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4-H project 6 Operation Boiled The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, August 31, 2005, Page 3C Peanuts’ under way Special to the Ledger By Brad Haire University of Georgia They’ve been called to duty and are being deployed to Iraq next month. Their mission is simple: Provide Georgia soldiers a familiar taste of home. It’s “Operation Boiled Peanuts.” Georgia 4-H’ers across the state are mobilizing to raise money for a state wide project to package and send boiled peanuts to Iraq to the 4,300 soldiers of the Georgia National Guard’s 48th Brigade. Homegrown hankering The seed of the project was planted when Clark Rountree, 21, a specialist with the 48th, called his mother, Pa tricia Anderson, earlier this month. The Wilcox County, Ga., native told her to tell Rex Bulloch he had a han kering for his favorite homegrown snack and wanted a few to share with his comrades in Iraq. “Anything Clark and those boys want, and I can get it, I’m going to get it done,” said Bulloch, 57, a Wilcox County peanut farmer for 35 years. Rountree worked on Bulloch’s farm before being sent to Iraq earlier this year. He knew that from now until November plenty of fresh, Georgia peanuts would be harvested. Bulloch figured a few bags of pea nuts wouldn’t do. He wanted to get enough for the entire brigade. Fam ily-owned Hardy Farms in Hawkins- ville, Ga., specializes in ready-to-eat boiled peanuts in pouches and cut Bulloch a good deal. But the cost was still around $6,000. “Folks told me I should ask around for some help,” Bulloch said in a phone interview Monday. Statewide help On Aug. 10, he called on his county University of Georgia Cooperative Extension office. “I said, ‘Why don’t you let 4-H help with that,”’ said Suzanne Keene, a Wilcox County 4-H program assis tant. “I thought this would be a great opportunity for Georgia 4-H and the (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences to send a farm product unique to Georgia and let the troops know we support them.” She called the 4-H state office in Athens, and “Operation Boiled Pea nuts” was launched. “It has bal looned and blossomed from there,” she said. The Georgia 4-H Founda tion fronted the $6,000 to keep the soldiers from waiting any longer. Now, 2 tons of Georgia boiled peanuts, about 4,800 bags from Hardy Farms with Georgia 4-H stickers proudly stamped on them, are staged and ready to be sent to the men and women of the 48th Brigade around Sept. 10, Bulloch said. From collecting donations to orga nizing events, each county 4-H club is doing something different to raise money, said Laura Perry Johnson, the southwest district 4-H program develop ment coor dinator. To give a donation, make out i check to he Geor gia 4-H Founda tion and send it to 304 Hoke Smith Annex, Univer sity of reorgia, Athens, GA 30602. Write “Georgia 4-H: Operation Boiled Pea nuts” on the envelope. Or go to your county UGA Extension office. “We’d like to raise enough money to do it more than once,” Keene said. “Maybe send them something once a month.” Special thanks “Clark is like one of mine,” Bulloch said. “I’ll do anything for him to make it a little easier. He promised he’d be careful, keep his head down and come home. That’s what I’m expecting from him and the rest of them.” Bulloch hasn’t spoken with Roun tree. But he’s heard that the soldiers know the Georgia delicacy is on the way. They’ve seen some TV news stories about it. But Bulloch already has been per sonally thanked. Jason Henderson, another Wilcox County native and a 48th Brigade soldier, was injured in Iraq and was back home last week. “He thanked me and asked if he could give me a hug for the men of the 48th,” Bulloch said. (Brad Haire is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.) State Uses Many Strategies To Fight Obesity Special to the Ledger Georgia health officials say they are using multiple strate gies to light obesity in the state, even as the recent Trust for America’s Health report, F as in Fat: How Obesity Poli cies are Failing in America, 2005, presents a sobering pic ture of the obesity epidemic in the United States. “When you know there is a health problem that is affect ing over half, and almost two- thirds, of your population, you go to work on it,” said Dr. Stuart Brown, Director of the Division of Public Health. “And that’s exactly what we’ve done.” Although the Trust for