Friday, October 7, 2011

Florida Lawmaker's Jobs Plan: Dwarf Tossing

The bells of freedom are ringing down in Tallahassee. So are the ears of little people whose heads are hitting the floor.

A state legislator has found yet another example of government regulation getting in the way of job creation.

So Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, filed a bill this week to bring back "dwarf tossing," the barbaric and dangerous barroom spectacle that was imported from Australia and thrived briefly in Florida before it was outlawed in 1989.

"I'm on a quest to seek and destroy unnecessary burdens on the freedom and liberties of people," Workman said. "This is an example of Big Brother government.

"All that it does is prevent some dwarfs from getting jobs they would be happy to get," Workman said. "In this economy, or any economy, why would we want to prevent people from getting gainful employment?"

[...]

Workman's efforts to create employment opportunities for little people willing to be objectified as flying objects was not done after consultation with anyone eligible for this line of work.

"The people who were thrown were alcoholics with low self-esteem," said Robert Van Etten, 62, of Stuart. "Many of them were injured. One committed suicide."

[...]

David Dodge, 43, of Vero Beach is a computer network consultant and the 4-foot-4-inch Florida district director of the Little People of America.

"The possibility of getting paralyzed is high," Dodge said, "and then to be used as an object for people's amusement is very degrading."

The little person credited with bringing dwarf tossing to Florida died of acute alcohol poisoning in 1989.

[Palm Beach Post]

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