantage of those facilities as a cheap and easy way to get exercise.

"Right now in so many places, there are many barriers to being physically active. We need to make changes across the country that will make physical activity the easy choice, the convenient choice."


You can view an Oklahoma specific report here: http://americanfitnessindex.org/docs/reports/oklahomacity.pdf

For more information, visit americanfitnessindex.org.