America’s Health report makes a strong argument for broader policy change, especially in regard to urban and suburban community planning, Georgia officials say community-level interven tions, in a variety of settings, are the focus of the state’s efforts to reduce obesity and associated health risks. The Division of Public Health received a CDC grant in 2003 to address obesity and physical activity in the state, Bus Stop Special to the Ledger Bus Stop, the acclaimed comedy by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, William Inge, opens the 2005-2006 Season at the Rylander The atre in downtown Americus and this summer published its own report and 10-year action plan, Georgia’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Plan - To Prevent and Control Chronic Disease in Georgia, 2005- 2015. In addition to consider ing the planning and policy changes championed in the national report, the Geor gia plan calls for integrated efforts in communities, and through schools, health care providers, work sites, and faith-based organizations. A Division of Public Health worksite wellness program - Healthy Solutions for Busi ness Groups - has helped Georgia emerge as a leader in worksite wellness according to program officials. Over the past two years, program staff have provided over 85 work shops and presentations to business groups and chambers of commerce across the state, representing more than 800 employers with a combined workforce of over a million Georgians. Providing techni cal assistance and linkages to vendors and health insurers, the program focuses on reduc ing employers’ health care costs and insurance premiums for Sumter Players, Americus’ Community Theater. Open ing night is Thursday, September 8 at 8:00 pm, with other performances on Friday and Saturday, September 9 and 10 at 8:00 pm and a Sun- by reducing cardiovascular disease risk in their employee populations. Worksite risk reduction programs help employees increase physical activity and as a result help reduce obesity. The Division of Public Health Chronic Disease Prevention branch has also partnered with school districts to implement the School Health Index, a school-based assessment of health and nutrition policy. Public health staff from the state or local health districts provide tech nical assistance and consul tation on developing school health promotion policies that focus on physical education, nutrition (and vending ma chines), and how school staff can model health behaviors. DeKalb, Glynn, and McIntosh counties have all worked with the Department of Human Resources to implement the school health index in various schools in their counties. In addition, health officials say the Special Supplemen tal Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), continues to pro vide nutrition education and day matinee on September 11 at 2:30 pm. All performances will be preceded by a con cert on the Rylander Theatre organ beginning about thirty minutes before curtain. A March blizzard stops a bus at a lonely cafe on the Kansas plain in the middle of a night in 1955. What follows is a comedic exploration of the interaction between the lo cals and the passengers on the bus as they wait out the storm before proceeding westward the next morning. A cast of Sumter Players veterans mixed with several newcom ers to the Americus stage will provide audiences with excit ing entertainment. Newcomers Fairy Caroland and Kate Brown play the owner (Grace) and the young waitress (Elma) of Grace’s Diner located somewhere between Kansas City and Topeka. The unexpected layover of the Topeka bound bus introduces Anna Marie Masters as Cherie (the role made famous in film by Mari lyn Monroe), the “abducted” nightclub chanteuse trying to escape from the love smitten cowboy, Bo, played by Justin Niederkorn. Bo’s cowboy buddy, Virgil, is portrayed by Bill Brown, who returns to the Americus stage after a 15 year absence. Ron Fross is Will, the no nonsense local sheriff who tries to rescue Cherie. Pat Spann plays Carl, the bus driver with an eye on Grace — and probably every other female cafe manager on his route. Dr. Gerald Lyman, coupons for nutritious foods to thousands of low-income Georgians. “Being low-income is a risk factor for poor nutrition,” said Brown. “The WIC program allows us to reach a popula tion that is at risk for poor nutrition, provide healthy food and nutrition education, and help reduce