By Jacob Bembry
Greene Publishing, Inc.
   The Wiener-Mobile made a stop in Madison Tuesday evening as its two female drivers, Caitlin Kwan and Jenna Barna, stopped and spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express. They parked the huge Oscar Mayer wiener in the parking lot at the hotel.
   The next day, Kwan, whose business card lists her position as "hotdogger," gave the editor of this newspaper a tour of the giant wiener. Inside, the hot dog is a carpet, which is painted to look like mustard is spilled on the floor. The ceiling is replete with a mural of clear blue skies with puffy clouds.
   "It's always a clear day in here," Kwan said.
   A company in San Diego, Calif. that specializes in building prototypes designed the Wiener-Mobile. The same company designed the Hershey Kiss-mobile.
   When asked how she got her job as a "hotdogger," Kwan answered without pausing for a beat, "I cut the mustard."
   Kwan said being a hotdogger is the best job anyone could imagine.
   "You get to meet all sorts of nice people," she said.
   She told of people telling her how many times they had seen the Wiener-Mobile.
   "One guy in his eighties told me that he had seen the Wiener-Mobile when he was a kid," Kwan said, referring to an earlier prototype of the giant frankfurter.
   Kwan said that one of the most fun things is getting to meet the children.
   "The children love you," she said. "The adults love you. Everybody loves you."

Florida Surgeon General Visits Madison

By Michael Curtis
Greene Publishing, Inc.
   In January 2007, Governor Charlie Crist appointed Harvard-educated doctor and published author, Dr. Ana M. Viamonte Ros, as the Secretary of the Department of Health.
   He also gave her a second title as Florida's first State Surgeon General (SSG).  Dr. Ana Viamonte Ros, 50, MD, MPH, is now the chief protector and promoter of public health in Florida. 
   "I really will do my very best in everything I can to be able to provide all Floridians with easily accessible, affordable and quality health care," Viamonte Ros said.  Viamonte Ros completed post-graduate residencies at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C and Shands Hospital in Gainesville.
Crist said that by giving Viamonte Ros the newly created title of surgeon general, she would be a "great advocate" on major issues, especially children's health.  More than three million Florida residents lack health insurance.  Childhood obesity is a growing problem in Florida and across the country.  Health disparity is another focal point.
   Viamonte Ros and Deputy Secretary, Lillian Rivera, RN, PhD, visited Madison County on Tuesday, November 27, as part of the FDOH “Three P’s Tour,” which stands for Prevention, Preparedness and Personal Responsibility. “I am grateful for this opportunity and will work to increase awareness and support of public health initiatives in our state,” said Viamonte Ros. “Public health programs are instrumental in maintaining a high quality of life for all Floridians.”
   After being introduced to the Madison County Health Department senior leadership, the Secretary toured the facilities, including the newly renovated Women’s Health Center and the mobile unit.  At 3 p.m. Viamonte Ros participated in the Madison County Health Disparity Task Force.
   The Disparity Task Force meeting highlighted a number of success stories, giving the state’s top health official an opportunity to serve up a number of well-deserved kudos, but it also pointed out a number of ongoing challenges.  Among those challenges demanding immediate attention were AIDS awareness and drug abuse, especially among those already mired in the debilitating grip of poverty.
   Reverend Sim Alexander and Reverend Robert Holmes join other clergy and agency officials in the group, while leading their own local charge for change.  Combining their spiritual love with a mega dose of “somebody’s got to it,” both have undertaken the daunting task of adding drug traffic intervention to an already full plate.
   Viamonte Ros followed the updates with a very practical inquiry.  “Once someone has elected to walk away from drugs, or perhaps they have simply made the choice to find help, ‘Where do they go from there?’ We must come up with solutions through the entire process,” she explained.
   Everyone in the room agreed.  Infant mortality, AIDS, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, extreme poverty, unemployment, chronic diseases and obesity are among the darkest and most difficult challenges locally, nationally and around the world.  In spite of the uphill climb, the leadership of the Health Disparity Task Force will not fail for lack of trying. 
   There are a variety of local and regional health initiatives in the planning stages, and several others ready to be launched.  Kim Barnhill, Administrator of the Jefferson/Madison County Health Department, George Hinchliffe, Executive Director of Healthy Start and Preston Matthews, Madison/Jefferson DOH Health Educator, join Viamonte Ros in the vision for a “fit” Madison County.  Faith-based and minority leadership is critical and central to finding lasting solutions to the disparity among health and other social issues in Madison County. 
   Details of existing, upcoming and planned health programs will be included in the fourth and final part of the “Status of Madison Families” series due out on newsstands, December 12, 2007.

Veteran Teaching by Example

   Roy Scott, Vietnam veteran, instructs three of his grandchildren how to place flags at the cemetery in Greenville.  Scott, the current adjutant of Post #131 in Greenville, has been putting out flags twice a year for the past several years at Evergreen Cemetery. "It's become a family tradition" says Scott. "Before us, members of the Auxiliary and Post have placed these flags for many years. Jan and Bobby Brown, Pat Reams, there are so many that have remembered our soldiers." Along with placing the flags, Scott finds time to tell stories to his grandchildren about people who lay at rest at Evergreen.

MPD Officer Deployed To Iraq

By Jacob Bembry
Greene Publishing, Inc.
   Madison Police Department Patrolman Joey Agner will leave for his second tour of duty in Iraq next Tuesday, December 4.
   Agner will be stationed as a combat military policeman (MP) in the war zone. Combat MPs serve as convoy escorts, do combat patrol, handle personal security details for high-ranking dignitaries, go on raids and mingle with civilians.
   Agner said that during his first tour of Iraq it was hard to get used to the heat and the eight-hour time difference.
   "You drink a whole lot of water," he said.
   Agner is a member of the U.S. Army Reserves.
   "I joined in August 2001, two weeks before 9-11," he said.
   Agner had been stationed with a group out of Ocala, but has since been transferred to a group out of St. Petersburg.
   In addition to a tour of Iraq, Agner has done training in Iraq and Wisconsin. He received his MP training in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He will go for training for two months before his deployment.
   Agner is the son of Melvin and Roberta Agner of Madison. A 1998 graduate of Madison County High School, he has two sons, Lane and Dylan and is engaged to Shaela Gonzales.
   Agner said that he would like to thank the A-team (the shift he works on at MPD) and to thank Carol Taylor and Terri Lenz (dispatchers at the Madison County Jail) for the support and appreciation they gave to him.
   When asked if he would like anyone to know anything about his upcoming tour in Iraq, Agner said, "I'm tired of having politicians say, 'We're fighting a losing war.' While they have the freedom to say that, I wish they'd spend more time supporting our troops. Maybe this would go a lot easier. The media never asks a soldier what they think. I know people who go in the military for the same reason I went - to serve our country. I support our country and I support my President 100 percent."