By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - Eleven-year-old William Emery was finishing a breakfast of cereal and fruit when the state's former lieutenant governor handed him a bone.

"Know what helps make that bone so hard?" Steve Henry, the Louisville Democrat who left office last year, asked the fifth-grader at Covington's John G. Carlisle School.

"Milk," Henry, an orthopedic surgeon, told the child. "Drink your milk, and you'll have good, strong bones that won't break."

Although he is no longer in state government, Henry has continued his crusade to rid Kentucky's schools of soft drinks and high-fat snack foods.

Why? Not only are the drinks and snacks unhealthful because of high concentrations of sugar and fat, but Kentucky's youth are among the heaviest in the nation, Henry said.

According to a Kentucky Medical Association study, the state - where teen smoking is already a major concern - is projected to lead the nation in obesity by 2010.

"Kentucky will soon have the dubious distinction of leading the nation in both smoking and obesity," Henry said. "As a result, Kentucky is projected to lead the nation in the use of health-care services. And that is going to keep businesses from investing and locating here, which will hurt the economy."

Henry was accompanied on the school visit by his wife, former Miss America and Bracken County native Heather French Henry.

He is trying to pressure Senate Republicans in Frankfort to call for a vote on legislation that would limit the sale of soft drinks and snack foods in schools. The bill has passed the House but is lodged in a Senate committee, where Henry claims Republican leaders are resolved to let it die. The bill suffered a similar fate in each of the last two legislative sessions.

Henry said that, just like last year, the bill has been put in the Senate Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee because chairman Sen. Dan Seum, R-Louisville, "is a mindless puppet for" Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville.

"That committee has nothing to with this issue," Henry said. "It was put there so it would die."

Seum did not return a phone call for comment.

Henry contends intense lobbying from the soft drink industry has persuaded Senate Republicans not to call the bill.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in January that soft drinks be eliminated from schools to combat obesity in children.

The Kentucky Soft Drink Association, an industry trade and lobbying group, opposes the bill. In a posting on its Web site, the association maintains that many drinks, not just soft drinks, are offered in school cafeterias.

"Students are free to choose the beverage that suites their nutritional needs," the association says.

It also contends that "poor diet and dental hygiene cause adolescent weight and dental problems, not soft drink consumption."

Money is also a factor. The association said revenue generated by the sale of soft drinks in schools "provides funds in place of local taxes for special school athletic, artistic and educational programs."

Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said the decision on food served to students "should be left to local school boards, superintendents and site-based councils."

"Regulating vending machines by telling school districts what they can serve and when is another example of 'Big Brother' government intrusion," said Thayer, whose Senate district includes Independence, Taylor Mill and southern Kenton County.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com