The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is The Ohio Department of Job & Family Services. They get the award for the following.

Claridon Township -- Tim Taylor's job calls for finding ways to distribute food stamps to Geauga County's Amish. He might as well be trying to sell them cars.

The horse-and-buggy crowd philosophically opposes the support program overseen by Taylor's agency, the Geauga Department of Job & Family Services. Accepting public assistance is verboten within the Amish culture. It simply is not done.

But Taylor is under orders to at least try to get them enrolled. The Ohio Department of Job & Family Services has asked Geauga and Holmes counties, which feature the state's largest Amish populations, to lift dismal food-stamp participation rates.

Taylor and his Holmes counterpart, Dan Jackson, called the mandate a waste of tax dollars, time and resources.

In their eyes, the directive is government bureaucracy that ignores the obvious in setting an unrealistic goal.

"No matter how much we do, the Amish won't sign up," Taylor said. "It's not something they endorse."

But the offer needs to be extended, said Jeanne Carroll, who is deputy director of the state's Office of Family Stability.

Geauga and Holmes lag far behind the rest of the state in getting eligible families registered. The state cannot presume that a group won't participate, Carroll said. Eligible families need to be made aware of the food-stamp program and given ample opportunity to join.

"We can't assume they don't want the benefits," Carroll said. "Frankly, they may."

The state required Geauga and Holmes to draft plans to lift participation rates. Both intend to launch small-scale advertising campaigns to reach the Amish and others. Holmes might use a billboard within an Amish enclave to promote food stamps.

What an idiot Ms. Carroll is. You can't force anyone to take charity and spending money to make them do so is a waste of taxpayer money. For bureaucratic stupidity, The Ohio Department of Job & Family Services is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Hat tip- Florida Cracker
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