Put Down the Ben & Jerry’s

By Toby Coleman, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Apr. 15–RALEIGH — Here’s a sign that the city has high hopes for its two-month-long weight loss campaign: The billboard tracking everybody’s progress will measure weight loss in the thousands of pounds.

Celery sticks, anyone?

The new “Raleigh Weighs In” billboard went up Saturday just south of the intersection of Capital Boulevard and Buffaloe Road in North Raleigh and soon will start counting off the pounds shed by Oak City residents.

Don’t worry, though. The sign is not wired to the city’s bathroom scales. Instead, city officials will depend on the diligence of the citizenry to keep the billboard up-to-date.

The city is asking residents to keep it abreast of their weekly weight loss for the next two months. There’s even a portion of its Web site, raleighnc.gov, devoted to the effort.

At the beginning of each week, personal trainer Wade Harris of Phase II Personal Training Centers will tally up the totals that will appear on the billboard. Workers for billboard owner Fairway, which donated the $12,000 space, will then put that total at the top-right corner of the sign.

Though Mayor Charles Meeker has set a personal goal of losing five pounds during the effort, neither he nor other city officials were willing to set a goal for the people of Raleigh.

“Hopefully,” Meeker said, “it’s going to be a substantial number.”

Raleigh will find out soon, once the results start appearing on the billboard in big, fat numbers everyone can see.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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