Health will be a recurring theme Tuesday night, when the Harford County Council introduces legislation forming an Obesity Prevention Task Force, receives an update from the Board of Health, and presents a pair of proclamations in recognition of Dyslexia Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Also during its Tuesday night meeting, the county council is expected to introduce a Building, Residential, and Mechanical Codes bill, make an appointment to the Harford County Cultural Arts Board, and approve an executive appointment to the Board of Estimates.
The full agenda is listed below:
COUNTY COUNCIL OF HARFORD COUNTY October 18, 2011
LEGISLATIVE SESSION DAY 11-23
A.A. Roberty Building
102 South Hickory Avenue
Bel Air, Maryland 21014PUBLIC HEARINGS
6:30 p.m.Board of Health Update
***********************************************************************October 18, 2011
7:30 P.M.
AGENDA1. CALL TO ORDER
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
3. OPENING PRAYER – Councilman Guthrie
4. PRESENTATION OF PROCLAMATION
a. Dyslexia Awareness Monthb. Breast Cancer Awareness Month
5. CITIZEN INPUT
6. CONSIDERATION OF PETITIONS AND APPLICATIONS
7. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
8. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – PH (10/11/11) and LSD (10/1111)
9. INTRODUCTION AND CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTIONS
a. Resolution No. 28-11 – (Obesity Prevention Task Force)10. INTRODUCTION OF BILLS
a. Bill No. 11-51 – (Building, Residential, and Mechanical Codes)11. INTRODUCTION AND CONSIDERATION OF AMENDMENTS
12. CALL FOR FINAL READING OF BILLS
13. ENROLLMENT OF BILLS
14. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
15. NEW BUSINESS
a. Council Appointment – Harford County Cultural Arts Board
b. Executive Appointment – Board of Estimates
16. BUSINESS FROM THE PRESIDENT
17. BUSINESS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS
18. COMMENTS FROM ATTENDING CITIZENS
19. ADJOURNMENT
********************************************************************************************
To request disability-related accommodations, please call 410-638-3343 or 410-638-3491 (TTY)
This document is available in alternative format upon request.
www.HarfordCountyMd.govNEXT LEGISLATIVE SESSION
November 1, 2011
A.A. Roberty Building
102 South Hickory Avenue
You have got to be kidding me, an Obesity Prevention Task Force? Don’t we have more pressing, urgent matters? I for one don’t need the Harford County Council or the Harford County Health Department involved in my daily nutritional intake. Nor does anyone else need their help. When will it all end…..
The function of the task force doesn’t cost the county any $$$$, but it may be tied to future funding for health related programs by the health dept or school system. Is there something wrong in determining what are the public health needs and priorities of the county? It clearly won’t cost any labor costs as commissions may be chaired by a public official and at large community advocates. The county charter also gives the county the authority to seek public comment and advise in matters related to the well being of county citizens. Is more information, education and planning really something that you would call an intrussion of govt in your life? Get a clue and a life K!!!.
@Frankly, I suppose if the task force is made up exclusively of volunteers that aren’t on the County payroll in any capacity or if they are a “task force” in business card only with no real function, it won’t cost anything. If, however, they are employees that dedicate any time to this endeavor, they will incur costs associated with not performing the functions they were otherwise hired for. Or, if as you suggest, its “tied to future funding” I expect that will be Federal dollars in which case while the cost has been deferred, it is none the less real. As for your parting shot “get a clue and a life”, debate points come across better when they don’t include superfluous derogatory comments.
No, you sick SOB, you get a life and a clue. Under the 1st amendment of the U.S. Constitution I can disclose my OPINION in an electronic newspaper. I repeat, there is no need to spend time or money on obesity studies. It’s kind of akin to the first school in the country in Urbana, Illinois receiving a gold medal from the federal government, executive branch possibly, for its revised eating habits. I monitor what, when, where, and how my kids and family eat. Frankly Speaking, you won’t reach Nirvana until the government, local, state, and federal is wiping your arse for you. Hmmm, maybe they already are that’s why you’re so serene…..
Yes and the buety of the situation is under the same 1st ammendment he is entitled to disagree with your opinion in the same media. I am also free under the same ammendment to tell you I think your name calling is childish and your lexicon is worthy of a good soap washing!
Your friend Frankly took the first shot. It was uncalled for.
First not my friend. Second the arguement he started it does not fly with my 5 year old it certianly does not change my opinion of grown adults behaving like children!
