MONTPELIER, Vt. -- The Vermont House has passed a resolution thanking one of its members for the peanut M&Ms.

Rep. Ken Atkins, a Winooski Democrat, has carried on a tradition since 1999 in which every time there's a pause in legislative action for a House roll call, he dumps a bunch of M&Ms into a glass jar on his desk and other House members gather around for a snack.

The retired teacher says he likes a snack during House action, and he used to tell his students not to bring a snack to class without enough to share.

Atkins says he tried putting out plain M&Ms with the peanut ones once, but no one took the plain ones.