23 DEC 08: UCHEE, YOU HEAR

Take U.S. 431 south, then Highway 165 south. Take a right at Nuckels Road, then look on your left for Uchee Pines Road -- and you'll find the home base of our area's most overlooked TV and radio star. She's on a national network, yet you've probably never heard of her. And no, Bob and Sheri have NOT moved to Russell County....

I admittedly overlooked this TV/radio star for a long time - but that changed in recent weeks, because of a programming change by WURY-FM. The Seventh-Day Adventist radio station switched to the Three Angels Broadcasting Network, with much less music from "Radio 74." In fact, the amount of time from that network is down to about a Radio 25.

The Adventist network known as 3ABN has both television and radio channels - and both of them feature the woman in charge of Seale's Uchee Pines Institute. Dr. Agatha Thrash has a program called "Help Yourself to Health." Of course, people without health insurance already know all about this....

"Help Yourself to Health" has some unusual topics. For instance, Dr. Agatha Thrash claimed during Monday's broadcast that high blood pressure is an indicator of fear. So don't be afraid of that high-cholesterol dinner later this week - just eat it.

Another "Help Yourself to Health" program has been posted away from 3ABN, because it endorses the "home remedy" benefits of charcoal. My neighbor at the apartment complex cooks outside often - so his charcoal must explain why I never see him exercising.

"Help Yourself to Health" is on 3ABN radio three days a week, with two weekly appearances on radio. That's apparently the only place where Dr. Agatha Thrash's program is broadcast. If she hasn't been invited to appear with "Duke and the Doctor," does that mean Thrash is legitimate or not?

Sad to say, at least one person claims Dr. Agatha Thrash is NOT legitimate. She wrote a scathing "ripoff report" which claims the cofounder of Uchee Pines Institute took $178,000 from her divorce settlement, while she worked in "white slavery." I thought the Seventh-Day Adventists moved beyond racial thinking a long time ago....

But to be fair, a reply to this claim in the last few weeks had a different view. It says the staff of Uchee Pines Institute is caring, and never tries to convert people to Adventism. But then again, the Thrash family may not have needed any "slaves" to remodel their home for a while.

We actually didn't expect today's topic to go in this direction. We wanted to focus on the chances of Dr. Agatha Thrash becoming like Dr. Jan McBarron -- another medical media star from the Columbus area. Instead, we found they're alike in other ways. Uchee Pines Institute seems to do it with seminars, instead of "natural food" stores.

John Chamin at Uchee Pines told me WURY-FM changed networks to provide more variety of programming, instead of Radio 74's emphasis on soft music. Yet the change also put Agatha Thrash on the air in Columbus, where she really was not before. And Dr. Thrash is now ahead of the Atlanta Thrashers, who can't be heard on radio at all.

-> Our latest poker night had a happy ending. Read all about it at our other blog, "On the Flop!" <--

E-MAIL UPDATE: Now for some news convergence which seemed too outrageous to be true - and we were told Monday night part of it IS too outrageous....

Richard,

I would appreciate it if you would leave my name out of this because of my respect I have for someone in the story. I know for a fact that this teacher is the grandaughter of a very well respected former Jordan High School Principal. Bill Screws was the Principal at Jordan for over 20 years. This teacher " His Grandaughter" I believe serves on the Board Of Directors at Guess where?, Pioneer Little League. I know for a fact that her children have been there for a while.

No, Claire Marie Richards has NOT been on Pioneer's board. So said Pioneer Vice President Lamar Pruitt, who's been involved with the Little League program almost 20 years. And the program's web site doesn't list any such name. But Pioneer's list DOES include a "Safety Officer" - whose job may include keeping feuding groups of parents on separate bleachers.

On to some facts (as best we know them) from Monday's news....

+ Columbus had a high temperature of only 39 degrees F. It was cold enough during the morning to leave ice on some fountains -- and I hope the Buck Ice crews harvested as much as they could, to store for next summer.

+ WRBL seemed to show taped weather forecasts from Harmony Mendoza at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m., as she filled in for Bob Jeswald. If this station keeps taking shortcuts to save money, before long it'll do what WALB in Albany did 25 years ago - and simply replay the 6:00 p.m. news at 11:00.

+ The Columbus Kiwanis Club staged a party for children at Elizabeth Canty Homes. This was surprising, because residents recently complained about aggressive gangs forcing them to stay indoors. Did the Kiwanians have to hand out gifts in the driveway, too - as in bribes?

+ Opelika High School named Brian Blackmon its new head football coach. Blackmon has been serving as Opelika's offensive coordinator -- so someone in Lee County apparently got the message about not looking for a coach in Iowa.

(I thought I saw retiring Opelika Spence McCracken in a Kroger store a couple of weeks ago. He was heading for the medicine section -- and not holding any McCracken crackers.)

+ Georgia lost in men's college basketball 80-79 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The visitors won by making a 42-foot desperation shot at the overtime buzzer - a shot practically as long as the school's name.

+ Auburn rallied from 11 points down in the second half to edge Alabama State 79-74. After topping Tuskegee last week, Auburn now can declare itself the champion of Interstate 85.

(Alabama State challenged Auburn with a seven-foot center, whose real name is Chief Kickingstallionsims. With a name like that, shouldn't he have transferred from Stetson to a more appropriate college -- like the Florida State Seminoles?)

+ Instant Message to all White House reporters: Aha - NOW I get it! Now I see why so many of you rooted for Barack Obama to win the election. It's those "working holidays" in Hawaii....

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: Our year-end review resumes Wednesday. Call this a day off.)

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