USDANEWS VOLUME 56 NO.10 - NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1997

YECCHHH! Keep It Outa My Kitchen!
Secretary Dan Glickman stood on stage addressing a news conference. The topic on that October day was "safe food handling."

"Bacteria are everywhere, even though you can't see them," he was saying--when the curtains behind him parted and a big green monster with drool dripping from its mouth came up behind Glickman and tapped him on the shoulder.

Shudder!

The big green monster is named "BAC," short for "bacteria." It's the culprit who is the target of a recently-launched safe food handling campaign which goes by the trademark title of "Fight BAC!"

The campaign was launched on Oct. 24 by USDA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Education, food and agriculture industry representatives, consumer groups, and health organizations--all under the umbrella title of "The Partnership for Food Safety Education." The private sector groups provided over $500,000 for the campaign; USDA and other federal departments and supporters provided printing and distribution support.

Secretary Dan Glickman does a quick side-step to avoid the outstretched arm--and the drool on the chin--of the "BAC character."
--Photo by Lester Shepard

"We're trying to personalize the invisible enemy of foodborne bacteria, which you can't see, smell, or taste," explained Marjorie Davidson, chief of food safety and consumer education for the Food Safety and Inspection Service. "By putting a face on foodborne illness, we're trying to engage the public--which is the first step in stimulating a change in people's food handling habits."

"Let's face it," she advised. "That BAC character is a vivid way of capturing people's attention and focusing on key safe food handling messages."

The campaign's four key messages are:
1. Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often.
2. Separate: Don't cross-contaminate.
3. Cook: Cook to proper temperatures.
4. Chill: Refrigerate promptly.

FSIS senior public affairs specialist Laura Fox added that the campaign includes a 30-second animated public service announcement featuring a frustrated BAC character trying unsuccessfully to spread contamination throughout the kitchen. "It has been distributed to TV stations nationwide," she noted. "Its punchline is 'If you want to stay healthy, you've gotta Fight BAC'."

Now, about that BAC costume? How did it come about?

Fox oversaw the development of the BAC costume--which she said was designed by the same costume firm which designed Woodsy Owl's garb.

"We wanted to ensure that the BAC character--with its crushed velvet body, warts, stray hair, and drool--had a memorable, menacing look," she said. "Because of the particular message of this campaign, we weren't looking for something warm and fuzzy."

And, come October 1998, if you see lil' Trick-or-Treaters dressed up in BAC spinoffs--as the latest "in" garb for the elementary school set--remember that you read about it here first!

--Dianne Durant

34th National Forest Tree Graces Capitol
The 1997 Capitol Holiday Tree is now lit up and ready for viewing on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. And it's here, compliments of the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota.

"Each year one of our country's 156 National Forests provides the tree," explained Gary Say, a Forest Service timber management assistant on the Spearfish-Nemo Ranger District on the Black Hills National Forest. "And, because 1997 marks the centennial birthday of the Black Hills National Forest, this was a special time for the Forest Service to provide a tree from it."

"We'll get our cutting started with this old-time two-person crosscut saw," declares FS's Gary Say (right), as he and Capitol Holiday Tree co-chair Marty DeWitt apply some elbow grease to the tree.

The 60-foot Black Hills spruce is the third tree that South Dakota has furnished for the holiday festivities. Trees were provided in 1955 and 1970, from the Black Hills National Forest, for display on the Ellipse at the White House. "But this is the first 'people's tree' from us," Say said, "for display outdoors for visitors to the nation's capital."

Glen McNitt, FS public affairs officer for the Black Hills National Forest, said that this is the 34th tree donated cooperatively to Congress, by the Forest Service and a state or area communities, for use as the Capitol Holiday Tree.

Chuck Morris, a FS measurement specialist on the Spearfish-Nemo Ranger District, said that the tree was cut in a ceremony on Nov. 14--in the middle of a blizzard. Then it was loaded on a flatbed truck and arrived in Washington, DC on Dec. 1. He pointed out that the activities surrounding this event are funded through sponsors and donations.

The tree--with its 4,000 ornaments made by school children, senior citizens, and other residents of South Dakota--was formally lit on Dec. 10.

The 1997 Capitol Holiday Tree will be lit each evening throughout the December holiday season.

--Norene Blair

Who Are Those Cute Kids, Anyway?
In mid-November USDA co-sponsored the Washington, DC-based "National Marketplace for the Environment" Trade Show and Conference which included a spotlight on agriculturally-based products. USDA's exhibit featured a "Photomosaic" image of two happy kids eating apples, as a depiction of the benefits of agricultural research.

But now here's the story behind the story.

The "Photomosaic" image, which is a trademark term, was based on a picture taken in 1992 for the Agricultural Research Service by photographer Keith Weller. The photo then appeared on the cover of the Oct. 1992 issue of "Agricultural Research," ARS's monthly newsmagazine, to accompany a story on human nutrition.

The photo then proved so popular that it was also used in several USDA brochures and posters, and was among several USDA photos on long-term display in the Department's HQ complex in Washington, DC.

ARS photo editor Anita Daniels observed that the popularity of the photo is not surprising. "The two 6-year-old kids in the picture," she said, "are healthy and happy, the apples look appetizing, and the setting is serene--almost like a page torn from a Norman Rockwell sketchbook."

"In short, it's a compelling image."