poor health outcomes - including obesity - that are associated with poor nutrition.” Recognizing the burden of chronic disease generally, and obesity specifically, Geor gia governor Sonny Perdue last year launched the Live Healthy Georgia campaign in collaboration with the Depart ment of Human Resources. Live Healthy Georgia seeks to reduce chronic disease in the state, and is designed to remind Georgians of leading risk factors with five simple prevention messages: Be Active, Be Smoke Free, Eat Healthy, Get Checked, and Be Positive. Using data from both the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Trust for Amer- the drunken, lecherous, sacked former professor with an almost criminal attraction to young girls -- Elma in this story — is played to the hilt by Clark Lamb. Humor, both broad and subtle, lends a reality to the fiction. Not to be missed is the impromptu performance of the balcony scene from “Romiet and Julio” (Dr. Lyman’s drunken miscue), Cherie’s unbelievable rendi tion of her nightclub act and Bo’s announcement to Cherie that he’s “virgin enough for both”. Audiences can expect to be filled with laughter and nostalgia as they leave these performances of Bus Stop. Tickets are available for all performances by visit ing the Rylander box office at 310 West Lamar Street in Americus, by calling the box office at 229 931-0001, by calling the 24 hour toll free number — 1 800 903-7753, on the internet at www.rylander. org (select “Tickets On Line”), or on the Sumter Play ers website: www.sumterplay er.org(select “Order Tickets”). Tickets are $15 for Adults, $10 for Students, Seniors and Habitat for Humanity Volun teers. A savings of 25% is available by subscribing to the entire four show Sumter Players season which can be done at the box office. The other shows of the season are: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in November, Guys and Dolls in March and The Odd Couple in May. ica’s Health report ranked LIS states by percentage of overweight and obese adults. According to the report, Georgia ranks 12th highest in the nation for the percentage of adults that are classified as obese, 24.5% -- the same as the percentage of adult obesity in the LIS as a whole. Because being overweight is a leading risk factor for be coming obese, the report also ranks states by the combined percentage of adults who are overweight or obese. The per centage of Georgia adults who are either overweight or obese, 59.6%, ranks 25th in LIS, and is lower than the national average of 64.5%. The state with the high est combined percentage of overweight and obese adults is Mississippi with 65.5%, while Colorado has the lowest percentage, 52.9%. Although the rankings likely gener ated headlines in every state, health officials point out that the true headline should be how narrow the range of dif ference is, even from worst to best. “When you look at the rank ings, you’re struck by the fact that in the state that ranked ‘best,’ over half - more than half - the adults are over weight or obese, and that’s the best we’ve got,” said Brown. “And when you look at the ‘worst’ state, you see that it is only one percentage point worse than the LIS as a whole. The bottom line is, we are a fat nation, and it is killing us.” Brown said that there are many factors that influence obesity levels in the state and across the nation including urban sprawl, super-sized portions at many restaurants, and a proliferation of enter tainment choices in which participants are sedentary, such as video games. Because lifestyle choices are individual and personal, ideal health promotion programs teach in dividuals how to make healthy choices and foster community environments that support those choices. “We know obesity is a prob lem, a serious problem, and we know that making prog ress will take time,” he said. “And while we have got a good plan, it is something that everyone is going to have to make personal decisions about - how long do I want to live? What do I want the quality of my life to be?” Submitted Photo In rehearsal for the Sumter Players production of Bus Stop are Anna Marie Masters playing Cherie, the nightclub chanteuse, and Clark Lamb performing the role of the lecherous professor, Gerald Lyman, as Cherie demonstrates a portion of her nightclub act. Bus Stop, a comedy by Pulitzer Prize winner, William Inge, will be performed at the Rylander Theatre in downtown Americus on Thursday, September 8; Friday, September 9; and Saturday, September 10 at 8:00 pm. There will be a Sunday matinee on September 11 at 2:30 pm. Each performance will be preceded by a concert on the Rylander Theatre organ beginning thirty minutes before curtain. