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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:#17365D'>More fyi …<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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color:#17365D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Eric Bradshaw
[mailto:Eric.Bradshaw@okhouse.gov] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, August 04, 2010 12:32 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Eric Bradshaw<br>
<b>Subject:</b> New and Improved Lunch Standards: Request of Congress Important
to Education of Oklahoma Children<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><img width=96
height=95 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CB33D1.080A1110"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span
style='font-family:"Cash Outline","serif"'>Oklahoma House of Representatives<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b>Media Division<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>August 4, 2010<b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><u>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<o:p></o:p></u></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Contact: <a name="OLE_LINK3">State Rep</a>. Richard
Morrissette, District 92<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Capitol: (405) 823-5386<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><i><span
style='font-size:16.0pt'> New and Improved Lunch Standards:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><i><span
style='font-size:16.0pt'>Request of Congress Important to Education of Oklahoma
Children<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>OKLAHOMA CITY – In light of the release of the 2010
Kids Count Data Book report and yesterday’s Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s “Vital Signs” report, state Rep. Richard
Morrisette is calling upon his colleagues to prepare to reprioritize their
legislative agendas for the coming session.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
“I want them to prepare to take on poor child health in Oklahoma,
treating it as the emergency that it has been left to become,”
Morrisette, D-Oklahoma City, said. “In ranking our ‘Top 8’
bills in order of importance, nutrition must supplant even education for the
sake of education.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
Oklahoma children cannot be properly educated when recent studies indicate that
Oklahoma has the second-worst rate of child-brain development in the U.S.,
Morrisette said. That poor rate is due in part to the negligible intake of
essential foods necessary to grow a healthy human brain. Oklahoma continues to
rank 50<sup>th</sup> in fruit and vegetable consumption. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
On Monday, First Lady Michelle Obama appealed to Congress for new and improved
school lunch nutrition standards. In Oklahoma and Tulsa Counties, 90 percent of
students partake of free or reduced lunch programs as their only meal of the
day, according to applications that also reveal a startling increase in child
poverty within the state’s two most heavily populated areas.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
Nearly 40 percent of all Oklahoma children are now obese, a form of
malnutrition, with a greater percentage symptomatic of conditions related to
nutrition deprivation, according to health agency accounts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
On July 21, 2010, the Oklahoman reported that Oklahoma City Public elementary
schools are the beneficiary of a $1 million federal grant to provide students
with a healthy afternoon snack consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
“Being second highest in poor brain development is a stat we must
conquer,” Morrisette said. “Until we can get the standards for
lunches raised, this is good news in that direction.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
“I recently heard Dr. Susan Shepherd of Doctors Without Borders speak of
how poor nutrition robs kids from around the world of a productive future. She
spoke of how much of the food that agencies provide the poor has an inadequate
processed corn or soy base and that their group has developed a better
supplement – in snack form – that has spared thousands poor brain
development and chronic physical health problems. I intend to look into this
product and to access what we need for Oklahoma children in poverty.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
“I’m appreciative of every federal tax dollar donated to feed our
kids, but I don’t like the idea that citizens from other states are
continually called upon for a rescue. At the national level, our Oklahoma U.S.
delegation has done little to guide our state away from this shameful and
inhumane reality, scoring another voting zero for child health legislation this
session. With passive approval, we have set the next generation of Oklahomans
up to not develop an ability to depend upon themselves but rather an unhealthy
expectation of state and federal entitlement.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
“Next session, I plan to bring a House Resolution encouraging local
businesses to develop alliances with schools to create healthy ways for kids
who want to help others despite their own lack of resources. To receive help
and then to be able to give help in return redeems the spirit and restores self
respect.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>
“The latest CDC report indicates that nine states have obesity rates
greater than 30 percent and Oklahoma is one of the nine. We simply place NO
importance on health and our kids are allowed to be considered collateral
damage, as we abdicate our responsibility for them to others. A new and
improved<b> </b>future begins not with education but with adequate nutrition,
the foundation for learning capability.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b>Rep. Richard Morrissette serves South Oklahoma City,
District 92<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><i>-30-<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>NOTICE: The information in this email is confidential,
legally privileged, and exempt from disclosure under law. It is intended solely
for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you
are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any
action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and
unlawful. The Oklahoma House of Reps does not warrant any e-mail transmission
received as being virus free, and disclaims any liability for losses or damages
arising from the use of this e-mail or its attachments. Recipients of e-mail
assume the risk of possible computer virus exposure by opening or utilizing the
e-mail and its attachments, and waive any right or recourse against the House
by doing so. <o:p></o:p></p>
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