Apr. 3--CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County Delegate Mark Hunt understands the struggles -- and successes -- of battling weight gain.
Hunt lost 80 pounds over the past year, starting with a NutriSystem program and then moving on to a maintenance program that includes cutting down on fats, carbs and "Cokes."
"Boy, that was a big start," Hunt said. "I was really heavy on my feet and basically had lost my gait. I'm doing pretty well now; I can get around the way I want to and play with my kids."
Hunt, who calls himself a nervous eater, had seen his weight climb to more than 300 pounds, partly due to business-related stress.
Now he chooses an apple and water over candy and soda, and he would like to lose another 40 pounds.
"I'm getting there," Hunt, a Democrat, said Wednesday. "I feel pretty good."
And Hunt believes the idea behind a bill to post calories on menus at point-of-purchase in certain chain restaurants would help people like himself make healthier choices.
"I would look at it, sure," Hunt said. "If I went into a restaurant and I could see that I could primarily (get) the same meal for half the calories just in a different form, I would certainly do it."
But while Hunt said he generally supports the bill, there are some concerns. Hunt was flooded with messages from restaurateurs before he even had a chance to read the amended version.
"I've heard people talking about the bill on both sides, that it's going to be a burden for the restaurateur to actually change its menus to provide for caloric intake," Hunt said. "But I've also heard that it's such a good health measure.
"I understand that it is primarily a Christmas tree now, all kinds of different provisions," Hunt added Wednesday.
Senators first rejected the bill Monday, but then revived it and passed it late Tuesday after adding an amendment that specifies the restaurants affected must have chains in at least 10 states. Among restaurants that would have been exempt under such an amendment were Tudor's Biscuit World and Gino's Pizza and Spaghetti House. Those chains are owned by Better Foods Inc., which is headed by former Senate Finance Chairman Oshel Craigo.
A call to Craigo for comment Thursday was not immediately returned.
Late Thursday, however, the House of Delegates' health and human resources committee endorsed an earlier version of the bill that would apply to all restaurants with 15 or more locations nationally, regardless of where they are. The bill now goes to the House Committee on Government Organization.
There had been much opposition in the House to the amendment that would exempt some local and regional chains.
"I don't want the people of West Virginia to believe .!p.!p. that we would change a bill based on one individual," said House Minority Leader Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha. "That is not the way legislation should be made, should be pursued."
House Republicans planned to approach the bill from a broad policy perspective, Armstead said.
"Certainly we as Republicans in the House, our goal and our purpose here is to represent the people of West Virginia, not any one particular person," Armstead said. "We believe that it's important to look at legislation from the standpoint of the merits of the bill itself and how it would affect the people of West Virginia."
GOP delegates have concerns with both the original bill and the amended version, he said.
"We believe it's burdensome," Armstead said. "We also believe that the federal government, since it is looking at this issue, that there is no reason we need to move forward with state legislation at this point. It could be contradictory."
The chairman of the House Health and Human Resources Committee, Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, said prior to Thursday's vote that government has a role to play where public health is concerned, but there has to be a balance.
"We have to try to do those things that are as helpful as possible and can achieve good ends without yielding ourselves to too much intervention," Perdue said.
But Larue Causey, who co-owns nine Subway restaurants in Kanawha County, argues that the bill's concept is wrong.
"I don't think it is the restaurant owner's responsibility to make people go on a diet," Causey said.
He added that if similar federal legislation passes, corporate offices would pay for the changes. But with the state law, the individual restaurants must pick up the tab.
Causey also questioned the amendment.
"If we're going to do this against one restaurant, why don't we do them all?" Causey said.
"We're excluding Oshel Craigo and his stores," Causey said. "I know Oshel; he's a friend of mine. I just think it's wrong that they've excluded it for him."
Causey compared the current bill to a tobacco tax, with a hypothetical scenario in which the tax for Marlboro cigarette brands was 60 cents but for Winston it was 12 cents.
"Wouldn't that be wrong?" Causey said.
Perdue said he understands some restaurants feel the bill is unfair. But as a representative of Huntington, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists as the nation's unhealthiest city, Perdue said something needs to be done to address the issue of obesity.
"Anything that we can do to change that, we need to do," Perdue said.
Contact writer Michelle Saxton at 304-348-5149 or michelle.saxton@dailymail.com.
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