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Rylander box office at 229 931-0001 or visiting the theatre at 310 West Lamar Street in Americus. Flowers and Happy Birthday Natalie Shiver Compliments of Leesburg Flower and Gift Walnut Street Leesburg, Georgia Phone 759-6917 Flowers may be picked up at Leesburg Flower and Gift Wishes a Happy Birthday: September 1: Jessica Thomas, Gwen Jordan, Taylor Simon, Deanne Bullock, Jeremes Ware, Willie C. Sneed, Austine Ferguson, Leigha Potter, Donna Tanner, Buck Burris, Donald Baker, Pete Green, Kyle Adams, Martha Fore, Ryan Ranew, Mrs. M.C. Miller, Ethan Price, Beverly Elmore, Jimmy Wright, Sondra Henry, Shane Roberson, Susan Apperson, Carolyn Lazenbry, Mary Bridger, Jordan ICnight, Lyle Mims, Carol Mazza, Jessica Lewis, Phil Tucker, Ken Houston, Donna Tanner, Thomas Austin Harris; September 2: Daniel Wentzell Ron Lindsey, Stonie Lee Houston, Helen Peterson, Mary Bennett, Leigh Ann Phelps, Jimmy Moore, Jessie Sparks, Mac Brown, Kevin Scott, Donny Wells, Jerry Tauber, Eric Tucker, Tripp Culbreth, Julia Howell, Tracy Rolling, Shannon Harrison; September 3: Natalie Shiver, Joy Word, Megan Ramsey, Amy Robinson, Kimberly Davis, Nathan Kromminga, Aaron Walker, Craig Bryan, Tommy Thomas, Jim Harcrow, Johnnie M. Rivers, Carla Brown, Gary Knight, W.K. Howell, Margaret Everett, Ben C. Wil lis, Bobby Miles, Burnell Thomas, Craig Kirkland, Tye Slappey Jr., Eric Cowart, Earl Bryant, Javario Beach, Benjamin Lutz, Kathy Mims), Jodi Hall, Jason Story, Nicholas Young, Margie Casey, Bruce M. Otruba, Rebecca Simpson; September 4: Patricia Shirley, DeAnn Ramsey, Brandy Daniels, Bobby Herring, Alyson Chester, Heather Rhodes, Lafe Stump, Annette Urguhart, Jeff Everett, Franklin Fore, Jason Wiggins, Rhenda Coxwell, Julie Mills, Gregory Williams Sr., KrisTaylor, Cathy Roberts, Michael Taylor, Pamela Holmes, Katie Harcrow, Bonnie Jerni- gan; September 5: Gavin Hicks, Alayna Smith, Trevor Hohorst, Naomi Fritts, Beth Radcliffe Mixon, Pat Godfree, Gary Rhodes, Vann Paul, Casey Powell, Dorothy Yawn, Brandi Black, Terry Thacker, Elizabeth Holland, Cindy Story, Karen Culbreth, Jennifer Jones, George Wiehrs, Cathy Wiehrs, Harsha Patel; September 6: John Beamon,Rachel Nagy, Misty Winters, Jennifer Pollis, Christy Kleckley, Luke Singletary, Ronnie Anderson, Barbara Hayes, Diane J. Statham, Adron Bennett, Stephen C. Smith, Chris Morris, Melissa Jowers, Leigh Brooks, Annie Fletcher, Craig Carroll, Lew Parker, Ronnie Flowers, Jason Dowdy, Michael Kriebel, Christopher Simpson, Gwen Lauck, Dale Merritt, Kemp Wiehrs, Nelle Rowe; September 7: Nellda J. Morris, Abbie King, Zachary Parrish, Florence Carter, J.B. Beasley, Melissa Fallin, Ann Lightfoot, Linda Kearce, Perley Eppley, Jr., Melissa Worrell, Craig Coxwell, Warren Gillin, William Parker, Neta Stephens, Christi Haefs, James Darbyshire, ICathy Wiggins, Emma Paul, Carolyn B. Ormerod, Taylor Sanders, Bill Turoski; Wishes a Happy Anniversary: September 1: Mr. and Mrs. Ricky Seymour, Mr. and Mrs. William Parker, Mr. and Mrs. James L. Wright, Mr. and Mrs. Vann Ditty, Mr. and Mrs. Jody Gay, Mr. and Mrs. Tommy L. Jones; September 2: Mr. and Mrs. Kenny Bryant; September 3: Mr. and Mrs. Willie Melton, Mr. and Mrs. Don McVicker, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Roberts; September 4: Mr. and Mrs. Joe Cannon, Mr. and Mrs. John Beamon, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sparks, Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Ted Deiter, Mr. and Mrs. William R. Walker, Mr. and Mrs. James Valentine, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Paulk, Mr. and Mrs. Jack W. Brownlee; September 5: Mr. and Mrs. Allen Toole, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Clower, Mr. and Mrs. George Pressley, Jr.; September 6: Mr. and Mrs. Scott Gilley, Mr. and Mrs. Phil Roberson, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Hubbs, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Lamar Thompson*. Mr. and Mrs. Tony Stevens, Mr. and Mrs. Ronnie Flowers; September 7: Mr. and Mrs. Mike Steavens, Mr. and Mrs. Gary Knight, Mr. and Mrs. Larry Jernigan, Mr. and Mrs. Keller P. Dorman To Open At Rylander Theatre