If You Are Fat in Mississippi, You Might Not Get Fed

A bill introduced in the Mississippi legislature would make it illegal for restaurants to serve obese people. Now you would think it was some do-gooding liberal who would introduce such a law, but hold on there. It was Republican state Rep. W. T. Mayhall Jr.

The GOP likes to tell everyone they are the party of less government. They think the government should butt out of people's lives. But the truth is, they want to control people. They want to strip citizens of their fundamental rights, usually in the name of national security. Don't know what this fat bill is all about. 

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 The Jackson Free Press doesn't expect it to garner much support in the statehouse.

About two-third of Mississippians are considered overweight or obese, according to a recent analysis of federal health data.