And just who are those two photogenic youngsters? Professional models, maybe?

"No, they're just real 'USDA kids'," Daniels laughed. She should know; her son Marcus is one of the "volunteer models." And her ARS colleague, printing specialist Lynda Welsh, is the mom of the other featured youngster, Jessica.

This is a picture of a serene summer scene starring two happy 6-year-olds--Marcus Daniels and Jessica Welsh. Five years later, this image has been made into a "Photomosaic."
--Photo by Keith Weller

Daniels recounted the summer day in 1992 when the photo was taken. "The shoot was held on the broad lawns of ARS's Beltsville [Maryland] Agricultural Research Center," she said, "and Jessica and Marcus romped around, having a good time, while the photographer snapped them--both in freestyle and in poses."

"Meanwhile," added Welsh, "we two moms were beaming--just out of camera range."

Five years later, Lisa Gleeson, an exhibit designer with the Design Center in the Office of Communications, selected that same photo as the centerpiece for a USDA exhibit designed to depict the many aspects of the Department's mission.

"The Photomosaic feature of this exhibit," she explained, "was created from a supply of 2,045 digital photos." Most of the photos--which depict activities related to USDA's mission--were taken by employees.

Gleeson noted that mosaics are created by using solid colored tiles. "But Photomosaics are created by using photographs as tiles," she said. Traditional artist techniques are combined with a customized computer software to select and position each photo throughout the entire mosaic.

"Hold that smile, say 'cheese'..." CLICK! And a four-person set shot--which includes a rather striking structure in the background--is captured on film. That structure, part of a new USDA exhibit, is an 8-foot-tall "Photomosaic" image of a 1992 USDA photo. Five years after the pic was taken, Jessica and Marcus--the two apple-eating kids shown in the image--pose with their moms, ARS's Lynda Welsh (left) and Anita Daniels, in front of the exhibit--thereby coming face-to-face with their "Photomosaic selves."
--Photo by Scott Bauer

Each of the 1" x 1.5" photos subtly blends together to form--from a distance--the larger image of the two children's faces. "But when you get up close to the Photomosaic," she pointed out, "you see the thousands of individual images--and the larger depiction is suddenly lost."

"The use of the children's image displayed through the Photomosaic technique," Gleeson affirmed, "communicates USDA's mission by creating an eye-catching and warm environment to attract visitors to the Department's exhibit."

The two "stars" of the celebrated photo recently had the opportunity to come face-to-face with their "Photomosaic selves" when they viewed the USDA exhibit on display.

And what did the two youngsters--now both 11--think of it?

"Cool!" declared Marcus.

"Cool!" added Jessica.

'Nuff said?

--Jeanne McLaughlin

And Now, 11 Months Later...
They said they’d do it--and they did.

Over a year ago in Oct. 1996, Rural Housing Service employees in St. Louis said that one year later they’d have the agency’s newly created Centralized Servicing Center ready to service single family housing loans from applicants all across the country. On September 1, 1997, that became a reality when employees at the St. Louis-based Center worked with the appropriate state offices to bring the last block--including Alaska, Illinois, Tennessee, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands--on-line.

Frederick Douglas, director of the Center, said that its purpose is to automate and centralize RHS’s single family housing loan program. It’s an $18 billion program, with 700,000 loans in its portfolio, serving low-income rural homeowners around the country--who typically earn about $15,000 a year, are without adequate housing, and cannot obtain credit from other sources to become home owners.

“Our Center went on-line over a year ago, on October 1, 1996, when we began servicing loans for new borrowers in Missouri and Virginia,” he recounted. “We had projected that we could expand our servicing operations to all 50 states about one year later--but, by expanding in September, we were able to go nationwide in 11 months.”

“Once I troubleshoot that item, I can further service this loan,” declares Terrance Smith (center), a processor at RHS's Centralized Servicing Center in St. Louis, as he reviews an issue related to a recently-granted single family housing loan with unit supervisors Martha Altepeter (left) and Carolyn Boyd. Their efforts are much more far-reaching these days, since the Center recently expanded its operations--and now it can service those loans from applicants located anywhere in the country.
--Photo by Mitchel Bartnick

The effort to automate and centralize RHS’s loan servicing program was called the “Dedicated Loan Origination and Servicing System,” or “DLOS.” The Oct. 1996 issue of the USDA News carried a story about the agency’s DLOS initiative.

Douglas said that rural applicants with low incomes, who want to apply for direct single family housing loans, can continue to use local RHS offices to apply for--and obtain, as appropriate--those loans.

“But all servicing of that loan is now handled here in St. Louis,” he said.

Douglas noted that automating and centralizing the loan servicing function is projected to save taxpayers about $250 million over a five-year period, and $100 million annually thereafter. Plus, it has made life easier for RHS’s customers--and its employees.

“Our borrowers,” he pointed out, “get swift processing of their applications from field offices, as well as enhanced customer service features, such as automated access to their accounts through use of a toll-free telephone number.” This lets borrowers check their account balance, date of last payment, and year-to-year interest without needing help from a customer service representative.

“At the same time,” Douglas said, “our employees get to use a new software package which includes 33 agency forms and letters.” Those staffers used to have to type those forms--but now they're all automated.

“There’s nothing like being able to modernize time-consuming and often duplicative work!” he declared. ¤

--Ron Hall

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