Yes, far more mature to casually toss insults then bemoan the fact that someone tosses them back…
Cdev, you cutiepie, you might want to reference YOUR lexicon. When someone tells me to get a life and a clue for no reason other than making a personal, innocuous statement, my ire is raised. Maybe you should start taking a once daily passion pill instead of your, I’m going to antagonize and contradict everyone and everything tablets.
Who called this session of Congress to order?
Rabble Rabble Rabble Rabble…so true Noble. The House is in Session!
It disappoints me how quickly the comment threads deteriorate on this (and many) other sites. You all seem pretty pathetic to me.
The point first made was simply that the government, county, state, federal, whatever, has no business monitoring what people eat. This is simply a first step, and in the name of ‘the greater good’, it will progress, over time, to the point where I won’t be able to get a bacon-ator and fries at wendy’s because the government has decided that they are unhealthy for me. I know that food isn’t good for me. But it tastes good, and in moderation and with proper exercise, really isn’t a problem. I am 5’9″ and 165 lbs with a BMI of about 18; I exemplify healthy eating. even if i were obese, i pay for my health insurance and my health care and my food, and therefore it is no one’s problem but my own.
I think that was the point of the first comment, and I agree.
Jeffery Beck
@jtownejeff
The beautiful thing about being American is our freedom to choose. It all sounds well and good to have a county that cares if its people are unhealthy, but I don’t believe it is the government’s place to decide what is healthy and what is not healthy. Let the people choose for themselves what they eat and drink and how they live.
For arugment’s sake, I’ll point out that even the Supreme Court agrees that when your freedom to choose what you eat and drink infringes on my pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, the government has a regulatory role.
Being American is so exciting.
Noble – I will decline to get into how far off track the SCOTUS has gotten from its true purpose. But let me ask you, if I pay for my own health insurance and my own healthcare, how does my occasional indulgance of a juicy fat-burger deluxe infringe on YOUR right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness?
I didnt’ say that it did– and clearly doesn’t (at least tangibly)under your conditions.
My point was only that it can.
It certainly revives my hope for mankind after reading the thoughtful, honest, apolitical thoughts regarding the topic of this article. The other off-topic, snarky, factional remarks, well I guess that says it all.
K when you use explatives to call people names…..you are not the one, in my opinion, who should be lecturing about civil dialouge!
Nah nah nah-nah nah…..as always Cdev, you’re correct. I most humbly apologize to Frankly Speaking for calling it a SOB. You know, I just got a little carried away after it attacked me solely on the basis of my opinion. The only place this type of personal attack happens in my life is here, in the comment section of the Daily Dagger. And, by some odd coincidence it’s always the same people initiating the bullying. I was the first to respond to this article. I did not attack an individual, I did not mention any one person. I just gave my opinion. It then responded and viciously told me to get a clue and a life. I happen to have both. Writing a remark on the Dagger is like throwing a piece of raw meat into a pool of piranhas. So, so , sad…..
remember there people on the other end. WHen you treat the person as sub human because of the medium you are not so nice. Like I said telling me he started it does not excuse the behavior. I presume you are using it because you are unsure of Frankly Speaking’s Gender?
@CDEV, your chastisement of K would seem more earnest had you included an admonishment for Frankly. Since it was Frankly who included, for no apparent reason other than holding a different opinion, a gratuitous, sarcastic insult.
OK Frank is just as bad. K was the one who used the profanity but as I said 2 wrongs do not make a right!
Public health and safety are part of the general welfare of the nation. Studying the effects of nutritioun and obesity do not infringue unpon the rights of anyone and since the taxpayer is already on the hook for medicare/medicaid, the thought that lowering systemic health costs is not only right, but also prudent cost management. Let the light of education and health care outreach be open for discussion and I just don’t know how that hurts anyone.
The same argument was exposed when lead was taken out of gasoline, people were forced to wear seatbelts and wearing helmets while using a motorcycle were instituted.
K, I stand by my words. Your argument makes no sense and your attitude is typical..
