Sedgwick County commissioners have rejected a $580,000 state grant aimed at controlling obesity and diabetes because the majority said overweight people already know why they’re fat.

Commission Chairman Richard Ranzau says he’s overweight because he eats too much and doesn’t exercise enough. He says that’s his fault – not the government’s.

Interim county health director Adrienne Byrne-Lutz says Sedgwick County has higher rates of diabetes and heart disease than the state average. She says the Kansas Department of Health and Environment grant would have been used to educate people about health risks and give them tools to make better decisions.

The Wichita Eagle reports Ranzau, a former physician assistant, doesn’t understand why people think health problems like obesity are society’s fault.