W. Virginia Town Shrugs At Poorest Health Ranking

I was born in that state and I can agree it is an issue! BIG TIME...excuse the pun.

Let me guess, they voted for mccain too.

i am so tired of judgmental people..my horse isn't high enough for the rest of you..go ahead judge, then let you be judged!

This "story" is really just a whole lot of stereotyping and slamming of WEST Virginians again. And it's not W. Virginia. We're not a western section of Virginia. They don't say N. Dakota, or S. Dakota or N. Mexico in headlines, do they? And did they have to insult the mayor by labeling him as obese, or make fun of a heavy lady walking in front of him? No! Or take a picture of a couple of heavy ladies? What, did the old stereotype of being poorly educated hillbillies get old, so now the national media has to call us portly?

To J: can you say "racial profiling?" This is another example of people falling for liberal media types who think anybody not from the northeast or DC or the left coast as being in "flyover country," too stupid to know anything. And if they don't agree with the snotty elitists, it's because they are stupid, not that the elitists are out of touch with the rest of society. I don't live in West Virginia, but the media have nothing good, EVER, to say about the state or the people there.

The worst thing is the Mayors excuse who is obese himself said that "Health issues don't come up, We've got a lot of economic challenges here in Huntington. That's usually the focus.". LMAO!

D A V E .... how the hell can you bring up racial profiling you freaking idiot! The statistics show nearly HALF of the population is obese. I'm profiling you as a STUPID JACK ASS whatever color you are! So what, fat means black or white now?

Whomever is saying it is a judgemental issue, you are wrong. The population of that town are a microcosm of the rest of the US and the plight we are in. Eating healthy is expensive. Eating the cheaper foods that are processed and full of carbs makes too much insulin in the body and causes obesity. If the town economy is poor, the people are eating the junk food that big corp farms and big corp food producers make because it is all they can afford, then they are gonna get fat. Like they are, like a lot of people in this nation are.
It's the truth. That town is just a glaring example of that, so they used it in a story, because WV is a money poor state and takes in the most welfare income in the US, fact, not judgement. Get over it and look to ways to remedy this problem.

Linda... now that makes some sense. Thanks for shedding some light and putting us all straight!

Hi, West Virginia is a beautiful place, but the people living there are not. And that doesn't mean that they are FAT or have hight % obesity or their mayor is not a movie star:-), that means there's something wrong. What and where????????????????...and it comes from the head :-), from mayor, from politics there and reflect the lower level people - poors.
Eating habit it's not expensive and exsercise is up to you. Why they didn't take an experience of Illinois - the state without smoking?...Answer could be - there is NOT far-sighted view:-)! from politicians there.

I live in the South and I think this is a huge problem. It is the culture and attitude of people in these areas. There are many things causing this problem but I don't really agree with some of the excuses that people are giving.