Legal News

Fla. doc fired over 'doughnuts'

By Glen Ashman

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Dr. Jason Newsom railed against burgers, french fries, fried chicken and sweet tea in his campaign to promote better eating in a part of the country known as the Redneck Riviera. He might still be leading the charge if he had only left the doughnuts alone.  A 38-year-old former Army doctor who served in Iraq, Newsom returned home to Panama City a few years ago to run the Bay County Health Department and launched a one-man war on obesity by posting sardonic warnings on an electronic sign outside:  "Sweet Tea (equals) Liquid Sugar."  "Hamburger (equals) Spare Tire."  "French Fries (equals) Thunder Thighs."  He also called out KFC by name to make people think twice about fried chicken.   Then he parodied "America Runs on Dunkin'," the doughnut chain's slogan, with: "America Dies on Dunkin'."   Some power players in the Gulf Coast tourist town decided they had had their fill.   A county commissioner who owns a doughnut shop and two lawyers who own a new Dunkin' Donuts on Panama City Beach turned against him, along with some of his own employees, Newsom says. After the lawyers threatened to sue, his bosses at the Florida Health Department made him remove the anti-fried dough rants and eventually forced him to resign, he says.

Full post as published by It's (Barely) Legal on August 14, 2009 (boomark / email).