County employees lose big, win big

Potter County employees blew away the competition in the statewide Biggest Loser Contest.

A team of 71 calorie-counters from county entered the event with a lofty goal of losing five percent of total body weight. Weigh-ins during the tenth and final week of the contest revealed a total weight loss of 5.44 percent.

Berks County was a distant second at 3.73 percent. Defending champion Columbia County slipped in third at 3.56. Potter County employees lost a total of 833 pounds during the contest.

Co-Chairmen John Hetrick and Gary Kelsey thanked Sue Lush and Pauline Goochee for their assistance with weekly weigh-ins. The overall individual winners are as follows:

Men's Division: Ray Morales, first; Eric Hensel, second; Sean Conklin, third.

Women's Division: Sue Weber, first; Susanne Boucher, second; Shannon Sauley, third; Priscilla Watson, fourth.

Those seven county employees all lost more than 25 pounds, as did Leon Kaple. Employees losing at least 20 pounds included Brian Abel, Tena Emerson, John Hetrick, Rick Kunselman, John Moshier and Gary Kelsey. Losing at least 15 pounds were John Leete, Janet Long, Rhoda Weimer and Robin Freeman.

A celebration luncheon for participants will be held on Friday, July 17, at the Gunzburger Building. The weightloss competition was sponsored by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.