I wasn’t presenting an argument. I was stating an opinion. Funny though, most folks were able to understand my musing. My atitude is typical of what, a free thinker? Or because I’m able to control my weight and think others should have the option of doing the same without a committee performing a study, somehow I’m some stupid, right-wing, people-hating, blah blah-blah blah-blah fanatic? Your commentary speaks volumes of your inadequacies. It seems, based on your writings, that as long as everyone agrees with your love of extraneous government control then we can all get along. Otherwise, opposition to you, your thinking, and your intellectual delights creates personal distress. Guess what, it’s way too much fun toying with you. All you ever acheive as the initial insult flinger is a game of gotcha rather than articulate, relevant conversation. You may think you have politically pegged me as well as other writers. Then again, you may want to step off your pseudo-intellectual high horse…..
I don’t know anything about “govt control”. Do you believe that authorizing a commission to study the effects of obesity that can possibly lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and a whole other host of medical ailments should just not be studied because the govt is doing it? or because the “market place” will take care of everything? Is there a role within the context of health awareness to let people know or study the effects of certain behaviors inherently bad or a way to wrest control from the taxpayer? If you believe any of these things as true then should the govt study the effects of wars and stress on soldiers and their families too or should the “market place” also deternime everything under the sun?
I would attempt to enlighthen you but you would probably see it a form of “control” and interference in your daily life and GOD forbid the govt spend any $$$ to study, plan or analyze the very things that are affecting our public health and skyrocketing medical costs. I do agree that this function doesn’t seem to square so much with our local govt, but as I said prior post, there may be a commission set up to fund a grant or something else. Before you say anything else be aware that just because HCG is not doing it, doesn’t mean that other jurisdictions won’t. It is quite proper of HCG to take advantage of any state, federal and public resources available tha will benefit our disabled, elderly, seniors, sick or general public.
I would encourage you to attend the commission’s meetings or volunteer in some kind of public awareness activity and you might gain a different perspective on the role of our govt in public health. or any other area of interest to you. FYI, I have volunteered my time, energy and efforts to many worthwhile causes from Breast Cancer, to hunger and homelessness. You might find the rewarding and will allow you to see another side of govt that is about caring about the things that most people only care about when they need something.
Though I don’t know what the Obesity Prevention Task Force (OPTF) is going to do or what plans they have, I agree with Frankly. I think a study on obesity, especially in children, is very important. I would hope that they study this, change the school diets to something more nutritional and I hope it would possibly lead to more physical education and activities in the schools. Good post, Frankly.
Your presumptiveness about others behaviors, as in how they spend their time, whether it’s volunteering, working, both, neither is astounding. Personally, I’d rather see the money and/or time spent on an obesity study/committee better utilized. For example, an activity geared towards homebound seniors or little children that have been abused. That to me would be a more appropriate use of scarce resources. Not studying obesity. I think we know why folks are way overweight. We also know that certain medical conditions are a by-product of obesity. This is an exercise in futility and is something bureaucracies are notorious for. You may want to read the book “Choosing Civility” by P.M. Forni…..
Frankly – Why should HCG, or any other government body, form a commission to study the effects of obesity? Countless studies of this topic have already been performed and published by the folks who know it best: physicians and others in the medical profession. So there you have it; the “market place” of health care has already done their studies and we are all aware of the risks of unhealthy eating and unhealthy lifestyles b/c of it. That is not a role of our government.
“If you believe any of these things as true then should the govt study the effects of wars and stress on soldiers and their families too” Yes, the government should and does do this, as it is in the military’s own best interest to do so. By doing so, they are able to develop new and better strategies to keep our soldiers safer and healthier. You were really taking a big leap trying to make that comparison, btw.
“be aware that just because HCG is not doing it, doesn’t mean that other jurisdictions won’t.” My tax dollars don’t fund studies and commissions done on the local level in other counties or jurisdictions.
“It is quite proper of HCG to take advantage of any state, federal and public resources available.” However, I can only guess that you support the ‘occupy wall street’ who are blaming the banks for doing the exact same thing, but I digress.
And as far as volunteering and attending meetings and such: I do. I am active with Habitat for Humanity, I tithe (minimum) at church, I’m on the PTA at my kids’ school, I’ve been to council meeting, I’ve not missed an election since I was 18, I donate my blood regularly to Red Cross, etc. And yes, I do find all these things rewarding, but I don’t do them for my benefit; I do it for the benefit of others.
As for your prior post about “the General Welfare”, here you go: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_Promote_the_general_welfare_mean
Everything in the Preamble was presumed to be a natural outcome of the form of government the Founders created, not a goal.
God bless and good night,
Jeffery Beck
@jtownejeff