The Longest Day of Play is one of the good things to come out of a grant proposal that was not funded. That’s because those responsible for it recognized a good idea that was possible to do even without funds from the grant.
Six years ago the Boyd County Health Department joined with health care providers and nonprofit agencies to write a massive grant designed to combat obesity and encourage more exercise. Although the grant application was not approved for funding, the Longest Day of Play is one of the ideas the survived the rejection of funding for it. The fifth annual Longest Day of Play will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today in Central Park.
The format of the event has changed little over the years. Booths will be set up around the perimeter of the park with each one demonstrating a fun way to improve one’s health. The idea is that getting in shape need not require many hours of unpleasant exercise. In fact, it can even be enjoyable.
More than 40 vendors have committed to participating in this year’s event, and they will be demonstrating such healthy activities as clogging, zumba, chair volleyball and the martial arts. The event is not just for kids. In fact, many of the activities are designed specifically for adults, including senior citizens.
With five years of experience under its belt, the health department has ample evidence that the Longest Day of Play is effective in getting people to launch an exercise routine. “We have data to support that people who come tend to try new activities for at least six months,” said Holly West, program coordinator for the health department. “Most do choose an activity and get involved.”
If they stay involved, they will see an improvement in their health simply because they are in better shape. And they may even find a new way to have fun while exercising.
The Longest Day of Play originally was designed to coincide with the longest day of daylight in the year — the first day of summer on June 21. That was Sunday, and while the amount of daylight today is not quite as long as it was Sunday, there still is ample time to get off your duff and start exercising.
Editorials
Day of play — 06/25/09
Event is a positive that came from rejected grant proposal
- Editorials
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Charles Chattin
Before it merged with Ashland Community College to form Ashland Community and Technical College as a result of the 1997 Higher Education Reform Act, the Ashland Area Vocational-Technical School compiled an impressive record for teaching job skills to young adults and placing more than 85 percent in jobs for which they were trained.
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Try again
It is time for Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, to cease playing political games and redraw district lines that are compact and are based far more on population changes during the first decade of this century than on partisan politics.
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'Asset poor'
More than one in four Kentucky households are “asset poor,” meaning that they are living from paycheck to paycheck with little or no financial cushion to fall back on should they suddenly lose their jobs or have another emergency resulting in a temporary loss of or delcine in income.
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Safer mines
The head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says coal operators throughout the country are improving their operations and, as a result, mines are becoming safer. However, MSHA chief Joe Main said too many coal operators still “don’t get it” and are continuing to cut costs by ignoring safety. That’s why MSHA plans to continue targeting mines with a history of repeated violations for additional inspections.
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Not far enough
For the past three sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills that would raise the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18 have been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives by wide bipartisan margins only to die in the Senate without even a vote.
Now the Senate Education Committee has unanimously approved a dropout bill hailed as an alternative to the House bill, but it does not go nearly far enough. It is a halfway measure that would have only a limited effect on preventing teenagers from quitting high school before graduation and virtually assuring themselves of lives on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.
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Not their job
The local government committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives has wisely killed a bill — dubbed “Cooper’s Law” — that would have allowed the family of the Lexington toddler with cerebral palsy to have a playhouse on their property despite a deed restriction that apparently prohibits such structures.
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Keeping FADE
Despite an increase in cost to the department, Carter County Sheriff Casey Brammell told the Carter County Fiscal Court that his department will continue to be active in the FIVCO Area Development Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force — at least for now.
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Needed changes
The soaring enrollment that Kentucky’s community and technical colleges have experienced in recent years could come to a sudden end — or at least be slowed — as about 5,500 students in the statewide system that includes Ashalnd Community and Technical College are expected to lose their financial aid under new rules being implemented by the federal government.
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Released early
While it is disappointing that 75 of the 952 prisoners granted early release in January have violated the terms of their releases, the good news is that none of the former inmates have been charged with new felonies. That’s an early, but positive, indication that the nonviolent felons released before their sentences were up have been carefully selected and are among those least likely to return to a life of crime.
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Obese children
Almost a decade after former Gov. Ernie Fletcher called childhood obesity an “epidemic” in Kentucky, a majority of Kentucky adults still think that there are too many overweight children in the state and they place the bulk of the blame squarely on the shoulders of their parents.
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Charles Chattin
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