Off Again... Tour / Winter 2005 - 2006

• After an interview with the town newspaper in Wytheville, Virginia, we stumped at an old-fashion restaurant in downtown Wytheville, which is "Home to the Famous Skeeter Dog."  (We're thinking about getting them to cater the Inauguration.)  Note:  On the way into Wytheville, you are greeted with a tongue twister:  "Wytheville Warmly Welcomes You!"
•    I interviewed Cliff Dyer and Heather Keene of Pittsboro, North Carolina.  They are engaged and will be married April 30th of next year.  Their "honeymoon" will be a two week trip to Central America to do humanitarian outreach.  "We are consecrating our marriage with an act of service," said Heather.
•    In Statesville, North Carolina, I interviewed Jeanine Marsilia who teaches "English as a Second Language" in the school system here.  Ms. Marsilia told me there are many illegal immigrants from south of the border in Statesville, and their children particularly have a hard time learning "because they are continually hungry, or sick, or their teeth are hurting."
•    In Rome, Georgia, we met with Tom and Shauna Farmer, both doctors out of Duke University Medical School.  The Farmers suggested that in shaping a Health Care For All platform, the Federal Government  uniformly pay for the cost of X-Ray machines, lab equipment, vaccines and other basic medical supplies -- so there would be more parity between the poor and richer states.
•    In Americus, Georgia, we visited Habitat for Humanity's "Global Village," which includes a mock Third World slum.  Shacks, no windows, boards for mattresses and dirty blankets.  "children living in poverty (like this) are five times more likely to die by age five," a sign here reads.