Cuts could destroy senior nutrition centers, state senator says
BY Associated Press
Thursday, October 01, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY — State Sen. Kenneth Corn is calling for a special legislative session to stop more than $7 million in budget cuts he says will force the closure of senior nutrition centers statewide.
The state Department of Human Services has cut nearly 30 percent of the state's nutrition program budget. That eliminated funding for more than 780,000 hot meals that are to be served to the state's elderly and homebound citizens through June 2010.
Corn, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, has criticized DHS commissioners for making the nutrition program shoulder virtually the entire round of budget cuts to the agency. He says it imperils the lives of thousands of Oklahoma's oldest citizens.
The agency has cut its budget twice this fall because of state revenue shortfalls.
